Story: Magical Girl Conspiracy

 

 Beth fidgeted with her costume, regretting it a little bit more with each passing moment. It should've been easy money. The others would know exactly what sort of thing the judges for this impromptu contest would be looking for. A bit of leg, something snug around the waist and chest to help show off your 'assets', but she... hadn't been able to bring herself to wear something like that. A robe. An unflattering robe that went from shoulder to ankele, and hid her entire body in the process, replete with a stupid fake beard to hide her face. She'd ripped that off and dumped it on the floor.

Hrm.... Maybe if she tied it up a little, she could have it hug her figure a bit more? Or.... Or maybe bunch it up to show off more leg? It was a bit late for her to think of another costume and- Ugh, she really was stuck with this wasn't she? Even if she could think of a good way to make it work, she was a little too conscious of her own body to ever show it off like that.

She turned around to leave - and almost tripped over a book that had been left lying on the floor.

"Tsk, such careless treatment of a book," she tutted. "Don't they know that books are to be treated with the utmost respect?"

It was a little strange to find something like this lying around in a changing room like this. Leatherbound, quite old looking as well. A book like this should especially be given greater care to make sure it didn't receive any further damage. As if her opinion of this station couldn't get any lower!

Out of idle curiosity, she flipped the book open to see what it was about. Unfortunately, she didn't get the opportunity. Because as soon as she opened it, a little speck of light flew out of it, then began to buzz around her head making an odd high pitched squeal as it did so.

"Oh, fair maiden!" the little ball of light said to her. "You must take heed of my warning!"

"What's this?" Beth curled an eyebrow. "Some kind of hologram?" She wouldn't put it past this place to pull something like that. "I get it, a publicity stunt for one of your - "

Ah, but then she was interrupted yet again, this time by the book suddenly feeling a lot heavier. As in, it suddenly felt like she was holding a bowling ball in her hand rather than a precious tome. It collapsed out of her hands, much to her own shock - though not so much shock as she felt when a large, muscular green arm reached out from between the pages and slammed hard onto the ground.

"Another hologram?" Beth said, as what could only be described as an orc crawled out of the book right before her eyes. A hefty pig snout, tusks as big as a man's arm, tall, rotund, with beady little eyes that spoke of malice, anger and true beastlike malevolence. It was carrying a hefty stick like a club.

And with it, shattered the mirror that Beth had been looking into a moment ago. Right. Probably not a hologram then! Even if it was, probably best to not take your chances! She hitched up her robe and made a dash for the door, pushing it open - only to find herself being grabbed by the being that was most definitely not a hologram! It had the back of her robe in its grubby mitts! It yanked back - but only managed to tear off most of the bottom half of it, leaving her stumbling out into the corridor operating on pure flight instincts.

Rational though she might be Beth knew that this was one of those times where listening to your instincts was paramount. Stopping to think things through in this sort of situation was exactly what would get you killed. She'd read too many stories where a monster was being fleed, and the fleer made some damn stupid mistake that got her killed. Case in point, running directly towards the lamia crawling down the end of this corri-

Now, that did get her to stop in her tracks. She thought she'd seen something like that earlier, and dismissed it as a costume. Getting a better look at it? No, that was no costume. It was too detailed, way above the budget that a studio like this could afford. Not to mention that it was looking at her and licking its lips! Reverse track! Down this way instead! Where there were goblins and imps playing with the bandages of a Mummy and (mercifully) ignoring her, a Beholder sleeping in the corner that she really really hoped didn't wake up any time soon, and a general sense of impossible chaos unfolding before her disbelieving eyes.

Hearing the orc and lamia making their approach behind her, and seeing a very nasty looking shadow at the end of the corridor ahead, Beth opened the only door the corridor had and ducked insdie, collapsing against it while feeling utterly short of breath.

"What the hell is going on here?!" she asked herself. That was more exercise than she'd had in a while, so she felt pretty damned dizzy. "Those weren't costumes, and now that I think about it holographic technology hasn't advanced that much..."

Eliminate the impossible and whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. Which meant htat had to be... Magic? Real magic?

"You'll never get away with this."

Huh? Wasn't that... the guy in charge of the focus group? Still feeling winded, beth rose to her feet. They were in a room with double sided glass. As a coping mechanism, her brain quickly filled in the principles of this kind of glass. It was coated on one side with an extremely thin metal coating, usually aluminium, so thin that you could normally see through it - but if the light was on in one side, and not in the other, then you could see through from the dark side and only see a mirror from the light.

In this case, she was seeing through into a brightly lit room where a green skinned woman in a witch's outfit was standing before that guy, cackling up a storm while a pair of winged monkeys held him in place, forcing him to his knees.

"Kukukukuku!!" the witch cackled. "Really now, I won't get away with heat? Bringing reality to its knees? Unlocking the true horror of fiction for you all to revel in?" She leaned down, and mockingly patted her prisoner on the head. "Your little station will be the perfect means of overwriting truth with lies. Reality with narrative."

"Evil always loses in the end!"

"Not in this modern era," the witch said with a gleam in her eyes. "You've twisted things around. Bad endings are growing quite popular out here in reality. Besides, it won't take much to muddy the waters. We'll play victim, and your people will turn us from evil to good no matter what we do! That's how we'll win in the end, the true power... of fiction!"

"Oh this is bad!" the little ball of light from before buzzed near Beth's ear. "This is very, very bad. We didn't mean to do this, honest! Most of us like being fiction. We like it when people like our stories, but a bunch of bad guys got tired of it and wanted to flex their muscles out here, and we couldn't stop them, and -"

"Hold up!" Beth hushed. "Okay, okay, this is a lot to take in all of a sudden. So you're telling me that magic is real, and it's turning works of fiction into real things?"

That sounded both awesome and horrifying at the same time. Awesome, because there were a lot of fictional characters she'd love to sit down and have a nice chat with. Horrifying because there were a lot more fictional characters who she would rather not exist on the same continent as, if not the same planet, if not the same solar system.

"Yes, I'm sorry!" the little ball of light... ah, with a closer look she could see this was actually a pixie. "Look, you can't beat them with your real weapons. The only thing that can beat fiction, is fiction mixed with reality. I don't want this any more than you do, and you look like the best bet to put a stop to this!"

"Me?" Beth asked. "But- But I just read books! I'm no athlete, and I'm certainly no hero!"

"But I can make you one!" the pixie insisted. "I can tell at a glance. The way you handled that book... you really love books, right? You're exactly the sort of person who will know what to do in a situation like this, the only thing you lack is the power!"

Beth's face screwed up. What was she offering? A chance to be a hero all of a sudden? That was the last thing Beth wanted. She wasn't a hero! SWhe was just a plain, ordinary girl - Who was watching a man getting electroshock therapy right before her eyes.She was a scared girl hearing a nasty orc just outside the door, accompanied by a harsh sniffing sound.

Guh...!

"What do I have to do?" she asked. This was another time for survival instinct. And, now that her rational side was catching up, with the way things were now actually agreeing to do this couldn't possibly make things worse.

"I'll enchant you with the power of fiction!" the pixie said. "The noble lie! The truth is a precious thing because there is only one truth, but it's outnumbered by lies. That's why you will have to harness the power of fiction to protect the truth! Um, I heard what you were saying right before this all kicked off, so that seems like a good basis - "

There was a nasty thump at the door.

"Look, if you're going to do it, do it already!" Beth insisted. She didn't want to face that orc again any time soon, no thanks!

"Well, okay!" the pixie said, and then it flew directly into Beth's chest - and things got a little strange.

Something started to fill up her body. A warmth that reminded her of snuggling up in front of a fireplace in the dead of winter, a stack of books nearby, a blanket draped over her body and a hot drink for her to sup from within arm's reach. It was dreamy. It was pleasant, making her mind feel kinda foggy. She was wobbly - but also felt weirdly confident. In herself. In her strength. In her power. In her body. She wasn't a plain jane! She was - She was!

The door burst open and the orc stomped in through the open gap where it once was, tearing through part of the wall as it entered. It was a terrifying sight. Absolutely horrifying. And yet, Beth found herself marching towards it with a smile on her face.

<hr>

"Did you have to go so hard on the electricity, Agnes?" Asmodeus complained. His accomplice shrugged, and gave him another zap for good measure. "Your sense of humour is as wicked as ever."

"It worked, didn't it?" Agnes asked, nodding to the other side of the 'double sided' window. Asmodeus did just that, glancing over out of the corner of his eye. Heh. The stuck up bibliophile who looked down on Magical Girls was now wearing a shortened robe that clung to her body like a second skin, giving an Orc a good hard spin kick. "Pushed her over the edge into accepting her new role."

Indeed it had. That girl hadn't cracked a smile all day since she got here, except for when she realised one of hter fellow focus group members was an author she admired. Well! Now she was grinning ear to ear, obviously enjoying herself as she whirled around in that cute robe, acting like every bit the magical girl stereotype.

"I, Fantasy Caster, will not permit you to sully reality with your evil ways!" Beth said, and now look! She was even adopting a cutesy battle pose! Oh! Blowing a kiss as well! Perfect. Absolute perfection!

"Do you need me for the others?" Agnes asked. To that, Asmodeus shook his head.

"No, no, different scenarios for their different personalities," he said. "They don't like Magical Girls? Well, that's fine. In that case, I'll turn them from consumers into a brand new product."

Such was the way of unbridled Capitalism, after all. You're either consuming the product, or you are one. Just the way Asmodeus wanted it.

This won't go on the addventure, but I did come up with scenarios for the other girls. Here they are!


<hr>
Dani is on her way out of the changing room as well, when a masked intruder suddenly takes her hostage. She soon works out this guy isn't doing it for money or anything like that, he's just doing it for the hell of it. Disparaging Magical Girls the entire time, in a way that sounds kinda like Dani herself. He tells Dani that chicks like her are playing to a stereotype, and Dani probably wishes that she had some kinda lame magical power that could save her right now, huh? Despite herself, Dani imagines that she did have that kind of power - and finds the shadows around her are starting to move in a very odd way.

<hr>

Before Eden is even able to leave her room, she finds herself staring in rapt fascination at her tennis racquet and her ball. She experimentally bounces the ball on the racquet - and then a pair of eyes appear on the ball, asking her to cut that out already. It tells her that it's an alien in disguise. It had come here from outer space because its people needed a hero, and they mistook this station's broadcasts as news articles about superheroes. The tennis ball asks her if, uh, maybe she could be a hero? Eden gives it a flat look and pokes it, trying to work out how they pulled this special effect off.

And then aliens beam into the room and start to shoot at her. Eden takes a shot in the arm, and it drops limp and numb. The tennis ball offers to heal her up, and says that it can offer her powers. Given the situation, she doesn't seem to have much of a choice!

<hr>

Cari spots a General wandering the halls, and she can tell it's a genuine uniform, not something like a costume. She follows along, and finds herself eavesdropping on a conversation between the General and one of the higher up staff. One of them mentions that it's a bit risky for him to come in uniform - but the General points out that the weird costumes you see around here, he'd almost look weird if he didn't. They then exposit about a multiversal war that they're preparing for, and that the magical girl shows are psychological training to help the public endure.

Just then, a portal opens up and something jumps out - landing on Cari! She tries to fight the weird thing off, but it bonds with her body before she even knows what's happening, and the General leans down to make her an offer. Is she ready to fight for... not just her country, but her very plane of existence?

<hr>

Francis, meanwhile, is grabbed by her own future self and pulled into a nearby room. Her future self puts a hand to her mouth and tells her that she won't believe this, but this studio is actually a soul sucking corporation in more than a literal sense. They're brainwashing people with potent subliminal effects to make them compliant. The present Francis tells her no, she doesn't believe it - and then yet another Francis appears out of nowhere, zaps the other Francis and warns her to ignore that other Francis, as she's a brainwashed slave to the Dark Empire.

And then, cue double future Francis playing a game of "what am I thinking right now?" to prove herself - before she is herself shot down by a future version of Cari, who has clearly been brainwashed.