“Hey, Dash!”
Probably Hoops and his cronies again, Rainbow Dash thought as she sped through the air. Why can’t they just leave me alone? “Go stick your head in a manure pile,” she growled at the voice behind her.
“Wow. What a way to greet your best friend.”
The blue pegasus turned her head to see Lightning Dust hovering behind her. “Dust! Sorry about that, I thought you were Hoops. What’s up?”
“Oh, nothing,” Lightning Dust smirked, “Guess who’s volunteering today, that’s all.”
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “That’s not funny, Dust.”
“Why not?” her friend responded. “It’s my last year. And it’s not like any of those other runts would even stand a chance.”
Rainbow’s mouth dropped open. “Seriously?! Why didn’t you tell me this before?!”
“I wanted to keep the surprise, that’s all,” Lightning replied in gloating tones. “Oh, were you thinking of volunteering today?”
Rainbow Dash opened her mouth and closed it again, looking for all the world like a giant pony-shaped flying fish. “N-no, I wasn’t,” she managed to choke out. Which was the truth. She’d longed to volunteer for six long years, but every time she stood in that crowd, her legs, her wings, her voice, all shut down. Every year, she’d told herself it’ll be different this year. You’ll find the strength. And every year, she’d managed to come up with some justification as to why this wasn’t the year, why she should just wait one more year.
I’m too young; I’m too small; my dad needs me.
It’s a Quell year, with twice as many tributes, and my best friend is planning on winning. I couldn’t possibly…
Something hard and aqua jabbed her in the eye. “Equestria to Dash! Are you awake?”
“Ouch, Dust, whadya do that for?” Rainbow Dash said, wrapping a foreleg around her eye, the white of which was now rapidly turning magenta to match its iris.
Lightning Dust indicated the sun. “It’s almost time for the reaping. I’m sure the rest of District Two- hell, all of Equestria- would not want to miss my awesomeness.” She buzzed her wings and took off, leaving the cracked-air smell of lightning in her wake. “Wanna race?”
A rainbow streak dashed out of the clouds behind her. “Of course I do. I’m only the best flier in Equestria after all.”
‘That’s a bet you’ll lose.”
“Hardly. I could outfly you with one wing tied behind my back…”
The twin contrails, rainbow and lightning, lingered in the air long after the pegasi had left.
***********
By the time Rainbow Dash had reached the reaping square, she and Lightning Dust had nearly reached supersonic speed.
Which proved most unfortunate to the stallion checking in the potential tributes. The two pegasi mares flew past him fast enough to spin him around and around like an oversize top.
“I win!” Rainbow announced, her hooves grazing a tiny furrow in the cloud as she skidded to a halt.
“By, like, one molecule,” Lightning Dust snorted, in between gasps for air and guffawing at the check-in guy, whose eyes now resembled billiard balls after a hard hit.
After he had regained the power of speech, the check-in stallion asked, “Can… I have your names please… ladies?”
“Sure, I’m Lightning Dust…”
A purple pegasi stallion in the crowd outside the ropes caught Rainbow’s eye. She flew over to join him. “Dad! You came!”
Her father pulled her into a crushing smother-hug. “I wouldn’t miss this day for the world, my little Dashie.”
That’s what you said last year. Aloud, she said, ”Yeah, sure, Dad. It’s great having you here.”
“What happened to your eye?”
“Nothing, Dust just punched me, that’s all,” Rainbow Dash replied bitterly. “Look, can we talk later?”
Her father let go, confusion and hurt registering on his features. “Is something wrong?”
“You know what? It’s reaping day. I don’t have time for you and your pathetic problems now,” the blue pegasus spat, flapping away into the midmorning sky.
“Dashie!” her father called. She paused but didn’t turn, hanging in midair like a brooding summer thundercloud. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you last year. I should have been better. I should be stronger,” he muttered the last part half to himself.
His words were lost into the breeze.
*********
Rainbow Dash passed through the check-in lost in her own world, still brooding over her father’s words.
Why can’t he just be there for me once in his life? It’s not like he has a job that he needs to be at- well unless you count gambling away all our money as a job. He says it’s an addiction, something he needs help for, but seriously? Why can’t he just throw away his poker chips and never walk into a casino again? What’s stopping him? Celestia?
He’s just weak. Weak and despicable and-
A hard poke in the wing interrupted her reverie. “Dust, cut it out. That’s the second time you’ve done that.”
“Sorry,” Lightning Dust admitted. “But I just wanted to let you know I’ve decided against volunteering today.”
All rational thought left Rainbow’s mind; the only thing she could stammer out was “Why?”
“Because I know how much you’ve wanted to volunteer these past few years, so I decided to give you this opportunity. I couldn’t stop my best friend from achieving her dream, after all.” Lightning Dust smiled and placed a foreleg around her friend’s shoulder. Rainbow Dash simply stood there, dumbfounded. In all her years of knowing Lightning, she had never known her to be so completely selfless- and never in regards to the Games.
There had always been an unspoken agreement in their friendship- the Hunger Games came first. For Lightning Dust to give up her chance now-
“Well, are you volunteering or not?”
But I don’t- The thought sprang unbidden to the back of her mind. Of course I want to volunteer! she told herself. I’ve been waiting for this for years!
“Make up your mind, featherbrain,” Lightning Dust hissed. “She’s about ready to call for volunteers now.”
The pony whose name was drawn, a trembling filly that couldn’t have been more than twelve, was shaking, desperately trying to hide herself behind the guardsponies. One of the stallions noticed the filly and roughly shoved her to the front as she curled up and lay, sobbing, on the clouds.
The voice of District Two’s escort, asking for volunteers, cut through the clouds. As if in a dream, Rainbow Dash forced her wings to move, heard her voice saying, “I volunteer!” It’s coming true. I’ve waited years for this moment and it’s coming true.
… I sort of thought I’d feel happier, though.
She flew up to the stage and stared dumbfounded at the crowd. A ripple swept through the assembled pegasi as they began to rhythmically stomp their hooves. It took a while this to register in rainbow’s mind. They were cheering. For her.
Okay, now I’m getting sort of excited.
She barely had time to salute the crowd before the announcer drew the next name, a twelve-year-old filly by the name of Alula. Dash recognized her as the filly that had been drawn first.
Poor kid. She just can’t catch a break.
“And do we have any volunteers?” the announcer said.
“We sure do,” came a reply from the crowd.
Rainbow turned her head to catch sight of her competition and what she saw shocked her to the core.
Lightning Dust casually flapped up to the podium, looking as if she was a cat who’d just ate a thousand birds.
What? No! I can’t hurt my best friend! How could she do this to me?
Lightning gave her friend a wink, a wink that seemed to say, All bets are off. Game on.
Rainbow Dash was never scared of anything. Especially not her best friend.
But now she was.