The Equestria Games

I woke up with a grim look from Ash, whose eyes were sunken.

"It's time, Raven."

I sighed. "Yup."

"I'm supposed to take you to Fluttershy for your terrain suit and everything."

"Yeah."

I picked myself up, leaving the room a mess behind me, and followed Ash Wither outside to go meet Fluttershy. We walked in silence, and finally, after what seemed like hours, Ash dropped me off in front of the room where I had first put on my lightning dress.

He turned to me, and I noticed a little tattoo on his neck, showing a moon.

"Is this the last time I'll see you?" I asked him, tears welling up in my eyes.

"No," Ash replied. "Because I'll see you in a couple of weeks."

My tears escaped my eyes, and I scooped him up in a hug. He relented, squeezing me back. "Just remember who the real enemy is, Raven. And don't get yourself killed. You're stronger then they are. You really are. You're Raven Nightwing, and you're coming back."

He let me go, a grave look on his face. He turned around, starting to walk away.

"Wait!" I called to him. "Just tell me one thing, before I go in there."

"Yeah?"

"Why do you have a tattoo of a moon on your neck?"

Ash turned around, his eyes pointing to the little moon. "Just remember one thing, Raven," he told me. "Not both of the princesses are dead."

Then he walked away, leaving me alone to think about what he just said.

~~~~~~

Fluttershy had tears in her eyes as she forced on the terrain suit.

"Now," she told me. "The suit isn't anything special. It's just, well, a suit. So I'm guessing Equestrian weather. That should be good."

I nodded.

When she finished fussing about my suit, she led me to the place where the shuttle would take off, bringing me to the bottom of the arena.

"I believe in you, Raven," she told me, stopping me before I went on. "And I'm going to bet on you. Trust me, there's a lot a queen can do." She kissed my cheek.

"Thank you for everything, Queen Fluttershy," I told her. "You are an amazing queen, and I'm so glad Equestria has a great ruler."

Her eyes glistened with tears as she pushed me to the shuttle, looking at me the entire time. Then the Peacekeepers closed the shuttle doors, and that was my last glimpse of the amazing Fluttershy.

The Peacekeepers led me to the seats on the shuttle, and I obliged, unfortunately sitting down next to Mousha.

"Hello there," she told me. Her accent was thick, and she spoke in very broken English. "May odds be ever in favor, Raven Nightwing."

I smiled to her and returned the blessing. How the hay would I kill these ponies? Mousha, despite being a Career, seemed like such a great pony.

A Peacekeeper walked around us with a big syringe, and I immediately cringed at the thought. The Peacekeeper plunged the ponies around me with the syringes, and they all recoiled from pain. All of a sudden, Mousha was injected, and then the Peacekeeper reached for my hoof.

"What is that?" I asked her.

"It's your tracker," her muffled voice replied, taking my hoof and injecting the tracker, which then glowed in my skin.

It was all I could do to keep from throwing up.

The shuttle was quiet as it maneuvered to our starting pedestals, except for Medley. She was chatting the entire time, saying pointless and meaningless things.

"I wonder what the arena will be? I mean, it's got to be great. Seriously. Nothing but the best for Medley here! Oh, yeah. I wonder if there will be killer birds? I saw the second Games a few days ago and wow! was that interesting! Seriously! Awesome! And, I also wonder if-"

She droned on like this for a total of ten minutes, saying something about peanut butter and sushi.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, the shuttle finally landed, and the Peacekeepers midway through had finally had enough of Medley.

"SHUT THE BUCK UP!" one of them snapped. "Seriously, if you don't get killed first, the Capitol themselves will want you dead!" She quieted down after that.

I was greeted by Photo Finish when I boarded off of the shuttle. She complimented how "courageous you look, darling!" and patted me on the shoulders as she led me off into the room where my pedestal awaited me.

A countdown was beeping on the wall, telling me when I should enter the pedestal to be lifted into the arena. Photo Finish was fussing around my suit, making sure everything looked fine.

"Okay, darling," Photo finished, tugging my suit one last time. The countdown was reaching ten, and it was time for me to enter the levitating pedestal where I would be taken to my doom. She pushed me towards it, and I reluctantly started to walk into the gaping portal.

"You're going to do great, Raven, darling!" I heard Photo say to me as I walked into it. The glass door closed behind me, shutting me from the world that I knew.

The countdown sounded muffled from the other side of the glass door, but soon, I could hear the word "one'' coming from the intercom, and slowly but surely, the pedestal levitated from it's position from the underground, bringing me with it.

I looked up as it was doing so, anxious to spread my wings and fly as fast as I could to the Cornucopia, like Ash did in his Games.

Finally, a blinding light flashed in my eyes as the pedestal secured its position far above the ground, and the arena was in sight.

I gasped.

The arena was Equestrian, that's for sure. In fact, a large castle, made for royalty maybe, perched high above the ground, attached to some sort of mountainous side. Underneath it stood the entrance, adorned with a sun and a moon. Why, it was a city! Literally, a city! The city sprawled underneath the beautiful castle, with shops, homes, apartments, the whole deal!

The Cornucopia was sitting at the entrance of the city. This was obvious because it was surrounded by a railroad of some sorts, and even a little sign saying "Welcome to Canterlot!". Well, I didn't know what 'Canterlot' was, but I knew that this arena was much better then the mountains that was Ash's Games.

I looked around to my allies, who were all focused on getting to the Cornucopia. Cherrycloud nodded to me, pointing her head to the vast Cornucopia.

I could hear the countdown in the background, but I didn't listen to it. Who could? This could potentially be my death, where I would end.

Suddenly my gaze shifted to Starstorm, who appeared to be...chuckling, of all things. She was excited for this, although I had no idea why.

Finally, the countdown was at ten. Ten, nine, eight... My vision locked onto my target, and my wings unfolded, ready for a takeoff.

Five, four, three... A deafening alarm sounded through the arena, and immediately twenty four ponies, including myself, were lurching through the ground to the Cornucopia. My wings spread far as I jumped to the air, letting my wings do their thing. I channeled the powers of the sonic rainboom Joy Stick had told me that I did, and I forced myself to the line between sonic rainboom and fast flight, successfully getting to the Cornucopia second behind Bioshock.

Bioshock looked at me awkwardly and forced a mace off the wall. "If you're not going to be part of the group, we need to eliminate you," she said cruelly.

I gulped, but paid her no real attention as the Cornucopia was flooding with ponies. As fast as lightning, I grabbed a backpack full of supplies and a bow with arrows. It was the only bow there, so I expect it was supposed to be for Moon Breeze, the resident archer. Bioshock growled as her fellow Careers went to her side, picking up weapons, so on a whim I grabbed a large sword. It could be good for Page Turner, the only unicorn in our group, maybe as a defensive thing.

In the corner of my eye I saw a little colt, around the youngest possible age, fall down, covered in blood, and the sound of cackling mares filled my hearing.

Suddenly, I heard galloping as I realized that the mare was trying to run towards me. I flew up, letting her ram into the wall behind me.

Quickly looking around, I saw Papercraft, Cherrycloud, and Nightshade grab weapons and miscellaneous things needed. Page Turner was levitating things out of the other ponies' reach, confusing them. Outback had a lasso in his mouth and grabbed a backpack.

Suddenly I heard Nightshade's voice echo through the Cornucopia. "Move out guys!" her strained voice yelled. I obeyed, flying upwards and out of the bell shaped metal, away from the other ponies' reach.

All of a sudden, my good luck changed. I felt a sharp pain in my side, and suddenly my wing was covered in blood.

I looked down at the ground from where I was a meter above the Cornucopia.  Bloodlight was standing there, grinning like a mad pony, with daggers in his hooves.

Starstorm was next to him, smiling evilly.

"Kill her?" Bloodlight asked his mistress.

"No," Starstorm replied. "Let her die of infections or blood loss. It'll be more fun that way."

I didn't know what they were talking about. My brain was getting foggier, but I could still make out the blood on my wing, and where it came from: a knife lodged in the bottom of my stomach, from where Bloodlight threw it.

My head was fuzzy, and colors began to swirl. Suddenly all I could see was black, and a voice sounded through my static-y ears.

"Quick! Get her to safety! She's falling!"

The Cornucopia...it was too easy. There was bound to be a downfall at some point.

Here it was. I was going to die.

And then it was black.

~~~~~~

Slowly, my eyes fluttered open, and I was met by a lush...ceiling, of all things.

My brain was still trying to process everything that had happened, from the fall, to the blood, to the...knife?!

Quickly, my head snapped to the side, where the knife was stuck, and I was met by a colt saying, "Shhh, it's okay, Raven. You're safe." My eyes widened when I realized that the knife was no longer lodged in my stomach. Instead, it was wrapped with a soft linen, something that seemed like it was from the Capitol itself.

My head swerved to the colt standing over me. It was Outback, his lasso on the ground next to him as well as the backpack and the bow I had taken.

"Wh...what happened?" I asked him.

"Ah, well, after ya blacked out there, mate, we took ya to the safest place we thought was, the big ol' castle thing in the arena. Unfortunately, the Careers thought it was the best too. But they don't know we're here, mate. That's why you gotta keep quiet, 'else they find us. Then we all dead, mate."

"B...but the knife, the blood? It's all gone?"

"Turns out Cherrycloud 'ere is great with crafty things, including medicine and healing."

"Oh. Casualties?"

"The first time in the history of the Games, only one pony 'ere died. His name was Glass Mirror, mate. Not very good at stuff. The rest either fled first chance they got, or were part of a group or Careers."

"Where are the others?" I asked him, rubbing my eyes.

"Ah, well, Nightshade, Cherrycloud, and Papercraft went to go hunt and gather with some weapons they found around the Cornucopia, flying down to one of these here shops. The Careers got control of the kitchen in the castle, 'ere, but it turns out that the food in this here arena comes from shops. Page Turner's keeping a lookout, sitting on the balcony."

I nodded, looking around the lush room I was sitting in. I was lying on a bed covered in moons, much like Ash Wither's tattoo, now that I come to think of it. It was soft, and there were nice pillows and cushions too.

Suddenly my gaze shifted over to a container with a parachute attached to it lying in a corner. The parachute had a big "3" on it.

"What's with the parachute, Outback?" I asked him.

"Oh, that was a gift from the sky. Your mentor, Ass, sent it to ya."

I shook my head. "Ass?"

"Ass, Ash, same thing. I saw his Games, that bloke's brutal, mate. He might as well be an ass."

I giggled. "What did he send?"

"Medicinal supplies that Cherrycloud used, mate. Oh, he also sent this 'ere note." Outback turned around, and handed me a neatly folded note.

I opened it, curious to see the contents.

Dear Raven,

I saw you fall in the Cornucopia. Buck, I was scared.

Turns out I was wrong, you really did choose good allies. Kudos to you, Raven. Something I had trouble with in my Games.

Anyway, I'm sure your friend Cherrycloud will help you with the knife and the wound at whatnot. Oh, buck, that will be terrifying for me. I think I'll close my eyes.

I hope these work. It took me a while to get them, but they are top notch medicines used for stab wounds in the Capitol, donated by a kind stallion who is actually a doctor.

Just remember, Raven. Remember who the real enemy is.

~Ash

I closed the note, holding it to my chest. How could I have been so wrong to think Ash would hurt me? It was his medicines - and Cherrycloud, of course - who saved my life instead.

We sat there for a while, quiet, until a creaking sound came from the window.

Outback jumped up, grabbing his knife, and shushed me, walking over to the window. Finally, he heaved a sigh of relief. "It's just the pegasi," he told me, waving the three ponies in. Cherrycloud, being the sweet little mare that she is, immediately dropped her stuff to check on me. "Are you feeling okay?" she asked me.

"Yeah, fine, thank you, Cherrycloud," I responded.

She smiled sweetly at me, walking back to where Nightshade was standing.

Nightshade looked at me condescendingly, her head cocking. "Hope to see you up soon, soldier," she told me.

Soon, everypony was seated close by to me, so we could talk.

"What d'ja mates get?" Outback asked.

"Well," Papercraft answered, "we got many canned foods, which is great. Whole bag of them here," he tipped over a big sack that had been seated next to him. "We also got some fresh foods, aaannnddd," he waited for Nightshade to finish.

"We got sweets!" A backpack tipped over, spilling over candy and chocolates.

"What?" I asked incredulously. "How did you-?"

"There was a candy store down the road. I gave some to Page Turner who's keeping a lookout out there. This arena's amazing!" She grinned, but stopped when I gave her a crazy look. "Well, for an arena," she finished.

I smiled. "Yeah, it kinda is."

But something in my gut told me that this arena had to do with something Ash said, something about who the real enemy is.

Because this city, it had to be real at one point.

But if it was real, what happened to it?