//------------------------------// // Chapter V: A Long Journey // Story: The Equestria Games: First Blood // by 8_Bit //------------------------------// Twilight walked to the dining car, the memories of the nightmare, though fading to obscurity, still haunting her. She walked in to find three ponies dressed in simple red shirts setting the table for breakfast. The smell of freshly made pancakes wafted around the room, mixing with the aroma coming from a large pot of Hot Cocoa. The smells danced around Twilight’s nostrils, a more delicious odor she had never encountered before. The ponies in red briefly turned to look at her as she entered the room, before going back about their job. “Hello,” Twilight said nervously, trying to avoid awkward silence. Each of the ponies simple nodded, as if merely acknowledging her, and nothing else, before resuming their duties. One of them gestured their hoof to a chair, inviting Twilight to sit down. She did so. “Ermm, should I wait for the others before I start?” she asked one of the silent ponies, who was setting a place opposite her. The pony gave a small smile, shook her head, and gestured to the pile of pancakes. The pony that had gestured Twilight to sit down placed a mug down next to Twilight, before pouring in some Cocoa from the pot. He pointed out the sugar and cream to her, before walking out. Their jobs done, the other two ponies joined him, leaving Twilight in awkward silence, still creeped out by the eerie silence of the servants. Boy, this morning had started off weird, she thought as she helped herself to a few pancakes. Meanwhile, the door to the Sleeper car opened, revealing what appeared to be a half-asleep Lightning Dust, holding a steaming mug of coffee. “Oh, morning kid. You’re up early.” “Yeah, I’ve always been an early riser,” Twilight lied. The nightmares she’d had weren’t ones she felt comfortable discussing. The memories were too painful. “Hmm, fair enough,” replied the droopy eyed mentor. “Thunderlane was still snoring when I walked past his door, I’ll give him half an hour before I go and wake him.” “Won’t this get cold?” Twilight asked, wiping maple syrup off her chin. “So what if it does?” Laughed Lightning. “If it does, we’ll have the Avoxes make more. It’s no biggie.” “The what?” “Avoxes. Servants, if that’s easier to remember.” “Those ponies in red?” “Yeah. They creep the hell out of me though,” Lighting said, taking her seat and grabbing a pile of Pancakes. “I thought the same. Why don’t they talk?” The pegasus, who now had a mouthful of Pancakes and Syrup, paused to swallow before answering. “Avoxes are traitors to the Capitol. If they get caught, they wind up with their tongues cut.” She casually said, sipping her coffee. “If they’re lucky,” she added. Twilight almost coughed up her food. “The Capitol cuts their tongues out?” “Not out, just cut it somehow and stops you talking. Look, ask somepony who trained as a surgeon, 'cause I don’t know the specifics,” She replied, now getting irritated, trying to eat her breakfast. “And what did you mean by ‘If they’re lucky’?” This made Lightning Dust sit up straight, looking at Twilight very seriously. She wiped her mouth with a napkin, before pushing the plate back. “If they’re lucky, they’ll be earth ponies. If the Capitol catches a unicorn or a pegasus pony, and decides to punish them to be Avoxes, they’ll cut their respective organs off,” She said, going slightly green, shivering at the thought. Twilight looked at her, confused. After a few seconds, the penny dropped. One of the ponies setting the table, the one who smiled at her, and gestured for her to start eating, she had a very noticeable scar on her head. Right where, on a Unicorn, you might find her horn. A wave of nausea hit Twilight full force. “I’ll be right back,” she said to Lightning, before standing up and walking briskly to the door to the sleeping car. “Take all the time you need,” the mentor nodded understandingly. Twilight went straight to her room, thoughts racing through her head. She closed the door and walked into her small bathroom, standing front hooves on the sink, looking at herself in the mirror. Her mind raced at a mile a minute. The Capitol, the ponies who she can thank for being an orphan, the ponies who mutilate pegasi and unicorns, and take their ability of speech on top of that, expect her to jump into an arena and kill or be killed, so they can be entertained? They’ve taken everything she has, and they expect her to sit back and go with it as they take more? She lashed out, sending a shelf of toiletries next to the mirror smashing to the floor, the small plastic bottles oozing out their contents in a colorful mess that began to soak into the soft carpet. Twilight walked into the bedroom, and started pacing the carpet. She wasn’t sad about the situation, at least, not any more. She paced back and forth, slowly thinking things over. Images flashed through her mind, the scar on the Avoxes head, the footage of Shining Armor being beaten mercilessly, and the dream of the moment her parents died. She slowly realized her sadness at these events was a distraction, a delusion if you like, from her true feeling: Anger. The Capitol, these stuck up, snobby, murderous ponies, who tear off the limbs of ponies and turn them into slaves. These ponies had already ruled over Equestria in the same way before the war, and their response to ponies fighting just to have better lives is to force them to battle to the death on TV? Twilight felt a sense of alleviation at this. The thoughts of her family still saddened her, but now she realized she could use them to push her forward. Keep her strong, keep her fighting. She would make it home to Shining Armor. She had to. So deep in thought, she nearly jumped out of skin when she felt a hoof gently touch her shoulder. “Woah woah woah, take a chill pill, Sparkle,” Thunderlane said, with a faint chuckle to his voice. “Oh, hey…,” she said quietly. She had been so focused on her thoughts about fighting to make it home, she’d forgotten one thing. Two tributes had been summoned from each district, but only one tribute could go home. “Hey, you alright?” he said, gently lifting her chin with his hoof, allowing him to make direct eye contact with her. “Lightning Dust said you stormed off from breakfast, everything okay?” No. To put it simply, everything was not okay. But at least Twilight had a bit more perspective on things now. “Yeah, everything’s fine,” she responded, putting on the best fake smile she could muster. Thankfully, Thunderlane was not the stud he often made himself out to be at school, and was oblivious to the forced nature of the smile. “Okay, well she wants us in the lounge for a briefing. She’s gonna talk us through some basic strategies we should know in the arena, then she’s gonna give us the low-down on how things are gonna run when we get to the Capitol.” - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Several hours passed as the topic of strategies continued over long chats, flashcards, and even an impressive flank attack method demonstrated using salt and pepper shakers at lunch. Finally, as they set off from a quick fuel stop, the subject turned to their arrival in the Capitol. The threesome sat in the lounge, Avoxes on hand serving soft drinks. “Right, I think you two have heard enough about what kind of plants are safe to use as toilet paper. You’ll get taught it all in Survival Training before you go into the arena, so its no biggie if you don’t grasp it all right now. We should get to the Capitol soon, just before sunset, so listen carefully, here’s how things are gonna go down.” Twilight and Thunderlane looked at each other, then back to Lightning Dust, who was sipping a glass of Whiskey. For a Capitol pony, she was oddly in-the-know about survival techniques. Years of venturing into the Everfree Forest with Shining Armor had given Twilight good knowledge about basic wilderness survival, but Lightning Dust had this knowledge on a completely different level. She made a mental note to question her about it later. “When we arrive, expect a large crowd at the station. Now, sponsors are important. If the Capitol ponies like you, they can pay to have items given to you during the games. These items could mean the difference between life and death, so try and impress them. As for the crowd at the station, be friendly, wave and everything, but follow me. I’ll lead you to the cars that will take us to the Training Center” “Now, the Training Center will be your home for the next few days, while you get trained on Survival techniques. I’ve given you a head start here, so you can thank me later. Tonight is the big deal though, it’s the parade. So when we get to the Training Center, you’ll both be taken to see your stylists, who will prepare to present you to the audience. You’ll ride on the carriages around the city a bit, then back to the Training Center, where the President will do a little speech, blah blah blah, all that jazz. Any questions so far?” “What kind of Items can sponsors send us?” Twilight asked. “Anything from water and food, to medicines and weapons. But the larger or more expensive an item is, it costs the Sponsor more to give it to you. And the prices go up even more as the game goes on. Any more questions so far?” Both the young ponies shook their heads. “Good, now you get three days of training. Day three is the big one though. In the afternoon, you go and perform for the Gamemakers. These are the guys that control everything once you’re in the arena, so make a good impression. They’ll give you a score from 1 to 12, a 1 meaning you’re likely to die as soon as you step foot in the arena, and 12 meaning you’re an unstoppable killing machine, to put it all simply. That night, all the tributes will be interviewed by Fancy Pants, live to all of Equestria.” Twilight groaned at this prospect. Fancy Pants was the one who’d sat in a studio, making jokes and creating uproarious laughter at the clip of Shining trying to save her, but getting a severe beating for his efforts. As this happened, the view out the window turned dark. “Ah, we’re in the tunnels through the mountains, so we’re nearly there” noted Lightning. “Anyway, the interview is your last chance to make a big splash and impress the ponies of the Capitol, so make it a good one. Then the morning after that, you’ll be taken to the arena. I guess you can figure out how the rest of it will go.” Suddenly, the darkness outside gave way to the most magnificent sight Twilight had ever laid eyes on, with the possible exception of the first time she went to the clearing with Shining Armor. Both she and Thunderlane stood up and went to the window, in nothing but awe at what was in front of them. The city sat on the edge of a lake, the railway tracks wrapping their way around the brim to reach it. Silver towers of all shapes and size stretched high into the clouds, sky bridges impossibly high off the ground connecting them at haphazard points. The lower parts of the city comprised of equally random but inconceivable buildings. Smooth curves interjected flawlessly with sharp bends and integers, making even the smaller buildings impressive beyond belief. On the cliffs surrounding the city, impossibly large manor houses sat on tiny cliffs, their weight seemingly suspended by some divine force that was beyond comprehension, a kind of power that seemed only possible in the hooves of some deity. In the very center of the city stood not the tallest tower, but easily the most impressive. The whole building was designed as a spiral, which decreased in sharpness along the height of it, becoming perfectly squared at the top. As the building rose, the color of it changed, starting off red at the bottom, becoming a faint magenta at the top, traversing the entire color spectrum on the way up. The scene was made perfect by the suns final rays of light peeking over the top of the cliffs behind it, not reflecting off the buildings in every which way to blind the two ponies, but instead giving a gentle orange glow to the whole city. For a place she had associated with the most brutal parts of her life, Twilight had to concede that as a city, it was stunningly beautiful. “You should see your faces,” grinned Lightning Dust. “Welcome to the Capitol.”