The Equestrian Hunger Games - Act I: Reigning Darkness

Sparkler was glad the train deposited them in a quiet station with nopony around to disturb her. Since arriving, she couldn’t stop worrying about the first thing in the agenda, which is the opening ceremony. It’s simple, really. All the tributes ride on fancy chariots pulled by magic around Canterlot as everypony watches them and go “ooh” and “aah”.

That was exactly Sparkler’s problem.

She hated crowds, which is opposite of Caramel who acts easily around large groups of people, whether or not he likes them. It was just like back on the train, how he complained about the ponies of Canterlot not using their ridiculously large amount of money to help the poorer districts. When Sparkler questioned him, he only replied that it was best to let them have a good first impression of him.

Sparkler thought she didn’t need to get good impressions from those stuck up ponies. She could always find a way to win all by herself. After all, she was strong and fast. Her magic skills may be pathetic, but who cares? If she could, she just wants this whole thing to be over with and just go home… or die. Whichever comes first.

She looked back around the room she was left at, some sort of remodelling centre. Truth be told, Sparkler hated the place already. It had all these beauty products and fancy smelling things Sparkler didn’t want to know about. All her life, she thought she looked okay, not wanting to look fancy in any occasion. The only exception is the reaping, and even then she was forced to clean herself and just gave up fighting.

Three ponies appeared before her, each one looking more made up than the last. The first was a cream coloured pony wearing a frilly white dress who claims to be Sapphire Shores. Next, a blue grey stallion wearing… something. Hoity Toity, that’s his name. The last, and weirdest of the three was a light blue mare wearing black and white, Photo Finish. They said that they were her prep team and they were going to remake her… and that worried Sparkler.

“You are beautiful, no?” Photo Finish asked as she scrubbed off Sparkler’s coat which looked terrible after the train ride.

“Don’t make me laugh” Sparkler muttered with a stern expression

Beautiful is not something that comes to mind when one sees Sparkler. It is usually either scary, violent, rude or food. She has heard people praise her before, but it is usually for her hunting skills and tough demeanour. She just decided that this mare was just trying to be friendly and shrugged it off.

“Oh, come on. You look simply gorgeous!” Sapphire Shores said with a smile as she brushed Sparkler’s mane “Bet you have a dandy stallion back home”

“Not exactly…” Sparkler replied

“Hmm, yes” Hoity Toity said with an accent “Well, we’re not allowed to do anything to you. We were specifically told to leave you as you are, simple and unchanged. Humph, and the sight of you makes me want to change you so badly”

“Wait, what was all that talk about remaking me?”

“Oh, that would be the job for… the stylist!” Photo Finish said dramatically

“Now don’t you be scared of him” Sapphire Shores interjected “He’s a fine stallion, that one. You’ll like him for sure!”

Sparkler decided that of the three, she liked Sapphire Shores best.

After about thirty minutes of fixing up all of Sparkler and making her look spick and span, the three ponies left with many insults as to how hard it was to fix her up. Sparkler agreed, she was a terribly messy pony. Her mane, now smoothed out and looking beautiful, looked nothing like its original form. Sparkler didn’t like that one bit and with her hoof, she messed it up easily and grinned. Nopony messes with her mane. Nopony.

Just as she turned around to trot away, she slammed into a something. When she finally got back to her senses, she looked at the pony she had hit and muttered an apology through gritted teeth. He was a stallion, slightly larger than the usual but good looking nonetheless. He was a white stallion with a blue mane and wore a simple yet elegant black suit.

“No no, I should be the one apologising” he said, bowing his head in the process “I should never have sneaked up on you like that”

“Uh… Don’t mention it?” Sparkler said in confusion

“My dear mare, my name is Fancy Pants and it is an honour to be working with you” the stallion said as he took Sparkler’s hoof and kissed it gentleman-like “I have heard a lot about you, and your reaping was simply breath taking!”

“Wait, breathtaking?!” Sparkler quickly pulled her hoof away

This stallion was… different than the others. So far, he’s acted kind and civilised. He spoke to the mare as if she were of higher standards and was the one to bow. He also wore clothes that did not stand out too much, quite a rarity in Canterlot. Did this pony even know who he was talking to?

“Listen, I think you got the wrong pony. Whatever stories you’ve heard must be awful, and my reaping was breath taking alright. Breathtakingly terrifying”

“you stood up to protect your sister, that is something I must applaud” Fancy Pants said admiringly “Surely, in all my living years, I have never seen anypony quite as brave and loyal as you! Another reason why me and Fleur have chosen to help with District Twelve. Or should I say Ponyville”

“Fleur?”

“My lover, and your fellow tribute’s stylist. You will meet her later, I presume”

“Hold on, you said you both decided to help Twelve because of us?”

“Not exactly, since we have always taken a liking to your district. You underdogs are always such amazing ponies. I have always rooted for you lot, and Berry Punch’s success is one of the most joyous moments of my life!”

That last comment made Sparkler’s heart drop. Apparently, he was just like the other Canterlot ponies who only see the Hunger Games as a form of entertainment. She frowned and turned towards the dressing table, telling Fancy Pants to get the whole ordeal over with. She then trotted over to the table and sat nearby, pouting.

Fancy Pants, who saw the sadness in the mare’s eyes, quickly apologised several times for anything he might have done. He said that he would make it up for her, even as far as to give her some bits for her family back home. In the end, Sparkler smiled and said that it was fine, but still kept her feelings hidden. After all, there was the whole city of Canterlot to please and she was going to suck at it.

“So, what are my clothes gonna look like?” Sparkler said, dreading it as much as the reaping day.

Every year, the tributes were to wear clothes that resemble each district’s profession. This made District Twelve, which is the mining district due to the closeness of the district to Dragonback Mountain, is usually the butt of the joke. Come on, how could you make mining interesting? Even Rarity would have cried trying to come up with a design!

“Oh, the two of us had something in mind” Fancy Pants said with a smile “You see, mining is also associated with multiple things, coal as an example…”

“So you’re gonna cover us up in coal?”

“No! Not at all! Still, what is coal used for? To ignite flames, I presume”

“Oh shit…”

About half an hour later, Sparkler appeared in the hallway covered in a black skin tight suit that covered most of her body except for the head, man and tail. She thought that perhaps this was what Fancy Pants had in mind, wearing black and look like coal. She didn’t know where the whole talk about fire was leading to, but she was still scared about it. She loved playing with fire, but being set on fire was NOT on her to-do-list.

She saw the white stallion approaching a few minutes later, being ogled by mares from other districts and some other stylist. Typical of Sparkler, always getting the guy that all the other girls fawn over. It’s happened with Braeburn and Caramel, anyway. Was this some sort of curse?

“Good to see you up and running, Miss Star” Fancy Pants said as he checked the clothes for imperfections, not that it could ever have any

“This thing sucks. Can’t I go out there buck naked?” Sparkler grumbled

“I am sorry, but it is the rules and… oh, your friend is here!”

Sparkler turned, seeing Caramel wearing the same black skin tight suit as she did. Beside him, a rosish white mare with a lush pale pink mane and a slender body trotted gracefully. It was like she was a supermodel or something. Somehow, the sight of her made Sparkler feel uncomfortable for some reason. Why is she surrounded by all these good looking ponies?

Caramel stopped in front of Sparkler and gave an encouraging grin which was obviously faked. Somehow, Sparkler knew they both came to a silent agreement that these clothes were terrible. Still, they didn’t want to hurt their stylists’ feelings.

“Ah, Mister Caramel! So good to see you” Fancy Pants said, bowing once more “I heard that you are a kind stallion, am I correct?”

“I… I guess” Caramel said with an awkward grin

He looked as if he wanted to say something else, but was cut off when a booming voice told all of the tributes to get ready as they were going to round Canterlot Castle soon. There was movement all around them, but the District 12 group stood silent. Fancy Pants himself stopped the two ponies from moving. He waited for everypony to get on their chariots, away from District Twelve’s chariot until he finally spoke once more.

“Now remember what I said before, about coal?” Fancy Pants asked

“Sorry, I wasn’t there and Fleur de Lis… isn’t much of a talker” Caramel said, choosing his words carefully.

Fleur nodded and smiled

“Anyway” Fancy Pants started “your suits are covered in a fire resistance spell. That means that no matter how hot the flames, you will not feel a thing. Fleur and I are going to light up you suits by magic, but only with synthetic fire. I am sorry to say this, Miss Star, but nopony seems to trust you around real fire”

Sparkler grinned maliciously

“The fire will not harm you at all and is thought controlled. Whatever you want the fire to be it will happen so please don’t try any funny business, please”

He seemed to be addressing Sparkler more, but she didn’t seem to realise it despite her good eyesight. It seemed that the thought of living flames that did no harm to herself interested her very much. That was when the chariots upfront started moving and the two District Twelve tributes jumped on their own chariot. Before they left the launch pad and be seen to the ponies of Equestria, the two stylists shot a beam of magic to the two ponies. Then, the two ponies went ablaze.

There was a distinct cheering amongst the crowd but it all seemed to die down when Sparkler and Caramel appeared. Then, there was a loud cheer and screams of joy. Sparkler had to admit, despite her hatred of almost everything in Equestria, she was glad nopony was laughing at her.

She then started to feel dizzy as her fear of crowds started to engulf her once more. She started wobbling a bit but Caramel suddenly held on to her. This made Sparkler blush slightly but then slap him gleefully on the face. Then she remembered she was on live television and she pulled away but still held on to Caramel for support.

With the flames flickering powerfully, Sparkler decided to test it. She willed the fire to change shape and morph, giving her a pair of beautiful wings made of flames. The fire danced around the two ponies brightly and the crowd cheered even more madly. Sparkler gave a shy smile as the chariots all stopped in front of Nightmare Moon’s balcony.

“Oh, my beloved subjects. It's been so long since I've seen your precious, little sun-loving faces” Nightmare Moon said “It is an honour to be here, seeing the faces of these young foals who would undoubtly become the greatest warriors! This year…”

Sparkler, who was terrible at listening to incredibly long and boring speeches, started to gaze at the other tributes. She noticed Lyra first, standing boringly on her chariot with her two hind legs, dressed in a unique suit. District Five; the music district. That would make sense. Apparently, she too was bored and gave Sparkler a wave which Sparkler ignored. She then looked at the brother and sister from District Eleven, dressed in simple country garments since District Eleven was the farming district. Apple Bloom seemed to be holding back her tears as she waited for her inevitable death to come. Big Macintosh hugged her kindly and muttered words of encouragement. The filly must be around twelve years old, just like Sweetie Belle.

She was about to look at everypony else when she heard something unusual coming from Nightmare Moon’s mouth.

“We would enjoy this game as we have enjoyed its predecessors!” the tyrant shouted. There was an air of fear in there, however. It was like Nightmare Moon was afraid of herself.

After a few more minutes, the chariots finally left the balcony and headed towards the training centre, once used to train Princess Celestia’s royal guards. That stopped when Nightmare Moon came and could turn anypony she wanted into her devilish bat-pony guards using her magic. Sparkler wasted no time in pulling Caramel away and told her of her suspicions.

“I’m telling you, something’s wrong with NMM!” Sparkler said

“Why are you calling her that?” Caramel asked, running away from the original topic

“Nightmare Moon’s too long. Anyway, sis you hear her suddenly call herself ‘we’? And that sudden shudder in her voice? What about the fact that she looked slightly dark blue instead of black?”

“Look, your hunter instincts make you more observant than others. It doesn’t mean that everything you see is right. Maybe it’s a trick of the light, or she recently dyed her coat. I don’t know, okay. Listen, Sparkler. It’s not that I don’t trust you, but I’m just worrying more about the Games than some suspicion of Nightmare Moon changing suddenly”

Caramel then trotted away as he willed his flames to extinguish, meeting Fancy Pants and Fleur along the way. He told them that Sparkler needed some time alone and the three went up the elevator first, promising to meet up with Sparkler later. The mare only huffed and flapped her flaming wings, accidentally lifting up from the ground for a few seconds. She then fell unceremoniously onto the ground and grumbled some more.

“Heya, Hawkeye!” said a mint coloured unicorn who appeared out of nowhere “Heard all about you! I’m Lyra Heart-”

“Lyra Heartstrings, I know” Sparkler grumbled “Wait, why’d you call me that?”

“Somepony named Berry said you liked to be called that, so…”

“Ugh, that BITCH!” Sparkler yelled and trotted away to the elevator “When I get a piece of her…”

“I’m guessing you don’t like that name?” Lyra questioned “Wait! Your suit has a tear! Better turn off that flame before something… bad… happens…”

Lyra was left there all alone, wincing at her terrible first attempt at making a friend. She then trotted away slowly, trying to find her fellow tribute to go to her room.