Chapter VIII: Training Begins
Thunderlane’s modest smile made Twilight uneasy as they rode the elevator down to the basement levels. She had already spent breakfast in silence, awkwardly avoiding eye contact with him. It was such a simple action he had performed, a simple hug to say goodnight, but Twilight’s inquisitive mind that naturally questioned every aspect of situations was already blowing things way out of proportion. In the shower, she even considered that he was secretly planning to align with the Tributes from 1, 2 and 4. These thoughts inevitably brought her back to same conclusion, not to rule anything in or out until they were in the arena, most likely bludgeoning each other to death. The fact that they were having to wear matching shirts with “12” written in large numbers on the back wasn’t exactly helping the situation.
They remained in silence when the glass doors of the elevator revealed the Training Room. It was a large gymnasium, to put it simply. Various stations were scattered around the room, from simple monkey bars and elaborate jumping obstacles, to a massive climbing wall that looked at least five stories high. Fake environments were scattered around as well, a forest being in one corner, a snowy cliff face in the other. Overseeing everything, on the wall across from the climbing wall was a platform decorated similarly to their lounge in the Penthouse. Sat on various chairs and sofas were a number of ponies, each of them wearing a dark red tunic. Peacekeepers were dotted around, all against the wall, ready to step in at the first sign of trouble.
The elevator slowed to a halt, and the doors opened silently. Most of the tributes were already here, scattered around the room, looking at the obstacles set up for them. The ponies in the popular clique Twilight had spotted yesterday were all sat by the climbing wall, still chatting and laughing to each other with the “We’re better than all of you” demeanor about them.
Twilight stepped out quickly, trying to avoid further discussion with Thunderlane, only to be hit with a sudden feeling of light-headedness. It hit her with such intensity she keeled over and landed straight on her face, much to the amusement of the clique, who had looked over as her muzzle made contact with the floor.
“Still fainting?” shouted Rainbow Dash, before collapsing to the floor with laughter.
“Oh, quiet dear,” added Rarity. “I’m sure the floor was just trying to improve her facial features.”
The roars of laughter started anew as Thunderlane trotted over to lend her a hoof, which she grudgingly accepted.
“What in the hay was that?” Twilight asked as she was heaved back onto all fours. “I just felt light headed for no reason there.”
“Yeah, I felt it too,” Thunderlane responded. “But I guess seeing you react to it gave me an early warning, so thanks for that,” he added smugly.
Twilight gave one of those “don’t go there” faces, to which Thunderlane wisely decided to drop the act. The elevator doors closed as it began its journey back to the upper floors to collect more of the tributes. They didn’t have long to wait before all twenty-four ponies were gathered in the room, and dead on 8:00, in walked two pegasi in blue tracksuits, who made their way to a small stage in the center of the room.
One was a mare, slightly shorter than her colleague. Her mane was a dramatic orange which danced above her in long waves, each step bobbing and waving the hairs which danced around in a perfect imitation of actual flames. Her coat was a brilliant shade of orange which added to this illusion. The stallion had a pale blue coat and a dark blue mane, wind swept to the look of a pegasus that rarely set foot on the ground.
“Everypony,” the mare began. “Can I have your attention please, everypony.”
At this, all the tributes made their way from their various places in the room across to the small stage.
“Good morning everypony. I’m Spitfire, and this is Soarin’. We are in charge of making sure you all are as prepared as possible when you go into that arena. Now, first and foremost, did anypony get light-headed when you walked into this room? Raise a hoof if you did please.”
A lot of hooves went up. Twilight looked around at all the ponies that were holding them up. They were all unicorns or pegasi, but none were earth ponies.
“Good, the spell is working then. I’ll let Soarin’ explain.” Spitfire said, stepping back slightly to allow her colleague to take center-stage.
“The unicorns and pegasi among you are now under the effect of a repression spell. What this basically means is the motor function of your horns and wings have been cancelled out, rendering them useless.”
This news attracted a few gasps. Twilight shook her head sadly, as the Capitol ponies continued to take more and more from the tributes.
“The nerves in them are still active,” Soarin’ continued. “This means you can still feel through them, but you can’t move or use them. Feel free to try, but I'm afraid that this will just be wasted effort. The effects of this will be permanent until a releasing spell is cast. If one of the unicorns or pegasi is the winner, you will have the spell cast on you upon your return to the Capitol.”
Twilight looked around at the tributes around her. Many of them held strained expressions as they tried in vain to use their respective limbs, as if desperately trying to prove the stallion above them wrong, praying that they had been spared from the effects of the spell. None of them were this fortunate.
“Please don’t hold us responsible for this,” Spitfire said, stepping up next to Soarin’. “This wasn’t our decision, we don’t make the rules around here.”
“You enforce them!” Nighteye shouted angrily, still desperately trying to stretch his wings out, using every ounce of willpower frantically attempting to find a chink in the armor of the spell.
“If we didn’t, somepony else would,” Soarin’ answered bluntly. “We can’t change the situation, so let us help you through it. Our job over the next few days is to oversee you all as you go through the mandatory training areas, and make sure nopony causes trouble when you have free reign of the stands. We will also be on hand to help unicorns and pegasi adjust to having lesser abilities. If you need help, just shout for us.”
“Right,” Spitfire said, taking over from her partner. “This morning, everypony will go through the obstacle course a few times, with an hour of sword practice before lunch. Before we begin, I need all of you to stand in a line from smallest to tallest. Any trouble and the Peacekeepers step in to break it up, and trust me on this, you don’t want that to happen.”
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Twilight sat opposite Thunderlane at a long cafeteria table, poking at her hay fries meekly with a fork. Her front legs ached so much from sword practice, and she had a nasty bruise on her right hind leg where a misjudged jump on the obstacle course had sent her falling sideways onto a balancing beam. Her leg took the full brute force of the fall, leaving it dead for an hour. She had been equally unsuited to the sword fighting, her random and uncoordinated slashing leaving the training dummy without a single scratch. Thunderlane had been more successful in his endeavors, getting the third best time on the obstacle course, losing only to Pyro and Rainbow Dash, and impressing Spitfire with a strong swipe of his sword that took his dummy’s head clean off. Now here he was, happily chewing on a dandelion sandwich, and completely unaware of the jealous motives behind the stares he was receiving from across the table.
“Um, ex-excuse me,” a timid voice behind Twilight spoke. She turned around to see the mare from District 10, holding a lunch tray with a bowl of salad. “Um, I w-was wondering, if, um, I c-could sit here? Oh, I mean, if you don’t mind, that is.”
Twilight gave a friendly smile, and gestured to the bench.
“Go for it,” she replied. Thunderlane was still happily munching on the dandelion sandwiches, so he just gave a friendly nod.
“I don’t think we've been properly introduced,” Thunderlane said, swallowing his mouthful of sandwich, before eagerly chowing down on another.
“No, we haven’t,” Twilight responded. “I’m Twilight Sparkle, and this is Thunderlane”. Thunderlane gave another friendly nod at the mention his name. “What was your name again?” asked Twilight.
The mare responded at an almost silent whisper. “Um... I'm Fluttershy.”
“Didn't quite catch that.” Twilight said, chuckling slightly.
“Um, my name is Fluttershy,” she repeated, this time managing to achieve at bit more volume.
“Fluttershy,” Thunderlane said, ingesting yet another sandwich. “Was that so hard to say at a normal level of speech?”
Before a response could be given, a half empty soda can found itself flying through the air, hitting Fluttershy right on the head. The contents forced itself out in the momentary collision, soaking her mane with the sweet smelling drink. The various dregs of soda splashed outwards as it fell to the table, soaking Twilight and Thunderlane too. Tears flowed from Fluttershy’s eyes as she ducked under the table, putting her out of harms way should a second wave of soda cans be thrown.
Twilight and Thunderlane angrily looked over at the likely culprits, who were only two tables over. The ponies in the clique, which now included Pyro from District 3 after her close match with Rainbow Dash on the obstacle course, were in fits of laughter. Fire Work, the stallion pegasus from District 4, was stood on the table, crouched down in mock terror. Fluttershy squealed quietly from her hiding place as she worked out that he was trying to imitate her. Fire Work jumped down as soon as he realized he had their full attention.
“If there’s anything left in there, I’ll have my drink back,” he demanded, an air of confidence about his voice that said he normally got what he wanted.
Thunderlane picked up the can, and stood up. “Why don’t you come get it?” he replied, the confidence of his voice matching that of his opponent.
Needing no more invitation, Fire Work started walking towards him. Thunderlane began to walk as well, sticking to the morals he was so used to at school, never intending to back down from a fight. By this time, they had attracted the attention of everypony in the room. This included Spitfire and Soarin’, one of whom had already spoken quietly into an earpiece at the first sign of trouble.
Thunderlane and Fire Work were barely within reach of each other when a unicorn Peacekeeper teleported himself between them, stopping them dead in their tracks. Four more unicorns teleported around them in rapid succession, each of them grabbed a front leg, effectively restraining the no-longer-advancing ponies.
Spitfire strolled over, her previously friendly demeanor now replaced with a much more serious one.
“I did warn you two,” she said with a tone to her voice that sounded of genuine disappointment. She then nodded to the Peacekeeper who had teleported between Thunderlane and Fire Work, who started walking towards the door. The tributes shouts of protest fell on deaf ears as they were dragged out after him by their captors.
“What’s gonna happen to them?” asked Lyra, who had been sitting and chatting with Papercraft and Caramel during the confrontation.
“Isolation cells for a few hours. So they’ll be out halfway though free choice,” Spitfire said nonchalantly. “First time offenders get off easy like that. Just don’t get into trouble with them again,” she added, her voice taking on a much more serious tone.
Fluttershy came out from her hiding place, the soda now effectively soaked into her mane. The tears were still dripping gently from her eyes. Twilight looked at her with pity, before standing up and taking her by the hoof.
“Come on,” she said kindly, leading the crying pegasus towards the bathroom. “I’ll help you wash that out.”
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Twilight found herself without a partner for the second part of the days training, so took to wandering aimlessly throughout the various stalls, before settling on the one with the fake snowy mountain terrain. The mare from District 6 was already there, gently rubbing two sticks with a dopey grin on her face, while staring distantly at nothing in particular. The instructor seemed to have given up on her altogether. He was a middle aged looking stallion, muscular in build with a grey coat and a cropped blonde mane.
“Hey,” Twilight said, sitting down next to the mare. “What skill is this?”
“Fire building,” answered the stallion. “This one here is a bit loopy loo though. She can’t focus on anything for more than a few seconds.”
Twilight waved a hoof in front of her eyes to try and gauge a response. However, she didn’t respond, she only continued to stare into space.
“What’s her name?” she asked the instructor.
“Limerick,” he replied, looking at her with pity. “She’s the only tribute this year to volunteer. Apparently she writes song lyrics in her spare time, she volunteered because she thought the games would give her inspiration to write a hit.”
“She volunteered for song inspiration?” Twilight asked, not quite sure she could believe what she was being told. The stallion simply nodded, verifying that he had spoken the truth. “But that’s insane.”
“Yep. Doctor’s reckon the mental trauma from the war left her delusional beyond anything we’ve seen before.”
“And they still let her compete?”
“As long as she’s of age, she’s eligible. Insanity doesn’t seem to be something they considered, though.”
Twilight nodded in agreement. “So,” she began, trying to move off the subject of insanity and war. “Fire building, yes?”
“Mmhmm. We’ll start off with basic fire lighting techniques, then I’ll show you how to keep it going, and some things you should and shouldn’t use to fuel it.”
Twilight soon mastered lighting. It was a simple task when you focused on it, but Twilight was finding focus to be one thing eluding her at that moment. Seeing Limerick, and the state the war had left her in, was a real shock to the system. In the half an hour Twilight had spent being taught how to light a fire in different ways according to her environment, Limerick had been sat in the same place, still staring at nothing, rubbing the same two sticks together. The dopey expression she wore was a cold hard reminder of how lucky Twilight was. Given all the things she had seen during the war, it was nothing less than a miracle that she wasn’t in the same way.
A couple of hours passed, and it was just as the instructor was happy enough with Twilight’s fire building to recommend trying other stations that the Peacekeepers opened the main doors, and dragged in Thunderlane and Fire Work. Both looked cold and shaken, but pretty much in one piece. After shooting each other "we'll settle this later" looks, Fire Work trotted over to meet with Pinkie Pie, who was aggressively attacking dummies with javelins, whilst Thunderlane wandered his way over to Twilight.
“Still feel like a big tough pony?” Twilight asked smugly, enjoying the role-reversal. Thunderlane was clearly a little bit dazed by the rough treatment of the Peacekeepers.
“Eh, I think I’ll pay more attention to Spitfire next time,” he replied, the tough guy act now seriously damaged. “My wings are aching badly though, I’d give anything for a stretch right now.”
“Try and build a fire here, take your mind off it,” she said simply, before trotting off to find a new station. This left Thunderlane looking dumbfounded at a half asleep stallion, and a green half-zebra staring at nothing with a dopey grin on her face, rubbing two sticks together endlessly without a care in the world.
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Yay! New Chapter!
...Wait...
DAMN. MY BABY WAS ISOLATED! Eh, he'll still kick butt! I see a nice rivalry going on here...I like.
MOAR DAMN YOU. MOAR.
It's here! I'm glad to see that though the chapters release quickly, they're not decreasing in quality. And Limerick is sad, to me. A thing about Blue Streak's personality is that... Well, she will do most anything to ensure her survival. Backstabbing, thievery, lying- come easily to her. Thanks again for including Bluey!
Limerick (in her head):
There once was a pony inspired
But now she is stumped by the fire
Though it seems absurd,
There's one thing for sure,
She's saved another from someplace dire
Thank you, thank you. I literally came up with that in five minutes. LOL. You can use that if you want...
I'm okay with being responsible for the resident Screwloose.
Also I really liked this chapter! It helped to establish some of the OCs in whatever role they have (I quite like the brash upper-class stallions), as well as give some sympathy and a possible friendship in the form of Fluttershy. Poor Flutters. ;-; She doesn't deserve to be here.
Oh yeah, and WHAT they can't use magic?? I was certain that would be Twilight's "bow and arrow"... Hmm well that sucks. Dunno what else she'd be good at. LOL
So, my wittle Pyro's up dere with Dashie? Awesome!
Oh, by the way, if you need anything on personality, she isn't an idiot when it comes to survival, and she'd save anypony she could, but would rather hide in a large group or run. She's kind of a chicken when faced against death.
2210986
you sir (or lady) deserve a brohoof for that amazing poem
/)
2214940
Thanks 
*(\
Lady actually.
I don't like the thing people training together for killing each other.
I mean... you making friends that you will must assassinate in a few days, that's a tragic idea
Oh no you disable the Pegasus and unicorn magic to bed the earth ponies still have superstrength LOL