The Equestria Games: First Blood

by 8_Bit

Chapter IV: In the Dead of the Night

Twilight lay awake for hours, listening to the distant humming made as the train powered towards the Capitol and the faint chatter of Thunderlane and Lightning Dust. They seemed to be getting on well. From what Twilight had heard growing up, ponies from the Capitol were stuck up, greedy snobs. However Lightning Dust seemed to be an exception to this rule. She was actually friendly, and judging from the rough-and-tumble moment they’d had in the lounge, she had a good -albeit an odd- sense of humor. She had mentioned that she was originally from District 2, which may have explained why she was worlds away from what Twilight had expected of a Capitol pony. She'd have to ask her more about that tomorrow.

Twilight pondered these thoughts as the two ponies finally made their way to their respective bedrooms, and finally the inevitable happened. The sheer amount of sleepless nights behind her slowly caught up, and made their effects known. Couple this with the fact that Twilight had never been in such warm and comfortable bed in her entire life, and she was dead to the world in a matter of minutes.

And then the dreams began.

But this was no nightmare. Twilight was dreaming of better times.

Her mind flashed back to the Everfree Forest, and the clearing on the edge of the valley. The rainbow in the mist looked so close she could reach out and touch it. It looked so real as well, even down to the way it danced as the updraft from the cliffs caught the mist from the waterfall and carried it high into the air. She was sat with Shining Armor, the two of them tired from a long day of gathering food.

It had been mere days before this that Twilight had earned her cutie mark. Her family had been so proud, and even though her father had been extremely tired from working the mines all day, they had all sat round the fireplace, singing songs in its warmth until midnight. They went to bed at this time of course, as exhaustion will catch up to you eventually, but Shining had let Twilight sleep in his bed. The thin sheets barely kept in any warmth, but as the two bodies huddled together they kept each other both warm and safe. It was moments like this where Twilight felt like no horror the world could muster would come anywhere near her. Not while she had her big brother.

In the clearing, Twilight felt exactly the same. They ate the apples and berries happily, before lying down and taking in the warmth of the sun. Pegasus ponies no longer controlled the weather like the old days, so the scheduling that ponies in Equestria long ago used to enjoy was long gone. But this day was a rarity, a cloudless sky coupled with the gentlest of summer breezes. The sun beamed down on the two siblings, while the breeze kept them cool. It was a exceptionally strange moment of balance that is rarely seen in nature. Twilight looked at Shining, the dream feeling so real, and felt at peace.

But all good things must end.

Shining Armor, with no early indication whatsoever, sat up and violently vomited. Twilight squealed, jumping out of the way to avoid the messy stream of sick.

“Twily…,” Shining said weakly, before losing consciousness altogether.

Twilight ran towards Shining, but as she ran her vision began to shift. The faster she ran, the further away his limp body became. As she ran her fathers voice echoed in her head, warning her not to eat berries she didn’t recognize. She ran as fast as she could, but further and further away Shining became. The world soon grew dark, the rainbow fading from existence and the clearing disappearing altogether. Twilight was all alone in emptiness, a pitch black void of nothing. Nothing but her brother, desperately in need of her help, and nothing she could do got her any closer to him.

“Shining!” she screamed, as his weak, pitiful voice echoed in her head, the single word he had uttered saying so much more. It was a desperate cry for help.

Without any warning, his lifeless body disappeared into the void. Twilight stopped running, and broke down in tears. She’d lost him again, only this time it was her fault. He had needed her, and she’d failed him because she didn’t try hard enough.

She looked around, fighting back tears and trying to determine her surroundings. That was just it, she had no surroundings. There was nothing, just the void that had already consumed her brother. She wasn’t even acutely aware of what she was standing on. She could feel a floor beneath her hooves, but when she looked down she just saw more void.

And then in a split second, the void was gone.

In its place was a forest. Not the Everfree Forest, but one far from home. This was years later, and she was running for her life with Shining Armor back at her side. Her father led the way, with her mother just behind. Her mothers horn was glowing as she carried a young foal wrapped in a blanket, and she was desperately trying to keep it safe. Behind them was the very distinct sound of machine gun fire. Explosions tore through the forest as various ponies screamed, one-by-one getting cut off as explosions and guns ended their lives.

Then they were spotted.

Guns started aiming at them and bullets flew everywhere. Trees branches splintered and fell around the fleeing family. The sound of larger guns was heard, and moments later explosions started to erupt in the trees. Twilight’s mother lost her footing, tripping over a stump and sending her and her screaming young package falling to the ground in a pile. She tried to stand up again, but her injured leg gave way under the weight.

Twilight’s father looked back to see her failed attempt to get back up again.

“Shining Armor!” he screamed. “Get Twilight out of here! I’m going back for your mom!” With this he quickly turned around and ran back, whilst Twilight and Shining Armor kept running. Twilight however stopped, and looked back after a few minutes of silent running.

“Come on, Twily!” shouted Shining Armor.

“I’m not going until Mom and Dad catch up,” she replied determinedly.

That’s when she saw in the distance, two running shapes. One was one sky blue and the other a pale grey, the pale grey one moving with an obvious limp. She heard her father shouting to keep running, but this was said with a new level of fear to his voice. Then she heard and felt it, a boom to rival all the others, and watched in horror as a massive shockwave rushed through the trees. It swallowed the small shapes that were running towards them. As the shockwave continued towards them, it gathered all the trees and dirt on the forest floor, propelling them outwards in a tidal wave of foliage towards Twilight and Shining Armor.

Twilight sat up suddenly in bed, breathing rapidly in a state of panic. She was safe, well, for now. Back in her room on the train, she glanced at the clock on her bedside table, which read 06:54 AM.

“Great,” she said in between labored breaths. “Just in time for Breakfast”.

Comments

[8_Bit]

2195326

Okies, District 5 is fine.

[8_Bit]

2197152

Yes to both of those

[Namara]

2197172 Yea!

[Saxopi]

Very surreal. You definitely have a great structure for an alternate universe..plot..whatever it's called.

It's well written, and very paced, and very descriptive. Reading on.

[Discorded Q]

I wonder how the District 11 reaping went?

"And the mare that will have the honor of representing District 12 in the First ever, Annual Equestria Games is..." The crowd stopped breathing, the suspense of this very moment was too much to bare... The Mayor reached her hoof into the bowl with all of the Fillies names in it, Applejack was rapt with apprehension of this tense moment.

The mayor held her forced smile until she read the name on the slip of paper. She didn't deserve this, she was too young, she was a nuisance to the town at times, but she still didn't deserve this... Regardless, the Mayor had a job to do, she cleared her throat and called out the name on the sheet, with less energy than a smouldering log, "A-AppleBloom." The mayor called into the microphone.

Ah promise you AB, fer as long as ah live, y'all won't have to worry about the games... Applejack was stunned, her world almost went black as she thought of her sister being murdered in the games. The crowd parted to allow the small school-aged farm girl onto the stage, she didn't move, the small little blighter was stricken with terror as the burley white guards ponies emerged from the gaps in the audience.

Ah promise you AB... "No." It was a whisper, Applejack felt the small part of air escape her throat, she turned to see her sister being marched down the center of the crowd, this was too much. She screamed, "NO!" The guards and townsfolk looked towards the disruption.

Apples never back down from a promise.

Applejack broke out of the lineup to charge through the crowd of stunned ponies as she came nearer and nearer to her sister, "DON'T TAKE HER!" she was hysterical, she could not see her kid sister be lined up for slaughter, she just couldn't, "TAKE ME!" she shouted before she'd realised.

The guardsponies, who looked ready to charge, stood down as the farmer came to a complete stop. She looked at the ground beneath her hooves, after a moment of silence the farmer piped up, "Ah promised I'd protect her..." she looked up, straight at her stunned sister with tears in her eyes, "...and Apples never break a promise... I won't let you take her, take me."

˚C˚
o