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, teal 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?"
" 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?"
"We came to get you. "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. They never do, though. I think they see it as betrayal.
Us , I think miserably. pegasi are seen as useless birds. Weather trouble? Oh there's a spell for that! Dying? Sickness? Just use magic! It's a load 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 the square.
Author's Note
I hated the other story, so.....
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 passed from starvation. But one day, she didn't. And we found out that she was an orphan.
"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.
I look at her in surprise. does she really think that I'm just going to say 'Hey, I know you're a rude, immature filly who doesn't care about anyone else, but y'know, we are on the same boat now!' I can feel my anger rising, but I try to force it down and say "I'm not going to accept that apology"
She looks heartbroken, and I want to smack her. She's like one of those spoiled brats we see in the rich sectors of six. They think everything is going to go their way.
"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. And now I'm making mine" I push past her and go back to my room.
Breakfast 1 and a half hours later was relatively silent. I think they heard my yells. I lift up a warm piece of bread and crunch it, trying to avoid their stares.
A few minutes pass and I look up to realize everyone's staring at me instead of eating. I swallow and speak. "What?" It's less dramatic than I imagined. They start sputtering. Probably trying to find a non-insulting way to tell me I need to go to a mental institute.
"This is about earlier, right?" I try to hide my annoyance. I'm already competing in a death match, I don't need a lecture about the magic of friendship.
"Yes, it is" A woman I've never met speaks. I can feel my temper rising. I don't even know you! Why are you talking to me!
Short Time takes a deep breath."Moon, you two need to work together. You are a team. I won't stand for this. Correct your behavior.."
I feel like punching them. How dare they talk about this? How dare he use my father's name for me? How dare they talk to me about not standing behind me when they stand for my blood being spilled? "Or what?" When I don't immediately get an answer, I raise my voice, "Or what ?"
I think I have a when the mystery woman speaks. Or attempts to. Clearly they thought I was going to act like a cowering little filly who does what she's told.
Short Time takes over "Clearly that was a poor choice of words. A better choice would be... 'Correct your behavior or this will be much harder' yes, that was better"
I can feel my blood boiling, threatening to explode inside me. "Excuse me," I say. I get to my hooves and walk outside to the running track.
It takes an hour and a half of running plus two scraped knees to understand why I'm so upset. I hate being wrong. And it's true, I do. I stretch my wings and fly around the track, thinking.
"Hey! Watch where you're going!" I pull up at the last second to avoid crashing into a green stallion with a few large, wooden boxes in his magical aura.
I glare at him, and he glares back. "I could say the same to you" I turn around and trot back into the building.He mutters something that sounds suspiciously like "Crazy mare" . Oh well. I lean against the door to open it. But instead of the dingy hallway that leads to the rest of the buildings, I find myself in a cozy room. A fire crackles in the fireplace, and Teal leaf is sitting on a cushion. Oh hell no. I turn around and close the metal door and wait for a few seconds. When I open the door again, I find the familiar hall. I fly to my room and wipe the sweat off my face. What was that? I've never seen anything like it. What a strange place, the capitol. Halls that change when you open their doors. How can they afford all this? Yes, we all knew the capitol was rich, but we didn't exactly know how rich they were. My mind drifts to district 6. They have all this money, but we're left to fend for ourselves.
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 there only to come back. We never take tesserae, we never rebelled or spoke out. What are the chances that one of us gets picked?
We walk into the designated area, taped off with black and yellow tape.
Teal Leaf and Moonlight Star! Why Her!?!? Why her of all ponies.
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. A wave of nausea hits me. 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 will get 15 minutes to say goodbye.
"M-moon? a-are you okay?"Am I crying? "I bring a wing up to wipe my muzzle and my feathers come back wet. Oh well."I'm fine," I snap.
" 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 .