When Pony Head said that we should all play a fun game, I thought what the heck, what's the worst that could happen. We all walked upstairs to Star's room and I felt better knowing that everybody wasn't staring at me anymore. I knew that I was wearing this outfit to impress Jackie (and for literally no other reason), and that everybody seeing me in this blatantly masculine clothing was going to cause me to suffer a massive amount of dysphoria later on but.. if I could manage to impress Jackie like this then everything would be okay, right?

Not like I ever could have a chance with her, I was reminded by my brain. you, me, I am a girl. a transgender girl. and she is a cis girl. a cis girl who is almost certainly straight. and would not like me if she knew I was trans. So if I ever want to date her, I have to be Marco The Boy. not.. Me The Girl. I sigh as I'm walking up the stairs. I know Star would tell me to be myself, but it was only last month that I managed to tell her and I don't think I'm capable of telling anybody else, parents included, for a very long time. She had been about as supportive as she could be. She had stopped using he pronouns for me around others when she could remember and had begun simply calling me "Marco" in front of everybody. Apparently trans people are well-accepted on Mewnie.

The two of us had gone shopping once after I came out to her. She tried to get me to put on a whole bunch of poofy, over-the-top frilly dresses and I had to explain to her that wasn't quite my style. I actually rather like my red hoodie; my red hoodie is simple and it feels nice. I wound up purchasing a good few skirts, mainly in blue, purple, and red and one or two dresses in case if we ever went out to dinner. I also got a blouse that I thought was cute... Not that I'd ever be able to go outside in clothing that I want to be wearing, ballet shoes excepted the nagging reminder in my head returned to tell me. The whole group reached the top of the stairs and entered Star's room as I finished recollecting the memory.

All six of us gather around in a circle sitting down and Pony Head puts a weird looking cube with patterned lines down on the ground in the middle. Introducing the cube, she tells us "Alright everybody.. this is the game! It is called Truth or.. Punishment! It is a great game for telling your friends all about your deepest, darkest secrets! Its a great bonding activity!" Pony Head exclaims at us. Meanwhile, I have gotten up and .am presently running for the door as if my life depended on it. My deepest, darkest secrets? No thank you! Nobody besides Star here knows that I am trans and nobody else here needs to ever, ever know. Ever. My mind is spinning too fast for coherent thought unrelated to panic and I'm trying to open the door but my hands are too sweaty and too fidgety from my nerves to turn the knob.

Somebody put their hand on my shoulder and I'm scared before I realize that it was just Star. I turn around to face her, my eyes wide with panic. She pats my back softly and she whispers, "Don't worry, my girl, I'll try to do everything in my power to make sure that nobody has to know. Besides," she jokes, "stress isn't the most conducive thing to nervousness" and smiles as me. I smile back gently and walk back, next to Star, with my head hanging down. I wind up sitting down on one side of Star, with Jackie on my other side. Jackie gives me a smile and says "hey dude." I try not to grimace at the comment "dude," and smile back because Jackie just talked to me!

Then the cube glows a bright blue and a top cube pops up with fangs and everything. Kind of freaky. The cube speaks to us, "Are you prepared to play Truth or Punishment? I ask questions and you answer truthfully. If somebody does not answer truthfully, then an appropriate punishment will be given! Stick a finger in here to pledge your truth and agree to the rules!" the voice shouts at us. One by one, everybody else sticks in a finger and then says something along the lines of, "I pledge to speak the Truth." When it finally comes to be my turn to stick in a finger I suddenly feel a little nauseous. Star looks my way and nudges me, getting me to put my finger in and say "Truth."

The cube retracts the top head part and a spinning dial appears on the sides. The box speaks, "because of your annoying hesitation, I can tell you must be nervous about something. That you might have something to hide, Marco Diaz. Remember, lies will be punished appropriately, everybody." It goes silent for a minute before retuning to speech as the dials spin with words, "What | is | your |" it pauses for a few seconds, "gender!"

I feel faint and look at Star quickly, far more terrified now than I ever was before. Maybe the cube monster wants me to say what sex I am, what sort of genitals I have you know? Maybe it was just using gender as a synonym for that... I can't believe it. Does it hate me or something, does it already know the answer? Am I just going to be doomed to have eternal bad luck? What is everybody going to say," thoughts run through and through my head and are certainly not about to stop any time soon and I feel Star grab my hand and squeeze it. She grins at my widely and speaks loudly at the group, "Nonbinary!" I gulp. It really must want to know how we identify, if she was able to say nonbinary. The annoying voice returns, "Well, you really are fucked now. Guess everybody is going to know now." Not willing to accept everybody knowing, I yell out, "I'm a boy!"

The cube flashes a bright red once and then returns to blue, the apparent neutral state. Everybody else goes on to answer "Girl." At the end of the round, the cube turns into the same bright red and booms, "Liar, Liar, New Attire. Somebody was a bad, disgusting, little liar." Everybody's clothing turns into a fancy collared button-down with a colored tie, fancy dress pants, and dress shoes. My mind flashes back to my memory of a nightmare I had of finding myself buried in a suit jacket in my coffin. My immediate response is to whimper and try to curl into a ball. When I don't tell the strange creature that I am a girl, it gives us all suit jackets to match. I can't honestly remember the last time I felt this uncomfortable in my own skin, this uncomfortable wearing something. The creature (demon?) approaches me and says, "Marco Diaz. You. Are. Lying." After a minute of suffering under the gaze of the cube, I finally manage to say the words: (as quietly as I can) "I'm not a boy. I'm not a boy at all. I'm a girl." Unfortunately, the creature does not appear satisfied and 'requests' that I repeat myself louder. With myself curled in a ball, I speak in a normal volume and tell everybody "I'm not a boy. I'm a girl."

The cube finally seems satisfied with my answer and flashes a neon green, with a sign saying "Truth!" on it. It takes off the clothing of everybody except myself, returning them to their previous outfit. Star seems to understand my plight and rushes over to me, who is beginning to ball up further. Pulling out her wand, she mutters a familiar spell that she's used on me a few times since I confided in her about being trans and my hatred of how my body looks: "Changing Bang, Satisfaction Range!" I feel the shape of my body shifting ever so slightly, to the more feminine appearance my mind would always come up with. Then she transforms my suit jacket back into my standard red hoodie with black leggings, a red lavender skirt, and the ballet shoes I had been wearing before. Cheeks tint pink when I realize everybody is quite obviously staring at me in my new form. I don't look radically different, but I don't exactly resemble the Marco they know. Even through the hoodie, my figure is distinctly not the rectangle it was before and my face has smoothed out a lot. My hair rearranged itself into something akin to a pixie cut.

The cube then decides to apparently surround the entire fucking room in its cube?

The next question it asks interrupts all of the conversation that had just started, "Who do you| Have a | Crush | ON?" After the last question that was asked, I figure that this one may as well be easy. The real secret I was hiding was being trans. I certainly would prefer if I could lie on this one as well, but last round showed how impossible of a task it is to lie to this thing.

I raise my hand to indicate I will speak first. Once again, Star looks at me, visibly concerned. She knows how bad I have it for Jackie, and how improbable it is she would like me back. Taking a deep breath, I let my back fall on to the ground and speak up. "Its Jackie. Jackie Lynn Thomas is my crush." It comes out in almost a monotone, as something I would clearly rather not admit. Next is Star who says, "Um... I'm actually,, not entirely sure. I think I like Oskar, but I'm not sure if I have feelings for somebody else or not as well." Star looks at the ground when she says this, which I can just barely see out of my periphery. That's.. unusual to say the least. Star.. looking bashful about something,, what is happening? After that, Starfan13 (I think her name is Myra, or something like that) declares her love for Star Butterfly. Pony Head waits before telling us all that she loves herself, prompting an "aw" from the group. Janna admits to a crush on 18th Century Poet John Keats. When it is finally Jackie's turn she just answers, "I'm... I don't know." To the surprise of most of the group, given the ambiguous answers by Star and Jackie, the cube accepts all of the answers as "True!"

Finally, the cube asks everybody, "What is your favorite color." When nobody responds quickly, it adds, "Hey, this can be a touchy subject!"

I begin the circle once again and say it is sweater red. Jackie gives "neon green, yo!," Star "Yellow!" Pony Head, "Pony Head color, duh!" Janna, "... pink" she mutters. At first we just stare at Janna, waiting to hear her correct herself, because Janna liking pink goes against pretty much the entirety of life as it exists. Starfan13 says "I love yellow too!"

The magical cube seems satisfied with our answers and lets us go. Apparently it only wanted to do three rounds.

After everybody leaves, Star pulls me aside to have a conversation. Completely oblivious to what this could be about, I nod and come into her room. "Hey, um," she says, "I guess we both came out today huh?"

I answer, "Yeah, I'd thought that you were planning on keeping that nonbinary thing a secret from everybody.."

"About that," she tells me, "when I heard the question I thought I know I could say I'm a girl and be truthful about that, since I do also identify as a girl. But, knowing the predicament that you were in and knowing that you wouldn't be able to lie without punishment, I didn't think it would be fair to leave you hanging like that and not join you myself."

I pull her into a tight hug and thank her over and over again for all of her help. I may not have hormones, but for short term easement, having a magical roommate and best friend can help just a little bit. As Star walks away, I ask, "So.. who is the lucky one that you might have a crush on Star?"

She says , "You'll find out eventually" while walking away.