Chapters Cold.
My teeth chatter as i desperately try to retain body heat.
The fact that we have a hole in our window doesn't help. It's ironic, really. the fire that swept in to our Wonderful district 6 nearly burned our house down, but we were one of the lucky ones. Even months after that we saw people on the streets begging for a bit of food, some matches, and hopefully, a piece of wood or a jacket. They wouldn't dare hope for more.
"Moon" Perfect , I think. another errand to run. In the cold
" Wake up. We have to pick the fruit before it freezes," my brother says. What everypony else wouldn't do for more food. When my mother died from the plague, my father planted a few trees in her memory. 6 months later, we had fresh apples. Oh, how wonderful the times became. District 6 was slowly getting richer, with less starvation cases. My father started keeping journals on how to grow a little food. But a little Accident burned more than half of our fruit trees down. Now we couldn't afford to give out food to everypony, only my friends' families. Three of my friends, Blue leaf, Bright Blossom and Star Shine hunted, and they gave some meat to us. My last friend, Sun Shine, had a small cow for milk. If you compare us to the rest of the families in district 6, we were doing more than well.
" Moon, did you hear me?" I flinch at my fathers voice as I lose my train of thought."I'm going to the market"
"Yeah, bye,"I say. I didn't know what he thought he'd find, honestly. Ponies like fresh meat or clothes, not plants." Rock, when is the Hunger Games assembly?" My stomach is making somersaults.
" 2 hours. We might be able to get the rest of the squash"My Brother, cool rock, replies. Woo-Hoo. The squash. I've always hated meat, everypony in the capitol would think it's barbaric. But we have no choice. It's either eat something absolutely apalling or starve.
I see Sun Shine and Bright Blossom sneaking towards us. I inch towards the somewhat secret tunnel we made and whisper.
" What are you guys doing here!?" I scold. They go to the assembly half an hour early to avert suspicion. " Where are Blue and Star?"
"Yeah, like us throwing up all over will do us any good," Shine tells me. Our woven basket suddenly seems interesting to me. I understand why she's nervous. An awkward silence settles over the field. " Well, we came to get you". I feel like I'll throw up myself. " Anyways, the girls are already at the assembly area. They went there straight after they came from the forest."
I straighten and stretch my wings. Blue and Star are unicorns, but the rest of us are pegasi. Because of their "high stature", they get automatic access to the capitol, and they can break all laws as long as it doesn't help us. Us , I think to myself. pegasi are seen as useless birds. Weather trouble? Oh there's a spell for that! Dying? Sickness? Just use magic! It's a pyramid of advantages. Our wings don't better society, only ourselves. Why not just cut them off? They say. "W-well... should we go now," Shine says. I lose myself too easily.
"Sure," I reply. Our hooves make soft thumps as we trot to our certain death. I can't wait.
Author's Note
Considering that this is a sequel to the Hunger Games trilogy, with new characters and concepts, I think this is ok. Also, this will be the FIRST story to go into the hunger games folder on FIMfiction!
Clop Clop Clop Clop
Clop Clop
My hooves make satisfying clicks as we trot towards the square. Usually, I walk here to only hear that sound, but today, I'm walking to my certain doom. Sure, there is a chance that we don't get picked, but there is a chance we DO. I've always hated the newly-implemented team system, but we can't rebel. We can't risk it. Sun Shine writes all of our names on a team list, then names our team "Blue". Who cares what our team is called as long as we die, right? We shuffle into the square and Short time, the events master, picks a team to go into the arena, It's not fair, but who cares?
"Hello, District 6" Fake smiles. Fake applauses. " I am Short Time," We know, and don't care" And I will be selecting the team for the Hunger Games!" More cheers" And this years team is...." No,no,no,no. Not us, not us, not us.
" Blue?" He sounds confused, and he has so much makeup on that it looks hilarious when he scrunches his nose. A laugh bubbles in my throat. I see my brother crying, but he makes no move to volunteer.Betrayal is the first thing I feel. We walk towards the stage, people cheering us on. Tears dot Star's face. I start thinking about the moment I spear a pony through the neck. I should've become a serial killer. The thought is so ridiculous I snort. Short Time and a few soldiers give me looks. They lead us to the train. We don't get to say goodbye. We don't have a mentor to guide us. We will be dumped into the arena after three days.
Star keeps crying. " Come on, Star, we might win," says Sun Shine.
"Win? WIN!? Listen to yourself! We can't win! I'll be the first to die, and you ALL know it! We didn't even get to say goodbye, and your talking about winning?"
I can't help but agree with her. We all know we will die, and no one will remember us. We will be stabbed.Of course, there IS a chance that we could win. We might actually do this. The capitol stamped out all training, no rich districts, an even playing field. We might win. Someone is crying onto my cheeks. damn, star, your going too far with the tears
"M-moon? a-are you ok?"Am I crying? "I bring a wing up to wipe my muzzle and my feathers come back wet. Oh well.
" Hello, girls!" We jump as short Time happily bubbles. "Oh! You lot are simply gorgeous! Don't worry, we will have you all ready for the capitol before you know it! The capitol's bits of plastic are sickening. They will celebrate our blood being spilled. They will cheer in their solid marble homes, eating as much as they want. I can't wait. But then I remember my brother's face, and my anger returns. He betrayed me. He didn't even care. When I get home, i'm going to kill him. despite my tears, I smile. I WILL go home. May the odds be ever in our favor .
Cough
"Well, I see your designers have given you a makeover," Short Time says. "who cares about makeovers? " I mouth to my friends. "Have you five been instructed of the system change this year?"
"No, we haven't," replied Blue leaf. My head is spinning, though that might be from the train. But what system change was there? The teams system was put in place 5 years ago, not just now.
"You Girls will get training!" Short Time squeals. We nearly fall out of our expensive capitol plush chairs. None of the districts have ever gotten training after the Failed Rebellion. It's to keep another rebellion from happening!"Now I know this may come as a shock, but President Rain thought it would be a good idea. Now, if you all are done eating, you can go to your living quarters for your dresses, then we will be at the marvelous capitol!"
" Well, um, see you later I guess," Star says.
I am supposed to be asleep. Supposed to be . These idiots haven't seen what it looks like from outside their city. People starve on a daily basis . You have to hope to survive the night. Unless you get food from our families, you will starve. I feel dizzy. This train is moving so fast, so fast that I all the colors from the things outside are blurred and blended. It is late fall.
I turn over to look at the clock. I can't help myself. Well, I would look at the clock, if I could. My solidified mane gets in the way, so I sit up and turn my head. 6:31. I sigh. Short Time said we need to get up at 8:00, so I try to get some sleep. No success. Oh well. Sleeping is overrated anyway. I get out of bed and hover. Suddenly, I am zipping through the large train, my wings aching from the exertion. But it is a nice, burning pain.
"Moon? What are you doing?" I spread my wings and tilt up so I can stop before I crash. I look behind me. Blue Leaf is near the door of her room.
" What, do I have to be moping around all the time?" I say. I should not be this hostile. But I have not yet built up the friendship that I could have with her. She used to be cruel, laughing when someone's family member got Tetanus or lead poisoning. But when her father dies from lead poisoning, she decided to stop. I say it's too late.
"No, I just... Moonlight, why don't you want to be friends?" She has tears in her eyes. A small part of me feels bad for her. But she has gone too far. I remember her, in Lower Level classes, laughing at me when I realized that I was the only girl in my family, when I realized that I will never have a mother.
"Do you really think that i'll just forgive you? After what you did? This is not something you can just patch up with a sorry!" My nose is hot. My hooves are planted on the ground. I feel a million pounds. But what I just said will never be taken back. There is no way to make myself lighter.
"I-I don't expect you to forgive like that, but why not? I lost someone as well? I know how it feels!" She is crying now.
" No, you will never know how it feels, because you have never felt what I have felt. It's too late. You made your choice." I push past her and go back to my room.
"Okay, everyone, it's time to meet your trainers!" I already have a headache. Or I might be having a coffee crash. Maybe both. Blue Leaf tries to make eye contact with me, but I avoid her.
" Your training team will come from," I'm worried. District 15 usually gives the weakest tributes, which is good. They know how to ignore odds. Even though we aren't that well fed, even with the extra crops, they will teach us to be strong.
"District 13!" Short Time says. 13. Not 15, but good enough.
"First, we need to know what you all can do. Physical prowess is largely ignored when you need sponsors. You will spend today with Green Ivy, our plants specialist. Her advice will be crucial in making sure you don't die in the night, so I suggest you pay attention," a tough-looking stallion said. He looked mad, his muzzle bent into a frown and a battle-axe floating next to him in his magical aura. I gulped. Big mistake. Big, big mistake. He heard me. "Fear to act will be your death, but so will arrogance and stupidity," he said.
"Oh soften up Rumble! They need confidence too, hmm?" Oh thank you, Green Ivy. "I'll take over from here. Now, the plants. There are three categories; normal, directly beneficial, and harmful."
We study until the Capitol's artificial candy sun dips below the horizon. As we make our way up to dinner, Some of our training team follows us. They were Green Ivy and Cashew. Weird names. But i'm glad Rumble will not be joining us. There is something uneasy about him. Cashew's voice wrestles me from my thoughts. So many interruptions. "So are you all excited? The Capitol is beautiful!" We stop in our tracks. We walked into a strange room. But before we have time to turn around, the door closes and locks.
" Happy Hunger Games," our 'mentors' squeal "And may the odds, be ever in your favor!" Then the lights turn off, and something shoots into my neck.
Author's Note
I realized a new chapter is long overdue