Canterlot’s tributes stood shoulder to shoulder in front of the brown Minotaur.
“Now, Royalty, since you’ve put this together, you know what I’m going to say. The rest of you, listen carefully:
“Thirty-six in the area at the start. There will be provisions and supplies at the start. How they’re positioned, I don’t know. Nopony will until they’re sent out. That is where you want to get as much as you can.
“But, one catch: In three weeks, you are going to be killing machines. As will the others. What I suggest is run. Run, and if there happens to be something you can use in your path, take it. Do not go out of your way to get something you want.
“There will be five tests throughout these weeks:
“Endurance; how long you can last in the arena alone with hardships and pain.
“Skill; how well you can kill, survive, gather resources, or pillage.
“Compassion; or rather, lack thereof. Make allies if you need to, but don’t swear to protect them with their life. It could be the last thing you say.
“Intelligence; if you mess up here, you can try again tomorrow. If you mess up in there, you’ll most likely die.
“And survival. The elements, the tributes, and the creatures will be dead set to kill you. Make them fail.
“The weapons are labeled, marked, and other things so you know what their called and how to use them. You have a week. Use your time wisely.”
FoxTrot and Luna stood side-by side. Shining Armor and Fleur-de-lis were looking around.
“Shall we try fire making?” Fleur turned to the rest of her group, “That’ll be--”
“No. Make a fire, may as well yell ‘we’re over here, come kill us’.” FoxTrot pointed to the armory. “You need to learn to defend yourself if nothing else.” He looked around, “Where are Minuette and Chestnut?”
They looked around, “Don’t tell me.”
FoxTrot sighed, “’Tia, we have two tributes running from the armory.”
Almost instantly, the two missing Earth Ponies fell in a heap at the Prince’s feet.
“You’re in this now, and there’s no getting out of it.” FoxTrot led the group to the far room, “Now come on, one of us has some games to win.”
FoxTrot sighed, flopping next to his teammates. “How did you guys do?”
Luna shook her head, “we tried to show them what magic we are capable of, but the judges didn’t like it. I had to take a sword-based approach.”
“Better than I did.” Fleur-de-lis scoffed, “I tried to show them how flexible I was by taking my jumpsuit off without unzipping it, but they were too busy with their meal to notice. In the end, I threw a knife at them.”
“Did you hit any of them?”
“No, it flew two feet before ricocheting off a wall and hitting me in the hoof.” She held up a bandaged hoof, mildly soaked red with her blood.
FoxTrot jumped to her, “Here, let me heal that.” His hooves glowed, pulsating black and purple. He held a small sphere to the model’s wounded hoof, utilizing the natural energies to knit and fuse the flesh.
“I am not doing it in the arena though.” He warned her.
“I managed to impress them with a spear throw.” Shining Armor shook his growing mane from his eyes, “Hit the dummy in the chest at fifty yards.”
“I find killing a bit too vulgar.” Mandarin scoffed, “So instead, I showed them how to use one of those knives to keep your trousers up.”
FoxTrot and Shining Armor tried to stifle a laugh, “Yeah, because the way to win is to keep your trousers on.”
“We didn’t fare better than Fleur.” Luna leaned into FoxTrot, “We managed to make one arrow hit the target out of fifty.”
FoxTrot placed an arm around his sister. “Don’t worry. If it kills me, I’m going to protect you as much as I can.”
“What about you, Fawkes?” Shining Armor leaned to make eye contact with the Prince of Shadows, “How did you do?”
“I took one of the dummies and showed them there are more than one way to skin a pony.” He grinned, “Cupcakes anyone?”
The rest shuddered. As kind as he was, FoxTrot was… dark at times.
“Hey!” Orange pointed a hoof to the screen after an eternity of silence, “They’re showing the scores!”
All clambered onto the couch, trying to see the screen.
“The collective scores of the tributes in the Equestrian games.” Princess Celestia was levitating a scroll in her yellow
aura, “How the scores work: The lower the number, the better the score. Ten is the worst, one is the best.
“From Cloudsdale and Appleloosa:”
A white Pegasus stallion with a navy blue mane flashed on the screen, “Soarin’: Five”
A brown stallion with a black moustache took Soarin’s place: “Silver Starr: Six“
The next stallion had pitch black hair and a dark grey coat. “Thunder: Six”
A white Pegasus with a white mane, “Rapid Fire: Three”
A light lime mare with white hair, “Lilly: Five”
A dark grey Unicorn with fire-red hair, “Fire Flinger: One”
FoxTrot’s eyes widened, sensing his teammates’ shock, “Nopony mess with her.”
“From Manehattan;”
A purple stallion with a lighter purple mane, “Sympathy: Eight”
A blue stallion with black mane, “Ress: Nine.”
The stallion they met in the training grounds, “Lord Chestnut: Five”
The Wonderbolt Captain, giving her best smile, “Spitfire: Seven.”
A dark blue mare with white hair, “Germaine: Six”
A black mare with a darker red mane, “Midnight Sky: Three”
So it went, with different ponies showing up, getting different scores. The only ponies that stood out were the ones who got eights nines and tens.
“And finally: Canterlot. For Prince FoxTrot:” His own image made the Prince of Shadows bury his face in his hooves.
“I look like a git.” He muttered, muffled by the announcer giving him his score of ten.
“Mandarin Orange: Eight.”
“What did you do?”
“I told you, how to keep their trousers up.”
“Shining Armor: Nine.”
“Nice job Sir!”
“Thank you Fleur.”
“Princess Luna: Seven.”
“Whoof!”
“You did good, dear sister.”
“Minuette, four.”
“I’m doomed!”
“Fleur-de-lis: Seven.”
“Nice show hoss!”
“Thank you, your highness.”
“The Equestrian Games will begin in two days’ time. Viewing is mandatory. This is Living Tombstone, bidding you goodnight.”
The group of six sighed at once, they all passed.
Except for Minuette.
“I guess that means I’m expelled?” She looked at the solemn stallion.
“No. You’ll just be picked off faster.” He sighed, “Come on, we’ve got a big day ahead of us. Let’s get some sleep.”
“You say as if its in the morning, dear brother.”
FoxTrot nodded, “And we’ll all want to get a final bout of training in, right?”
All murmured their agreement, trotting to their different rooms.