Rarity put all her effort into teleporting to the cornucopia. She instantly felt exhaustion as soon as she completed the spell, and couldn't possibly teleport again, as it had sapped her strength too much. Hastily, she grabbed the white backpack and ran as fast as she could towards the forest, adrenaline rushing through her body. She entered the slightly safer forest, and tried to slow her breathing a little.
She almost jumped out of her skin when she noticed a knife sticking out of her right hind leg. She ignored it trying to push the horrible image of what she saw out of her mind. 'I need to focus.' Rarity thought to herself. 'A knife cut isn't going to stop me from focusing.' She pondered on what was most important to do. Rarity eventually decided that it was camouflaging herself, finding a place to rest overnight. She covered herself with mud, spreading herself with it on most parts of her coat, making sure it didn't touch or cover the wound on her leg. She then climed up a low tree, sat on a branch and examined her injury, forcing herself to look at it, as she never liked looking at gore. It made her feel squeamish, but she eventually found out how deeply cut it was. It wasn't too bad. It had imbedded itself into Rarity's leg about two centermetres, but it had mostly snagged onto her skin. She didn't feel much pain, so Rarity turned he attention to the contents of her backpack. Inside was a blanket, a small water bottle and some bandages, to her delight. She cleared the all the mud of her leg with a swift swipe of her hoof, and smothered it on the sparkling clean bag reluctantly. She knew that white attracts lots of attention due to its brightness.
Wincing, She gently pulled out the knife from her throbbing hind leg. Rarity felt ill as she wiped the knife clean with some moss, revealing how much blood she had lost. She threw the bloodstained moss as far away as far as she could. She didn't want to give any clues to her location, so rarity was anxious that she would be tracked down by the moss. Rarity peered down at herself to see if she needed any more camouflage. Her bandages were dark green, so there was no point camouflaging them. She wrapped the bandages around her leg carefully. Feeling weak and weary, she meandered around the forest trees to find a shelter. She scanned the area around her, and spotted some branches that stuck out in the same angle, which was probably a safe and sensible place for resting. She hesitated though. It was tremendously high up. She only had one choice - teleportation. She concentrated very hard, her aching head trying to stop her. She thought to herself what would happen if this failed. If she was unsuccessful and fell to the floor, she could be seriously injured. She might even die. She put all her effort on her magic, concentrated on where she wanted to be. And then... She had changed place. And she was on the branches! Rarity, with a mix of triumph and exhaustion, curled up with her blanket on top of her, and she finally allowed herself to rest.
Applejack sprinted to the cornucopia, determined to grab what she wanted. When she got there, she was one of the first to be there, so she swiftly slipped the bow over her back, and she grabbed the backpack and held it in her mouth. She span on the spot, and faced the dark forest with the towering mountain behind it. She ran like timberwolves were chasing her into to the forest. When she was deep into the forest and quite alone, she caught her breath back. After she was breathing at normal speed again, she looked around. Nothing but trees. She couldn't climb trees to her disappointment, but she could climb hills and mountains. So Applejack decided that she would trek up the mountain and find a cave. She would be safer there. So she started her long journey. The sights, sounds, and even the feel was very unusual. No doubt that the animals and plants they had been made by the gamemakers. There were small, winged rats with fluffy tails that were green and white. Applejack often tried to shoot them, but they dodged her arrows. Applejack was always disappointed when she missed, so she didn't like the rats much. There was strange monkey-like animals with trunks, which were so bony there was no point trying to get them. A particular bird, a mockingjay, could repeat a tune you whistled. Applejack had come across this while she was whistling in the woods. She had heard about mockingjays before. Rarely, you would come across plants strangely lit up every time you touched them. Magic probably was powering them. After four and a half hours, Applejack was eventually able to see the mountains, which were well over two thousand metres high. You couldn't see more than halfway up them. She could see some caves about a quarter of the way up, which looked ideal for sleeping in.
Rainbow Dash had taken flight as soon as the the last words were said. She was the fastest out of all the ponies, which she was very proud of. She saw a lot of spears. She picked them up, and counted six. She gave one to Ember Blaze, who accompanied her. She smiled at Rainbow Dash, and flew over the cornucopia. She watched Ember Blaze. She was stabbing Cobalt Wind in the heart. The very thought sickened Rainbow Dash. She just asked for her to carry some water and food, while she held her spear. Ember Blaze looked for a sword first, but there wasn't one, so she took the large water bottle and the food. Rainbow Dash told Ember Blaze to follow her. Rainbow Dash shot up the river. She could feel herself going through the sound barrier, and without meaning to, did a sonic rainboom. rainbow Dash eventually found a small island in the middle of the river. She landed, and put down the spears. Ember Blaze put down the supplies. They left the food for later, but they both drank some water. Ember Blaze said she was going to try and kill somepony, so Rainbow passed her the spear reluctantly. Ember Blaze soared down the river, and she was soon gone before Rainbow Dash's eyes.
Pinkie Pie turned and ran. She tried to think of the games as a huge game of hide and seek. Pinkie was pretty sure that hiding was a big part in the games. And she had just the chance to use her skills now. A dark brown pony had spotted her. She had a spear. Pinkie Pie pretended to run, but at the last second, disappeared. It was almost as if she had evaporated. Pinkie was inside a tree, waiting silently for Ember Blaze to leave. but she didn't. She hung around, wondering where Pinkie had gone. Pinkie Pie held her breath. Ember Blaze eventually left, cursing under her breath. Pinkie Pie looked around the tree she was hiding in. It had lots of fruit growing on it which she had never seen before. They were circular, and about the size of a tennis ball. She picked one. She checked the skin, the inside of the fruit, and the seeds inside it. She same eked it with her expert nose. It was safe for eating. That meant all the fruit were okay to eat. She pulled a branch off the tree, and snapped bits off the end to make it sharp. A wooden knife. She might need it, anyways. She got out of the tree and looked at her surroundings. Mostly large, dark trees with vines hanging from them. She couldn't see any other tree that had fruit on it. She decided to take a walk, and get to know the area she was in. She hopped around, memorising the plants and animals, how talk the trees were and what could be good homes or hiding- places. She knew where she was, and she had food and water. The only problem was that 8 other tributes were in the forest as well as herself. And anypony could kill her or her friends.
Applejack trudged blindly through the shadows of the forest. It was getting darker and darker as she ventured deeper into the forest. There were times when she couldn't see anything at all, and everything in front of her was pitch black. She didn't know what was going to happen. The unknown sent chills down her spine and curdled her blood. What if she got hurt? Or killed?
She entered a slightly brighter part of the forest. She could see ahead of her a little, at least. But the taunting unanswered questions still lingered inside her mind. What if she didn't make it, and let Applebloom, Big Mac and Granny Smith down? What if-
Her thoughts were immediatley interrupted by a deep, ear-splitting roar which filled the forest. It must have been only a few hundred metres away. She galloped forward, to where it was brightest. The low, deafening roar filled the air again, which made Applejack run faster. But it was for no use. A giant manticore jumped out of the bushes in front of her, as menacing and threatening as the one she encountered before. Applejack knew it could kill her any second. It had the head and body of a lion, the wings of a bat and the tail of a scorpion. It could sting her. Bite her. Scratch her. And it could fly. The huge creature towered above her. It looked at Applejack for a few seconds, wondering what to do, if it would eat her alive or kill her first. Applejack tried to creep past it, hoping it would be too busy thinking to notice her. The manticore saw applejack trying to get away, and with a flick of its paw, it sent her flying into a tree behind her.
Applejack looked to see if any damage was done. She stared at a huge claw mark across her stomach on horror. She had to get out of here. She just had to. Unless she wanted more damage done. There was one way out, but it was a way which she was afraid and reluctant of doing. Hesitantly, she pulled the bow off her back, held it firmly, and loaded an arrow into it. She pulled it back as far as she could, far enough so that her hoof touched her cheek. Just before the manticore took another swipe of its claws at Applejack, she let go of her arrow and it shot into the centre of the Manticore's heart. It stopped. It stopped in its tracks and swayed a little, as if it lost its balance. With a thud, it fell to the ground. Applejack felt wrong and ashamed as soon as her arrow hit the manticore. And even more so when it fell to the ground, dead.
"Buck this." She said quietly to herself.
Applejack retrieved her arrow, and put it back. She slipped the bow over her back again. She sat down and opened her backpack. Inside was some rope, a blanket, some food and an empty water bottle. No medical supplies. Not even any water to cool down her cut a bit. She scoured her brain in despair about what she should do. She tied the blanket around her scorching and sensitive wounds for now, hoping she would come across something better on future that would act as a better bandage.She carried on, even though every step she took was agonising. She was determined to carry on. Dragging herself, she finally reached the end of the forest, and soon after that, the start of the mountain. She looked up. It was steep. Steep enough that other ponies wouldn't be able to climb up there by foot. She remembered how she was strong enough to drag Fluttershy as well as herself up a steep mountain once. That drove her on. This mountain was steeper than when she had to drag Fluttershy, but this time, it was her on her own.
She traipsed up the mountainside. Her stomach was almost torture to bear through. She could feel the blood seeping through the blanket, and it was still blistering hot. She saw the first cave about fifty metres above her. Just a little more. Just a little more and she'd be there-
She got her forelegs over the edge of the cave while her back legs were furiously pushing against the mountain to let her up. How, she didn't know. She gradually entered the small cave, and with a lot of effort and hard work managed to step forward a few times, almost losing her balance. Despite her efforts, she collapsed in anguish and exhaustion. She blacked out, and remained motionless, sprawled out onto the cold cave floor.
Rarity awoke, wondering where she was and why she was outside, soon realising that she was in the Pony Games. She looked around her. Everything was fine. The air was a lot colder than she imagined. She could see her breath billowing into the air, and there was frost on the branches where she was lying. She wrapped herself tightly in her blanket, but it was no use. She was still shivering, and couldn't get the cold out no matter what she tried. She moved towards her backpack. There was only a water bottle inside, and the water inside had a small layer of ice across it's surface.
She racked her brain for the spell which warmed whichever pony it was aimed at, which could include themselves. When she thought she remembered the spell, she cast it upon herself. And sure enough, she was warm as a toaster.
Coldblood, who heard Rarity's noises while she was moving, scanned the area. He couldn't see Rarity, even though she had moved and she had made her presence more noticeable. Coldblood sensed somepony was close. Coldblood started to climb a tall tree to see if he could see her higher up. There, he saw Rarity. Rarity saw Coldblood, and levitated her sword, ready for attack. Coldblood glared at Rarity.
"I want that knife back." Coldblood murmured.
Before Rarity could answer, Coldblood sprung over to where Rarity was. He hit her as hard as he could. Punching and kicking Rarity, especially in the face and stomach, he finally was able to grab his knife, and put it into action. He cut Rarity where he could, across the stomach, chest and forehead. Rarity screamed in pain as loud as she could. Blood trickled down her white fur. Coldblood would have started stabbing her, but Rainbow Dash had flew in with a burst of speed, flying into Coldblood and knocking him out of the tree. He fell, and crash-landed head first. He wasn't dead because he was still breathing, but he wouldn't move.
Rainbow ignored Coldblood, and rushed to rarity.
"Rarity..." Rainbow said to herself.
She tried to see where Rarity was cut most, but it was hard because of the blood spread across her trembling body. It was everywhere. Rainbow wiped some of it away. Rarity was cut everywhere but there were three major cuts. There was a cut on the forehead where she could see bone, one on her chest where not only she could see her bone, but some bone had been scraped off, and the cut in her stomach which was producing the most blood.
"Rarity! Wake up!" Rainbow Dash shouted, "Rarity!"
Rarity was breathing, but very sharply and quickly.
"RARITY!" Rainbow screamed, "RAIRITY! WAKE UP!"
But rarity didn't move a muscle. Except her breathing. Rarity had suffered bad blood loss. There was probably no coming back now.
Pinkie Pie rushed in. Rainbow almost speared her, but when she saw it was Pinkie, she lowered her weapon.
"What's happened?" Asked Pinkie inquisitively. I heard someone screaming. It sounded like Rarity, but she's not here, and then you shouted, but you're okay..."
"C-come up this tree, Pinkie."
Pinkie could climb trees like a monkey, fortunately. When she got to the top, she gasped. Her hair became straight, and she froze then and there.
"W-who did it?"
Rainbow pointed towards Coldblood. He was lying motionless on the floor.
"Did you make him f-fall?"
Rainbow nodded, crying silently to herself.
"RARITY, ITS TIME TO GET UP. IT'S PINKIE PIE!" Pinkie shouted. Realising that rarity might never wake up again, she started to cry with Rainbow Dash. They were together for hours and hours, crying and sitting by Rarity.
A cannon sounded.
Pinkie turned her head- It wasn't Rarity who died. It was Coldblood. A hovercraft came over to Coldblood, scooped him up with its Mechanical claw, and lifted the body until it disappeared inside the giant hovering aircraft.
Pinkie said she would go and get some fruit from her tree. They needed to eat, miserable or not. She took a quick canter, so that she didn't keep Rainbow Dash waiting. She picked two pieces of fruit off the tree, and then cantered back to the tree.
Before she got there, she could hear Rainbow Dash shouting and screaming. Wailing and crying. The sound of a cannon echoed through the arena. Cold wet tears stremed down Pinkie Pie's face. Rarity was dead.