The Bet was a set of alternate universe fanfics written by Gregg Sharp in 1998 and posted to the Fan Fiction Mailing List and rec.arts.anime.creative, with the premise that Toltiir, cat-god of chaos and trickery, had become bored and, after speaking with Takahashi, goddess of bizarre romantic subplots (named for manga-ka Rumiko Takahashi), decided that they would each make a small change in the Ranma ½ timeline and see who had the greater and/or more interesting results. A number of other gods joined in, each making their own timelines, which Sharp described in fanfic form. The dozens of mini-fics were voted upon by readers (several of whom posted their own) to determine which would be extended.
The winning Bet, Featherbrite's Tale, was Titania's entry, in which Ranma befriended a fairy named Featherbrite at a young age.