I awoke to the sound of a bird chirping out of my window. I open my eyes and turn to see the window open just enough to see a blue bird and the branch it was perched on. It was a rare sight to see. Most domestic birds never come near any of the districts, from fear of us ponies. I turned over and shook my sister, Twilight Sparkle, who was in the bed next to mine, very gently to wake her.
"Hey, Twily," I whispered. "Come see this."
"Mmmm....wha?" Twilight responded groggily. "What is it, Shining Armor?"
I pointed out the window. "See that? A bird, and I think it might be a Blue Jay."
Twily's eyes widened. She crept out of her bed and to the cracked open window. I used my unicorn magic to open the window a little more, my magic glowed with a magenta aura as Twily wiggled up on the window sill. Twilight watched the bird while being careful not to scare it. I loved Twily so much. She may not be the most social of ponies, but she was still my BSBFF. That stands for Best Sister Best Friend Forever. I moved away from the window and levitated my father's hunting cloak off it's hook. He hadn't used it for years, not after he fell ill. I looked across the room to see him asleep on one side of his bed. The other side was where my mother used to sleep before she died.
Twilight turned to me "Are you going, Shining?"
I nodded. "I'll be back. Cadence will be here in an hour or so."
Cadence was my special somepony. She was also my other best friend, Twilight's foalsitter, and my father's caretaker. I knew I could rely on her when I needed her most, and I loved her just as much as Twilight.
Twilight had stopped watching the bird, she jumped down onto the floor, came over to me and tied the string of the cloak around my neck using her own magic, which glowed a light violet aura. I didn't say anything. Sometimes, Twily will do this when she is worried about something. When she finished, I saw a small tear trickle down her cheek. I rested my muzzle on her head. We both knew what day it was, the day where the tributes of the annual Equestria Games are reaped and are to play in a blood bath of killing sprees. All ponies ages twelve through eighteen in each district have their name dumped in a glass container and picked at random. It was Twily's first reaping. Normally, the number of times somepony's name is in the reaping depends on two things. If the pony is twelve years old, like Twily, they will have their name entered once, as it being their first. A pony of age thirteen would have their name in twice, fourteen-year-olds, three, and so on. But that number will increase if you plan to take any teresea, for poor, starving families like my own. Normally if you were to take teresea, there would only be enough for one person for one year, so you would need to take a bag for each member of your family, and each one costs you one more entry in the reaping, and the entries are cumulative.
Doing the math, I'm seventeen, so my name is in six times already, plus I'm getting three bags of wheat for myself, Twily, and my father, and counting all of my other entries, so my name will be in a total of twenty-eight times.
"I'm scared," I hear Twily mumble.
"I know, sis, I know. I am too," I look Twily in the eye.
"But, there is no way your getting picked, all right? Your name is in only once, there is no way you will be chosen."
She nods, not completely convinced. Neither am I, but I can't dwell on the subject much longer.
I kiss Twilight on the head goodbye, promising I'd be back soon, then walked out of our small house, right into Cadence.
"You're early," I say.
"Had nothing else to do," she responded, nuzzling my cheek. "I picked my herbs early this morning."
I look at her. Cadence was the prettiest pony in District 12. She was a pink pegasus with a pink, purple, and yellow mane that she always tied back with a blue ribbon. She was found my by mother when she was five, as an orphan. Cadence couldn't remember a lot about her parents. My mother taught her everything she knows, from healing herbs to sewing to cooking. Cadence has even been teaching what she knew to Twilight. It was the only thing that tore Twily away from her books. When my mother was still alive, she would try to convince Cadence to live with us, but she preferred to live in her parents' house, even has her own herb garden.
When she was old enough, Cadence started taking teserea for herself. I once offered to take an extra one for her, but she refused.
"I don't want to add to the risk of losing you," she had said. This year, Cadence was sixteen, so her name would be in ten times. Cadence actually didn't have her cutie mark.
As a matter of fact, neither I nor Twilight had ours either. Cutie marks are irrelevant these days. I think they used to be a sign of who you were and what your talent was back when the country was called Equestria. But since the war, most ponies haven't had the chance to find their special talent, and most die never finding their cutie mark. If a pony did get a cutie mark, it was normally one for baking, or selling certain objects. The real place to get a cutie mark would be Canterlot. Every mare and stallion is able to find their cutie mark while their still a foal. Out in the districts, a cutie mark was only a mark of what district you belonged to, if you found one at all.
"Are you scared?" Cadence asked me.
"Yes." I responded.
"About what."
"Losing one of the two mares I love the most."
"Well," she said. "If you do lose one of us, we will never leave you, not really."
I smiled. "And I will never leave you."
"Not really," we both said in unison, then laughed. That was always our biggest promise to each other at every reaping.
"Well," Cadence said, "I better go give your father his medicine." Cadence walked past me to the door to our house, I turned and watched as she opened it.
"Oh, and Shining?" Cadence called while opening the door. I looked at her. "Come back soon OK? I have something for you."
"OK." I turned and started walking toward the edge of District 12, otherwise known as the Cliff.
District 12 is the farthest from Canterlot, the main hub of Raito. Our country. It was once known as Equestria, a land were peace was established with the different ponies and races. That all changed when a fiend known as Nightmare Moon suddenly appeared. She defeated Princess Luna and took her power as Princess of the Night. She then took down Celestia, princess of the sun, and brought darkness to the whole of Equestria. No pony really knows the full details of the battle. After a week, though, Nightmare Moon realized that without sunlight, the ponies of Equestria wouldn't be able to live, the crops would die, weather would go nuts, and the ponies themselves wouldn't be able to get proper nutrients from the sun. Not to mention the land would become a frozen wasteland. Nightmare Moon took Celestia's power to raise the sun and used it to bring light once again to the country. However, the ponies could not trust their new ruler, so they retaliated. They attacked Canterlot, which was the only city that trusted Nightmare Moon. Regret had fallen on the heart of the mare, so she had not realized what had started, at first. Only when the entrance of Canterlot was breached was when she took action, she defeated everypony who attacked and saw that she had changed that land forever. She then banished the ponies outside of Canterlot to their hometowns, and made the thirteen Districts. The mare changed the name of the land from Equestria to Raito, and made the Equestria Games as punishment for the retaliation. The mare is now known as Empress Moon.
About a decade ago, though, one of the districts, District 13, formed another retaliation. They were quickly defeated, though, and as punishment the entire district was blown apart.
I reached the fence otherwise known at the Cliff. It was assembled so that no earth pony could knock it down, magically extended so that no pegasus could fly over it, and enchanted so that no unicorn could use it's magic on it. The reason it's called the Cliff is that just after the fence is a thick forest. Us ponies that live near the Cliff are called Cliffhangers. We are called that because some of us will hunt in the forest for meat to trade in the black market. Normally for money or food or, heck, even fabrics for winter and reaping clothes.
I look down the fence for a suitable hole. Normally, the enchantment wears down after a few hours and needed to be monitored for the enchantment to last. So, the enchantment is only activated about a few hours a day. The enchantment for pegasi, however, it active twenty-four-seven. Don't ask why, magic had really downgraded in the districts since the war. The only place you can really learn magic is Canterlot. Us district unicorns only learn basic levitating spells.
I think of Twilight. She's been invested in magic studies ever since she learned to read, maybe even before that. I think her favorite magic figure would be Star Swirl the Bearded. I wonder what he was doing during the war. He could've really helped the princess' out and maybe we wouldn't have the world we had today...
I shake my head. No time to think about that.
I found a suitable hole in the fencing and squeeze my way through. A little way in I found the hollow log that held my quiver of arrows and my bow. I used my magic to sling them both over my head and onto my shoulder, then headed further into the forest to hunt.
About an hour after I caught my first squirrel to trade at the market, i felt a strong breeze rustle through my cloak. The tree branches began to shake, and I ducked for cover in a bush. I looked up through the branches to see a huge Canterlot airship, powered my magic, flying through the air. It was an airship to survey the forest to look for potential escapees. If a pony is found, they are taken to Canterlot, where their tongues were cut off, unicorn's horns where cut off, pegasus' wings where cut off, and where the ponies where forced to serve in Canterlot as Avoxs. I waited a minute or two in the bush after the airship disappeared through the trees before emerging from my hiding place. I didn't want to be out for too much longer, so I nailed a bird with one of my arrows before heading back.
As I was heading to the black market, I past the Square where the Reaping would be held, Peacekeepers and television crews where setting up all over the place. I quickened my pace.
At the black market, I was able to trade my squirrel for some beef stew and some fabric and my bird for two silver chains, one for Cadence and one for Twilight. It was the least I could do since it was our first reaping all together. After that, I started heading home, but a small trinket at the buttons stand made me stop in my tracks.
It was a silver pin, one that had a phoenix on it. It's wings stretched mid-flight, as if it was soaring up into the air.
The seller took notice that I was eyeing it, "How much you gonna give for it?"
I looked at her. I had traded both of my catches, but I didn't want to go back into the forest for fear I may be caught, and that it might be gone when I got back. So I reached into my bag and got out one of the silver chains.
She shook her head. "To valuable, this has been on the stand for some time now and I don't want my cos-"
"Please," I said. "It's my sister's first reaping, and..."
"Then take it," she said. I stared at her. "Take it before I change my mind," she quipped.
Not hesitating, I took the pin and left the market. Remembering to say thank you before hurrying away.
"Shining!" Twilight called as I returned home. She was wearing a soft red dress with a white collar, and her mane was pulled back in a blue ribbon. Red wasn't a common color in District 12.
"Twily! Where did you get this dress?" I couldn't help but ask.
"Cadence made it for me," Twilight beamed happily, spinning so that I could get a good look at the dress.
"But the color..."
"There where some poppies and rose reds growing in my garden a few weeks ago," Cadence said, coming towards me. "I thought it would be a good idea to put them to use," Cadence's blue ribbon was replaced with a red one, and she was wearing a red skirt with a white blouse.
"They're beautiful." I said.
"Wait 'til you see yours Shining!" Twilight called, running to grab my outfit from the other room.
"Well," I said to Cadence. "I found a couple surprises for you mares myself."
"Here it is!" Twilight called before Cadence could respond. She was levitating a red blazer, also with a white collar. It was definitely a well made jacket.
"Wow," I breathed, hanging up my cloak. "I have to say, Cadence, you really outdid yourself."
"Well, they are for my favorite ponies," Cadence said with a smile. "Now hurry up, it starts in an hour and a half."
Cadence had filled the tub with soapy water in the other room for me to bathe. I washed the dirt off my coat and my mane. (I had a leaf in there from hiding in the bush.) Then I dried myself off and changed into the blazer, then I combed my mane clean of any other sort of debris.
"You had a surprise for us?" Cadence asked, coming to check on me.
"Oh, right! Wait right there," I went to get my hunting bag, and returned pulled out the two silver chains.
"You've outdid yourself, yourself!" Cadence commented. I fastened one of the chains around her neck. "It goes so well with my outfits,"
"I have one for Twily as well,"
"You have what for me?" Twily said, walking into the room.
I showed Twilight the other chain. Twilight gasped.
"Oh, Shining, its so pretty," Twily breathed as I fastened the other chain around her neck.
"I'm not done," I said. Cadence turned to me.
"Your not?" she asked.
I reached into my hunting bag again and pulled out the silver pin. I turned to Twilight.
"For you," I said, using my magic to fasten the pin on the shoulder of Twilight's dress. Twilight was speechless.
"It's a phoenix, right?" Cadence asked, I nodded.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Twilight beamed, hugging me tight. I hugged her back, soon Cadence joined for a group hug.
We stayed like that for Celestia knows how long, until I felt a tear on Twilight's face, reminding me of what we were getting ready for. I broke away from the hug and crouched down to face her.
"Remember Twily, you are always protected. By me, by Cadence, by mom. We will never let anything bad ever happen to you."
"Promise?" Twily asked.
"Promise."
We pulled into another hug, one that lasted a lot shorter because we had to leave. Basically, everypony is required to go to the reaping. The only exception is if you're on the verge of dying. And since my father has been doing exactly that for the past six years, he's aloud not to go.
Staying close together, the three of us headed to station square for the most fearful time of the year.
