The Equestria Games

"Places for the Procession, everypony!" The Crystal Prince called out to the standbys, the large crowd roaring behind him as he faced the procession ponies. "Two minutes!"

Behind the standby's, a rather weakly looking young stallion shivered in his spot, sweating buckets as he gulped audibly. How did I get myself into this mess? He wondered as he looked down at the bow and ice arrows he had with him. I'm technically not even supposed to be here...

A mare, who was part of the Flag Procession, caught his worried look and smiled. "Don't worry, hun. You'll be just fine." She winked at him before turning around to the Flags holders, who were quietly chatting among themselves, adding to the noise of the loud stadium.

The colt gulped again and sighed to calm himself. Remember....the plan.......remember... He peeked out the hall and his eyes rested on where the Princesses' seats were. Three of the princesses of Equestria already were seated, the fourth and newest princess just now appearing and seating herself next to Celestia.

Suddenly, one of the guards at the entrance to the tunnel they were standing in caught the colt's eyes and slightly nodded at him.

The young stallion looked down briefly before slightly nodding back, slinging his bow and arrows over is back and slowly backing away from the group of Procession ponies, until he backed up enough to where he was standing next to another pony guarding the door from which the group had entered through.

He looked back slightly and nodded at the guard, who in turn nodded back and opened up the door for the colt without a word.

As he went through the doorway, he heard the sound of some ponies speaking to one another, which made him freeze in his tracks.

"And you're quite certain you're understanding exactly what you're supposed to do?" A mare's voice echoed.

" I stand where you tell me until you give me the signal, then I walk over and light the torch." A more boyish sounding voice echoed.

"Mm. Couldn't be simpler." The mare said back, but silence afterwards and fading hoofsteps signaled the end of the conversation. The only thing to be heard was the distant cheering of the crowd.

The young stallion waited until he was absolutely sure he was alone before he unfroze and began to walk through the surprisingly clean and dry tunnels. Hm. I would have assumed that they'd be damp and smelly, considering that's the way they usually were during the million run-throughs of the plan... His hoofsteps echoed off the concrete walls as he walked along.

After about ten to fifteen minutes passed by, he reached a door that had no guards posted outside. The colt released the breath he hadn't realized he was holding in. Thank goodness I'm finally here! I thought I'd made a wrong turn somewhere along the line. The boss would have probably killed me if I messed up now... literally. He gulped as he approached the door without any ponies guarding it and pushed it open.

Inside, there was a mass bundle of ponies, most wearing guard uniforms and earpieces. In the middle of all the commotion, the biggest out of all the ponies turned to look at the colt.

He chuckled as he greeted him. "Hm, well, glad of you to join us, Mari."

The colt's face turned red as he backed away and shook his head.

The boss got closer to the colt and put his hoof under his chin to lift it up. Then, he growled, "It's too bad, though. It took you longer than expected to reach me here. And to think we had practiced it over and over for you to not fuck things up...our chance has probably already slipped away for the plan to officially be in action."

The colt stood straight as he addressed the stallion. "M-my name's Marinara, uh, sir.... and I don't think I messed anything up.... sir."

The boss turned his head sharply. "What makes you say that, boy?"

Marinara slightly smirked internally as he said quietly, "Well, sir... the trumpets have not gone off yet that signifies the lighting of the Equestria Games torch..."

The boss pony removed his hoof from the young colt's chin with a deadly silence and stare, until, after what felt like several unbearable minutes, he laughed and looked around, forcing all of his goons to laugh along, too.

Marinara, meanwhile, stood still, feeling rather uncomfortable, until the boss pony stopped laughing.