The Graduating Party - Cut Scene

Smolder drained the rest of her drink and resorted to eating the leftover ice, the obnoxious cronch, cronch, cronch, grating in his ear. They walked at a brisk pace, doors leading into classrooms zooming by. They were passing by the trophy case when a voice echoed behind them.

“Yo, guys!”

Both Gallus and Smolder halted and circled to Sandbar, who bounded toward them from the gymnasium. He lowered to his haunches, coming to a sliding stop in front of them. “Hey, Yona and I are gonna start an O&O campaign in a bit. You guys wanna join?”

“Nah, we’re busy,” Gallus said.

Smolder snorted. “Busy gettin’ frisky.”

Gallus lightly slapped her upside the head.

“Hey, that’s domestic abuse!”

He rolled his eyes again. “We’re getting hammered. You should join us.”

Sandbar’s snout wrinkled in thought, but then he shook his head. “Yona wants me to start a campaign with her. Can’t do that tonight, sorry.”

“Suit yourself.” He turned to walk away.

“Hey, wait!” Sandbar blurted. Gallus turned back to him. “Have you seen Silverstream anywhere? I’m gonna see if she wants to join.”

“She’s gorging on the food. Just hang around the catering table, you’ll see her.”

“Thanks!”

“Hey wait, Sandbar,” Smolder butted in.

“Hm?”

She held the clear cup up to Sandbar’s face and rattled the ice. “Half-empty or half-full?”

Gallus breathed another annoyed sigh and stared at the trophy case while he waited for the two to finish their conversation. 

“Why?”

“It’s for a social experiment.”

He untethered his tail from around her arm and walked up to the case. A transparent doppelganger copied his every move as he got closer. Cheap trophies with “fancy” decorum painted gold lined the shelves. Most of them were boring to look at. It was the pictures that were interesting. Mainly because some of them had his friends in them.

“Uh, well, I don’t know. Half-full, I guess.” Against the surface of the case’s protective pane, he saw Sandbar veer around and cup a hoof over his muzzle. “Hey, Yona!”

 “What?” Yona called back.

“Half-empty or half-full?”

“Yona not sure!”

He turned back to Gallus and Smolder. “Yeah, half-full.”

Smolder slid more ice into her mouth and crunched the pieces into particles. “Why’s that?”

Gallus fixated on a dainty silver trophy that read Varsity Cheer Competition: 2nd Place. Next to it sat a picture of the cheer team in black-and-white. Silverstream stood center and held the trophy aloft so that it was visible above the crowd of cheerleaders. He remembered Silverstream mentioning that the only reason she got to hold the trophy was that she was the tallest.

“I don’t know. Does it matter?”

“It means the world.”

Ocellus stood by her, hooves wrapped around the hippogriff’s torso in a tight squeeze and giving the camera a euphoric look. Smolder sat down in front of them, criss-cross applesauce and examining her claws placidly while everyone around her radiated victory.

“I don’t know, sorry. It’s just either half-empty or half-full. I don’t know what you want from me.”

He stared at another photo. The caption beneath it read School of Friendship’s Dancerama Winners. It was a picture of Sandbar and Yona, their hooves sticking out in opposite directions and in a ridiculous manner, hair flopping about wildly. They both wore vests that glistened even in black-and-white. Sandbar’s vest fit perfectly while Yona’s was… a tad stretched out. And missing buttons. The picture was taken first year. It was now fourth year.

Gallus frowned and stepped away from the trophy case. Shooting air out of his nostrils, he grabbed Smolder’s shoulder and tugged her back. “Hey, we gotta get shitfaced before the night ends. Remember?”

She switched between Gallus and Sandbar, then nodded quickly. “Oh, yeah. That’s more important. Sandbar, reeeeally think about this for me, m’kay?”

Sandbar backed away slowly. “Um… okay.”

Smolder slushed around the ice in her cup some more and held it out toward the pony as if toasting him. “That doesn’t sound like the sound of you thinking about it.” 

Gallus jerked her arm with his tail, and she nearly toppled over, some of the ice spilling out of her cup and onto the floor. “Those were the chunky pieces!” she whined.

“Ignore her,” Gallus said. “She’s drunk. Anyways, let’s go.”

“Later guys!” Sandbar called as they made their way into the courtyard.