Pony Royale
I hear a muffled noise next to me. As my hearing slowly comes back, a faded Apple Bloom comes into view.
“Get up, sis! It’s a big day today! It’s officially apple bucking season!”
A quiet groan escapes my muzzle as I slowly get up and swing my trusty hat onto my head.
I hear Big Mac calling me from downstairs.
“I’mma comin!” I yell down there.
Before I go down, I grab a mirror, remove my hat and straighten that messy mane. I now feel fully awake and ready to go!
Before I get downstairs, I hear Granny Smith’s voice telling me about a letter!
As she raises her old hoof, there’s an envelope with purple lining. Don’t have to be a genius to know what that means, it’s Twilight!
I open the formal letter violently and toss the envelope away.
Dear Applejack,
It is to my knowledge that today is the beginning of Apple bucking season. I am sorry, but this is urgent business.
Please attend my library today at 9:00.
Don’t be late.
Whoa. A little strange of Twi.
I instantly assume that is in the morning, and look at the clock.
8:37.
I decide to get going, as it’s better to be early.
After a ten minute argument with my family, telling them that I have to go, and they’ll have to buck apples without me, they finally submit.
8:55. THE LIBRARY
I gently push the door open to find the place dark and gloomy.
“Twi? Where are ya?” I say.
Suddenly, the door shuts behind me!
“Right here” A quiet voice says as a painful impact hits my chest.
“Agh! What in the hay…” I say as I rip out the needle. It’s green… Or is it purple.
My vision starts fading as I realise what it is.
“T-twi?”
10:00. UNKNOWN LOCATION
Ow!
A hard, blunt impact hits my side, and I’m awake instantly.
“What the hay is goin on?” I yell.
“Miss, she’s up” A deep, stallion voice says.
“Put her with the others” Twilight’s voice echoes throughout the gloomy room, badly lit with cheap lightbulbs.
The stallion forcefully kicks me into a cell, as I’m not yet awake enough to provide resistance.
The barred metal door shuts as I leap against it.
“Let me out!” I yell at the unknown grey stallion.
He walks away like nothing happened, and shuts a large flat metal door.
Muffled chatter is heard on the other side.
Suddenly, Rainbow Dash’s voice brings me to my senses.
“Hey, AJ. She got you too?”
I spin around and see my friend.
“Dash? Where are we?” I reply.
“Nopony knows. We’ve been here for ages. You were the last to wake up” She says in a slightly upset voice, not showing any signs of being afraid.
“Wait, we?”
“Yeah. I’ll give you a roll call. We got Fluttershy, who already passed out from shock. Rarity, Pinkie, Lyra, The Doc, and me”
“Hmph, I wonder what that little filly has come up. This wasn’t exactly pleasant” I say as I rub the red mark where the tranquiliser dart hit.
Suddenly, a massive clang is heard as the door opens. Twi steps out, wearing a formal dress, with two identical grey stallions standing next to each other.
Twilight’s mane is neatly made, not her usual style, but a tied up braid kind of style.
Suddenly, her horn begins to glow and the door quickly opens.
“Into the main room. Now” She says as formally as possible.
“I guess we have a nothin’ else to do. Let’s go” I say to Rainbow, who replies with a nod.
I quickly find Fluttershy who has begun to stir, and carry her over my back. She’s not going on her own.
The main room is lit very well, it’s bright with a massive screen, which is idle.
The stallions draw assault rifles.
“Line up” One of them says.
Without saying a word, Everypony lines up and stands up straight. Like they know what’s happening.
“Hey, Rainbow, what the buc…” I don’t even get to finish my sentence before the cold steel of the assault rifle is pressed against my head.
“Shut up” Says the guard.
I nod nervously.
Twilight, in her beautiful dress, stands up and looks at us, a massive smile on her face.
“Hello Everypony! I’m pretty sure you’re all wondering what you’re doing here, but don’t fear, all will be explained.
So, as we know, Ponyville has grown rapidly. It’s now twice as big as before and there are way more ponies than the place can handle!
So, in Canterlot, as we all know has become independent, requested extreme entertainment. And I had the perfect plan. A game”
“And you are all part of it”
Suddenly, the screen illuminates to show a big map. A small island, about a kilometre across.
“This is where we are. A bunker five metres underground. I will soon call out seven numbers, with a name after them. That pony may then go through that door, to a room filled with saddlebags. You then will pick one at random. Each one contains a canteen filled with water, a random snack, and a weapon. Which is, well, very random. There will be one week to complete the battle. If there isn’t a death within one day, Somepony at random will die. The last one standing will win”
The gasps in the room are panicky. My throat begins to itch.
Fluttershy is already in tears, on the ground and on the verge of passing out.
Suddenly, a big clang is heard behind me as a mechanical arm clips a disk around my neck.
“These are your trackers. They have a microphone, and a ‘Safety feature’ if anypony tries to remove it, leave the game, or just so happens to be in the ‘danger zones’.
The map splits into sixteen fragments, each with a name, A1, B1, etc.
“One of them will be a danger zone every hour. Except for night time, after seven and will start again at seven in the morning. If you are not asleep by ten, you activate the security feature. Which I will now demonstrate with our faithful guest”
Suddenly, a cage is slowly lifted out of the ground. Everypony gasps when they see an old, hungry Bon Bon in the cage.
“What in Celestia’s name is wrong with you?” Rainbow yells out.
Suddenly, Lyra charges at the cage, ramming it with her head as the guards watch her carefully.
Lyra’s face is full of tears when Bonbon’s tired eyes come to meet hers.
“I-it’ll be ok…” Bonbon manages as her friend hugs her through the metal bars.
“Get back in line, Lyra” Says Twilight, with a sharp edge to her voice.
Bonbon is ushered by the guards to stand up. A little light begins to activate on the neckband. It’s turning on and off at a slow pace. Speeding up.
Bonbon begins to panic as she tries to push the ring off of her. Lyra is crying and turns away, just to get her head forcefully turned back around to watch.
The light is blinking so fast that it’s almost a solid beam, when suddenly.
The ring beeps.
And Bonbon’s final groan escapes her muzzle.
“WHAT THE BUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?!” Lyra yells before I can.
She takes a hoof and wipes her face. She then full force charges at Twilight.
“No! Lyra!” I yell.
Suddenly, a loud gunshot is heard, as I see Twilight with a revolver.
Through a massive hole in Lyra’s head.
As blood begins to drip down, the body drops with a thump.
Everypony is too frightened to speak as Twilight unclips the ring from Lyra’s neck.
She mumbles something and three shiny blades, all extend from the inside of the ring to the centre.
“Get the idea?” She says in a mocking tone.
Rarity is barely able to keep her feelings in.
As the cage with a knife-filled Bonbon slowly drops into the floor, Twilight grabs a list.
“Let’s begin, shall we?”
“One. Rarity”
The white unicorn nods and rushes out the door.
“Two. Doctor Whooves”
His unfrightened face shows no emotion as he leaves the room.
1: RARITY (AILVE)
DR. WHOOVES (ALIVE)
PINKIE PIE (ALIVE)
RAINBOW DASH (ALIVE)
LYRA (DEAD)
APPLEJACK (ALIVE)
FLUTTERSHY (ALIVE)
Outside is bright, Eugh.
As my vision slowly adjusts, make out three ponies running away, when suddenly, I hear a scream. From back inside the room.
The door is designed to be opened only from the inside, so I can’t go back in, when suddenly, Fluttershy gets kicked out, crying.
I instantly go to my friend, who is covered in tears and I can tell just wants to quit.
“Fluttershy! You heard, the only way out is to kill or be killed. Twilight’s gone crazy. We can’t trust anyone. How about we team up?”
Out of her tears she muffles a ‘Yes’
“Okay, good. We need to get somewhere safe, as sitting out in the open isn’t going to do very good” I say.
I put a hoof over Fluttershy and help her up, carrying her into the bushes behind the entrance point.
“Okay. So, let’s check what we have” I say as I open my bag, “Okay, a few slices of cake, good, and a canteen. That’s good… And a combat knife”
I slide the knife into the knife slot in the saddlebag, and usher Fluttershy to check her bag.
Suddenly, we hear chatter.
“Pinkie! Stop! We can win this together!”
“You heard, there’s only one winner, and I want that to be me!”
Fluttershy and I poke our heads out from the foliage.
It’s Pinkie Pie and the Doctor.
Pinkie has a big crossbow aimed at the doctor, who is slowly retreating.
“Don’t do this!” The doctor yells to her.
Suddenly, he whips out something I didn’t expect.
A vintage flamethrower.
“Argh! Screw this!” Yells the Doctor as he pushes down the trigger.
Click.
For a moment, the doctor looks confused, until he realises what’s happened.
“Beddy byes!” Says Pinkie as an arrow heads straight into the Doc’s shoulder.
He yells out in pain, and Fluttershy has closed her eyes because she can’t bear it.
Pinkie Pie calmly trots up to the doctor while reloading the crossbow with a fresh arrow, and aiming it at his neck.
“D-don’t do this…”
Fluttershy whimpers next to me as she digs her head into my shoulder, silently crying.
A click is heard as an arrow heads straight down the Doc’s neck.
He coughs up some blood before making some strange noises, then slowly dies.
Pinkie Pie removes the arrows and laughs. Then she runs off to cause some more terror.
As soon as Pinkie is gone, Fluttershy races up to the doc, who is surrounded with a pool of blood. I slowly follow Fluttershy, trying not to look at the corpse.
“H-he’s dead…” She whimpers.
“I didn’t even know him, but that isn’t important now” I say, trying to act strong, “We have to move on. We never even properly checked your bag”
We rummage around in the military saddlebag to find a combat shotgun!
“You need it more than I do” Fluttershy sniffs as she hands me the shotgun.
“Any shot?” I ask her.
She rummages around to an un-surprising ‘no’.
As I pump the shotgun, a shell comes out, I decide it’s already been pre-loaded and shove the shell back in, extending the stock and flicking off the safety. I read the engraving on the side. SPAS-12.
“We need to move” I say to my only friend.
Suddenly, a loudspeaker springs into life.
“Hello, hello, hello! What a nice, quick start, isn’t it! A few are down already! Hah! Okay, let’s start with a simple alive/dead count!”
1: RARITY (AILVE)
DR. WHOOVES (DEAD)
PINKIE PIE (ALIVE)
RAINBOW DASH (ALIVE)
LYRA (DEAD)
APPLEJACK (ALIVE)
FLUTTERSHY (ALIVE)
“Okay. So the first death zone is B 3, stay outta there!” Finishes Twilight.
The mic cuts out. I look on the map, we are right next to B3, but not in it.
Fluttershy and I move quickly along the area, eventually finding a small hut, looking pretty abandoned.
“Shh” Fluttershy says as we approach the white building.
I double-check the shotgun is ready to fire, and aim in front of me, pushing the door open with the short barrel.
Suddenly, a hard impact hits the side of my head!
As I collapse to the floor and swing the shotgun around, a Rainbow mane comes into view.
“Applejack?” The Pegasus asks.
“Rainbow!” I say back as I stand up.
Rainbow Dash pulls Fluttershy and me into a hug.
“So, the doc is dead, we got 5 of us to go” Dash says.
“Yeah” I reply. Fluttershy is traumatized.
“Nice” She says as she ushers to my shotgun.
“No, it’s Flutter’s. She gave it to me” I say, as Fluttershy nods, “What did you get?”
“What I hit you with. Sorry about that” She says as she flips a small baseball bat.
“It’s ok” I nod, “I was this close to pulling the trigger” I say as I swiftly switch the gun onto safety.
“You found anything here?” I ask.
“Haven’t searched. Just got here” She replies.
I nod as we split up and search the area.
Fluttershy quietly yells in victory.
“I-I found some beans” She says as she triumphantly holds a large can of beans in the air.
“Good work Flutters” I say.
“Hey! AppleJack! You’re gonna like this!” Rainbow dash yells from across the room.
As I trot quickly to the sound of her voice, I see a cupboard filled with ammunition.
Lots of it.
“A buck ton of Uzi mags, not gonna fit a shotgun, of course”
Below, there are a neat assortment of shotgun shells.
Suddenly, a loud click is heard. A window shatter.
“I’ll take care of that” I say to Rainbow Dash who nods in reply.
As I rush back into the room, I see Fluttershy, standing there.
With a crossbow bolt through her head.
My heart sinks as she drops to the floor. I ready the shotgun and peek out the broken window.
Another bolt comes flying through, smashing into the wall behind me.
I poke the shotgun out of the window and fire off a shot. Probably a miss.
I pump it and jump out the window, being cautious.
“AGH! What the…” I hear as Pinkie Pie stands up.
We both yell and aim our weapons at each other.
Mine fails to fire, Pinkie’s arrow hits my hat and pins it to the wall.
I full frontal charge at Pinkie, who is shaking too much to reload. She decides to go hoof to hoof.
I slam the rear end of the shotgun over Pinkie’s face, making blood splatter on the ground.
I pump the shotgun again, knowing full well it’s not loaded, and press it hard against Pinkie’s head.
“Don’t make me do this, Pinkie. We can fight through this together. As one!”
“Okay! Okay! Stop! Please!” She yells.
I release the shotgun from her head, trusting my friend.
“Sike!’ She yells as she uses her hoof to mash the stock of the gun into my face.
I fall backwards, still holding the shotgun, with almost no vision.
Then, I harness all my leftover energy and yell, “RAINBOW DASH!”
I see the Pegasus race towards me just before I black out.
I wake up, in a bed. It’s the same house. Rainbow Dash is holding my shotgun, aimed at the door.
She turns her head and looks at me.
“Mornin, sleepyhead”
“What happened?’ I ask.
“Pinkie took care of ya good. She ran off after I came outside. And you’ve been asleep for forty five minutes”
As if on cue, a new death zone is alerted.
“Hello Hello Hello! This is turning out to be greeeeat! So, we’ve got four left! Get those kills, Ponies! So… The new death zone is A1! Somepony may be in trouble! Twilight out” She says.
We’re nowhere near that.
“So… Is uh… Fluttershy…”
“She’s gone. I put the body in a bush about fifty from here”
I slowly get up and an idea springs into my mind.
“Hold on” I say as I inspect Rainbow Dash’s collar-thing. It has a grate on it. Most likely the microphone.
I grab some tape from a nearby desk and wrap the whole thing a few times over.
I silently usher her to do the same to me.
She obediently follows and we’re done.
“Will that stop them from hearing us?” I ask.
“Only one way to find out. What’s your plan?”
“All that ammo in the cupboard, what if we pile up the powder and blow up that big door in the middle of the place?”
I watch Rainbow think for a while.
“That’s actually a good idea. Let’s get to it”
We both trot to the cupboard and pull out all the twelve gauge shotgun shells. I put them in the ammo pouch of the saddlebag.
We both get to work unloading the magazines, until we have a big pile of bullets. Closed off, of course.
“Hmmm, let’s try and bend em’ off. We don’t have any pliers” I say.
Rainbow Dash nods in reply.
It’s already dark, and around eight, so we decide to hit the hay. We’re both nice and tired.
I sleep with nightmares, all night. Not being able to see my family, ever again. And losing the ponies that I thought were my friends.
When we wake up, we hear a noise. A twig snapping outside.
I rapidly get up and ready the shotgun.
“Watch my back” I say as I aim the shotgun towards the door.
Rarity stumbles in, wearing a bulky suit, with a Taser in hoof.
“Rarity?” I say.
“Applejack! You’re alright!” She says.
“Dash, it’s okay, it’s Rarity! She’s alive!” I say.
As we trot towards each other, she pulls something from her saddlebags.
“I-I’m sorry” She sniffles as a grenade pin drops to the ground.
“HOLY BUCK!” Rainbow Dash yells as she tries to pull me out of a window.
“NO! I yell to her as I wrench out of her grip.
I grab the grenade from Rarity and throw it outside. Far away.
“NO!” Rarity yells as she prepares to draw another grenade.
I hit her chest, which makes the suit she’s wearing open up.
At least 4 sticks of explosives.
I realise it’s exactly what we need.
I quickly punch Rarity and yank off the explosives. Dash comes up and throws her outside.
“Come on, Rarity! Why are ya doing this?” I yell. “We have a plan! A plan to escape!”
“THERE IS NO ESCAPE!” She yells as a massive explosion rings out.
I find myself lying against the building, the blast crater about five metres from me. It’s a miracle I survived.
As I get up, I get a glimpse at my hooves.
Stained.
Stained in Rarity’s blood.
I silently vow to kill Twilight, then attempt to find Rainbow Dash.
I wander around the place, until I hear a groan in a bush.
Dash stands up, burn marks all over her mane, which is now a blackish brown stained rainbow.
“A-Applejack?” She coughs.
“I’m alright… Let’s just get to work on our project” I say.
I pull two grenades and some explosives from my saddlebags, which miraculously didn’t go off.
“Here” I say as I toss Dash a single grenade.
She barely catches it. Next, I begin to lever the bullets, pulling off the bullet and emptying the powder into a fabric bag Dash found.
“Hello again, Ponies! Another one down! I guess! This is one exciting game! It might all be over on the second day! Who knows? Also, the death zone right now is C2! Okay! So we have another death list!”
1: RARITY (DEAD)
DR. WHOOVES (DEAD)
PINKIE PIE (ALIVE)
RAINBOW DASH (ALIVE)
LYRA (DEAD)
APPLEJACK (ALIVE)
FLUTTERSHY (DEAD)
The mic cuts out.
“Wait! We’re in C2!” Dash yells.
“Quick! Finish up then we’re outta here!” I say as I open my final bullet.
Suddenly, our collars begin to beep.
“We need to go, now!” I say.
We pack up then sprint to the next square, which makes our collars stop beeping.
“Whew. Good. We’re not dead” I say.
“Cmon, to the door, and, can I take your shotgun?” Rainbow says.
I toss it to her, then we race to the door. It’s pretty well armoured.
“Quickly! Before they find out!” I say.
We throw the bag of powder right next to the door, and plant the sticks of explosives around it. We’re ready.
“If you throw it, it has a timer of three seconds, if you don’t, it has a timer of ten seconds” Dash quickly says.
I quickly remove the pin from the grenade and place it in front of the door.
“RUN!” I yell.
After a few seconds of anticipation, the explosive goes off, blowing off the hinges of one door completely.
Suddenly, I hear a scream. Rainbow’s scream.
I quickly turn around to find her on the ground, crossbow bolt through her knee.
The shotgun lands at my front hooves.
“Dash!” I yell as I pick it up.
“GO! Don’t worry about me!” She yells as she draws a grenade.
I leap inside the building as an emergency door closes. She’s not getting through that. I can just hope that she’ll be alright.
I breathe heavily as I trot into the control room. Nopony.
A gunshot rings out and hits the wall next to me as I take cover.
Much more assault rifle fire follows.
“KILL HER!” Twilight yells.
I leap out from the wall, hitting a guard in the face, utterly mutilating it.
As he drops I take cover behind a control panel. Wires and sparks fly everywhere.
I lean around the side of the cover and take down another guard by practically shooting off his front hoof. Blood splatters all over the wall.
I yell as I charge at Twilight, which is rapidly trying to unlock something on a control panel.
A big red button that says ‘Kill all’
“NOT TODAY!” I yell as the butt of the shotgun meets her face.
She collapses on the ground.
I hold her hooves down and press the barrel of the shotgun against her head. Hard.
“GIVE ME ONE BUCKING REASON WHY I SHOULDN’T KLL YOU”
“I’m your friend?” She says, jokingly.
I drag her up against a wall.
Suddenly, I hear a gunshot and a bullet hits my back leg.
“OUGH!” I yell as I collapse to the ground.
“You’re not really that smart, aren’t ya, Applejack?” Twilight says. “You were always the one that was left out, and I’m gonna enjoy killing you the most”
She slowly trots over to the button, and mockingly strokes it.
As I groan again, in pain, I see Twilight’s revolver, less than a metre from me.
Twilight is facing the other way, so I slowly crawl towards it, minding my leg.
As I grab it and aim for Twilight’s back, the gun clicks.
“You really thought I’d leave it loaded?” She says.
“Huh?” I say to myself as I open the empty cylinder.
She laughs then turns back around.
“Got any last words?” She says as she begins to press the button.
Suddenly, I hear a voice that makes my whole world light up.
“Yeah. My guns do the talking” Dash says as she fires right through Twilight’s head.
Blood splatters all over the control panel, as Twilight drops…
And lands on the button.
As our collars begin to beep, I feel like we failed
Dash trots towards me.
“It’s been nice working with ya, pardner” I say to her as a single tear drops down my face.
She brings me into a hug, and we sit there, waiting for the moment.
Rainbow Dash begins to cry.
Suddenly, I feel something on my neck.
I hear a click and a machine, the same one that put the collars on, takes them off.
The beeping stops as they rise up into the air, held by a giant arm.
“What the…” Dash and I say as we notice a familiar face at the control room.
A beat up and bloodied Pinkie Pie waves to us.
She trots back down and we all get together in a group hug.
“I’m sorry, Girls” Pinkie says, starting to cry. “Pinkamena got out, and I couldn’t help the urge… to kill…”
I shush her and tell her it’s okay. It’s all over now, and we can all go home.
PROLOGUE
I sleep badly the next night, but when I do wake up, I am happy to be alive. I tell my family everything. They were so happy that I made it.
But then again, half of us are missing. It hurts just thinking about it.
All that’s left of us, the elements, meet up at Sugarcube Corner and share a cake. We left that all behind us. For now, all that’s ahead is the future.
THE END