//------------------------------// // Chapter XXV: Worlds Apart // Story: The Equestria Games: First Blood // by 8_Bit //------------------------------// Scootaloo ran as fast as her legs could carry her. She wasn’t even running for any particular reason. The distant voices she had heard calling for Rarity at the river weren’t forcing any form of intimidation onto Scootaloo, and despite the aggressive nature of the ponies that the voices belonged to, they were nothing that could scare her at this point. She was running in a futile attempt to escape her inner demons. The dull stare from Limerick’s corpse. The way Rarity had screamed when she charged at her. The sickening jets of blood spraying outwards when she thrust the knife into her chest. Worst of all were her final words: ‘You remind me of my sister’. Scootaloo had left behind her a bleeding corpse, which was once the sister of somepony her own age. Horrific memories rushed back as she charged through the woods, in particular the last time she remembered seeing her own sister. The pain she’d gone through when she died, and the empty space left behind in the months that followed. She had inflicted this very same pain on somepony else, and the very thought of this was too horrible to bear. So she ran, for there was nothing else within her power that she could do at this point. There was nothing physical to run from anymore, the distant shouts of the clique ponies had long since faded into the background. The thoughts and the images racing around her head were so horrendous, however, that she literally could not bring herself to stop running. Fate had other ideas however, as she stumbled on an exposed root, only to overbalance and find herself crashing forwards, her head making a dull thud as it cracked full force against a tree trunk. A low moan escaped her lips as she rolled in pain, her vision blurring and her ears ringing aggressively. The cut on her lip where Rarity had lashed out, having been scabbed over, released a fresh wave of blood, filling Scootaloo’s mouth with the metallic taste of her own bodily fluids. The last thing she was able to identify as she lay on her side, slipping out of consciousness, were two distant shapes with the unmistakable contours of other ponies, one blue and one red, making their way towards her. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - “Are you sure this is safe, Twilight?” “Very sure.” “I don’t know. I mean, sleeping in the same place two nights in a row just doesn’t sound safe to me.” “Well, nopony saw us up there. The only other ponies we saw today were by the river, and that was at least a mile upstream.” Fluttershy’s face confirmed that she was partially convinced, but she still seemed to be thinking this over as Twilight began to climb the mighty oak tree in which they had made their crude bed. As she pushed her way through the lower level of the leaves, the bed itself came into view, still very much intact. However, it wasn’t a smart idea to sleep on it without considering what damage nature may have inflicted on it during the day. Worse though, was the idea that the Gamemakers could have damaged it in some way, which would certainly give them a rude awakening if it was damaged to the extent where the structure would be compromised, and would break overnight. Twilight breathed a sigh of relief as she reached the branch in question, as it appeared relatively intact. Judging from how it looked though, it had received little to no damage during the day, nor had there been any attempt to sabotage it. She stood on it, as she had done the day before, to test its strength, and it didn’t seem to have lost any of its integrity over the course of the day “It’s all good up here!” she called down to Fluttershy. “Seems to still be strong enough.” Fluttershy seemed less convinced. “Um, are you sure? Cause a whole bunch of twigs fell down when you stood on it just now.” “I’ll fix them later. It’ll be dark soon, and I think we’d be best off getting some food before sunset.” Fluttershy nodded, smiling at the mention of food. Other than the rations provided for them in the saddle packs, nourishment was fairly scarce in the arena, and the days exertions had left her eager and ready for another meal. They had visited the hatchlings, as Fluttershy had suggested earlier, after the ordeal with watching Scootaloo and Rarity, which really gave Twilight a necessary boost in her mood. The rest of the day had been spent in the clearing where Twilight had carved the target into the tree, which allowed Fluttershy to become a lot more proficient with her knife throwing. With Twilight’s advice, and her physical practice, she was becoming a fairly decent throw. However, the knife belonged to Twilight, and she was the better shot, so Fluttershy had instead plucked a thick branch from a tree, and used the knife to sharpen the end to a point. The end result was a rudimentary spear, not one that would win over in a sword fight, but one that would give Fluttershy suitable means with which to defend herself. It was only when Twilight collected the wood shavings and dropped them into the river that she had looked up at the sky, noticing the sun was slowly reaching the later stages of its daily cycle, and decided they should find somewhere to sleep for the night. Twilight climbed down to the lowest branch, before pushing off and jumping to the ground. It was only a short drop, and she landed effortlessly on all fours next to her saddle pack, which she picked up and set down on her back. “Right, I saw some clusters of berries on some bushes about a quarter mile upstream. Should make for some nice dinner.” Fluttershy thought for a few seconds. “Oh! I know the ones you mean. I saw some apple trees near there.” Twilight smiled. Fluttershy had a keen eye for nature, one that was proving very useful for food gathering. There was the obvious matter of the crackers and energy bars in the saddle pack, but they only had so many of them, and it was crucial to make them last. As they reached the nearby river, and began to walk along it, Fluttershy paused. “What is it?” Twilight asked as she stopped walking. “How much water have we got?” Twilight grinned as she reached into her saddle pack for the flask. A closer observation showed the water bottle was nearly empty. “Not much, but I’m not thirsty. Why don’t you finish it off, then I’ll refill it.” Fluttershy nodded appreciatively as she took the flask, and finished the last of the water in a single large gulp. Twilight took the flask back, before filling it from the stream, adding the iodine drops, and putting the now full flask back in her bag, and the two of them continued their stroll along the river bank. It made Twilight feel a lot less concerned about their situation to have Fluttershy along with her. Her gentle nature was beautifully calming, her consideration for those around her was heart warming, and her ability to think tactically ahead was admirable. Twilight was used to only being focused on one thing at a time. Had she been alone, she would have made her way to the site where she’d seen the berries earlier, returned to the tree, climbed up and made herself comfortable before she’d have considered the need for water. Fluttershy was a lot more thoughtful, knowing it would be much easier to collect water while they were at the river instead of needing to come back to the river later on. “Hey Twilight,” Fluttershy said, breaking the silence. “What do you think makes the sun and moon go round?” This was an odd question, very much because it was apropos of nothing, but also because everypony knew the tale. Celestia used her magic to make the sun rise during the day, whilst Luna used her magic to make the moon rise at night. Of course, everypony also knew of the fate the two alicorns had met with at District 13, so when thought about, it was perfectly normal to wonder why the sun and the moon continued on their respective cycles. “One of the stories my brother told me says that Celestia and Luna kept fighting right up until the destruction of District 13. He told me that in their final moments, they each cast a spell, in which their respective stellar bodies were set into a constant cycle. They did this so that even if they were to die then and there, we would retain our days and nights, even though they could have tried to escape. They gave their lives so we could continue ours in the way we always have.” “That’s beautiful,” Fluttershy said, shedding a tear. “Where did your brother hear that?” “I dunno,” Twilight lied, immediately regretting turning the conversation towards the touchy subject of District 13. “It’s just a story.” It took every ounce of willpower for Twilight not to breathe an obvious sigh of relief as the two ponies arrived at bushes that she had described earlier, full of berries that both of them knew from survival experience were very much safe to eat. Sure enough, several of the trees dotted around nearby were in fact apple trees. Twilight took out the plastic zip bag in which sat the brightly labelled energy bars, before emptying the contents out into one of the bags on her saddle pack. The bars were vacuum sealed, so there was no danger of them picking up germs. “Okay,” she said, taking off her saddle pack and handing it to Fluttershy. “I’ll pick berries here, you pick apples from some of these trees. Just put them into the bag on your right, its mostly empty.” Fluttershy nodded. “I think we’ve got about thirty minutes to sundown, and we won’t need too much.” “Yeah, you’re right. Five minutes should be enough time to get enough for tonight, so gather what you can, and then we’ll head back.” Fluttershy headed off to the nearest tree while Twilight settled on the bush nearest her, which was one of the ones bearing strawberries. As she picked them, her mind wandered back to District 13. Celestia’s voice echoed in her mind, insisting to her that she ‘could be the source of a revolutionary turning point in the rise against the Capitol’. She remembered how she’d almost laughed at the time; the very idea that she could be a weapon was an alien concept completely. Of course, the months that followed her arrival there were a definite testimony to Celestia’s foresight. Twilight almost jumped out of her skin as she felt a hoof touch her shoulder. “Oh, um, sorry Twilight,” Fluttershy said as she nervously backed away. “Oh, no, its okay,” she responded, amazed at how she’d let time pass her by as her mind wandered away to the past. “Sorry, I was just thinking.” “Not about the size of that bag, evidently,” Fluttershy answered with a grin. “Huh, what do you mean?” “Look at the bag in your hoof.” Twilight looked down, and her eyes widened as she saw the small zip bag full of strawberries. That is, to say it was full in the most literal sense possible. As her mind wandered far afield, her body had gone into autopilot, particularly in the motion of picking berries to put in the bag, as the strawberries filled up the entire bag, now forming a small pyramid rising high above the zipper, and every movement made the small pile wobble from side to side, occasionally resulting in another strawberry falling out. “Oh,” Twilight said with a blush. “I guess I kinda went on autopilot there.” Fluttershy laughed as she took a few of the strawberries, chomping happily on them in a single mouthful. “Mmm, these are good,” she said between chews. “Better than any I’ve ever had at home.” Twilight took a few herself, savoring the rich flavor that danced on her own taste buds. “Oh wow,” she said, her mouth still full of the pulpy mess of half chewed berries. “These ARE good.” The pair ate the berries happily for a few minutes, working the pile extruding the bag down to underneath the zip, at which point Twilight sealed the small pack of strawberries, placing it in the saddle pack which sat on the floor next to Fluttershy. Her eyes widened in joy as she found what might as well have been a whole bushel of bright red apples in the right bag. “Wow,” she chuckled. “Wanna try and force any more apples in here?” “Well, you did say to gather what I could. Anyway, its only about twenty in there. I figured I should gather a lot, just so we’ve got some left over for breakfast.” Again, this was something Twilight hadn’t considered doing, and something that made her even more appreciative to have Fluttershy along with her. It was as she picked up the now bulky saddle pack, the sun finally set beyond the cliffs above, sending the arena into darkness as the sunlight transitioned into twilight. The pair made their way back to the tree, only to stop and watch the darkening sky as the Capitol logo appeared as the enormous projection. Twilight held her breath as the photos began to roll, half hoping that Thunderlane had been spared. She partially wanted him to survive, for reasons she decided were best not to think about. But then again, the longer he stayed alive, the greater the likelihood that she may have to be the one to kill him, and she had no idea if she’d be able to bring herself to do this.