//------------------------------//
// Chapter Two-The Training 
// Story: The Silver Games 
// by Diamond Sparkle 
//------------------------------//

Huge crowds of Canterlot unicorns, earth ponies and pegusai had flocked to see the chariot parade, and the looks on the faces of the condemned. Diamond stuck her head in the hair proudly as if such an event meant nothing to her, whilst Silver fought to hold back her tears, not wishing to publicly disgrace her family by crying like a newborn foal in front of everypony. After several minutes the chariots drew up in Alicorn Square, the central square at the heart of Canterlot, outside the main gate of Canterlot Castle. And there, her royal crown, breastplate and shoes burnished and shining, her white fur perfectly clean, was the living goddess Princess Celestia Equestris herself. Even though she came from such a wealthy family, Diamond Tiara had never come this close to the Princess before.  I should hate her for setting up these Games and keeping them going for year after year. How many of her subjects has she sent to their deaths both inside and outside the Games? Or condemned to an even worse fate, an eternity of boredom frozen into living stone? But she's my Goddess, wise, beautiful, the deity that I've prayed to more then once. I can't hate her, I just can't. 

The Princess mounted a pedestal and stared icily down at the tributes. "Most of you are the worst sort of criminals who rightly deserve an eternity trapped in my statue garden. One of you murdered her best friend and baked her body parts into cupcakes. Centuries ago you would have been executed for that offense. Others amongst you want political change. Not content with being able to elect your own local mayors, you want your head of government to be elected too. Has not Equestria avoided the horrors of civil war for a thousand years, and war with other countries for centuries?" She flexed her wings to their full extent, in annoyance at the very idea that somebody else should rule Equestria other then her. "Do you really think our country would be rich and prosperous if I was no good at ruling this country? Do you think that my experience of thousands of years of ruling is worth nothing? A few of you are so useless that you were sent here to dispose of you. And a very few of you have genuinely volunteered for this...I really don't know why. You will cleanse yourselves of your sins in battle, and the winner will receive a free pardon and enough bits to live comfortably on. Take them away and train them."  

Diamond and Silver and the rest of them were escorted by Royal Guards into the Training Center, where a tall griffin with a scar upon his beak waited for them. "Tributes, my name is Oscar Dirlwanger. The names of griffins are very different then those of ponies. Twenty years ago I was found guilty of desertion from the griffin army and sent into the Games as my punishment. I survived against the odds and came out without being crippled or mentally destroyed. And took up a job training new tributes. I don't care why you have been sent here, that is not my concern, I am here to train all of you equally and teach you the basic rules of the Training Center and the arena. No direct sparring here with other tributes, you'll get plenty of time for that in the arena. Don't try and escape, it's impossible, you might as well try to break out of Foalsom Prison, that's how strong the security is here. Pay attention to your training, it could save your life. Out in the arena there is no prize for coming second. Out there in the arena the only rule is to kill." Diamond looked at Silver Spoon, who was now starting to shake with fear.

"The weapons will be those used a thousand years ago when Equestria was in a civil war...swords, spiked horseshoes, spears, daggers, bows and arrows, maces. They and various pieces of equipment will be scattered at a place called the Cornucopia, and at the start of the Games you will get the chance to race the others for them.There will be a clock counting down sixty seconds, and the pony who jumps off their podium before then will be blown to pieces. As you know, when they ended up in prison, the changelings, unicorns and pegusai amongst you were fitted with special collars. If during the Games a unicorn tries to teleport or a pegusai to fly more then seven feet off the ground; then the collar will explode automatically. That's to stop unicorns and pegusai from just  teleporting out of the arena.There are no rules against alliances with each other, you are welcome to do that if you want to, just remember that only one pony will come out of this alive." Diamond looked at Silver Spoon that was now shaking with fear. "Of course there are other dangers in the arena to worry about," Oscar told them.

"Dangers like dying of thirst, starving to death, dying of exposure or falling victim to creatures such as carnivorous parasprites. Even normal parasprites can be a real hassle   if they get into civilized areas, but these things eat flesh, including the flesh of ponies. Well, go to your stations and let's start training. In two days you all go into the arena, and may the odds be forever in your favour." 

Diamond did her best at the weapons stations, despite the fact that as a rich and girly girl, she had never touched a weapon before. If I die early, Silver Spoon will not survive me for very long, I'm sure of it. If we end up being the last two...I will think about it when I come to it.  She did surprisingly well for a total beginner, swiping away with the sword and dagger and thrusting away with the spear at imaginary enimies who were threatening her and Silver. What chance do we have of winning this? We are up against a mixture of hardened criminals who have committed dreadful crimes to end up here, and genuine volunteers who I assume know what they are doing. Once we go out there, our money cannot save us; it is just us against the world. And two of the tributes are changelings, meaning that I can't let Silver out of my sight whilst they are still around, in case one of them murders and replaces her and then feeds on my love before killing me too. How can we possibly survive this?