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I scream at the top of my lungs, not gasping for air. Everyone is looking at me like I'm a freak. But I don't care.
"I VOLUNTEER!" I cry, walking to the stage, grabbing Scoot. "I volunteer to take my sister's place!"
Pinkie Pie looked baffled. Then she smiled. "That's great! Why, this has never happened in the history of Hoof Games! Come on, come on up..." she hesitates, as Soarin' carries a screaming and crying Scoot away. "Twilight. Sparkle." I say, keeping my voice low.
"Oh-kay! Our new mare tribute, Whyright Sparkle!" Pinkie calls out. "Twilight!" I correct her. She looks to me, smiling. "I'm sorry, dear," she turns to the mic. "Twilight Sparkle!" I stand in front of County Six, feeling stupid. But I had to. I don't want Scoot to die out there. Not like this.
"And lastly, stallions!" Pinkie says, moving to the left of the stage, where the stallion's names are kept. Her pink hoof, again, hovers over the sea of names for a while, then snatching up a card. She struts to the podium, unfolding the card.
"Spike Dracon! Come on up! You are the 74th annual Hoof Games stallion tribute!" Pinkie says, looking around for the stallion. She sees a figure moving, but then she frowns. "Um...you..aren't a stallion, are you?"
I can't believe it. Spike Dracon. He's a dragon. A small one.
He scowls at Pinkie, returning to his solemn state. Spike walks to the right of Pinkie, keeping his head down. Pinkie is silent. Then she blurts out, "Our tributes for The Hoof Games, Spike Dracon, and Twilight Sparkle!" There is a small applause from the crowd. I don't care one bit. I take a look at Spike. He has a small tuft of blond hair, and sparkling green eyes. Something to remind me about Soarin', I thought. Then I look at him again. And I remember.
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I pant as I ran away from the Hob, a merchant yelling at me. His voice faded out as I ran farther. I had a tiny piece of bread in my hands. I stop by a pig shed and a tree, opening my hand. The bread was covered in sweat. I sighed, and threw it to the pigs. They crowded around it, trying to eat it. Then they went back to their pig-manner.
Spike came out of a house in front of the pig shed, and I realized that I was at the bakery. I crawled behind the tree, and Spike had noticed me. I grunt softly. He goes back inside. I crawled out from behind the tree. I heard yelling and a thwack. Then Spike came outside with bread, his mother following him. He threw me the bread, and his mother looked at me, and screamed, "Why are you giving our bread to this person? She's a mess! When we get back inside, you are in trouble, you hear?!" I covered my ears, and I was scared. Spike had such a hollow look in his eyes. After his mom dragged him inside, as soon as I took the first bite, I felt thankful.
I was going to go inside and thank Spike, but I thought about his mother's words, and I didn't want to make her angry again. So I went home with bread to last for four days. All because of Spike.
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I'm in a room, my things packed, ready to move to the Arena. The room I'm in is a sort of "goodbye dear tribute" room. Friends and family can visit you for a short amount of time, and that's it. That's all the time you get before you're possibly murdered in the Games.
The first person to come in is Fluttershy. I jump up out of my seat and hug her tightly. "Easy, Twilight...I'm fragile.." she says, smiling and patting my back. I let go, tears flooding my eyes. "I'm sorry, it's just that...I might not be able to see you again," I say, sitting back down. Fluttershy frowns, and sits across from me. "Don't worry. I've seen you use a bow and arrow, and run. You're sure to win." she assures, winking. I smile. "Before I go, I want you to have this." Fluttershy pushes her hair out of the way, and her harmony pin is there. She unpins it, putting it into my hooves. "Your pin..." I say, baffled. "Keep it," she says. "for good luck." The tears come out, and I look like a mess in less than 3 seconds. Fluttershy hugs me, trying to hold in her tears. She helps me pin it on my shirt. A guard opens the door. "Your time is up." he says, and Fluttershy turns to me. "Be strong." she says. I wipe the tears away, waving.
I hold it together when Soarin' comes in. But I can't. I hug him, like I did with Fluttershy.
"Soarin'...whatever you do, please...take care of my family." I say, burying my face into his shoulder. He strokes my mane. "I'll do whatever I can to help them while you're gone. The good thing is, I don't have to be in the Games anymore."
I punch the smile off of his face. "Sorry!" he exclaims. "Gosh, Twilight. It was a joke." I smile, showing him the pin that Fluttershy gave me. "So she gave it to you. For luck?" he says. "Yep." I reply. I hold it on my chest, lowering my head.
Soarin' gives me a kiss on the forehead. I quickly pick my head up, my face is red. He chuckles. "That was for luck, too." I smile. It seems that whenever I'm around Soarin', I smile. He says that a lot. I also smile when I hunt. The guard comes in once again, and for a second, I want to punch him, but I know that he would call other guards. It was useless.
Me and Soarin' hug again, and he leaves. Then more people come to hug and visit me. And it's over. Now my only "friend" is Spike. I'm not too happy about that.
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So let me explain The Hoof Games.
It's basically a annual event, and it's televisioned over all of Flank. The Reaping already happened, so I'm not going to explain it. The two tributes ride on a airplane to the Training Arena, which is basically the practice Arena. There are lots of stations and small spaces that change to a different ecosystem each time you pull a lever. You choose a station, and choose a place to practice in. Lots of obstacles are in the ecosystems. The stations as I remember, are magic for unicorns, like me, flying for pegasi, bow and arrow, knife throwing, making a fire using things that could be found around you, snare making, which I will definitely go to, running practice, camouflage, and finding plants/berries that you can and can't eat.
Why The Hoof Games were made, I know, but don't exactly like it- Flank got into many rebellious fights and such, so for payback, the Capitol made a punishment- The Hoof Games. Reminding us that if we ever rebel again, worse things can happen than what happens in the Arena. Harsh, but cooperative. At least, for the people who don't get picked.
Anyway, after training, you show the Hoofmakers, or the people who make The Hoof Games, what you got. You're showing them what you know, and what you learned. Then after that, they judge you, and show what you did on television. After they show us, we get a score, ranging from one to ten, one being low, and ten being high.
Then comes the chariot rides. Your personal stylist stays with you before The Hoof Games, and after them, but not during. They come up with a costume for the two tributes to wear on the Night of the Tributes. You get the costume, and stand on top of the chariot, looking all pretty and such. They playback pretty much almost everything that happens to you while you're a tribute.
Doctor Whooves is glammed up for a interview with the tributes a day after the Night of the Tributes. Before this, you meet your personal make-up group, who makes you look like someone else for the interview. Gotta look pretty before you get killed.
It's finally time for the Games to start. They send you up in a elevator, and the Arena is specialized every year, so you can get a new Arena, or one that's already been used. So if it's been used, you're likely to see remains of the past tributes who died. It's a type of enviroment, like what I said about the Training Arena. It could be a desert, a beach, a island, a rainforest, anything you can think of. Booby traps are set up everywhere, and the Hoofmakers are always trying to eliminate players anyway they can. A gong rings when someone dies, and every night, the Arena's dome-shaped sky-thing plays the anthem on a giant screen, where everyone who's still alive can see it. It then shows the county they were from, and a picture of the deceased. The anthem plays again, and turns off. We sleep or stay awake.
There's this sacred place in the center of the whole thing, called the Golden Horn. The middle is a giant horn, filled with things that can help you during the Games, or food. So it's where the Fancies stay a lot. Before I move on, the Fancies are the tributes from County One and Two. These counties are better looking than all of the others, because it's inhabited by fancy people, who are also very beautiful. That's why those tributes are called Fancies.
Okay, back to the Horn. There are staircases on both sides of the Horn. It's really large, and it's hard to climb up on, so that's why it wont be my starting point. You would get killed by the time you grabbed a backpack, which is filled with nessecities. And even though there are only 12 tributes, one of them is probably going to aim at you.
There's also nessecities around the Arena, so you don't have to climb up the Horn. After all of this is done, the last person standing wins. And that's The Hoof Games.
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