"Race you to the reaping ceremony!", Rainbow Storm shouted as he began to take off into the air towards the town square. He always loves a good challenge. Sly couldn't resist either. He was normally the competitive one.
"No fair, that's sooo cheating!", he replied, beginning to use his past earth pony speed to. catch up with him.
Copperfire, who was running out of energy already, absolutely hated when they did this.
"Hey, wait for me you guys!", he shouted as he akwardly stumbled after them. He eventually used magic to teleport to their location.
The town square was jam- packed with other kids and their parents, with wings and horns alike, who were putting their children's names in the large glass bowl as they wiped away tears. It was very upsetting to them. Just imagine, having your child put in an arena, forced to fight to the death against other kids. Brutal. Just brutal.
Rainbow Storm was glad that he wasn't 12 yet. That means that he can't be drawn from the bowl. Sly had been lucky last year, as he is now 13. Copperfire had put his name in just this year. Rainbow Storm hoped that neither of his friends would get chosen.
A short description of the Hunger Games was simple. Every year, 6 tributes, 3 boys and 3 girls, were drawn from a large bowl. Those tributes would go through intense training to prepare themselves for the arena. In the arena, the tributes must fight to the death against other selected tributes from different towns. Normally, there are eighteen tributes, which meant 3 towns always participates every year. Rainbow Storm's town was one of those towns.
"Settle down everyone! It's time for the reaping ceremony to begin!"
Everyone went silent. The person who draws the tributes names, Rarity, began to dip her hand in the bowl and shuffle it around. Slowly, she pulled a name out.
"Whoever it is", Rainbow Storm thought, "Just please don't be any of my friends."
She began to announce the name.
"The first tribute is," she began slowly.
The product of it stunned Rainbow Storm.
"Sly Thief."
As Sly walked up on the stage, Rainbow Storm began to worry. What was going to be of his friend? He wouldn't survive long in the arena by himself. Even with his strength and speed.
"Calm down, Storm," he muttered under his breath as he rubbed his temples. "Sly is going to be absolutely fine."
Rarity began to lower her hand in the bowl again. She pulled out the second name. Loud and absolutely clear as day, she announced it.
"Copperfire."
Pushing up his thick-framed glasses, Copperfire slowly walked onto the stage.
"How is this happening!?", Rainbow Storm thought. "The odds- it's impossible!"
Rainbow Storm knew what he had to do. The split second before the third name was announced, he said four words.
"I volunteer as tribute."
Of course, this got replied with the many gasps of the crowd members.
He walked on stage. He looked at his friends with a going of determination in his eyes. They understood that they were all in this together. No matter what.
Rarity began to speak.
"Though that is normally unexpected, I would like to congratulate this young man for his act of bravery. Happy Hunger Games, everyone."
As she walked away, she glanced at them and said:
"And may the odds be ever in your favor."
The train that would be taking the six tributes to the training grounds pulled into the small station with a *woosh*! Rainbow Storm looked around. He didn't hear the girl tributes being announced. He recognised one of them. It was the girl he had loved since the third grade.
A past Pegasus named Rainbow Mist.
The normally cheerful, peppy girl that Rainbow Storm had learned to love was now replaced by a scared, shaking girl who was afraid of her own shadow.
"All tributes on the train. NOW!", shouted the conductor, who's name tag read RAINBOW DASH, causing Rainbow Mist to jump.
As the frightened tributes walked reluctantly onto the train, Sly looked at Rainbow Storm and said one thing-
"Thank you."
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The train was hot and muggy. Rainbow Storm didn't say anything about it, though. He was to scared to say it.
The girls were separated from the boys, thus leaving the trio of boys in a car with three beds by themselves. Rainbow Storm spoke first.
"You know why I did it, right?"
Copperfire was confused. "Did what?"
"Volunteered to be a tribute.", Rainbow Storm replied.
"To get all the glory and all of the hot babes?", Sly said jokingly, grinning.
Rainbow Storm smiled and nudged him with his elbow. The smile faded just as quickly as it appeared.
"No, because I knew that we needed to be together for this.", he said, seriously.
The train hit a bump, causing them to fly up into the air. Copperfire, being the tallest, hit his head on the roof of the box car on the way up, causing his horn to become stuck. Sly, having previously been and earth pony, used his immense strength to pull Copper down. He began to rub his horn.
"Owwwww," he said, groaning. "That really hurt."
Before they could say anything else, a servant peaked his head through the door.
"It's dinnertime.", he said simply, closing the door behind him as he left.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The dinner was delicious. Cheddar soup with basil. Bread rolls with almond butter. Chicken legs and thighs. Other tasty things that Rainbow Storm couldn't even name. It was much better than the broth they ate back at home. They even had tall glasses of soda! Rainbow Storm greedily ate very bite, then asked for seconds.
The boys mentor suddenly walked in. He eyed Rainbow Storm for a while, then he asked "Aren't you a little young to be a tribute for the games?"
"Excuse me, sir," Rainbow Storm started to raise his voice as he was stretching his wings, obviously getting slightly irritated. "I volunteered to be a tribute. There's nothing in the rulebook against that."
The mentor knew he couldn't win this argument, so he grunted and said, "Anyways, my name is Spike. I'll be your mentor for the games."
Rainbow Storm thought that he couldn't trust this guy. Something was...'off', about him. He seemed weird. That was saying something, because he had used to be a Pegasus.
"There are some rules I need to tell you. If you used to be a unicorn, then you may not use Magic in the arena. If you used to be a Pegasus, then you may not fly in the arena. If you break these rules, then you will automatically be shot with a cannon. If you used to be a earth pony, then you have nothing to worry about."
"Well, It's nice to meet you, Spike," Rainbow Storm said, putting on a fake smile and holding out his hand, offering for him to shake it. After they shook hands, a female servant came in and said, "It's time for bed. Go to your boxcar."
"Good night, boys.", Raven Talon said walking towards his boxcar. But just before he opened the door that lead out, he said one thing:
"Oh, and one more thing. Try not to dream about the games."
And with that, he stepped out of the boxcar, and left.
