Many years ago, there was a land by the name of "Equestria". It was said to be the most peaceful and happy nation to exist. Not only was it filled with colorful, kind and loving ponies, but there were many other creatures living among the ponies in perfect harmony.
But no such peace could last forever, for war soon spread over this nation, a war against the ruler of the land herself; Lauren Faust. The battle raged on for many years until finally, Lauren Faust regained control. But the world had changed, equestria had been shattered and all hope was gone. Now, only pure hatred was what the ponies saw each time they looked upon their queen. So one day she realized what to do: if she couldn't make them love her, she would give them a real reason to hate her. And so she did.
The queen divided the fair country into 13 districts and one capitol, where she herself would rule. Then she organized a way of reminding each and every pony of what they had done. Every year a different district would offer up 100 ponies for her to publicly tortured and executed. This did not sit well and rebellion started anew. So the queen chose a plan B.
After obliterating the 13th district until nothing but dirt and ash remained, she told the ponies of a new idea she had. Each year 24 ponies would be selected at random, two from each district. The 24 "tributes" would be trained in the art of survival and put in an arena in a battle to the death on live television. The last tribute standing would be crowned victor of that year.
She named it, "The Hunger Games".
One hundred years later...
In the most regal building in the center of the capitol there was a great bustling, cameras ready to start recording at a moments notice, bright lights set up, even thought it was midday and groups of wardrobe design teams, hair stylists and and makeup artists all trotting about two most royal looking ponies. The tallest one had a gorgeous white coat and a flowing mane of purple, teal, and soft pink. Her cutie mark was a shinning sun. The other had a pink coat and while her purple, pink and yellow mane did not have that same flowing quality, it was equally beautiful as it had been braided, pinned up in a bun and had shimmering crystals weaved into it. Her cutie mark was golden crown adorned with a heart made of crystal.
Both were alicorns.
The pink coated one trotted up to the other alicorn and spoke.
"Celestia, may we talk in private?" she asked.
"Why of course Cadence." replied Celestia.
The two marched off to find an empty room, then sat down and faced each other.
"Celestia..." whispered Cadence, "I don't think I can do this. It's hard enough to watch the innocent die, even worse to comment on it joyfully. But this year is the 100th games, and we are expected to be happy and excited beyond sanity. I can barely watch it, how are you and Luna able to make jokes of them and laugh? I just can't commentate this year."
Celestia looked at Cadence long and hard before responding.
"You know it's not so simple. We are all being forced against our will. Do not think for one minute I enjoy saying the things I do. Luna feels the same about the matter, but you know what Lauren would do to us if we ever tried to stop any of this, she would murder us all, and then... she would..."
The alicorn lowered her head unable to finish the sentence as tears slowly flowed down her face. Cadence hugged her before they stood up and left the room.
"By the way Celestia, where is Luna?" asked Cadence.
"Oh, she is at the arena for when we give our viewers a tour." replied Celestia.
Cadence sighed and trotted in a different direction, she had obviously just remembered that she would be picking the names at town square for the reaping. And so Celestia was left alone to prepare her opening monologue as a makeup crew ran around complaining about her dripping mascara.
"And we're on in 5, 4, 3, 2,..."
"Hello, I'm princess Celestia, live from Canterlot and welcome to the 100th annual hunger games of equestria! We are just minutes away from selecting this years tributes, but first, let us all think of how wonderful this years games are. 100 years of hunger games, can you believe it? Well would you look at that, it's time for the reaping. Let's switch over to princess Cadence who will be drawing the names."
"Thank you Celestia. Once again, I'm princess Cadence and right now I'm in the central square of canterlot for the reaping. Well then, let's see who's competing this year, and may the odds be ever in your favor!"
District 1: Twist & Sweetiebelle
District 2 : Pinkie Pie & Zecora
District 3 : Scootaloo & Applejack
District 4 : Rarity & Fluttershy
District 5 : Bon-Bon & Trixie
District 6 : Twilight & Berry Bunch
District 7 : Lyra & Gilda
District 8 : Flash Century & Rainbow Dash
District 9 : Derpy & Prince Blueblood
District 10 : Applebloom & Spike
District 11 : Lotus Blossom & Aloe
District 12 : Cheerilee & Nurse Redheart
"Well I think that's pretty impressive for the 100th games! Back to you Celestia!"
"Thanks Cadence, I have to agree, we got an excellent selection this year, which is great since this year is a big one! Alright folks, we'll see you later with their scores. That's all for now!"
*later...*
"Hello it's Celestia here and guess what? I just received the ratings out of 12 for our tributes! Let's have a look at what we got;"
twist: 2
sweetiebelle: 6
pinkie pie: 6
zecora: 11
scootaloo: 4
applejack: 9
rarity: 8
fluttershy: 8
bon-bon: 7
trixie: 10
twilight: 11
berry punch: 1
lyra: 7
gilda: 9
flash century: 2
rainbow dash: 9
derpy: 12
prince blueblood: 0
applebloom: 5
spike: 3
lotus blossom: 6
aloe: 6
cheerilee: 4
nurse redheart: 5
"Not bad, not bad at all, what do you think Cadence?"
"I think it's time we check in on Luna, after all she's the one supervising the arena and collecting the bodies."
"Your right cadence, all right. Luna! Why don't you show us the arena?"
"Hello I'm princess luna, and I'll be taking you on a tour of the arena for this years games. We decided that to celebrate the 100th games we'd add a bit of variety to it, so take a look! The contestants will start in a thick pine tree forest. Up north is an open valley, not much up there, but there's a bunch of tall grass and berry bushes to hide in. To the west you'll find that the forest continues and there's a river there, which by the way is the only drinkable water source in the arena! South you can find a beach and to the east there's some really steep mountains and cliffs, plus a small cave."
"And that's this years arena, back to you Celestia!"
"Thank you luna, alright, it's time to go over the list of items that will be stacked in the center of the arena for the tributes to use once the games start:"
-sleeping bag
-3 knifes (located separately)
-spear
-Bow & 12 arrows
-water canteen (full)
-water canteen (empty)
-backpack #1 (contains: full water canteen, 2 apples, 1 loaf of bread and first aid kit)
-backpack #2 (contains: 6 throwing knifes, mini ax and a bag of edible berries)
-backpack #3 (contains: sleeping bag, waterproof heat jacket, full water canteen and camouflage paint)
"And now, everybody's favorite: the list of items you, the viewers, can send to the tribute you want most to win! Cadence, why don't you read it out?"
"With pleasure Celestia, here they are:"
-water (canteen)
-bread (1 loaf)
-bag with edible berries of your choice
-mini food pack (contains: 3 large carrots and 2 pears)
-water purification tablets (bag of 5)
-ax
-2 arrows
-1 throwing knife
-small medical pack (rubbing alcohol bandages & gauze)
-rope
-compass
"And now, um... Celestia, what's next? I always forget..."
"Not to worry Cadence, because now it's time for luna to give us a recap on the parade and the interviews with the tributes!"
"Oh, right! Ahem, on to you luna!"
"Luna here, and in case you missed it -which I highly doubt- or just want to see it again, it's recap time! Alright, where to start, oh! I know- the parade! Well, as those chariots wheeled themselves out across the lane, we saw some absolutely fabulous costumes that did a great job at representing they're districts! Here are some pictures that were taken, you can see how they each have they're own styles and details that make them unique! I particularly liked district four, with rarity and fluttershy, so natural, yet the design was very complex and sparkly. What about you Cadence?"
"Personally, I adored that miss derpy, so neat to use real food as part of her costume! Why, those muffins she was holding on a tray looked fabulous! And you Celestia?"
"Oh I quite fancied lotus blossom and aloe's outfits. Identical dresses, but in opposite colors! Well, they are twins so... speaking of which, it's so rare to have a district's tributes related to each other, let alone as siblings, quite lovely isn't it? Alright luna, continue with your recap!"
"Thank you, okay, so next we have the interviews...not much there worth going over, so I think that's all, until tonight of course! That's when the tributes, along with everypony who's anypony, will have one last party in the capitol before the games start tomorrow! Oh I'm just so excited I feel like dancing around the room! But I'm sure that how we all feel this time of year! And don't you forget: it's the 100th year! Oh boy am I ever getting ahead of myself! Well the party starts in a few hours so I had better get ready. I will see you all later!"
The second the cameras stopped rolling, so did their smiles. Each of the beautiful princesses walked back to their chambers, silently pondering over what was yet to come. A fresh batch of sweet little ponies, ponies who had done nothing wrong, were about to be brutally butchered. All except one of course, one poor sad victim, who for the rest of their life, would have to live with what they had done in that arena.
Life was so unfair.
