Staci held me down. I couldn't move, and was completely stuck.

"Let me go!" I screeched.
"Why should I? I want to complete my destiny, and get out of this exile. But it wouldn't be complete if I don't kill you."
"Then why haven't you done it already?"
"Because I want to make it slow and painful."

Staci grabbed her pocket knife and neared it to my face.

"Where should I cut you first?" she exclaimed mockingly.

But as soon as Staci even moved one of her hooves in order to get in a better position, I used my hoof to lunge for the pocket gun in my black pack. I aimed it at her face and said,

"It wasn't nice knowing ya, Staci." and I let the gun go off.

But I aimed at somewhere else. Her hooves were with what she killed. If she couldn't use them, she couldn't kill Tomas. I instantly got up and picked up Staci's small knife which was lying right next to me. I put it into my pack and saw that Tomas wasn't moving. With a quick wave of my horn, Tomas started moving again.

"Paralysis spell?"
"Yep." he answered.

We started to gain speed so we could run off somewhere else, but I had to look at Staci. Even though the sight was saddening, I willed myself to watch. Staci was screaming and howling on the floor. Her eyes were wider than soccer balls, and she was clutching her right hoof with her left one. Her face was full of rage and anger. I didn't want anyone to kill her, so I used a quieting spell. It would wear off in a few hours, in which I hope she would be dead thanks to blood loss. But you never know. She might manage to find some pain pills or a bandage, or maybe even another pony willing to help her. Then she'd probably trick them and kill them. Typical Staci.
"Wyn, don't look at her. It's not... sanitary for the pony brain."
"What?" I asked, laughing. I jokingly punched him.

****

We hadn't exactly made a camp yet, due to the monster flower and Staci. But Tomas said that he'd seen a rock which was like a cave, and could conceal us until we had to move. So we walked, and walked, and walked until we found the cave-rock. But while we did, we had a long conversation about Staci.

"For some reason, she didn't kill me. She only seemed intent on killing you. She had actually bandaged up my right back leg, because it got burned from being on the hot surface too long as I was unconscious. She put a paralysis spell on me and put me into a magic health bubble. But she left you there like nothing had happened. I was jabbering on and telling her that she had to help you. But Staci didn't. She liked me, I think. She was listening to what I was saying and acting like a sister. But then, when you woke up, you know what happens then."
"But why didn't she kill you? Wasn't it her destiny?"
"Maybe it actually wasn't. Maybe her destiny was to kill a lot of people, but not me. And somewhere in the future, she'll kill me."
"No, that can't be. I looked at her destiny on the results screen and I'm pretty sure her life's goal wasn't to kill me. I'm 100 percent sure-"
"Are you?"
"Yes!"
"But you didn't look at her box. You only looked at mine."
"That's right, but how do you even know that?"
"Because I love you. I'm supposed to track each and every one of your moves."
"Oh, come on Tomas!"
"No, I'm serious. I like you, Bronwyn."

We were quiet for the rest of the stroll. But I thought about what he said. Not just about Staci and destiny, but about liking me. Apparently, he was paying a lot of attention to me. When I thought about it, I realized that I did the same thing. I noticed that he didn't come out the results door. I noticed he looked stiff and scared when they announced him a green dot. I noticed all these things because I like him too.
When we got to the cave, I hugged him and thanked him for finding it. He smiled. Then, I put all my supplies away, and noticed he was staring at me. I walked over to him and said,

"Now that I think about it, I love you too."

I leaned in and kissed him. We shared out moment for a while, and then he said,

"I knew you'd come through."

We kissed again.

Author's Note

I know the beginning sounds a bit like the part in The Hunger Games when Clove has Katniss pinned down near the Cornucopia, but just keep reading and you'll see that it's different.
-Carly S.