Equestrian Throwdown

by Hex Mark

Labyrinth: The Second Challenge begins!

"Fillies and Gentlecolts!" a voice called through a megaphone as the crowd of ponies cheered, looking down at the center of the stadium as the announcer worked to get them in a good mood. "It's time for the second round of the Rookie Division: The Labyrinth of Scavengers!" the announcer cheered, and the crowd roared once more, the contestants all standing in the center. There were seven large numbered rings on the ground and a small box with a slot in it. From one of the higher stands, Trixie looked down, turning only when she saw Balrog walking closer. A smirk spread on her muzzle as he leaned over the ledge to get a better look as the rookies and their summoners made their way to the center.

"I'll give them one thing, they're consistent." Balrog snarked, and Trixie chuckled before looking back down.

"It matters not, they can not hope to be able to match up to The Great and Powerful Trixie! It'll be amusing to watch those peons scramble." the blue unicorn boasted, her familiar rolling his eyes and crossing his arms, leaning back against a support beam, fixing his gaze upon the contestants.

"For those who are new, the rules are simple! You will be scattered within the labyrinth and must make your way to the center. Of course, there is a catch! In order to actually get inside the center, you must have the one of the three keys to the door. Even we don't know where the keys are hidden within the confines of the maze!"

"OOH OOH! I love scavenger hunts!" Pinkie Pie chimed and bounced, and it took Rainbow Dash and Applejack to get her to sit still.

"It's not right..." Fluttershy murmurred, saddened by what the announcer's rules meant. "No matter what, four of them will die because of this." the yellow pegasus whimpered. Skylark, having donned the outfit that Rarity made for him, raised his hand as he glanced at the competition. Aside from Taurus, Erubetie, and himself, there were four more he was concerned about. A tiger which the human could best describe as a cat version of Taurus, what looked like a mare with the lower body of a snake, the dog from the first challenge, and a green orc.

"Hold on, question." Skylark called to the announcer, who looked to him. "What would happen if one of us were to try to bypass the lock without a key?" his question rang through the slime pony's ears.

"Take all the fun out of it why dontcha?" the announcer deadpanned, only loud enough for the contestants to hear, much to the human's chagrin. Clearing his throat, the pony took a breath and smiled. "Simple, they die. And for that matter, if anybody tries to bring a fourth contestant with them through the door, both contestants will be disqualified." the announcer answered, much to the annoyance of every contestant besides Erubetie, who shuddered and lost form slightly. Skylark closed his eyes and crossed his arms.

This isn't good...only three of us can get through this...We all have to keep winning this... he thought before the announcer spoke up once more.

"Alright contestants! Take a number from this box when we call your name!" the announcer instructed them, pulling out a list of names from his pocket with magic.

"Taurus!" The first of the names would be called, and the minotaur walked to the box to pick his number. "Caressa!" the snake-pony slithered over, using her tail to pull out a number ball. "Erubetie....Rajah" the slime and tiger went to grab their respective numbers. "Skylark." The human was called up, only to be shoved and fall face-first into some mud by the orc. The majority of the audience roared with laughter.

"Now that was uncalled for!" Applejack's admonishment went unheard by the orc while Skylark stood up, wiping the mud off his face and grabbing his number ball.

"Jerky." the announcer pony read the name, the orc walked over to grab his number, and the dog trotted over and was given the last ball.

"It's pronounced 'yehr-keh'." Jerky insisted with a grunt before the the announcer smiled and looked to the ensemble once more once they went back to their summoners.

"Alright! When you're ready, step inside the ring that has the same number as the one you picked out!" the pony instructed them, Rajah, the dog, Jerky and Caressa being the first to go to respective circles: #2, #4, #6, and #5. Erubetie hesitated but made her way to #3. Taurus looked towards Skylark and smirked with a nod, going over to #1. Before the human could walk over, he felt a hoof on his shoulder. He turned, only to be pulled into another Lyra-hug, his face once more pressed against her fur.

"Please be careful..." she whispered into his ear before he smiled softly, doing his best to emulate the nuzzle that ponies usually did.

"Lyra...I promise I'll come back safe." Skylark assured the unicorn, who smiled and gave him one last nuzzle before releasing the hug and allowing the human to walk to his circle: #7. The unicorns were instructed to go to the stands to watch, Lyra returning to her friends.

"Alright! Good luck to you all and may the best monsters survive!" the announcer cheered as the rings around the seven participants began to glow, each one being obscured by a pillar of light. The announcer galloped over to the side as the entire field was covered in the bright light, the dirt field being replaced by a projection of a large maze. There were floating crystals that would soon project the actions of each of the contestants.

"The second challenge has officially begun!!" the announcer declared, the crowd getting excited.

Skylark flopped face first on the dusty stone floor, the blinding light slowly fading as he blinked, standing up to look around. The first thing he saw was a stone wall, the small layer of dust causing him to sneeze. A golden glimmer caught his eye, and turning his attention to the source of it. And what luck!? He had been transported directly to one of the keys! Taking the key off the hook, he smiled and turned around to move on, only to stare blankly. ...You've got to be kidding me... he thought. There were a bunch of iron bars blocking him; he was stuck in a dungeon cell! Although he would never hear it, the majority of the audience completely lost it, laughing their plots off at the scene.

"Looks like #7 wasn't such a lucky number today! Hey may already have a key, but he's locked inside of a cage of his own!" the announcer quipped, and Trixie snickered into her hoof. Lyra had a look of dismay on her face, only comforted by an embrace from Bon Bon and an inaudible reassurance.

"Well...crap." he sighed, imagining just how the audience must have been laughing at him right now, and looked at the key in the palm of his hand. Slipping it into the inner pocket of his shirt, Skylark tapped the bars with the knuckle of his index finger, the iron bars letting out an almost hollow ring. I can afford to kill time and plan a little... he mused, crossing his arms and leaning back against the wall, looking at the bars that kept him contained. Elsewhere, Taurus smirked, grabbing the dog by the scruff of the neck, lifting the whining mutt up.

"Alright, be a good boy and give me the key." The minotaur commanded the dog and -TINK!-, the dog had vanished from the bull's hands and reappeared on the floor, running off. "HEY! GET BACK HERE!" Taurus shouted, chasing the blink dog. Tink! Tink! The dog kept on warping itself two feet at a time, the silver key firmly kept in its mouth like a bone it did not want to give up anytime soon. Cobalt Horn smacked his own forehead with a hoof while the dog's summoner was laughing his plot off.

By this time, Skylark. was sitting down in his cell, arms crossed and eyes closed. The sounds of paws padding along the floor caught his attention, the human opening his eyes to look. He got onto his knees as he watched the dog, bringing his fingers to his mouth, letting out a long whistle. Sliding to a stop, the dog turned its focus to the human. A few quick whistles and the dog raced towards Skylark, who smiled, reaching his hands out to pet it. Although the bars made it hard to do, the human managed to begin stroking the dog behind the ear with one hand,scratching its neck with the other.

"It looks like Skylark has made a friend! They say dogs are ponies' best friend; so maybe it makes these two best acquaintances?" the commentator pondered, much to the amusement of Pinkie Pie.

"Awww, that's so cute! Sky loves puppies!' Pinkie giggled, and Applejack couldn't help but smile.

"Maybe I'll let him play with Winona next time he visits." The farm mare joked, but then noticed something, pointing at the crystal. "Now lookie there!" she called attention to the dog, who began panting and dropped the key it was carrying. Swiftly picking it up, Skylark smirked and patted the dog on the head once more. Ears perking up as the dog heard heavy footsteps. TINK! the dog vanished, and the human glanced up. Taurus had dived for the dog just before it vanished, and could not stop now.

"Taurus?!" the look on his face spelled out his only thoughts. This is gonna suck!. With a loud smashing sound, Taurus had busted through the wall of iron bars. The clanging of the fallen bars echoed through the halls of the maze, the minotaur plowing down the human in the process as they slid towards the stone wall.

"I swear, I'm gonna turn that mutt into orien-food!" the bull growled to himself,feeling a tapping on his shoulder.

"Yeah, sounds fancy...but could you first get your chest out of my face?" Skylark asked, muffled by the muscular mass. Taurus stood up, watching the human stand up and take a deep breath, wiping his face with his sleeve. "So, nice of you to crash the party." he joked, and Taurus smacked him playfully upside the head.

"You should never be a comedian. Anyway, did you see where that pooch went?" The minotaur asked, noting his look of confusion. "The mutt has one of those keys, probably doesn't even know what to do with it." he explained, and the human gave the bull an annoyed glare.

"You mean this key?" Skylark asked, lobbing the key to the stunned minotaur. "I was going to use it as leverage to get one of the others to let me out, but since you broke down the bars, plans changed." he smiled, bending down to pick up a few of the iron bars, examining the ends. The way they had snapped off provided some sharp edges. These will come in handy. he confirmed to himself before making his way out of the cell. "That accounts for two keys; who has the third?" he wondered.

"Why does that matter? We can just wait for them to come to us when we get to the center!" Taurus told the human, who sighed.

"How would we know that the third one won't try to kill us? Or be a complete burden." Skylark questioned before rubbing his neck. "As much of a pain as it is, it's safer to be absolutely certain about these things." the human reasoned, taking the sharp end of one of the iron bars, cutting into his own palm, clenching it into a fist for a few seconds. Taurus scoffed at this, blowing roughly out of his nose.

"C'mon, we can plow through just about anything with your nacht jäger and my raw strength!" Taurus boasted, only for the human to open his bloodied hand.

"You may be right...But just to be safe, we should get moving." Skylark nodded.

"Where do we go from here?" Taurus asked, and the human smirked slightly.

"The only place every single one of us would have to go...This round, we will not just survive as warriors..." he chuckled, running his tongue along his bloody palm, irides turning golden. A half-growl would leave his throat as he spoke.

"We'll thrive...as hunters!"

~tbc~

Author's Note:

Update: I consolidated the part 1 and part 2 chapters, I realized the mistake in splitting them. Sorry about that.