Star Wars: Diplomatic Simulations

by Alphadude007

Pinkie's Party

Author's Note:

Star Wars: Diplomatic Simulations

Pinkie's Party

Well, can't please both of them, but a party does sound kind of nice, you figure. It'd be a much-needed shift in mood, in contrast to the past couple of days. You fold your arms as you make your decision. Even a Jedi can't be on the job a hundred percent of the time.

You look up towards Rainbow Dash and give her an apologetic look. "Thanks for the offer, Rainbow Dash, but I think I'll go with Pinkie to her party."

You can't help but feel guilty at the sight of Rainbow Dash's shoulders sagging while Pinkie's face lights up with glee.

"Oh. Okay," Rainbow says halfheartedly. "Well, I think there's somepony else who could help coach me anyway. Thanks, though." With a large flap of her wings, she shot off, back towards the sky once more.

You stare after her for a few moments before you feel a tug on the hem of your robes. "She'll be fine," Pinkie assures you. "Rainbow Dash is the best flyer in all of Ponyville. I know she'll do just fine."

A soft smile tugs at the corner of your mouth. "Yeah, I guess so."

Pinkie smiles up at you and motions for you to follow her. "Now come on, new buddy! Let's get to the party!"

---

As you walk through the town, you can't help but feel the gaze of the four-legged villagers watching you. You glance at them occasionally, only for the equines to quickly turn away and pretend like they weren't watching. You can vaguely hear the whispers of the townsfolk as you walk through what you're assuming is the center of the village. In front of you, Pinkie continues to lead you on, despite the attention.

"The party's just up ahead," she says cheerfully, pointing a hoof at the building she's walking towards.

You look up to see a building that looks like a giant mishmash of confections. The first couple stories look like an off-balance cake with brown frosting and white icing around the perimeter; while the tower that makes up the third and fourth floors looks like a pair of stacked cupcakes, complete with candles on top.

I feel full just looking at this place. Zaalbar would literally eat this place out of house and home. You purse your lips and hope Pinkie doesn't force you to eat too much at this party.

"Here we are!" Pinkie cheerfully proclaims. "Sugarcube Corner!" As you and Pinkie arrive at the hot pink front door of the establishment, you can't help but notice her failed attempt to not make her smile any wider than it already was. "Close your eyes." Her words are dripping with anticipation.

You smirk at the equine and comply. You hear the door in front of you open and a hoof nudges itself into your hand. You take hold and are guided through the door. Even though your eyes are closed, you can see a quick loss of light past your eyelids.

You quickly tap into the Force for guidance. I'm sensing quite a few life forms around me. Is this part of the party?

"Aaannd, open them!" you hear Pinkie say as she lets go of your hand.

You open your eyes in compliance. Suddenly, an overhead light turns on and dozens of multicolored equines jump out of their hiding places.

"SURPRISE!" they all shout.

The sudden shout gives you a jolt of startled energy before you look around and see all the smiling faces of the equines.

A surprise party. Wow, when was the last time I had one of those? Your mind wanders to when the merchant on Tatooine said there was a cargo shipment of gizka that was to be carried on your ship. Well, that was a surprise, but it wasn't a good one. You grind your teeth as you recall the bipedal little pests hopping around everywhere on the ship.

"So what'd ya think?" Pinkie quickly hops up to you and asks. "Were you surprised, were ya, huh, huh, huh?"

You smile at the party guests. "I sure was, Pinkie. Now who's ready to party?"

A resounding 'Yay!' sounds from the small crowd as a light-hearted party tune began to play.

"Come on! Lemme introduce you to my friends!" Pinkie begins hopping towards the group of equines who by this point were conversing amongst themselves, dancing to the music, or eating and drinking. You follow Pinkie, but not before quickly dodging a trio of younger equines that ran just past your feet.

"You alright?" a more sophisticated voice asks to your right.

You turn to see the white equine you'd seen at the market before, the one with the horn on its head and a curled deep purple hairstyle.

"Oh yeah, I'm alright," you reply coolly.

"I do apologize about that, my sister and her friends can be a tad rambunctious sometimes."

You wave off her worried look with a nonchalant wave of your hand. "It's okay, no harm done."

"Pardon me, but I've forgotten my manners." The equine extends her hoof in greeting. "My name is Rarity."

"Nice to meet you, Rarity," you say as you grip the hoof in a shake. "My name's-"

"Oh new best buddy!" Pinkie calls from further into the crowd. "Where'd ya go?"

You look back down at Rarity. "Sorry, but I think I'd better go see what she wants."

"Understandable, dear," Rarity replies. "Probably best you hurry to her quickly."

Rarity… certainly a more sensible name than the ones I've heard earlier. You resume your walk towards the center of the room where you see a pink tuft of hair poking up from the crowd. That must be her. "Hey, Pinkie! What's up?"

The equine's blue eyes turn to meet yours and instantly light up. "Hey, buddy! Meet my friend, Twilight Sparkle."

You find yourself looking down at a lavender-colored equine that was roughly the same height as Pinkie, but with wings and horn this time. Must be the result of interbreeding. Wait, why did I think about that? They may be simulations, but you slap those images out of your mind.

"Hello," Twilight says as she extends a hoof for you to shake. "As Pinkie has said before, my name's Twilight Sparkle."

"Pleasure to meet you," you say with a warm grin.

"Twilight here's a princess!" Pinkie proclaims, to which your eyebrows rise a bit. "But don't let that stop ya from being comfortable!" She looks down at a watch that you swear wasn't there a moment ago. "Oh, I need to go check on the cupcakes. See ya in a bit, Twilight!"

As Pinkie skips off towards what you assume is the kitchen, you turn back to face Twilight. "Princess Twilight Sparkle, huh? Is that the governing system of this place? A monarchy of sorts?"

Twilight rubs the back of her head bashfully at the mention of her title. "Well, it's more of a diarchy with both Princesses Celestia and Luna in charge. I just explore the aspects of friendship and help ponies make friends with one another."

You let out a 'wow' and fold your arms. Never had you heard of any such ruling system in the galaxy. "Two rulers? Just out of curiosity, has either one of the two ever tried to assassinate the other for control?"

Twilight's face snaps into one of shock. "What? Goodness, no. Is that what happens where you're from?"

You purse your lips as you recall a certain group of red lightsaber-wielding warriors. "Well, where I'm from, there's a group of people whose central principle is founded on individual strength. There's a teacher and a pupil, and the pupil's job is to eventually take power for themselves by, eh, removing the teacher from authority."

A contemplative look found itself in Twilight's eyes. "Removing the teacher from authority, huh? Can you tell me more about this group?"

You cock an eyebrow at the equine's interest in Sith teachings. "Uh, I don't know much, but-"

"SWEETIE BELLE, NO!"

Everybody's attention turns towards the kitchen at the outburst.

Your eyebrows furrow at the voice. What's Pinkie yelling about?

"But how will I get a cooking cutie mark if I never try it?" a high-pitched younger female voice whines.

"BECAUSE THEN YOU MIGHT MAKE A BAKED BAD!" Pinkie cries. Suddenly, Pinkie dashes through the kitchen door. "EVERYPONY DU-"

Before she can finish, a massive 'KA-FOOM' is heard from the kitchen. Instantly, a wave of yellow icing explodes from the open door. Pinkie is blown away in the tidal wave of frosting as screaming ponies are swallowed up in the yellow wave. You close your eyes and brace yourself before the wall of crystallized sugar can hit you.

Strangely, you don't feel a drop of icing. Instead you feel like you're standing in an open field again. You open your eyes to see Twilight and Pinkie Pie, conversing together.

"Hey guys!" you call, but they don't seem to acknowledge your existence. Can they not see me? Maybe it's just part of the simulation.

"How has Dashie been doing?" Pinkie asks. "I haven't seen her since the day Sweetie Belle made Sugarcube Corner's oven explode."

A sad look fell upon Twilight's face. "Well Pinkie," she says while putting an arm on her friend's shoulder. "She didn't pass the test."

"What?" Pinkie's eyes go wide in surprise. "But how?"

"She tried one of those loop-de-loop, double barrel backflip tricks she'd been practicing but messed up on the backflip and ended up crashing into another pegasus that was carrying a boxful of kittens."

Pinkie's confused look suddenly changes to one of alarm. "Oh no! Did the kitties make it?"

"Thankfully, there was a small lake they fell into." Twilight says with a relieved smile. "They just got a little wet, is all."

Pinkie wipes some sweat from her brow. "Whew. Good thing for those kitties, but bad for Rainbow Dash. Should I throw her a 'You tried your best' party to make her feel better?"

Twilight shook her head. "I think it's best if she's left alone for now."

As soon as the conversation was over, the environment around you faded into black. A robotic voice above you says, "Sequence terminated."

---

You open your eyes and find yourself staring at HK-47's mainframe again.

The droid looks down at you as you carefully take the neural band off. "Statement: Welcome back, Master. Supposition: I take it you learned a thing or two about diplomacy from your experience?"

You blink several times as you rub your temples to ease the numbness. The transition from being in a simulation back to reality is never an easy one on the brain. "Yeah, yeah. I really learned… a lot."

"Observation: You seem to be having trouble readjusting back to reality, Master. More so than when you experience the turret simulations. Query: Did you encounter anything out of the ordinary in the simulation?"

You shut the droid's chest plate, lock it up again, stand back up and pat the droid on the shoulder. "You have no idea, HK." Well one thing I now know about HK's first owner: he was out of his damn mind. "Any status report from the others?"

"Answer," HK replies. "Negative. Several of the crew members inquired as to how you were while in simulation, to which I replied that you were alright, despite your heart rate beating at almost sixty-two percent above the normal level."

"What?" You put a hand to your chest. To your surprise, your heart is beating as if a crazed Bantha herd was chasing you. "Must be a side-effect from the simulation. Felt pretty real."

"Conjecture: Perhaps, Master," HK says with a small nod. "Different simulations can have different effects on the body. Not something a droid would experience, however."

You let out a sigh and put your hands on your hips. "Alright. I'd best see how the others are doing."

"Statement: Very well, Master. Signing off." With that, HK-47 switched into passive mode.

The walk to the cockpit is a slow one as you allow your heartbeat to slow down. You pass by the communications room and walk into the Ebon Hawk's cockpit. Carth is at the helm while the swirling blue of Hyperspace passes by outside. On his right is Bastila in the copilot's seat.

"How did the simulation go?" Bastila asks you without turning around.

Must've sensed my arrival. "It went well."

"Did it?" Bastila turns her head and gives you a skeptical look. "The tone of your words tells otherwise."

You roll your eyes and laugh at the assumption. "Come on, Bastila. It wasn't a mind-altering experience or something. Really, the simulation went just fine."

"So you think you're going to be able to converse with the Selkath at a reasonable level?" Carth asks as he presses several buttons on the cockpit's main console. "Because we're just about to enter the Pyrshak system. No turning back once we reach Manaan's atmosphere."

"Yep," you lie. "Leave all the negotiations to me."

Bastila narrows her eyes at you suspiciously before turning back around to face forward. "Well let's hope we don't come into the kind of trouble we encountered on Kashyyyk."

"Agreed. The lower profile we have, the better," Carth says as he reaches for a small lever and pulls it down. The swirling blue of Hyperspace fades out as a large blue planet shoots into view. The cobalt blue world of Manaan sat in wait for the freighter and its crew.

You fold your arms and stare back at the watery world. There was no telling what was waiting for you and the others down there in your search for the Star Map. You determinedly suck in a breath and sigh. Well, I hope the Selkath are planning a party for us when we get there.