Pony Royale

Chapter 8

Caramel froze when he heard the sounds of an approaching pony up ahead. He or she must have been no more than a hundred meters uphill from where Caramel stood now. Mistake number one: Caramel hadn't planned on letting his opponent have the uphill advantage, but then again he'd never let that beat him before. Caramel could feel the temperature dropping as he sunk down to the ground, pressing his chest into the dirt. He tried to make out where his opponent was descending the hill, but this pony was a master of stealth. He heard a rustling sound, and the slightest flapping of wings, but neither leaf nor branch ever budged an inch under the pale moonlight.

Caramel began to inch his way up the hill. He knew it was important to close the distance between himself and his opponent. Another stale mate at the end of a sniper rifle was not what we had in mind. He took care to be as equally invisible as his opponent, making sure to stay in the shadows and out of the moonlight as he continued up the hill.

Why did you do it, Caramel? Why didn't you save them?

Perhaps it was just what happened whenever Caramel lost focus. Or perhaps he did it to punish himself. Or perhaps he was just psychotic. Point was, the voice inside his head was nothing new. It-she-had been there since the day Caramel won the game. Caramel liked to think she was the love of his life, the perfect pony he was going to spend the rest of his life with, though perhaps also not. Either way, to go with the voice he often envisioned a perfectly goddess-like female pony, looking down on him from above in a condescending manner. She'd scrutinize him, torture him with prodding questions about his past. Mainly they had to do with the game, but not always.

So perhaps Caramel had chosen this moment to punish himself, or maybe he'd just lost focus. But for whatever reason, she was back. It startled Caramel, as it was the first visit he'd gotten from her in several days. He gasped. It wasn't a very loud gasp at all-he was never one for dramatic movements- but it was the exhale that presented a problem. What he didn't notice at the time, or more likely didn't ever notice, was the immediate proximity of his head to the edge of the shadow he was currently crouched inside. As Caramel released the air from his lungs, it condensed into a small cloud of mist in the cool night air, floating out from under the shadows and into the unforgiving moonlight.

And she-the voice- was gone again, just as quickly as she had appeared. No matter, Caramel had already blown his cover. Caramel's hearing went away for a moment as his ears were filled with a mind-numbingly loud bang, while at the same time a large projectile buried itself in the ground just inches from his nose. The bullet threw up a massive column of dirt and pine needles, all of it landing in Caramel's face. He rolled, trying desperately to find some better cover. The sniper fired again, and this time they didn't miss.

Caramel's sight shrank to tunnel vision as he gasped once more, this time in shock. The bullet had buried itself into the right side of his lower back. As painful as it may be, it was still only a flesh wound. He finally made it behind a rock where he had time to catch his breath. The sniper continued to fire, and two more bullets chipped away at his rock.

Caramel closed his eyes, and tried to focus. He had to win. There was no other option for him. He knew he'd blown it so far, but there must be another way out of this. What weapons did he have? A knife, a pistol, and a shotgun, is that right? The pain from his bullet wound was making it hard to think. The sniper rifle banged again and another bullet shattered upon his rock. Caramel's only hope was to somehow get closer to his assailant. He peered around the side of his rock, and to his dismay he saw nothing but grass and underbrush all the way up the hillside.

But before he could make his move, another bullet ate it's way into the side of his stomach. No more than two inches of his abdomen had been exposed, and for no more than a fraction of a second, yet he still managed to get himself hit.

Caramel slumped against the rock. He was finding it harder to breathe. He began to feel blood pooling up in his mouth, and the idea of getting up again was suddenly extremely unappetizing. He was choking now, and his eyelids were growing heavy. He knew what this was. He was going to die here on this rock, and there was nothing he could do about it. The sniper gunfire had finally subsided, and Caramel was finding it easier to rest as he let himself bleed out.

Twilight had to do something, though she was not yet sure what exactly. She wanted more than anything to find Caramel. She wanted him to tell her why he left, and how everything was going to be okay.

But that's the thing, isn't it? she thought to herself. Everything wasn't going to be okay. Only one of them could survive, and it would be and extreme stroke of luck if either her or Caramel won. The idea that Caramel would have to die for Twilight to win scared her deeply, almost more than its inverse. There's no way out, is there?

Twilight finally stood up for the first time in over an hour. Her joints were stiff and creaky. It was something in the stress of this game that made her sleep so deeply. And it was the deep sleep that had resulted in her abandonment. It was the way one thing led to another in this game that unnerved Twilight the most. Like a trail of unrelenting dominoes, the rules of action and reaction governed this place more than anywhere else she'd ever been. Lose your guard and you get attacked, try to talk peace and you get killed, fall asleep and you get abandoned.

She continued up the side of the creek, taking care not to lose her balance in the moonlight. It was eerie at night on the island. There were no chirping crickets or owls hooting into the darkness, just the ominous barely half-lit forest and its lifeless silence. It was something Twilight hadn't noticed the first night. The longer she sat there and listened-really listened-for something, anything at all, the more she realized that there was nothing left on this island but death.

BANG! Another firefight cut its through the silence, just like it had so many times before. But this time it was different. Caramel could be in there. Twilight collapsed to the ground and covered her ears. Every gunshot could mean Caramel's last breath. She couldn't stand hearing every single one of them.

"Caramel, please," she said to herself in nothing more than a murmur. Her words were distorted by snot and tears. "Come back."

But why did she care so much about Caramel? No doubt, most of her friends were dead by now, but she'd managed to maintain her composure through it all. She hated herself for caring more about a pony she barely knew than her friends, whom were her dearest companions for the last several months. She couldn't stand it, the way she put her own lust over kindness, generosity, honesty, loyalty, optimism, and everything else her friends stood for.

"Now now, Twilight. There's no reason to weep for a death that isn't yours." Twilight jumped, and turned around. There, standing behind her, was Trixie, holding a massive gun and grinning wildly.

Gun and grin aside, Trixie looked like total shit. Her face was mangled and bruised, and had feint hoof-marks printed all across it. Her mane was bloody and matted. Her coat had taken on a shade of dark purple, the resulting mixture of blood and her coat's natural blue color.

"You'll soon be dead yourself, Twilight. Though I wouldn't count on your departure being too brisk, so I'd cancel any appointments if your planning on being somewhere in the next few hours." Trixie raised her gun.

Fluttershy blinked her aiming eye a few times as she brought it back into focus with the rest of the forest. She'd done it! She'd stood on her own, and killed somepony without his assistance(she'd taken to calling the mysterious character in her head "him"). For the millionth time she repacked her rifle, and began to descend the hill to collect whatever weapons Caramel may have had.

As she carefully picked her way down the hillside - didn't want to screw up here, now did she? - Fluttershy thought of the remaining ponies. She could tell that there weren't many left, if only by the eerie cold that was descending upon the island. Well, that and the fact that she had been quite busy herself. She naturally assumed most other ponies would be just as busy as her. The idea of finally winning the game made her giddy.

Fluttershy finally made it down to the blood-drenched boulder, where a blood-drenched Caramel lay lifeless at its side. His pack sat next to his body, only moderately covered in blood. She calmly approached it, her mind set on whatever weapons lay waiting for her inside.

Fluttershy's ears were ringing. Something had happened to her that she didn't yet understand. She looked down. Her stomach was red with the blood that protruded from a thousand pebble-sized holes in her skin. Beyond that she saw the mussel of a shotgun, only inches away from the wound. Holding the gun was a very much alive Caramel.

She should have noticed that Caramel's hoof was resting inside his pack. She should have noticed the tiny rising and falling motions that could be seen ever so slightly in Caramel's chest. She should have noticed the fact that a major artery of Caramel's hadn't in fact been hit, meaning he was probably still alive. There were a thousand things Fluttershy could have noticed, but now it was too late.

Caramel pumped his gun and fired again, this time into Fluttershy's lower chest. She fell back, into the dirt. Looking up, she could see the stars, though blurred by blood and tears.

What's wrong with you, Fluttershy? When did you become so angry? When did you become wrath?

Fluttershy can remember sitting next to Discord in the forest. They didn't talk much in the early days. Back then, they just sat there and picked flowers. Fluttershy truly believed Discord had been reformed. She truly believed in an Equestria with peace and harmony. She even believed in her friends.

Fluttershy can remember meeting Discord. The other ponies, they hated him, but Fluttershy couldn't stop giving him second chances. She can't remember why now, but she knew right away that she wanted to befriend Discord.

Even farther back, Fluttershy can remember the first time she ever lay eyes on him. His tall, scaly back with his long, mismatched arms, he was such a frightening creature. Back then he was a tyrant, reeking anarchy all across Equestria, yet at the same time a small figure in a stained glass picture. She could swear that when he looked right at her, she could feel his eyes draining her soul away.

When did Fluttershy become who she was? It may have always been a part of her, since the day she was born. Lurking in the back of her mind, in her dreams.

Funny things, dreams are. Fluttershy could only hope she was in one now.

Caramel pumped his shotgun with great effort, and leaned forward. He positioned the mussel inside Fluttershy's mouth, and fired one last time.

He dropped his gun, and fell back onto the ground. He didn't even bother to look at the body one last time. "I'm not dead yet, you stupid bitch," he said, perhaps more for himself than the late Fluttershy.

Caramel coughed, blood seeping out of his mouth and dripping down his cheek. So easy now to just let go. He could finally be at peace. He could finally pay for what he did.

He was about to slip into oblivion when the sound of more gunfire came to his attention. This was a different gun though. One that had yet to be used in this game, for sure. It fired... faster. Come to think of it, it fired almost exactly like the gun the mysterious pony in the classroom had. It wasn't too far away, too. Caramel had hoped and prayed that there was only one sociopath in this game. Now he felt fear once more. He feared for Twilight, perhaps the only sane pony left.

Water in the creek had, over time, swept any soil and sediment into the ocean, leaving nothing but pebbles and boulders behind. At the current moment, the creek was at a relatively low water stage, rendering many of it's unearthed boulders high and dry.

It was these boulders that provided the cover Twilight needed for survival from the onslaught of Trixie's machine gun. The constant bombardment of bullets took quite the toll on the once smooth surface of the boulders, but held fast and kept Twilight safe from being torn into bloody little pieces. Had Twilight not dove for the boulders the exact moment she did, she would be either dead or seriously maimed, though probably the latter considering Trixie's previous threat.

Twilight knew she wouldn't be safe where she was for very long. She crouched down with her head next to her hooves, and began to crawl through the maze of boulders in an attempt to escape the gunfire. Trixie began to slowly approach Twilight, trying to get a better angle to shoot at her from.

What do I do? Twilight thought, there's no way I can fight back with that gun. But she knew she had to. She withdrew the pistol from her pack. She has to run out of bullets sometime.

At last, Trixie stopped firing her gun, and Twilight was ready. She sprung up from behind her rock, and unloaded ten rounds in Trixie's direction. She would have fired more, but it just clicked after that.

Trixie grunted in agony. A bullet had just pierced her right foreleg just above the ankle. Even more impressively, she'd managed to reload her gun in that time. She pointed it back at Twilight, and began firing again, limping ever closer to her position.

Twilight needed desperately to move, but there was a gap in the rocks up ahead. A sliver of moonlight was shining though, maybe only a foot wide. She decided to take her chances. She sprinted straight across the gap, literally running as fast as she could go.

When she got to the other side, a wave of pain pulsed through her left shoulder. She felt warm blood descending her left forearm. She fought hard not to scream in pain. This can't be happening, she thought, I can't die here. She had to think. What was it that helped her the first time? The thoughts in her mind were being reset with ever throb of her shoulder. Magic, that's right.

Twilight focused on the boulder she'd just run out from behind, carefully dislodging it from it's position in the ground. It rose, and flew sort of in the direction of Trixie's position. Trixie stopped firing for a moment, as if realizing a change in the game. Twilight heard the machine gun thud to the ground.

"I see how it is," Trixie yelled. Her voice was rough and shaky, weakened by hatred and excitement. "You think you're still better that me at magic. I think you're wrong." Suddenly, every boulder in a ten-foot stretch of the creek receded to the banks, leaving behind nothing but Trixie, Twilight, and a new smoother path for the creek. "Let's find out."

A boulder from the receding piles suddenly flew at Twilight, but she was ready. It shattered inches from her face, and the pieces, one by one, shot towards Trixie. Trixie grimaced in concentration, just barely deflecting them all. Twilight then began to hear Celestia's voice in her head, recollections from past lessons. Don't ever, under any circumstances, use magic to directly harm other ponies.

They began to limp towards each other, stumbling on the loose gravel. They finally met, face to face, no more than six feet apart, along side the running water of the creek.

Trixie, not wasting any time, shot a blast of fire from the tip of her horn. Twilight quickly snatched water from from the creek to use as a shield, and just barely escaped being engulfed in fire. Don't ever try to manipulate fickle materials like fire and water, Twilight. Things that are constantly changing are extremely dangerous when being handled with magic. Doing so will almost always result in the injury of the ponies around you. Twilight, are you listening to me? To counter, Twilight concentrated directly on Trixie, pushing backwards, with intent on smashing her against the rocks piled against the banks. Trixie stopped less than halfway there, and began to push back with her own magic. Twilight felt her hooves begin to slide as she felt Trixie's opposing force. Don't ever apply direct magical force against that of another unicorn's. In year's past, many have tried it, and it always ended in the severe injury of at least one participant. Twilight, please pay attention! Twilight concentrated with every fiber of her being to push Trixie back. But Trixie suddenly received a surge of energy, and pulsed her force back much harder. Twilight flew off the ground and across the cleared area, thudding against a large boulder that was still in place. Twilight tried to get up, but her head was spinning. Suddenly, Trixie was on top of her, grinning maniacally. Twilight saw two of Trixie, though one was fading in and out of focus.

"I'd like to give you something, Twilight," Trixie said, her fore hoof down the upper part of Twilight's right hind leg, "it might remind you of something you've felt before, but let me assure you, it's quite different indeed. In fact, you probably won't enjoy it, but I will."

One last thing, Twilight. Do not ever, under any circumstance -and I mean none at all- allow another unicorn to penetrate you with their horn. Such an act is mind-altering and is forbidden everywhere in Equestria. Twilight! Have you been paying attention at all this whole time? Trixie's head disappeared out of the bottom part of her vision.

"Please, Trixie. Can't you just kill me?" Twilight begged.

"Now, Twilight. Please just be pacient," said Trixie.

After that she stopped talking. Her hoof disappeared from Twilight's leg, and for a moment it was as if Trixie had completely vanished. But then, Twilight felt it. A deep, intruding feeling. Trixie's horn was thrust deep inside Twilight's marehood. Twilight gasped in disbelief. She squirmed, tried desperately to escape the intrusion, but Trixie's hooves tightly grasped Twilight's waist, refusing to let her budge. Trixie pulled back a moment, then pushed deeper. Twilight finally screamed, tears streaming down her face. Trixie finally pulled out, and came back into Twilight's field of view. Trixie's horn was wet.

She had a rather matter-of-fact look on her face. "No, I guess you didn't like it, did you?"

"Kill me," Twilight begged. Her body was quivering, and with every breath she emitted a faint whimper.

"Wait one sec," said Trixie, and she disappeared from view again. Trixie thrust inward once more, but this time in a different spot. Twilight shrieked as pain shot through her rectum. Trixie thrust again, this time twisting. With each thrust, Twilight felt her very soul drain away.

Don't go like this, she said to herself. But what choice did she have? She could still use magic, couldn't she?

Just before Trixie went in for another push, the boulder above Twilight lifted off the ground and floated over Trixie without her noticing it. One second later, the boulder landed onto Trixie's lower half. Trixie's horn jerked in disbelief, and Twilight screamed and squirmed to escape. Trixie's hooves still held fast, but Twilight noticed a hoof-sized rock positioned just above her head. Twilight picked it up in her hoof, leaned forward, and struck Trixie on the head with it. She still wouldn't let go. Twilight shrieked and hit her again, but she still wouldn't let go. Twilight took the rock, and began repeatedly bashing Trixie's skull with the rock.

"LET-GO-OF-ME-YOU-MOTHER-FUCKING-BITCH!" she screamed. Trxie finally went limp. Twilight hurriedly squirmed her way off of Trixie's horn. Once off, she lay back on the ground, panting and whimpering.

2 ponies remaining.