Madoka ascended slowly up into the sky, a magnificent pink dress appearing around her in a flash of light so brilliant that Homura was forced to look away. A flower appeared in Madoka's hand that transformed and extended into a pink bow, from which she fired an arrow with a tail like a comet. It splintered off into many identical arrows before striking the wtichwith a force Homura had never seen before.
Madoka flew through time and space in an ethereal form. She came upon a young magical girl, who, darkened soul gem in hand, was laying against a tree. The girl looked up, amazed.
"A-Are you here to save me?" she asked, her voice strained and barely audible.
"No. You're still going to die," answered Madoka as she began to fade away, gone almost as soon as she had arrived.
"Well thanks for nothing, whoever you are" the girl said sarcastically as her eyes closed.
Homura found herself in space, stars and galaxies twinkling all around her. In the distance was what looked like an almost planet-sized sphere of a dark, ominous energy. Madoka appeared, now a massive figure, almost like a beautiful constellation, and fired another arrow of light. When it made contact with the shape, the resulting explosion of light and energy knocked Homura back into the arms of a normal-sized, smiling Madoka.
"Does this mean there won't be a season two?" Homura asked.
"I'm afraid so," Madoka said calmly.
"Does it mean that Kyubey wins?"
"Kind of," Madoka's celestial form was beginning to fade away as she untied one of her ribbons and let it drift towards Homura, who caught it.
Homura's surroundings changed once again. She found herself seated in a theater, looking out onto a stage where Kyosuke was performing a solo, his eyes closed in concentration. The only other person in the theater was a rather short man sitting in the chair next to her. He had unruly hair, glasses, and a scruffy little beard on the end of his chin.
"Are you Hideaki Anno?" Homura asked, turning to face the man.
He nodded solemnly.
"What are you doing here?"
"I am here to help you understand what happens to you, and to this universe, now," he said, resting his elbows on the armrests of his chair and lacing his fingers together.
"What do you mean?" Homura glanced at the stage, where Kyosuke was now bowing.
"Your work is far from finished, Homura," the man said, "For while you have succeeded in deconstructing this genre, that alone is not enough to make your story a legend. In order for all of this to be argued about for a decade or more on the internet, you must now create a film with an ambiguous and convoluted ending."
"But why would I do that?" Homura asked, looking into Anno's dark eyes.
Slowly, his mouth formed itself into a smile. "One day, you will understand. In fact, with the giant naked people in space, and protagonists becoming gods, you are well on your way to true enlightenment."
"Will I ever see you again, Anno?"
His mouth moved in response, but she couldn't hear his words as he too slowly faded into nothingness, still smiling eerily.
Homura, Mami, and Kyoko walked side by side down the dark sidewalk, the moon providing what dim light it could through a grey filter of clouds. The city was lit up in the distance like a cluster of stars.
Kyoko carefully took a piece of Pocky from the box with her teeth. "So, let me get this straight. Magical girls used to turn into 'witches'. But now, everything is exactly the same- we still have to fight traumatizing dark creatures and die, except we don't turn into 'witches' under certain circumstances. What did this supposed Madoka person even accomplish?"
Homura sighed. "I just don't know anymore."
