The Equestria Games

The Equestria GamesA crossover, by PrismaticsDISCLAIMER: I do not own MLP, or The Hunger Games- You know what? Screw this. Just read the goddam story. People don't care about this. Oh what? Gonna cut off my author's note, author? You can go kiss my-

A freezing cold gust of air brings Azure from her peaceful slumber. She rubs her eyes, her normally cheerful demeanor replaced with a fearful look that comes on the most despised day of the year.

Reaping Day.

She staggers her way into the second room of her small house. It's a multipurpose room, used for dining, cooking and washing. She shakily grabs a carrot out of her icebox; she couldn't afford a fridge.

"Might as well get it over with." She shrugs. "I'm only in 8 times this year. The odds ARE in my favour."

Grabbing her scarf, Azure heads out the door towards the forest. Nopony else left the borders of the District, as most thought the electric fence was active. Azure knew better. 12 only got electricity in short spurts, if anything at all. This includes the fence, apparantly. Slipping through her usual spot, Azure crosses over to the everfree forest. She's heading out to meet somepony, somepony she hasn't seen in a while. The reapings are always in the evening, so she's got plenty of time to meet this pony, then get back before the names are called.

Reaping day is the 'opening ceremonies' to one of the most brutal events known to pony. The Hunger Games. Every year, the Capitol forces one colt and one filly from each of the twelve Districts to be locked in an arena, where they fight to the death until only one remains. Some of the luxury districts, like 1 and 2, train their tributes to fight and kill. But most of the other ponies in the outlying Districts just shut their eyes and pray that they aren't picked.

The last victor District 12 had was several years ago, when Twilight Sparkle created an IED out of sap, gunpowder, and metal shavings. Killed 5 tributes in the blast. Apparantly she read the recipe in some sort of book.

Azure reaches the clearing where she was going to meet her old friend, Jilly Joke. Those two have been meeting with eachother since Azure's very first reaping day 4 years ago.

Entering the clearing where they had always met up, the smell of burning dung overpowers Azure, forcing her to cover her nose in disgust.

"Oh my goodness, what is that smell?" She coughs. The scent is a barrage on her nostrils, an ever-present cloud of disgust.

"That, my friend, is the smell of a failed prank." A voice from behind Azure says. Whipping around, Azure finds herself face to face with her only friend she's ever had, Jilly Joke.

"What did you do?" Azure asks, still covering her nose. Jilly does not seem to be affected, but with her knowledge of plants, she could easily find one that eliminates her sense of smell for a bit.

"I tried creating a harmless explosive. Just noise, smoke, and... well, smell." She laughs. "Now come on, why did you want to meet here?"

"You know why. We always meet here before I go to the reaping. Also, I ran out of those flowers that smell like chocolate." Azure adds sheepishly.

Jilly goes over to some sort of garden, and plucks some brown, chocolate scented flowers before replying. "Well, looks like I'm going to the reaping this year. Capitol idiots finally put their foot down. They said I could keep this cabin and live out here, but I still have to participate in the yearly reapings." She chuckles. "I think the only reason they let me stay here is because of Frost." She lets out a shrill whistle, and a loud thumping can be heard in the other room.

A grey wolf, almost the size of a full grown pony, trots into the room, his tail wagging furiously. He makes his way over to Jilly, and she begins stroking him and rubbing his belly.

"Who's a good timber wolf? You are. You are!"

"So anyways," Azure clears her throat. "I just wanted to wish you good luck, and I wanted to say goodbye, in case this is the last time we meet."

"Uh huh, but I don't think it will be the last time." She looks at Azure enigmatically. "It may be the last time in the clearing, but we will meet again."

"How do you know?"

Jilly smiles, and does the closest thing a pony can do to shrugging. "No clue, I think I might have eaten the wrong flower."

"Well, I just wanted to say that, so now I guess I'll leave."

"So soon? The kettle hasn't even started steaming." Just then, the kettle that was recently spoke of, began steaming. "I'll go get that."

A few moments later, Jilly comes back carrying two mugs with some fruity smelling, hot liquid. Both sit in silence as they savour their beverages together.

Jilly looks up at the sun, then turns to her friend. "I think it might be time for you to go."

"I guess, thanks for the tea." Azure replies. Placing the flowers in her saddlepack, she heads off towards the fence of District 12.

* * *

As she nears the fence, Azure begins to hear a faint buzzing sound, like a bee flying around beside you. When she gets beside the barb-wire fence, the buzzing becomes louder, almost as if it's coming from the fence itself.

"Oh, buck." Azure says to herself. "It's on."

Alright, so how am I going to get across without getting electrocuted. She asks herself.

She attempts to dig under it. It doesn't work. She tries climbing a nearby tree and jumping off. She lands so close to the fence she can feel the electricity radiating off of it. Not the best feeling.

Throwing it into one last throw of the dice, she manages to find a hole in the fence barely wide enough for her to fit, but small enough that one wrong move delivers a fatal dose of electricity. Carefully manoeuvreing herself through the tiny gap, she manages to cross with only a light shock, when her tail catches on a wire.

"That could have been fatal." She says, staring at the blackened part of her otherwise aqua-green tail. She then gallops off to the square, just as the warning sirens begin to sound.

* * *

The reaping is pretty straightforward. You go to a desk, where a pony pricks your hoof, and puts the blood sample into the computer, then sends you to a sectioned off area, where you are grouped together with other ponies your age. After that, comes much boring stuff, which Azure is pretty sure was strategically designed to force you to feel an immense sense of anxiety. Then the name drawings, and nopony knows what happens after that, as 12 has only ever had one victor, and she secludes herself for most of the year.

Azure has just finished giving the blood sample, and is now standing in her designated age group. The group has a collective feeling of fear radiating from it, and for very good reasons. District 12 has the highest Hunger Games mortality rate, followed by 10, which has only had 2 victors. 1,2, and 4 however, have a very low mortality rate, as they almost always win the games. They have, over the years, been accused of training their tributes to fight at special Hunger Games acadamies, which is against the rules. The Capitol doesn't seem to mind, as it gives them a good show to watch.

A bubbly pink pony hops up to the stage, babbling something about what an honour it is to be here, and cupcakes. "Hello everypony! My names Pinkie Pie, and I'm here today to choose which of you lucky ponies will have the honour of representing your District in this years Hunger Games! But first, we have short video for you guys! Yay!"

They show the same video every year, an old propoganda film from 40 or so years ago. It shows footage of the war, and the signing of the Treaty of Treason. There's a monotone announcer talking about how this treaty unified out country, and relations have been better since. Nopony actaully falls for this film, as even the dumbest of ponies can understand how idiotic the Capitol can be at times.

"Now, in a break from tradition, we will be selecting from the colts drum first!" Pinkie says in her trademark high-pitched Capitol accent. She bounces her way over to a large glass ball, filled with thousands of paper slips. There are only about 400 ponies eligible for the Games, but for every year you are in the pool, you gain an extra slip. But here's the catch. Say you are starving, poor, and only barely surviving. You can elect to sign for tessarae, which is hardly a years worth of grain and oil. You can do this for every memeber of your family as well. Now Azure, who lives on her own after her parents died in a fire, and her other brother was killed in the games, only needs tessarae for herself, has 8 slips. She has been in the pool for 4 years, and has been getting tessarae for the same amount.

Pinkie opens the cap for the glass drum, and sticks her head inside and thrashes around very violently for several minutes. When she finally pulls a slip out, she appears not tired at all after the whole ordeal, and in fact looks more rested than she did before selecting the envelope. She tears open the envelope and reads the name in a loud voice that nopony her size should be capible of.

"Ice Shard." A visible wave of relief washes over the colts section, except for one small, ice blue, foal. He slowly makes his way up to the stage, his blue tail dragging on the ground, when an unexpected voice calls out.

"I volunteer as tribute!" Everypony, other than the small foal, looks for the source of the sudden outburst. The foal, on the other hoof, begins to tear up as his older brother lightly pushes him out of the way to reach the stage. The stallion is much taller than his younger brother, and stronger. His mane is pure, straight white. His coat is light cyan, which looks well groomed for a pony of District 12. Grooming is the least of worries most ponies out here have.

The stallion whispers something to his brother, causing him to cry louder. Then he walks up to the stage to stand by Pinkie, who is actually shocked by something for once.

"Well! It looks like we have a volunteer. Wonderful! Nothing like sibling love! This calls for a party!" She looks towards the mayor, and seems disheartened when he shakes his head. "Or maybe later..."

She walks up to the stallion and shakes his hoof madly. "What's your name? Oh, let me guess! Braveheart? Cheerio? Snowball? That-one-pony-that-volunteered-for-his-younger-brother?"

"It's Snowy. Snowy Mountain." He says, barely audible.

"Ok, Snowy Snowy Mountain. I wish you the best of luck." She swings around to face the crowd. "Woah, isn't this tense? Well, moving on! Now for the fillies."

She makes her way over to the second drum, and rustles around for yet another few minutes. While she is doing this, Azure can't help but think about her brother. He volunteered for his best friend, the only person to ever do so in any District. It drove Azure to the brink of insanity for a long time when the very next year his friend was chosen as tribute.

"I miss you, brother." She whispers to herself.

* * *6 Years Earlier.

"Azure, come on." The stallion is trying to drag the blue filly out the door. "It's just another reaping. I'm only in 10 times. Out of thousands."

"No! I don't wanna go... I wanna stay home."

"You can't. You have to come." He starts pulling again. "Don't make me use my horn."

She squeals in fear. "No! It tickles!"

The stallion laughs, already starting to charge up his magic. "Alright, then come on. Trust me, nothing bad will happen."

"Do you promise?" Azure asks, wide-eyed.

He nods. "I promise."

She stops resisting, and hops on his back. He gallops to the town center, which was in the process of being rebuilt after a tornado ripped straight through. He sets her down with his friends mother, a kind and tender pony, who is still scarred at the loss of her daughter a few years back.

After the usual video and propoganda is finished, a well-known pink pony bounces on to the stage, forcefully ripping the mic from its stand. "Hiya everypony! Whose ready for some fun?!" Silence. "Wow, nopony wants some fun?" More silence. "You guys are laaame. Let's just get this over with. Fillies first!" She crosses over to the infamous glass ball, at quickly plucks a name from the top. She tears open the envelope with her teeth, and reads the name out, her high-pitched voice almost a scream over the speakers.

"Candy Corn."

A loud shriek materializes from somewhere in the younger, female zone. An orange and yellow pegasus is being dragged up to the stage by two stallions in white. The filly is kicking and flailing furiously, screaming the entire time. She is set down on the stage, where she huddles into a ball, crying.

The hyper pink pony is completly unfazed by the display of emotion, and continues on. "Now, for the colts." This time she reaches in and roots around for a while before pulling the uniform white envelope out. She opens it up, and reads the unlucky males name out.

"Spark Plug."

"NOOOO!!!!" A voice calls out, but it isn't from the green unicorn that's making his way up to the stage. Azure recognizes the voice. It's from her brother.

"I volunteer! I volunteer as a tribute!" The same voice calls out. This time, it was Azure's turn to cry out.

"NO! Pyro! Please!" She screams, breaking away from another mares grasp. She runs to hm as fast as she can, and throws her forelegs around him. "No! You can't go, don't leave me!"

He looks down at her. His eyes have changed from their normally cheerful gleam, into a pair of deranged, bloodshot eyes. His mind was broken.

And two weeks later, so was his body.

* * *Present Day

Azure snaps back to attention, suddenly aware that everypony around her is staring.

"What?" She asks, with much more venom then intended.

Another filly, a grey one with a red mane, points towards the stage, where Pinkie Pie and the mayor are staring expectantly at her.

"I don't understand." Azure states. Then it hits her. And when it hits, it hits like a freight train.

She's a tribute.