"Your true friends will always be there for you"
Her rainbow streaked hair flailed about, as the bright cyan Pegasus shook the darkness from her vision.
"Urgh... My head..." Rainbow Dash moaned, groggily.
Looking around, she was alone, in front of the statue of Hachipon in Ponyville. Stretching out her wings, she decided to look around the area, to see if anypony was here.
Turning the corner into the Ponyville crossing in front of the old library, Rainbow felt a sudden tinge of Déjà-vu. The library... She never had any reason to go there, books weren't her thing. Except for secretly borrowing Daring Do, but that was an exception, because Daring Do is awesome.
Even so, she never really went to the library: she always lost the book and had to pay a stupid late fee to the librarian, what's-her-face... No matter.
The crossing seemed normal enough, ponies coming and going this and that way, carrying out whatever business they might have. About to ask a pony if anything strange had happened, she heard a quiet, shy voice from the crossing.
"Hello? Excuse me... oh, you're busy?... That's okay... Maybe some other time?... Hi?... Anypony?"
Looking at the source of the sound, Rainbow saw a timid-looking yellow pony trying to talk to somepony from the croud, but failing miserably.
Rainbow's inspection of the pony was suddenly cut short by a scroll appearing in front of her, burning its way through the air into existence.
Opening the scroll, she read:
"You have 60 minutes to get to Sugarcube Corner. Failure will result in erasure. ~The Reapers PS. Make a pact."
Yelping, Rainbow received an unwelcome surprise by a sharp pain in her hoof. Looking down at it, she saw what was like a clock, counting down from 60:00 in red.
"You... You felt it too?"
Looking up, Rainbow noticed the yellow mare walking over to her, looking down, her long pink mane covered half of her face, and one of her eyes.
"Yeah, what's up with that? And why was everypony ignoring you?"
"I don't know... And I'm sure they're just busy..." shied away the butter-coloured pony.
"Well, I'm not so sure of that." Rainbow puffed up, walking over to a group of ponies that were ignoring the other pony earlier.
"Hey you!" She shouted out. "Don't you know it's rude to ignore somepony?"
Ignoring her, the group of ponies chatted on.
Preparing herself for an outburst, Rainbow Dash was suddenly cut off by a small scream from behind.
Whirling around, Rainbow saw the yellow pony being assaulted by strange frog-like beings. With legs in the style of DRAG, a legendary Ponyville graffiti artist, she quickly rushed to the aid of the seemingly helpless pony.
Flapping her wings, Rainbow dashed with a hoof outstretched, looking to hit the closest frog.
Instead of having the desired effect, her hoof passed straight through the frog, who immediately lashed back at her forelegs, cutting a small gash across it.
Pulling back slightly, Rainbow desperately tried to think of a solution. How were you meant to fight something you couldn't touch?
Her mind floated back to the letter she had received earlier... pact.. What was that again? Oh! It must be like in Daring Do and the Crimson Pact! She had to make a partnership with somepony, somepony who wasn't ignoring her...
Shouting out, Rainbow exclaimed "You have to make a pact with me!"
"Oh... Okay..." The yellow pony desperately said, running away from the malevolent frog-like beings.
Being engulfed in a comforting blue light, Rainbow Dash punched the frog taking another leap at her, this time her hoof making a successful connection.
“YES!” she screamed in victory, making the entire square alight with rainbow colours as she dashed around the frogs, knocking them to and fro.
Stopping in front of the yellow pony in a heroic pose, she regarded the rewards of her fight with a smile. In place of the frogs, there was but static left there, quickly fading away into thin air.
Turning around, she saw the poor yellow pony trembling in place, on the ground.
"Are you alright?" Rainbow Dash asked, taking on a more caring tone, reaching her hoof down towards the yellow pony.
After hesitating a little, the quivering pony reached out her hoof and let Rainbow gently pull her up back to her hooves.
"I'm Rainbow Dash" Rainbow stood triumphantly, "What's your name?"
"Flu..." The yellow pony stuttered "Fluttershy..."
"Well, Fluttershy. Good to see you"
Far away, two voices talked.
Who are they?
Time will tell.
What are they doing?
Their speech will tell.
"Something is wrong. These two ponies... they did not emit the same energy as the rest of the players. Their souls... felt rather akin to those of the energy of those in the Real Ground, the energy only the living possess."
"Interesting. Tell me, how did they react to the their first use of scanning?"
"They did not. I did not even see the possession of a player's pin on these two ponies."
...
"Do you think they're illegally in the game?"
"Perhaps. But larger things seem to be afoot."
"Larger things? What may those be?"
"Twilight Sparkle has joined the game. The one pony who possesses the most potent magic in the history of her land, Equestria has joined. Something tells me that one such as her should not have died by any normal means."
"Twilight Sparkle, the wielder of the harmonic element of Magic?"
"Aye."
"Things have been going wrong on Earth, correct?"
"Indeed they have, a player has... asserted some dominance, erasing a Conductor, and many high ranking reapers."
"...I think the prophecies are coming true."
"You think so?"
"...we must have her before they can. Understand that?"
"Of course."
"Oh, and those other ponies?"
"Yes?"
"Erase them."
"Oh!" Fluttershy exclaimed, with some enthusiasm. Looking down at their hooves, the timers disappeared.
"Wait a second, we haven't got to suga..." Rainbow stopped mid-sentence, falling over.
"Rainbow Dash? What hap-" Fluttershy started, before meeting the same fate as Rainbow Dash.
====================End Day One====================