Previously On Battle Fantasia

Previously On Battle Fantasia is a special event that started on Battle Fantasia on 11/11/18.

The five years of Battle Fantasia MUSH roleplay have established a miraculous and tragic timeline...

...but it wasn't the first timeline.

Cue the music!

The Wayback Machine

It is September 20, 2013.

The height of fall. Tokyo is golden and beautiful, afternoons still warm with the memory of summer; beginning to be crisp, in the early morning, with the promise of winter.

It is the second year of the Sister Schools program, which is still new enough to be exciting and also a little uncomfortable. Juuban Public School is about to host the joint sports festival, brushing up their fields. Infinity Institute and Ohtori Academy anticipate shoddiness, but are going to find sportsmanship instead.

But some students suddenly find themselves having to balance the challenge of finding the right partner for the three-legged race with a new life -- a double life -- a secret life.

That's because two weeks ago the demonic army of Dark Fall swept into the heart of the magic worlds, the Fairy Realms, and dislodged their masters. They possessed ancient artifacts and used them to explode fairy castles, and they sealed fairy queens away in teacups. They shattered souls, and remade worlds in their own dark image. And so the cries for help went out -- all of them, drawn by an unseen force, to the same blue ball in Space.

And so it is that today, on Earth, the consequences of centuries, millennia, of planning and battles have come to fruit, as Dark Fall and Ends of the World alike descend not as one, but at once. The greedy fingers of corporate masters tear the dreams out of children's chests in the hunt for the miracle-granting Embryo. A coterie of Belkan Knights root in the shadows for the Linker Cores of the innocent - leaving them half dead and bereft of magic. Orphans stir on Southern Cross Island, finding victims to feed on, as their master's mark blazes in the sky. Underground, the Order of the Glittering Crux seeks to release the seals that will allow them to summon their magitechnological wonders into the real world, and seize it for their own. Witches throng in the shadows, their attention called by the despair of those who see how bleak the world is, their Kiss drawing still more into that trap. Above, the Castle Where Eternity Dwells silently waits to see whose heart will next be savaged by the Duels it oversees. And in the North, Queen Beryl's empire rises again, to finally and absolutely conquer the Earth and therefore the crown jewel of the universe...

But the guardians of Earth are rising. Tokyo is where that battle will be fought; as Pretty Cures are found by the refugees of the Fairy Worlds, and HiME once more flock to the Land of Fuuka, now called Southern Cross Island, and the Silver Millennium's Sailor Senshi stir at last from their millennia-long slumber. The darkness is deep; but once, a great queen wished for a light to outshine any darkness.

She will not be disappointed.

She has you.

---

Welcome to 'PREVIOUSLY ON BATTLE FANTASIA', our game's next major plot. Starting immediately, we're taking a trip back in time to our world as it was in September 2013: a more innocent time, with more innocent characters. New transfer students are new once again. Virtually everyone is a freshly recruited magical girl, taking their first steps into the world of fighting evil by moonlight -- youma are scary and their masters mysterious and unknown. Balancing normal and magical life is not old hat but an often-overwhelming act of frantic rushing around and the occasional guilty lie.

And beautiful friendships are about to be born.

Frequently Asked Questions

WHY ARE WE DOING THIS?

Frankly, the game has been in a very dark place for a very long time, and everyone needs a break. PREVIOUSLY ON BATTLE FANTASIA will occasionally tackle some heavy truths, but overwhelmingly its tone is intended to be lighthearted and fun -- or at least not oppressively, inescapably awful. It is an opportunity for everyone to get a fresh take on their characters, exploring, in a backwards way, exactly how far they've come.

It is also, frankly, an opportunity for some fan service, and the staff is taking requests on 'alternate timeline' plot points you'd like to see worked into the story. Please email your ideas to battlefantasiastaff@gmail.com or join the brainstorming shared document here!

IS EVERYTHING THE SAME?

No, and we will get into the differences between the first timeline and the final timeline (our regular game) below.

Obviously, one major difference is that themes and characters that joined the game after September 2013 will have joined it earlier and younger: take a look at your 'school' entries, you'll see you've been sent back two grades! (If you are one of these characters, the staff wants to work out the details of your earlier arrival with you -- please contact Pink Moon Stick for a brainstorming session!)

Characters from later SEASONS of certain themes who weren't around at game start (here's looking at you, Chibi-Usa-chan) will not be present in September 2013, but can rejoin us as the timeline catches back up with them.

WAIT, TIMELINES PLURAL?

Yes. We are going to do several, one at a time, and in so doing tell a story, as a game, about the MANY ways things have changed from everyone's original destiny to their current one (not just the hairstyle of Homura Akemi). In each timeline we will be skipping around through the intervening year and a half between past and present to hit various highlight events from the old days that some of our players missed out on, and others would enjoy revisiting.

If you want to remind yourself and come up with a possible wishlist, http://battlefantasia.pinksugarheartattack.net/Timeline is hideously out of date, but it's the earlier stuff we're especially eager to do, so in that sense it's still a useful resource!

BUT I WANT TO KEEP DOING 2015 ROLEPLAY!

That's completely fine. All 'Previously On' logs are going to be labeled as such; you are welcome to roleplay in the 'current' timeline privately if you like, especially to give yourself a little denouement after certain major events, if you don't want to wait. We stopped at the end of the IC night of May 27, 2015, and will be picking back up on May 28, 2015 eventually; for various spooky plot reasons, please keep your roleplay within the next two days, May 28-29, 2015.

Timelines

For log titles, please label which timeline you're roleplaying in with the prefix: TIMELINE #:. So, a scene set in the first timeline might have the title TIMELINE 1: Welcome To Tokyo!

Each timeline has a game-wide theme designed to help guide the overarching plot of Previously On Battle Fantasia across timelines. There is also a list of differences from the 'final' timeline (regular BF) to help people keep things straight and create prompts for interesting scene opportunities.

Please add to the bullet point list beneath the current timeline to document significant differences as they appear. We will be adding later timelines to this page gradually, along with their notable changes from the previous timeline required to get the roleplay a'rolling.

Timeline One

THEME: FRIENDSHIP. Everyone is meeting each other for the very first time. Friendships are born, and they are beautiful. Over the course of the first timeline, the innocence and passion of the magical girl community will be powerful enough to forge a grand alliance, in some respects the opposite of the final timeline. A good opportunity for bitter enemies to become dear friends. That doesn’t mean there is no tension among magical girls, but rivalries tend to be less painful and more hopeful.

• IC Starting Date: September 2013
• Starting Plots: Sister Schools Athletics Festival, Hosted By Juuban Public School; Fusion

• Madoka Kaname is a newly Contracted Puella Magi and Homura Akemi is a normal girl.
• Themes/characters that joined at game start are rolled back to... game start.
• Later themes/characters' integration deals will need to be explained here, please add them in brief after discussing your plan with the staff.

• Miraculous Ladybug is pretty much the same except that Hawk Moth began his plot in September 2013 instead of later on. Everyone received their Miraculouses as normal, only they're a little bit younger and cuter.
• Steven Universe arrived in Tokyo a little earlier and a little younger, with his powers almost completely unexplored and untested (eg, early season one), because Beach City decided to make their move in 2013 instead of 2015.
• Kasagami Araki arrived much earlier and younger in this timeline, as a middle schooler in 9th grade. She notably lacks her cynicism about the world and people in general, being overall more positive and utterly new to her powers as a Duelist.
• The New Transfer Student List, September 2013:

• Homura Akemi
• Kasagami Araki
• Utena Tenjou
• Mai Tokiha
• Mikoto Minagi
• Makoto Kino
• Lera Camry

• After an eventful transfer to Ohtori - a car was cut in half on the boat ride over - Mai is bowled over by a strange girl who moves to attack her, only to run away instead. Mai finds her fainted in a hedge, and realising how hungry she is, brings her home to make some ramen. This is apparently the best thing which has ever or will ever happen, and the girl, Mikoto, attaches to her immediately.
• 'Buki, amidst trying to get Ohtori students to join her Animal Care Club in the days before the festival, realises that a strange girl is trying to get at the birds in the greenhouse, and meets Mikoto and the cat she's trying to help get a snack. Luckily, she always comes prepared, and she has some canned food Mikoto can offer to her friend instead. Mikoto proceeds to... help... Inori try and get club members, and in the process volunteers herself to help out, instead.
• Mikoto and Endo meet as the two last entrants to a broom racing contest, and despite the strange match-up, they sweep the competition.
• After rampaging into the pool, Mikoto is taken to the sports festival's first aid tent, where she is restored by a caring civilian named Yumi Ohzora. She teaches her important facts about money and ownership.
• Homura Akemi flees the sports festival that occurs on her second day of school, feeling depressed. Madoka, Mami and Eri (a Puella Magi trio, and already fast friends) go to look for her. They find her in a labyrinth, about to be taken by a Witch, and rescue her just in time.
• Homura, Sayaka, and Hitomi are among the civilians given MIRACLE LIGHTS by the fairy mascots, in order to give the magical girls the power to defeat Fusion. Most of them don't remember this event clearly afterwards, though Homura does.
• Eri and Mikoto separately come upon a stray cat and start to care for her. When she gives birth, their paths collide. They recruit Madoka, Nori and Homura to help take care of the kittens, which initially are hidden in the Garden Club shed at Ohtori, and eventually are moved to the Kaname household when everyone has to get on a train to go to Hokkaido.

• Winter 2013 Plot: Hokkaido and the Star Shards
• It is Sunday, December 22nd, the day after final exams -- and the second day of the school trip to Hokkaido (which began immediately after exams ended). As everyone has known for over an IC month, the Sister Schools have decided to pack everyone up and spend their Winter Break all together in the frozen paradise of Hokkaido! For most of an IC week, everyone will be staying at the Kubota Ski Resort (with occasional organized trips into Sapporo proper), skiing, snowshoeing, ice skating, and enjoying the rightfully famous all-you-can-eat crab buffets! While school trips are not /technically/ mandatory, they might as well be -- parents won't let their kids get out of it. It's all been paid for out of the joint Sister Schools Initiative fund, so money is no object.
• In the last three IC months, monster-of-the-day attacks have become all too commonplace (it's mostly been youma and the occasional evil lieutenant). Magical girls have gained a little more experience and comfort with their new powers, but, a few months into their double life, are beginning to really feel the wear and tear of all those little white lies, evenings spent fighting instead of studying, and so forth.
• Characters have had numerous opportunities to meet one another and become friends off the battlefield, allies on the battlefield, or both. People are encouraged to gently hash out progress in their relationships OOCly to make sure they're on the same page, since some fast forwarding is required.
• The major scuttlebutt in the magical community has to do with seven golden "star shards" which have fallen to Earth and nestled themselves in the hearts of seven humans -- if united, they are rumored to be able to grant one single wish. Six of them have emerged (and been fiercely contested by magical girls, men in black, and monsters), though no one is sure who currently has how many. The seventh shard has yet to appear.

• After distracting a bear from Niramo when the two of them wander away from the lodge, Mikoto becomes worried about that bear not hibernating like all the students say bears are supposed to. Dismissive explanations lead her to investigate on her own, where she runs into Eas, instead. They briefly clash, and Eas immediately exploits the upper hand as she realises that Mikoto is holding back. Luckily, she's willing to talk, if only to make demands, and after Mikoto explains that she really just is out here to investigate the bears, Eas lets her go. Mysteriously, the bear problem is solved.
• In December 2013, Steven Universe awakens his magical powers on Hokkaido, in the midst of a dire wish to end Christmas; filled with its spirit by his friends and classmates, he manifests his shield for the first time. The resonance of his first Rose Shield tears the wish apart, returning the world to normal.
• The Moon Princess appears very early (compared to the original timeline), on Hokkaido, after the Maiden of Nightmares sends a lethal attack at Sailor Moon which is taken by Madoka Kaname instead. The Princess wields the Ginzuishou, and a miracle occurs on Christmas Eve.

• The Maiden is redeemed by the unlikely forgiveness of her assumed enemies.

• Spring 2014 Plot: White Day and Queen Beryl
• It is March 13, 2014, and tomorrow is White Day -- the distaff counterpart of Valentine's in Japan, the day that girls give chocolates to their friends and loved ones. It's a stressful time. Who can find enough hours in the day to sit their final exams, defeat the forces of evil, AND make (or even buy!!) chocolate for tomorrow -- and what will happen if this symbol of romance /isn't/ realized? Especially when the battles are reaching a feverish pitch. Most of the Jewel Seeds have been found, and possession over the last few will likely make or break the outcome. The Dueling Game is in full swing. Jadeite, Nephrite, Zoisite and Kunzite, the Four Heavenly Kings, have died in their pursuit of the Moon Princess and her Ginzuishou, as have innumerable youma. There have been countless clashes between Magical Girls, Orphans, and men in black, clashes which are starting to seem like they serve some greater, darker purpose. Last night Sailor Moon and her Court went to the Moon, then returned with the dual burdens of terrible knowledge and a cursed sword. Everyone else woke up this morning having just experienced the same dream about it (+bbread 12/110, 12/111). The very same dream. Winter is just now yielding to spring. The bite in the air has softened into promising warmth. Tiny leaves and other nascent greenery makes the treetops look like they're inhabited by ghosts. The plum trees have blossomed, but the sakura haven't quite yet.
• In the last three IC months, the fledgling bonds of the magical girls have strengthened immeasurably through both battle and time spent in their fledgling, normal lives. Profound relationships have formed. Large sleepovers and other magical girl gatherings have become normal (though, oof, so difficult to find time for). Their might is waxing, as they come into their true power -- the deeper, stranger, more wondrous power of the heart. But so is their danger, for the very same reason, as an open heart... is a vulnerable one.

• Sailor Moon and friends go to the Moon on the night of March 12, while everyone else suffers a disturbing silvery nightmare, so Madoka calls for a sleepover on White Day, March 14 so they can face the night with the support of one another.
• At the sleepover, Mami Tomoe coins the group name 'Covenant of Style', which catches on like wildfire.
• On the morning of March 15, Beryl issues her challenge to the world: threatening all life on it and daring the magical girls to stop her. They disrupt her evil ritual and she is slain at the hands of the Outer Senshi, but not before she murders her much-hated Princess Serenity first. Usagi is revived by the Ginzuishou, which responds to the feelings of her friends, and afterwards they all defeat Queen Metallia together.
• After the events of the North Pole, Mikoto reassures Homura by carrying her up a tree and showing her how nice high places are.

• Summer 2014 Plot: Orphans, and an orphan
• It is August 6, 2014. Cicadas whirr staccatos, forcing them through the oppressively heavy air. Nary a breeze stirs across Tokyo Bay; there is no respite from the concrete-gathered might of the sun as it absorbs and re-emits from every surface in the city. Sweat beads at temples, at necklines, at the bottom of the back. But it just makes the ice cream sweeter. The resumption of school is weeks away and the obligations of summer homework might as well be on another planet. It's a long, hot, lazy summer. What a great time to be alive.
• In the last five months: After defeating Queen Metallia and returning home, the magical girls resolved the Jewel Seed Incident (approximately per canon, with the apparent death of Precia and the redemption of Fate, and also per BF canon, with the full withdrawal of the TSAB from Earth and the stranding of Lindy). In terms of trouble on the /rise/, it mostly takes the form of increased Orphan attacks (HiME are busting out all over) and greater activity by Labyrinth -- Nakewameke out the ears, as they strive to fill their Fuko Gauge to the brim, harvesting the despair of Tokyo citizens. Also, everyone went up a grade, which means some middle schoolers are now in high school. Though school is not currently in session.
• Chibi-Usa and Sailor Pluto have arrived in Tokyo. (Black Moon won't be far behind, while the Death Busters were always here but have yet to start overt operations; similarly the Wolkenritter have been present but are just now starting to become truly desperate.) And so has Northa.

• Mai finds an Orphan during her summer job as a lifeguard, and when the night falls she and Mikoto take care of it. Then Mikoto drags her off to the party which was distracting all the civilians, even though they didn't have an invitation.
• An Orphan attacks Sensouji Temple, threatening to eat all the cold snacks, only to be brought down by a group of magical girls. It's believed to be a lion dance with very good effects in the aftermath, and the people involved in the battle are lauded as excellent actors.
• Mikoto continues trying to get through to Eas, finding her after a Nakewameke attack. They share donuts and surprisingly friendly conversation, and Eas gives Mikoto advance warning about her next attack.
• Kasagami hosts a fancy summer party on behalf of the School Council, featuring the impromptu D.J., Steven Universe.
• Mikoto and Kasagami spar and no one gets stabbed for real.
• Steven, Niramo, Ami and Mikoto band together to create THE ULTIMATE SANDCASTLE (plus one whale lord.)
• Mikoto drags Endo out from his job at the convenience store to go watch fireworks instead.
• Eas creates her ultimate Nakewameke, and sends out invitations to the magical girls of Tokyo to meet her at Tokyo Tower for a showdown. She nearly succeeds--but when she emerges from her command post to talk to the assembled magical girls, Klein activates his failsafe, and they're left to save themselves /and/ her; she stays on Earth, as a (relatively) ordinary girl.
• Marinette is caught by her parents one night talking to Chat Noir and thinks they're going out. After a date night at Marinette's residence, the fiction becomes a reality.

• Timeline One: Walpurgisnacht

• Walpurgisnacht comes to Tokyo. The magical girls rise to confront it en masse, but not without casualties. Among them are Eri Shimanouchi and Mami Tomoe, which leaves only Madoka Kaname to deal the final blow -- which, legend says, must be dealt by a Puella Magi. She sacrifices herself in order to save the city -- and her friends. And especially Homura Akemi, who hears her last words.
• Homura makes a Contract with Kyuubey: I want to redo my meeting with Kaname-san. But this time, instead of her saving me... I want to be the one to save her! She becomes a Puella Magi, and the magic of her wish sends her back in time... ending Timeline One.

Timeline One Logs

2018-11-11 - TIMELINE 1: Hedging Bets 2018-11-12 - TIMELINE 1: First Day Of School! Homura's Heart-Pounding Introduction! 2018-11-12 - TIMELINE 1: Setting Up 2018-11-14 - TIMELINE 1: Westar Strikes! Nightmare In Dream Land! 2018-11-15 - TIMELINE 1: Sports Festival Day! Tug-of-war Over Hearts! 2018-11-16 - TIMELINE 1: Let's Go, Animal Care Club! 2018-11-17 - TIMELINE 1: Sports Festival Day! Teamwork And Obstacles! 2018-11-18 - TIMELINE 1: The Broom Relay! Is It Competitive Tidying Up?! 2018-11-19 - TIMELINE 1: Hey, Listen! Cool Down In The Calm Tent! 2018-11-19 - TIMELINE 1: Homura's Depression! The Arrival of a Puella Magi Konbi! 2018-11-23 - TIMELINE 1: Save That Tomcat! 2018-11-24 - TIMELINE 1: Save Tokyo From Fusion! A Miracle Light Reaches Everyone's Hearts 2018-11-27 - TIMELINE 1: A Bear Island! For Bears! 2018-11-29 - TIMELINE 1: A Mewracle! Let's Come Together To Help Momma! 2018-11-30 - TIMELINE 1: Skiis and Youth 2018-12-01 - TIMELINE 1: Struggling To Communicate! 2018-12-02 - TIMELINE 1: Early Birds 2018-12-05 - TIMELINE 1: Battle For The Top Of The Mountain! Snow Melts Hearts! 2018-12-05 - TIMELINE 1: Coffee, Macarons and Noodle Incidents 2018-12-06 - TIMELINE 1: The Companionship Of Stars 2018-12-07 - TIMELINE 1: The Star That Stole Christmas! Nagi's Wish And Steven's Spirit! 2018-12-08 - TIMELINE 1: A Star's Wish! The Death Of Madoka Kaname! The Rebirth of Princess Serenity! 2018-12-08 - TIMELINE 1: Chatmobile: Sledding Edition

2018-12-12 - TIMELINE 1: Making Tradition: It's Time For Crab! 2018-12-12 - TIMELINE 1: White Night! Silver Dreams! 2018-12-12 - TIMELINE 1: White Night! The Covenant of Style! 2018-12-13 - TIMELINE 1: Moments Like This 2018-12-13 - TIMELINE 1: White Night! A Gift Exchange! 2018-12-17 - TIMELINE 1: The Covenant Strikes Back! North Pole Confrontation! 2018-12-18 - TIMELINE 1: Death of a Princess! The Outers' Revenge! 2018-12-19 - TIMELINE 1: The Magic of Heights 2018-12-21 - TIMELINE 1: Orphans Again! Don't Forget To Party! 2018-12-21 - TIMELINE 1: Waiting and Worrying 2018-12-23 - TIMELINE 1: How To Approach Executives: A Feline Perspective 2018-12-28 - TIMELINE 1: Summer's Cold Comfort! 2018-12-30 - TIMELINE 1: A Summary On Cow & Goat Milk 2018-12-31 - TIMELINE 1: Professor Sourisi's First Lesson! Ice Cream Makes Friendship! 2019-01-02 - TIMELINE 1: Easy Come, Easy Go 2019-01-03 - TIMELINE 1: My Dinner With Chat 2019-01-04 - TIMELINE 1: Konbini Confluence! 2019-01-06 - TIMELINE 1: Easy Come, Easy Go II 2019-01-07 - TIMELINE 1: Real Women Keep Rice! Mai's The Worst House Guest?! 2019-01-10 - TIMELINE 1: Strawberries?! Setsuna's Acclimation 2019-01-10 - TIMELINE 1: Those Happy Golden Years 2019-01-12 - TIMELINE 1: Wish Upon A Star

Timeline Two

THEME: DREAMS. Homura's dream has come true -- and that makes it easier for everyone else to pursue theirs, because the life of a magical girl is a whole lot safer when they have an ally who can stop time to keep them from harm. It's mostly a good thing, but there's nothing like peril to inspire rapid bonding, so although the magical girl community is still (relatively) unified, it is slightly more loosely knit than it was in Timeline One. And with a little less magical stress in their lives, people are able to focus more on their individual goals rather than joint ones -- pursuing their different, unique, beautiful dreams.

• A few months have passed since the timeline began, along with a few major events:

• Homura Akemi is a newly Contracted Puella Magi who has joined the Mami/Madoka/Eri konbi, and is still learning how to master her unusually difficult powers. Unable to keep the secret, Madoka spilled her guts to Sayaka about being a magical girl within the first forty-eight hours.
• As with the original timeline, the Sports Festival was a big success, but it seems to have really inflamed competitive spirits and the rivalry between the Sister Schools is more pronounced than before.
• Fusion was defeated without the girls being sucked inside his soul and freed by their friends and Miracle Lights; it was just a conventional (though the first physically gigantic, and still relatively dramatic) battle.
• Believing the monster to have eaten her best friend, Puella Magi Madoka battled Dessert Witch Charlotte, alone and crippled by grief. But Sayaka Miki had just been lost in the Labyrinth, and contracted on the spot upon witnessing the battle. Madoka narrowly avoided losing her head as the two defeated their first Witch together.
• On Hokkaido, the Maiden of Dreams was redeemed without her killing Madoka Kaname or awakening Princess Serenity (because of a timely Homura rescue). That means the identity of the Moon Princess is still a mystery, and the hunt is on. Zoisite and Kunzite are still alive and Queen Beryl has yet to enact her North Pole ritual.
• Because the timeLOOP has begun, weird temporal effects are occurring, and one of them is that Sailor Pluto basically hit a weird patch of timenoise on her way over, and accidentally overshot her trip. She has arrived just now, in April 2014. (Chibi-Usa will still arrive post-Beryl.)

• There are other minor differences between the second and first timelines as well.

• In haste, Sayaka wished for the first thing that came to mind. Now with each mystically assured victory the Ohtori Middle School Softball team achieves on its way to an inevitable championship, Sayaka feels less and less fulfilled...
• Ye-jin Song arrives and is elected new captain of Ohtori Dance Club. Secretly, she's come to help hunt HiME...
• Madoka has the unusual combination of confidence, time, and commitment to self-improvement to actually go out for sports for once. She joins the Archery Club where she studies diligently alongside Rei.
• Natsuki and Mikoto's battle on the cruise liner was more serious this time around, and several floors were damaged, but the ship remained structurally intact. Mai's efforts have, once again, seen them going from enemies to friends.
• Mikoto was introduced to the Puella Magi by Homura, this time, who was eager to meet her old friend again. Mikoto was initially shy, but soon warmed up to her, alongside Madoka, Eri, and the others.
• Upon realising that Homura was trying to learn how to fight, Mikoto relented to Kasagami's attempts to get her to join Kendo club, so that she could figure out how to teach her.
• Rather than unintentionally insulting Rei, Usagi instead pleaded for her help in the wake of the bus incidents outside Hikawa Shrine, prompting Rei to commit to protecting Usagi early.

• IC Starting Date: April 2014
• Starting Plots: Student Council Ball; The Jewel Seed Incident
• It is April 17, 2014, and the cherry blossoms are in bloom. It's the second week of the new school year. A transformative time, as students acclimate to their new classes, their new classmates, their new clubs (or incessant club recruiters, for the holdouts) -- and now, tonight, their new student councils. Elections are over, and the Sister Schools are celebrating with a shared social that really can only possibly be called a ball, because Ohtori Academy is hosting. Besides having the best venue, they also have the most surprising outcome: Kasagami Araki is the new Ohtori High School Student Council President, having won her victory by a single vote (secretly, Akio Ohtori's, because the Academy is not a democracy...).
• But life isn't just sparkling apple cider and roses. The Jewel Seeds -- called 'Lost Logia' by the offworlders pursuing them, but to any magical girl recognizable as magical jewels that contain the cross-section of terrible power and the potential to grant wishes -- have almost all been found. The dark mage Fate Testarossa, and her allies in Labyrinth, have claimed roughly half; the radiant newcomer, Nanoha Takamachi, and her friends, have the rest. Can Fate's heart be reached before something terrible happens?

• At the 2014-2015 Sister Schools Student Council Inauguration Ball, Niramo and Takeo get in a fight with some boys who were harassing Suzuka Tsukimura and are disciplined by Kasagami in her role as the new Ohtori Student Council President. Rei and Usagi join the Dance Queen competition with predictable results. Utena encourages Anthy (a Dance Queen nominee) to attend and therefore does as well, wearing one of the dresses they were gifted by the dance committee in solidarity. Disaster strikes as Nanami (who arranged the nomination and the dresses) causes Anthy's dress to dissolve in the middle of the dance floor, but Utena comes to the rescue.
• At a Dance Club recruitment drive held at Ohtori shortly after the Inaugurational Ball, Niramo receives some much needed confidence from both Ye-Jin and Fumiko. It's enough that Niramo actually reconsiders her choice in clubs, dropping her enrollment in the Anime Club and taking up Dance at Juuban instead.
• Nanoha Takamachi leads the magical girls in confronting her rival Fate Testarossa; she proposes an all-out one on one duel for the Jewel Seeds, and Fate accepts. But Precia intervenes, ostensibly out of concern that Nanoha's friends will jump in and gang up on her enforcer, and forcibly duplicates Fate with magic, creating a wild battle. Despite her numbers advantage, Fate loses anyway; Precia seizes the Jewel Seeds before Nanoha can and leaves, but not before punishing Fate for her failure both physically and emotionally. Nanoha takes a broken Fate home.

• Lindy Harlaown makes contact with Nanoha, as does Arf, who can give them the coordinates to the Garden of Time. Nanoha and her friends climb aboard the Arthra to confront Precia in her fortress before she fully activates all the Jewel Seeds and causes an existential threat to the foundations of the multiverse. Fate stays behind, but encouragement from Arf and (unexpectedly) Eas, as well as bearing witness to the support of her friends now fighting Precia in her name, allows her to regain her will to fight. She and Eas catch up and rescue the group at a crucial moment, and then everyone proceeds to confront Precia.
• But reality is fragmenting quickly, and the group winds up having to pass through Precia's past in order to reach her in the present. A dialogue begins, but whether or not Precia's heart was moved will remain an eternal mystery, because at the moment of truth, she is murdered by Northa, Chief Executive of Labyrinth, who immediately orders Eas to join her in exterminating her allies. Eas tries to bargain with Northa for their lives, which Northa takes as disloyalty; she uses the Jewel Seeds to create doppelganger replacements for all the magical girls, INCLUDING Eas, to be her new, loyal, army. The magical girls must confront these dark reflections of themselves and defeat them before the Garden of Time collapses into less than nothingness; they manage to do so, together, and escape on the Arthra in the nick of time. In the battle, Eas is forced to destroy her Data Diamond to defeat her double, and she joins them without her powers on the ship.
• As the Arthra returns to Earth, it is abruptly and unexpectedly destroyed by an enormous blast of Dark Energy that came from the North Pole. The magical girls (and the crew) are able to escape, teleporting back to Tokyo just in time to watch the contrails of the surprise attack fade from the sky. It's terrifying power... but now they know where they need to go to put an end to the threat of Queen Beryl.

• Mami Tomoe and Sayaka Miki acknowledge their growing attraction to one another and begin to date. Homura Akemi and Madoka Kaname are inseparable, but not officially together.

• Summer 2014 Plot: North Pole

• The sakura faded and the trees grew leaves -- soft breezes became oppressive heat -- and spring yielded into summer. In late June, school hasn't quite let out for vacation, but that hasn't stopped the Sailor Senshi from taking a trip to the Moon, in part hoping for a way to release the kidnapped Mamoru Chiba, now known as Dark Endymion, from Queen Beryl's brainwashing. The Midchildans, meanwhile, have finished running analyses of the blast that destroyed their spaceship, and are able to organize an operation to storm the pinpointed spot in the Arctic by surprise.
• The magical girls get separated at the North Pole and begin fighting their way into the Dark Kingdom against the army that appears to defend it. The Inner Senshi die getting their Moon Princess into position to defeat Queen Beryl, but in the aftermath, Usagi is able to revive them. Everyone celebrates, then joins together to oppose the true dark power behind even Beryl's throne, the destructive entity Queen Metallia. The Maiden of Dreams, rescued on Hokkaido, reappears to help at this critical moment. Everyone's hearts join together, and the explosive power of their dreams defeat Queen Metallia. Overcome by their feelings and the transcendent moment, Sayaka and Mami share their first kiss.
• However, Madoka Kaname uses up all of her magic, and collapses even as Queen Metallia is destroyed for good. Her Soul Gem becomes a Grief Seed, and she becomes a massive Witch, Kriemhild Gretchen. Her friends are forced to face this horror, but Homura Akemi turns away. Armed with the horrible truth of the Puella Magi, she jumps back to the past again to try to prevent this future from ever happening... ending Timeline Two.

Timeline Two Logs

2019-01-12 - TIMELINE 2: On The Night Of The Ball 1 2019-01-13 - TIMELINE 2: On The Night Of The Ball 2 2019-01-18 - TIMELINE 2: String The Banners High 2019-01-19 - TIMELINE 2: Training Day! Puella Magi Amazing Debut! 2019-01-19 - TIMELINE 2: Vengeance! Let's Make A Better Cat Cafe! 2019-01-20 - TIMELINE 2: Crane Game 2019-01-21 - TIMELINE 2: Breathtaking Ambition?! The President Demands Passion! 2019-01-24 - TIMELINE 2: The Amazing Race! Marriage On The Line! 2019-01-26 - TIMELINE 2: The Dragon and the Shiny Rod 2019-01-27 - TIMELINE 2: First Annual Ohtori Dream Faire 1 2019-01-28 - TIMELINE 2: The Parable of the Shaken Can

2019-01-29 - TIMELINE 2: Duel of the Fates! For The Jewel Seeds! 2019-01-31 - TIMELINE 2: First Annual Ohtori Dream Faire 2 2019-02-01 - TIMELINE 2: Garden of Time! A Mother's Cruelty! 2019-02-02 - TIMELINE 2: Garden of Time! A Daughter's Love! 2019-02-03 - TIMELINE 2: Positive Feedback 2019-02-04 - TIMELINE 2: The First Step 2019-02-07 - TIMELINE 2: History for the Future Girl 2019-02-07 - TIMELINE 2: Toast and Talk 2019-02-08 - TIMELINE 2: This Ordinary Life 2019-02-09 - TIMELINE 2: Beryl Falls And Metallia Rises! Dreams vs. Destruction! Hope vs. Despair!

Timeline Three

THEME: TRUST. As in its complexities, its limitations, and its breakdown. Up until now, being a magical girl has included automatic membership in a sort of collective sisterhood -- the world has been divided into 'the magical girls' and 'the bad guys'. But a simple question changes everything: 'What if the fairy mascots and other sources of power don't actually have the magical girls' best interests at heart?' It's an unbelievable idea, but simply rejecting it means that, for some reason, Homura Akemi is trying to drive a wedge between magical girls and their mascots. In other words: not all magical girls can be trusted. Once planted, this seed of uncertainty can only continue to flower, and has done so spectacularly.

• Numerous factors have further exacerbated the issue of trust between magical girls. Major examples include:

• Competitions for limited magical resources, such as Star Shards, Jewel Seeds, and Grief Seeds, have all been far more intense than in previous timelines, with ugly consequences for would-be friendships.
• Friendly fire is more of a narrative problem in this timeline than it has been (or will be) in others; even girls with the best of intentions might damage the trust of their allies by accidentally clipping them with one of their attacks, in a critical moment.
• Magical girls are generally less willing to explain themselves and their actions to one another, since it's harder to know who to trust.
• Secret identities are far more tightly protected than in Timelines One and Two. This means that sometimes people are friends as magical girls and, separately, friends as civilians, but that the crucial bond of trust that connects the two worlds is often missing. Sometimes, things are even more complicated, and magical girl rivals have no idea that their opposite number is their best friend at school.

• Although things are far from outright war, the magical girl community is under strain, and cracks are beginning to show. Rivalries are more heated and less friendly. 'Teams' can also sometimes be understood as 'schisms'. Conversely, true bonds of trust between individual girls are more precious and beautiful than ever. (And like all precious things -- they are vulnerable.)
• TIMELINE THREE IS SUBSTANTIALLY DARKER (OR, AT MINIMUM, MORE COMPLEX) THAN TIMELINES ONE AND TWO. It is not, however, an exercise in misery. The main 'tragedy' of the timeline, compared to the previous ones, is the environment of paranoia that has sprung up in the community. Even the most open-hearted magical girls have reasons to think more critically and carefully about their counterparts, and the ways of the world, than they normally would. (More reasons, in fact, than in the prime timeline, which did not have Homura Akemi sowing seeds of doubt from the start, nor such extreme competitions for the Star Shards and Jewel Seeds.)
• An entire year has passed since the beginning of this timeline; it is picking up several months after the last one ended, in fact (September; T2 ended in late June). All this is to say that quite a bit has happened, and happened differently, and happened in a way to put strain on trust between magical girls (while in turn forging some unbreakable bonds along the way):

• The Fall 2013 Sports Festival, and Fusion's assault on Tokyo, occur essentially as they did in Timeline Two.
• After spending enough time rebuilding her magical girl friendships that they'd have reason to trust her, Homura Akemi reveals the awful truth that Puella Magi are tricked by Kyuubey into accepting a fate where they will become Witches. It does not go over well, and creates a FIRESTORM of rumor and speculation that reaches all corners of the magical girl community. Everyone has heard about it. Nobody believes it (no exceptions!). Everyone has different opinions on why Homura would make such a claim, some more generous than others.
• For a variety of reasons which certainly include heightened anxiety, magical girls' unanswered wishes are at the forefront of their minds when the Star Shards' existence becomes revealed, and the fight over them becomes (almost) as vicious between magical girls as it is between magical girls and Dark Fall demons/men in black from Ends of the World.

• In the end, the star shards are never gathered in one place. Individual shards are painstakingly hidden by their current owners. The Maiden of Dreams remains a broken, nameless entity suffering endless torture within her seven golden prisons -- and nobody even knows that she exists.

• The Jewel Seeds are hotly contested for basically the same reason. The Device-users of Earth do not line up neatly behind Nanoha Takamachi in her efforts to oppose Fate Testarossa; Endo Naoki especially wants to seize them for himself, which damages his relationship with Ren Aizawa.

• Precia Testarossa does get her hands on all the Jewel Seeds eventually, after washing her hands of Fate. The magical girls are forced to unite to stop her from permanently sundering reality, and manage to do so, though not everyone participates in the operation. The Harlaowns are not involved; the Arthra is never allowed to come to Earth, due to rampant distrust between the TSAB and the Magic Association. Afterwards, Fate lives with the Takamachis.

• Events surrounding the North Pole go more similarly to the PRIME timeline than either timelines one or two. In late summer 2014, once Usagi Tsukino is revealed as the Moon Princess, Mamoru Chiba is kidnapped and brainwashed into Dark Endymion, and the Four Heavenly Kings are dead, Queen Beryl issues her collective challenge to the magical girl community and dares them to stop her from making her dark wish.

• Arriving in disorganized, separate groups, they fail. So, every magical girl in the world except for Sailor Moon and the Inner Senshi are banished to the Multidimensional Chaos World by the force of Beryl's wish. Adventures in bizarro spacetime ensue.
• Back on Earth, the Inner Senshi die getting Sailor Moon past the DD Girls. She is forced to confront Beryl and Dark Endymion alone, and is narrowly able to do so. Afterwards, her wish for her friends revives the dead and recalls the missing, and everyone gathers together to put a permanent end to Queen Metallia.
• The Maiden of Dreams is not present to help the girls gestalt their power, and so instead this battle is messy and dangerous. The magical girls triumph without anyone dying, but the aftertaste is a little bittersweet, tainted by injuries, plus the trauma of the uncontrolled dimension-hopping which resulted from Beryl's dark wish.

• The World Tree roars onto everyone's radar when it's attacked by weird, sword-wielding shadows seemingly trying to disrupt a mysterious sparkly magical girl ritual, and by the end of summer everyone knows it exists, that it's a vitally important conduit of Earth's magical power, and that there's a more-and-less subtle battle being waged between men in black, Dark Fall demons and operatives (especially agents of Labyrinth such as Eas and Soular), Orphans, and the Magic Association, for control of the nexuses of magic that harness the World Tree's strength.
• The Outer Senshi are present, active and renowned for their brutal determination to save the world by any means necessary without bothering to explain their methods -- in other words, they're the poster girls for how not all magical girls can be trusted.
• The Wolkenritter are also getting active, creating rumors about magical girls who attack other magical girls in dark alleys -- and fear.
• Drawn to investigate the source of the crazy rumor about Puella Magi and Witches, Kyouko Sakura and other Puella Magi close in on the Konbi's neighborhood. There aren't enough Grief Seeds to go around, and the question of hunting familiars becomes crucial. Tensions are rising.
• Summer vacation happened. There was no trip to Okinawa. The return of school is something of a relief for kids stuck in the sweaty concrete prison of Tokyo.
• Despite everything, magical girls also give each other reasons to trust one another as well. Every day is another act of kindness. Every friendship is its own miracle.

• There are other differences between the second and third timelines as well.

• You are encouraged to add other differences between the second and third timelines to this list!
• Please put your September 2013-September 2014 differences here, they're fun and interesting to imagine, especially as things have changed quite a bit between timelines two and three! Weird temporal effects continue to justify larger changes, such as when a character first came to Tokyo or first became a magical girl, as long as it happened after September 2013 (the beginning of Homura's time loops). Please run truly strange ideas by the staff first.
• Mikoto Minagi and Natsuki Kuga's battle on the ship was once again more serious, with a large hole blown through several floors to expose the fight to the sky, but the ship managed to retain its structural integrity.
• Mikoto spends a lot of her time searching for her brother, and so she has no time for clubs. Most of her associations are people she's met through Mai; on her own she is awkward and gruff, and does not generally reach out to make friends. Much of her involvement in early magical conflicts simply came down to the fact that Mai was there, rather than any urge of her own to get involved. What was seen as feline whimsy in the prime timeline now becomes much more suspicious: why does Mikoto so often go off on her own? Where was she when they needed help at the North Pole, or when Precia was threatening the world? And why does she keep herself shrouded in such mystery..?
• The strain of the magical community means that Mikoto has had less exposure to kind life lessons, and so she is a much fiercer fighter. Mai has made what she doesn't approve of clear, and so Mikoto generally tries to avoid killing or doing severe injury to human opponents and will defend civilians, but she has no compunctions against hitting her opponents so hard that they don't want to get up again. She has a wild and unrestrained fighting style which makes it very easy for mistakes to happen and for allies to get hit.
• Endo Naoki more than briefly considered using the Jewel Seeds to grant his own wish, leading to various squabbles with other Mages. He eventually came around to help stop Precia Testarossa, but harsh feelings may remain. With less sources of trusted support Endo tries to shoulder more of Tokyo's burdens, and listens more closely to the advice of his intelligent device, Fallen Stern.
• Ye-jin Song is hunting HiME. . .
• Shizuru Fujino is moving in secret towards the goals of Ends of the World. As the men in black continue to show up at various flashpoints of magical import, a woman in black with a strange red naginata often accompanies them. Her identity is unknown, but she has already shown a frightening ruthlessness that only adds to the cloud of suspicion in place.
• Rei Hino was much more immediately suspicious of Luna's story of destiny, though she did eventually accept a place in the team. She is fiercely protective of her magical identity, and few people know outside of the Inner Senshi. She has come down especially hard on Usagi, viewing her crybaby idealism as unsuited to the strenuous climate of magical Tokyo. She's hard on the rest of the Senshi, too - and everyone else she comes to care at all about. She is unwilling to trust the rogue elements of the community, and even after a year, is slow to open her heart to her friends. She still carries the fear that if she comes to trust and rely on others, she will be betrayed and tossed aside.
• Kasagami Araki joins at the end of summer vacation 2014 as the new Student Council Disciplinary Executive, despite being a transfer student and having only just entered the school. She is much more cynical this timeline, having worked for Ends of the World before coming to Ohtori. As DE, she has been put in charge of the civilian patrols for the 'vampires' on campus...and has enthusiastically been assisting in the hunt for HiME as well as the goals of Ends of the World.
• Ladybug is incredibly secretive, being very formal in her interactions with other magical girls in order to preserve her secret identity. Even her ostensible partner, Chat Noir, gets to hear little more than business from her. Where exactly she's based is hard to tell, as she shows up for monster attacks across Tokyo - though she seems fastest to respond to attacks near Infinity, and takes the longest to appear when attacks happen near Juuban. Unbeknown to everyone, this is because Marinette intentionally waits when there's an attack close to home - a devotion to secrecy that has even Tikki irritated.
• Sourisi isn't known to be trusting of other magical girls and boys in this timeline, and the only magical entity able to be considered a friend is Takk. Seeing an opportunity in Takk's curiosity and fascination with technology, she has been putting much more effort in learning electric engineering. This has given rise to the placement of hidden mics and low-grade cameras places throughout Tokyo as Niramo tries to figure out who exactly she can and can't trust outside of her magical identity. Unsurprisingly, Ladybug, Chat Noir and Serpentina have the biggest files as she tries to crack their identities.
• Eri Shimanouchi had a rocky start as a magical girl, feuding with another Puella Magi named Yaori which eventually resulted in the other girl's death. She claims it was an accident but was it really that simple? As a result, she's mildly distrusted by the Magical Girl Community of Tokyo. Since she runs with Mami Tomoe and Madoka Kaname now, it might be that she's been rehabilitated. Yet could it just be that some girls are simply bad apples through and through?
• Cassandra is the magical girl alias used by the HiME Kozue Kaoru in this timeline. She has a reputation for a delinquent who doesn't get along with many magical girls, infuriating many with her reckless fighting style and sharp tongue. She rarely appears in most supernatural battles, picking and choosing only ones she has a personal stake in.

• IC Starting Date: September 2014
• Starting Plot: SEARRS Invasion
• It is September 10, 2014, and Southern Cross Island is apparently infested by vampires. Or maybe it's a stalker. At any rate, girls who go out alone at night are being found unconscious and, from the disarray of their possessions, have been searched for valuables. Magical girls suspect that this is really someone trying to identify them within the ordinary student population of Ohtori Academy. The school has implemented an extremely strict campus curfew enforced by Disciplinary Executive patrols, however, which makes it slightly more difficult to mount the kind of MAGICAL patrols needed to investigate and guard against the real threat. Those who've taken the risk anyway have discovered that the true perpetrators are Orphans -- the native demonic enemy that HiME were born to fight. But Orphans have always seemed mindless in their monstrosity. Could something -- or someone -- be directing their actions?
• From a more normal perspective, summer is finally over, Fall Semester is in session, and for 9th-graders especially, it also brings High School Entrance Exams into focus as a looming existential threat to their ordinary lives. It is harder than ever to find enough time for it all.
• The Fall 2014 Sports Festival is coming up soon. Juuban had it last year, and now it's Ohtori's turn to host, and despite the campus safety issues the plan seems to be moving forward. That makes it roughly the one-year anniversary of most magical girls' careers; a time for reflection. How have things changed since they discovered the world of magic? How have THEY changed?

Timeline Three Logs

2019-02-11 - TIMELINE 3: Everyone Is Watching 2019-02-16 - TIMELINE 3: Dis/Closure 2019-02-16 - TIMELINE 3: Monsters By Moonlight 2019-02-17 - TIMELINE 3: Lost and Found 2019-02-18 - TIMELINE 3: Slacking Off?! What's Pushed Aside? 2019-02-19 - TIMELINE 3: Under the Spreading Citrus Tree 2019-02-20 - TIMELINE 3: On Truancy and Truth 2019-02-21 - TIMELINE 3: Secrets and Sharp Edges! The Trouble We're In 2019-02-22 - TIMELINE 3: One More Bug To Squash 2019-02-23 - TIMELINE 3: Ohtori Academy Invaded! Zero Time For The Golden Age! 2019-02-24 - TIMELINE 3: Between Theory and Praxis 2019-02-25 - TIMELINE 3: Transgressing Mercy! The Sinister Design of Tools 2019-02-28 - TIMELINE 3: Scavenging In The Presence Of Royalty 2019-02-28 - TIMELINE 3: She Needs To Eat! All The Eyes On Eri Shimanouchi 2019-03-01 - TIMELINE 3: You're Stuck With Me 2019-03-02 - TIMELINE 3: The Searrs Ultimatum 2019-03-03 - TIMELINE 3: It's Your Fault

2019-03-04 - TIMELINE 3: Wedding Bells Knell! Desperate Situation! 2019-03-05 - TIMELINE 3: Weariness Winnows! What Do I Do..? 2019-03-08 - TIMELINE 3: The Battle of Ohtori, Part One 2019-03-09 - TIMELINE 3: The Battle of Ohtori, Part Two 2019-03-10 - TIMELINE 3: The Battle of Ohtori, Part Three 2019-03-11 - TIMELINE 3: Four Words 2019-03-12 - TIMELINE 3: I Don't Need To Know Who You Are 2019-03-12 - TIMELINE 3: Seeing The Danger! Enemies Find Common Ground 2019-03-15 - TIMELINE 3: AoAka Christmas Gala 2019-03-16 - TIMELINE 3: Sleigh Bells of Sorrow 2019-03-17 - TIMELINE 3: The Use Of A Spent Shell Casing 2019-03-24 - TIMELINE 3: The Magic of Christmas 2019-03-25 - TIMELINE 3: I'll Find You 2019-03-29 - TIMELINE 3: Dream Land 2019-03-30 - TIMELINE 3: Oh-Ho-Ho! A Christmas Celebration 2019-03-31 - TIMELINE 3: Wish Upon A Star, Redux