The Equestrian Hunger Games - Act I: Reigning Darkness

Berry Punch had too many things to think of ever since Sparkler destroyed all chances of her getting a sponsor for the Equestrian Hunger Games by badmouthing Nightmare Moon two nights ago. Now, she was on the verge of insanity. After years of being a mentor, she finally thought that she gained a worthwhile Tribute to teach all of her tricks; not that Sparkler needed them. However, those skills seemed pretty useless now.

The twelfth floor had started to become rather silent ever since that night. Fancy Pants was always locked up in his room, probably busying his troubled mind with making suits and dresses. Fleur de Lis never spoke, so screw her. Caramel had seemed to make a pact of silence, not wanting to talk to anypony at all. Sparkler is nowhere to be seen most of the day.

As for her and Trixie, they started drinking.

A lot.

"We're fucked!" Berry shouted to no one in particular as she chugged down another glass full of beer

"Looks like it's back to the drawing boards for us" Trixie muttered, her face a little red from being sober "How do you think we could handle this? It's worse than last year!"

"I dunno…" Berry sighed

Trixie looked at her empty shot glass dejectedly as she heard Berry's answer. Despite the tense rivalry those two had, they were actually rather close; being forced to work with each other since day one made that happen. Throughout the course of their time together, they had come to a sort of agreement: The moment somepony decent gets chosen as Tribute, they would set a long, thought out plan into motion that would lead to the downfall of Nightmare Moon.

Looks like that plan will never see the light of day.

It also worried Trixie to no end knowing that Berry was at a loss. After all, she was a brilliant strategist. She didn't win her own Hunger Games by sheer strength alone, she was a genius. A prodigy, to be exact. Now, nopony would ever believe this plum coloured mare actually knew the square route of 546 down to the seventy-fourth decimal point due to her extreme drinking habit.

If Berry Punch was stumped, Trixie was much worse.

"Talk to Sparkler" Trixie said

"Can't find her"

"That wasn't a request; that was an order" Trixie said, steeling herself "You seem to be one of the few ponies who could force some motivation into that thick skull of hers"

A groan escaped Berry Punch's lips as she thought of how annoying the task would become. The Sparkler she knew was irresponsible and unpredictable, with a raging temper to boot. She would never see reason even if it was shoved right into her face. Still, she had her sense of justice; like her resentment towards Nightmare Moon. Maybe…

"Fancy Pants?"

"She only goes to him for her dresses, go figure"

"Lover Boy?"

"Hasn't been talking to anypony"

"How about you?"

Trixie glared menacingly at the drunken mare, but the act seemed hilarious due to the fact that she too was slightly drunk. She then raised her head proudly and continued on to get another shot of beer. Berry knew this expression all too well: She was too good for this kind of shit. Well, it's not like she had anything to lose anyway…

"Fine…" Berry Punch finally admitted defeat "But where is Hawkeye? Think you could do a scan to look for her?"

Silence filled the room for a few seconds as Trixie, finishing her drink, stared blankly at her shot glass. Her eyes showed grief, implementing that she was not at all fine. By now, Berry had known that it was best not to ask the Unicorn on her condition, she was too cocky to admit that she was in need of help.

"You of all ponies should know how much that would hurt…" Trixie sighed

"Sorry, I didn't mean to bash on your weak-"

"I'll do it" Trixie said as she got up

"Dude, you must be drunk as hell. There's no way in Hell that you could actually do it, especially with your magic-"

She stopped mid-sentence as she watched Trixie's horn start to glow a magnificent azure shade. Berry quickly cursed out loud, jumping towards the crazed Unicorn mare in the process. She was too late, though, as the spell was in motion. Trixie's eyes glowed a terrifying white colour as she, too, screamed loudly. The ear-splitting scream carried throughout the floor, but nopony came to her. It was as if everypony was busy minding their own sorrows.

The scream ended as abruptly as it came, but it meant that Trixie had done her job. Berry, still cursing at the idiotic mare's attempts at helping her. She alone knew just how much energy Trixie had to exert just for an advanced spell, though she was forbidden from telling anypony. She kept her mouth shut: It was for a friend, anyway.

"Levitation and Teleportation" Berry caressed Trixie's head as she dunked a conveniently placed bottle of water onto the Unicorn's face "That's what we agreed on what kinds of magic you could do without… THAT!"

"She's at the basement, Training Centre" Trixie muttered quickly as she quickly lost her breath "Go, you idiot!"

Placing Trixie's head down, Berry went to the elevator and punched the lowest level. It was a mystery, though, how Sparkler could get into the sealed chamber room filled with all sorts of weapons of mass destruction even though it was deadlocked. Still, with all of her powers suddenly rising up out of nowhere, Berry's surprise dropped quite a bit.

It rose higher again when she reached the basement floor.

The metal doors were wide open, revealing two Unicorn ponies inside clashing swords. The mint one was brandishing a rapier, stabbing rapidly at her sparring partner. The amethyst one, though, was wielding two longswords, slashing and cutting away with ease at the mint Unicorn. The longswords were also engulfed in flames, which gave the amethyst mare the upper hoof.

Watching intently as the two traded blows, Berry actually felt relieved. At least Sparkler was still doing training despite the rough crowd she had gathered two nights prior. She watched intently as Sparkler and Lyra both crossed swords with each other. When one seemed to get the upper hand, the other would surprise her by doing a sudden movement.

At one point, Sparkler looked as if she was on the verge of winning the battle. However, her final strike, a combo which was started with her shouting the phrase "Starburst Stream!", was suddenly deflected as Lyra suddenly levitated a giant shield to block the final strike. With Sparkler being hit hard by the recoil, Lyra took this as an opportunity to knock Sparkler with the hilt of the rapier, sending the Pyromancer down to the floor as her dual swords clattered away from her.

"Don'na saigo no kotoba?" Lyra said, the tip of her blade pointed directly at Sparkler's chest

"I just wish I could have told my best friend…" Sparkler wheezed dramatically "I love him…"

Lyra shouted the most overly hyped shout she has ever made, Lyra stabbed the sword down, releasing a splash of blood towards the mint coloured mare. Lyra then laughed, laughed the most sinister laugh anypony has heard. It was so evil that Berry Punch actually thought that she truly did just kill Sparkler.

The laugh soon started to sound kind, until finally she was just laughing happily, followed closely by another laugh: Sparkler's.

"That was sweet!" Sparkler laughed, levitating the pouch filled with ketchup and chilli sauce tied to her side "That really felt like the real thing!"

"Yatta!" Lyra shouted "You're getting better at those swords, too. Maybe one day we really will forge the Elucidator and Dark Repulser. That way, you really could become the Black Swordsman!"

"But black isn't really my colour…"

"Who cares?"

The two laughed heartily, either of them aware of the one pony audience. Not aware, that is, until Berry Punch started clopping her hooves together. The two mares looked at the pony as she finished clopping, and trotted towards the two of them.

"I came under the impression that you needed some help" Berry said "Guess I was wrong"

"What do you want?" Sparkler asked, a little harsher than usual

"To try and knock some sense into you. But like I said, you don't look like you need help"

"Well, duh-" Sparkler started to say but was cut off by Berry Punch once more

"But you need some hard core mental training! Both of you!"

The two mares suddenly both sat down, terrified by the loud commanding voice of Berry Punch. The mare looked at both of the Unicorns with a stern glance, trying to look for any sense of weaknesses. Her gaze softened, though, when she noticed none. Their faces showed only determination (and insanity in Lyra's case), as if they were prepared for what was to come.

"Tomorrow's the big day" Berry Punch said with a glazed expression "You both know that, right?"

"Yes" the two mares answered in unison

"I was worried you both forgot, judging by your actions these past few days" continued Berry Punch

"What do you mean by that?" Lyra asked with her confused expression

Berry Punch released a breath that she wasn't even aware of holding. She was prepared to get this answer. In fact, she had already planned on what to say to these two ponies once she had found them. It wasn't much, but she was going to at least correct all the wrongs that Sparkler may have unknowingly made, along with Lyra as well.

"Could you list me all the anime you've watched since coming to Canterlot" Berry Punch said with a sad smile "I heard you two are big fans of those shows"

Sword Art Online, Naruto, Accel World, and Fairy Tail. The two mares told the usually drunk trainer the names of four shows that they have watched. Berry Punch looked at the two mares questioningly, but they said no more. That made the older mare sure that they truly did say all the shows that they have watched.

She then looked at the weapons around the room, all scattered and battered up since they have been roughing them up during their training practices. She mentally questioned what those shows were actually teaching these two, but didn't speak it since she had other questions to ask as well.

"Don't you think you should be spending your last days doing something more productive?" asked Berry Punch, but was met with no response "Instead, you're wasting it by watching cartoons and mindlessly fighting with each other just for fun…"

"…We learn how to fight…" Sparkler started to say "We learn strategies and new ways to use weapons… Is there something wrong with that…?"

A sincere smile formed on Berry Punch's casual face.

"Well, that's nice. And here I thought that you two were watching some sort of romance or comedy show" she stifled a laugh "So, that's really what you've been doing?"

"You saw the fight, right?" Lyra spoke up, quite cheerfully "I'm getting better, and Sparkler too!"

"Yes, yes, you two were awesome back there. But why go through all this trouble? You do know you could ask for access to this room and an arena where you could legitimately cause damage, right? I'm sure the Gamemakers would allow some last minute training. Why break in and wreck the place up?"

Silence.

"You two are scared of what the Canterlot Elites and Gamemakers think of you guys, right?" Berry Punch said with her casual glazed expression, getting serious "Lyra, the Canterlot ponies already see you as a nuisance, somepony who would die earliest. Everypony is betting on your death, am I correct?"

Lyra nodded

"And Hawkeye, you know that everypony in Canterlot, District One and District Two are holding a grudge on you. You decided to cut off all ties with everypony else in order to protect your family, since you don't want them to get involved as well. You thought that you getting a Ten earlier made Nightmare Moon take it out on Rarity and Sweetie Belle, so you bashing on Nightmare Moon would surely make her want to kill Derpy and Dinky"

"So what if it's true?" Sparkler shouted "What are you gonna do about it?"

"I'm going to remind you that you could do nothing to stop Nightmare Moon. Right now, it's not in your power. If Nightmare Moon wants to hurt your family, then she will do it. For now, just go and apologise to Lover Boy, you sort of made him responsible for your actions as well since he's also from District Twelve. Then, I want you to go into the arena tomorrow, and prove to those Canterlot Elites that you deserve to win, got it?"

The two Unicorns nodded slowly, and hung their heads low. They didn't raise them back up until Berry Punch had left the room, leaving them alone. Sparkler was speechless. She never would have guessed that Berry would actually give a motivational speech to the two of them. Still, it was for the best.

For the past two days, Sparkler had felt terrified for all the things that she had done to put District Twelve in danger. She thought that if she stopped appearing in Canterlot, nopony close to her would get hurt. Oh, what a childish thought. Now, the only thing that she has proven was that she was a coward: A coward too scared to come out in public anymore.

"Come on, Sparks" Lyra said as she placed a hoof on Sparkler's shoulder "Let's get ready for tomorrow, for real this time"