Ponysona 4, the Campaign.

"I...Still have no idea what that was all about...? Uhm, you alright, Zeela...?" Melody paused, a little dumbstruck. Well, that was certainly -one- way to get rid of people confronting her...But...Wasn't she worried they might get suspicious of her...? It was so strange...She took a breath, looking at the pegasus for a moment...She may have wanted to take to Shiro, but the unicorn was worried...

"Yeah, not the best way to get ride of them, but it works..." Zeela said with a sigh. "And I'm used to the rumors by now... Can't stop it... So just try to use them as I can. Now then, I'd like to have a little privet time with Shiro, if that's alright."

"Sure." Shiro trots away with you, and keeps fiddling in his saddlebag every few seconds. "So?"

Melody nodded, smiling a bit and thinking. "Yeah...Take a moment, we aren't going anywhere just yet." She walked back to her spot, sitting down and waiting for everyone to be prepared.

Zeela starts with. "Yesterday, I found out about what happened to your parents. And I'd like to tell you, you aren't alone in how that feels... There are a LOT of random rumors I've got about my skills, one of them said that I well, killed my mother to get my skills, and in a way form one point of view, that's sorta more true then I'd like to admit."

Shiro twitches and looks down, scruffing at the ground with a hoof. "... I didn't actually kill them, I did the same thing my Shadow said. Let them try and face him instead, and he..." Shiro shakes his head, a small tear running down his face. "I'm not going to let that happen to anyone else."

Zeela nods. "I know that, and you know that... But... Still, I fear you blaming yourself for that. And well... Just wanted to tell I know how that feels." Then she hugs the colt, then goes to explaining how her mother died...

Shiro listens to Zeela's story quietly, letting himself cry as it goes and at the end he hugs Zeela. "You're hurting yourself like I am..." He smiles slightly and taps his chest. "I'll keep you safe, all of you." He says with a grin.

"Same back at you... We'll all keep the whole team safe." Zeela said with a smile. "And yeah, it does hurt, but I don't think the pain ever fully goes away, just you learn to live with it. Or if you are lucky, you get to fully let it go."

Star sat down at his desk, taking out his homework. Taking a bite of his sandwich, he'd gotten it in a to go bag, he decided to skip ahead in his History book to read up on Equestria. Hopefully it would show that they weren't ALL that crazy. Not wanting to get involved in the drama with Zeela and the shallow girls, he'd slipped off while everypony was focusing on the fight. At this point, Star really didn't need any more stress. Hopefully, nopony would mind that he slipped off.

It seemed like a daily mantra. Mares be crazy. And they get away with it too. If he ripped on Zeela's wing and clopped her face, he'd be a smear on the ground, Icing was certain of that. Double standards everywhere. Of course, it meant he sat there uninvolved. What was he going to do, assault them? Stallion rights have come a long way legally and socially, but nopony could look him in the eye and say "it's a smart move to interrupt violent mares, you will suffer no repercussions for it and the blame will fall solely on them".

Besides, keeping a low profile is part of business. Omnipresent so as to be familiar, but non-confrontational. He kept watch on Shiro, though. A mare-clop or two was nothing, but if he read the colt right, he was offering to kill them. Nopony should dispense "justice" so quickly, especially one so familiar with the internal failings everypony suffers from. Icing Sugar made mental note to talk to the little one about that later.

"I'll take that as a "no" on the tofu." He says slowly, to nopony in particular, as he gets back to his meal, playing with his phone as he does so. 'Huh, Fire Fox released a new app to spellcheck texts... Download!'

Apparently, going home was only the plan, as watery tentacles grasped Starnwhile he was leaving Junes alone, attempting to pull him into the TV world.

Escape Attempt:

The liquid seemed all to familiar to Star as he tried to break free, some of it landing near his mouth and covering his half of his coat as he easily tears away from the rope and moves away. The liquid tries to follow suit, but somehow Star's fast enough to avoid it on his way away from the rope.

"Yeah...No. I wasn't as hungry as I thought I was...Hopefully those two get done talking soon, I wanna see what this TV world is like..." Melody said quietly, looking around for a moment. "Hmm...I think we're short a head, aren't we...?" She blinked in confusion...Then again, maybe Star was just getting another drink or something.

Zeela then notes. "Oh yeah... By the way, there's a fellow little foal, about your age that I've been meaning to have you two meet up... Cause this filly, saw your spider-monster fight, or something, I think..."

"S-she did?" Shiro's coat seems to pale before he pauses and turns a little red. "I-I wonder how she thought of the end... That was kind of silly..."

LoganAura wrote:"S-she did?" Shiro's coat seems to pale before he pauses and turns a little red. "I-I wonder how she thought of the end... That was kind of silly..."

"I'm not sure how much she saw, but she did do a bit of artwork on the spidermonster... In fact in a way thanks to her, I was able to get the cops off your back." Zeela explains with a chuckle.

Shiro sighs in relief. "I-I'd have to say thanks to her..."

"Also be sure to thank her dad, he was willing to believe my crazy tale of what's happened with us..." Zeela said with a chuckle. "Well we've had enough time to ourselves, we should head back to the others." And with that Zeela starts walking back to the others.

"I think it's all a bit much for Star. If he's going to have a total breakdown and panic attack, it's probably better to be where you're comfy. He's probably curled in a ball somewhere far from televisions." Icing shrugs to himself as he gives his hypothesis on Star Power's quick escape.

"One pony at a time. Admittedly it's a sample size of one, but the last pony Shadow we fought, of that colt coming back here, was hesitant to assault its originator. I think it wanted a plaything, but I'm not Siegmount Freud here, I won't pretend to know what's going on in their heads, but if that's a theme, Star Power is actually safer from permanent injury than you." He tells Melody as the others return to the table. He leaves out the very important category of non-permanent injury there, of which there would be a lot. His side was still a little stiff, and he got the least of the hits. Of course, he wasn't nearly as well-padded either.

"So we need to get you comfortable with the idea of beating shadows, and we need that lens for Maria. Just the four of us, give a short walkthrough of the Schoolhouse, being careful, sound good to everypony?" Icing asks the group, confirming the plan of action.

Brash nods vaguely and then snaps to attention, "Oh we ready to go finally? I was just mulling some ideas over. I miss anything important?"

Zeela nods in agreement to Icing's plan. "I hope you're right... And personally I think it'd be better if Star was with us, but, best to work with what we've got. So is everypony ready?"

"Seems like a good idea to me. I'm ready to get going when you are!" Melody nodded happily, getting up. She had her axe, the others (Except Star and George) were present, she was as prepared as she could get for now! "And...Hrm, that might be good to know later, Icing...Have to keep it in mind..."

Zeela nods and gets to quickly finishing her meal.