Chapter XXXIV: New Problems
Acrid salt water burned Blue Streak’s throat as she drifted back into consciousness. She steadily became more and more aware of the ruined scene around her as her vision improved, rapidly blinking her burning eyes to try and clear out anything that could be irritating them. She dared to try and stand up, only to instantly be overcome with dizziness. She retched violently, but nothing came up.
It took a few minutes, but she finally managed to compose herself enough to take a few shaky steps. After crawling over a fallen tree, she spotted the waterfall just meters in front of her. The pool was full of splinters and leaves, but she needed to clear the salt from her throat. As most of the foliage was on the surface, she swept a small area clear with her forelegs before she stuck her whole face in the water and gulped down several mouthfuls. By the time she came up, she was gasping for air.
With her thirst quenched, Blue Streak began to take in her surroundings. The moonlight was just bright enough for her to see the area around her in ruins. At least half the trees around her had been violently uprooted, and many lay shattered and splintered where they’d collided with each other.
Images flashed through her mind as she recalled the final moments prior to being knocked unconscious. It had taken the best part of two hours, but she, Scootaloo and Clockwork Dawn had made it to the waterfall. The rest of the day they’d spent tending to her wounds, before foraging some nearby apple trees for food. Just after night fell, they’d heard a roaring sound in the distance which grew louder and louder, before a colossal wall of water broke through the trees in front of them. That was the last thing Blue Streak could remember.
Her eyes widened in shock. Scootaloo. Clockwork Dawn. Where were they?
She went to start calling out their names, but was halted in place by her last few ounces of rational thought. The wave would have forced all the tributes to retreat the back of the arena, and those who didn’t would have been washed there anyway. This meant that everypony who was still alive would be nearby. The best she could hope for was that they were less quick to recover than she was.
Having had a few minutes respite, Blue Streak decided the best course of action would be to try and find Clockwork Dawn’s saddle pack. While she couldn’t recall exactly where they’d left it, she could say for certain that nopony was wearing it when the wave struck. She frowned as she realized that it could be nearby, but there was just as much chance that it was miles away. It had been her idea to stow everything away in the pack preemptively, just in case they needed to make a quick getaway. Now she felt like an idiot; her decision had left her without food, clean water, or any basic survival equipment.
She instead decided to focus on her more immediate problems. She wasn’t overly thirsty or hungry at the moment, but there could be an attack at any second from a nearby tribute. The swords she’d taken from Fire Work were nowhere to be seen, so she pulled a bulky branch from a fallen tree. It was thick and sturdy, and about the length of her foreleg. In no way would it cut it during lengthy combat, but it would give her a fighting chance. Anything was better than going unarmed, even if it was no better than bringing a knife to a gun fight. She made a mental note to find some way to sharpen the tip whenever she could.
Satisfied that she was no longer without any means of defense, she tucked the stick under her wing. She’d learned that although the Gamemakers spell meant that she physically couldn’t move it, the muscle tension was just enough to hold it and something light in place under it. While this could be considered trivial, it seemed suddenly useful in lieu of the saddle pack. With her most pressing issue dealt with, she decided the next step was to attempt to locate Clockwork Dawn and Scootaloo.
She grinned in satisfaction barely more than a minute after setting off, recognizing the dark brown coat covering a leg sticking out from behind a stump. It had taken a few glances to spot in the darkness, but the leg was giving the slight twitch that Clockwork Dawn always did as he slept.
“Dawny, wake up,” she said with a chuckle as she got close, only to baulk when she got a proper look at her friend.
It was in fact Clockwork Dawn, that part she had assumed correctly. However, her assumption that the twitchy leg was just part of his sleeping habit was less accurate. Even in the darkness it was hard to miss the fact that his neck was twisted sickeningly around to the point where the spine was visible poking under the flesh, even though he was laid out on his back. Blue Streak dared lean in for a closer look, only to recoil again when she saw that although he was laid on his back, he was also face down in the dirt. The twitching had simply been random impulses from his dying nerves.
She took several steps backwards before she heaved again, but it was still only dry retching. She gasped loudly, struggling to cope with the shock. She’d seen a dead body before, as she had killed Fire Work in self defense. But this was a new and more horrific feeling, the death of somepony close to her. In the arena there was no room for friendships, but Clockwork Dawn had, up to this point, been the closest thing she’d had. At home in District 8, she considered herself to have lived a sheltered life. Her family wasn’t particularly well off, but at the same time they weren’t exactly living rough. As a result of this, she was young enough to have never experienced the death of a friend or loved one. The Capitol seemed to relish in providing her with new life experiences.
The sudden remembrance of this, that she was potentially the center of attention for the cameras right now, snapped her into focus. She wouldn’t give the upper crust Capitol snobs the satisfaction of reducing her into an emotional wreck. She had lived through tough times at home, but they had been infrequent. She thought back to a simple chant her father had taught her as a mental coping strategy. She hadn’t thought about it in years, but she hadn’t needed to. It had even seemed ridiculous to her sometimes, but it had helped her cope with difficult parts of her life.
“This is tough, but I am tougher,” she whispered.
After a few deep breaths, she readied herself. She was slightly shaky on her hooves, but she had to move on, silently repeating the chant in her head. The arena spared no sympathy, nor would the other tributes in it. Whilst the fate of one of her companions had been made clear, there was still the absence of Scootaloo to worry about. She didn’t recall hearing a cannon fire for Clockwork Dawn, so she had no way of telling who was still alive. Half a dozen cannons could have gone off during the wave and she would have been no wiser. It was best not to dwell on the subject for too long. She was still alive, so there was a good chance that several ponies must have survived.
She took one last glance back at her fallen friend, giving a silent farewell in her head, before she moved on towards the sea. If she’d been out for a few hours, the water should have long since retreated. Given that the wave should have ensured that everypony in the arena had ended up near the back of it, she theorized that by heading toward the sea she would be moving away from most of the tributes. There was just as much chance that everypony else had already had the same idea and retreated towards the sea as well, but there were so many ‘what if’s’ flying round her head that she had to mentally shut them all out. She elected to simply go with her gut instinct.
She hugged the river as she walked, though it was now hard to distinguish from the forest floor as it carried masses of broken foliage that had all been picked up and deposited by the wave. The heap that flowed slowly on the surface was soon so dense that she continually frightened herself by accidentally stepping hoof on it as she mistook it for ground. In next to no time her forelegs were coated in mud and various other tree remains, which didn’t take long to drive her mad with itchiness.
Her ears twitched as she approached a curve in the river. She dove into a bush to her right for cover as hoofsteps became gradually more audible. Tense seconds passed before she realized that the noise was coming from just behind her, and her heart was in her mouth when she looked through a gap in the leaves to see somepony step out of the trees facing the river. Her eyes widened as she recognized Scootaloo, sprawled out on the back of a unicorn stallion with a white coat.
Instantly, she leaped out of the bush and landed in a crouch as she grabbed her stick, ready to attack if necessary. The stallion staggered backward a few steps in surprise as Blue Streak heard Scootaloo moan slightly. As the stallion turned, she was surprised to see a second stallion with him, this one a pegasus with a dark grey coat and a shaky foreleg wrapped around the unicorns shoulders. The pegasus was clearly in a bad way, with a harsh looking gash in his forehead. With the distant and glazed look in his eyes that were rapidly darting around in confusion, it was clear that he was conscious but dazed, possibly with a concussion.
“Put her down,” Blue Streak ordered, speaking slowly but clearly.
The white stallion just stood still, looking her up and down. He didn’t look scared, but instead he looked to be simply observing her. Taking her in, assessing her. He looked scarily methodical as he did so.
“Blue Streak, right?” he asked finally.
She wasn’t sure what to say. She hadn’t bothered with committing the names of most of the tributes to memory. It seemed a redundant practice given the circumstances.
“If I was going to kill her, do you think I would have carried her out of the forest?” he asked, also gesturing to the injured stallion. “Especially since I’m helping out this great lummox as well.”
Blue Streak mulled this over for a few seconds. He had a point. He clearly meant no harm to her.
“If she’s partnered up with you, I’ll expect a ‘thank you for finding her’ whenever you’re ready,” he said semi-seriously.
“What makes you think she’s my partner?”
“The fact that you’re concerned for somepony other than yourself, maybe?” he replied with a shrug. “You’re clearly worried about her.”
“Then why are you helping her?”
“I found a filly in the woods, injured and alone. I’m not a monster, I couldn’t just leave her there. Especially not somepony as young as she is.”
Those final words resonated strongly with Blue Streak. Scootaloo really was far too young for all these horrors, and she wasn’t looking forward to the moment where she’d have to tell her about Clockwork Dawn.
“Is that all the weaponry you’ve got?” the stallion asked.
Blue Streak looked down at the stick still clenched tightly in her grasp. She blushed and stood up when she realized she’d been an attack position for the whole time they’d been talking.
“If it is, I’d say you’re about as well defended as I am.”
“Want me to carry her?” Blue Streak asked, not wanting to dwell on how well off they’d be in the event of an attack.
The unicorn smiled appreciatively, and allowed her to pick up Scootaloo and lay her on her back. He made sure she was in a comfortable position before they set off.
“I lost all my supplies in the wave,” he explained as he led the way down the river. He gestured to a nasty looking bruise near his hip where his saddle pack had been ripped off by the sheer force of the water. “I was gonna chance a trip to the cornucopia. Wanna tag along?”
Blue Streak was skeptical. “I dunno. If anypony else lost all their kit, they’d be doing the exact same thing right now. And wouldn’t the wave have scattered it all anyway?”
The unicorn shrugged as the pegasus moaned distantly. “It’s not a perfect plan, but it’s all I’ve got.”
He had a point. If Blue Streak had lost all her equipment as well, it was only a matter of time before she began to succumb to exposure.
“I guess this makes us partners,” the unicorn said with a confident smile.
“I can’t for the life of me remember your names,” Blue Streak responded with a chuckle.
“Cube Twister,” he said, before gesturing to the pegasus. “And this is Thunderlane.”
“Nice to meet you.”
“And you too. Does this mean you’re in?”
“I don’t have a better plan myself,” she said with a shrug. “So I guess you can call us partners.”
Blue Streak wanted to add ‘for now’, but she thought better of it. Before they could walk another few steps, they were interrupted by a fanfare as the Capitol symbol lit up the sky of the arena. They stopped and braced themselves for the upcoming list of the dead.
Pyro. Fire Work. Clockwork Dawn. Fluttershy.
Four more tributes were gone, which, if Blue Streak had counted correctly, meant there were eight remaining. Awkward silence hung in the air as they walked, and Cube Twister kept his eyes fixed resolutely on the path ahead, leading her to assume that one of the fallen tributes was somepony he knew, but she could only speculate. Coincidentally, she was doing the exact same thing without realizing, leading him to assume the same about her. This didn’t exactly bode well for the conversation, and the barely conscious Thunderlane and fully unconscious Scootaloo only heightened the awkwardness.
The only moment of interest came as they passed the abandoned town, which had held together surprisingly well considering the impact the wave had had on the rest of the arena. Cube Twister seemed to know where he was going, as he cut away from the river and headed straight through the town. There were a great deal of twists and turns through its winding and eerily quiet streets, but he managed to keep a bearing on the general direction they were heading in.
Then, at the edge of the town, came the shocker. There was the ocean. The waves were lapping at their hooves, several miles inland from the beach.
“How the hay is this possible?” Blue Streak asked. “I thought that tsunamis were supposed to recede.”
“They are," Cube Twister replied. "Which means that the wave that hit us couldn’t have been a tsunami.”
“Then what was it?”
“A flood.”
“So the cornucopia is…”
“Yep. Underwater.”
Blue Streak lashed out in frustration, kicking a wall to her left with one of her hind legs. Scootaloo moaned slightly as the exertion shifted her a few inches down Blue Streak’s back.
“Did that help?” Cube Twister asked with a smirk.
“Yep.”
“Did it hurt?”
“A little.”
Blue Streak sighed as Cube Twister snickered, before they both looked up and down what was now a beach. The water now engulfed most of the arena, leaving a lot less space between them and enemies. But it was a mixed blessing, as the tidal effect of the water had slowly pushed submerged kit from the cornucopia to the edge of the water. Cube Twister beamed with delight as he spotted a first aid kit in the distance.
They spent the next ten minutes scouring the water's edge for supplies, before retreating into the town. They took several twists and turns to make sure they weren’t being followed, and they finally settled on a second floor apartment in a building less than a quarter of a mile from the edge of the town. Whilst the exteriors of the buildings were detailed, the interiors were completely bare of furniture, plumbing, or anything useful. Their apartment building was little more than an elaborate five-storey shack.
Whilst Cube Twister tended to Thunderlane’s head wound with a sterilized needle and thread he’d found in the first aid kit, Blue Streak went through what they’d found. She’d been lucky to retrieve a sodden saddle pack, which she hung from a chandelier that seemed to only be for show, as it lacked light bulbs, and there wasn’t even a light switch. Cube Twister had to sit Thunderlane by the window and work by moonlight, while Blue Streak had to just deal with the darkness.
They’d found a pack of energy bars, some iodine, a pair of butterfly knives, a javelin, and Cube Twister’s first aid kit. It wasn’t exactly the haul of the century, but it was better than nothing. However, sod's law dictated that while a small vial of iodine had survived a massive wave, nothing capable of holding water had washed up with it.
After checking on Scootaloo, who had regained consciousness on arrival and huddled in the corner to sleep, Blue Streak passed the time by sharpening her stick into a spear with one of the knives. Sure, they had a javelin now, but she figured that arming themselves with more weapons wouldn’t hurt. Plus, it only took a quick count to realize that there weren’t enough weapons to go around the four of them.
Cube Twister took his time carefully stitching up Thunderlane, going slowly in the poor light conditions to make sure he didn’t slip and spear him in the eye. Blue Streak kept quiet for his convenience, so the only breaks in the silence were the occasional moan from Thunderlane. It was a good ten minutes before Cube Twister sighed contently and snipped off the excess thread with the other knife. Just to be safe, he decided to put a simple bandage over the wound.
“Why are you bothering with that?” Blue Streak asked bluntly.
“What do you mean?”
“There’s less than ten tributes left now. Saving one means that you’re just putting yourself in more danger.”
“I told you earlier, I’m not a monster,” he replied matter-of-factly. “No matter how much the Capitol wants me to be, I’m not a killer.”
“Killing could save your life.”
“But that’s not who I am. What’s worse: death, or living the rest of your life as something you’re not?”
“Death,” Blue Streak said without a moment’s hesitation.
“Maybe for you, but I don’t think I could bring myself to kill.”
“Alright, fair enough. But that’s only half an answer. I asked you why you’re helping another tribute who may have to kill you later on.”
“If I’m gonna die, I’d rather die having done what’s right.”
Blue Streak mulled this over as Cube Twister discovered a small compartment in the first aid kit, and nearly kicked himself when he found it had sedatives in it. All it would have taken was a closer inspection, and he could have spared Thunderlane from additional suffering under the pain of the stitches on top of his giddy state. He knew from his first aid experience that the sedative in the needle would make him sleep for a few hours, and was safe to use on a victim suffering from head injuries. He quickly pulled the cap off the needle and sunk it into Thunderlane’s foreleg.
Cube Twister was surprised as Thunderlane opened his eyes and looked right at him, all signs of confusion and dizziness gone in an instant.
“It’s alright buddy,” he said soothingly. “You’re just gonna sleep for a while, then we can see how your heads feeling in the morning.”
Thunderlane felt extremely light-headed, but he was suddenly determined as his situational awareness kicked in too little too late.
“Where’s Twilight?” he asked through his slurred speech, before he slumped down on the floor into a deep sleep.
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EEEEEEEEEEE-
It took long enough, Bitsy. I've been waiting for this. And as we can all see the quality of this never once falters, and it continues to pique my interest.
Also, I keep noticing that you keep making the same mistake. I'm more than 100% sure that Fire Work is still alive. Maybe it's just a few coincidental typo's. Yeah, you might wanna fix those...
-Cyneryk
3839773
Are you sure? He seems pretty dead to me...
3840826
I wouldn't go there. He's kinda sensitive. If you wanna test him, then...
i.imgur.com/b8spj17.jpg
3845483
Oops....
sowwy
Just found this, and i have to wonder: Is Pinkie Pie going to be Effie? She seems like she'd fit.
AHEM COUGH AHEM...
-Cyneryk
Moar.
Plz 0_0
more plz um if you don't mind
MOAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It’s a shame this story never finished but I’ll find is reading it anyway