Friendship Ends With You

Streets were full of ponies, walking this way and that. They were talking between each other, each one seeming to blend into the herd of movement while simultaneously standing out. From the plain Earth Ponies wearing naught but their coats and Cutie Marks, Unicorns trying to be the fanciest of the bunch, and… a single Griffon, waking up in the middle of the street. Blinking in confusion, she stood up and looked around at her new environment.

What the... I'm back in Canterlot? When did THAT happen? Last I remember, I was flying AWAY from this dump...

Her memory returned to when she was flying away from the city... when she touched down to take a nap... when the train woke her up to see...

Gilda gasped at the memory, patting herself down to assure herself that she was still in one piece.

Alright, so, um, I must not have been hurt too bad. That pony took me to a hospital, and... they dumped me in the middle of Canterlot? What? No, that's stupid, Gilda. There must be some better explanation for why I went from getting hit by a train to waking up in the middle of... okay, something's on my chest, what is it?

She looked down to see a milky white crystal, hanging on a chain around her neck. She gently took it between her talons and lifted it to her face to examine it closer.

"When did I get this?" Gilda muttered to herself, tapping a talon against the crystal's surface. "Maybe whoever brought me here put this thing on meeeeEEEAUGH!"

It was as if a barrier around her mind that she never new existed broke free and spread outward, catching hundreds upon hundreds of voices, all piling on top of each other, piercing into Gilda's mind. In surprise, she let go of the crystal and let it drop against her chest. At once, the barrier pulled back inward and the voices stopped.

"What was THAT?!" Gilda gasped, patting her head down. "No, I know what it was: FREAKY!"

She took a moment to calm herself, taking deep breaths. She turned her attention back to the crystal around her neck.

That happened when I just tapped the surface... is this a schizo-stone or something?

She gripped the crystal tightly in her claw and turned to a Pony staring up at a statue. Wait... there are a bunch of Ponies around here. I wonder...

Focusing solely on that single pony by the statue, she relaxed her tight grip on the crystal and gave it a light tap with the tip of her talon. At once, the barrier surrounding her mind lifted again.

Wow, so THIS is Canterlot! Man, oh MAN! This is even more exciting than those posters said it would be! Nopony can stop talking about this Festival happening in a month... I just GOTTA check it out! Maybe I can ask my friends to come over and-

Gilda tapped the crystal once again, and the voice faded from her mind.

Okay, so this thing lets me read others' minds, Gilda thought as she held the crystal up to eye level. Cool... but that doesn't explain how I got it, or how I even got here in the first place. Is Celestia herself pulling some elaborate prank on me? Maybe-

Her thought was cut short as the crystal started glowing a bright green. Gilda screamed and jumped back as a green flame erupted from the crystal and formed a ghostly scroll floating in the air, rolled up and waiting for her to take it.

"Uh... look, I don't even know where this thing came from, I don't even know how it made that..." Gilda started, explaining herself to the Ponies walking by. None of them even turned their heads to acknowledge anything strange was happening.

"Stuff like this must happen all the time if they don't even flinch at a ghostly fire-scroll..." Gilda muttered as she took the scroll in her claws and unrolled it, reading the message to herself:

"Reach the castle's stairs. You have 60 minutes. Fail, and face erasure. -The Changelings."

Gilda scoffed as she tore the scroll in half. "Alright, joke's up, whoever you are. Now actually show yourself and stop screwing with me."

In response, the two halves of the scroll turned back into fire and jumped together, re-forming as a whole message again.

"You're really going the extra mile for this, aren't you?" Gilda asked to whoever was causing this, snatching the scroll roughly in her claw. "Look bub, I'm not in the mood. Just tell me what's going on and maybe I won't re-arrange your face when you-GAH!"

She dropped the scroll and gripped her right wrist with her left claw as a sharp pain shot through her palm. Grunting, she brought her claw up to her face and opened it, revealing a red timer printed on her palm, ticking down:

59:50
59:49
59:48
59:47

"Wh... WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?!" Gilda screamed, looking all around for the source of this. "WHOEVER YOU ARE, YOU'RE ASKING FOR A POUNDING WHEN I FIND YOU!"

As she was turning this way and that, her face bumped up against a small, round creature, flying around on insect wings. It had a tiny smile and was staring at her with huge, green eyes. Most people would have found the site of the thing adorable.

However, most people were not an irritated Griffon.

"Outta my way you puny little..." Gilda grumbled as she swatted the creature away with the back of her claw. She turned her head to see a few more of those same creatures buzzing about. She groaned and walked up to them, fully intending to squish them together, when a LOUD buzzing came from behind her. She froze and slowly turned around to see an entire SWARM of those creatures coming at her.

"Um... no," Gilda said quietly, her eyes as wide as dinner dishes. "Nu-uh. Too much weird stuff has been happening already, this is just too much."

She turned and prepared to dash away, but two clumps of the creatures flew ahead of her and dropped on the ground. Each individual creature seemed to blend together until two giant frogs were standing ahead of her.

"Wh..." Gilda took a step back, terrified. "What ARE you?!"

In response, one of the frogs leaped at her. Gilda screamed and jumped out of the way, landing with a thud on her shoulder.

"OW!" She stood up and gripped her shoulder in pain. Crud, I think I dislocated it!

The frogs didn't falter; They hopped on after her, seeming to have the sole purpose of hunting her down and crushing her.

"Okay, screw this!" Gilda turned away from the frogs, taking a running start. "I'm outta here!"

She jumped into the air, prepared to fly off... and promptly fell flat on her face.

"What the..." Gilda turned her head to examine her back, only to discover that her wings were missing. She opened her mouth to scream, but it turned into a grunt as one of the frogs slammed into her. The force of the tackle knocked her back, making her roll into the statue nearby.

"H... Hey!" she called out, sitting up and hugging herself in pain. "Someone! ANYONE! Help... me..."

She slowed to a stop as she realized that she was standing inside of the Pony she read the mind of, as if he were a ghost. She cried in surprise as she scrambled to her feet and claws, running in a random direction.

I don't know WHAT'S going on... but I've gotta get out of here!

Atop of a nearby building sat two Unicorns, staring at the streets below them. They were completely indistinguishable from other Unicorns, save for their insect-like wings that fluttered on their backs, littered with holes.

"Here we go again, brother..." yawned one of the Unicorns, playing with the tip of his mustache.

"No point in bellyaching," his bare-faced brother pointed out, rolling his head on his neck. "We haven't had work in a long time."

"Exactly," the mustached Unicorn pointed out. "It feels like the Monday after Vacation."

"And you would prefer a permanent vacation?" the bare-faced Unicorn asked darkly. "Day 1 has the most Players. Now is the perfect opportunity for us to gather points! How else are you gonna make up for last month?"

"Okay, I get it," the mustached Unicorn assured his brother, holding up his hooves in defense. "One week won't kill me. Probably."

The two stood in silence for a moment, watching the Ponies that were invisible to most others running around in panic as the small round creatures and the frogs they turned into chased them.

"While we're at it..." the mustached Unicorn quipped out of the blue. "Why don't we play a little game?"

His brother's eyes sparkled. "A game, you say?"

"So it doesn't feel as much like work," the mustached Unicorn elaborated. "C'mon, I know you love them."

As he said this, he was jokingly poking at his brother's side. The bare-faced unicorn, in response, rolled his eyes and pushed him away, though he was still grinning.

"Alright, you know me," he admitted. "Shoot."

"Why don't we play Changeling Sport 3?" Offered the mustached unicorn. "A Player Hunt? We see which one of us bags the most Players during today's mission."

"That's it?" The bare-faced Unicorn raised an eyebrow at his brother. "You're losing your touch, Flam."

"Oh?" Flam tilted his head at his brother. "You don't like it?"

"Of course not!" Flam's brother wrapped a reassuring arm around Flam's shoulders. "I mean, I would just crush you! That wouldn't be fair at all!"

"Oh, NOW it's on, Flim!" Flam laughed as he pushed away. "You know the drill. Loser buys winner lunch."

The brothers shook each others' hooves, turning back to the edge of the roof. They jumped off and, with the buzzing of their wings, flew in different directions across the city.

===

Gilda panted as she pressed her back against a nearby wall, watching a few Ponies walking by. A few Ponies in the distance seemed panicky and darting all over the place, but Gilda didn't really care about them, she was more worried about her own safety.

"Alright..." she panted, sliding down and hugging her knees to her chest. "I think... I lost 'em... should be... safe-"

Without any warning, clumps of the round creatures fell from the sky like meteors, melting into frogs and jumping around to directly face Gilda.

"Grr... stupid frogs!" Gilda growled as she pushed herself back to her feet. "Just leave me alone, you freaks!"

Nearby, the panicking Ponies found themselves attacked by their own frogs. One by one, they were knocked down and swarmed by the creatures, and when they finally separated and flew into the air... there was no trace of the Ponies they had just attacked. Gilda could only stare in shock.

"Wh... what did you..." She turned back to the slowly approaching frogs, a look of terror painted on her face. "What's happening... why am I even here?! WHAT IS GOING ON?!"

The frogs jumped at her, one hit, two, three. She fell to her knees, panting heavily. Her eyes were shut and her claws clenched in pain.

This is it... She thought to herself. Hit by a train, killed by Frogs... and here I was hoping I'd die in a flying accident or-

"HEY!"

Gilda's eyes opened as she looked up. A cobalt pony in a star printed wizard hat and cape broke through the "wall" of frogs, her crystal necklace beating against her torso as she galloped over toward Gilda.

"You! Griffon!" she panted. "Forge a pact with me!"

"What?" Gilda blinked. "What do you-GET DOWN!"

Gilda rolled out of the way, and the Pony jumped just in time to avoid another frog jumping at them.

"Kinda got my hands full here!" Gilda retorted, looking back at the Pony.

"Listen!" the Pony snapped, stomping her hoof. "If we forge a pact, we can beat the Parasprites! Otherwise, we're BOTH toast!"

Gilda looked between the Pony and the frogs. "Well, it's not like I have anything to lose here. Alright, I accept this 'Pact' thing!"

Both Gilda and the Pony's crystals floated in the air, as if gravity turned off for them. Each one sparked with yellow energy before blasting beams of yellow light at each other, meeting in the middle and becoming as one beam. Gilda could feel a powerful pulsation of raw energy ripple through her body for a minute before the light faded and both their crystals dropped.

"What in Equestria was THAT?!" Gilda cried, holding up her crystal in confusion.

"Never mind that, here!"

Gilda looked up in time to see a smaller crystal being tossed at her. She caught it in her claw and held it up to her eye. It was similar to the crystal around her neck, only it was smaller, completely clear, and it had the image of a flame embedded in its core.

"Use that Crystal to fight!" the Pony said, turning to face the frogs that were surrounding them.

"Now hold on a second!" Gilda snapped. "I want to know, right now, what's going on!"

"Is now REALLY the best time to-DUCK!"

Gilda did as the Pony said, a frog soaring over them both.

"Look, let's crush these Parasprites first!" the Pony said as she jumped back onto her hooves. "Then we can play Twenty Questions as much as you want!"

"How do I even USE this thing?!" Gilda shook the fire crystal vigorously.

"Oh for the love of..." the Pony facehoofed. "Smash that sucker against your necklace, you idiot!"

"Hey, who are you calling-"

"JUST DO IT!"

"Okay, fine!"

Gilda smashed the fire crystal as hard as she could against the crystal hanging around her neck. The fire crystal shattered, but rather than spreading out, the shards absorbed into her necklace. The image of a flame appeared on her crystal, and her claws suddenly felt tingly.

"What in the..." Gilda held her claws up to her face. They were glowing with a red aura, rippling with power.

"BEHIND YOU!"

Gilda turned to see a frog leap at her. Acting on instinct, she held out her claw toward the frog. A stream of flames erupted from her palm and engulfed the Frog, making it break apart back into the round creatures-the Parasprites. Jaw agape, she slowly brought her claw to her face, watching the faint flames flicker on her talons.

"...oh," she smirked. "This. THIS, I like."

She ran forward, both her claws outstretched as she burnt all the frogs she could see. As each one was engulfed in the flames, they broke apart into individual Parasprites and flew off into the air. In less than a minute, all of the Frogs were destroyed.

"Alright!" Gilda pumped her fist. "I have absolutely NO idea how I just did that, but who cares?! I just burnt those suckers to a crisp!"

"Hm... so you can use that Crystal, then?" the Pony asked as she approached Gilda. "Guess you're at least halfway decent with spells... you know, for a non-Unicorn."

"Was that an insult?" Gilda scowled.

"You should just be happy I found you in time," the Pony said calmly, leaning against the nearby wall nonchalantly. "You were THIS close to being Parasprite food."

"So those things were Parasprites?" Gilda looked in the air, not a single creature in sight.

"No need to be so paranoid," the Pony rolled her eyes at Gilda. "We made a pact. Parasprites don't go after Players who have a pact."

"Players?" Gilda blinked.

"Did you just drop on your head when you started the Game or something?" Trixie scoffed. "Honestly, it's like you don't know ANYTHING."

"I know that every word that comes out of your mouth makes me hate you more and more," Gilda snarled.

"Oh, I never even told you my name," the Pony realized, not seeming to acknowledge Gilda's remark. "You may call me..."

She stood up on her hind legs. "The GREAT and POWERFUL Trixie!"

And I'm the Angry and Irritated Gilda, Gilda thought, wanting to wring her claws around Trixie's throat.

"Look, we've got a long week ahead of us," Trixie informed her. "So we better get used to-"

"Wait, a week?" Gilda asked. "A week of what?"

Trixie stared at her. Not an "you're an idiot" stare, but more like "Oh my Celestia, you're serious" stare.

"The Changelings' Game is seven days long," she said slowly.

Changelings? Like... wait, that's how my scroll was signed. Who is this Pony, and how does she even know all this?

"So, I suppose I'd best ask for your name as well," Trixie said, though Gilda tuned her voice out.

Oh forget her. Who's in charge of all this? How did I even get here in the first place?

"Look, I'm trying to be nice, at least tell me your name."

I went from a train, to... what, is this the afterlife? I'm not floating on clouds, so it's not heaven... and I don't see a bunch of fire and laughing demons, so it ain't Tartarus, either.

"Uh, something wrong?"

Wait... the center of Canterlot. Maybe I can find my way to the exit from there.

Gilda turned around and walked off. Trixie stared at her back like she was insane.

"H-hey!" She chased after. "The Great and Powerful Trixie DEMANDS that you wait for her!"

Gilda picked up the speed as she eventually made her way back to the center of Canterlot. She had to take a few detours to try and shake off Trixie... and yet, she was STILL hot on her tail by the time they made it to the center.

"Oh for the love of... why are you following me?!" Gilda snapped, whirling toward Trixie.

"Why are you... making yourself... so hard to follow... oh my lungs..." Trixie panted before flopping down on her rear, holding a hoof over her chest.

"Look," Gilda growled as she crossed her arms. "I go where I want, and no losers are gonna stop me. So why don't you make like a bee and buzz off?"

"Where are you going to go?" Trixie scoffed. "We're TRAPPED in here, you brain-dead dolt!"

"I'm going to ignore that insult," Gilda snarled. "Don't be stupid, the gate out of here is just a bit south."

"You're the one being stupid," Trixie rolled her eyes.

"Say that again!" Gilda snapped, leaning so close to Trixie's face that her beak was touching Trixie's nose.

"We made a pact, birdbrain," Trixie growled, pushing her forehead against Gilda's. "We're supposed to stick together! You can't beat the Parasprites alone! You. Can't. Survive!"

"Survive what?" Gilda scoffed, pressing her head further in an attempt to push Trixie down.

"The GAME, you stupid little canary!" Trixie shouted. "Don't you want to, you know, WIN?!"

"Pft." Gilda pulled away to the side. Trixie cried out as she fell to the ground, falling flat on her face. "Play games on your own time, loser."

"That's... not funny!" growled Trixie as she pushed herself back to her hooves, adjusting the hat on her head. "They'll destroy us if we don't win! Didn't you see what happened to those Ponies? You feel like JOINING them?"

"..." Gilda clenched her fist, remembering the swarms attacking the Ponies and leaving them... vanished.

"Besides," Trixie continued, "we're partners. And, as much as I hate to admit it, partners work together."

"Uh, no way," Gilda shook her head, making an X with her arms. "I'm not going to be a part of this, Pony."

"You're already a part of this," Trixie sighed, facehoofing again. "You're a Player, just like me."

"There's that word again," Gilda noted, raising an eyebrow. "What do you mean, Player? I'm not playing anything."

"Oh yeah?" Trixie rolled her eyes, poking Gilda's chest. "Then why do you have a Crystal? Probably have a timer on your hoof-sorry, erm... claw?"

Gilda turned her claw to her face and opened, looking down at the timer.

20:05
20:04
20:03
20:02

"I... what..." Gilda had no words to express her shock at that moment.

"See?" Trixie puffed out her chest, an air of haughtiness in her voice. "You're a part of the Changelings' Game-wait. What did that timer say?"

Trixie checked her own hoof and gasped.

"We don't have time for this!" she turned her head to the north, seeming anxious. "The clock's ticking! We've only got 20 minutes left! Quick, we need to make our way to the Castle!"

"Castle?" Gilda asked. "Wait... that scroll. Reach the Castle's stairs or face erasure."

"So you can think after all," Trixie rolled her eyes. "Come on bird brain, the sooner we get this over with, the sooner we get out of the woods!"

Please, Gilda rolled her eyes at Trixie as she darted around, seeming to gather her surroundings. What kind of nut would believe any of that? Then again... this day has been pretty weird. Plus, she's gonna follow me anyway... eh, might as well go along with it. Maybe I'll be able to track down the punk who put me in this situation anyway. I'd love to have a little talk with them.

"Alright," Gilda spoke up. "You win, Great and Crazy Trixie."

"That's Great and POWERFUL," Trixie snapped, glaring.

"I think I'll call you that around the same time I visit the moon," Gilda yawned. "'Till then, move it. You know your way around here better than I do."

"First," Trixie insisted, "tell me your name."

"Why should I?" Gilda retorted.

"Because I'm not putting my life in the sharp talons of some bird that I don't even know the name of," Trixie snapped. "You need me to show you around, so I'm not moving a muscle until you tell me your name. Unless your bird brain is so small you can't even keep that bit of information in?"

Gilda growled, clenching her claws.

"Gilda," she said through a clenched beak. "The name's Gilda."

"Gilda?" Trixie smirked. "Cute name. Seems like a name made for a fledgeling than anything."

"Shut up," Gilda snarled.

"Alright Gilda," Trixie turned northward. "Let's get over to the castle."

"So it's just in that direction, right?" Gilda nodded in the same direction, stepping to Trixie's side.

"Yeah, see that tower?" Trixie pointed. "That's the top of the Castle. Follow the path that way, and you can't miss-HEY!"

Gilda took a running start north. With a growl, Trixie followed behind.

I know that loser has it in her head to follow me, Gilda thought with a smirk, but that doesn't mean I'm going to make it easy for- "GAH!"

Gilda was blasted back as a clear wall of honeycomb-shaped blocks of... light, it seemed, appeared around the spot she hit for a second before vanishing again.

"What the..." Gilda stood up and knocked on the air. When her knuckles hit the air, they rebounded off as the wall appeared for another second, vanishing a second later.

"There's an invisible wall here!" Gilda cried, stepping back and grabbing tufts of her crest with her claws. "This is INSANE!"

"Wait, the path is blocked?!" Trixie gasped, pounding her hooves against the wall. "We HAVE to get through!"

"Couldn't we just take another path?" Gilda asked.

"Not if we want to get to the castle in the next..." Trixie checked her hoof. "17 minutes!"

Gilda was silent for a second, the feathers on the back of her neck lifting. She stepped away from the wall and looked into the crowd.

That's weird... why do I feel like I'm being watched? That... that THING over there... what is it?

Gilda's eyes zeroed in on a creature standing in the middle of the moving crowd... in fact, some of the Ponies were actually walking THROUGH it. It was black, had insect wings and a curved horn on its forehead, and its entire body was covered in holes.

"Pact confirmed," the creature said, though it was too far away for either Gilda or Trixie to hear him.

"C'mon..." Trixie muttered, leaning her hooves against the wall as she looked to the left and right. "What are we going to do about this wall? Maybe there's a switch nearby, or-EEP!"

She lost balance and fell forward as the wall suddenly vanished in front of her.

"Huh, guess it's open," Gilda noted as she stepped forward. "Wonder how that happened?"

"No, don't bother yourself, I can pick myself up." Trixie's voice was dripping with sarcasm as she pushed herself back to her hooves and shook her head, re-adjusting her now askew hat.

"Good," Gilda smirked. "Wasn't planning on helping you anyway."

Trixie shot her a glare, but Gilda didn't notice it as she turned her gaze back to the crowd.

Maybe it had something to do with that freaky Pony thing... wait, huh? Where did it go? Weird...

With a shrug, Gilda turned around and started back toward the castle. Trixie still seemed miffed with her, but she trotted along by her side anyway. Roughly ten minutes later, they made it to the long staircase leading up to the castle.

"Made it!" Trixie cried victoriously as she jumped onto the bottom of the staircase. She checked the bottom of her hoof and grinned. Noting this, Gilda looked at her own claw and saw that her palm was bare.

"It vanished," she blinked.

"Well we completed the mission," Trixie rolled her eyes as if this were obvious. "Of COURSE it'll vanish. The point is, we got through the Day without getting destroyed!"

"Big deal!"

Both Gilda and Trixie jumped at this new voice. They looked around their area, but nothing seemed to be there.

"Who's there?!" Gilda demanded.

"You'll find that only idiots would fail the mission on Day 1," the voice continued. Gilda couldn't quite pinpoint where it was coming from, but she could tell it was higher up, possibly sitting on a window or something.

"Must be talking about you," Trixie smirked at Gilda.

"Oh bite my-"

"As I was saying..." the voice interrupted, sounding a bit irritated that the two of them would just drop him. "The two of you are going to be Erased sooner or later, and judging by how you're dealing with each other, my money's going to be on 'sooner.' So why don't you help a guy out and earn me a few extra points?"

A buzzing sounded as Parasprites flew down from above.

"It's them again!" Gilda growled, gripping her Crystal. It seemed to react in the presence of the Parasprites, as the image of a flame already appeared on the surface. The two of them watched as the Parasprites formed together. Rather than clumping into smaller piles, they all formed together into a rather tall creature. Soon, a massive Bear stood before them, standing on its hind legs and wielding arms made of constantly shifting Parasprites.

"That's not a Frog!" Gilda gulped, lighting her claws on fire.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious!" Trixie shook her head, her crystal glowing with a blue aura, similar to her coat. "Look, this won't be as easy as the Frogs earlier! We'll have to work together to take this thing on!"

"What?!" Gilda snapped her head toward Trixie. "No way! I don't play nice with anyone, least of all an arrogant little snot-wad like YOU!"

"Why don't you shut your fat beak for two seconds and actually LISTEN for once in your life?!" Trixie shouted at Gilda, stomping a hoof. "That thing is big and tough! If we go at it alone, it'll CRUSH us! But if we work together, we might get out alive! We already made a Pact, I don't want to know what happens if my Partner dies! Most likely, it will be REALLY. REALLY. BAD. So, unless you want us BOTH to be destroyed, GET OFF YOUR HIGH HORSE AND WORK WITH ME!!!"

"..." Gilda's jaw was clenched so hard that it was in danger of shattering. She looked between Trixie and the Bear, the later of which was slowly approaching.

"Grr... fine!" Gilda got into fighting position and held out her claws. "But ONLY because my life depends on it!"

"The feeling is mutual," Trixie retorted, running forward. "Take THIS!"

She jumped into the air, her crystal glowing brightly. She held suspended in the air for a moment as the stars on her cape peeled off and flew into the Bear, making it stagger back slightly.

"How in the-" Gilda started as Trixie landed back on her hooves, the stars flying back to her cape.

"You can shoot fire from your claws and you ask how I can do that?" Trixie scoffed. "Look, now's not the time, help me fight!"

"Right," Gilda nodded, running forward. "Can't stand the heat, then DON'T MESS WITH ME!"

She let out a scream as she held out both claws, jets of flames coming from them both. They engulfed the bear and burnt it to the bone... for about five seconds, where upon the flames fizzled out.

"What?!" Gilda looked down at her claws, then at the crystal. It turned grey, but it was slowly turning white, starting from the bottom and filling up.

"The Crystals have a limit, and need time to recharge!" Trixie said as she pushed herself ahead of Gilda, throwing more stars into the bear. "What, did you think you could just keep burning things without a limit?"

"That would have been nice, yeah!" Gilda said as she watched the crystal refill, her eyes darting up to the bear. "...hey, keep pumping it full of stars! I have an idea!"

"You? An idea?" Trixie laughed a bit. "That's the funniest thing I've heard all day!"

"I'm going to ignore that bit," Gilda snarled as she ran around to the bear's back. It started to turn to her, but Trixie brought its attention back to her with a well tossed star, straight to the face. With a roar, the bear slowly marched toward Trixie.

"Is that all you've got?" Trixie scoffed. "Ha! The Great and Powerful Trixie could best you while she SLEEPS!"

The Bear slammed its arm down, a chunk of Parasprites rolling toward Trixie like a boulder. She screamed and quickly jumped out of the way, grunting in pain. The bear closed in on her and...

"GOTCHA!" Gilda fired a plume of flames into the bear's back, making it roar with agony. "HURRY, PUMP IT FULL OF STARS!"

As she said this, the last of the flames faded. The bear started to fall forward, but Trixie held her head outward and the stars printed on her hat shot up and straight through the bear. This was all it took to vanquish the beast, as it exploded into Parasprites afterwards, the individual creatures flying off into the sky. Gilda and Trixie were left panting, the buzzing of the Parasprites' wings now long gone.

"Alright..." Trixie panted. "Well, you saved my plot, so I guess I should thank you."

"I didn't do it to save you," Gilda spat. "You're right, I don't know what'll happen if one of us gets Erased... and I'm not willing to find out."

Trixie and Gilda sat there for a minute, glaring at each other.

"...be that way," Trixie scowled, getting back to her hooves. "You heard that guy, though. Day 1 is nothing. The Missions are only going to get harder and harder, and I don't expect you to drag me down."

"Me? Drag YOU down?" Gilda laughed. "You've got that backwards, Pony!"

"Don't test me, Griffon!" Trixie snapped. "We've got six more days! I don't want to spend them putting up with you, but it looks like I don't have a choice, so do us both a favor and keep your beak shut!"

"Up yours." Gilda turned her back to Trixie, crossing her arms and fuming.

I don't believe this. I'm stuck here in the middle of Loser Central with the biggest blockhead I've ever met in my life! She's worse than that Pink Pony, and THAT'S saying something! And I still don't know what happened to me after that train hit, what kind of a game this is, or how I even got here in the first place!

She turned her face to the air and shook her fist. I don't care who I've gotta crush or climb over! I'm gonna find out who put me to this, and when I do... they'll be SORRY!