It was a surreal experience. It didn’t feel like this was the same Everfree City that I’d entered the day before during the game.

The surroundings looked like an old peasant town, mostly covered in dirt paths and wooden cottages rather than large buildings, forests or mountain ranges. It looked just like the place where I’d first met Autumn Blaze, or rather, where Last Gambit had first introduced the two of us. I still had no idea what it was like when I met Autumn Blaze for the first time, but thanks to Storm Rose, the pieces were gradually beginning to come together again, albeit vaguely.

“Whoops! Watch out for that rock over there! We wouldn’t want you getting hurt before our game started, would we?”

Pulling my head back to reality, I quickly maneuvered my feet away from a large rock before I accidentally gashed my knee in my absentmindedness. There were so many things rushing through my head in that moment, from the game to my discussion with Dazzling Gleam to that mysterious Dreamdrop girl, and it was only made worse thanks to my lack of sleep from the night before.

“Right,” I said sarcastically, shaking my head, “because it would be soooo inconvenient for you if Trixie didn’t have her full strength this afternoon.”

“Actually, you kinda did that to yourself when you decided to pull an all-nighter. I just don’t want your team to think that we cheated at all if you left Everfree City with a nasty scrape on your leg. That would mean we’d have to automatically forfeit, after all.”

She was right. The odds of us winning were outrageously stacked in our favor, yet somehow, we were still losing. I just had to hope that Autumn Blaze’s rule-change would end up working out in our favor, because if it didn’t…

“We’re here!”

Finally, we arrived at a fountain in the middle of what could only be described as a park, although it was still more of a dirt path than the kind we had back in Equestria. There was still nobody there, but I knew that given enough time, she would make her appearance known, no doubt in a similar way to how Discord always chose to appear to us. To my surprise, though, rather than the sky turning dark or clouds forming around our feet, I was greeted by the smell of flowers, a soft breeze between my legs, and the sound of windchimes ringing through the air. I quickly grabbed onto my hat before it could fly away, and by the time I could lift my head again, she was there, not standing menacingly, but rather with an elegance that befit a deity.

I had to remember that even though she had a countenance that was the exact antithesis of Discord, this was still the being that had created Last Gambit. If I let my guard down during these negotiations, I wouldn’t just be putting my team in danger.

Then, after taking a deep breath, I looked the creature in the eyes, reminding myself that this conversation could potentially end up deciding the fate of Equestria.

“Welcome back, O Great and Powerful Trixie!” the kirin exclaimed with glee. “How have you liked the game so far? Not to brag, but I think I’ve done a pretty darn good job with all the decorating. Which area do you like best? Oh, right, I guess you’ve only seen the cityscapes and the flatlands--which really surprises me, to be honest. I really thought you’d like to check out the more unique areas first, but I guess it would make sense for you to stick with what you know first. Maybe try checking out the other ones today when you get the chance! Oh, and I left a little easter egg in the forest area that I think you’re gonna find hi-LARIOUS! Unless you don’t get the joke, in which case I’ll be super embarrassed. Hehe *snort*”

“Ugh…” I moaned, rubbing my forehead. “Trixie has a headache already…”

Autumn Blaze lifted an eyebrow with a smug smile, and finally, closing her mouth, she nodded towards Last Gambit, who took a seat on the fountain behind her. Then, turning towards me, she said, “Sorry! Didn’t mean to drag on like that. Anywhoozer! There was a liiiiittle change I was hoping we could make to the rules. You wouldn’t have a problem with that, would you?”

I turned my eyes towards Last Gambit once more to see if she already had any clue as to what Autumn Blaze was inferring, but the magical girl just shrugged her shoulders. Then, turning my attention towards Autumn Blaze again, I gently asked, “What kind of changes were you thinking about?”

“Well, it’s not really a rule change as much as a way to make the game more… interesting!”

“And?”

Autumn Blaze’s smile faded into a dull stare. “Wow. You must be fun at parties. Anyway! I was thinking that instead of everyone being transmitted to the exact same place once the game started, everyone would be transported to a completely different place on the map! Doesn’t that sound like fun?”

“What?! Why would Trixie agree to that?!”

Even though I was shouting in astonishment, Autumn Blaze didn’t even flinch. Instead, she just wagged her tail back and forth like an excited puppy. “Come onnnn! Don’t you think that’d spice this game up a little bit? Besides, I bet you can think of at least one way how this little addendum fits perfectly with one of your goals already.”

I then turned towards Last Gambit again for clarification, but again, she shrugged her shoulders. “Hey, don’t look at me. This is my first time hearing about this.”

My brain was obviously telling me that there was no way this could work out in my favor, but for some reason, my gut was telling me to at least think about it a little harder before I dismissed the idea completely. She was obviously adding this rule because she thought that it would benefit her more than me, but at the same time, she wouldn’t have even brought it up if there was no way I’d at least consider it. Was she just naive? No. If I’d learned anything from Discord, it was that these creatures thought much further ahead than their external personalities led on. Still, though, if she really thought as far ahead as Discord did, then she probably knew for sure that we’d never be able to take advantage of the new rule as much as her own team would.

Suddenly, though, I gasped, and in that moment, everything began to click in my mind.

Mother Time. This whole plan was so that we would have a better shot at killing their most dangerous member without anyone else intervening! Now that I had that figured out, though, it left an even bigger question left unanswered.

“And just what do you get out of the new rule change?” I immediately asked Autumn Blaze, who pranced in place with excitement.

“Ohhhh, I thought you’d never ask!” Then, with a skip in her step, the kirin frolicked to my side, covering her mouth with her hoof as she giddily whispered into my ear, “The same thing you get out of it!”

I tilted my eyebrows hesitantly, but allowed her to continue.

“Out of all my magical girls, you girls really seem to have your eyes set on Mother Time after what she did with Bloody Mary yesterday, and I don’t mean to eavesdrop, but your entire goal yesterday seemed to be separating her from the rest of the group. Am I wrong?”

“You’re not wrong, but…”

“So! I thought to myself, ‘I have the perfect idea!’ If everyone starts the game in different places, then half the work is already done for you! No need to praise me. I mean, maybe just a little. OK, you’re giving me a weird look, so I guess I should probably get to the point now. There’s one rule that really irks me, but there’s basically no way to change it without it benefitting your team more than mine, so I had to improvise a little!”

“OK…? And what rule is that?”

Autumn Blaze’s smile then began to disappear, but just barely. “The five day rule.” I tilted my head in curiosity before she explained further. “You know the rule where if you don’t kill Last Gambit by midnight on Friday, your team loses automatically? Well, as nice as it would be to be freed from my prison just by being patient enough, it would still leave a bad taste in my mouth. I feel like I wouldn’t have really earned the victory, you know? But at the same time, I’m not stupid enough to just get rid of the five day rule altogether and risk my team losing on the sixth day.”

“And what does the new rule change have to do with the five day rule?”

“Like I said! It’s so that I can get the same thing out of it that you would! By having everyone start the game in separate places, you’ll have a much better chance in eliminating Mother Time before she can regroup with the other magical girls. Not only that…”

Autumn Blaze’s smile then returned to her face, albeit now twisted into a sinister grin.

“...but my girls will have a much better chance to kill you before your team has the chance to save you.”

My eyes went wide. I could feel my chest begin to tighten, keeping the fresh air of Everfree City from entering my lungs. If I agreed to this rule change, it meant that I would be completely isolated from the other girls in my group, and if I ran into one of Last Gambit’s teammates before finding someone on my own team, the game could end a lot sooner than I’d planned. And not in a good way.

Still, though…

“Last Gambit!” I exclaimed, making the other magical girl’s ears perk up. “What do you make of this rule change?”

“I don’t give a fuck. I trust in Autumn Blaze’s judgement, so it's all up to you at this point. I’m good either way.”

So that’s really what this all came down to: a complete roll of the dice. Autumn Blaze didn’t just want to be freed; she wanted to win specifically by killing me, and she was willing to put her own team members on the chopping block as bait. The only problem with that logic was that the bait was too difficult to turn down that easily. Of course I would be gambling with my life if I elected to go along with Autumn Blaze’s plan, but if we didn’t eliminate Mother Time (or even just separate her from her teammates), then they’d have a free revival tool at their disposal whenever they wanted.

I didn’t want to play right into her hooves…

...but if I didn’t take this deal, I saw no realistic way for us to win by midnight on Friday.

“Trixie has one more question before she agrees to anything.” Autumn Blaze nodded her head, but it was still difficult for me to force the words out of my mouth. “Would the places we end up be completely random?”

“Random? Are you crazy?! If we left it up to total chance, what would you do if four girls on my team started the game right next to one of your girls? You’d think I manipulated it for sure! So--not to toot my own brilliance again--but I’ve got an update for your phones that will let you choose to place your girls anywhere you choose on the map. Likewise, Last Gambit will also get to choose where she places her team members at the start of the game. Does that work for you?”

That did sound like it would work, but there was still one flaw with that plan. “You can see everything Trixie puts into her phone, right? How does Trixie know you won’t use that information to tell Last Gambit where to place her own magical girls?”

“Ugggghhhh!!” Last Gambit rolled her eyes. “Seriously?! You find problems with EVERYTHING! Autumn Blaze, can you update my phone real quick?”

The blue-haired girl quickly held up her magical phone, and after a quick moment, the screen lit up with a playful tone ringing from its center. Then, before I knew what was going on, she immediately began tapping across the surface until another jubilant tone sounded into the air.

“Here.” Finally, she held out her phone so that I could see what she’d been doing on her screen. “I’ve officially placed my magical girls already. If any of your teammates start the game next to any of my teammates, you’ll know that it was 100% coincidence. Plus, once you’ve locked in your answers, you can’t change them, so there’s no possibility that Autumn Blaze could influence the game in any way that would benefit me.”

I then checked the message on her display, which read “Positions set.” It seemed like she had covered all of her bases to make sure that everyone ended up with a fair, unbiased result that worked out in everyone’s favor. Any excuse I had not to go along with the plan didn’t make sense anymore, considering the options they were giving me.

“Oh, and one more thing!” Last Gambit continued, slipping her phone back into her dress. “In case you haven’t figured it out by this point, Everfree City is huge, so I’m going to say that no two team members can be within six miles of each other at the start of the game. I don’t think I need to point out how unfair it would be to start the game with three of your girls spawning right next to one of mine.”

I nodded my head. “Trixie agrees, and I suppose you’ll be abiding by the same rule?”

“No shit, doofus.”

As much as I hated to admit it, I no longer had any reason not to go through with their plan. Even though I knew I was falling right into their plan, there was no way I could pass up the opportunity to put my own team in a better position to win.

“Can Trixie’s teammates decide for themselves where they start the game?”

“Sure. Go crazy.”

I needed to at least have that much guaranteed. They probably wouldn’t be too happy with me making a commitment this large without their approval, so I needed to have something to soften the blow when they found out about the new plan.

Finally, I closed my eyes, exhaled a deep breath through my nose, and lifted my head, looking straight into Autumn Blaze’s large, golden eyes. “Trixie… accepts the terms.”

Immediately, Autumn Blaze jumped up and down happily, shrieking in giddy bliss. “Oooooh, we’re gonna have so much fun! I can just feel it! I’ve already updated your phone, so be sure to choose your spawn points before the game starts. Otherwise everyone will just start the game back at their assigned bases. Good luck, girls! I’m rooting for you!”

Then, before I even had the chance to look back up from my phone after seeing the new update, I was standing in the hallways of Canterlot High School, along with Cozy Glow right beside me. I quickly patted my body all over, just in case I was still wearing my magical girl outfit, but thankfully, Autumn Blaze had transported both of us back in our regular forms, allowing me to breathe a sigh of relief.

Now that the rules were set, though, what were we supposed to do next? The glances that Cozy Glow and I exchanged were awkward at best, despite her absolute look of confidence with her head up and arms folded. Should we talk about it more, or just go our separate ways?

“Just to let you know…”

“Hm?”

I then looked straight into Cozy Glow’s eyes, who continued to look away, staring at a fixed point.

“I think you made the right choice taking Autumn Blaze’s deal,” she continued. “It’s true that this deal probably helps me out more than it does you, but I’d be lying if I said that you had any better options.”

“Trixie agrees, but… What do you mean, ‘in more ways than one’?”

Cozy Glow groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Because if the game ends after five days with neither of us dying, Autumn Blaze is gonna go straight for Discord. If I kill you, not only do I get justice for what you did to Divinity, but I also get to bring her back.”

“...Trixie wasn’t the one who killed your friend.”

“Maybe…” Finally, she looked straight into my eye, and even though her face showed no emotion, her eyes communicated all the pain and sorrow she was holding inside. “...but if it weren’t for you, I think she’d still be alive.”

“...Trixie can’t say one way or the other…”

“...Yeah, I know…”

The two of us then dropped eye contact and stood in silence for the next several minutes, waiting awkwardly until the bell rang to begin our morning classes. Then, the two of us looked at each other again, saying nothing, yet communicating everything we needed to.

This was it until later, when the two of us would try to kill each other again. It was a sad reality, but it was the one we had both agreed to.

Finally, the two of us turned our backs to each other in unison, walking in opposite directions as we made our way to our first classes. Neither of us had any idea what would happen next, but whoever ended up walking out of this game with their life still intact would know that they had played a good, fair game all the way to the very end.

“You did WHAT?!”

“Please tell me this is a joke.”

“Oh, Trixie…”

“Das ist nicht gut.”

“Hang on, everyone. I’m sure Trixie had a good reason for doing what she did.”

When I finally decided to break the news to everyone, the response I got was less than glamorous, to say the least. I had brought together Twilight, Sunset and Photo Finish while conference calling Uppercrust and Juniper Montage, but when I let them know the deal I made with Autumn Blaze, Sunset Shimmer was the only one to even humor the chance that I had made the right call.

“How did you not see how dangerous that choice was?!” Uppercrust exclaimed, deciding to not sugarcoat her words. “Or should I remind you that we were already outnumbered?”

“T-Trixie understands, but--”

“What happens if someone finds you before we do?!” Juniper chimed in. “Don’t you understand that our main goal right now is to keep you safe at all costs?”

“Th-that’s true, but--”

“I von’t be there to protect you zis time, Mädchen! Vut would you have me tell Marrow if you are killed?!”

“EVERYONE! ENOUGH!”

Thankfully, I wasn’t the one to quiet everyone down. Before the girls could bombard me with more questions or criticisms, Sunset Shimmer immediately held out her hands, silencing the entire group.

“OK, now that I have everyone’s attention, maybe now we can ask Trixie what she thinks about our new situation.”

Suddenly, everyone’s eyes turned towards mine, and at this point, I didn’t have the option to be timid anymore. Not if we were going to win this one.

After a deep sigh, I looked into everyone’s glares and returned them with one of my own. “Trixie knows what she’s doing. The only way we can win this game is by killing Mother Time as soon as possible. So long as she can resurrect her teammates, she’s easily the single-most dangerous magical girl on their entire team.”

“Still, though,” Twilight interrupted. “If you die, we don’t get to continue the game.”

“Trixie knows that, but they’re at just as much of a disadvantage as we are. Mother Time isn’t the only one we’re trying to eliminate, after all. It would be far easier to kill either her or Last Gambit if they’re isolated than if they’re with their teammates. Trixie will be OK by herself until we regroup. I promise.”

The other girls looked at each other nervously, but after a moment of silence, they all either shrugged their shoulders or nodded their heads. Juniper was the first to speak up after that.

“Then we should make regrouping at a central point our main priority. We can take care of any magical girls on the way if we need to. How about we meet up at the base?”

“No,” Twilight said, rubbing her chin. “That’d be too obvious. I’m sure Last Gambit’s planted at least one of her girls there specifically with that in mind.”

“How about here?” The five of us looked over at Sunset’s magical phone, which had a specific point on Everfree City’s map pulled up. The spot she was referring to was an abandoned building in the forest area, a seemingly random place with no direct relevance to the rest of the world’s geography. “I sincerely doubt that even Last Gambit would think to corner us here. What do you think?”

The girls and I all gave each other quizzical looks, checking to see if anyone had any objections to Sunset’s idea. Then, after a brief silence, we all nodded our heads in agreement. When the game started, we would all pick completely random segments of the map and meet up in the forest area if we didn’t die on the way. Our goal wasn’t to survive anymore; it was to win.

“Alright,” Twilight replied with a smile on her face. “I’ll start in the cityscape. It isn’t too far away, and there’s plenty of places to hide in the meantime.”

“And I’ll start at the base,” Daisy chimed in. “If there’s anyone waiting to ambush us, I’ll crush ‘em before they know what’s coming!”

“I’ll start in the plains,” said Uppercrust. “If anyone’s there, the field will be too wide open for anyone else to notice a sneak attack. Beasty will give me a second pair of eyes, so I should be fine if one of the Everfree girls shows up.”

“Trixie,” Sunset began, “I’ll start off wherever you want me. Since I’m the only one who can fly, I can travel the furthest distance.”

“Hmm…” I mumbled, looking at the map with my tongue sticking out. “In that case, you and Trixie should both start out in the mountain range. It’s the biggest area on the map, so we should have no problem starting six miles apart.”

“Got it. In the meantime, I’ll try to catch up with you as soon as I can so we can head back to the base together.”

“Ugh… Und I vill still be dead...”

“Umm… Girls…?” Suddenly, we all turned our attention towards Twilight, who was now rubbing her knuckles anxiously and staring down at her feet. “There’s… probably something I should mention before we go back.”

Sunset tilted her head to the side. “Hmm? What is it, Twi?”

“It’s… about one of the Everfree girls…” Finally, she looked back into our eyes, and the look she gave us was one of absolute terror. “Bloody Mary. When she died yesterday, I saw her transform into her human form before Mother Time brought her back, and… I think I know who she is.”

My eyes immediately went wide. “Who?! Does she go to this school?!”

Twilight shook her head. “No, I know her back from when I attended Crystal Prep. Her name is Moondancer, and…” The girl in front of me shivered reflexively, tilting her glasses back onto her face as she attempted to recompose herself. “She’s probably the smartest girl I’ve ever met in my life, maybe even smarter than me. If you think that Last Gambit is good at strategizing by herself, the two of them combined will be completely unstoppable. They’d be able to come up with a plan for literally every situation imaginable.”

“I don’t think they’re that crafty, Twilight,” Sunset replied with a chuckle, but Twilight just shook her head, shaking again.

“No, you don’t understand. We can’t out-strategize them. The only way we can win is by doing what we did yesterday: hitting her head on with no tricks, but we can’t do that alone.”

“OK…? So what do you think we should do if we run into her?”

“Run. Run or hide. If you try battling her one on one, you will die. Especially you, Trixie. Promise me that whatever you do, you won’t fight Moondancer by yourself.”

Perfect. And just when I thought Last Gambit’s team couldn’t get any scarier. Still, though, I was lucky to at least have that information to go off of. Nodding my head, I said, “Trixie promises.”

And with that, the five remaining magical girls input our spawning locations into our phones. We’d still need to rely on luck, but there was no doubt that this was the best strategy we had to win with. Autumn Blaze’s desire to kill me would be her downfall.

Then, without a second to lose, we were once again transported to Everfree City, where we would finally continue with the second--and hopefully last--day of our death game with Last Gambit.