//------------------------------// // ACT 1 END: AFTERMATH // Story: Super Ponyronpa: Cacophonous Symphony // by TrackdNTraild //------------------------------// Starlight couldn't believe what she had just bore witness to. She stared at the gruesome sight before her with her mouth agape, and her eyes widen open. She couldn't even bring herself to blink, or move. She felt like she was a petrified statue of fear and nausea. She heard ponies getting sick around her from the sight, having to hear them cough to compose themselves after expelling the contents of the feast from their stomachs. She was tempted to join them. "What a horrible fire!" Philomena coughed. "I sure hope none of you got hurt by it, other than her! Well, she didn't get hurt, she died... Oh well. It's time to leave the trial room everypony! There's still some time before nighttime, so you're free to do as you please! Get back to the elevator and get the hell out so I can clean up this mess!" They turned and began to move back as though they were robots following commands from a radio tower. They dumbly followed the orders, and found themselves back in the elevator before they knew it. Still wide eyed, still sick, still heartbroken; that was all that the group was. The elevator was a pony-filled void of despair. Starlight couldn't even think; all she could see was red. The elevator dinged as it opened up, and the ponies didn't know what to do when they poured back out into the trial waiting room. They all stood around, looking at eachother. They were wondering if the other ponies were real. If any of this was real. Starlight didn't feel like she or anyone else was alive, that they were real ponies. She felt as though she was the physical embodiment of despair itself, and she hated it. With heavy hearts, ponies began to leave the area. They returned to blinking and let their mouths close. Starlight followed the pack as they made their way back through the building, each walking to the dorms. They stopped at their own dorms, sliding their hooves over the scanners and walking in. Few of them collapsed as soon as they were inside their rooms, and others must've walked to their beds. When Starlight got in her room, she collapsed onto her bed and curled up into the blankets. Her whole body was shaking now that she was laying down, or maybe she had been shaking the whole time and didn't realize it. Everything hurt, and she wasn't even part of the execution. Every part of her body wanted to tear itself apart a thousand times over. All that she wanted was to be at home, laying in a pile of plushies and acting like she didn't exist. Nothing felt right anymore; she felt wrong because she had killed a pony too. Rarity had murdered Party Favor, but she was the reason Rarity was butchered like a cow. She would never forgive herself for letting this happen. She wasn't sure she really could. She lay in bed wondering what her purpose in life was. She wondered why she was at this academy. She wondered why the ponies had let her speak her mind so clearly, and they believed her so well. She barely was aware that Philomena was speaking over the speakers, retelling the nighttime announcement. The lights went out as nighttime fell, and her heavy heart grew heavier in the darkness. She stared at her wall, no light or joy glimmering in the stars that made up the wallpaper anymore. The light they could provide would refuse to reflect in her lifeless eyes anyways. She wondered if this was how Party Favor felt in his last moments. Wondering why he had to suffer, and wondering why things had to go wrong. She could almost relate to him, though the stinging pain in her stomach wasn't from a gut wound. She wanted to get sick, she knew it. Her body refused to let her. She blinked, and rolled over so she could lay on the bed more properly. She brought her blanket up, encasing her body and leaving her head exposed. She felt more comfortable, but her comfort couldn't compare to how her mind felt. Her head wasn't even hurting, but she could just imagine that it did. She thought for just a moment she could hear sobs in the hallway, and she had no idea who they could be coming from. The way she saw it, every pony was crying. She wanted to cry too. She felt warm tears slipping down her face. She wasn't crying, but tears were flowing. Her eyes stung from the tears slipping free, forcing her to blink and rub her eyes to wipe away the tears and bring back the moisture. She rolled onto her back and looked up at the ceiling. How could she bring herself to sleep? She would have nightmares about that execution for weeks, she was sure of it. She hoped that exhaustion would take over her body and she could sleep, because she could barely bring herself to sleep. She felt her eyes growing heavy, and it felt like she had laid there for hours. Her body felt stiff, she knew that much. Every time she blinked, she found it harder and harder to keep her eyes open. Every blink was just slightly longer than the last, and she couldn't even keep her eyes fully widened anymore. Her eyes continued to look around the darkness of the room, unable to catch much of anything. She couldn't even see shadows under her door in this lighting, if they did in fact exist. She heard herself yawn, and felt fatigue move through her body. She was so tired, and she knew it. She rolled onto her side once more, deciding to make it easier for herself to sleep, whenever that would be. She craved to be holding onto something right now. Anything. A pony, a doll; whatever it must be, she wanted to wrap her hooves around it like a foal hugging a teddy bear. She found herself pulling down her pillow and snuggling up against it. She didn't know when it happened, but one time when she blinked, she didn't open her eyes again as she fell into a deep sleep. It didn't last forever, of course. When Starlight opened her eyes, her room was bright. For the first time, she lifted her head and heard Philomena's voice over the speakers. "Greetings everypony!" Philomena's voice cawed out loud. "It is officially 8 am, which means nighttime is over and it is morning! Restaurant Row and the pool have been opened up, and the front door has been unlocked! Wake up and get started with your day; it's a bad idea to sleep in, hoho!" The bird's laughter faded as the speakers cut off. Starlight could barely bring herself to get out of bed. She wanted to lay there and sleep the entire day away. She was sure the other ponies agreed with her, but she didn't feel like laying here any longer. The sleep had just barely calmed her thoughts from the previous day. She sat up, putting her pillow back where it was and neatly making her bed as she got up. Her legs were shaky this morning, but she acted as though nothing was wrong. She scanned her hoofprint on the scanner, and prepared herself to step outside. The doors opened, and she took a deep breath. As she stepped into the hall, she tried to have faith that she was truly ready to tackle the next chapter in her life... at the Ultimate Academy for Gifted Ponies.