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A perfect example of this trope. You should totally give her a hug.
A young girl's greatest fear isn't monsters, or magical threats from beyond time and space. No, a young girl's greatest fear overshadows all of those things.

Her greatest fear is to be alone.

Normal Magical Girls have a good relationship with their family members, they make friends at school—they may be a little dim, but that's okay, and this all translates into the magical ability to defend what they love from external threats.

Dark Magical Girls don't have that. For them, Parental Abandonment is not funny or convenient. The relatively lucky ones have absentee workaholic parents; the others are actively abused. Sometimes the parent is one of the Big Bads. She doesn't have real friends or exploits past the academic because she doesn't know how to really communicate socially, if she goes to school at all. Or perhaps all of her friends died, turning her cynical, and she's afraid to make more friends because it'll only cause more pain. She's smart, but she doesn't understand what is wrong with her and what is wrong with the world. If she seems outwardly creepy, it's another unfortunate reason people avoid her. Because all loners are perceived as evil or otherwise abnormal, this translates into a power that's both similar to and the polar opposite of that of the Magical Girl. DMG's are immune to any stock-footage "healing" abilities the MG has.

Inevitably, the Dark Magical Girl will fight the Magical Girl as her Evil Counterpart or Shadow Archetype, and often as the Dragon or the Dark Chick of the Big Bad. It's usually because she wants approval from the Big Bad as a parental figure, or she's jealous of everything the heroine has that she does not. And she doesn't want the Magical Girl's pity.

She's also faster, smarter, and more ruthless. Don't be surprised if she often wins fights against the MG, who only survives because the DMG is holding back. (Something she may not do, when she gets more and more frustrated as time goes by.) The MG is also desperate not to hurt the DMG, and usually wants to save her from her inner darkness.

Eventually the MG will reach a level of skill to face her. But it's not enough... she has to get through and let the DMG know that she is a lovable person, and that they can be friends, and that the DMG doesn't have to be alone anymore. ...but she has to beat the tar out of her too.

Yes, the DMG almost always gets converted to the Good Guys. After this, despite pyrotechnics, the ultimate battle against the Big Bad (which the ex-DMG joins in) is almost anti-climactic.

Afterwards, the ex-DMG is loyal to the MG almost to the point of being Schoolgirl Lesbians. They rarely get depowered a la Good Is Dumb and will be an equal partner to the hero or heroine (often knocking the other characters down a rank). She'll be the equal or above in physical attacks and is less naive, but will recognize that the MG is the one with the emotional power. (After all, she witnessed that personally.)

Younger Dark Magical Girls tend to be Little Miss Badasses (and at least something of the Elegant Gothic Lolita; see below), even if just a Cute Witch. If a Magic Warrior, she's frequently a Lady Of War.

One common way of noting the Dark Magical Girl is her outfit is usually slightly more fetishy (purples versus the usual white, stylized 'undergarments' versus normal lace), which might explain why a Heel Face Turn doesn't always mean a switch in costume.

Not to be confused with the Black Magician Girl or especially the Dark Action Girl (since the latter is almost, but not quite, exactly unlike the DMG).

It should also be noted that, despite being called the Dark Magical Girl, it is not rare to see a Spear Counterpart, especially in video games. In that case, expect a large amount of Bad Ass mixed in with the Dark Magical Guy in question's personality as well, and it isn't unlikely he's a protagonist, in which case the Dark Is Not Evil aspect is always emphasized.

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