Twilight almost overslept on the third day. When she finally got up, she realized that she had about two minutes to go before she would embarrass Celestia in front of anyone. Without even washing up, she tore out of her room with a speed rivaling Rainbow Dash's.

" Make way, make way!" she cried.

A few of the passerby laughed as Twilight tore along the corridors and down the stairs to reach the ballroom. Twilight blushed. She'd spent too long playing poker and had neglected her duty. By the time she'd started studying for the remaining battles, the moon was already high in the sky. She'd gotten through her notes and thought she had solid strategies, but it had been a close thing. She made a mental note to party less, provided of course she survived the day's fight.

When she skidded into the ballroom, she was relieved to note that no one was looking at her. Most of the champions were staring off into space with sullen and withdrawn expressions, except for Stomp, who was grinning like an idiot, and Goliath, who was writing something on a scroll.

Twilight frowned, looking at how Goliath was carefully balancing the quill in her claws. "Sending mail home?"

Goliath chuckled. "Hardly. This is for my autobiography. Just recording my impressions of the competition. You know, so I'll be sure to have good notes when I write the whole thing."

"Good idea," said Twilight. "Posthumous works are doing really well these days."

Goliath grinned. There was a lot of tooth in it. "Careful, Twilight. If you annoy me, I might write bad things about you."

"Oh, the horror."

"Alright, that does it. Ahem. My third opponent was one Twilight Sword, a scrappy little pony who, though still wetting her bed..."

Twilight knew she might be asked to kill Goliath momentarily, but she couldn't deny that she felt more kinship with the acerbic gryphon than with her 'friends' from back home. "But Goliath, what if I win? Maybe I'll write a book about a gryphon who couldn't fly straight and whose feathers smelled like... like... like Stomp over there."

"I'll write that your favorite spell is 'turn invisible and hide!'"

"Well, I'll write that you're a chicken in disguise!"

"I'll--"

"Would you two SHUT UP?"

Both turned to see Violet. She looked like she hadn't slept in the past two nights.

"Nervous?" teased Goliath.

"Wrong line of work, then," said Twilight.

"I'm glad you two are having fun," sniffed Violet. "This is serious!"

"Yeah," said Twilight. "It is. The fate of Equestria hangs in the balance. That doesn't mean we have to mope around." A part of her told her she was being cruel, but she pushed that thought away. She had to destabilize the competition. What if she fought Violet next? "At least, those of us who think we'll win don't have to."

"Exactly!" said Goliath.

Princess Celestia chose that moment to enter the room, and the competition commenced without delay.

Twilight found herself on a rocky mountain crag.

Between the pouring rain and the dim lighting, Twilight found it difficult to see twenty feet in front of her, let alone the rest of the mountain . Lightning crashed somewhere nearby, and a burst of thunder pealed out over the clouds. Twilight noted ruefully that Rainbow Dash could have been a useful teammate here, thanks to her ability to move rainclouds. But, then again, it wasn't like she knew how to really fight. She'd probably get killed by the enemy in five minutes.

And then she heard flapping nearby. She turned and could just make out Goliath's form. "This is AWESOME!" Goliath was roaring. "Perfect terrain! Whoever you are, I'm taking you down!"

She looked in Twilight's direction and smiled. "Bad luck, eh, Twilight Sword?"

Twilight stared. She was facing a gryphon on what was effectively her home turf. "Before we begin," she said, "I'd just like to make a note that I think this match condition is horribly unfair, and I will write a detailed letter of complaint upon returning to the castle."

Goliath chuckled. "Hey, if this was in some bright grassy field, I wouldn't complain."

"Fair enough." Twilight shook her head to get the rain out of her eyes, then smiled grimly. "So let's not complain then. Bring it, Goliath!"

Goliath screeched and charged at Twilight, who leapt to another rock and swiveled around. She was debating which spell to use. Casting anything would be tough in these conditions, but most thrown weapons or missiles would just get blown off course, so it was the safer bet.

She settled for a simple wind spell. If she could knock Goliath off balance, she might be able to knock her into the mountain and stun her--

Goliath charged at Twilight again. Twilight leapt to a third outcropping, but slipped, almost fell off, and had to hang on by her forelegs. Goliath wheeled around and swept at her again.

Twilight hastily glanced down, saw that she might be able to make the drop if she swung as far as she could, and then went for it. She let go, drawing and striking at the passing Goliath with her ritual knife as she did so.

She scored a minor hit, doing little more than cutting against Goliath's side, and then she was falling. She hit the next crag with a 'whump' and just barely managed to stay on it. Her leg twinged in pain, but she pushed it away. "First blood!" she yelled, as she climbed to her hooves.

Goliath grinned. "Yeah, this fight is totally going your way. Not."

Twilight began to focus as Goliath swept at her again. She cast, and a gust of wind moved to slam at Goliath... but then turned when Goliath gestured at it and then pointed at Twilight.

So Goliath knew wind magic too. That was a problem.

Twilight hastily redirected the gust again, managing to prevent it from hitting her and instead slamming into the mountain wall. She heard a distant rumble as the torrent of wind knocked a few rocks loose.

"Avalanche?" she heard Goliath say in a mocking tone. "Really, that's it?"

The rocks fell. Goliath lazily swept her wings and summoned a gust of wind to blow them in Twilight's direction. Twilight hastily erected a magic barrier to deflect the rocks, and most did bounce off, but a few broke through.

Twilight cursed as one of the rocks grazed her, scraping along her side and lacerating it. Another almost hit her in the head, forcing her to dodge backwards -- almost off the crag. She couldn't help but scream. She'd been within inches of plummeting to a very messy death.

Goliath smirked. "Still so confident?"

"This is just the warm-up!" managed Twilight. "I know enough magic to rip you apart bone by bone!"

"Well? Bring it," said Goliath. "Unless your mouth's promising bits your horn can't provide--"

And then they both heard a distant yell.

"Hey girls! Kinda rainy, isn't it? But I brought you pastries for your meeting! Want some? They're a Pinkie Pie special!"

Twilight stared. She didn't now how Pinkie had snuck into the arena, but it was unmistakably her. She would recognize that bright pink coat and infectious, giggly laughter anywhere.

And now she had gotten involved in a deathmatch competition.

"I hope you do!" Pinkie was yelling. "Cause it was real hard finding the door! I had to follow the guards and be all sneaky! But I got here with your pastries, so you should..."

"What are you doing here?" cried Twilight, still too stunned to move.

"The gryphon told me that you girls got really hungry during the meetings, so I should sneak in through a door to bring you snacks!" Pinkie grinned. "And I did! Weird door, though, I didn't know that the castle had a mountain in a room..."

Twilight managed to collect herself, then took off at a dead run for Pinkie's position. "Pinkie, hide! Get into a cave or something!"

"What?" yelled Pinkie. "I can't hear you! You'll have to come closer and eat pastries before you say anything else!!"

"Pinkie, NOW!" roared Twilight. "RUN!"

Then Goliath casually sideswiped her, sending her careening into the wall and bashing her head. The gryphon's talons just missed taking off her left ear. Cursing, Twilight tried to get to her feet, but she could already see that reaching Pinkie in time was no longer possible.

Pinkie didn't notice Goliath until far too late. "Hi! I'm here, with your blueberry muffin!" she began. And then Goliath seized her in her talons and hefted her up and away from the mountain, over the abyss. Pinkie shrieked, but was of course helpless against Goliath.

"No! Stop! She's not part of this!" Twilight knew, distantly, that this would make her look weak for subsequent matches, but those thoughts seemed unimportant.

Goliath shrugged. "Sure, I'll release her. Right here."

Twilight froze. She could see the next moves as easily as if they'd been written in a book. Goliath would drop Pinkie. Twilight would use a spell to catch her and save her. Goliath would attack her while she was distracted and likely kill her. A single talon across her throat could do it. And then she'd be dead and Equestria would have to give the gryphons whatever they wanted to prevent war...

She thought frantically. There had to be a way out. Well, besides letting Pinkie Pie just fall to her death. Which, frankly, was an option, though not one she wanted to use.

'But if it's my survival and Equestria at stake... how can I sacrifice that for one pony?' she thought. She didn't want to think it, but she knew she had to. If it came down to Pinkie or the country, she had to go with the country...

But she couldn't think of that. She had to come up with another option.

As Goliath began to open her claws, one idea came to Twilight. It was dirty and slapped-together, and stood a notable chance of failure, but it was the only way she could think of to save Pinkie and win the fight.

Goliath dropped Pinkie.

"HELP!" cried the pink horse.

Twilight didn't help. Her horn glowed, but nothing happened to slow Pinkie's fall.

Goliath whistled. "Cold, huh? Heard you liked that one."

Twilight was straining to cast the spell she needed to. She could feel that she was almost there. Meanwhile, Pinkie kept falling, she'd hit the ground in several seconds...

Then a massive blast of wind slammed into the top of the mountain from the other side, and the boulders that Twilight had been hoping for came tumbling down.

Goliath squawked and dove to one side to dodge them. Twilight dove under a thick crag, at the same time reaching down with her telekinesis and hoping she was still in time to save Pinkie. Now, while Goliath was distracted, she might just have the chance to pull it off.

Yes! She was still there, and in range, though very near the ground now. She grabbed on to Pinkie's leg and yanked as hard as she could, trying to stop the pony's descent. Pinkie began to slow--

Goliath seized one of the rocks with her wind magic and hurled it at Twilight.

Distracted by the effort of holding Pinkie, Twilight was unable to dodge in time. The boulder hit her as she reared backwards, slamming her against the wall. She cried out as she felt a cracking sensation in her chest. It sounded like she'd broken some ribs.

But she maintained her grip on Pinkie, and slowed her until the pony was no longer descending. Then she moved Pinkie up against the mountain until the pink pony was on something approximating solid ground.

Goliath was laughing from somewhere nearby. "Did I win?"

"Go... die..." hissed Twilight, crawling out from behind the boulder. Breathing hurt now, as did talking. She wondered how bad she was messed up, and opted not to look down and see. She didn't want to know the answer.

Goliath grinned. "Gotta admit, Twi, that was a pretty good strategy."

Twilight said nothing. She didn't know what to do next. She was at her physical limit, her magic had been basically useless so far, and Pinkie was still alive, meaning that Goliath could just seize her and drop her again. She was outmaneuvered, in bad terrain, and had nothing left to throw at the gryphon. All she had was her anger at Goliath for involving a noncombatant, especially one of Twilight's friends, in the competition.

That thought reminded her of her magic exam, when she'd been totally useless until she'd seen Rainbow Dash's rainbow. Feeling that surge of emotion and energy had enabled her to cast powerful magic, despite feeling completely helpless moments before. She didn't have a rainbow here, but she had emotion. She had her pain, and her hate. Maybe she could try using those.

"I'm supposed to be protecting her," she said, more to herself than to Goliath. "How dare you attack her?"

"All's fair, girl. Speaking of, guess I'll go see if she managed to survive that--"

Twilight's eyes flashed purple as she concentrated on her hate. She no longer cared for Goliath's wit or charm. She just replayed the earlier scene in her mind -- Goliath dropping Pinkie. No, Goliath casting her down, to be bashed upon the rocks.

Twilight's horn glowed, a light bright enough to illuminate the rainy mountains. "How dare you attack her!" Rocks near her began to float, of their own accord.

Goliath looked a little nervous. "I--"

"I'm here, fighting, to protect my friends and the other ponies in Equestria. You don't," and now Twilight's voice was booming through the mountains, "Get to target them!"

She felt the magic leave her in a rush and blast into Goliath, and then she slumped down, completely drained.

'Hope that did it...' she thought. Otherwise, she was about to learn firsthand if ponies went to any sort of afterlife.

And then she heard Goliath landing besides her. "Crap," she breathed. "What did you do?"

Twilight had no idea. But she retained just enough strength to roll over and look.

Goliath was standing there, and looked okay, but oddly... brittle. The pouring rain seemed to be cracking Goliath in a few places. As she watched, one of her feathers floated off and hit the ground, where it shattered.

"Oh," said Goliath. "Oh, oh no..."

Twilight grinned. "Go ahead, Goliath. Try to get me, or her, now. Try to do anything. Or just stand there for the rest of your life. I don't care."

"Take it off." For the first time, Twilight heard terror in Goliath's voice. "I concede. I give up. Remove the spell!"

"No idea how," said Twilight. "Sorry."

Goliath stared, then looked up at the sky. "I said I give up! You can end it now!"

Nothing happened. A heavy drop of rain struck Goliath's beak and cracked a piece off.

"Death match, Goliath," said Twilight. "You know that. We aren't dead, so it's not over." She managed to get to one hoof, then two. "But I bet I can fix that."

Goliath moved a talon back to step away, but as she pressed it on the ground, she slipped slightly and banged it against a rock. It cracked through, then shattered.

Goliath screamed and thrust her wings against the air, but overbalanced anyway and fell heavily. Cracks began spreading through her entire body.

Twilight managed to get to her feet. "No one hurts my friends," she said.

Goliath burst into innumerable pieces, which shattered as they fell. Soon, she was only dust.

Twilight thought she heard Pinkie scream from somewhere, but that was impossible. She was too far away. Besides, Pinkie couldn't be afraid now. Hadn't Twilight just destroyed her enemy? Hadn't she expended all her energy, power, and magic to accomplish this? Hadn't she depleted --

The purple unicorn suddenly noticed how heavy her head felt.

Twilight collapsed as she was teleported away. Next Chapter: Interlude (Chatting up) Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 6 Minutes