38, 39, 40, 41. I count in my head as I continue my daily morning routine. 50 pushups, two mile run around town, and then another 50 pushups. Most ponies who live near me think that I want to be selected for the games, that I want to give the Capitol the satisfaction of us competing in their twisted game. The way I see it, if I get selected, I want to be fit and ready to survive in there. It's me or them, and I don't want to be the one who goes down because I wasn't prepared. I finished up my last set of pushups and walked to my room where my tub was.
I lived on the outskirts of District 1 near the Everfree Forest. The few ponies who do live by me are the few who don't look forward to the games and wish they never came. Pitting the Districts children against each other for their own fun; it's the nation's most watched event. Granted we're forced to watch it since it's a the Capitol's way to hold us in check. I turn the water on as I look out the window. The first platoon of Peacekeepers march in to make sure that the reaping goes as planned. Even though most of the residents in District 1 are big fans of the games and are more than eager to join in on the "fun" they still send them as intimidation.
Most don't see it though. They view them as tradition, a symbol of the safety that the Capitol offers. It's all a game to them. None of them view it as barbaric or immoral. I stepped into the warm water and washed the sweat from my body.
Today was important though. Not just for me, but for everyone else in the District. Today we find out who will be entering into this horrific nightmare. While I'm sitting in the tub, I count in my head how many times my name is in the Reaping. I want to say it's 20 or 25. I don't want to go into the Hunger Games at all, but being the oldest with three younger siblings, I need to do what I can to stop their names from being chosen.
There's a knock on the door. "Astro! Get out! I need to get ready!" I hear my 14 year old sister Flora shout. "If I get chosen I want to look pretty!"
I rolled my eyes. My sister was the only one who thought the games were cool and fun. Everyone at her school loves it, so she loves it now too. I don't know if it's because of peer pressure or because she genuinely likes them, but it irritates the hell out of me. "I'll be out in a few minutes!" I shouted back. I washed the gunk out of my mane and leapt out of the tub.
I opened the door and shook the water off of me and all over Flora. "Ew! You're disgusting Astro!" she exclaimed. I chuckled as she slammed the door shut. My mom was finishing getting my two brothers dressed for the Reaping. I walked past them and grabbed an apple.
"Astro, you need to get dressed." my mom said.
"Why? Pretty up the pig before we get slaughtered?" I said, taking a bite from the apple.
"Astro, you know we don't want to stand out amongst the others." she said.
"It's not like we're not known for hating the games. Everyone knows we do." I said, walking over to the clothes she had laid out.
"But the Peacekeepers don't. We need to blend in." she said more firmly.
I sighed. "Okay, okay." I put the clothes on and groaned at how scratchy they were. "Could you have picked an itchier outfit?"
"It's the only nice one you have, mister walk around with everything showing." she said.
I ignored her comments and looked into the mirror that she had placed out for the youngest child. I'm the oldest at 16 years old, with my brother Pilates being the second oldest at 15, Flora being the third at 14 and a half, and Socra being the youngest at 12. My mom had a thing for old myths, naming my younger brothers after some mythical gods. She named me Astro since I was born under the stars in a cardboard box. She had Flora in our families flower garden, which my mom had used to keep herself relatively sane while meeting with Peacekeepers who needed to...release some urges in order to buy herself a house to live in.
It's how we've all been born. None of us have the same father, just the same mother. It's the reason I have a brown coat and brown mane, while Pilates has a light blue coat and a blonde mane. We both have more of our father's traits than our mothers, while the other two share more of her looks with their similar purple coat and mane.
"We're going to be late mom!" I heard Flora shout from the other room. She already had her mane done up and her nicest clothes on.
"I just finished getting Socra ready." she said. I noticed her face giving off a depressed look. I understood it too. This was his first reaping. It sucks too because he just turned 12 three days ago. I made a vow to myself that if he or Pilates was picked in the reaping, I would volunteer for them so they would be safe. I couldn't do anything for Flora. In order for there to be a volunteer, the pony had to be in the same family and of the same gender. I couldn't volunteer for Flora, so all I could do was stop her from getting rations to put her name in more and pray to God, Odin, Allah, or whatever god was out there to keep her safe.
I wasn't very religious either. I figured if a god who was supposed to be loving and caring, they wouldn't make all this happen. I was a stallion of science. My cutie mark was a picture of the galaxy, representing my love for the stars and everything in space. I've tracked my way through the Everfree Forest well past curfew and gotten home, undetected.
"Come on, Astro!!" Flora shouted at me.
I sighed. I walked out of the door and looked up to the clear blue sky. It was quiet, peaceful, full of wonder. The birds were flying around as if today wasn't going to ruin the lives of 24 families. I followed Socra and
