We arrived at a drawbridge in the middle of the swamp. Fog was now rolling in from every corner, making it even more difficult to see from the inside of my cage. The flickering of the torches that surrounded the drawbridge allowed a small amount of light to make its way through the slits of my cage. It was only a few hours until sunrise. "Hay!" Shouted the dog. "I've got your two new additions to the Silver Rite team right here in these cages." I heard a voice come from the other side of the bridge. The bridge was let down, the chains made a lowed clanking sound as they laid the bridge across the molt that surrounded the fortress. *SLAM!* The bridge was flat on the ground now. The dog carried us inside, mumbling to himself the entire way. It was now to dark to see from the inside of my cage. All I hear was the sound of the dogs footsteps against the cobble stone floor. As we progressed deeper into the fortress, torches began to light up the dark hallway. I could hear a more than just the footsteps now. I could hear the sound of steel being beat upon a smiths forge, fire being fed and many different voices. This had to of been it. I was in The Arena. So many thoughts running through my head were about to unravel.

      "Is that them?" said an unfamiliar voice?

     "Yup!" the dog said. "These are your two new recruits!" I was trying to get a good look at the guy that the dog was talking to. The dog then sat our cages down and flipped the locks open. The door of my cage opened up. I walked out slowly, only to find that the voice belonged to a rather large zebra. He had the basic zebra print. His mane was in a Mohawk. His entire left eye was white, the right was black. He was a horrifying sight. The room I was in, was lit completely by torches. Swords, bows, arrows axes and hammers were mounted on the walls. At the center of the room was a forge, where a unicorn stood as he forged a suit of armor. I was frozen. I began to shake, but I wasn't going to cry. No one would ever see me cry again. I had to be brave. I stood up straight, looked him in the eye and awaited his thoughts of me. "HAHA!" laughed the zebra. "You stand like a true warrior. Ready to take on anything. You will make a fine addition to our team!" I couldn't believe it. Me? A true warrior? He obviously saw something that I did not. The zebra then turned to SharpSpheres cage. He was still in it. "Is there another one in here?" asked the zebra as he put his left hoof in the cage, searching for any signs of life. He pooled SharpSphere out of his cage with great force and held him up by his mane. "Are you the other warrior that has been sent to me?" the zebra asked as he examined the small frightened unicorn. Tears were still running down Sharps face. You could see the traces of vomit around his mouth. "Wh---o.....who are you?" asked SharpSphere.

     The zebra then dropped Sharp to the floor and placed his right hoof on his chest. "I am Blood Letter!" he announced with great pride. Blood Letter was a name that suited him indeed. Sharp crawled his way over to my side. He looked up at me with dry eyes. I guess he had cried all he could. I looked back at him and smiled hoping to reassure him. This ,of course, was a failed attempt. He looked away from me and locked his sight on the hallway leading to the drawbridge. I placed my left hoof on his sholder, he then turned to me. "SharpSphere." I said. "Don't give them the satisfaction of seeing you cry." The dog then let out a laugh. "Your not going to stop that little filly from crying." the dog said as he let out a howling laugh.

     "Don't you have a payment to collect?" asked Blood Letter. The dog stopped his laughing and waved good bye to Sharp and I with the most sadistic grin on his face. "Hope you find all the answers to your questions, little filly's." said the dog as he walked into the hallway. Blood letter turned back to sharp and I. "Have you two been informed on what you are here for." asked Blood Letter. "I don't mind telling you that what you are competing in is strongly illegal. You two will be fighting side by side in The Arena. You will be out to kill! Why will you be doing this you may ask. Well its all because every pony likes a good fight to place bets on. The thought of young colts and filly's killing each other makes it more exciting, don't you think?"

  Killing each other? That's what me and Sharp are supposed to do? Kill? I couldn't kill another pony who was just as scared as I was. Blood letter then turned to the smith. "Measure them!" he shouted. The smith dropped his hammer and walked over to us. He didn't do as much measuring as he did staring. He just walked around us a few times and then went back to his forge. "What the hell was that about?" I asked as I turned to sharp. Sharp was still frozen at the moment. "Huhhhh, such vulgarity!" said Blood Letter. He then turned back to the smith. "How long will it take?"

    "Maybe until noon." said the smith. "It will be ready before the first battle though." Blood Letter simply shook his head with delight and walked out into the hallway. I looked back at Sharp. He seemed to be calming down. "Sharp, are you okay?" I asked. He didn't answer. "Listen, I will be by your side. I'm not gonna let anything bad happen. I'll make sure we make it out of here without having to kill any pony.

ShapSphere flashed a quick smile at me. Then I noticed something. Sharp was a blank flank. He had no cutie mark. This made me angry. A young unicorn taken away from his home just before he could figure out his calling. I didn't mention anything about it to him. It might have upset him. I then looked back at my flank and stared at the unknown mark. What did it mean? Why couldn't I understand it?

Maybe some pony there knew. I wasn't sure what was going to happen next. But let me tell ya. It made a huge difference in my life.