Cherry sat next to Ember and Terry as we watched the fallen tributes. So far, it had shown the stallion from district 3, Steel Spanner, the orange stallion they had killed, from district 5, named spicesnap. The next was the mare Cherry remembered meeting in the hotel, from district 9. And the last was The stallion from district 10, Chicken Elephant. Afterwards they all headed back into the cave. Moon Breeze had grabbed a stick in her telekinesis and was drawing out a rough sketch of the arena.

"Alright, so this is what we already know," She began to draw a circle in the middle, the cornucopia, and a smaller closer to the edge. "This is the cornucopia, where the careers are probably taking for their base, and this is us. Our plan will be to get rid of the careers, then everypony else. We'll spy on them, figure out their routines, strengths, weaknesses, anything. When we've gathered enough info, we attack. It'll be on the night with the weaker careers on night duty, or when some are away, or weak." She then pointed to the large gap of space. "This is uncharted territory, nopony is to venture out there alone, or without letting anypony else know."

Everypony around the map nodded, understanding the plan. Moon Breeze stood up. "Okay then, the plan starts tonight. Ember Blaze, Cherry, you two can look for the careers and start learning about them." She looked at Blaze and Terry, "What are you two good for?" She asked.

"Well, I guess I'm good at knowing plants and stuff..." Terry said, unsure.

"And I'm pretty good with magic." Blaze said after.

Moon Breeze nodded, "Well then, Me and Blaze will guard the cave, and Terry will go through out supplies, getting rid of anything poisonous. Everypony nodded again at the plan. "Lets move out!" Moon said. Cherry and Ember started walking toward the entrance, waving the others goodbye. Cherry grabbed her bag of knifes and slung it over her back, while Ember took her bow and arrows. As they walked into the cool night air, they looked for the direction of the cornucopia.

Then, Cherry saw a glint of gold in the distance. "This way," She said to Ember, who followed. Cherry spread her wings, ready to fly, when she felt a hoof touch her side.

"Don't start flying yet." Ember Blaze said, "If we have to make a quick getaway, we wont want you to use up all your flying energy." Cherry nodded and dropped down to the floor. They walked in silence, only broken by the occasional call of a bird. The cornucopia was soon in view, and, as Moon predicted, The careers were all there. Cherry waved Ember over to a bush, where they took shelter inside. Ember pushed open a small hole in the leaves to see out of. There were two ponies on guard, the one Cherry remembered stabbing in the wing with a knife, and the other was new. He was hot pink, with a purple mane. A tuna was also printed on his flank. The other stallion, had a cutie mark of an icicle, and didn't seem phased at all by the cold, as he sharpened a knife.

Cherry narrowed her eyes as a voice shouted from inside the cornucopia. "Hey Coldblood?" It shouted.

The stallion with the knife turned around and replied, "What do you want Shooting Star?" A white mare with a floating purple/blue mane emerged.

"Did we get any sort of magical enhancement charm in our supplies?" She asked, frustrated. The pink stallion replied this time.

"Nope, we just got the leftovers." Shooting star whirled around to face him, rage in her eyes.

"Dammit!" She shouted and she shot a knife at him, just barely missing his flank.

"Hey, calm down," Coldblood said, glaring at her.

"No, you calm down!" She shouted angrily, "I'm going inside!" Coldblood rolled his eyes, and the stallion nervously poked the knife next to him.

Cherry gave a nod to Ember Blaze, meaning they could go now. Ember nodded back, and they began to slowly back away, then Cherry snapped a twig.

Coldblood sat up, ears pricked. Tuna looked at him with confusion. "What is it?" Coldblood lifted a hoof to Tuna's mouth, signaling for him to be quiet. He stood up, slowly creeping toward the bush. He had taken one more step, when two mares burst out of the side, running away.

"Intruders!" he shouted, alerting the other careers. The mare from district 5, Death Reap, and Shooting Star burst out, following Coldblood.

Cherry was running hard, when she suddenly remembered her wings. She flared them out and gave a mighty heave, lifting her up into the air. Ember Blaze spread her wings to do the same, when a knife flew into her hoof. She screamed in pain and collapsed to the ground. Cherry stopped and landed next to her, drawing her knifes. As Coldblood approached, his anger only deepened.

"You!" He shouted, "Thanks to you I can't fly until my wing is healed!" Anger burned in his red, accusing eyes. "You'll pay for that!" He growled, drawing knifes of his own. Ember Blaze shakily stood up and began to shoot at the two mares.

Cherry ran in first, aiming a blow to his neck, but he swung out of the way and punched her in the side. She fell and layed there for a moment. When Coldblood approached she flung her hoof around to stab him in his hoof. Using her wings to propel her upward, she managed to aim a kick to his side and chest. She then flew up higher, and leaned down to dive. As she was a few feel away, Coldblood lifted his hoof to punch, she narrowly avoided it and threw a knife into his side. She landed and started running toward Ember Blaze, who was already starting to fly away.

They pushed their wings hard, going faster than they ever had before. The three behind them were slowly falling behind, and as they turned a corner, completely disappeared. Cherry slowed down, and Ember followed suit. They soon made it to the cave, and collapsed, exhausted. The three other ponies immediately ran over. Terry quickly got to work on fixing up Embers hoof, as Cherry reported what had happened. Moon breeze sighed.

"You two can get some rest, Terry too. Me and Blaze will guard the rest of the night, and wake you in the morning." Ember and Terry nodded, going to the end of the cave to get comfortable. Cherry followed them, choosing to lay down in a corner. As she shut her eyes, she couldn't help but wonder.

Is there any chance she could win?

Author's Note

Aaaand yet another chapter! I tried to include more OCs in this one, and I hope you enjoyed it! This stuff is harder than it looks.