Small sparks of sunlight danced across a white fluffy floor. A mare lay in a bed made of the same plush clouds. When the sun poked her in the eyes, she curled up tighter, hoping to gather up the wonder of her dream for a few more moments. But alas, she soon opened her blue eyes and groaned in annoyance. She rolled out of her bed and flopped onto the floor. She lay there a moment, not bothering to get up, but eventually hauled herself up reluctantly. She trudged into her kitchen, and looked into the bare cabinets. She groaned again. The mare grabbed a slip of paper and saddlebags and trotted to the porch in the front of her cloudy house. Once out of the house, she closed her eyes and spread her wings, letting the sunlight warm them. She smiled with satisfaction and opened her eyes to a bright azure sky.

She grinned and leapt off the porch. She pushed her wings downward and felt gravity loosen its grip on her. She then glided gently toward the ground. When she was a few meters above the grassy plain, she heard a sound. She stopped and hovered for a moment, and, when nothing happened, she tried to glide down. When she didn't begin to slowly fall, she began to worry. She flailed her hooved, trying to escape to invisible item suspending her in the air. Suddenly, a boom was heard. She whirled her head around to locate the sound, and saw a circular rainbow expanding around the ground. A single rainbow streak was also visible and heading straight toward the mare. As it came closer, she saw it a pony. She struggled even more to escape, to get out of the way of the flying pony, but she was still hanging helplessly.

Then, as the pony was closer than she would have preferred, it slammed against an invisible wall. Bright yellow sparks emitted from the contact point, and a yellow wave ran over in a half sphere shape, outlining a dome. When the yellow shine vanished, the pony lay where it had collided with the invisible dome. The wire that seemed to run around the dome was broken where the pony sat, and made a roughly circular shape where the electric field didn't cover. Three young fillies ran over to the pony, and the mare immediately recognized these three as the fillies who escaped the hunger games. They all shared sad words, each filled with despair, before the fillies ran and jumped out of the area through the hole in the barrier.

They began to run where the mare was still hanging in the air. Then, she fell to the floor, and sighed gladly , then frowned as the three fillies ran past her. She spread her wings and followed after them. They kept running for a while, then the mare was able to see a large crystal rising out of the ground. As they got closer, she saw it wasn't a crystal, it was a castle. Surrounding it were ruins. Random burnt crystals were commonly scattered on the blackened ground. The fillies kept running toward the castle, then they all fell over at once. A dark shadow began to loom over her, and she looked back to see icy blue eyes piercing through her soul, with sickly blue smoke flowing out from them. It floated over to the three fillies and its shadow slowly advanced on their hooves. With tears in their eyes, they all raised their muzzles and screamed.

"Help!"

Cherry snapped open her eyes and leaped up. Her chest heaved as she panted harshly. Sweat dribbled down her forehead and cheeks. She looked out the window to see the stars setting and the day moon rising. Cherry sighed and got off the bed. "least I'm all awake now.." she grumbled with annoyance. She dragged her hooves across the floor as she made her way through the living room, into the bathroom. She kicked the door shut behind her and glanced into the mirror. She then recoiled at the sight. Her mane was frizzy and poofed up. Her ears seemed to droop down and her eyes were blooodshot. With urgency, she saw a toiletry bag on the floor next to the sink. She opened it and looked inside, silently thanking whoever had the brilliant idea of giving the tributes these things for the train ride.

She took out a hairbrush, and brought it to her mane, ready to comb the crap out of it. But these things are always painful.

Cherry strolled out of her room, with a big grin plastered on her face. She smiled at the guard outside the door and she turned to trot down the hallway. This time she was in front, and she hoped her jolly mood would be enough to cover the now broken hairbrush and crack in the wall. They soon arrived at the dining car, and Cherry noticed that Blaze and Crystal were already there. Blaze had his eyes shut, and was obviously showing his concentration. A rozy colored haze floated around his horn, and the same mist covered a small crumpled slice of cake. When Cherry squinted her eyes at the cake, she saw that it was slowly repairing itself.

Cherry sat down quietly as she watched Blaze finish up his spell. Eventually, the magic around Blaze's horn faded, as it did for the cake as well. He let out a puff of breath and continued to breath heavily. Crystal trotted to his side and put a hoof around his shoulder. "Great job Blaze! Much better than last time!" He gave a half hearted smile and wiped a few beads of sweat off his forehead.

"It was still as tiring as last time." He grunted. Crystal didn't seem to hear him, as she was now walking over to greet Cherrycloud.

"Good morning! I hope you slept well, because we'll be arriving in Canterlot today and you get to make your first impression on your fellow tributes!" Cherry nodded and took a step back.

"Y-Yeah, I guess it is something to be excited about..." She looked at Blaze again, "What were you guys doing before?" Blaze answered this time.

"Crystal was helping me try out some healing spells." He pointed out, "Apparently magic and flying are limited in the arena so I'll need to practice."

"Waitwaitwait!" Cherry held her hoof up to stop him from speaking, "Flying is limited in the arena!?"

Blaze rolled his eyes, "And magic. Did you really expect them not to make it as hard as possible to survive?" Cherry sighed and put her head in her hooves. This is going to be harder than I thought. She thought. Cherry then flexed her wings.

"How limited?" She asked, almost scared to hear the answer.

Crystal gave a shrug, "I'd say you could fly at a mild pace for about, five, ten minutes tops." Cherry buried her head in her hooves again. Yep, totally going to die.

After a filling meal of haycakes and fancy toast, Crystal had begun talking about leaving an impression on the other tributes. She, again, started with Blaze first. "Okay then, at the reaping you looked like a terrified puppy, no offense." Blaze muttered a "none taken" in-between bites of haycakes. "To show them you're brave you have to stand up tall, don't waver. If one approaches you make sure that you actually manage to talk loud and clear, and not shake your voice. If you start feeling overwhelmed, then keep standing strong and head over to a quiet corner or something, where nopony would bother you." Blaze nodded slowly, as his brain comprehended what he had to do.

"Now, Cherry." Crystal began, looking at Cherry now. "Based off your 'earlier stunt', there are two things they'll think of you.
Number one is, wow! She's so brave to run off like that! Second is, wow. She must be really desperate if she'd do a stunt like that. We want them to think the first. So, like Blaze, walk with your head high, and don't hesitate if somepony talks to you. However, I encourage you to talk to them, and become friends, while still noting you may have to kill them soon. Make alliances based off of skill and trust." Cherry nodded in understanding. Be strong, make alliances.

Crystal then looked out the window. "Ooh! We're here! Perfect timing!" Cherry looked out and her mouth gaped in awe.

"I knew Canterlot was cool but..." She uttered unconsciously. Crystal grinned.

"There's nothing like seeing the big city, huh." Cherry nodded, then felt the train screech to a halt. She saw Blaze and Crystal scoot out of their chairs and trot down the hallway. Cherry turned to a guard.

"I uh, forgot something in my room, could I get it quickly?" The guard narrowed his eyes for a moment, and nodded. She smiled innocently and trotted down the hall to her room. She went over to the desk, and grabbed the slip of paper. She folded it up and tucked it in-between the feathers in her wings. She then turned and went back toward to door leading to the outside. Crystal and Blaze were still there, waiting for her. She smiled at them, and the guards opened the door, letting the moonlight shine in. Crystal went first, then Blaze, then Cherry went, letting the fresh applause hit her ears. She smiled once more. Lets do this.

Author's Note

mm'kayyy, OCs coming up in the next chapter! I'll try and include as many as possible, but I wont overdo it. Hope you liked this chapter! thanksies!