That night, I decided to stay by the pond rather than go home to sleep, seeing as how if I went home to my mother after being gone for so long, I knew exactly what was going to happen. Honestly, I had no idea when I’d be able to return home, when I’d be able to face my mother again, and the more I thought about it, the more I wondered if I would ever really be able to go back home. What was she thinking about me in that moment? Was she worried about me? Disappointed in me? Did she even notice that I hadn’t come home?

Fortunately, the night was warm enough to where I only needed my cape to use as a blanket, although this also meant that I wouldn’t be able to transform back into my regular form until school started the next morning. I was silently praying that when I transformed back, I wouldn’t look like a total mess, like if my magical girl bedhead were to transfer over or my run in the day before had left any noticeable bruises.

Finally, once the sun came out and I had received my full two hours of sleep (which was pretty typical for a normal school day anyway), I transformed back into my normal appearance, checked my reflection in the pond for any loose hairs and quickly pulled out my magical phone. I was going to need Photo Finish if I was planning on surviving the rest of the school day. Even despite how vicious the kids at school had been the day before, they would think twice about trying to pick on someone whose friend was right beside her. I just hoped that Photo Finish’s reputation wouldn’t be completely destroyed just from being seen with me.

The final school bell for the day had finally rung, and as much as Photo Finish had tried to help throughout the day, she couldn’t be with me the entire time. From the moment I started my first class, I was shoved to the floor, spat on, kicked and humiliated while the students nearby pointed and laughed, all coincidentally when the teachers weren’t looking. If any of my instructors did ask what was going on, however, someone would blame all the noise on me, telling the teachers that I was trying to copy their homework or otherwise be a distraction. I was lucky that I was only given warnings, despite the protests from the other students, but I needed to continually remind myself that once I spoke with Cozy Glow, maybe this whole thing would blow over. I didn’t have too high of hopes, but maybe...

I waited silently at my desk when the final bell rang, resting my head into my arms as I leaned over the flat surface, hoping that the kids around me would get bored and leave. I could hear a few of them talking about me, waiting for me to get up so they could torture me some more, but after a few minutes without moving, they eventually got up from their seats and left the classroom. There was a good chance they were still waiting in the hallway to beat the shit out of me once I finally decided to leave, but I wasn’t waiting for them to leave. I was waiting for someone else.

A few moments later, a girl walked into the classroom and put her hand on my shoulder, making me jump in panic until I saw the face of the person I had been waiting for all along.

“Thanks, Photo Finish,” I said, rising from my chair despite how badly my legs hurt after a day of bullying. “I owe you one.”

“Are you… alright?”

Looking down, I saw that my boots were covered in scuff marks, my skirt was dirty and the zipper of my jacket was falling off, but it wasn’t like there was anything we could do about that now. “It’s nothing. I’m fine.”

“Did… your classmates do zis to you?”

As I rose from my chair, Photo Finish blocked my path, making it to where I couldn’t leave without talking to her, even though I couldn’t even make eye contact with her. “Look, it’s really nothing I haven’t been through at home anyway. Can we just--”

“Zis happens ven you are at home too?”

My eyes went wide, and suddenly my hands were gripping onto Photo Finish’s pink scarf, holding her right next to my face as my hands shook in terror. “Please, you can’t tell anyone about this! Promise me you’ll keep it just between us! Promise me!”

“I understand, Mädchen, but--”

“PROMISE ME!”

“Yes! I understand! Now vill you please let go of me?!”

I then realized just how strong my grip was, to the point where I must have been choking Photo Finish with her own scarf. As soon as I let go, rubbing my hands in embarrassment, Photo Finish began coughing, clearing the spit from her throat as she attempted to breathe normally again.

“Sorry.”

“Und you think zat you are fine?! If I’m going to go through with zis plan of yours, you need to tell me who has been doing zis to you. If you are not protected, zen Equestria is not protected.”

I looked back to the ground, moving my hands up to my arms as I hugged myself self-consciously. “Can we not talk about that right now? We need to find Cozy Glow before--”

“We vill find Cozy Glow regardless. Now tell me…” As she spoke, she grabbed a hold of my shoulders, lowering her face so that I could see her heavy stare underneath her glasses. “...who has done zis to you?”

I was beyond hesitant to tell her about my abuses, but it sounded like no matter how much I protested, I was only going to make her mad by not telling her the details. So, I did as she told me. I told her about all the things done to me by my mother, by my classmates, and even by Lulu Lemon, which apparently she still hadn’t heard about. I was so scared that she wouldn’t believe me, that she would think I was just exaggerating so that she would pity me, but her serious face never changed throughout the entire conversation. She just looked at me the same as if I were telling her any normal part of my day. It was nice… but it also put me on edge.

“Is zer anything else zat you have not told me?”

“No… At least, Trixie doesn’t think so.”

Photo Finish then took in a deep breathe through her nose and silently exhaled through her mouth as I awaited her response.

“If zat is ze case, zen you must be kept safe. You shall not return home until ze game is over, and you vill not be returning to school.”

“WHAT?!” My face contorted in confusion and panic, but Photo Finish’s stoic expression remained consistent. “Trixie can’t do that! How will--”

“You shall come home viz me, and you shall stay zer until ze completion of ze game. I am willing to compromise, but only after Last Gambit has agreed to our terms regarding Autumn Blaze. Und now… we go.”

Photo Finish immediately grabbed me by the wrist and led me out of the classroom, passing by some boys who were no doubt waiting to ambush me as soon as I walked out. Once they saw the other girl’s determined face, however, they all decided to back away, allowing us to make our way to the freshman hallways without the slightest inconvenience.

It was amazing how the entire way through the school corridors, even though there were people lined up waiting for me, none of them dared touch me while Photo Finish was with me. It was like she had some kind of control over the school that I didn’t know about, or maybe she had just enough of a reputation to where hurting her meant damaging their own reputation. It was this kind of popularity that I had always hoped to have one day, where I would be able to walk down the halls with so much confidence that nobody would be able to stop me. Then again, though, I had no idea if Cozy Glow would be able to turn them against her just like they had me. She still didn’t know Palette was Photo Finish, after all, but if Photo Finish was supposed to be protecting me, it may not have made any difference.

“Well, well, well,” a voice said as a girl closed her locker, revealing pink skin and curly blue hair on the other side. “Look who decided to show up to school today. Who’s this?”

“A friend,” I replied, not wanting to give away too much too soon, “but the real reason Trixie is here is because she wanted to talk to you about Autumn Blaze.”

“Oh?” She then looked over at Photo Finish, giving me a smile. “If you can talk about her so openly, then I guess that means this girl here must also be a magical girl too. Palette, am I right?”

Crap. Did I seriously give it away already? Before I could think about it too much, however, the girl beside me held out her hand and said, “Photo Finish.”

“I see. The school photographer. Wouldn’t have guessed that you were one of Platinum City’s finest, but then again, you don’t give away your identity as easily as other people.” I turned my face away in embarrassment, remembering how easy it was for her to find me in the first place. “So what did you two want to talk about? I’m guessing you haven’t changed your mind since yesterday.”

“Actually,” I began, “Trixie wanted to make a deal with you.”

Cozy Glow looked up and down my figure with a suspicious stare, apparently attempting to find the catch in my plan before I told her. “What kiiiind of deal?”

“Discord wants Autumn Blaze to be free just as much as you do, but that makes me want to release Autumn Blaze even less.The only way I could get him to agree not to send me back to Everfree City and release her on the spot was if I turned this into a game.”

Cozy Glow scoffed. “Well, that’s no fair! You’re just gonna pick a game you know you’ll win!”

“A death game.”

Suddenly, her aggravated expression began to gradually shift into one of enthusiastic anticipation. “Go on…”

“This game will take place in Everfree City, but Autumn Blaze will not be able to interfere. If we believe that Autumn Blaze is impacting the game in any way, you automatically forfeit, and we win.”

“‘We’? That makes it two against one! How do you expect me to agree to that?!”

“I’m not doing this without Palette.”

Cozy Glow shifted glances between Photo Finish and me, debating the conditions thoughtfully. Even though things may have seemed unfair on the surface, she knew that the game taking place in Everfree City gave her the home court advantage, not to mention that if she decided against my conditions, the chances of freeing Autumn Blaze grew much more difficult. By the same token, though, the two of us knew she wasn’t going to risk her life so easily. This was just a way to get her to the negotiating table so that Palette would be allowed into the game.

“Alright, Trixie,” Cozy Glow said, folding her arms with a devious grin. “I’ll tell you what. We’ll each gather a team of magical girls. The first one to kill the other team’s captain wins, and the winner gets to determine what to do with Autumn Blaze.”

“Deal,” I said with a smile of my own, shaking hands with the freshman in front of me while Photo Finish grimaced in the background.

“I’m sure you have already thought of zis,” she began, “but how exactly do you plan on releasing Autumn Blaze if ze Great und Powerful Trixie dies?”

Cozy Glow shrugged her shoulders, shaking her head with a giggle. “It’s obvious, silly! We’ll have Trixie put a timed release on Autumn Blaze’s seal. The game will last exactly five days, and if I’m not dead after five days, Autumn Blaze will be released. Those are conditions you can agree to, right, Great and Powerful Trixie?”

“Hmph. The Great and Powerful Trixie isn’t as stupid as you may believe. We both know that you’ll go into hiding the moment the game starts. That way not only will you stay alive, but you’ll also be able to keep the game going until you eventually win.”

The freshman clicked her tongue. “Dang it. I was hoping you wouldn’t catch onto that one.” She then rubbed her chin as her eyes drifted off to the side in deep thought, at least until a lightbulb suddenly went off over her head as she smiled with enthusiasm. “How about this? Starting this Monday, we’ll play the game starting thirty minutes after the final bell rings until midnight every day for five days. During that time, nobody’s allowed to come in or out, but it is part of a magical girl’s duties to be resourceful and tactful. If you can’t manage to find me in five days when we’re restricted just to Everfree City, then you don’t really deserve to call yourself a magical girl.”

Things were beginning to sound more and more concrete as we continued to go over the details. So far, the game seemed to work in a way we could both agree on, which made me perfectly happy, but I could see out the corner of my eye that Photo Finish still wasn’t too excited about the rules so far. I wanted to tell her not to worry, that I had one last trick up my sleeve, but it was still too early to bring it up this early in negotiations.

“Trixie agrees. The two of us will be captains, and each of us have to gather a team of magical girls in order to kill the other. What rules do you have on recruiting?”

“Well, first of all, they have to all be girls. Could you imagine a magical boy? Blech!”

This actually worked against me. Seeing as how the only person I knew of in the school who didn’t hate me was Flash Sentry, making an all-girls rule was going to make it hard to find people who actually wanted to be on my team. If the limit was manageable enough, though, I would be able to play with the same number that she had.

“Fair enough,” I replied. “How many girls on each team?”

“Not including the captains? Ten.”

“Three.”

“Three?! That makes it a catfight, not a death game! Give me at least five.”

I had to think about it for a minute, racking my brain for any girls besides Photo Finish who would be willing to join me. Suddenly, though, I came up with an idea of my own.

“Is your only requirement that they can’t be boys? Is Trixie allowed to pick whoever else she wants?”

“Sure, but I would be careful about who you pick. You never know what your enemy will be able to do against them.”

Cozy Glow then winked towards Photo Finish, communicating that she had seen right through my plan. I was hoping that I would be able to get some of the girls from Platinum City to help out, but I quickly realized that Autumn Blaze must have known more about us than we knew about her. Then all that information would go to Last Gambit, who would be free to communicate all the details with her own team before the game started, circumventing the rule that Autumn Blaze couldn’t interfere. Even still, though, I couldn’t pass up on the kind of talent that I had grown up with.

“Understandable,” I continued. “Any other rules?”

“Uhh… No guns? I guess it wouldn’t be fair to bring something like that to a magical girl fight.”

Intervening, however, was Photo Finish, raising her hand to make her own contributions to the negotiations. “Und what about me? Zat is a main factor in my magic, after all.”

“Hmm… Alright, you get a free pass, but you have to create them using magic! Also, by allowing this into the rules, you’re agreeing that we aren’t going to put any limit to the amount of magic that we’re allowed to use. If we can use it as our power, we don’t have to turn the notch down under any circumstance.”

Cozy Glow smiled maniacally as she said it, but I could understand the ramifications that could come if we started putting rules on each other’s magic. The last thing I wanted was for the game to get called off due to too many restrictions, which would no doubt lead to Discord being very, very upset with me.

“Trixie understands, but I still have a few more conditions I want to add.”

The girl in front of me groaned, falling sideways into her locker and sliding down theatrically. “You mean there’s more rules?”

“Yes. Anyone who dies in the game does not die in real life. They will be brought back to life exactly where they were before going to Everfree City.” Cozy Glow suddenly straightened out her body in shock, along with Photo Finish, who was finally able to understand what my plan had been the whole time. “Also, you need to get everyone to stop picking on me! Trixie is going to have a hard time finding girls to join her if everyone still thinks that I tried to murder you over some stupid showcase.”

Cozy Glow put her finger to her lip, and I was almost certain that she was going to tell me no to both conditions. To my surprise, however, she shrugged her shoulders as if they were no issue.

“Well, if we’re really going to add more rules, then I may as well add my own.”

What other rules could she have? She seemed so ready to be done with negotiations just a few seconds ago. What had I said that changed her mind so quickly?

“I’ll use my charm to get people to start being nice to you again. After all, unlike you, I actually have friends at this school.” I clicked my tongue from her unnecessary comment, but allowed her to continue regardless. “But if they’re just going to come back here after they die, then it has to be after midnight. I’d hate to respawn just for one of the girls already eliminated to be there waiting to kill me.”

“Fine. Anything else?”

“Just one more thing.” As Cozy Glow held out her index finger, she gave me one more smile, only this time, I could tell that she was going to turn the tables of this game in her favor. “That last rule doesn’t apply to us. If one of the captains dies in the game, we die in real life too!”

That was it. This way she could get exactly what she was looking for, a real death game where our lives were really going to be on the line. She was out for blood like I expected, but I didn’t realize the extent she would go through to make sure I died.

“But why?” Photo Finish asked, shaking her head in confusion. “Why is it zat you want Trixie to die so badly? You do realize zat Autumn Blaze would be set free regardless, correct?”

The freshman girl then looked away, standing in silence for several moments until her eyes started to glow red. It wasn’t red like magic. It looked like… like she was about to start crying.

“I want Trixie to die because of what she did to Divinity…”

“But Cozy Glow, Trixie doesn’t remember--”

“IT DOESN’T MATTER WHAT YOU REMEMBER!” she shouted, tears now trailing down her face. “DIVINITY WAS MY VERY FIRST FRIEND! SHE MADE ME FEEL IMPORTANT! SHE HELPED ME BE MORE THAN JUST A MAGICAL GIRL! AND YOU KILLED HER!!!”

I didn’t know who Divinity was. I didn’t know how I supposedly killed her. I didn’t know why I left Last Gambit alive while all the others died.

But Cozy Glow did, and she had been holding onto this pain for an amount of time that I just didn’t know.

“Trixie agrees,” I said, looking Cozy Glow straight in the eyes.

“Vas?! No, no, no, no, no! We’re still in negotiations! You don’t have to--”

“Yes… I do.”

For about thirty seconds, the three of us remained still like a painting, me looking straight at Cozy Glow while she and Photo Finish stared back at me. While it was true that I could have still used my leverage to convince her to change the stakes of the game, it wouldn’t have changed how things played out in the long run. She would still be out to kill me regardless, but this way, even though I was holding out hope that I would be able to win without killing her, this tension between us would finally end once and for all.

Then, as she held out her hand, I took her with my own as the two of us shook to finalize the deal. In just a few days, the three of us were going to fight each other to the death to decide the fate of all of Equestria.

“Palette?”

“Y-yes, Great und Powerful Trixie?”

“...Let’s get more magical girls.”

Author's Notes:

Third day of Trixmas