It’s your first day of school at Magical Girl Academy.
It’s time to make friends… and maybe meet some classmates who will become more than friends!
During the last stream, a subscriber requested that we spin the Wheel of Prompticality, then write a dating sim based on where it landed.
The Wheel landed on “Random DeviantArt,” so we picked five random images from DeviantArt, and then chat voted on which ones would make it into our story. Here’s how they voted:
We took the top three and made them main characters in the story. But since they were all so good, we put the other two in as supporting/minor characters too.
One viewer (Dragonflyghter) was even inspired enough to draw the three main love interests!
You can watch the full video here to see all the different possibilities we had for the story, or scroll down to read what we wrote.
Here’s what we came up with:
You wake for your first day of Magical Girls Academy. You look around your room at your MaGA poster, MaGA hat, and MaGA sweater, thinking about how you’ve been looking forward to this moment ever since you were little. Now, it’s finally a reality, and you’ll get to learn how to become a strong and responsible magical girl alongside some of the best in the country. You’re so excited you feel a little sick, but that’s nothing a tasty breakfast of waffles and peanut butter can’t fix!
But as you climb out of bed, wearing your rainbow and cat pajamas, you realize that you’re late! You were supposed to wake up an hour ago. Now, you only have five minutes to get ready for class!
Faster than you ever knew possible, you brush your teeth, comb your hair, throw on your MaGA uniform—a sparkly pink tutu with shimmering sequins—and yoink your waffle hot out of the toaster. You smear it through your tub of peanut butter, getting a nice thick layer on top of it, before popping it into your mouth and dashing out the door, yelling a quick goodbye to Mom and Dad.
You jog down the street, waffle in mouth, anxiously checking your watch every few seconds, hoping that you’re not going to be late on the first day. You’d never live it down. Everyone else would never take you seriously as a Magical Girl. After your experience in middle school being called “the lasagna queen” nonstop for just that one incident, you don’t want a repeat event now.
As you turn the corner down the road, the Academy comes into view on the horizon. It’s a giant white-and-sky-blue castle, with flags billowing off the peaks, and fireworks constantly going off in the sky above. Just seeing it fills you with excitement, enough adrenaline to pump you all the way there.
But, as you jog toward it, something catches your eye. By the side of the road is a bike, lying down on its side. Next to it is standing a horse, but not just any horse, a gorgeous white haflinger. Their mane drapes over their neck like silky waves of foam crashing on the shore, and their almond eyes gaze longingly into the distance. They’re also wearing a MaGA school uniform. Are they one of your classmates?
It looks like this horse might be in trouble. Should you stop and help them?
- YES: Stop and help the horse, maybe you can make a friend? (Chat chose this one)
- NO: You need to get to class on time! NO MORE LASAGNA QUEEN!
Yes, of course you need to stop and help them. That’s the cornerstone of being a Magical Girl. Helping others in need, no matter what’s going on in your life, or how it may hurt you, that’s what we stand for as Magical Girls. If you didn’t stop to help this classmate of yours, then you could never live with yourself.
You dash over to the horse and try to keep your eyes on their face, not their majestic body.
“Are you okay?” you ask them. “Did you fall over on your bike?”
The horse turns their rich, deep eyes toward you. Their thick backside clacks away with a hoof, almost as if in protest. They give a grunt of a whinny and then, just as quickly as they were looking at you, they turn away.
“Are you for real?” the horse asks, in a voice that makes them sound as if they’re high, high above you. “Did you actually think I was riding this… wheeled device?”
You’re taken aback by the horse’s attitude. Haughtiness is not very becoming of a magical girl.
“Well, it’s right next to you,” you say. “So I assumed you had an accident.”
The horse looks you up and down, then grunts out a neigh of disappointment.
“Looking at your uniform, it seems as though you’re a MaGA student. I didn’t know the academy was allowing those with such tiny brains in. Look at me, you little freshman. I am a horse. Do you think I really need to ride a bike to get anywhere? I just happened upon this bike and was examining it. Truly an unnecessary and old-fashioned mode of transportation, compared to hooves. Though not as unnecessary as you.”
You gasp in shock at the horse’s response, and they shake their mane, making sparkles fly off and into the bright sun.
“Anyway, I need to be leaving now or else I’ll be late. The name’s Gizella. Hopefully we won’t be seeing much of each other at the academy.”
With that, Gizella gallops off into the distance, faint rainbows following behind her. You’re a little upset at how that whole thing went, but you’re glad your heart was in the right place.
From far off, you hear the chimes of the academy ringing. Oh crap! First period is starting! Not wanting to waste another minute, you grab the bike from the ground and pedal to the medal all the way there.
Once you arrive at the academy, you toss the bike to the ground, dash inside, and sit down at your desk, just as the last chime for the warning bell goes off. You made it! You’re a little out of breath and a little sweaty, but you’re here, ready to learn how to be a Magical Girl.
Your teacher steps in front of the class. They’re wearing the teachers’ version of the school uniform: a sky-blue tutu that spills glitters as they walk around, like a beautiful slug leaving a trail of sparkles behind them.
And your teacher is none other than the legendary duo Peppercorn and Schnitzel. Peppercorn is a werewolf magical girl, wielding their magical axe and claws. Peppercorn is their wolf sidekick who can fly and sniff out bad guys from a hundred mile radius.
You’ve been following P&S since you were a baby. You can’t believe that now, you get to be taught by them!
You look around your classroom at your classmates, and all of them seem to be just as excited as you. The only exception is…
Gizella! The horse is sitting there in the back of the class, filing her hooves with a nail file, looking completely disinterested in what’s going on. Just seeing that makes you angry. How can she be so nonchalant in the presence of legends? And why is she here if she made fun of you for being a freshman? This is supposed to be a basic class!
“Listen up, class!” Peppercorn shouts from the head of the room. “This is Transformation 101. Transformation is an important part of any magical girl’s crime-fighting life. If you can’t pull of a flashy transformation before you start beating the crap out of bad guys, then you might as well just stay home. Transformations is what separates us from the common brutish police. People expect them from us, and we have to deliver. So let’s get down to it, right at the start. Everybody, pair off with a partner, and then we’ll begin.”
You look to the classmates on either side. To your left is an adorable little cat girl with a parachute hanging off her back. Her eyes are literal holes and her mouth is nothing more than a “w.” To your right is a bowl of soup with luscious locks hanging off the top of its broth. Both of them are looking at you eagerly, hoping to get your attention. Who do you ask to partner?
- The cat girl with the parachute (Chat chose this one)
- The bowl of soup with a haircut
- You try to partner with Gizella in the back of the class
You decide to ask the cat girl with the parachute to be your partner.
“Hey,” you say to them. “Do you want to partner up for this?”
She slowly turns her head to you, and her eyes, that a moment ago you thought were big and cute, suddenly feel like they’re black holes sucking out all of the light and happiness in the room. They never blink. Are they even capable of seeing? Or is she just sensing you straight to the darkest depths of your soul? You start to feel that maybe this wasn’t the best decision.
“Of course we can be p-nyaaaaaa-rtners,” she says, elongating a part of the word “partners” that doesn’t even exist. She shifts her desk over to yours, officially sealing the deal. “My nyaaaaaa-me is Dutchess. Nyaaaaa-ice to meet you.”
You take a quick glance to your other side, to see how your other potential options are faring. To your surprise, the bowl of soup and Gizelle are teamed up together, laughing about something. Gizelle glances in your direction for a second, but then turns back to Soup. You hope that they’re not laughing about you.
You slowly turn back to your Dutchess, but as you do you nearly bump into her head. She’s leaning over her desk, right next to you, paw to her mouth. She presses her mouth right up against your ear and whispers, in a voice so soft and cold that only you can hear:
“Don’t regret it.”
You are now officially at 100% regret capacity.
“Okay class!” Peppercorn says, smacking his clawed paws together to get everyone’s attention. “So the first thing you need to think about when doing your transformation is the sparkle to glitter ratio. Laymen think that they’re the same, but that’s what separates you from them. Too much glitter, and you’ll choke the onlooking crowds. Too much sparkle, and you’ll blind them. But just the right mixture of the two will create the perfect transformation sequence, guaranteeing you victory. Your ratio will differ from everyone else’s, for example, mine is 20% glitter, 80% sparkle. Observe.”
Peppercorn unsheathes their multicolored axe from behind then and thrusts it into the air, unleashing a blast of sunshine and rainbows. Their whole body flashes white all over, blasting explosions of sparkles and a respectable amount of glitter to give it a shiny edge. They spin on their claw-toes, and slam down the grip of their axe to the ground with a thud, bringing the transformation to an end with a laser-light flash. A layer of aura shoots right off their body and through the entire classroom, briefly blowing everyone backward. Dutchess’s parachute catches the wind and unfurls, slamming into the three desks behind her. She doesn’t look like she minds.
You sit there, enthralled by what you’ve just seen. If you could pull off a transformation half as decent as that one, you’d be the happiest magical girl in the world. Peppercorn points their axe to the class, eliciting another round of excited yelps.
“I don’t expect any of you to pull off such an incredible transformation on your first go. But you might as well try. Summon your inner glitter and sparkles, and see what happens. Try some different ratios, and you might just be surprised. Now, go!”
Even though you’re paired up with Dutchess, the creepy cat girl, you still need to try your best. You’re at MaGA, for goodness sake! You won’t get a second chance at this. It’s time to do your best. And at the very least, she won’t interfere with your transformation, since you all do them separately from each other.
“But!” Peppercorn adds, stabbing a claw into the air. “Since you’re all beginners, you likely won’t be able to transform alone. Which is where your partners cone in! Today you must learn to channel the power of friendship! With enough friendship energy built up between you two, you may just have a chance of pulling it off.”
You heart drops. You and Dutchess… have to work together? You look again at her cold, empty eyes and her never-changing smile.
“I can-nyaaaaaaa-t wait to get started!” she says, somehow without moving her lips.
Things aren’t looking good, but you need to try your hardest. What do you do to try and bring your friendship levels with Dutchess to maximum power?
- Tell her the truth: that she creeps you out (Chat chose this one)
- Share some of your leftover breakfast with her
- Ask her about herself
- Attempt to bond over cat-related things
You know what you need to do. If you’re going to have a friendship with Dutchess, it has to start off on the right foot. It has to start off honestly. You need to tell her that she creeps you out a bit, and maybe things can get better from there. Barring that, you have a backup plan.
“Hey, Dutchess?” you ask. “Can we talk about something before we get started trying to summon our friendship?”
“Certai-nyaaaaaanly we can,” she says, her eyes latched onto yours. It’s like staring into bottomless bits, the depths of which you know you would never be able to escape from if you fell into them, yet you can’t help but lean over the side and listen for the echoing screams of those who have tried.
“Dutchess, the truth is that….” You swallow down your nervousness. That has no place in the heart of a true magical girl. “You kind of give the creeps a little bit, you know? Do you think you could maybe ease up on the staring and whispering?”
There, you said it. It’s done. Just like getting a shot at the doctor. Now you stare at Dutchess, waiting for their response.
It doesn’t seem like your words affected them very much. They’re still just looking at you the same as before. Then, you remember, they physically cannot change their expression. You hope you didn’t hurt them too badly, but the truth needed to get out there.
“I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings,” you tell them. “But I think that—”
“Did I really creep you out???” Dutchess asks, enthusiasm washing over their voice like you never expected.
“Uh, yeah,” you say. They leap up from their seat and wrap their little paws around you, giving you a warm kitty hug. Dutchess leans into your ear and whispers again.
“I was sent on a mission from god to kill titans. I was worried that I would nyaaaaaaat be scary enough to defeat them. But if someone tough like you is scared by me, then meow-be I have a chance!”
You don’t know what to think about Dutchess. Apparently she thinks she’s a savior or something? You slowly grab onto her body and peel her off of you. She stays in the same position as you plop her back in the chair. But her parachute lifts up off the ground and caresses you on the cheek. Apparently she can control that too?
“In order to defeat terror,” Dutchess says quietly. “One must make an ally of fear.”
You don’t know what to make of that, but you have a feeling that there’s a lot going on with Dutchess that you don’t know about. Or want to know about.
But before you can ask any more questions, the bell rings, bringing class to an end. You can’t believe how fast time went by! It seems like it only just started, and now it’s over. You’re worried that you’re behind everyone else, and that they’re all transforming at top speeds now, but when you look around the room, it seems that nobody managed to pull it off. Aside from some glitter puddles on the ground and one girl who transformed half of her face to have slightly shorter hair, no one got much further than you did.
“All right, that’s the end of today’s class!” Peppercorn accounces. “Get going to lunch. A proper magical girl needs her carbs and sugars to stay in top evil-slaying shape!”
You leave the classroom and head to the cafeteria. After standing in line for a few minutes, you buy your lunch of a strawberry parfait, sprinkled donut, cotton candy, gummy bears, and a box of fruit juice punch. You carry your tray out into the array of tables, seeing all of your amazing classmates.
But, most of the seats are already taken. In fact, from where you are now, you can only see four empty chairs. Where do you sit?
- The seat next to Gizelle the horse.
- The seat next to Dutchess the cat girl.
- The seat next to Soup with hair. (Chat chose this one)
- The seat all alone in the corner.
You decide to sit next to Soup. They were partners with Gizelle during the Transformation class, and you saw them giggling at you. You want to make sure that you don’t get off on the wrong foot. Or hoof. Or whatever soup bowls walk on.
“Hey,” you say to Soup. “Do you mind if I sit here?”
Soup glances up at you, spilling a bit of their liquid out the back, then settles back down flat on top of their tray.
“Sure, if you’d like,” they say.
You plop down next to Soup and set your tray beside theirs. You can’t help but notice that Soup has already almost finished their entire lunch. There’s only a few gummy bears left. They must be a quick eater.
“So what do you think of MaGA?” you ask Soup. “Do you like it here?”
Soup rotates their bowl toward you. “Of course. I have to like it.”
That intrigues you. “What do you mean?”
Soup takes a deep breath that bubbles up in their liquid. You wonder what kind of soup is inside of their bowl. From where you’re sitting, it’s a dark brown broth. Maybe minestrone? Or French onion?
“My family gave up a lot for me to be here,” Soup says. “We weren’t rich or anything, and MaGA is pretty expensive.”
You nod in understanding. Thankfully your family could afford the tuition costs of MaGA, but they were surprisingly high. It never really occurred to you that other students would have trouble paying for it, but that makes total sense.
“Yeah, it’s not cheap,” you say to Soup. “But it’s worth it. Right?”
“I hope so,” Soup says. “Because my family sacrificed their lives for me to be here.”
Soup’s words make you drop your sprinkle donut onto the tray.
“What do you mean sacrifice their lives?” you ask.
“It’s tough being soup,” Soup says with a sigh. “Every day, you spill a little bit of yourself. And when all of your liquid is gone, you’re gone with it. Your bowl stops moving. You’re dead and time to go to the great dishwasher in the sky.”
You sit in silence listening to Soup, and remember how they spilled a bit of themself to look up at you. Was that a sacrifice they were willing to make, just to notice you?
“My parents wanted more for me than their simple lives,” Soup continues. “They were both soup kitchen workers, and they barely made ends meet. So when I started showing off my magical girl powers, they knew they wanted to send me here. They saved up their money, but more than that… more than that, they saved up themselves. A few days before classes started, my Mom and Dad… they poured themselves into me. I begged them not to, as they poured their broths into my bowl, but all they did was tell me how proud they were of me, and how much they loved me, as the last drops leaked out of them and into me.
“When they were empty, their dead bowls clanged to the floor. They’d given me all of their soup, so that I could live as long as possible, and try to make this world as good a place as possible, as a real magical girl. If I don’t devote every second of my life to that goal, then their sacrifice is meaningless. I have to become the best magical girl there ever was, for Mom and Dad.”
You don’t know what to say. You sit there in stunned silence, thankful that you still have your parents and you’re not a sentient bowl of soup.
“I’m so sorry to hear all that,” you tell Soup. “I’m sure you’ll live up to their hopes and dreams for you.”
“Thanks,” Soup says. They giggle a little bit. “Sorry if I look like a pig. I’m not used to having so much food around, that I ate it all kind of quickly. And I’m even still kind of hungry, haha!”
“No worries,” you tell them. Then, thinking about what a real magical girl would do, you pick up your donut. “Here, do you want this? I don’t really like them.”
“Sure!” Soup says, so excitedly they nearly spill liquid out from their bowl. “Here, you can have my gummies. They get stuck in my hair.”
The two of you exchange your sweets with smiles on your faces. Just then, the bell rings again, and you scarf down the rest of your lunch just in time to hear an announcement over the loudspeaker.
“Attention all students!” comes the voice of Peppercorn, who is apparently also the school principal. “Today classes are ending early, since it is the first day of school. You may all go home now, but come back tomorrow ready to work your magical butts off!”
You’re a little sad to leave MaGA early, but you’re already exhausted after what feels like a long day. You wave goodbye to Soup, and then start your walk home.
Outside, with everyone else going home, you take a look around to see if there’s anyone you want to walk with. Gizella is already galloping away, Dutchess the cat is parachuting up into the sky somehow, and Soup is nowhere to be seen. It seems like you’ll be walking home alone today.
That evening you tell your parents all about your first wonderful day. After doing a little bit of prep work for tomorrow, you stretch and head to bed.
So much happened today. You even made a pretty good friend. Will you become better friends with Soup tomorrow? Or maybe more than friends? And what about Gizella and Dutchess? Maybe there’s still hope for them too.
No matter what though, one thing is for sure. It’s going to be an exciting semester at MaGA!
END OF CHAPTER 1
If you want to join us and help write a story by trolling in chat, or share your own writing for feedback, then we’d love to have you join us on Twitch.
And you missed the stream, you can still watch them on the YouTube channel or watch the full stream reruns.
Hope to see you next time, friend!
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