Our Equestria

by Nonagon

That One Time In Front Of The Park

Peachy Pie dreamed of bees. She found herself inside a vast hive, so big that it stretched across the sky, with a tiny planet of flowers drifting in the middle. Everything else was an endless pattern of hexagons and the sweet smell of honey. Fuzzy little bees flew all around, and she dreamed herself as one of them, buzzing back and forth between her hive and the flowers, gathering pollen in a little sack she wore around her neck. When she wasn’t working, she danced, joining her fellow bees in happy games of fancy footwork and aerial coordination. When she wasn’t dancing, she slept, curling up in a tiny little honeycomb of her very own. She was a busy little bee and she could not have been happier.

But then the dream changed. The hive that was her sky began to crack, then was torn open. The eternal daylight was sucked away into the impenetrable blackness beyond, leaving the world in shadows. Peachy clung to her fellow bees in terror as the darkness spread, and dark, metallic legs reached in to break the crack open wider. Clouds billowed in, clouds of acid with winds so cold that they cut right to the bone, and a wasp the size of time and space began to drag its massive frame inside the hive.

This was the signal to attack. Instincts that she’d never known she had compelled Peachy to dive towards the invading menace, with thousands of her brothers and sisters at her sides. They swarmed around the breaking wasp and pushed with all their might. It wasn’t enough. The wasp brushed them aside with no effort at all, lifting bee after helpless, squirming bee up to its dark maw and crunching greedily as it continued its slow climb towards the world of flowers ahead.

Peachy Pie had never felt more scared. Her head was full of the buzzing and the roaring and the frightened screaming of the bees, but she alone knew what she had to do. She flew up to the wasp’s head, narrowly avoiding a swinging leg that tried to sweep her towards the dark and mashing jaws, and landed on its night-black eye. With no time for a prayer or even to take a breath, she plunged her stinger into the soft flesh below her.

There was a deep, inner pain, like she’d been stung herself. In the middle of her chest, her pure little heart turned to poison and shot itself down through her tail, injecting the invader with all the killing power that a tiny little bee could muster. Her insides fell to pieces as the stinger was ripped out of her. She flopped away, resting on the hardness beneath her as the world grew dim.

Then she saw another eye. Then another, then another, thousands and thousands of them, stretching away across the dark wasp’s head in all directions. The last thing she saw before the darkness overtook her was that the invader had not even slowed down.

---

Tornado Bolt appeared in the cockpit and immediately jumped down from her cloud. She shivered, first with repulsion, and then with guilt; the seat, like most of the furniture in her house, had been a gift. She shook the unwelcome thoughts off and looked around.

The round room at first appeared to be empty, and she wondered if she’d been mistaken in coming until a flash of yellow caught her eye. Peachy Pie was curled up not on her bench but under it, staring wide-eyed into the middle of the room. “Hey, there you are,” she said, walking over. She balked when she saw her friend's beaten and dusted state. "Whoa! What happened to you?"

Peachy Pie stirred. She was dimly aware of being tired and hungry, but the sensations felt distant and unimportant. She hadn't bothered to take off her roller skates after collapsing under the bench to hide last night. Her head hurt and her knee was starting to swell up and turn purple. She thought she remembered crying, but she felt no trace of it. An unpleasant dampness between her legs told her that she'd wet herself sometime during the night, but the smooth floor beneath her was dry. The only explanation she could think of was that Cicada had turned up while she'd slept and cleaned it up, which only made her feel even worse. "It's not important," she mumbled after a while, not looking up.

Tornado Bolt gulped. She bent down and reached out, creeping forward. "Did... did somepony do this to you?" she asked.

"No. I just fell." Peachy coughed. The noise was making her head hurt worse. "What time is it?"

"Noon. Have you been in here all day? Your parents are kind of freaking out."

"Oh..." Peachy bit her lip and finally looked up. She felt a small amount of satisfaction from making her parents worry, but she didn't want her sister to fear for her as well. "I didn't realize. I'm sorry."

"It's okay." Tornado Bolt reached out further and helped her out from under the bench. "If I'd known you'd been here that long, I would have brought some lunch."

Peachy sat still. She could see Tornado trying not to look at her flank, the pegasus' eyes darting towards her new cutie mark and then back to her face, to the wall, to anywhere else. She sighed and faced her friend head-on. "How did you know I was here?" she asked.

"I didn't. Apple Bloom said you might be here, though. She'd have come with us if she didn't have... stuff to do."

"Apple Bloom..." This finally brought the smallest hint of a smile to Peachy's face. "She's really taking charge, huh?"

"Yeah." Tornado Bolt did her best to grin as well, but it quickly fell through. "She's... handling this the best, at least. I think we're gonna need her around for a while."

"Yeah." Peachy Pie looked at the ground. "I'm... glad it's me and not her."

An uncomfortable pause followed. Tornado Bolt twice opened her mouth to speak, but then stopped. The reality of her friend's impending doom hung over her like a shroud, cutting them off from one another. "Peachy..." she said at last.

"So who's 'us' then?" Peachy Pie asked, moving away. "Who else is coming?" She took some experimental strides across the floor, wincing when she tried to bend her leg. She hoped it wouldn't affect her too much during the battle.

"Well..." Tornado glanced around, not quite looking towards one seat in particular. "Archer said she'd try to come as well, but..."

"Oh. Right." Peachy Pie slid to a halt. She closed her eyes and sighed. "How much do you bet she's just playing Wonder Force Three again?" she asked in a small voice.

Tornado winced. "Hey, she's not... she wouldn't..." She finally looked towards Archer's arcade stool and sighed as well. "Yeah."

There was a wop, and suddenly the seat was filled. Archer and Piña Colada appeared together, clinging tightly to one another, but broke away as soon as the teleportation was complete. "Told you it would work," Piña Colada said smugly, brushing herself off.

"Shut up," Archer grumbled, pointedly facing away.

Peachy Pie nervously skated back to Tornado Bolt's side and sat down as the pink filly made her way towards them. "What are you doing here?" she asked, and found her voice shaking.

"What do you think? We're just here to make sure you're okay." Piña Colada finished her trot over and sat down, smiling cheerily. Archer joined her a few seconds later and finished the circle, not looking anypony in the eyes. "So how are you holding up?" Piña Colada asked, running a critical eye over Peachy's battered frame. "Did you get into a fight already?"

"She just fell," Tornado Bolt answered for her, stretching her wings out defensively. "And if you needed a ride here, why didn't you just ask your sister?"

"I keep telling you, she's my niece," Piña answered with a roll of her eyes. "And she's just being a big baby, like usual. Your friend here was a lot more cooperative."

"Hi, guys," Archer said, almost under her breath.

Tornado bared her teeth, but Peachy Pie subtly put a hoof on her leg to hold her back. "Thanks for being here," she said. "I kinda need the support right now."

“Anytime,” Archer answered without conviction. Peachy tried not to let her anguish show; while Tornado hadn’t been able to look at her flank, her other friend seemed unwilling to look at her at all.

“We’re all here for you,” Piña Colada added with a smile. “Woulda been easier if you hadn’t run off, though. What’s up with that? Trouble at home?”

Tornado Bolt bristled a second time at her insensitivity, but Peachy shrugged it off. “It’s fine,” she said, hearing her own voice become hollow. She wasn’t ready to face that side of the situation yet. “I just... panicked. I caught Spike at a meeting last night. I think he told Princess Twilight everything.”

“A meeting?” Tornado looked more alert. “When was this?”

“A little after midnight, I think. All the Elements were there. I don’t know who else was.”

“Oh.” The other three in the circle exchanged knowing looks. “That would explain what’s been going on,” Bolt offered.

“What?” Peachy looked around at them. “What do you mean?”

Archer answered. “We think the guards know.”

“Know what?” Peachy blinked and backtracked further. “What guards?”

“A whole bunch of guards turned up in Ponyville this morning,” Piña Colada explained. “Some of them were helping with the cleanup, but we could tell that others were looking for something. A couple of them started watching us on our way to the arcade; we had to pretend to be playing for a while before they were far enough away that we could jump here without being seen.”

“And ending a really good starting run,” Archer muttered under her breath.

“But I don’t think they know it’s us,” Tornado Bolt continued. “This morning I saw a couple of them watching Sweet Wheat the same way, so I guess Spike didn’t rat us out specifically. But if whoever’s in charge really wants to know, it’s only a matter of time until they figure out that they can ask Cheerilee which of us went to Seaddle, and then...” She looked at the floor, grinding her teeth.

Peachy Pie felt herself shrink towards the floor. “What are they gonna do to us?” she asked.

“I don’t think they can do anything to us,” Archer answered. “If Cicada’s right, then there’s no way they can keep us from fighting, even with the Elements. But they might try to put us in a lab somewhere so they can figure out how the robot works. And if nothing else...” She gulped. “They’ll probably tell our parents.”

Three of the fillies in the group shuddered, while the fourth didn’t react at all. “Don’t worry about your parents,” Piña Colada said calmly, reaching over and patting Peachy Pie’s hoof reassuringly. “Even if they find out, they’re not gonna do anything to you. If I have to, I’ll make sure they don’t do anything to you, okay? Besides, nothing they say is going to matter so long as you fight.” Her eyes lit up strangely. “You’re gonna fight, right?”

Peachy Pie stared back blankly. Archer sharply inhaled, and Tornado Bolt jolted upright. “Don’t say things like that!” she growled.

Piña Colada rolled her eyes. “Why not? It’s why we’re here, right?” She looked back to Peachy Pie. “Look, I know this is all going to be hard for you, but I’m just saying, we can’t have you getting scared and running away when your time’s actually up. The whole world’s kinda depending on it. So you’re going to fight, aren’t you?”

Peachy shrank under her gaze. “Well...”

“Aren’t you?” she pressed.

Peachy felt her mind drift away; she willed her body to sink into the floor. “Um...”

Piña Colada’s voice became threatening. “Aren’t you?”

“Shut up!” Tornado shouted. She stood up, punctuating every word with a stomp. “Just. Shut. Up! Don’t you get it? If she fights, she’ll die!”

A soft gasp from Peachy Pie silenced her, and she immediately paled and sat back down. The elephant in the room, now let loose, loomed over them and threatened to crush them all. Piña Colada, however, remained oblivious to it. “And if she doesn’t fight, we’ll all die,” she countered. “Are you saying I shouldn’t make sure the pony who’s supposed to save us all gets her butt in gear?”

“Easy for you to say,” Archer rumbled. “You’re not the one who’s giving her life.”

Piña Colada whirled on her. “Hey, my life is on the line just like everyone else’s,” she hissed. “And since no one else is around right now to supervise, it’s my responsibility to make sure you all stay in line. I’m trying to save the world just as much as you are. Right, Peachy?” Her innocent smile returned. “You get why we’re doing this, right?”

Tornado scraped at the ground. “This isn’t about-”

“Quiet.” Peachy Pie finally spoke again. Still low to the ground, her lower lip trembling, she looked around at the others in the group. “Is that what this is about?” she asked. “Are you only here because you need me to die for you?”

There was a painful pause. “Well, no-” Tornado started, but her throat closed up as her doomed friend looked at her. She fought back an unknowable fear and tried again. “Look, that’s... that’s part of it,” she tried. “But it’s not why we’re here. We’re your friends, Peachy. We just want you to be okay.”

“Okay?” She half laughed, choking on the dry air. “How can I be okay? I’m going to die!”

The other two flinched. “We mean... as close to okay as we can make it,” Archer offered. “We know how scared you are. We feel it too, just further away, so we know this isn’t going to make things better. But if there’s anything we can do, even a small thing... we’ve gotta try, right? We just...” She momentarily looked Peachy Pie in the eyes, then returned to staring at the ground. “We just want you to be okay.”

Peachy sat back. The picture was starting to become clear to her. “You mean for me to be okay with dying.”

“No!” Tornado blurted, then reconsidered. “Well... yeah, but...”

“So that’s what this is about.” Peachy Pie scooted a little ways back from them. “This isn’t about friendship. You just want me to die so you can save yourselves.”

“No! Come on, Peachy, you know that’s not it.” Tornado reached out to her. “We’re going to die too, remember?”

“Yeah, after me!” Peachy Pie snapped. Fresh tears welled up in her eyes, hotter and darker than the last. “Diamond Tiara was right about you two, wasn’t she?” she continued in a cold voice. “You do only hang out with me because I’m rich.”

Her friends paled. They looked at one another, then at Peachy Pie, then at the ground. At the same time, they spoke.

“Ever since my dad-”

“Gaming is really expensive-”

They both stopped. Peachy Pie’s accusing fury bored into them both. “Okay, maybe it started out that way,” Archer said frantically. “But things have changed! Once we got to know you, we changed. You’re not just a walking purse to us any more.”

“No,” Peachy countered. “I think I’m more that now than I ever was.” She turned away and clumsily stood up. Even wearing roller skates, she still managed to stomp as she made her way back to her bench, leaving the others speechlessly behind. “I’m going to fight,” she said as she clambered up. “Don’t worry about that. But I’m not going to do it for you.”

“I believe in you, Peachy,” Piña Colada said in the seconds before she vanished. She sounded smug. “Just remember, like it or not, everyone needs you now.”

---

Getting home was surprisingly easy. No one was in the park when Peachy Pie reappeared, and the streets were relatively empty as she skated back home on three legs. Only once did she see a pair of gold-plated guards marching through the streets, but their backs were to her and they didn’t turn her way as she zipped by. In practically no time at all she was sliding to a halt down a once-familiar street, up to a house that she once thought she’d never leave.

There was no point hesitating; no time to waste. As quietly as possible, she opened the door and slipped inside. She could hear voices coming from the direction of the kitchen, too quiet to make out. Grimacing, she kicked off her skates and slunk upstairs, making doubly sure to avoid the creaking patches on the floor before darting into the bathroom.

The shower had never felt warmer. Peachy sat on the floor of the tub and turned her face upwards, letting the water run over her and wash away some of the debris from last night. She stayed that way for as long as she dared, letting the water do the work, feeling her muscles finally relax as tension, if not stress, was ever so gently massaged out of them.

She tried to use what time she had to think. She couldn’t. What was there to think about? Her mind bounced off the concept the same way the Wonderbolts had bounced off the object itself; the whole thing was too big for a pony her size to understand. So she thought about nothing except for warmth, and aching, and a growing, resentful hunger.

After a while, she decided that she couldn’t risk the position any longer and started to move. The last thing she wanted was for Cicada to summon her while she was in the shower; it would be way too embarrassing to have to save the world while soaking wet. Moving efficiently, she plucked the last of the splinters from her mane and tail and washed the cut behind her ear. Ever so gently, she rubbed a little life back into her swollen knee, which had stopped hurting as much but still refused to bend properly. Once she was satisfied that no more could be done, she stopped the water and toweled herself off before creeping back out to the hall.

No sooner had her hooves touched the wooden floor than somepony her size grabbed her by the mane and yanked her off to the side. She put up no resistance as her sister dragged her into their bedroom and pushed the door shut behind them. She did, however, flinch away when Sunny Days pushed her roughly onto the rug in the middle of the room and she saw the anger on her sibling’s face. “Peachy, what did you do?” Sunny hissed, trying not to yell.

Peachy Pie blinked back. “What?”

“There are Royal Guards in the kitchen!” Sunny continued, jabbing her hoof towards the door. “They were waiting for you to come back! Mom is making them coffee!” She bit her lip as her voice rose on the last word, swiveling her ears nervously. “They won’t even tell us why. They just said it’s ‘classified’. What did you do that your own family doesn’t get to know about it?”

Faint voices from downstairs echoed as the pair stared at each other. Slowly, audibly, Peachy Pie gulped. “Sunny?” she asked. For all her worrying about this moment, now that the time was finally upon her, she felt like her body was moving all on its own. “Do you remember that one time in front of the park?”

Sunny took a step back. “Now?” she asked, both angry and despairing. “You’re doing this now?”

“I know.” They were both already paling at the memory. She didn’t have to explain; her sister knew as well as she did what it meant for her to bring the subject up. “Sunny, I promise, I Pinkie Pie promise, as soon as I can I’ll tell you everything about what’s happened and what those guards want. But right now, for me, can we please talk about this?”

There were a few more moments of hesitation for them both before Sunny turned slightly and scowled in the direction of the wall. She ran a hoof through her mane, brushing a lengthy scar hidden beneath glimmering hair. “I remember,” she said. “I wish I didn’t.”

Peachy nodded. “It was my fault.”

“Don’t be stupid. It was both our faults. We never should have tried the jump rope thing.”

“No.” Peachy shook her head, fumbling for words. She couldn’t explain how important it was that she got this right. “I mean... it wasn’t your fault.”

Sunny glanced back at her. “What are you...” One detail, which had been nagging at the corner of her mind for the past minute, finally caught her attention. Her eyes widened. “Your... your cutie mark!”

“I’ll explain later,” Peachy answered without looking back. “I just want you to remember that it wasn’t your fault. It wasn’t anypony’s fault. It was just a bad thing that happened.” Her gaze faltered and she looked at the rug. “And I want Mom and Dad to remember that, too.”

“What?” This was enough to drag her sister’s gaze away from her flank and back to her face. “Is that what this is about?”

“Well, no. And... kinda.” Peachy shuffled. “I just hate what they did to you. We used to be together all the time, until they said you couldn’t go out any more. I had to make new friends and come up with new games, and all I’ve ever wanted since then was just for us to go out skating together again. I felt like I lost you, all because of something that was an accident. And when I’m...” She couldn’t say it. “After this happens, I don’t want them to keep you locked up here forever. I can’t stop what’s coming, but if I can do one thing before I have to go, I just want to know that you’re not going to let them push you around any more. The last thing I want is for you to lose something we shared just because you’re their favorite.”

Sunny stared at her for a while. Peachy barely moved, uncertain of what to expect; she was hoping for a hug at best. What she definitely hadn’t expected was for her sister’s eyes to narrow and her lips to curl into a look of disdain. “Seriously?” Sunny asked. “You think I’m their favorite?”

Peachy blinked. She spoke in a small voice. “Wh... why else would they...”

“They didn’t do anything. Mom and Dad never said I couldn’t go out, okay? I made that up. I... I didn’t want you to be mad at me. But you think I’m their favorite?” Sunny pressed. “They’re always trying to make me more like you! Every time you leave the house, it’s ‘Remember when you used to skate?’ this and ‘There’s more to life than sitting around’ that. And every time you come home scratched up, Mom’s always nudging me and saying ‘See? She’s a big girl, she doesn’t mind a few scratches.’ It’s been driving me crazy!”

Peachy Pie felt like the rug had been pulled out from under her, and also that her insides were being strangled by it. “But... why?” she forced out, suddenly sounding half her age. “Why didn’t you want to go skating with me any more?”

“Because I was scared!” Sunny shouted. Seeing the pain on her sister’s face, she took a deep breath and dialed back her volume a little. “I do want to go skating with you,” she explained. “I really want that. But I almost died, Peachy. I could have died. And then I wouldn’t have been able to skate or do anything ever again. Do you even understand what that means?” Despite her efforts, she started to raise her voice again. “It took me weeks before I could even look at skates without getting shaky, and you kept dancing around and bugging me like nothing had happened! Like you didn’t even care that I could have died! So I told you that Mom and Dad said I couldn’t, just to get you off my back for a while.”

She was almost crying, but she didn’t let herself. Not in the middle of her rant. “But what would you know about it? Everypony loves that you don’t care about getting hurt. Nopony’s even noticed that I’ve been practicing acting on my own, or that all my test scores have been better than yours for the past four months. No, all you have to do is go out and throw yourself down a hill somewhere, and suddenly it’s yay, Peachy for princess! Don’t you get it?” She closed the distance between them, towering over her sister. “Every time you went out, I got scared that you were never coming back. I thought I was the only one in the whole world who cared that you might die. And this is the thanks I get?” She reared up and shoved Peachy Pie, accidentally knocking her to the floor. “Why can’t you just be more responsible!?”

She paused for a moment, taking more deep breaths. Now it was her turn to be surprised by her sister’s reaction. She’d been expecting a couple rounds of sisterly insults, or at least for Peachy to burst into tears. But instead, the younger filly lay limply where she’d fallen, staring at nothing. A sense of deep, primal wrongness gripped Sunny, and her rage drained out of her. “Peachy? I...”

“Sis?” Peachy answered. “If you could change things around... if you could make it so that it was me who hit my head on that bench, and not you... would you do it?”

There was a pause for thought, but not a very long one. “No,” Sunny answered, shaking her head. “I wouldn’t do that to you.”

“Thanks.” Peachy Pie smiled. Stiffly, wincing as she put weight on her swollen leg, she pulled herself to her hooves and then threw herself onto Sunny in a tight embrace. “I love you, sis,” she murmured into her mane.

“Uh... you too,” Sunny answered, slightly taken aback. She first patted Peachy on the back, then gave in and hugged her as well. “You promised you’d explain what’s going on, right?”

“I will. When it’s over. I promise.” With a last nuzzle, Peachy Pie let go of her sister and started limping towards the door.

“What are you doing?” Sunny asked her, almost dragging her back again.

She didn’t look back. “Being responsible.”

The two guards were still in the kitchen when Peachy made it there, sitting politely while her mother did very nearly all the work of making conversation. They immediately stood up as she poked her head into the room. “Miss Pie?” one of them asked.

“That’s me,” Peachy answered, feigning ignorance. “Were you looking for me?”

“We were,” the other answered. “We have already informed your parents that you are not in any trouble. There is simply somepony of importance who wishes to meet with you.”

“Okay.”

The guards walked calmly towards her, while her mother shrank in her seat with every step. She looked like she hadn’t brushed her mane that morning, an event which Peachy was fairly sure had never happened even during Discord’s temporary reign over Ponyville, and her voice had an all-new tremor in it when she spoke. “Peachy?” she asked. “What’s happened? Where have you been?”

Instead of answering, Peachy Pie flashed her a brisk and innocent smile. “Have you heard Sunny’s acting lately?” she asked. “You should ask her about it. She’s getting really good at monologues.” Then she turned away and let the guards escort her outside.

There was a chariot waiting, albeit quite some distance down the road; the ponies on this street had some very strict rules about unattended vehicles being left around, and Peachy had always suspected that her neighbors would raise a stink even if Princess Celestia herself tried to park outside. The three of them set off towards it, the guards adjusting to her slower, three-legged pace without comment. Although she could feel a couple sets of eyes on her from nearby, Peachy kept her head high and walked proudly.

Responsible.

I’m going to be responsible.

This thought swirled experimentally in her head, but was slowed down by the sound of many sets of hoofsteps. She at first tried to ignore them, but finally stopped when a familiar voice cried out desperately towards her. “Peachy, wait!”

She turned. The guards turned as well, one drawing tightly up to her side, the other leaping in front and throwing his wings open defensively. The wings hesitated and dropped, however, once the pair saw exactly what was coming their way. Peachy Pie’s eyes widened at the sight. A group of foals was galloping down the street towards them amidst what looked like a rolling cloud of streamers and glitter. Twist and Sweetie Belle wore party hats; most of the others were carrying balloons. Apple Bloom rumbled through the middle, pulling a cart holding a flat chocolate cake behind her. Archer and Tornado Bolt broke ahead at the front. Tornado had been the one who’d yelled, while Archer focused on balancing a poorly-wrapped present on her back as she charged ahead.

This peculiar sight lasted only a second or two. Then, in front of the guards’ startled eyes, every last one of the foals vanished, leaving only a few trailing streamers and a cart full of cake rolling down the middle of the road.

Comments

[Aquaman]

I was going to complain about this not being the next fight, but in retrospect I suppose a) I knew it wouldn't be beforehand, and b) it was probably better that this was here anyway.

I think I've more or less come to terms with my own grim fascination with children facing their own mortality, so with that out of the way, it's great to see that whole raw deal finally starting to really sink in among the story's remaining cast. This chapter gave a lot more clarity to Peachy's situation, particularly in the sense that she's a victim both by circumstance and a little bit by her own design. That's a phenomenal amount of depth for such a short-lived character, and I'm still eagerly waiting to see what you do with the rest of the dwindling cast.

Also waiting for a good point to start my Battle Royale thing, which is pretty much all set up now save for a few procedural things and a bit of fuel for the hype train. In case you're at all interested.

[Nonagon]

3562713 I think someday I need to write a story where Sunny Days and Peachy Pie go on a happy little adventure where they don't fight and nothing bad happens to them, just to make up for the massive amounts of shit I tend to put them through in my crossovers. If I can even keep both of them alive by the end it'll be a step up.

As an aside, while my schedule doesn't often allow me to offer my services these days, if you happen to be in the market for an editor/creative consultant who has experience in the writing and editing of foal mortality stories, I am so there.

[Wolloh Esrever]

Bokurano crossover? Where have you been? Why I haven't find this before?

[Mares Guyver]

"But I don’t think they know it’s us,” Tornado Bolt continued. “This morning I saw a couple of them watching Sweet Wheat the same way, so I guess Spike didn’t rat us out specifically."

Sweet Wheat? Now where have I heard that name before . . .?

Seriously though, this is yet another great chapter Nonagon. Your grasp on how children would react to being in these kinds of circumstances is phenomenal. The fact that their reactions are so varied just shows how well they've been characterized as unique, individual foals, with their own dreams, desires, and aspirations that are slowly being ground to dust by the situation in which they've unwittingly placed themselves. I particularly liked the interaction between Peachy Pie and Sunny Days--their dialogue felt very natural and subtly conveyed the range of emotions felt by both parties without having to spell them out to the audience.

3562768
Yes, yes you do.

[Flea Candy]

I have so much hope for this as a Bokurano crossover.

[BlankSpaceUsername]

I just read all of the chapters for this today. I'm pretty much in love at this point in the story. I'm enjoying how you neither gloss over nor drag out description in this story, and the raw emotion of the children facing their predicament seems to be being handled pretty well. Can't wait for the next chapter!

[PaladinOfChaos]

Another great chapter!

[scytho]

A little late to the party here.

This was a great chapter. I especially loved the dream at the beginning. Beautifully done.

[ponybrony]

Peachy Pie dreamed of bees.

Throwing this out there, I think the next fight is going to be a bee or a wasp.

[ponybrony]

3562713

I am very intersted in this battle royale thing, so please tell me when it comes up(if it hasn't already)

[Braininthejar]

So... a vague exposition dream: It is obvious that the invaders have built all the machines and invented the game for whatever reason - which means Equus killing its pilots is a deliberate design feature, meant to test if a civilisation is tough enough to be worth sparing. Also, there is much more where this came from, too much to win against by any conventional means.

Speaking of conventional means: where is Discord? Wasn't he reformed specifically to handle all the threats that would make him the lesser evil? Even if he can't damage the robots, there is nothing like controlled cartoon physics when it comes to reducing random casualties.

I don't really need to tell you how awesome your characterisation is. (and yea, these two deserve a break sometime in the future. Perhaps in the next project?)