//------------------------------// // ACT 3: Talking More // Story: Super Ponyronpa: Cacophonous Symphony // by TrackdNTraild //------------------------------// Starlight looked around the courtyard, taking note of all the ponies she could see. Sunburst was with Twilight and Shining Armor, Double Diamond was with Doctor Whooves and Feather Bangs, Trixie seemed to be arguing with Prince Blueblood, but Starlight couldn't see Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, or Pinkamena anywhere. She didn't like when she couldn't immediately find ponies. It set off her fight or flight response, and it made her heart pound. She swallowed hard as she began to wander the courtyard, searching for the ponies. Thankfully, she didn't have to look too terribly far. She side glanced at a window, seeing Rainbow Dash sitting on the windowsill. Fluttershy was sitting on the ground next to her, brushing her hooves through her hair. They didn't seem to be talking, but they both seemed rather comfortable with eachother. Starlight sighed in relief. Well, that was two ponies she didn't need to worry about. But, where is..? "Hi Starlight!" Starlight leapt with surprise, spinning around to see one of the ponies she had been searching for. "Oh god, Pinkamena..." Starlight held her hoof over her chest, trying to calm her beating heart. "You scared the daylights out of me." "Sorry," Pinkamena snorted. "I didn't expect to see you back here either. I just finished cleaning off the feast table and putting everything away, I just need to clean the kitchen." "I see," Starlight hummed. "Actually I uh... if you're not busy, I wanted to see if you maybe wanted to hang out? We haven't really talked that much, so I was hoping we could get to know eachother a little more." "I don't mind!" Pinkamena nodded, clapping her hooves together. "We can go inside if you want?" "Fine with me," Starlight said with a smile. The two ponies nodded, before turning around and walking back into the kitchen. >> PINKAMENA PIE FREE TIME EVENT 1: START! << The kitchen was still warm. Starlight took notice that one of the oven doors was cracked open. Thankfully, it seemed like the oven was off. When she approached it, it was still exuding heat. "Hey Pinkamena," Starlight addressed the mare. "Did you leave the oven door open on purpose?" "I did," Pinkamena said, trotting to stand by Starlight. "It's an old habit of mine, sorry, haha." "An old habit?" Starlight asked, tilting her head. "My parents taught it to me," Pinkamena explained. "I was born on a rock farm, and out there it gets pretty cold, even in the warmer seasons. So, to keep the house warm, we would open the door to the furnace after we finished cooking. We'd let the coals burn out over time, and the heat would spread throughout the house." "That's really smart," Starlight said with a smile. "So you just do that by default with ovens too?" "Kind of!" Pinkamena giggled. "I showed it to the ponies I used to live with in PonyVille too. Our bakery would get pretty cold in winter because the doors aren't completely solid. We would pin blankets up against the doors to block out some of the cold, and leave the oven doors open to warm things up." "Maybe I should start doing that," Starlight laughed. "It always gets super cold where I live. I would've been too afraid of starting a fire to do something like that." "As long as you don't leave the oven on it's not a problem," Pinkamena hummed. "But I get why you'd be concerned! I was really scared of it as a filly, but as I grew up and saw my parents doing it without even thinking, I thought 'hey maybe it's not so bad!' Aaand, here we are today!" "Well, you can definitely feel the benefits," Starlight said. "It is really warm in here." "Ah, should I close the oven?" Pinkamena glanced to the door, resting a hoof on the handle. "No, it's fine," Starlight laughed. "I'm just used to it being cold in the dorm hallway. It's refreshing to be in a warm place. It makes me feel like I'm constantly wrapped up in a blanket." "You're not wrong," Pinkamena giggled. "Well, if we ever get out of here, at least you know how to stay warm the rock farm way!" "Yep!" Starlight snickered. "Thanks for explaining it to me. Hopefully I'll remember it." "Pinkie promise you will?" Pinkamena grinned, tilting her head to the side with sparkling, expectant eyes. "Pinkie promise..?" Starlight tilted her head to the side, a bit of confusion in her eyes. "Cross my heart and hope to fly-" As Pinkamena spoke, she drew an X over her chest, before flapping her hooves at her sides like wings. "-Stick a cupcake in my eye!" She shut her left eye, before resting her hoof over it. She giggled once she rested her hooves back on the ground. "Ah..." Starlight still seemed confused, but it seemed like this 'Pinkie promise' really made Pinkamena happy. "If you can't tell, I started Pinkie promises," Pinkamena snorted. "They were just a happy little accident, but then some other ponies I knew started doing it. I hold Pinkie promises super close to me, so it means a lot when other ponies do them." "I see," Starlight hummed. She was reminded of the 'broken promises' part of Pinkamena's dislikes, and now she understood what it meant. She'd swear not to break this promise. "Well, in that case, I Pinkie promise I'll remember your neat little oven trick. Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." As Starlight recited the words, she did the same motions Pinkamena had. Crossing her heart, flapping her hooves, and pretending to stick a cupcake in her eye. "Yippee!" Pinkamena excitedly clapped her hooves together and bounced in place. >> Starlight's friendship with Pinkamena has deepened. << "I should probably finish cleaning up," Pinkamena hummed when she had calmed down. "Yeah, I'll let you get back to it," Starlight said, turning to the side. "It was nice hanging out with you though, Pinkamena." "Anytime Starlight!" Pinkamena said. The ponies waved their goodbyes to eachother. Pinkamena finally shut the oven door and went back to cleaning up the kitchen. Thankfully, she didn't have much to put away still. Starlight trotted to the door, and stepped back outside. It felt much cooler outside, but the warmth of the kitchen still lingered on her coat. She would stay that warm for just a little longer. But, she still had so much time left over... Starlight looked up at the sky. It wasn't that late, and her time hanging out with Pinkamena wasn't as much as she thought it was. The other ponies were still scattered around the courtyard, though it seemed some of the groups had split up. A few ponies were on their own. Briefly, Starlight considered her options. The alone ponies consisted of Fluttershy, Trixie, Shining Armor, and Twilight. She hadn't gotten much time to spend with any of them, other than one off conversations and her explorations with Twilight. She blinked. Well, she had barely talked to two of those ponies since they got there. She did want to learn more. She made up her mind, and decided that she wanted to hang out with Trixie. >> TRIXIE LULAMOON FREE TIME EVENT 1: START! << "Ah, Starlight Glimmer!" Trixie addressed the mare as she approached. "Just the pony I was hoping to see!" "You wanted to talk to me?" Starlight blinked in surprise. "Yes yes, Trixie has something important to ask you about," The unicorn hummed. "You see, it's about that wretched stallion with the blonde hair." "You mean... Prince Blueblood?" Starlight tilted her head. "Yes, that one," Trixie scoffed. "I saw you both arguing earlier," Starlight mentioned. "I didn't want to get involved, so I stayed back. Can I ask what it was about?" "Well, I'll explain it in short," Trixie sighed. "We got into a bit of a scrap talking about the last few, ehm, ponies that have died. Our conversation began as civil, as do all, but he very quickly showed his true colours." "You mean you thought he was nice before?" Starlight spoke flatly, with one eyebrow raised. "Well, Trixie knew he was a bit of a um..." Trixie paused, tapping her chin. "...a bit of a prick, but I didn't think he was that bad." "Well, there was your first mistake," Starlight snickered. "Hush up." Trixie stuck her tongue out. "Continuing on, we began talking about it in more detail, and I have to say he is anything but blunt, he's just flat out rude! He pretty much said that everypony here could die and he wouldn't mind because we aren't 'royalty.'" "What?!" Starlight almost yelled. Her ears pinned back like a cat's. "Oh that-! Ugh, I knew his dislikes were hypocritical." "I know, right?" Trixie groaned. "Dislikes rude ponies... pssh. Yeah right." "So that's what you guys were arguing about?" Starlight sighed. "I'm not surprised. He always holds his head up all high and mighty, like he's some sort of immortal god." "Right?" Trixie grumbled. "Trixie is more than happy to admit when she has a fault... er, well, sometimes... b-but he is always in denial of it! No matter how many times a pony can tell him he's wrong, he'll blow it off or blow it out of proportions." "Almost all royal ponies are like that, in my experience," Starlight said. "And he is a prime example of it." "Twilight is the nicest royal pony here," Trixie snorted. "And she's an alicorn, so he should learn to respect her more! Why, if I didn't know any better, I'd dare say he is beneath her!" "Regardless of whether or not that's true, Twilight isn't the kind of pony to push that idea," Starlight said with a sigh. "She seems like she's way too nice for that. Honestly, I think she's more likely to just avoid him like I've been doing." "I've been trying to do that as well," Trixie hummed. "But, unfortunately, the more you talk to a pony, the more it'll be easier to know if they're likely to kill another pony in this stupid school. And, if I'm going to be honest with you Starlight, you might want to watch out for him. If he hates 'common' ponies so much, Trixie wouldn't be surprised if he ends up as the next pony executed." "Don't say that," Starlight huffed. "You might be right, but it's not nice to talk about other ponies like that. Besides, I think he's too afraid of 'dirtying his hooves' to do something so vile." "Fair point," Trixie sighed. "I suppose I'll try not to speak my thoughts out loud. Well, when he's around." "Trixie." Starlight passed the mare a glare. "Okay okay I won't say them at all!" Trixie groaned. "Stop looking at me like that." "Thank you," Starlight hummed, smiling smugly but sweetly. "Regardless of whether or not we like other ponies, we should at least try to be polite... it might prevent future conflicts from brewing." "Ugh, I hate when other ponies are right," Trixie snorted. "Okay, I'll try not to be mean. But don't be surprised if you see us arguing again, because Trixie does not back down from a fight." "I guess I can't stop you," Starlight said. "Just try not to go too far, okay?" "I'll do my best," Trixie said, nodding her head. >> Starlight's friendship with Trixie has deepened. << "I think I'm going to head back to my room," Trixie said, stretching her legs. "Arguing with that cursed stallion used up a lot of my energy." "Have a good rest, Trixie," Starlight said. "Thank you~" Trixie sang lightly as she began trotting off to the building's entrance. Starlight watched the mare trot through the opening, and disappear behind the walls of the academy. She sighed, and looked up at the sky once more. The day was going by so slowly... Maybe she could follow Trixie's example. If she had nothing better to do, she could just go to bed. Sleeping would pass more time than aimlessly wandering around. She began trotting back to the building, and stepped inside. It was so quiet inside when no ponies were around. The silence was eerie, and the dim light didn't help the atmosphere. She picked up her pace, walking down the hallway to her room. She scanned herself in, and quickly stepped inside. She watched the door shut, before she could relax. She knew why she was still scared, of course. She was still thinking about what Double Diamond had told her. She climbed onto her bed and sat down, feeling her heart beating. Her anxiety had been at an all time high ever since then. Despite everything that she had done throughout the day, she couldn't get her mind off it. She had tried to distract herself by talking to the other ponies, but nothing helped. Even her talk with Sunburst didn't ease her anxiety. She crawled under her blankets and pulled the covers over her head. She wasn't sure if she would be able to sleep at all when her thoughts were whirling around her head like this. She shut her eyes, and decided it might be for the best if she at least pretends to be asleep. Maybe if she's lucky, her thoughts will stop just long enough that she'll actually sleep. Thankfully, her plan seemed to work. Before she knew it, her world had gone dull and muffled, and she was completely out within minutes. She was lucky that she didn't toss and turn in her sleep.