//------------------------------// // Chapter XXIV: Actions have Consequences // Story: The Equestria Games: First Blood // by 8_Bit //------------------------------// “Did you hear that?” The two friends stood in silence for a few moments. Twilight assumed Fluttershy may have imagined it, as she had asked the question immediately after she had taken another throw of the knife. She was about to point this out when she heard it herself. It was hoofsteps, distant and quiet, only just audible over the gentle sound of the river. She gestured to Fluttershy to hush, before quickly retrieving the knife from the tree, and the pair of them took cover in a bush. It was an ideal hiding spot, on the edge of the clearing and only a few feet from the river, giving them a good view of the area all around. Fluttershy gave Twilight a nudge as she located the source of the noise on the other side of the river. Scootaloo trudged along slowly, and even from across the river, it was clear that her eyes were red from crying. Her hooves gently clopped against the stones lining the river bank as she walked, creating a surprisingly loud noise for such a small pony. She eventually came to a stop, sitting down on her haunches almost perfectly across the river from the bush in which sat Twilight and Fluttershy. The pair remained silent, almost as if the small filly posed a threat, despite the fact that she appeared to be in a severely depressed state. “What do we do?” Fluttershy whispered. “I don’t know,” was the response. “I don’t think we can move from here without being spotted.” “But she’s just a filly.” “I know, and I also happen to know that neither of us would be able to bring ourselves to kill her.” “So, let her come with us maybe?” Twilight sighed. “I don’t think the term ‘safety in numbers’ applies to us right now. The more of us group up, the more attention we’ll attract, and I really don’t want to be there to see Scootaloo get hurt.” Fluttershy nodded. It was heartbreaking for both of them, but Scootaloo was only going to hinder them. She was clearly in a poor emotional state, and therefore they would be spending a lot of time trying to calm her down if she was to join them. Also neither of them felt particularly eager to be there to see the death of an innocent young filly. Scootaloo’s ears perked up as she heard a noise from in front of them. Twilight held her breath as the filly briefly looked towards the bush, only to breathe a sigh of relief as her gaze was directed upwards. Still unaware of her audience, Scootaloo looked on in confusion as a small metal cylinder hanging from a parachute drifted towards her, making a gentle pinging sound, presumably to alert ponies of its precise location in the event they fail to locate it immediately. The small cylinder landed perfectly in front of Scootaloo with a slight clang as it came down on the rocks that lined the river. It stopped its pinging as soon as it landed. “What’s that, Twilight?” Fluttershy asked with a strong amount of confusion. “Sponsor gifts, by the looks of it. Looks like the Capitol ponies have souls after all.” “You’re not going to be too popular making cracks like that.” Twilight laughed a little at this. “What more can they do to me?” Fluttershy gave a little shrug, as if to say ‘yeah, I guess’ before the pair of them returned their attention to the filly across the river, who had managed to open the small package. Her eyes went wide as she pulled out a knife, almost identical to Twilight’s, as well as a small note attached to the handle. She pulled it off, and read it aloud. She was either oblivious to the danger she was putting herself in, or she simply did not care, because she read it out loud enough so even Twilight and Fluttershy could hear it clearly. “With every single passing breath, Let your strength be unconfined, You must not fear the wrath of death, For danger lies behind.” Almost on cue, hoofsteps became audible further up the river, and getting closer. Instinctively, Scootaloo held up the knife, ready to defend herself, as Rarity came into view. The knife was large and heavy in her hoofs, but she had already seen what Rarity had done to Limerick, and wasn’t prepared to go down without putting up a struggle. The unicorn in question stopped dead in her tracks, notched an arrow, and pulled it backwards, ready to fire. She paused as she made eye contact with Scootaloo, still holding the knife defensively, and the pair remained still and silent for what felt like an eternity. “Well?” Scootaloo demanded, a fresh wave of tears forming in the corner of her eyes. “What are you waiting for?” “I…” “I saw what you did to Limerick. She was strange, but she was nice. In the cafeteria she helped me reach the food on the higher shelves. I sat with her at lunch, and she told these wonderful stories, beautiful stories about how there are still good ponies left in the world. I know you thought she was crazy, but I know for a fact she was one of the nicest ponies I’ve ever met. And you and your stupid friends killed her!” By the time Scootaloo was finished, she was practically screaming at Rarity, who had lowered her bow, and was now hanging her head in disgrace. ‘Wow,’ Twilight thought to herself. ‘Well said, kid.’ “And you know what?” Scootaloo continued. “I can’t take this any more, because as brilliant as the stories were, they were exactly that. Stories. Ponies like that don’t exist any more. The world is just full of horrible ponies that take delight in watching us fight to the death. My whole family died in the war that those stupid Capitol ponies caused. For just a few moments when the war ended, I thought maybe things could get better. But no, now I have to come to this place, and I make some friends, only to have a stupid stuck up prissy District 1 pony kill them.” “I’m sorry!” Rarity shouted back, now crying herself. “I just want to go home!” What happened next surprised everypony watching, as Scootaloo charged at Rarity, slashing wildly with the knife. Rarity backed away, avoiding every slash as it came. “Then defend yourself!” Scootaloo screamed, face red with rage. “Kill me and go home!” One of Scootaloo’s wild slashes nicked Rarity’s front right leg, causing her to yelp and kick out wildly. The kick caught Scootaloo in the head, sending her tumbling backwards, blood dripping out of her muzzle where Rarity had caused her to cut her lip. She looked up at the unicorn who had dealt the blow, who was still crying. “Please,” Rarity begged, as she threw her bow and arrow into a nearby bush. “I don’t want to kill any more. I don’t want to hurt you.” Images of Limerick raced through Scootaloo’s mind as she stood up, picking up the knife again. The empty look in her eyes, the dull grin that had stayed in place even when an arrow had pierced her throat. The sodden fur that had became soaked with her own blood. Worst of all was knowing that for whatever reason, Rarity had done this to her friend. “Seriously?” Scootaloo asked manically, slowly walking forward in a way that was beginning to legitimately terrify the much older unicorn. “You are seriously going to play that card right now? It’s a little too late for that.” All this time, Rarity had been backing away from the filly, only to back into a tree. In her panicked state, she had slumped to the ground, as if every means of escape would never get her far away enough from the once-adorably pegasus that was now becoming more of a resemblance to a bloodthirsty cannibal. She didn’t know how the situation had turned out this way, and she was too terrified to do anything. She simply covered her eyes and cried more. Scootaloo was beyond negotiation. Without another word, she took one more charge forward, screaming as she did so, and drove the knife deep into Rarity’s stomach. The blood splattered outwards, covering the small pegasus as her victim began to gasp desperately. Almost instantaneously, the scale of her actions began to hit home, and Scootaloo looked down at her blood stained hooves with legitimate horror. How could she have done this? Panicking, she pulled the knife out, throwing it into the river, which caused Rarity to moan as she slumped down the tree further, now to the point where she was almost lying down. Scootaloo pulled some leaves from a nearby bush, rinsed them in the river, and applied them to the knife wound, putting pressure on it as she remembered from basic first aid training. “I… I’m so sorry,” she choked through an uncontrollable torrent of tears. “I don’t know what came over me.” Rarity coughed, flinching with pain as she reached out a hoof towards Scootaloo, reaching under her chin, lifting her head upwards and turning it to face her. She gave a weak smile as the pair of them made eye contact. “You remind me of my sister,” Rarity said weakly, one last tear rolling down her face. Scootaloo froze in place, still crying, still pressing down on the knife wound. She didn’t move when Rarity lowered her hoof, not when she closed her eyes, and not even when the cannon fired. She kept her gaze fixated on the unicorn, still trying to grasp the scale of her actions. It was only when she heard the distant voices calling Rarity’s name that she managed to snap out of it. Not knowing what to do, she ran into the forest as fast as her legs would carry her. “Well,” Twilight said awkwardly, Fluttershy frozen in a mixture of terror and disbelief. “I think she’s more than capable of defending herself.” Fluttershy simply nodded as Rainbow Dash and Nighteye appeared up the river. Nighteye froze on the spot when he spotted Rarity, taking a few seconds to take in what he was seeing before he called the other ponies over, and soon the two of them were joined by Pyro and Fire Work. Twilight panicked for a moment as Rainbow Dash told the group to search the area on both sides of the river, but breathed a sigh of relief as Pyro noticed a faint trail of blood leading away from Rarity. “Looks like it’s the little brat,” chuckled Fire Work. “Stupid foal must have stepped right in it, now we can follow it right to her.” Nighteye faced him as the others laughed, his expression being a much more serious one. “She’s just a filly, but she still killed a pony twice her size. So don’t be too quick to laugh.” Rainbow Dash shrugged indifferently. “Rarity was a drama queen anyway. That skinny featherhead kid you killed could probably have taken her. Either way, we’ve got a trail, so let’s follow it.” Pyro nodded. “I’d say it’s around 2PM right now, so we’ve got about six hours of daylight to kill.” “Plenty of time,” Fire Work said happily. “Should we go back and get Pinkie Pie? She loves the thrill of a hunt.” “No,” Rainbow Dash said firmly. “She gives me the creeps. Anyway, she takes a little too much joy in killing, so I’d rather not give her the anticipation. She’ll be just fine holding down the fort for a few hours.” The group nodded as she began to lead the way through the trees, blissfully unaware of the pair of ponies listening close by. “Fluttershy," Twilight whispered as soon as the coast was clear. "Please tell me you can think of something we can do that doesn’t involve weapons or killing. I think I’ve seen more than enough of my share for today.” The pegasus paused for a few seconds as she considered this. “Oh, the eggs belonging to the birds I helped yesterday hatched last night, and they said I should come visit the newborns.” Twilight nodded. “That’ll do.”