The Equestrian Hunger Games - Act II: Trail of Blood

“FUCK!!”

That single word echoed within Sparkler’s mouth. This couldn’t be happening, it just can’t! For the past few weeks, Sparkler had practiced her newfound powers and abilities to the max. She had made sure that she was well equipped with all the knowledge needed for her survival. But now…

Now, she was as good as dead.

Whatever those Royal Guards shot into her, it had damaged her greatly. All of her powers were gone, not even something as simple as levitation! There was no time to think on how all that happened in the span of the milliseconds it took for her to think. Right now, it was do or die.

Should she run away? No, never. She promised herself she would see this through. With the little dwindling strength she had left, Sparkler charged.

Her running figure caught the other Tributes off guard, even her friends Lyra and Mjolna. They were sure Sparkler would summon the weapon of her choice towards her and start firing or slashing like the insane maniac she was. They quickly shoved aside their thoughts and used whatever means necessary to get their hooves on weapons and supplies.

The magenta Unicorn made a final jump and landed at the pile of supplies and weapons stacked in the middle, just as the Pegasi had flown over and took their own required items. However, that was also the time the Unicorns had levitated the weapons towards them and was using it to their full advantage.

“Damn it!” was all Sparkler managed to say as a spear missed her by an inch

She grabbed the nearest weapon to her with her hooves and pointed it in front of her. When her eyes managed to focus on it, she realised that it was a crossbow. No biggy, she’s practised with it during her insane fights with the insane Lyra. However, this time the weapon felt… different.

Without much thought, she raised the crossbow and fired as many bolts as possible during the chaos. Ever since she was a child, she had practised to increase her accuracy to the highest possible level with the bow her father mad made for her. She was a sharpshooter, and she was proud of it. Deep inside her heart, she even liked the nickname Berry Punch made for her. Hawkeye, a wonderful name indeed.

The chaos cleared up, and Sparkler’s eyes widened at the amount of carnage she had managed to produce.

Nothing.

All of the bolts had missed their target, some even straying way off course and hitting the tress. No way. She was prepared to kill in the Games, but how could she miss every last one? She could only sit there blankly, staring at her clean hooves that were free of any forms of blood.

“Sparks!”

Her eyes shot open once more, hearing the voice of her new best friend. She could see Lyra, standing with all her might on her hind legs like the people in those anime the two watched together. In her hooves were chains which connected to a pair of red, spiked chakrams. Her insane grin was replaced by a look of serious determination.

“I dunno what happened, but I’ll cover you” Lyra said hastily

“But-”

“IKOU!”

Without another word, Sparkler dashed away, crossbow stashed on her back. She can’t believe she’s relying on Lyra for support. All this while, she was able to protect herself. But now, she felt hopeless. As she ran through the area, she decided to use her other skills for survival.

“AARGH!” Lyra’s distant scream worried Sparkler, but she had to press on

Now getting a better look at the surroundings, Sparkler noted that the arena was a giant network of caves, leading her to feel it as an underground setting. This won’t do. There was little to no chance of her finding any food or water in a cave, so she should have stolen one of those survival packs from before.

Inwardly cursing at herself, Sparkler’s tired hooves finally gave way and she collapsed, right onto the hard stone floor. Damn it, she was tired as hell. She needed to find some shelter quick, or the other Tributes would quickly dispose of her. But where to go? If only she had some sort of scanning and detecting magic, but her powers are all gone. Even if she did have her magic, she didn’t know any of those spells.

Groggily standing up, Sparkler started to trot off to a random location. Maybe if she was lucky, she would stumble into a sealed off cave somewhere that would be hard to find.

The sound of hooves on the stone floor alerted Sparkler, and she jumped up in an instant. She took out the crossbow she had risked her life to get and pointed it to the source of the clopping. No, she would never hit. Instead, she raised it as high as she could with her fore hoof and prepared to strike down.

“H-Hello?” the voice of a fellow Tribute caused Sparkler to instantly jerk, sending the crossbow down in an attempt to smash the enemy

SMASH

The sound of wood on stone echoed through the cave, leaving a stunned Sparkler gaping in awe. Her reaction time was way off. She had missed the pony by a nose, and the weapon almost cracked from the impact. Sparkler looked at the pony who had come, and made a desperate sigh.

A Pegasus with a snow-white coat and a short sea-foam green mane looked at her with a confused stare. Her striking dark orange eyes showed no sign of fear, only confusion and pity. The Pegasus had a Cutie Mark in the shape of the two masks of theatre, comedy and tragedy. She opened her mouth, and Sparkler was hoping she would at least have pity on the Unicorn.

“Wow, your aim sucks”

A deadpan silence was shared amongst the two.

“NANI?!”

Sparkler’s rage-induced scream was so loud, Caramel, who was hiding miles away in the opposite direction could hear it. She grabbed the mare by the collar of the black jacket she wore. Their faces were inches away, making the Pegasus able to see her deep violet eyes.

“Now listen here, baka! You’ve got a nerve insulting me, and I hope you have your will ready, because I will MURDER your ass!”

“Says the mare who can’t even hit a trembling Pegasus right in front of her face”

When those words reverberated through Sparkler’s ears, she instantly let go of the white Pegasus and dropped to the floor. She looked at her hooves once more. Still clean, not even a single speck of blood on it. Why? She was ready to become a monster to win the Games. But now that she was in it, she found out that she was unable to do so. Just what was that thing the Royal Guards put in her?

“Hey, you’re Thespian, from the same bus as just now, right?” Sparkler said softly, only allowing the mare to hear her

“Thespian Moon, that’s me” replied the mare

“Well, don’t die” Sparkler said as she looked up with a determined expression “Because when I get my magic back, I’ll be the one to kill you!”

Seeing Sparkler finally smiling, Thespian gave a sigh of relief and helped her back onto her hooves. She was glad to have run into the mare. In her short life, maybe the best way to die was by the hooves of her newfound friend. If anything, she would make sure that her death would be quick and painless.

Thespian helped Sparkler, who was dead tired and about to fall asleep, to a nearby hidden cave and the two entered. The mare then told Sparkler that she was going to leave then, but promised to return soon. Sparkler forcefully made her promise to stay alive till then, which Thespian easily complied to. With that said and done, Thespian Moon trotted away, leaving behind a tired Sparkler with nothing but her thoughts.

How many ponies have died? She would find out soon enough. There will be a screen appearing in a few more minutes, made out of magic created by the Gamemakers. She prays that all of her friends were alright, but knew that it was pointless since they would all be dead since there could only be one survivor.

‘I’m weak’ thought Sparkler as she looked at the cracking crossbow ‘I’ll never get to kill anypony until my magic comes back, and I’ll be dead by then’

A single tear dropped onto the cold hard ground as Sparkler contemplated on her current predicament.