As soon as Twilight Sparkle opened her eyes, she felt the dread of what would happen today. Today was the Reaping, and everypony in Ponyville had to show up unless they were dying. She sighed and tucked her head underneath her pillow. It was 7 in the morning. Pushing off some of her blanket with her hooves, she sat up and glanced over towards Spike's basket. He was still sound asleep, looking quite innocent clutching onto his covers and his eyebrows curved upward. The unicorn slinked out of bed and proceeded downstairs to get ready.
Within an hour or two, Twilight looked quite nice in a tight white dress tied with a bright pink ribbon and a matching bow in her mane. After touching herself up with some eyeliner, she went back up to wake Spike. She nudged him with her hoof and he stretched up, rubbing his eyes. Yawning, he said, "Twilight… good morning."
The dragon knew what to expect today. One unicorn, Pegasus, and earth pony from each town would each be chosen for the 75th Pony Games, a fight to death where each second is broadcasted live to all of Equestria. Dragons, however, are safe. Getting chosen means almost certain death, because only one victor is allowed to remain.
Before they knew it, Spike and Twilight were headed into the center of Ponyville where the mayor would draw names for who had to be sent off to Canterlot to start getting ready. The unicorn could not be more nervous.
"Fillies and gentlecolts! The time has come for us to select three ponies to participate in the 75th annual Pony Games. One unicorn, Pegasus, and Earth pony will be drawn. But first, let's all take a moment to remember what the Pony Games are really about."
On a giant screen, a video played about how many years ago, ponies rebelled against Canterlot and that an entire city had even been destroyed. It showed ridiculous images that according to Twilight's books, might not even be accurate. When the clip was over, the mayor went back to her sickly cheerful personality.
"Okay! As you may know, every 25 years, the Pony Games are what we call a Quarter Quell!"
That's right. Each 25 years, Canterlot puts some weird twist on the Pony Games. The 50th Games had twice as many tributes, and the 25th had only family members of previous victors drawn from the pool. The Mayor held up a card, and spoke into the microphone.
"So this year, the tribute ponies are… That's strange… All contestants will be from the same town!"
"Wait a minute… If all participants are from the same town… And the Reaping is being held here…"
HOLY BUCK.
