Chapter 1

I wake every morning in District 11, also known as Ponyville. Every day is the same: we get up, we eat, we work, then we sleep. It's a boring life, but it's something we have to do to survive. There's only one day of the year when this routine changes, and that day is the day of the Reaping.

Five years ago, when I was safe from the Games, I watched the Reaping with my mother and father. That year was the year when my brother's name was reaped, and I watched in shock as he walked up to the stage and took his place next to the filly who would represent us. I remember saying goodbye to him for the last time, the train taking him to the Capitol and to certain death. I remember every moment from his Games up until his death. I don't know who won that year, but I do know that they were from District 9 from the highlights program. The show also told me that the colt who won was the same colt who killed my brother. I remembered his victory tour, and he didn't seem sorry for what he had done: he never even spoke to my family. From that moment forward I have always been terrified of the Games, the thought of facing 23 other fillies and colts in a fight to the death. It is almost unbearable, and sometimes it's too much, filling me with nightmares.

I wake with a start from the latest of these nightmares on the day of the 24th Reaping. Breakfast with my family is a silent event. I am their only child now, all they have left, and they can't bear the thought of losing me. I dress in more formal attire than I am used too, as it's a custom that on the day of the Reapings everypony makes an effort to look presentable. I say goodbye to my family, then head out into the street where I meet my two friends Sun Beam and Thunder Strike. It's become somthing of a tradition between us to meet an hour or so before we have to be in the square, and take a walk. We talk to each other normally, in spite of the horror we're about to face. When we were young foals we used to make a game of guessing who would be picked; this stopped when my brother was chosen.

Beam, Thunder and I have known each other for a long time, and they were the first ponies I was ever really close to. Now as we walk along and talk about our plans for tomorrow, I say the usual: "Get up, eat, work, sleep." I hate this, when we talk as though nothing could alter the future, as though none of us are in danger. I know that they do it for me because they know the Games unsettle me, and I appreciate their care but blocking out the real world with meaningless chat doesn't help.

When our time begins to run out we turn towards the square, and don't speak at all. Sun Beam and I move towards where the fillies are gathering while Thunder goes to stand with the colts. Sun Beam and I stand together, as we are of the same age, and share a look briefly before the ceremony starts in a silent wish for good luck. An elaborately dressed Capitol pony walks onto the newly polished stage, dressed in such vibrant colours that the drapes hanging above look like lifeless sheets of grey. I see the youngest foals in the crowd look up at this exotic stranger with wide eyes, as it's their first Reaping, and ponies like her are never be seen here for any other reason. A few even look around with confused faces at the older ponies, wondering why they don't look exited to see such brightness, like a slice of another world. To them the fear of the Reapings and the Games has only ever been theoretical and detatched, overshadowed by the glamour. The ponies who stare as stony faced as me are ones who have lost family and friends to the Games, who have felt that fear and much worse. The brightly colored pony walks to the front of the stage, all the cameras turned towards her.

"Welcome to the 24th annual Games!" She speaks in a happy, almost childlike voice, and it makes my fur stand on end. She dips her hoof into a huge glass bowl, grasps a piece of paper and speaks again. "The filly who shall be representing District 11 is..." She pauses for dramatic effect, and as she speaks again I feel Sun Beam tense beside me. I hear the words but I can't believe them. It's my name.