Chapter 2

It had taken her two days, but Spirit was finally at the arena and just in time. Any contestants had to enter by the next day. She made her way inside and signed up. As she was walking away from the desks an old unicorn with a dark grey coat and a white beard stopped her.

“Hey there missy. I saw you just signed up for the arena. Do you wanna know how it was formed?”

Spirit look at the old pony with curiosity. “How it was formed? What do you mean?”

“I mean how equestria came to be like this. It wasn’t always the wasteland we call the battlefield, it used to be the most advanced nation in the world.” he replied. Spirit motioned for him to continue.

“One hundred years ago, princess celestia ruled over the land of equestria. She was a benevolent leader, and equestria was the most prosperous nation in all of history. But, 1,000 years before, she had banished her sister luna to the moon. Then her sister came back, and struck down celestia. Her sister then stood in her place as supreme ruler, but luna wasn’t like celestia. She was cruel, and ruled with an iron hoof.” he paused for a moment. With how old he looked, Spirit guessed he might have been there and was actually remembering it.

“So the ponies did what they thought was best and rebelled. They call this place the battlefield because it was where the last battle of the rebellion was fought. And they were successful, sort of. They dethroned luna, but they never put another ruler or even a different government in their place. They thought celestia would return to be their savior. The fools. It only took a few years before equestria collapsed.”

“And finally the arena was built, we don’t know by who, as it seemed to just appear one day, but it serves as a reminder of our past sins all the same little pony. And that’s it. That’s all. Now, go save your mother kid.” he said with a small smile before walked off.

Spirit was thinking over the story she had just heard. How could somepony be so cruel? How could the ponies of the past believe that a pony could come back from the dead? How could that pony she had never met before known that her mother was in danger? Wait… what? She turned to see if she could find him but he had vanished completely. Her confusion was cut off as a loudspeaker started to blare out it’s message.

“ All spectators please report to the arena stands, the 42nd arena battle will be starting in five minutes. Remember, all contestants for the next semi-annual tournament are all expected to be in the stands.”

Spirit swallowed before making her way to the stands.

Spirit sat down in the stands ringing the arena’s battlefield. The walls rose about six feet above the sandy ground, and she was forced to look at the hundreds of ponies in the rings around the central battlefield. There were already about two dozen ponies standing in the pit, each one preparing to fight in some way. There were ponies sharpening blades, checking bows and crossbows, stretching, and some were even praying. Then the loudspeaker came on again before speaking to everypony there.

“ Greetings ladies and gentlecolts! Today we are going to watch the 42nd battle royale in the arena’s history. Remember, anything goes except for firearms of any kind. As for the winner, there will be three this time. Now who’s ready to see some blood!” The crowd went wild, screaming and yelling. The speaker cut through their voices with the final words. “It seems our crowd is nice and pumped up! Now, let’s see some fighting!” with that the loud noise of a bell ringing erupted from the system before everypony in the pit began to move at once.

Spirit had no idea where to look, she she decided to focus on the most unique pony she could find. It turned out to be a dragon pony with pure black scales and a long brown mane. He had an image of a fiery sword on his flanks, and while she was watching him, swung his sword and decapitated another pony. The pony’s neck was slightly cauterised from the fire that coated his broadsword, but he still sprayed blood onto his chest before he turned around. He parried the blade of another pony before cutting off the leg that held his sword and driving his own blade through his head. She quickly turned away but couldn’t escape the voice of the announcer.

“ Oh! A brutal double kill from Stone Edge over there!”

Looking to the other side of the arena Spirit saw a unicorn that had a black coat and a red mane with dark purple highlights. It was impossible to see her cutie mark though as she was covered in a grey cloak with a star pendant holding it together. She was standing in between two green tendrils that were thrashing around and striking at anypony who got within their range. One cocky stallion wearing solid plate armor thought he would be the exception. He was, the vines causing the armor to slightly dent but nothing more. The unicorn at the center noticed this and charged up a spell. The stallion attacking her couldn’t react fast enough to move out of the way and was struck by it head on. He froze for a second, but it seemed not to do anything. He inspected himself before looking up and grinning with a manic glee that sent a shiver up Spirit’s spine. His grin soon turned to a look of horror as he was speared by the two vines. They had pierced through his armor, which was slowly crumbling away. The vines withdrew themselves and the stallion slumped on the ground lifeless.

“ What a spectacular kill by Eclipse! Let’s see what else is in store for us today.” The loudspeaker announced.” Look at Crescent Blade go! I’ve counted seven kills by him at this point, he’s a killing machine!”

It was true, the black coated crossbreeding of a pony species and thestral, also known as a vesper, was slaughtering most of the still living ponies in the arena. His once spiky burgundy and navy blue mane was now red and matted down from all of the blood. His cutie mark of a golden crescent moon covered in the same crimson liquid. He had a crazed look in his eyes as he flew from one target to next, all the while screaming out how none of them were a “true challenge.”

Finally he met the one pony who would have a chance at meeting his skill level. Stone Edge stood across from him. “So you wish for a challenge?” he shouted across the arena, before he lowered his head and steeled his gaze. “Bring it.” The insane glee on Crescent’s face was terrifying to Spirit as he shot forward, five red swords materialising around him while he went. Stone Edge pulled in a big breath of air and holding it for a second, unleashing a small burst of flames at crescent. Crescent’s eyes widened as he hurtled towards them but he shielded himself with his swords. He pulled back before launching forwards again. Stone edge started pulling in air again but was forced to exhale before he was ready to parry crescent’s phantom blades. This caused Stone Edge to cough and sputter, tiny flames licking outside of his mouth. He managed to hold off both Crescent’s blades and the pony himself, but wasn’t able to retaliate. He was forced on the defensive, with Crescent joyfully cackling as he,danced circles around him. Suddenly, Crescent made a suicide dive for Stone Edge’s throat. He closed the distance rapidly before a strange noise rang out.

It was the bell for ending the fight. When they looked over one of eclipse’s tentacles was withdrawing from a pony, who slumped over dead, before vanishing into the ground.
Spirit was in shock. She was going to be down there tomorrow, fighting for her life against ponies like that. She gulped audibly as she watched those three ponies who had massacred so many ponies shake hooves before leaving through the same exit.

She was going to die, wasn't she?

Author's Note

Sorry for the long wait, but i finally got this story out. All credits for ocs go to:
Stone edge: Stone Edge
Eclipse:Typervader
Crescent Blade:Kamen Writer Nocturnis

As always tell me any errors you see!