“We’re going to see Autumn Blaze?”

I was apprehensive to say the least, but I didn’t exactly have much room to bargain. Since Discord had taken my teleport gem, there was no way for me to leave parallel universes, which meant that I was trapped here until Cozy Glow--or Autumn Blaze, whoever that was--let me go. Still, though, maybe this meant that some of the questions I had could be answered. Who was Divinity? Why did Cozy Glow think I killed her? What was Everfree City supposed to even be?

“Turn into your magical girl form while you’re at it,” the girl beside me said as she began to glow a bright light. “I wanna make sure Autumn Blaze recognizes you.”

Recognizes me? How did she know what I looked like, or rather, what my magical girl form looked like?

Regardless, I did as I was told, feeling the bones in my body change shape, growing lighter and heavier at the same time, burning my skin while my blood grew cold like ice. This was the same feeling I had experienced every time I transformed into my magical girl form, and once the light surrounding my body eventually faded, it left me with a witch’s hat, a wizard cape, and very accentuated feminine features. Then, summoning a spear to my hand, my appearance was complete. Trixie Lulamoon had disappeared, leaving behind a magical girl named The Great and Powerful Trixie.

“About time I got to meet the illustrious magical girl I’ve heard so much about.”

Cozy Glow, likewise, had disappeared, instead leaving behind a girl the same height as myself, still leaving her normal pink skin, but now with much longer curly hair, wing-like tassels underneath her ears, a purple cape held by a golden insignia, and a golden crown atop her head. Whereas before she looked humble, innocent and weak, now she looked majestic, confident and powerful, folding her arms while she glared in my direction.

“Yes,” I responded with a bow. “Allow the Great and Powerful Trixie to formally introduce herself. And who, may I ask, do I have the pleasure of introducing myself to?”

The girl turned her head away, now looking down the dirt path. “My name is Last Gambit. I’m the final magical girl Autumn Blaze ever gave her powers to, selected by Divinity herself.”

Finally. This at least solved one piece of the puzzle.

“So Autumn Blaze was the one that gave you your powers?” That meant she had to have powers similar to Discord, maybe even being the ruler of Everfree City like how Discord was to Platinum City, and if that was the case, maybe that meant that Everfree City was the haven for the magical girls of Canterlot like Platinum City was to us. Immediately after the thought crossed my mind, a painful jolt sent shocks through my head, which more or less confirmed that I was on the right trail.

“I don’t get what you’re trying to accomplish by asking all these questions, but we’ve kept her waiting long enough. Let’s go.”

Even despite my hesitations, I promptly followed behind her as she led me down the dirt path, passing by oak trees and wooden houses, but not much other than that the rest of the way. As the two of us walked, I couldn’t help but wonder why Discord hadn’t stepped in and taken me back home, especially since he had been so hesitant about me going to Everfree City in the first place. Hopefully all my questions would be answered shortly. After all, it wouldn’t be much longer until we finally arrived at our destination.

I knew the two of us had made it once I saw a large fountain in the center of the empty peasant village, similar to what we had in Platinum City, but unlike Platinum City, there were no signs of life anywhere nearby, a feeling which matched the rest of the city.

I then turned towards Last Gambit, waiting for her to summon this Autumn Blaze creature, but before she even had the chance, I felt the wind blow by me, providing a pleasant breeze that complemented the warm atmosphere. The wind itself blew in the sound of chimes, violins and harps, swirling the leaves on the ground until a figure appeared atop a nearby hill, standing triumphantly until her visage completely materialized. She had the head of a pony with a large, chitinous horn in the center of her head, very similar to if a unicorn had a tree branch for a horn, as well as a lion’s mane that wrapped around her neck and scales along her back and hooves. She was the most beautiful creature I had ever seen, but based on the way she was looking down at me, it didn’t look like she was as happy to see me as I was to see her.

“Is that the Great and Powerful Trixie I see?!”

Aaaaand suddenly her demeanor changed completely as she hopped down from her hill to get a good look at me.

“Oh, I haven’t seen you in forever! And when I say forever, I mean for. Ev. Er. How long has it been? A year? Gosh time flies by so fast. It probably flies by a lot quicker for me since I’m immortal and all, but for you it must have been aaaages. How has life in Canterlot been? You know, it would be nice if you could come visit Everfree City every once in a while, especially since we didn’t exactly leave off on the best of terms the last time you were here.”

“Actually,” I began, cutting her off hesitantly before she could continue her long-winded speech, “Trixie wanted to talk to you about that.”

“Oh reeeeally?” she replied, gradually losing her smile before turning the corners of her mouth upwards again. “Well, of course you do! It looks like your memories have been erased. Don’t worry, not by me or Last Gambit here. How do you two know each other, by the way? I’m getting ahead of myself. You wanted to know about how we know each other. Am I right? Your face says it all. Well, your face is saying a lot of things right now, but one of them is definitely how you know me. I mean, it would take a preeetty big memory erasing spell to forget a face like mine. Not to sound conceited or anything, but I do tend to leave an impression on people. So, I’m guessing that Discord was the one who erased your memories. Not exactly sure why he did that, but I’m guessing it probably had something to do with you and your friends KILLING ALL OF MY MAGICAL GIRLS!”

By the end of her monologue, her color scheme had completely changed colors, turning her fur black while her mane blazed a bright blue flame. I quickly jumped back in fear, leading Autumn Blaze to shift back to her normal appearance, although now I was a little more hesitant about how I would approach her from now on.

“Sorry. Lost the happy, but the happy’s back! Anyway, you’re probably really confused right about now, so if you have any particular questions, I’d be more than happy to answer them for you.”

I couldn’t believe that she had actually stopped talking, but finally, once there was a lull in the conversation, I took a breath to remember exactly what I wanted to ask her in the first place. From what she told me, though, I had so many questions that I had no idea where to even start.

“So… you’re saying that Discord wiped my memories?”

Autumn Blaze nodded her head. “I can’t say it was Discord for sure, but this definitely feels like his magic. Besides, do you know anyone else who could use memory manipulation? After all, it was you who killed the only girl we had who could do that.”

“No,” I said, holding onto my arms, shaking my head in disbelief. “Trixie has never k-k-killed anyone! Sh-she would never--”

“Face it, Trixie,” said Last Gambit. “We really have no reason to lie to you. Besides, why else would we be so angry at you in particular?”

I had no idea why they were so angry, but my memories had been wiped! What else could I believe other than the story they gave me?

“Why?” I asked nervously. “Why would Trixie do something like that?! Why would Discord wipe my memories?!”

“He probably wiped your memories to save you from the guilt you must have felt,” Autumn Blaze continued. “After all, the real reason you killed my magical girls was because Discord manipulated you into doing it.”

This was beginning to sound exactly like something Discord would do, but by the same token, I still couldn’t believe it.

“What happened?! What did Discord tell me?”

“Oh, that’s easy,” replied Last Gambit. “Discord has had a grudge against Autumn Blaze ever since Divinity decided to leave Platinum City and join Autumn Blaze here in Everfree City. So he told you that for every magical girl in Everfree City you killed, he would bring back to life a girl from Platinum City.”

“Bring back… to life?”

“Uuuggghh.” Last Gambit groaned as she placed her face into her hands. “This is gonna take forever if we explain it like this!”

“Let me see if I can summarize everything into a few quick sentences,” Autumn Blaze stepped in, taking the reins from the annoyed magical girl. “Divinity was the very first magical girl ever conceived. She was given her powers by Discord, but then she moved to Canterlot and Discord and I had a fight. Then Divinity decided to join Everfree City and recruit a whole bunch of magical girls to make this place the most shining utopia in the world. It’s still a work in progress, but that’s probably because you killed all my magical girls. Losing the happy… OK, we’re good! So Discord didn’t like that very much and decided to recruit his own team of magical girls, one of which just happened to be you! But then Discord being Discord and all decided to have you all kill each other for some reason? It’s hard to say. I’m mainly going off of little details I’ve heard from Divinity and Palette. Oh, but here’s the real kicker! Once you moved to Canterlot--”

“Wait, you know Palette?!”

“Please don’t interrupt. Where was I? Oh, yeah! The kicker! So then you moved to Canterlot, and Discord tricked you and Palette into killing all of our magical girls so that you could bring back all of the girls from Platinum City who, again, you killed. Huh. No wonder Discord would wipe your memories after all that. Could you imagine carrying that around for the rest of your life? Not me. No thank you.”

There was so much information swirling around in my mind, and every time she told me something new, the pain in my head grew more and more painful. It felt like my skull was going to split into two at any moment, but I still had questions I needed answered, even if the answers ended up killing me.

“So you’re saying that Discord put us into a death game?! No… No way! Discord has manipulated us plenty of times, but he would never--”

“Has he ever said that he didn’t make you kill each other?” Last Gambit interrupted, taking a seat at the fountain and crossing her legs. “From what Divinity told me, Discord doesn’t lie. Maybe you should just ask him yourself.”

That wouldn’t work. Discord always deflected whenever I tried asking him about my memories… but why…?

“So then how do you know Palette?”

“She was one of the survivors, I guess,” Autumn Blaze added. “There were apparently three survivors from Discord’s game, and all of you moved to Canterlot together. It was you, Palette and I think some girl named Dream--”

“Hang on, Autumn Blaze!” Last Gambit interrupted, preventing me from experiencing another sharp pain that was unlike any of the others so far. This last one was more severe, and if Last Gambit hadn’t interrupted, I felt like it could have potentially killed me. “Why should we go along with her questions? After all, she doesn’t have a teleport gem. She’s under our control if she ever wants to make it home again.”

“You wouldn’t!” I shouted, despite already knowing the answer.

“How does it feel, Trixie, knowing that you may never get to leave this place? Actually, based on all the stuff you’ve done, I think spending eternity here doesn’t sound like such a bad punishment now that I think about it.”

My heart began to speed up at the thought. Cozy Glow had done some pretty horrible things to me already, so there was no real reason for me to believe that she wouldn’t go through with her threat if she wanted to.

Falling to me knees and bowing my head to the floor, I solemnly begged, “The Great and Powerful Trixie would like to atone for all the things that she has done. If what you’re saying is true, then please let me know what I can do to make it up to you.”

“Weeell,” Last Gambit began. “That’s just the thing. Autumn Blaze here is already trapped here for all eternity, and you know what we really want? To get back at Discord for everything he’s put us through! I want you to help us break the seal that’s keeping Autumn Blaze here so that she can finish things with Discord once and for all!”

Now I was stuck with a truly impossible decision to make. My choices were either to help Autumn Blaze destroy Discord or face being trapped for eternity in Everfree City, forced to listen to Autumn Blaze talk on and on until I eventually died from old age, which was no doubt prolonged with all the magic in the air. On the one hand, I never truly respected Discord, especially after what Autumn Blaze had told me about him, and I did owe it to Autumn Blaze after everything I had apparently done to her and her magical girls, even if I didn’t remember most of it… but…

“I… I can’t…”

“What?!” Last Gambit shouted, rising to her feet while a tear fell down my face.

“I just can’t do it! I can’t betray Discord!”

Finally, I raised my head from the ground, seeing a look of fury on Last Gambit’s face and a face of disappointment from Autumn Blaze. I knew I wouldn’t be able to change my mind, though. Even after everything Discord had done, memories or no memories, there was no way I could betray him like that. He was the one who gave me my powers in the first place, and it was my responsibility to keep him, Platinum City, and the rest of Equestria safe.

“How disconcerting,” Autumn Blaze replied, shaking her head. “Well, the good news is, you’ll have plenty of time to change your mind.”

“NO! Trixie is begging you! There has to be another way!”

“There was,” Last Gambit said, grabbing onto her teleport gem, “but then you made the wrong choice.”

Without wasting a second, I rose to my feet and started racing towards her, stretching out my hand to grab her before it was too late, but before I even came close, she disappeared, leaving a circle of wind in her place. I then turned around, ready to beg Autumn Blaze to send me home, but like Last Gambit, she had disappeared, leaving me alone in this wasteland known as Everfree City. Then, with no teleportation gem and no magical girls left, I dragged my feet over to the fountain and fell down, crying into my hands. I didn’t think it was possible, but the worst day of my life had actually gotten worse. Suddenly, the thought of returning home to the onslaught of torture from my classmates and my mother didn’t seem as bad as I had made them out to be before.

I had only been alone for a few moments, but I was beginning to feel what Autumn Blaze must have felt every single day for the past several years. Trapped. Alone. Hopeless.

I thought that life in Manehattan was bad, but never in my life had I been in as much pain as I was in in that moment. At least… not that I could remember…

“Discord,” I sobbed. “Please… save me…”

Author's Notes:

1st day of Trixmas