The Equestria Games: First Blood

by 8_Bit

Chapter III: Along for the Ride

Twilight and Thunderlane stood still and silent in embrace for several minutes before Twilight finally let go. She was surprised to see this side of him, because normally in class he acted like the typical jock; arrogant, shallow, and just downright rude to the teachers. It seemed that out of class, this was a different story. Either that, or the mutual situation shared only by them gave them common ground on which to bond.

“Listen Twilight,” spoke the Pegasus, “I’m sorry about Shining Armor. I really am so, so sorry. But you can’t dwell on it. I know its hard, but if you dwell on it, you’ll wreck your only chance to get back to him.”

Twilight looked at Thunderlane through tear stained eyes. He was right, but there was only one problem.

“Twenty-four ponies go into that arena. Twenty-four. And only one comes out.”

“Just imagine it being you, walking out, and coming home to Shining Armor.”

At this point Thunderlane looked into Twilight’s eyes, and showed sincerity she had never seen from anypony. Well, she had from somepony…

“If you hold onto that thought, coming home to Shining, you can get through this. Trust me.”

Twilight had no idea why he was being so nice, but she chose to let it slide. She had more important things to worry about.

“Okay, thanks Thunder,” she said, wiping the tears away.

“Don’t mention it. Come on, I think dinner will be ready soon”

Twilight and Thunderlane stepped through the door, which opened on its own as an aura of gold appeared around it. The aura was identical to the kind caused by unicorn magic, but there was nopony around who could have caused it. They came out into a long corridor, at which point Twilight looked forward through the window in front of her and saw the sun setting over a distant hill with trees racing by rapidly in the foreground.

“We’re on a train? Holy buck, it’s like a palace in here.”

Thunderlane grinned. “Yeah, I said exactly the same thing when I carried you on”

Twilight blushed as they walked down the corridor. That particular detail was one he hadn’t mentioned before. The door to the next carriage led them to a large lounge, with two sofas facing a TV that took up half the wall. On one sofa sat an opal blue pony, with an amber mane that sat in a large bob on her head. She looked over at the pair, smiling when she saw Twilight.

“Hey sleepy head, good to see you woke up in time for dinner. Mind you, we have room service, but whatever. The name's Lightning Dust, I’m gonna be the mentor for you and Thunderhead here.”

“Thunderlane,” he corrected.

“Thunderhead, Thunderlane, whatever. Face facts, when up against Lightning, you’re gonna come last,” she replied, adding in a 'badum tss' before offering Twilight a hoof bump at her terrible pun. Awkward silence hung in the air.

“Gonna leave me hanging? Great, my first gig here and they drop the District 12 losers on me. Screw this, lets go eat.”

As she started walking to the door, Twilight winked at Thunderlane as she gestured downwards to the floor rug laid over the carpet. Thunderlane grinned knowingly and stepped off, as Twilight dug her hoof into it and pulling backwards agressively. This timed perfectly with Lightning Dust stepping off the end of the rug. As she moved forward, her body overbalanced, sending her crashing head over flank into a pile on the floor. Thunderlane collapsed onto the floor as well, clutching his sides with laughter.

Lightning stood up, furious, and flew towards Twilight in fit of fury. Twilight flinched while Thunderlane quickly span around one hundred and eighty degrees and bucked with all his might, sending Lightning Dust flying to the other end of the car. She crashed into the wall, and sunk to the floor. She looked at the pair with eyes full of rage, and stared in silence as she seethed. After a few tense moments she stood up, and the look of anger on her face began to dissolve. Soon it had become a grin, and she started chuckling to herself as something dawned on her.

“Well whadda ya know? Turns out you two aren’t as lame as I thought.”

“Not as lame as that Lightning thing,” Twilight responded, chuckling slightly.

“All right, all right. I’ll give you that one,” laughed Lightning.

"Yeah, I didn't really get that one," Thunderlane added, scratching his head.

“We’ll be on this train until tomorrow evening," Lightning Dust said, ignoring Thunderlane. "That’s when we reach the Capitol. So no sense in being enemies before we even get there, right? Now come on, I smell hay fries.”

Twilight and Thunderlane followed her as she led them towards the dining car. Whilst Thunderlane hung back, gawping and gazing at the view. In the few minutes since they'd left the bedroom, the view had changed from dense forest to a stunning coastal scene. The train was running on tracks high above sea level, giving them a spectacular view. They were still in the forest, which ran down the large hill all the way to the coast, which was littered in small villages as far as could be seen up and down the coastline.

"Impressive, isn't it?" Lightning Dust asked, not even needing to look back at Thunderlane. "Just a few hours in and we're already in District 4."

Basic geography of Equestria and the locations of each District was common knowledge among the citizens. District 4 was one of the largest, running over five hundred miles and covering the entire coast that history books refer to as the Bridle Shores. It had borders with all but three of the other Districts, making it an ideal place to set up the majority of the railway networks.

"I'll join you in a minute," Thunderlane said as they reached the door to the dining car. "I just wanna watch the view for a bit longer."

Lightning Dust smiled, having had a similar reaction when she'd first taken this train journey. "No worries, we'll see you in there."

The smell hit Twilight like a tonne of bricks as she stepped through the door, only moments before she saw the dining table and the mountain of food stacked on it.

District 12 is an outlying district, supplier of coal to the other districts. As such, work in the mines is the main job for stallions, and is exhausting to say the least. Anypony not fit for mine work dabbles in other jobs around the district. But in an outlying district, money is tight and food is a necessity on the border of becoming a luxury. While the majority of deaths in the District are down to mine accidents, the second biggest killer is starvation.

All the moments in her life where she’d been agonizingly hungry flashed across Twilight’s mind as she observed the feast set out in front of them. Cakes piled high on three decorative trays along the table, cakes of all shapes and sizes in a technicolor mindbomb that made her feel dizzy. Hay fries sat in a large bowl with a pair of tongs for serving, while plates upon plates of sandwiches with every possible ingredient one might have in a sandwich were dotted along the table. Many other delicacies were scattered around, but Twilight was so used to being famished, and wasn't prepared to wait any longer. Lightning Dust chuckled as she took a seat next to Twilight, who was helping herself to a large portion of the hay fries, scoffing down dandelion sandwiches as she went.

“Oh well,” said Lightning as Thunderlane walked in. “Makes a change from dinner with the Capitol snobs.”

This caught Thunderlane’s attention as he sat down, noting her general attitude towards the Capitol ponies was less than favorable, but before he was able to question her about it, the TV turned itself on, causing him and Twilight to jump out of their seats.

“Chill dudes,” Lightning chuckled. “It turns itself on for the Capitol broadcasts. This must be the recap of the reapings.”

Twilight and Thunderlane watched as a blue maned Unicorn, who introduced himself as Fancy Pants to the studio audience, began to show clips of the reapings while giving commentary for them. While Twilight zoned out for much of it, several of the tributes caught her eye. There was the white Unicorn with the purple mane who was chosen in District 1, who walked onto the stage like a fashion model. Then there was the cyan Pegasus with the rainbow hued mane from District 2, whose whole character screamed of arrogance as she acted like she had already won, even just at the reaping. The bright pink Earth Pony from District 4 also caught her attention, as well as that yellow Pegasus with the long pink mane from District 10. As soon as the Earth Pony with the Stetson from District 11 had been dragged into her respective town hall by the Peacekeepers, the screen cut to Thunderlane being called and his slow walk up the stage.

Twilight looked over at him sympathetically. She had seen him from a distance at the reaping, but this was something else entirely. The camera zoomed right in on his face, catching his shocked expression and spreading it across the entire screen. Then came the part Twilight was dreading. Seeing herself faint on screen again, and having to once again watch her brother desperately trying to get to her only to be met with brute force was heartbreaking. Fancy Pants made it no better, making 'get the doctor' jokes and sending the studio audience into fits of laughter over the moments that Twilight lost everything remaining that was dear to her.

"Don't let them get to you," Thunderlane said, noticing Twilight's expression.

"Those stuck up snobs wouldn't know sympathy if it bit them on the plot," Lightning Dust snorted.

"I thought you were one of them, though?" Twilight asked, clearly as taken aback about her comments as Thunderlane was.

"Pfft, as if," Lightning replied. "I'm from District 2 originally."

"How'd you end up here doing this, then?" Thunderlane asked.

"That's a long story," she replied. "One best saved for another time."

“I’m full,” Twilight announced, standing up, the laughter still resonating strongly in her ears. “I’m gonna get some sleep.”

“Breakfast is at seven,” Lightning said as Twilight walked towards the door. “We’ll have most of tomorrow to discuss tactics, and I need to brief you on how things are gonna go down when we arrive tomorrow evening.”

Twilight barely paid any attention as she walked out. She went straight to her room several cars down, and crawled under the sheets. She watched the orange-y glow the sun was sending through her windows fade to darkness as she closed her eyes and went back into her fantasy. Her fantasy of darkness and silence. This was impossible, as every time her eyes closed, her mind resonated with the sound of the laughter made by the studio audience in the Capitol. How they laughed at her fainting, and at Shining Armor being beaten mercilessly. This was simply for doing what he had to, to defend the only living relative he had left. The laughter burrowed right to the core of her. It mocked everything about her; the loss of her parents, her baby sister, and now the loss of her brother. He had been completely helpless as she was taken from him, and he was beaten, battered and bruised merely for attempting to protect her.

But what hurt the most was that the ponies that were the source of this laughter were the same ponies who, in a few days, would be watching her fight for her very life. All in the name of entertainment.

Author's Note:

I may be addicted to writing. Three chapters in one day? Okay, I admit it, I have a problem here. But on the plus side, its more for you to read. And nopony is gonna complain about that, right?

Comments

[SilverQuilled]

Does like. Wants more.
More I tell you, MOAR!

Oh, and a random Twist:

[Cobra of England]

And there's the Mane Six showing up...

I'd laugh if they all die and one of the OC's win. (insert plot twist music)

[Neonz]

Obscure Disney reference... how about, "holy buck, it's like a palace in here!"

I wasn't expecting Thunderlane to be the male tribute! Not that you really had a lot of selection though, ha. Thunderlane's cool though. I can dig it.

I was expecting Rarity to be the new Cinna, but it makes more sense for them to be in the games so they can actually be in the fic... lol. Also I'm hoping to see some CMC (any of 'em) Rue-like action.

I disgress. Good job. :D Fast chapter updates are pretty nice.

[8_Bit]

2194602

Sorry, but no.

I can see why you'd think that though

[Eighth Note]

making “get the doctor” jokes

Is that it??

[8_Bit]

2201619

Nope, sorry.

[Opalesence]

I know what the disney reference is It's a disney reference XD

[Discorded Q]

You could say she was a bit disney when she was called up...

[storm cloudburst]

i think that you should have put Rarity in 8. because distict 8 made the pecekeeper clothes and well you can see where i am going with this

[AtTheCrimsonFckr]

2201619 The Doctor: Just The Doctor

[Cinders]

I love how Lightning Dust is the mentor <3