The Equestria Games: First Blood

by 8_Bit

Chapter XVI: Under the Radar

“Thunderlane?”

“Yeah?”

The pair had reached Twilight’s door. Lightning Dust had recommended they get an early night, so she could give them the best brief possible over breakfast. They’d need to be ready by 8:00am, when a car would take them to a heliport, where a hovercraft would be waiting to take them to the arena.

“I don’t want to be alone tonight.”

Thunderlane smiled at her, and nodded. As she walked through the door, he followed, closing it behind him. They didn’t even need to speak, they both climbed into Twilight’s bed, cuddling up close together. Even though a new day would bring with it untold horrors, they could at least enjoy each others company until sunrise. Twilight felt comfortable with Thunderlane holding her tightly, and as she turned out the lights, she felt a sense of peace, one that she could enjoy for the time being, as she closed her eyes, entering her world of darkness and silence.

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“Twilight…”

She looked around. She was back in the void, nothing but pitch blackness in every direction. The voice was coming from all around her.

“Twilight…”

She turned to see a figure slowly emerging from the darkness.

“Shining Armor?”

Her brother faded into view. She cursed her luck, knowing this couldn’t be real.

“Yes Twily. It’s me.”

“And I’m dreaming. Great.”

“Well, you ARE dreaming. That’s how I’m able to do this.”

Twilight looked at him, confused. “Do what?”

“Subconscious projection spell. I’m beaming my thoughts into your head. I’ve been trying to do it for a few nights now, but I keep getting the times wrong. The target needs to be in a subconscious state, namely sleep, for it to work.”

Twilight thought for a few seconds. Her mind flashed back to the first time she’d been on the rooftop balcony. She’d heard a voice, certain it had sounded like Shining Armor’s. She’d passed it off as being stress when Thunderlane had arrived. But it wasn’t stress. It was her brother, reaching out to her.

“How is this possible? Can’t the Capitol trace you?”

Shining Armor smiled. “This is old magic. Ancient even, way back to the times of Clover the Clever. Mom had this ancient book of spells, a family heirloom, on her bookcase. I went through it after they took you, and I found this spell. It took a couple of days to get right, though. There is no way they can trace me, their magic isn’t strong enough.”

“Why didn’t you try again that first night?”

“It takes a phenomenal amount of energy to do this. If you can reach out and make a stable connection like this, it’s a lot less tiring. If your target isn’t in a subconscious state, the spell rejects the connection, and drains the magical energy from you equivalent to an hour long conversation. That left me exhausted for a day, and I knew this would be my last chance to talk to you before they sent you into that arena.”

Twilight stepped towards him, reaching out to touch him. He felt so real, like he was actually there.

“I can’t believe it’s actually you. You did this for me?”

Shining smiled, and pulled her into a tight hug. “Of course I did Twily. I had to talk to you before they put you in there.”

Twilight was astonished by the feeling. Never before had a dream felt so real. The warmth of his body, his gentle breathing, it was all impossibly real for a dream.

“How long have we got?” she asked hopefully.

“I still haven’t fully recovered from the first attempt. I think we’ve got a few more minutes.”

A single tear shed from her eye. “Shining, I’m scared. I’m so scared.”

“I know you are, and I want you to know how sorry I am. I promised not to let them take you, and I failed you.”

“It’s not your fault. I saw the footage, you did your best to stop them.”

“I didn’t do enough.”

“Don’t say that,” she said, leaning backwards from out of the hug. “You’re doing this right now. I think you’ve done more than enough.”

“If I’d done enough, you wouldn’t be there.”

Twilight pulled him in tight again. “You were there for me when Mom and Dad died. You’ve always been there for me. You’re the best older brother a mare could ask for, and I love you.”

Shining began to cry, soft gentle tears that ran down his face, onto Twilight’s back. She felt the tears slowly slide down her body. They held each other in silence for what felt like an eternity, before Twilight finally spoke again.

“How can this feel so real?”

“I’m actually stood in the middle of the clearing. The emotional memories you and I share here make the spell more powerful, allowing me to dive deep enough into your subconscious to trick your mind into making it feel real. A nice side result of this is the ability to remember this dream. Most dreams fade from memory as soon as you wake up, but this won’t. You’ll remember this as if it was real.”

“Good.”

The darkness around them began to turn bright, as Twilight found Shining Armor loosening his grip, before letting go completely. She still held him tight, and with great sadness, he pushed her backwards gently.

“It’s time. The spell’s beginning to wear off.”

Twilight was horrified as he began to back away from her. She tried to move towards him, but every step she took towards him sent him further away. The darkness was now turning into a light gray.

“Twilight, I love you so much. Be strong in the arena, and know that I am proud to call you my sister.”

“Shining, don’t leave me!” Twilight said, tears flowing freely down her face, desperately trying to keep up from her brother, who was moving further away, fading gently into the background, now nearly a perfect white.

“I have to Twilight, I can’t keep up the spell any longer. Stop trying to catch me, it’s no good.”

Twilight’s instinct refused to let up, as she kept running towards the distant shape, and the whiteness began to slowly cloud her vision. The tears streaming down her face assisted in this, all her vision of Shining Armor now reduced to a distant blob.

“Shining! Don’t!”

“Mom and Dad would be so proud of you. Stay safe.”

“Shining! Please!”

“I love you.”

The whiteness exploded, flooding Twilight’s vision. She clenched her eyes tightly shut as it blinded her, opening them again a few moments later to reveal the void. She was all alone again, lost in the eternal blackness. The wave of tears began anew, as she curled up into a small ball, only able to utter a few words in her distraught state.

“I love you too…”

Author's Note:

Milestone time! My story just hit 200 views, so I wanted to do a short chapter to celebrate. Twilight's lack of a goodbye to her brother seemed a little too tragic to me, so I wrote this to give her some closure before she was forced into the arena.

Thanks everypony for reading and enjoying!
I luvs ya all!

<3

Comments

[MemoryLane]

THAT WAS FAST <3

[Corporal Lyra]

Holy crap you work fast

[Neonz]

So many feels... that was really well done. And I have to agree with the others: you work fast!

[Pyromaniac]

What is this chapter, filled with so many feels?