The Equestria Games

The Equestria Games, by Prismatics. Chapter 6

"Wake up, darling." A disembodied voice calmly says.

The sleeping figure half-heartedly swats at the voice with her foreleg. "Mmph. 5 more minutes, Mom."

"I said wake up, and I'm not your Mom!" The voice gets louder, and closer.

Azure is suddenly picked up from her bed and shook awake. She opens her eyes to find herself in a magical aura, with a certain alabaster stylist glaring at her with red-rimmed and bloodshot eyes. "Now, you will wake up when I tell you to wake, up do you understand me, darling?!"

Azure is taken aback by the unicorns drastic change in personality. "Y-yes! Rarity, what's gotten into you? You're normally so nice!"

In response to the question another voice chimes in from the main room. "Lack of freshly made coffee."

Rarity swivels her head to glare out the door at the speaker. "Shut up, Twilight!" She returns her deadly gaze back to Azure. "And as for you, get dressed. We'll be going down to training in a half hour."

"Get dressed in what?" Azure asks. All of her drawers and closets were empty, and no outfit was in sight. A bundle of plastic landing on her back interrupts her thoughts.

"Get dressed in that." Rarity sighs. "Tacky, I know. But it's what they gave you." She mumbles something incoherently about 'bloody tasteless Gamemakers' before spinning around and repeating the same act on Snowy. Azure chuckles to herself hearing his reaction, as it was very similar to her own.

Grabbing the outfit, she heads into the bathroom and scans it over. It's nothing special or unique. Quite bland compared to her Parade outfit. It's a simple black and grey jumpsuit, with the District 12 logo drawn on the shoulders. She slips it on, remarking on how lightweight it is; she can hardly feel its presence. She turns to the mirror and begins admiring herself. Not bad. I think it looks nice.

"Hurry up and get out here! Your breakfast is getting cold!" Somepony calls out from the main room, annoyance evident in their voice. Azure reluctantly pulls herself away from the mirror, and exits her room.

Everypony else is already there, enjoying a hearty breakfast of oatmeal, orange juice, and toasted bread with a fruity spread Azure found disgusting. The group sits in silence as they enjoy their meal. After they finish, Twilight sets down her book willingly, eliciting small expressions of surprise from some of the older ponies, before being silenced by a glare from Twilight.

After confirming she has the attention of the two tributes, she continues on. "Ok, so in about 5 minutes you will be taken down to the training grounds. There will be several stations for various different skills you will need in the Games. I suggest you work on the survival skills first before moving on to the combat exercises. There will be instructors there to help you learn these things. But remember. The other tributes will be watching you, especially the careers. Do you know who the careers are?"

Snowy answers quickly. "They're from 1 and 2. And they form alliances to hunt down the other tributes."

Twilight nods. "Correct. But they will also 'hire' tributes from other districts, commonly 4, to join their alliance. They are ruthless. Their main weakness is that they're cocky and overconfident. They will sometimes make stupid decisions affected by their ego. But make no mistake. They are your biggest threat in the arena, second to only the arena itself."

"Next, these careers during training will most likely head to the deadliest weapons in the room and attempt to intimidate the field. Don't pay any attention to them. It's psychological warfare that they're using, and it works every year on most of the others." Worked on me, for sure. Twilight thinks somberly. She shakes that thought away, and glances at the clock. "Alright then. Time to go. You got your pins on?"

The two tributes nod. Twilight acknowledges the confirmation and gestures towards the elevator. "Oh, and Pinkie? Don't forget to- oh for the love of Celestia where did you go?"

"Right here silly!" A voice pops up from behind her.

Twilight jumps at the sudden voice, nearly falling on to the hyperactive pink mare behind her. "What the- dammit Pinkie. How many times have I told you to appear like a normal pony!"

Pinkie thinks for a few moments, before responding. "Counting this most recent one, 71."

Twilight seems shocked at the number. "Really? That many? Never- ugh, getting distracted. Into the elevator you two." She heads forward to press the button.

"Wait, Twilight, didn't you have something to tell me?"

"Oh yeah, don't forget to sign the sponsor on."

Snowy lets out a slight expression of surprise. "We have sponsors?"

She shakes her head. "Not sponsors, sponsor. There's only one. A rich pony by the name of Goldmine. Millions to his name. You two are lucky."

The elevator flies down the shaft and goes to a floor way down below the lobby. The doors open to reveal a massive open chamber, with weapons racks and training areas scattered around the room. It appears 12 is the last District to arrive, as all of the other tributes are gathered in the center of the room. A few look up at the newcomers, but most ignore them as the two join them all into the center.

A loud stomping sound can be heard nearby, as two ponies clad in dark black military suits step out into the center of the group. One has a spectrum of a mane, the hair the colours of the rainbow, dazzling underneath the lights of the training center. The other has a tied back blond mane, covered by a Stetson hat.

The rainbow-haired mare steps into the middle and begins speaking in a commanding tone. "Alllllright maggots. Welcome to training. My name is Rainbow Dash, and this here is my co-officer Applejack."

"Howdy."

"And we're going to help you learn valuable combat and survival skills so you can survive in the arena. Now, only one of you can win, and who that is depends on how well you pay attention for the next few days. If you listen well, you have a chance. If you slack off, you will die. Do you hear me?!"

A few mumbled yesses ripple through the gathered tributes. Dash makes a annoyed gesture. "Do you hear me?!" She shouts, causing the ponies nearest to her to jump back in fright.

The scattered  yesses become a massive collective "YES" after her outburst.

Dash passes her steely gaze over the group, before giving an approving nod. "Alright then. I'm gonna let AJ take over to explain the various stations for you all."

The orange mare steps forward and begins listing off various skill training areas in an accent that strangely bothers Azure. These trainers have apparently been living in the Capitol for years, yet Applejack speaks in an accent similar to the one they use in 10. And Rainbow sounds more like a Peacekeeper from 2.

Applejack finishes explaining the various stations, and releases them to go do as they please. Just as Twilight said they would, the ponies from 1, 2, and 4 immediately head over to the weapons areas, and begin demonstrating their brutal combat skills. The male from 2, the one with the gold goggles, throws a spear almost across the room and impales a dummy's head. Azure stops working on a snare to look up at them, just as the mare from 4 skewers a dummy's heart with an arrow from a fairly long distance away. A feeling of fear wells up in her stomach, and her heart rate increases drastically.

A familiar voice inside her mind draws her away from the deadly show of strength the careers are performing. Don't pay any attention to them. It's psychological warfare that they're using. She smiles as Twilight's words come back to her, and then finishes her snare with renewed vigour. After a quick test, she confirms it works, and moves on to the next station, the camouflage painting area. It doesn't appear to be used at all, signaling to Azure that she is the first one to use this station.

She messes around with the various dyes and natural colourings for a short while before deciding to move on yet again. The next station, the climbing section, is already manned by the pair from 5. The stallion, a pegasus with a flaming hoof as a cutie mark and scorch marks along his coat, is struggling to climb up the rope while his partner, an orange unicorn watches in slight amusement.

Suddenly, he loses his grip and falls to hard floor with a sickening thud. The other mare is quick to begin laughing, and the infectious nature causes Azure to find herself chuckling at his fall soon enough.

The stallion slowly picks himself up, groaning audibly, and upon seeing Azure laughing at his fall, allows his pain and embarrassment to transform into anger. He shoots her a piercing glare, and growls. "The fuck are you laughing at, weakling?" He smiles wolfishly. "Come on, don't be shy, you little-"

His insult is cut off as an orange hoof is shoved in front of his mouth. "Cool it Nova, she did nothing wrong." The unicorn pats him on the head, ignoring the deadly glare that she receives. She grins amusedly, forcing him to drop the stare and walk away. Both watch him go for a few moments, before he drops out of sight.

The unicorn turns to Azure, sporting the same grin as before, and extends a hoof outwards. "Hiya, my name's Electra Static, what's yours?"

"I'm Azure." She returns the hoofshake, noting Electra's firm, yet slightly weak, grip. You can learn a lot about a pony just by their grip, her Grandpa had once said. "So, who's your buddy?" She asks, nodding in the direction of the green pegasus.

She appears distracted for a moment before replying. "Huh? Oh, no, he isn't my buddy. He's just a temperamental brawler who probably won't make it out of the cornucopia alive." Azure manages to catch a hint of a blush as she says the sentence, but pays it no heed.

Electra suddenly seems eager to get away from her, for a reason unclear to Azure. "Heh heh, well, I really must be going now, those dummies aren't going to spear themselves, am I right?" She then zips off to another station, startling some ponies in her way.

"Ok then..." She shakes her head free of confusion, and decides to visit one of the weapons stations. She tries to find on not currently used by the careers. Her eyes land on a table with a selection of knives, with several thoroughly punctured targets at the edge of the room with varying distances.

She selects a dagger, and mid-sized blade with a broad hilt and a serrated tip. Getting a feel for it's weight and balance, she sights a target 15 metres away. Holding the knife by it's blade, she flicks her wrist and sends the dagger flying towards the bullseye.

And misses spectacularly.

Frowning, she picks up another dagger and throws it. Another miss. And then another miss. Sighing in frustration, she tries a different tactic. She imagines the the target in her mind, then thinks about the knife smoothly cutting through the air and embedding dead center on the bullseye. She repeats this, this time using her own foreleg to throw the knife. The blade whistles across the room, streaking towards the set of targets.

And misses yet again.

Azure throws her forelegs up in anger. "Whatever, I give up." She then notices the pony standing slightly behind her, watching intently. "Can I help you?" Azure snaps.

The mare looks up at her, smiles, then shakes her head. Then, reaching over to grab a knife, she points at the farthest target from where they're standing. "Watch this." She says, throwing the blade across the room, where it impales the bullseye. Azure stares, mouth agape at the quivering dagger. She turns to the mare, who has a triumphant grin on her face.

"How did you do that?"

"Practice. Lots and lots of practice."

Azure gives her a confused look. "Practice? Where can you practice in..." She glances at the number written on the mares shoulder. "Eight. Isn't that the textiles district?"

She nods. "Yeah. But I manage to capture animals that come inside the fence on occasion. Anyways, I didn't catch your name yet."

"Azure."

"Nice name. I'm Cherrycloud, pleasure to meet you." She chuckles. "Too bad we'll be enemies by the end of the week. You seem like a nice pony."

"Riiight... Anyways, where's your partner?"

Her smile drops at the mention of her teammate. "You mean Hydra? Oh, he's over at the archery station trying to show off to the careers. I'm planning to go for him on the opening day."

This piece of news doesn't surprise Azure in the slightest. "Any reason why?"

"That colt, and his group of friends, made my life a living hell back in the earlier grades. He's since stopped now, but I don't forget the past. Ever."

"So you're going to kill him because he picked on you when you were young?"

Cherry smiles. "Precisely."

Azure slowly nods, not sure how to react to the explanation. She eventually chooses to ignore it. "Ok, so can you teach me how to throw a knife?"

Cherry's smile grows wider. "Nope! Seeya later!" And with that, she trots off to go join another tribute down by the survival skills section.

Azure stands dazed for a moment, before clearing her head just in time to hear the lunch bell go. The tributes stop what they're doing and head into the cafeteria. Azure, being at the edge of the massive training center, arrives last, and casually grabs a tray of food before realizing there's no empty tables. Sighing, she sets her tray of various greens down at a table with only two other occupants. Both of them have a number 6 on their shoulders, and only offer a halfhearted greeting before returning to their meals.

Most other tributes are scattered around the room, most of them silent and dark, whereas the career pack of 7 ponies are having loud conversations, punctuated by bouts of laughter. The pack ignores the rest of the players, treating them as inferiors. This act annoys Azure greatly. Someone's going to have to teach them a lesson. They will not be the strongest among us. They will fall.