Discord's Game

by Background_Pony

[2] Rainbows and Quills and escapee thrills

When you're standing on the side of a hill
Feeling like your day may be done
Here it comes
The strawberry smog
Chasing away the sun
Don't let those precious moments fool you
Happiness is getting you down
A rainbow never smiles or blinks
It's just a candy-colored frown

After poking and prodding and the jabbing of armor two sizes too big, Quill and Rainbow Dash were shoved into a colosseum with sand in the middle. Ponies were packed in the stands above the ring, uneasy murmurs rippling across the stadium. Why were they here? Guards perched high above surveyed the crowd, making sure nopony tried to escape or wreak havoc. That was Discord's job.

Quill nervously paced around in the small areas she were trapped in, hooves clopping loudly against the stone floor. Rainbow Dash tried to search for a place to fly away, but stone walls on three sides and a metal gate in front of her forced her to stay down. A cast-iron gate blocked either exits, dashing each pony's hopes of escape.

"Hellooo Equestria," an amused voice snarled over an intercom, "and welcome to the Discordian fighting arena!"

The crowd gasped and several caterwauls roared from the stands. "Our first contestant is; from the dusty, dirty city of Ponyville, a smart alec with an atrocious pink mane, Quill the weatherpony!!"

The crowd remained silent. "Cheer or I'll release fleas into your bunks." Uproarious applause thundered from the crowd.

"And from the high-as-a-kite city of Cloudsdale, a gaunt, over-muscled lesbian freak named Rainbow Dash!!" The crowd laughed uneasy chuckles, only doing so to avoid vermin in their cots.

"Wings up, weapons ready!" Discord thundered over the loundspeaker. The two ponies' wings unfurled but they refused to draw their weapons. "FIGHT!!!"

The gates dropped with a brash clank and the two ponies raced at eachother. Quill flapped her wings three times then dropped them to her sides, not pulling them in and leaving them dangling like dead weight. It was a universal pegasus sign that meant 'I mean no harm' or 'Cease fire'. Pegasi in the stands whispered to eachother, while unicorns and earth ponies scratched their heads. Pegasi guards gritted their teeth, but stayed silent as the two opponents charged at each other.

Rainbow Dash and Quill circled eachother, snarling like they were sizing up eachother and searching for a weak spot.

"You know we aren't actually going to fight or kill, correct?" Quill hissed, keeping up her facade. Rainbow glared and flicked her tail angrily.

"Yeah. How about I just slash at you a few times with my sword, make a couple of nicks, pretend to slam into you from above as a killing blow? You act all dead and the fight should be over," Rainbow murmured, stomping her hooves and blowing smoke out of her nostrils, acting like she was about to strike.

"Deal." Quill released a mighty shriek and swung her bow and arrow towards Dash, putting and arrow in the hilt and releasing it, aiming just beside Rainbow's ear. It made a miniscule cut, almost too small to be seen.

The cerulean pegasus shouted and kicked the sand beneath her hooves towards Quill, pretending to slash at the weatherpony's neck.

Quill growled animalistically and shot into the air, armor clanking as she prepared to slam into the ground. She let out a valiant cackle as she slapped her hooves against the sand, sending up an explosion of dust. Her armor rattled and hissed as two edges ground together, squealing and shrieking.

Rainbow did the same, but she flew higher and tilted downwars, jetting into a nose dive directed at her opponent. "Hit the deck," she hissed just before she came in impact with Quill.

The pink-maned pegasus dropped to her stomach and pretended to get all of her breath knocked out as Rainbow squashed her beneath her hooves, acting like she was being stomped into the dirt when she was actually just burying her face in the sand.

Quill held her breath for as long as she could, only inhaling when she really needed to.

"Victor from Team Crash! Congratulations on winning," Discord shouted over the intercom as guards came in and dragged a limp Quill outside of the stadium and into the castle courtyard, a pile of dirt kicked over her in a pathetic grave. She beamed internally as she realized that they hadn't bothered to confiscate her armor or weapons.

"Poor team Charge. They tried. Anypony else want to try?" The draconaquus laughed snarkily over the intercom.

Back in the arena, Rainbow began to fake choking and wheezing, falling dramatically into the sand with a soft thump. Everypony in the stands gasped, truly believing that the winner had died.

The guards, just now getting back from dragging Quill outside, rolled their eyes and slung the blue pegasus over their backs. She was dropped next to her opponent, who winked at her as she ot dirt kicked over side.

"What a shame, what a shame," Discord sighed over the loud speaker, drumming his talons against the desk in front of him. Shouts and crashes tore from the stands as two other ponies were yanked into the ring. Weapons were shoved into their hooves and armor was slammed against their backs as they fell out of the crowd and onto the sandy ground.

"That's more like it! No bucking idea who these ponies are, but let's say the pink and black on is on team Charge and the grayish mauve one is on team Crash!"

Echo, the pink and black pegasus, stumbled to her hooves and drew her weapon, a long sword with a gleaming hilt. She fumbled with it for a moment but soon got a firm grip on it. Dhe raced towards her opponent, Dust Devil, with a wild glare on her face. She swung the sword at the gray pegasus and winced as a large gash stretched across the pegasus' shoulder. Blood seeped out slowly, dripping onto the sand with small splashes.

Dust gasped and gripped her shoulder, headbutting her opponent aside. Dust raised her bow and coughed as an arrow flew from the weapon. It planted itself into Echo's shoulder, which was responded with a prompt stab from the sword.

Dust Devil's strength melted out of her as she crumpled to the ground, breath stopping quickly as Echo yanked off her armor and gingerly tried to pull the arrow out of her arm. Tears spilled from her eyes as it popped out, blood trickling from the wound.

"Buck you guys!!" Echo shrieked, racing off on aching wings. Three hefty guards tackled her midair, forcing her to the ground. A pegasus pony with a soft yellow coat and a long, pink mane rushed out with medical supplies. The pegasus cooed to the fuschia pony infront of her, comforting her as she dabbed cautiously at the cut. Echo winced as her arm was wrapped up and she was helped to her hooves.

"A victory for team Charge! How surprising," Discord chuckled over the intercom. "I think that's enough fighting for today. There's a meal in everypony's bunks, merry freakin' hearth's warming. Anypony who sings will promptly get their tongue pulled out."

The crowd let out a sigh as the groups filed out of the stadium, tired and frightened from the fight.

Back outside the arena, two pegasi glanced around themselves nervously.

"Nice thinking, buuuut...." Rainbow Dash grumbled, sliding her sword back in its sheath, "what do we do now?"

"I have a house back in Ponyville with everything we need- or at least until you can get back to your cloud house. Who knows where it is right now." Quill brushed dirt off of her armor, pulling off her helmet and tucking it beneath her arm.

"Sounds good." Rainbow took to the skies, surveying their surroundings. Quill trotted along, soon jetting into the air alongside Dash.

"If we were in Canterlot a few seconds ago," Quill shouted over the roar of the wind currents tearing around them, "we should be just above Ghastly Gorge, which is about two miles from Ponville. If we fly straight for about a minute them go straight down, we should be directly above my house!"

"How'd you figure that out?" Rainbow Dash yelled as she flew above a stray cloud, quirking an eyebrow.

Quill shrugged and sighed as a gust of wind blew her back a little. "Weatherpony instincts."

The two mares arched downwards and raced towards a small cottage near the edge of the Everfree forest.

When they landed, Quill tentatively pushed open the door, finding its handle had been torn off along with a large chunk of the wall. Inside, groggy sunlight poured in through the windows, making shadows dance along the room. Two hulking figures stood there, fangs dripping with murky saliva. A choking stench drifted towards the duo, knocking them back with its potency. Before the pegasi stood two snarling creatures, eyes gleaming like diamonds and claws sharp as knives.

"TIMBERWOLVES!!!" Rainbow and Quill shouted in unison, immediately drawing their weapons and stepping back.

Echo, having just defeated her opponent, stood gasping ragged heaves in the middle of the stadium with her hooves slick with blood. Her arm ached and her heart throbbed, thumping faster than a hummingbird's.

She didn't hear or feel or see anything. Blackness fogged her vision, screams and shouts clogged her ears, and relentless pain stabbed her hooves. The sting of antiseptic yanked her out of her chaotic lethargy, snapping her back to reality. Echo fell to her knees, panting all the while. Had her friend really just die, and had her opponent seriously die directly after her? All her senses acted at once.

In a burst of flurried rage, she pushed aside the pony who was tending to her and shot up into the sky. Echo was desperate to get out of here, but six hooves forcing her downwards and twisting her wings said otherwise. Hot, angry tears ran down her face, leaving small clear trails in the dust that caked her's.

The nurse was saying something to her, but she bit her lip and refused to respond. The light yellow pegasus helped her up and gently pushed her towards the door where Quill used to be.

One final thought raced through her mind as she was lead down the stairs and into her bunk, watching apathetically as the door closed and locked with a curt 'clank'.

Had she really just killed somepony?

Author's Note:

Alright, I apologize for the Scissor Sister references, but I have a sweet tooth for their songs. This is seriously the only time that fighting is promised and their isn't actually any fighting the first time around. Incase you haven't picked up on it yet, Quill is actually my ponysona, the 'pink and black one on team charge' is my friend's ponysona Echo. The 'grayish mauve one on team crash' is Dust Devil. Also, do think I should change this to a mature warning? I don't think I do, since it's not gonna be more than 'Pony one cut pony two and blood spilled out. Pony two, in response, punched Pony one and laughed as a red mark shaped like a hoof glowed on Pony one's face.' But I wanna know what you guys think.

Comments

[StormOfTheNight]

Don't need to apologize for the scissor sister's reference, and I don't think you need to if you just keep it to the small detail then teen's fine ^-^ Keep it up! Loving it so far!

[Vehemence]

Just keep the teen rating. A little bit of gore is ok for teen, so I wouldn't worry about it. My story contains graphic scenes of severing of limbs and the contorting and mangling of pony anatomy, but I still keep it teen.