Chapter XIII: Final Chance to Prove Yourself
Breakfast was awkward to say the least. Both Twilight and Thunderlane gingerly poked at their pancakes, while Lightning Dust chewed quietly, avoiding eye contact with the pair. Hoity Toity and Photo Finish remained blissfully unaware of the situation, chatting away as their piles of pancakes slowly shrank.
Following her discovery, Lightning Dust had apologized to Twilight and Thunderlane before going to bed, whilst the pair had remained on the balcony for another hour, reminiscing about better times at home. They had even shared a quick kiss, although it hadn’t been anything on the scale of fully making out. It was a short and awkward peck on the lips, after which they had decided to head to bed. They had walked to Thunderlane’s room first, and after a brief hug, went their separate ways.
In her shower, Twilight was taken aback as she thought over what he’d said to her: “You’re the best thing that’s happened to me in a long time. That’s why I can’t walk out of that arena. Because somepony came along who made me feel like life was worth living again, and I can’t let her die in there.” This shocked her beyond measure as the words went through her mind again and again on a constant loop. He intended to die in the arena, so she could live. And he’d told her this immediately after opening up to her about how he lost his mother, so there was no denying the sincerity.
“Right guys,” Lightning Dust said, snapping Twilight out of her trance state. “Today is the final day of training. You’ll be doing a compulsory survival skills course this morning, then after lunch will be the private sessions. One by one, the tributes will go and perform for the Gamemakers, showing off their abilities. Twilight, go for the knife throwing, and what about you, Thunderlane?”
“Hmm?” he replied, sounding confused. He was clearly paying even less attention than Twilight.
“What are you gonna do for the private session? What skills are you gonna show the Gamemakers?”
Thunderlane just shrugged indifferently. “Dunno, I’ll just wing it, I guess.”
Lightning Dust was more than aware why he was taking such a relaxed attitude towards it, but Hoity Toity and Photo Finish just looked at him in confusion.
“Well, whatever works for you,” Lightning continued. “Like I said, they’ll judge you on a scale from 1 to 12, and all the scores will be announced on a televised broadcast later today. Then we’ll have a few hours to get ready for the live interviews, so your stylists here will have some prep teams to dress you, while they talk you through some interview techniques. All that understood?”
Twilight and Thunderlane both nodded.
“Well, it’s nearly 8, so why don’t you two head on down to the training floor.”
“Good luck with the private sessions,” Hoity Toity added.
“Yes,” said Photo Finish. “Make sure you show them da magics!”
The elevator doors slid open, and in stepped the two tributes. The training center floors were deep in the basement, so they had a few minutes to kill before they’d actually get there. This gave Twilight a chance to bring up something she’d contemplated on overnight.
“Thunderlane?”
“Hmm?”
“Last night, when I spoke about the clearing, at first you were talking about it as the beautiful place that it is. But, considering what happened, you should really hate the place.”
“It’s my peaceful place too,” he said, immediately regretting the way the words sounded as they left his mouth. “I go there once a week, every week, at sunset. I hold a flower up in the air, letting the wind carry it away, and almost all the time, the wind carries it through the rainbow in the mist.”
Twilight had never considered Thunderlane to have such a sensitive side. Sure, when he’d opened up to her last night, which was a glimpse of it, but this was a whole new level. She moved in next to him, gently putting her hoof on his.
“I think she’d be proud of you, if she could see you now.”
This got a smile out of him, as the elevator doors slid open again, opening onto the training center floor. Twilight quickly let go of his hoof before the two of them stepped out. They were the last tributes to arrive today, as everypony else was gathered around a large station in the middle of the room. It looked like all the various stations dealing with separate survival skills had been pushed together like a giant jigsaw puzzle, creating a micro-climate in the middle of the room. Spitfire and Soarin’ were in the middle of it.
“Right, that makes everypony,” Spitfire noted as she saw Twilight and Thunderlane walking towards the group. “We can begin. Today, you will be put into pairs at random, before we circulate each station. You’ll get half an hour on each to learn what you can, and clean it up for the next pair. Listen to the instructors carefully, they’re here to help. Last time everypony, line up in height order please.”
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Twilight found herself paired with Cube Twister, while Thunderlane was with Limerick. Cube Twister was fairly decent at most of the stations, having focused a lot of his attention on the survival stations during the afternoon sessions, and the pair was able to build a pretty decent shelter for their first station. Twilight looked over to Thunderlane a few times, each time unable to contain her laughter, as he was focused on keeping their fire burning, whilst Limerick was sat behind him, staring into space again, clapping her hooves together and singing a song about roasting marshmallows.
The rest of the morning ran pretty much to that tune. Twilight and Cube Twister would do a decent job at their station, only to look over and see Thunderlane focused on the task at hoof, and Limerick sat in the background, staring into space and singing a wide variety of songs. Cube Twister was a quiet pony, but seemed to think on a similar wavelength to Twilight. As a result of this, the pair was able to do their tasks with almost no communication, but did each one just right. The only communication they really needed was a celebratory hoof bump as they moved onto a new station.
Hours passed, and Twilight and Cube Twister found they could adequately do every skill needed to stay alive in the wild. The plant identification station was a breeze for Twilight, as years in the Everfree had already taught her all she needed to know. Cube Twister had very nimble hooves, so he was able to craft an effective spear from wood and stone without any issues. And as a pair, they had made a habitable sleeping shelter that blended in nicely with the terrain. The instructors were more than impressed.
Thunderlane was having a less than easy time. Sure, his skills were high above average for each station, but Limerick’s persistent singing was driving him around the bend. Needless to say, he breathed a huge sigh of relief when they finished their final station, and everypony was told to go to lunch.
“So,” Twilight said with a grin as they sat down with their trays. Her ten minutes of fame where over, and the large crowd she’d earned yesterday where back in their places, scattered around the canteen. “How was it with the walking, talking, gawking jukebox?”
“Ugh,” he responded. “I’ve got a pounding headache now. And I know that bucking song will be stuck in my head when I’m trying to do the private session.”
“Which one?” Twilight asked, her grin growing ever wider. “I’m pretty sure she was singing a lot of songs.”
“It was one, constant song.” Thunderlane said with a groan. “At least it felt like it.”
“You have to feel sorry for her, though.”
“Yeah. I don’t think she even knows what planet she’s on.”
“You saw the reapings, though. She volunteered.”
“Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Why in the hay would she volunteer?”
“Inspiration, apparently.”
“Inspiration?”
“Yep. She writes songs in her spare time, so she volunteered, hoping the games would inspire her to write a hit song.”
“But that’s…”
“Insane?”
Thunderlane just nodded in response.
“Then again,” Twilight continued, “So is everything about this situation.”
“Yeah.”
“So come on, what are you gonna do for your private session. I’m obviously going for knife throwing, but what about you.”
Thunderlane just shrugged, chewing his hay fries. It wasn’t an act he’d put on for Lightning Dust earlier, he literally had nothing planned. “I’ll think of something,” he finally said, swallowing his fries.
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The private sessions ran in similarly to the reapings. The stallion from each district would go, followed by the mare. This ran in ascending order, starting with District 1, and ending with District 12. This put Twilight as being the very last pony to go. She sat with Thunderlane, listening as everypony was called forward, as the crowd in the canteen slowly shrank. Time seemed to become meaningless as everypony sat in silence, mentally preparing themselves for the task at hand. Finally, Thunderlane was called.
“Good luck,” she said as he walked out.
“You too,” he said, looking back over his shoulder to shoot her a cheeky wink.
Twilight sat in silence, wondering what Thunderlane could possibly be doing in there. After all those years in the forest, he had to be doing something survival related. Mind you, he’d been pretty good with a sword, and a fairly straight shot with the bow and arrow. He had a lot of options to impress the Gamemakers. But Twilight only had one, but she knew the Gamemakers would be anticipating it. Her performance had to be spectacular.
After what felt like an eternity, the robotic voice from the speaker above her head spoke her name. She began the walk from the canteen to the main training room. Peacekeepers stood at each set of doors, most likely to prevent prying eyes of other tributes from seeing the sessions not meant for them. Soon, she found herself walking through the double doors of the gym. A target range had already been set up front and center to the Gamemakers’ balcony, so they had clearly worked out what she would be performing.
Twilight noted the presence of Spitfire and Soarin’ on the balcony, and tried to keep her cool as she stepped onto the small stand. A small box of knives sat there, ready for her use. The Gamemakers had previously been talking to each other, not focused at all on the pony in front of them. However, Soarin’ noticed her, and cleared his throat. The sound made all the Gamemakers look forward, and as soon as it was noted that it was Twilight about to perform, a hush descended on them as they all looked to her, greatly anticipating the performance to come.
Twilight had a few ideas of what to do. Without speaking, she took two of the knives in hoof, throwing them both in quick succession. Each knife sunk deep on the paper cut-out, where you might find the eyes on a real pony. Twilight then took four knives, two in each hoof. She made two more rapid throws, releasing two knives per throw. Each knife found a comfortable place sitting into the hooves of the paper pony, one knife per hoof. That one earned applause from the Gamemakers. Twilight looked over to them, and noticed the buffet table behind them, which gave her a brain wave.
“Soarin’,” she called out. “Can you throw a piece of fruit over here?”
Soarin’ nodded with a smile, clearly knowing what she was going to do. Twilight took the largest knife she could find in hoof, as Soarin’ threw an apple into the air. He had thrown it not towards Twilight, but so it would go half way between her and the target. Twilight gently inhaled, waiting the milliseconds for the line-up she was hoping for, before exhaling and releasing the knife. It sailed through the air in a steep upwards arc, perfectly cutting the apple in half, before gravity took control and it began its descent. The two halves of the apple bounced onto the floor of the large room, exactly as the knife embedded itself right in the middle of the paper pony’s head, perfectly centered between the two knives that had found their mark in the eyes.
The Gamemakers looked on in stunned disbelief, Spitfire and Soarin’ included. Twilight nodded respectfully towards them, before excusing herself, trotting happily over to the elevator.
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“Hello everypony! I am your host, Fancy Pants, here to announce the training scores given by the Gamemakers to our tributes. Now these scores have been worked out over the last few days, by carefully observing the tributes, their strengths, and their weaknesses.”
“Starting off, from District 1, we have Blueblood, with 9, and Rarity, with 8.”
“From District 2, we have Nighteye, with 7, and Rainbow Dash, with 9.”
“From District 3, we have Gizmo, with 4, and Pyro, with 8.”
“From District 4, we have Fire Work, with 8, and Pinkie Pie, with 9.”
“From District 5, we have Clockwork Dawn, with 6, and Scootaloo, with 5.”
“From District 6, we have Cube Twister, with 6, and Limerick, with 3.”
“From District 7, we have Papercraft, with 6, and Lyra, also with 6.”
“From District 8, we have Featherweight, with 4, and Blue Streak, with 8.”
“From District 9, we have Big McIntosh, with 9, and Berry Punch, with 6.”
“From District 10, we have Caramel, with 5, and Fluttershy, with 4.”
“From District 11, we have Apple Cloud, with 6, and Applejack, with 8.”
“And finally, from District 12, we have Thunderlane, with 6, and Twilight Sparkle, with 10.”
“Well there we have it! Our first set of Tributes for the Equestria Games, with a nice mix of scores. I have to say, I wasn’t expecting that 10 to be in there, especially seeing as Twilight Sparkle is the very same pony who fainted at the reaping. Anyway, that’s all we have time for right now, but stay tuned tonight, where we’ll be interviewing the tributes live in preparation for 9AM tomorrow, when they will arrive at the arena, and the 1st Annual Equestria Games will begin! So stick around, and we’ll see you then!”
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;-; Good job bro. This is a wonderful story, and you've earned it! o3o
I'm excited to get the games underway! And yus, FireWork got 8...haha...HAHA...HAHAHHHAHAHAH
Ya'll gon die.
I lol'd at Limerick. Poor thing. xD I was half-expecting her to get a high score and then have everyone go "wait wut". Unpredictability is scary.
Speaking of Pinkie got a 9.
Welp time to go hide.
TWILIGHT'S A BADASS. :D And also poor Scoots she only got a 5. :/ Puts her above Featherweight, I guess. lol
I'M REALLY PUMPED FOR THE ARENA! Your constant updates are really wonderful. I look forward to them every day. :)
Pinkie Pie got a nine, like a boss. But seriously, everypony is doomed.
YAYYYYY!!!!
I got a SIX!!!!!!!!!!1111
thanks for pairing me (Cube Twister, if anypony didn't know yet) with Twilight
what happened to my friend, Papercraft??? He wasn't featured at the training, except for the scores.
2230308
Anypony lesser mentioned in the Training will get a significant part during the actual games, so don't worry yourself
2230335
Dear 8_Bit
why is this starting to sound like a Katniss and Peeta??
when are you updating again??
2230428
As much as it may be beginning to sound that way, it will not turn out that way in the arena.
Pinkie Promise!
2229507 Don't forget about me; Streak got an eight as well. Watch your back.
2231274 I have a feeling 8_bit did that on purpose...
2231302
They discovered my evil plan!!!
tinyurl.com/d38yf2t
2231302 NAILED IT
fluttershy only got four but in in the arena hurt one of her animal friend and this will images4.fanpop.com/image/polls/794000/794275_1312415029086_full.png