Equine Royale

by MemoryLane

On The Edge

Berry Punch was now wandering the lush jungle alone, confused and alcohol deprived. This couldn't be happening, she didn't want to believe it, but she knew it was. She could hear some mare screaming a while away, along with some Stallions hollering. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what just went down.

Berry Punch adjusted her bag, she was somewhat glad with what she had acquired, the usual food, water, and sleeping bag, and a fairly sharp ice pick. She gripped it in her hooves as she walked, just in case. There's no telling what's in this Jungle. But she felt so foolish holding it. There was no doubt someone got a better weapon than her. Probably one with a longer range. She found herself frantically turning her head from left to right, looking for other ponies.

She felt as if she could almost see the future. She would be walking and out of the blue a knife would fly through the air and strike her in her forehead. Or she would be attacked and stabbed.

She felt as if death was right around the corner, and it only increased her paranoia.

"Come on...Berry..." It was weird saying her own name, especially which sober. She hasn't went this long without taking a sip of her wine in a long time. Maybe she could make her own, this place has to have some sort of berries here....

She would drink anything right now.

"Dammit...this is exactly why I'm here." She told herself, which was true. Her many Public Intoxication charges would agree. The things she does when she's drunk. It's almost as if she has two personalities: One that's the actual her, and one that's just who's just a self-destructive alcoholic. She almost missed her old self.

Ugh, her schedule was also the same every day! Wake up, have a drink, go out, have a drink, come home, have a drink. Repeat. She can't even keep a simple job for more than a week. She's losing money fast, and things were only getting worse for her.

Maybe...this is good for her. Maybe she just needs to die. It'll make her life, and everyone else's easier. Who would care, anyways? Maybe she should just kill herself here, or just give up and let someone stick a sword into her heart.

Berry Punch walked on in a seemingly endless depression. She looked at the sun, and given it's place in the sky, it looked to be around 6:30 AM, she sighed sadly.

She felt like death. She wanted to take the ice pick and shove it into her chest, even though she knew she couldn't do that. She knew it wouldn't kill her if she tried. She'd have to experience so much pain, in that case. She wanted someone else to do it, if it came to it. And she wanted it to be quick and painless.

She came to a grass clearing. She took in the sights as she noticed a roundly 200 foot tall cliff was in front of her, she didn't get close, her acrophobia prevented her from doing such thing.

But it would be painless...

No! Anyway but that.

She took a look around, and saw a slightly muscular brown pony with a short, tan mane looking over the edge. In his hoof were a pair of scissors.

Meadow Song stared down below at the sharp and jagged rocks and then at his scissors.

"There's no way..." Tears formed in his eyes. "I can't win this...It's pointless...." He muttered. He kicked a nearby rock off the cliff and down to the water below, creating a soft splash. The waves that hit the cliffside were monstrous, and would probably kill him within moments of impacting the water. He took his bag off his shoulder and tossed it over the edge, and almost exploded seconds later as it make contact with a large boulder.

"It's over."

"Hello?" Called out Berry Punch to the stallion. He was so frightened by the sudden voice that he almost fell over the edge. He held up his scissors at her, dumbly.

"Don't come any closer!" He shouted. He realized how stupid he must seem as he remembered that he was only holding scissors. "I may only have scissors but I will kill you!" Berry could see the scissors trembling in his hooves. Berry raised her ice pick at him, not taking any chances.

"No you won't!"

"Haha!" Meadow Song mocked. "An Ice Pick? Good luck killing me with that!" He laughed nervously. Both ponies were feeling fear of the other under their disguises.

"I don't plan on killing you!" Berry yelled, keeping her pick raised.

"I don't believe you!" Meadow screamed, taking a few steps away from the cliffs edge. "You want to kill me! Everyone wants to kill me!" He seemed frantic and his eyes were trained on Berry Punch. He wasn't going to die by the hands of another pony.

"You were about to jump!" Berry argued. To her, this didn't make any sense.

"You don't know that!" Meadow stated.

"Yes I do! You just tossed your bag over the edge!"

"Don't come near me!" Meadow was beginning to profusely sweat.

Berry felt as if she was talking to a wall. This pony was obviously scared for his life(Much like her). She didn't know what to do to get him to calm down.

Meanwhile, a yellow pegasus pony was watching the whole thing unfold. She watched as both ponies screamed at each other. She couldn't handle it, she hated it when ponies fought! She was scared out of her wits, but she finally crept out of her hiding place.

"Stop!" She said in a loud whisper. Berry Punch noticed her and lowered her weapon. Meadow, on the other hand, was losing his mind. He alternated the scissors from Berry Punch, to the pink maned pony, back and forth.

"Both of you! Go away! Don't hurt me! I will kill you both!" He said manically. Fluttershy could tell that he was desperately hurt, and tried to comfort him.

"Please, calm down! Neither one of us are going to hurt you." Fluttershy said sweetly. Meadow was shaking immensely at the situation. They were both trying to get him! He was not going to be killed here! No!

Meadow took a half step back away from the two mares.

Fluttershy walked towards the hysterical stallion, his eyes widened. She kept smiling at him as she got closer, causing Meadow to hold up his scissors at solely her now.

"Stop! Don't make me kill you!" He meagerly threatened.

"I know you're scared...we all are." Fluttershy continued. Meadow figured out what she was trying to do, although he knew that the mare walking towards him was empty hooved. Berry Punch watched the situation in awe.

Meadow knew that this was some sort of trick! She's acting all innocent, but she's going to kill him! Right then and there! He wasn't falling for it!

"I WILL KILL YOU!" He shouted as Fluttershy was now but a few feet away from him now.

"Please Meadow...trust me." She said

"Trust? Trust!? Who can you trust anymore!? This is me vs everyone! Everyone wants to win! Everyone wants to kill me!" He screamed at her, in emotional pain.

"You can trust me." Fluttershy said, as she got too close to him.

"No!" Meadow said, but to his surprise, the yellow pegasus reached up and hugged him. Softly wrapping her arms around him. The impulse to stab her was immense, but he forced himself not to act on it as he regained a little bit of his sanity.

"You're going to be okay." Fluttershy whispered. Meadow was dumbstruck, and ultimately dropped his scissors and almost wobbled to the ground.

"I'm not going to hurt you! I'm sorry!" Meadow apologized, hugging the mare back. Berry watched, unsure of what to do at this point. But she did take the initiative to show Meadow that she was also not a threat.

"It's okay. We're all scared right now. I understand. " Said Fluttershy as she broke the hug.

"I am too." Berry said, finally speaking up. "Look, all we have to do is work together, and we can get through this!" She assured. Meadow Songs face softened. He actually had someone to turn to. He thought he was going to be alone forever.

They all walked away into the Jungle together, planning and talking about their previous lives, carrying their things on their backs, except for Meadow, who had thrown his over the cliff. They poked through the jungle and sat down together in a circle.

"So, how did you guys end up here?" Berry asked, pretty curious to see how Meadow and Fluttershy ended up with a criminal record.

Fluttershy timidly looked away, a blush on her face. "Uhm...I'd rather not talk about it." She seemed to be going back to her usual timid ways.

Meadow Song poked her. "Oh it can't be that bad." He assured, before looking directly at Berry Punch. "Thievery charges." He said. Berry Punch made a half audible "Ohh" noise.

"Thievery? What did you steal?" Berry Punch asked curiously. Meadow gave a prideful smile.

"Tried to steal a few books from the library."

Berry just looked at him.

"...What? I didn't have a library card."

Berry Punch only face hoofed, and Fluttershy laughed a little bit at her response.

"Yeah, well what about you?" Meadow asked, hoping her charges would be worse than his. Berry Punch looked away.

"Public Intoxication..."

"Oh."

"Yeah..." The moment became fairly awkward before Berry spoke up once again. "Fluttershy, you must have done something to get here."

She sighed as she apprehensively hide behind her pink mane. "I found a Ceberus egg in the forest a while back, so I took it home and raised it for a little while...uhm...and then it rampaged..."

Berry Punch and Meadow stared at her wide eyed. That was the worst offense either one of them had heard yet.

"Yeah, a few ponies died, and a lot of houses where destroyed, and I was blamed for it. But I don't blame the poor baby for getting mad. It was my fault. I didn't make it's favorite snack correctly..." She exclaimed.

"Wow..." Berry Punch replied. That was random...and unexpected. Meadow Song said nothing.

"Yeah...it was bad." Fluttershy added. It was odd, usually she was great with animals. Even though it didn't take long to calm the ceberus down(Herself, actually), it did all it's damage in about 15 minutes total.

"Well, I'm sorry to hear that..." Berry Punch replied. Fluttershy only nodded at her before hiding behind her mane once again.

"Hey Berry, just a random question...was that you screaming that day onto of Sugarcube Cor-" Meadow began, but was interrupted by a loud groan from Berry. She had hoped everyone forgot about that horrid day where she got so drunk she climbed to the top of a local bakery and began shouting obscenities, and worse: dancing. It was something she'd rather not remember.

"Ugh, yes..."

"I thought I saw you somewhere before..." Meadow added, Berry felt like dying in a hole.

"Look, that never happened. I don't care, it was a fricken optical illusion. Got it?" Berry asked, seriously. But a single look from Meadow made all three of them erupt into laughter.

"Look, before we go any farther, I just want to say that I believe that we're all going to get out of this together, and when we do, we'll all be best friends. I can tell." Fluttershy blushed, Meadow's eyes watered.

"I have a feeling that this is the beginning of something new." Meadow whispered, before looking at his new friends and giving them a happy smile. "I'm just glad I could spend this time with y-" Meadow Song was cut short as his head jarred forward, and his facial features went limp. He sat there, unmoving. Berry Punch and Fluttershy raised an eyebrow at him and looked at each other.

"Meadow?" Berry said, poking him. When he did, his head fell forward into the dirt, dead. A tomahawk jammed in the back of his skull. Blood was profusely leaking from the wound as Fluttershy and Berry Punch leapt back in surprise.

"Meadow!" Berry yelled. She didn't notice as a caramel colored earth pony appeared right behind her, but Fluttershy did.

"Run!" Fluttershy yelled, too scared to possibly move her body or run away. Berry Punch looked behind her in time to see the figure pick up another tomahawk and send it hurdling towards her face. She felt a slight stinging pain as another tomahawk became embedded into her forehead. She fell, lying right next to her new friend. Something snapped inside of Fluttershy's mind, and she finally made up the courage to run back, not knowing where to exactly, as her tears were blocking her vision.

The earth pony behind her laughed slightly at the entertainment of all this, and ripped the tomahawks out of Berry and Meadow's skulls, wiping their blood of his tomahawks with his tongue.

Fluttershy found herself back at the cliff, at a dead end. She forced herself to turn around, to see the stallion standing there, deadpanning. A few seconds on silence, before the stallion dropped his tomahawks and walked towards the mare.

"No!" She yelled, as she backed farther away from him. Fear filled her mind and her heart at the thought of being murdered like her new friends. She looked back to see that she was literally at the edge of the cliff, and that she was stuck. "Why?!" She said, crying. The looked in horror as the stallion said nothing, but kept moving towards her.

"Everyone's gotta die sometimes, hun." He muttered. Fluttershy tried to convince him otherwise.

"Please! It doesn't have to be this way!" She argued, her knees felt very weak. "Let's just talk this out?" Fluttershy asked him. Unfortunately, the stallion did not making his was towards her. "Please!"

"I'm sorry, but now's your time." He declared, he ran at the mare full speed in an attempt to buck her off the cliff, but at the last second, Fluttershy ducked and the stallion was send soaring over her. His screams echoed as he tumbled down the cliffside.

THUD

Fluttershy was trembling and remained crouched down for a moment. She was too stunned to move, but when she looked over the edge, she wished she didn't.

The stallion's body rested on one of the blood stained, sharp rocks. His body literally ripped open on impact, sending various body parts sprawling out over the rest of the rock, and into the water below. It was visible that most of his legs were broken, as his forelegs and left hind leg where twisted to a point that was physically impossible. Fluttershy flinched at the sight that she saw and stepped away from the cliff.

"No! No! I didn't...mean..." Tears formed in her eyes once again at the realization.

She was a murderer.

"I-I-I..!" She felt herself get light headed and collapsed onto the ground.

#23 Meadow Song, dead

#29 Berry Punch, dead

#12 Caramel, dead

25 to go

Comments

[koentju2]

Pony styled hunger games

I love it