And May the Odds be Ever in Your Favor

by PrincessoftheNight

Generosity's Gift

The sun was barely up by the time Rarity and Sweetie Belle reached the reaping square. As they walked through the gate, Rarity couldn’t help but feel a tinge of apprehension at the coming events.

Stop being silly, Rarity, she chided herself. You’ve been through this a hundred- well, seven, times. And Sweetie Belle will be just fine, I’m sure. She’s only in there once. And if the unthinkable should happen-well, she’ll probably get a volunteer. Really, there’s nothing to worry about.

The voice of the mayor of District One snapped her out of her reverie. In his somber tones he began to recite the story of the Hunger Games. He told how the Princesses Celestia and Luna journeyed to the icy north to defeat King Sombra and his cruel rule over the Crystal Empire. He told the tale of how the Princesses attempted to use the Elements of Harmony to seal Sombra in the ice. And he told the tale of their failure; how Sombra defeated and slew the Royal Sisters, taking their power for himself and raising the sun and moon.

And, in return for controlling the life-giving sun, he lay down the law that every district in Equestria must send one filly and colt to fight to the death in the annual Hunger Games.

Rarity cast her gaze to Sombra’s sun now, whose bloodshine rays had just pierced the horizon. They touched upon her, turning her coat a brilliant white-gold, much like how Celestia had once looked. Rarity wondered absentmindedly if Celestia had ever held the sun too close to earth or too far, setting off massive droughts or causing bitter freezes when she ruled.

The stallion continued his narration, telling the tale of how Sombra’s original holding, the Crystal Empire, turned against him; and how it paid the ultimate price, being frozen in the thick ice of the arctic north.

Rarity’s ears flicked around in boredom; she’d heard this entire story before. From what she could see of Sweetie Belle however, the filly was listening in rapt attention, as if she thought some terrible fate would befall her if she let her mind wander. Maybe she did.

Hoofsteps on the podium snapped her attention back to the front. The stallion who traditionally escorted the One tributes- Rarity thought his name was Fancy Pants- trotted up to the glass ball. “Ladies first!” he announced, creating a miniature blue-green tornado inside the glass ball as he telekinetically shuffled them.

Rarity held her breath. Seven of those slips of paper, she knew, bore her trademark calligraphic scrawl- and one bore Sweetie Belle’s.

Fancy Pants stopped the spinning, selecting one slip and letting the others fall back into the bowl. In a cold, clear voice he read the name.
And it wasn’t her.

“Sweetie Belle! Is there a Sweetie Belle here?”

Rarity felt her knees go weak at the sound of her younger sister’s name. No! It can’t be her! She was one slip out of a thousand! How did this happen?! Of all the worst things that could happen…

There was no sign of movement in the crowd; the Peacekeepers scanned the crowd hungrily, wondering if they were going to have to find this little filly and drag her to the front kicking and screaming.

Then Rarity saw her.

Sweetie Belle was walking to the front as if in a daze, her eyes staring glassily ahead. Rarity noticed that her dress ruffle had twisted so that half of it hung underneath her belly. Rarity longed to adjust it for her, to give her sister a hug and tell her that everything was going to be all right.

But nothing would ever be all right again.

Rarity felt tears spill down her cheeks and splash onto the cold, gray paving stones. She’d always been a fashionista, not someone who participated in such dreadfully uncouth things as fighting, but, as she watched her sister step slowly toward her doom, she did something that shocked her to the core.

“I volunteer!”

The crowd went silent at the sound of Rarity’s desperate cry.

“I volunteer as tribute.”

Comments

[Delete account]

Double First.

[SuperPinkBrony12]

So is Rarity Katniss Everdeen and will all but one of the mane six die or are you planing something bigger?

[ScarletBookeeper]

This story. I like it.

ANOTHER!

[PrincessoftheNight]

2127796 Bigger. Way bigger.

[Xinrick]

oh...god not the ponies i never thought that something like the hunger games would ever...jesus

[General Derpy]

YOU LITTLE. MEWGBHNOUWHIGHNUY JIVBUYDHBEUFBJYUHJC GBUEGBV

IZ NOT FAIR. I HAZ FANFIC WITH SAME PREMISE. AND AN UPCOMING ONE WIT DIZORD BEIN DA ON. YOU IZ CHEETAH.

(Yes, I meant to spell it that horribly. BUT TIS MAH IDEA. DISCORD RULES IT NAO.)

[Slendermuffin]

Hunger Games is cool, but when you add ponies, it's even cooler, I dare even say it makes it 20% cooler.

[StarRibbon]

I have this feeling Scootaloo gets the short end of the stick (again). Is she Rue? She's the only child mane character listed!

[Luigilewis889]

2128100

Agreed.

2128257

Word of warning, Author person. When in the games, remember the
HUNGER!
Obnoxious hunger notice is important. The movie screwed it up and barely showed a tenth of what the books did in terms of hunger and thirst. It's an important part. That's why it's called the HUNGER Games.

Oh, and because it's a Hunger Games fic, the obligatory line in the comments;

"Happy Hunger Games, and may the odds be ever in your favour!"

[TracTix]

Because it's apparently the obligatory line in the comments:

"Happy Hunger Games, and may the odds be ever in your favour!"

This is going to be good *rubs hands*