Star & Orange 2 - (Original, Magical Girl Show Deconstructed)
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Miho had not turned her Pretty Orange form off.
Not even as she went through hours and hours of seeing footage of what had been the 'truth' that Valia had kept from her. When the fairy had told her about Dream Rainbow, she thought of it as that lovely place her parents had gone when she was very young - heaven.
But as she sat down and she was confronted with the sight of two sides, one showing what Dream Rainbow told its citizens in its daily news routine and what was actually unfolding, with 'monsters have no children' seeing warriors slaughtering 'short-sized monsters' and with 'those that truly surrender to the benevolent god-queens would be spared' seeing most executed and those surviving treated as slaves away from the public eye.
Hours and hours of horrible sights that Miho had learned about while visiting the local library at home, having found her peace there away from the scary hobo men wandering the streets at night.
She knew of slavery, she knew of death penalties, she knew of injustice - this one far more personally than any other matters and... she knew that the 'bad guy' wasn't truly bad.
He wasn't good. Miho was unwilling to take a stance of 'good vs. evil'. Not when it was clear both sides were at fault.
But where Dark Star Zero had actually committed the worst crimes, this was all a 'retribution' of sort. The patience of so many races that had been rejected as 'monsters' and 'inferior beings' had thinned out until there was nothing. It was all pure destruction.
Where Dream Rainbow acted upon punitive 'purity', the Dark Fleet acted as a reaction of sort. One that stopped the pain, the suffering and outright freed all slaves.
All Miho could find about the Dark Fleet was that it handled a form of meritocracy - a system where everyone had a chance to be great. It was all about skills and mind to handle the tougher jobs compared to others.
Miho kept on reading, listening, and watching, but she was most confused by one thing - how come Dark Star Zero didn't spoke for a moment? How come he didn't justify his own flaws and crimes?
The more the girl thought about it, the more she realized the answer was within that silence: he had no reason to justify his actions. He did what he had to do, and while it was overall a bad thing, it saved so many lives at once.
As the 'history lesson' ended, Miho found herself... tired. Very tired. Her Pretty Orange form boosted her physical stamina, but her mind was struggling to keep up with the kind of lie she had almost fell for when Valia-chan had told her about the 'good things' of her home.
The lie that they were on the right side of history, that she was going to do good things in restoring Dream Rainbow, that the monster in front of her was truly that.
"Do you have any questions?"
The 'villain' spoke up, and Pretty Orange felt her legs waving as she was hovering over the tall chair she was sitting on.
"You didn't put your story there."
"It's personal. But it is alike those I showed you."
...
"Liar."
Dark Star Zero frowned, ready to argue about it but-
"It was worse, wasn't it?" Miho asked back, almost confident she got this one right, and she offered a tired smile as she saw the true answer on his face. "I am sorry for-"
"You are a clever girl. In a world like this, you would not fulfill your full potential," The villain muttered, tempting her with an incoming offer but- "I will not ask you to join us. It is clear that you don't wish to take any sides until you have some other questions answered. However, I will ask you to stay on board this flagship. You shall have a room to call yours for as long as you wish."
...
"What if I refuse to join you?"
"...Then I will let you be. But then... What will you do with those powers and no purpose?"
The question felt like a slap on her face. A rough one at that. She looked down to her knees.
"I need to think. A lot."
"You will given your room and your freedom-"
"I want to speak with Valia-chan too," Miho interrupted, sounding uncompromising over this matter. "I want answers from her too. Just... not now."
Dark Star Zero gave her a lengthy flat look, but he nodded at her request. "Alas, you will be given permission to speak with the critter. She hasn't been harmed."
That put her some relief, but also not. After all, what kind of excuses could the fairy come up with? What kind of lies she could produce to deny what the videos proved? That those were fake?
Miho had seen suffering herself. She knew when it was true. When it was real. When it really hurt people.
After that, she merely asked to be left to her room. And that request was granted too.
She vanished out of the history room, landing on her... bed.
It wasn't king-sized, but it was as big as she once hoped to have in her own home. The room was pretty-colored, orange being her favorite as it was the room's primary color. There were a desk, two wardrobes with cute clothes ranging from winter to summer. There was her own bathroom. There was her own kitchen with a fridge and cupboards filled with food.
All of it was fresh and yummy-looking.
She thought she would have found something more 'alien' to her familiar tastes, but Miho was glad to be proven wrong.
Alas, she finally turned her magical power-up off, relief washing over her as Miho was back to be a simple brunette with a simple desire:
To no longer starve and to have a home to call her own.
"I-Is this prudent, Sire? To leave this child alive with such dangerous power within her?"
Marcak's tense voice was met with a calm look from Dark Star Zero.
"It is. But it isn't blind trust that makes me willing to believe this child is loyal to our cause. She is not. At least, not yet."
"Then- then why? You already claimed the other powers from Dream Rainbow."
Indeed, Dark Star Zero may have not hurt this 'Valia', but he did remove the powers she had been trusted with. There was no pain involved, and the leader of the Dark Fleet was now owning said powers... but he couldn't use them even if he wanted to.
"Because the powers of Dream Rainbow are not readily usable by anyone gaining those. They are available to a limited amount of people," The supreme ruler remarked calmly, mustering four more orbs of power out of his left palm. "We can't use them. None in our fleet can."
...
The news surprised the cadre of loyal officers rallying in the throne room to seek answers to what occurred on Earth. The sudden acquisition of 'Pretty Orange' left them gobsmacked on why said individual was not killed or her power removed.
"What you mean, sire, is that Pretty Orange is the only one that can use the powers of 'Orange Imagination'?"
"Aye, Marcak. She is the only one. The same goes with the rest of the powers."
"A-And what is your plan, sire?" Another major figure that appeared to be a minotaur with two sets of horns, General Paltimar, asked with curiosity.
The orbs floated tenderly by his fingers, tantalizing but unusable by him... directly.
"I will play a game. I suppose it is only fair I actually not fall for some foolish tricks and try to force my body to absorb those powers," Dark Star Zero proclaimed as he stood up from his chair, turning to see Earth from his position through the large window over it. "I think it's time for the new Queens to be born too and to join Miho."
"...You mean, 'Pretty Orange'-"
"We shan't debase their names, Marcak. The old queens are dead, we will not preserve this hideous tradition we have been forced to accept in the past."
"...Aye, sire."
"Now, without further hesitation, I shall release the powers upon Earth and, one by one, I shall approach those champions of the new age."
"...You wish to convert them, sire?"
Dark Star Zero turned to his oldest comrade. The tentacled psy-specialist Vemanis appeared confident in his sire's attitude, but also curious if not slightly concerned.
"One at the time. And by their own volition."
With a snap of fingers, the orbs fluttered away from his palms and out of the ship itself. Soon they spread away from one another and then bolted towards Earth.
With the powers of Dream Rainbow given the means to fulfill their goals, it was not time to fully destroy the old legacy of their pains - there shan't be a Dream Rainbow like the old one. No more.
AN
Miho is safe, yay! And more Magical Girls will appear, some classical ones and other rather 'violently unusual' compared to known tropes.