Scootaloo half hoped that it was all a bad dream, but when she woke up to find herself on a haystack, she knew it was all real. She, along with dozens of others, had been kidnapped by aliens and was going to have to fight in some kind of gladiator area.
She looked over at her cell-mates. Fluttershy was sleeping next to her, Cloud Chaser had finally fallen asleep and was mildly snoring. The fourth occupant was another mare with a white coat and an ice blue mane and tail. She hadn't spoken with the others last night and was already awake and pacing in front of the cell door.
Scootaloo stretched and walked over to her. "Morning." she said. The mare didn't respond and just kept pacing. Up close Scootaloo could see that the pegasi's eyes were the same color as her mane. Adding in that the yellow mark on her face looked like three slash marks running across her face made her look all the more intimidating.
"I didn't catch your name last night." Silence. "Well, I'm Scootaloo. I wish you luck in, what's about to happen." Still silence. She went back to the hay pile. Fluttershy was starting to stir.
"How can they be so calm?" She turned around, the mare had stopped pacing and was staring out through the bars.
Scootaloo joined her. In the opposite cell across from theirs were four burly looking male griffons. Scootaloo caught a few words of what they were saying, some of them being 'crush,' 'cream,' and 'pile-driver'.
"They're acting like they're going to the gym. Don't they realize that they could very well die out there?"
"A friend of mine knows a few griffons." The mare looked at her in surprise. "She says that they are usually very proud and competitive creatures. I guess to them this is just another chance to prove their strength." She looked at the mare. Behind her fierce features, Scootaloo could see softness in her eyes; fear and amazement seemed to pool together. She wrapped her hoof around the older pony's. "They aren't going to let this bring them down. We shouldn't either."
The white pegasus looked back at the griffons. Her mouth briefly turned into a faint smile. "Maybe you're right." She looked back at the filly, "Hello Scootaloo, my name's Snow Storm."
From the other side of the cell, Fluttershy watched the exchange. She smiled, glad that the filly she used to foal-sit was growing into a fine young mare.
Then the guards returned.
= = =
Emerald Glade was not having a great night. First she got into a fight with her sister, then she got lost in her own grain field, then she got abducted by aliens, then a tattoo was planted on her face, then she was sentenced to this death fight thing, then she was thrown into a prison cell with a bunch of womanizing bulls, and to top it all off, she was stuck wearing this leotard which was exposing way more of her body than she was comfortable with.
"I swear, when I find the jerk who is responsible for this I am going to tear him limb from limb." She thought to herself. Fate then decided to step in in the the form of the returning guards.
"Alright!" One shouted to the others, "The Bovineoids are up first. And keep on the alert, the report on those guys say they can tear through iron if they're angry."
One of the guards began unlocking Emerald's cell. His first encounter with minotaurs was getting punched in the face by one, which sent him flying across the room. Emerald was then immediately surrounded by guards trying to subdue her. It took five of them to place some kind of hoof-cuffs on her, and another three to get her out of the prison room. Some of the other minotaurs resisted, but many of them seemed cowed, almost afraid.
Once the group was moved into the area, the guards removed Emerald's bonds. Unlike before, the bowl of the stadium was decorated with several raised platforms.
From somewhere above, the announcer's voice rang out. "For the first match of the day, we bring you the Bovineoids of Orbicalous! These creatures posses incredible strength, one of them could could tear down a wooden shed as easily as you or I would pick a flower."
"That is a gross exaggeration and you know it!" another she-taur yelled next to her. Not surprisingly, no one seemed to hear her. If anything they cheered louder.
"And as their opponent, the Tripods of Trilaok Two! These terrible titans are notorious for toppling tall trees!" Emerald couldn't see her opponents from where she was standing, but thankfully, several screens set up for the audience were displaying images of the other group. They were tall creatures, two long appendages ending in hands hung on either side of their torso. Below that were three bent legs ending in finger like claws. Their heads were round and devoid of hair, two large black eyes sat on either side of their skulls. All in all, a very disturbing looking species.
"I think I'm going to be sick." a calf moaned from somewhere in the back.
"The match begins in three, two, ONE!"