The Equestrian Hunger Games - Act II: Trail of Blood

Sleep deprived eyes opened up to the fake lighting created by the Gamemakers of the death match known as the Equestrian Huger Games.

Sparkler looked around, hoping to see the form of her friend nearby. Of course, that wasn’t the case. Mjolna had already told Sparkler that she was going to leave once she felt that she had trained Sparkler enough for her to survive without her powers. Still, Sparkler felt kind of lonely without her.

The training had gone for hours, leading to Sparkler only getting few precious hours of sleep. Her body was covered in bruises and blood, battle damage that Sparkler was glad to have. Though she had to admit that this was a terrible idea. She needed to make sure that she was aware of her surroundings in order to stay alive and not die any time soon.

Hearing the sound of something grumbling, Sparkler realised that she was getting hungry. Again regretting her decision of not getting a survival pack from the huge mound of items at the beginning of the death match, Sparkler decided that it was time to start looking around the area for anything that would resemble anything that is edible.

On her early run, though you could probably call it more as a random forced struggle to move around, Sparkler saw something move. It couldn’t be a pony, it was flying. Can’t be a Pegasus either, it was too small. There was only one thing that came to mind, and Sparkler was too hungry and desperate to think rationally anymore.

Sparkler dashed off, knowing fully well that wasting energy could lead to her downfall. However, she was also positive that the flying creature she saw was edible. She made a few quick turns, making sure that the shadow of the small flying creature was in view. Finally, she saw it.

It was a fruit bat, coloured to look like a fresh strawberry.

Taking out the crossbow Sparkler had strapped to her side by her scarf, Sparkler targeted the flying mammal. She knows that she had one shot at this, and time was running out. Usually, fruit bats come in a massive group, though this must be one of those rare times where one got separated from the pack.

Releasing a breath Sparkler didn’t realise she was holding, the bolt was shot.

It struck the fruit bat right in the wing. Pretty good, though not good enough. She would have usually been able to fire a bolt right between its eyes. Still, she didn’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth. Sparkler trotted over to the squirming creature and took it, knocking it on the head with a blunt stone in order to fully kill it.

With that finally done, Sparkler made a creepy smile as she sat down and got ready to eat it.

“Ittadakimasu~” Sparkler sang as she bit into the fruit bat, releasing its juicy qualities

Strange things, these fruit bats.

The sudden sound of tumbling pebbles makes Sparkler look up in surprise, knowing full well what it could mean. She bit into the bat and jumped to the side, hoping to dodge whatever was going to come her way. Luckily for her, her training with Mjolna did just the trick.

“ARGH!”

An axe was wedged right where she had stood, accompanied by a battle cry. Sparkler picked up her crossbow and aimed at the offending attacker’s location, spotting him almost instantly. He was buff and strong looking, obviously supporting the claim that this stallion was a powerhouse. Sparkler remembered seeing him as a District Nine tribute.

The earth-coloured pony jumped Sparkler, prompting the mare to fire at him. Sparkler knew she would have missed had it not been for the short range. Two bolts managed to lodge itself into the pony’s chest, making his attack cut off abruptly.

Sparkler realised her mistake too late.

The pony had stopped where his axe was left, and he took it out of the ground carelessly and raised it. With another mighty yell, the axe-wielding pony struck down, missing Sparkler by an inch. He raised the axe again and Sparkler rolled away, dodging the attack once more.

Fruit bat still in mouth, Sparkler kicked the stallion’s rear legs. The swift attack made the attacker wobble, giving Sparkler enough time to act. She delivered another kick towards the stallion’s chest and he was knocked back, his axe falling onto the ground.

Without another thought, Sparkler dropped her crossbow and jumped for the axe. Taking it with both hooves, Sparkler noticed that it was indeed heavier than she had expected. She then remembered her strength leaving her body and mentally facehoofed.

“Fuck off” was Sparkler’s short speech as she brought the axe down

The stallion seemed to have been more agile than he looked. He rolled over and managed to avoid the axe burying itself deep inside his chest. He didn’t manage to pull his right foreleg away in time, though. What happened would always imprint itself in Sparkler’s mind as her first official strike and murder.

The leg was chopped off, followed by a gush of blood staining the cavern floor. The pony screamed in pain as Sparkler raised the axe again, bringing it down with full force. Still, the stallion tried to roll away only for it to hit his back. More blood came gushing out as the stallion screamed again.

Sparkler was many things, but a sadist was none of them. She didn’t want to see the pony suffer anymore and thought it would be better if he had died right then. Compensating for the poor soul, Sparkler bit on the fruit bat in her mouth strongly and bucked the stallion in the head and watched as he and the axe slammed into the cave wall splattering it with the blood of the unknown stallion.

The body of the stallion shimmered a beautiful bright purple light and exploded in a flare, signalling his death.

Swallowing the bat in her mouth, Sparkler turned around and prepared herself. Twelve ponies were dead and twelve others remained alive, eleven of them were going to die. What she knew now was that the game had truly begun, and she needed to survive to see the end of it.

“Murder…” muttered Sparkler as thoughts of the dead stallion plagued her mind, causing her to not be able to think straight “I just murdered a pony…”