Tronanon 5

>You are anonymous.exe, and you are being prepped for the games.
>You know you'll probably die here, but you'll die giving Twilight a chance to escape. Maybe when she makes it out she can find Sam Flynn and this entire mess can be done and over with.
>It's funny. Here you are making plans in your head and you haven't even got out to the arena yet.
>You eye Twilight and give a smile.
"I'm sure you can handle a one on one fight."
>She nods.
"Alright, I'll help you out when we get to the light cycles then."
>"Light cycles?"
"You'll see."
>Before she can speak again the floor gives out from under you and starts to ascend.
>Within moments the roof starts to open, and you are greeted with the roar of a crowd. Several more rooms like yours have ascended to ground level in the arena, and they each hold a handful of 'contestants'.
>Most of them look scared out of their wits, but some of them look vacant, as if they have resigned to their fate.
>Either that, or they are very basic programs, in which case they won't be lasting long anyways.
>Twilight is one of the ones that looks worried.
"Hey."
>She looks up at you. If you had a heart it would twinge at the look she's giving you.
>She looks helpless.
"You're a tough girl, you'll be fine. Half these guys are chumps."
>She takes a deep breath and nods.
"Bide your time until we get to the light cycle round. We'll go from there, okay?"
>Another nod.
"You ready for this?"
>You toss her a smile, and she returns it, "Yes."
>Her tone is a lot more confident now, and she looks like she's feeling better after your little pep talk.
>Without warning the contestants are split away from each other.
>You platform is split in twain and Twilight is pulled away from you.
>You give her a firm nod as you're both lifted higher.
>Above the arena data starts to form.
>The cheers are loud enough to drown out anything and everything.
>The data forming is complete, and there are now several match areas in the shape of bubbles above all of you, a floor running through the center of each of them.
>The platforms stop and translucent stairs are formed leading to the bubbles.
>Yours and Twilight's bubbles are next to each other.
>You hear the cheering stop, and look down.
>On a podium in the center of the arena stands a single program in a white robe. You can't make out his face from so high up.
>Then, you hear something.
>It's a chant.
>"Trell... Trell... Trell..."
>It starts as a small thing, slowly building.
>"Trell! Trell! Trell!"
>Then it becomes a deafening roar, much like the one you heard before.
>"TRELL! TRELL! TRELL!"
>The man holds up his arms. All is silent.
>"Let the games... BEGIN!"
>And the crowd goes wild.
>You take position in your bubble. Across from you stands a program dressed in an orange light suit, a dark helmet on.
>He's faceless as far as you can tell, probably written for Arena purposes only.
>That means he'll be a strong opponent.
>You look at your neighboring bubble and see Twilight standing across from an opponent much like yours.
>You decide to make this quick.
>You pull the disk from your back and toss it while running towards your enemy.
>He sidesteps and tosses his disk as well.
>It nicks your arm, but it's not enough to derez you.
>You move with purpose, tackling him to the ground and caving his helmet in with your fists.
>After a moment of getting wailed on he reverses your hold and pins you on the ground with an arm around your neck.
>You don't know how he got it back, but he's holding his disk to your throat.
>You swear you hear him laugh.
>You give it all you've got and roll to the side.
>He tries to outmaneuver you, but you've already broken free and you're running for your disk.
>You hear the whoosh of air when he tosses his disk at your back.

>You are Twilight Sparkle, and you hope you and Anonymous survive this.
>There are still so many questions, so much research to be done.
>You promised you would help him, and you haven't even introduced him to your friends yet.
>You are a mare of your word, and your plan is to get out of here alive.
>Even if it means derezzing the program across from you.
>It didn't look intelligent or self-aware anyways.
>Not like the other programs, and DEFINITELY not like Anon.
>Your orange opponent is the first to move, tossing his disk right at you.
>Your horn glows and it stops an inch from your face, surrounded in a purple aura.
>The program tilts its head in confusion.
>It's obviously never seen anything like this before.
>You can hear the crowd going absolutely batshit.
>Neither have they, apparently.
>Still, no one stops you, so it must not be against the rules.
>Your own disk floats from your back and you let your opponent's clatter to the ground before kicking it over to him.
>Oh yeah, your THAT confident.
>He picks it up and stares at you for what seems like an eternity.
>Then you move, whipping out your disk in a wide arc just as he tosses his.
>You duck the attack and he moves to block, but you've already changed the trajectory of your disk.
>It cuts his arm off, but doesn't derez him.
>He goes fucking ballistic and charges you, making some sort of screeching noise interspersed with what sounds like corrupted sound data.
>You whip the disk again to put him out of his misery.

>You are anonymous.exe.
>You duck down when you hear the disk, barely causing it to miss.
>You finally reach your disk and pick it up, whirling back around and tossing it right at your enemy.
>It slams into his chest and he derezzes.
>You look over and see Twilight has already dispatched hers as well.
>Tough mare.
>She locks gazes with you and you give her a smile.
>She hesitantly returns it.
>In the next moment the bubbles you occupy start to move and the crowd gets even louder.
>The program in the white robe, Trell, raises his arms and screams, "The elimination round is over! Now... we will see if the convicted programs can last against the best light cycle programs we have!"
>The cheering is now interspersed with stomping and clapping.
>As the bubbles are floated further and further away from each other they begin to descend to the ground level of the arena.
>The bubbles dissipate, and the floors of them merge with the floor they have descended to.
>Guards come out of nowhere and ushur you all together as Trell takes his leave.
>The remaining programs are put into a long line. It appears there are about ten of you, including you and Twilight.
>By some stroke of luck you end up next to Twilight.
>You don't know how the hell she's going to do the light cycles, she's only half as large as you are, and she has no fingers.
>Just as you are about to speak up a guard approaches her.
>"USER, STATE YOUR NATURE."
>She looks confused, "Um... I'm a pony."
>The guard kneels down to her and holds out a light cycle stick.
>She holds a hoof out and takes it.
>You don't know how the hell she's able to grip without fingers, but she does it.
>"LIGHT CYCLE MODIFIED."
>The guard then proceeds down the line, handing each of you a stick as he goes.
>When it's over you can't help but laugh at the absurdity of all this.
>You never planned on dying like this, but here you are ready to sacrifice yourself for someone you barely even know.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmKDVvIEhBY
>You look down at Twilight, and she smiles at you.
>You decide that it's worth it just as a voice booms throughout the arena.
>"BEGIN!"
>Everyone leaps into the air, activating their light cycles and riding off in random directions.
>No sense of cohesion or teamwork among the convicted programs.
>It's why they always lose, and it's why you'll be able to get Twilight out of here.
>Twilight's cycle stick floats in front of her. Her hooves leave the ground as she begins to levitate.
>The cycle forms around her.
>It's different from the others, still blue, but there is no traditional throttle.
>Her front hooves are tucked into the cycle, out of sight.
>The throttle was probably changed so she could operate it.
>She's off just like the rest.
>You're not too far behind her when your own light cycle forms.
>After a moment you activate the trail.
>The blue trail that these bikes leave is tantamount to a wall.
>It is your only weapon, your defense and your offense.
>Twilight catches on quickly, and you see a trail coming from the rear of her bike as well.
>The peace only lasts for a moment.
>You see them just as the crowd starts to lose their shit again.
>Orange light cycles, flanking the programs that had gone off to die on their own.
>You don't know how many of them they are, but you're not getting sucked into their games.
>You pull up side by side with Twilight.
"Twilight! If we're gonna beat these guys we have to work together!"
>She nods.
>You stay side by side until you reach the edge of the arena, and then pull off from each other.
>Not too far from you there's two orange guys on either side of some unlucky schmuck.
>The orange cycle on the left pulls off, and the one on the right accelerates ahead and pulls a hard left, causing the program to collide with the wall and get his face smashed into the ground.
>The one that pulled away starts moving towards you.
>Ahead of you, you see a small ramp leading down to the lower level of the arena.
>You take it just as the orange cycle gets on your ass.
>He thinks he has you when he catches up and pulls ahead.
>Suddenly Twilight out of fucking nowhere.
>She's coming straight for your harasser, and just as he notices her she pulls a one-eighty and he slams into the trail she left behind, derezzing as he hits the ground.
>You grin.
>One down.
>You can see the accused programs managed to take down a couple of the oranges in your absence, but there's about four less guys on your side now.
>Things aren't looking pretty.
>Twilight pulls up to your side and you both charge at your next target, a lone orange cycle heading after a program who looks like he's panicking and can't control his bike.
>"Anon, I've got an idea!"
"I'm all ears!"
>Her horn starts to glow, and the orange bike suddenly jerks right into the trail of the bike it's following.
>Two down.
"Oh now that's just cheating!"
>"I can only do it once. I'm magically exhausted, moving other people around isn't easy!"
>You nod.
>It seems like there's only a couple of the blue guys left, and around five oranges.
>It's time to put your plan into action.
>You pull away from Twilight and head towards a group of three orange cycles riding side by side.
>"Where are you going?!"
>You try to ignore how worried she sounds.
>As you approach them they turn their attention towards you.
>You start heading towards the wall of the arena with no seats; it just leads straight out into the south city.
>All three of them are on your ass now.
>You think you hear Twilight shouting, but you can't quite be sure from this far away.
>You deactivate your trail and stop just short of the wall, spinning around and hitting the brakes to face your enemies.
>They're approaching fast.
>You pull the disk from your back and grin before tossing it under the front wheel of the left most bike.
>The bike topples towards you, and his buddies are still charging you.
>The way they're going there'll be a nice big hole for Twilight to escape through, and no more anonymous.

>"ANON!"

>You close your eyes, and try to picture the outside world one last time.