Previously: https://pastebin.com/Sx1M6gnB
~
>January.
>Worst month of the year, nuff said, already ranted.
>Everyone finally comes back to Crystal Prep for the first time since the year on the calendar was a digit lower.
>It feels like the first day of the school year all over again.
>Gloriosa enters the front doors feeling like she’s making a difference with every step she makes.
>Except this time, she’s not wearing one of the proper Crystal Prep uniforms, and she actually knows someone from here.
>”Hey.” April Snow greets her as she sits in her office before homeroom is supposed to begin. “I got tons of free time before gym classes start, we’re cool just chilling in here.”
>”Excellent! I brought some trail mix and 100% fruit juice.” Gloriosa sits in the chair next to the coach.
>”Huh, you know, I’ve always liked that stuff. Care to toss one my way?”
>The recyclable trail mix wrappers are opened and placed in a bag.
>”So in order for someone to fill Cinch’s shoes, they gotta have big feet, per se.” Coach Snow continues the discussion she and Gloriosa had last time.
>Didn’t take them long to start considering Sour Sweet could be up to something.
>Gloriosa keeps looking over at the clock to eventually ask when the students coming in for gym class will start appearing, but her mind gets too set on Sour Sweet when Coach Snow keeps telling her more and more about the delinquent.
>”I dunno if there’s any medication she’s supposed to be taking that I don’t know about.” Says Coach Snow. “But there’s always been something off about her. Usually acts very erratically.”
>”Do you think she’s retaliating against Cinch’s form of administration?” Asks Gloriosa.
>”Things have been changing a lot since Cinch left. But then again, they would have anyway. I wouldn’t say she’s retaliating if she’s still acting this way. Cadance seems to be nothing like Cinch now that we’re learning more about her.”
>”What about the girl who’s with her all the time?”
>”I’ve never really had many issues with Sunny Flare. Other than her failure to participate in P.E.”
>”So she’s lazy?”
>”Not really all that much lazy. Thinks she’s exempt from having to do the exercises that everyone else for some reason. I have had to really prompt her to get involved many times, but it’s not really related to Sour Sweet’s situation at all.”
>The bell for the next class rings, and April figures that she’ll never manage to find out what’s going on with Gloriosa helping her when there’s such a busy schedule.
>These papers she has to fill out in the morning don’t exactly help there be no distractions, because she’ll have no time later in the day to do them.
>Now both of them are focused on when the first gym class is starting.
>”Hey, uh, I’m in charge of the an after school program at CHS that’s basically with this school’s gardening club.” Suggests Gloriosa. “Do you just wanna come join us then when there’s less stuff for you to do? We’re year round since it doesn’t really get cold or snow around here.”
>”That works. I suppose.”
>”I figured it would be better that way.”
>”Yeah, makes sense. I gotta head off soon. But I’m glad we had this talk. Are uh, any of the students from here going to be at the place you’re going to be?”
>”Oh, no no no, it’s all Canterlot High students. Unless one of them know a student here and overhears what we say, no rumors are going to spread this time. Besides, the vice principal there always lets me chill in her office nowadays when I’m not outside with the students.”
>”That’s perfect.”
>The two are eventually on their way.
>And off the went.
>…
>Sour Sweet, the gossiped about girl herself, sits alongside Sunny Flare at the lunch table.
>They’re dying of boredom, yet still on edge about the whole deal with Suri Polymare and Upper Crust.
>But it’s been a while now, and nothing new has happened.
>Sour Sweet runs through all of the things that had already happened in her thoughts.
>Suri denied any foul play or wrongdoings, and there is no evidence of anything happening which is why she can feel permitted to deny it.
>Sunny Flare has been talking to Upper Crust to try and get possible information out of her, but they always end up talking about fashion trends of pop culture in the media every single time.
>Half of which are because Sunny changed the subject because she lost focus.
>At this point, Sour Sweet is starting to doubt whether or not Sunny Flare is going to be reliable as the one in second in command; she stared over at the girl from atop her sandwich she was about to take a bite out of.
>Sunny sits in place, completely still with her nose pointed to the phone screen, only having her scrolling finger moving when she’s not switching back and forth between her phone and her iVambrace.
>The girl’s gonna fry her eyes if she keeps up this dumbass routine, and Sour Sweet hope she goes blind.
>With a bored and exhausted sigh, Sour Sweet puts her head down onto her folded arms after she’s finished eating.
>There’s nothing going anywhere, even now that school has started back up again.
>She thought she’d have a lot more fun after getting a pass to do whatever she wants at school, but it’s the opposite.
>Now she has no classes to go to, and she can’t go home or else she’d be found out for playing hookie.
>So all she can do is hang out in the school library or some other boring place and browse social media like she always does.
>Oh shit, here comes Sugarcoat, look tough.
>Sour Sweet makes a mean face, glancing briefly at the approaching Sugarcoat.
>In response to this, Sugarcoat disgustedly grunts and walks away to another table.
>She wants nothing to do with this.
>Goes to the table full of mathematicians and chess club members and eats with them.
>This comes as a surprise to them… usually a girl like Sugarcoat wouldn’t come to eat here with them, but low and behold, there was a spot open this time.
>”Uh… e-excuse me.” Clayton Potter, one of the kids sitting there, almost dares to tap the perturbed Sugarcoat on the shoulder. “That’s our friend’s seat.”
>Sugarcoat turns her head and glares at him.
>”Our friend… he usually sits here.”
>”I don’t see him.” Sugarcoat’s voice is colder than it has ever been.
>”Yeah, well…” Another kid sitting there, Celery Stalk, raises a finger. “Achwally, he got suspended.”
>Clayton damn near drops the spoon he was eating soup with. “He was WHAT?”
>”Susppphended, Clay. He got suspended. He texted me about it yesterday.”
>”What do you mean Mulberry got suspended?!” Joins in Pepper Twist. “What did he do?”
>”He never told /me/ about this!” Says Clayton.
>”I don’t know why, he wouldn’t tell me.” Answers Celery. “He seemed pretty upset about it, though.”
>”Are you sure it wasn’t about the stupid fight he had at the jocks’ table?” Asks Varsity Trim. “That kid’s been weird for no reason, lately.”
>”No, that was done and over with, remember?” Says Clayton. “Wait, that thing was over with, right? Usually, I’m the first to hear about these things, this doesn’t make sense.”
>”I think it might be because of that.” Says Celery.
>”Oh my gosh. This kind of stuff never happens to one of us.” Exclaims Pepper Twist. “I wonder what he’s up to right now…”
>…
>Public library.
>Mulberry sits at the mostly empty computer lab going from computer to computer.
>He’s had a lot of free time to do this shit since New Year’s, and now he doesn’t have any classes to worry about, so this is perfect that he got suspended.
>Every computer seems to connect to the url of his site well.
>He starts adding more and more posts, designating one of the computers for asking the comment sections and possible questions he can no matter how redundant they are.
>He gives it a character too; some guy who can’t type in English very well.
>It’s impossible for him to have to accept another point of view because of this, this computer is his shield. He can be as distant as he wants to be.
>And then there’s two or three more computers in the same aisle, the ones where Mulberry type long, deep and insightful posts about the universe in which his Neon-based character just became canon in.
>He wants this universe to be perfect, and he wants to make sure the people releasing the next edition of the video game will see what he says on his fan site.
>They must hear his voice, they must see that may many people agree that Neon needs to have two katanas instead of one. It is ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY.
>There’s a lot of shit Mulberry has to go through, replying to what he typed on the other computer a couple feet away time and time again just to make sure this goes right.
>He hopes he doesn’t word things in his posts too similarly. It shouldn’t be too easy to figure it out.
>Mulberry’s got this, his most recent clusters of blog posts have gone well, his site is nice and healthy again after his last slip-up.
>…
>”I dunno.” Shrugs Celery. “I’m sure his mom and dad are pissed at him, though. I hope he’s not grounded anymore, so he can still join us in WoW later. I’ll ask him.” He pulls out his phone.
>”I can’t believe we’ve had so many students get suspended this year. And the year’s not even over yet!”
>”I’m not budging.” Sugarcoat stays on the cafeteria bench.
>Her voice intimidates them enough to convince them to allow it; the students here are like this when it comes to who sits with who. Normal for Crystal Prep.
>”Who else got suspended so far besides Mulberry? Is that Indigo girl still gone?” Starts Pepper before his friends shush him. “What?”
>They all know that Sugarcoat and Indigo are not only (maybe still) friends, but they were also both arrested, and Pepper must not have heard of all of this.
>”No, no, it’s okay. Go ahead.” Prompts Sugarcoat. “No, really. Yeah, we were both arrested, but you know what? It’s for something I’m not sorry for. She’s in jail, by the way. For those of you who didn’t know.” Sugarcoat angrily glares at Pepper Twist.
>Most of the rest of the lunch period goes by with Sugarcoat asking the nerd kids increasingly awkward question about what they were already talking about.
>Putting them in the spotlight, asking about how long their friend has been a “neurotic shitbag”.
>”S-so… uh…” Clayton, the now nervous leader of the table, scratches the back of his head. “Wh-who else was suspended again? Let’s talk about them.”
>”Besides Indigo, there was also Lemon Zest. My other… former… friend.” Answers Sugarcoat.
>”She got suspended?”
>”Yes.”
>”Is she still suspended?”
>”Yes.”
>”But, isn’t that her right there?” Points Clayton.
>Sugarcoat turns around to unsurprisingly find Lemon Zest approaching the cafeteria doors from the hallway, head bobbing to the music she’s listening to.
>”Yup, that’s her.”
>”But she’s supposed to be suspended.”
>Exasperated, Sugarcoat sighs. “I know.”
>Meanwhile, Lemon Zest enters the room with synth music blaring into her ears.
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7uDB0mOwpA
>Each step she takes is in sync with the beat.
>The lights of the club go dim, and her hair glows as it flows through the air behind her.
>All of the people in the place turn to look at her, in awe of the almost ghostly stride she takes, nearly spilling their drinks as they stare at where all of the energy in the room is going towards.
>They don’t know how to react to her other than just stare.
>Looking at her like she’s towering over them.
>Walking over them like a colossal CEO entering a room full of their pawns.
>Zest looks around, knowing what kinds of scenes she could be starting, taking her suspension out of consideration when she sits wherever the hell she wants to sit.
>Goes up a few flights of stairs and sits at a bar where they serve glowing drinks in what look like lunch boxes.
>The crowd raves on to the music below Zest, behind her outside of the window overlooking the dance floor. She orders herself a glass of unicorn blood.
>The bartender laughs at her, wiping down one of the glasses like they’re always seen doing in movies or whatever.
>…
>Everyone else in the cafeteria awkwardly watches Lemon Zest have a conversation with some imaginary bartender.
>Sugarcoat looks away and pinches between her eyebrows, considering getting herself suspended just so she can be home and away from this shit.
>She already knows Sour Sweet will drop the hammer on her if she tattles about Zest’s lack of absence.
>Lemon Zest continues to have her little visions until she discreetly leaves the school once again after none of the students caring enough to tell anyone who suspended her about it.
~
>Long after the school day is over.
>Gloriosa returns back to Canterlot High once again, but this time she has a friend with her.
>The botany program students still currently in the gardening program notice two people approaching this time.
>”Hey… you know who that is?” Asks Wallflower with a nudge.
>”I don’t recognize her.” Responds Sunset. “She’s probably a gardening expert or something.”
>”Hey, guys and girls!” Gloriosa warmly smiles. “We’re about to get right on with our next group project in just a bit, but right now, I’d like to introduce you to April Snow!”
>”Hello, Miss Snow.” The students greet in unison.
>Coach Snow already sticks out like a sore thumb in the green thumb. “Yeah, heya. I’m a friend of Glori’s.”
>”Now I know what you’re thinking. ‘Miss Daisy, is she a student teacher?’ And to that, I say she is not. Today, Miss Snow has asked me if she can come along and see what we’re all about and maybe participate in our activities just a little bit!” Reveals Gloriosa.
>Sunset doesn’t need to read anyone’s mind to see that Gloriosa Daisy did not inform April Snow about that last part.
>April slowly looks over at Gloriosa.
>”C’mon, it’ll be fun!” Gloriosa gives her a friendly nudge.
>April hmph’s and crosses her arms. “I’m a coach, I’m not really…”
>”Oh, that just means it’ll be easy for you. I’ll show you the basics.”
>And so it began.
~
>April Snow reluctantly begins to start digging a hole in the soil where she’ll plant some seeds.
>Her enthusiasm is basically nonexistent, but she persists as Gloriosa kneels by her side and instructs her as though she’s her own student.
>”Make sure it’s deep enough so the roots have a lot of places to go.” Reminds Gloriosa. “Roots love to have freedom.”
>April follows the instructions, groaning on the inside.
>Meanwhile, the other botany students start checking on their own plants that are already at least mostly developed.
>The coach looks over at them and automatically feels completely left behind in terms of development.
>She knows that’s a bogus thing to think because this hole in the ground didn’t exist fifteen minutes ago, and their plants took weeks in advance to develop.
>However, that old competitive spirit that Cinch ingrained into Coach Snow’s head still remains to this day… she hates the feeling of being so behind the students.
>But what is she supposed to do? Sit there for hours on end wiggling her fingers going “photosynthesis! photosynthesis!”?
>Gloriosa’s smile isn’t something she’s used to seeing in one of her mentors, far from that gold glare that Cinch always had. Or that blank, distant stare Cadance currently has every time she comes to her gym office.
>The smile Gloriosa gives is warm and comforting, one that actually shows care instead of greed.
>Sure, Gloriosa sees the world through political goggles, but at least it comes from a good place. Whatever that’s supposed to mean.
>”It’s a good thing you put your daffodils close enough to everyone else’s plants so it has some friends, but are you sure it’s gonna get enough water? Just like spreading food across a population, some people need some elbow room so it’s not like ten people living in one room together.” She begins to ramble.
>April Snow silently groans, and does everything she needs to do in order to move her daffodils to a slightly new position in the school garden.
>She sits there between Wallflower Blush and Sunset Shimmer, cutely kneeling in the dirt with a pout with her eyes on the flowers she just planted.
>Compliments the other students on the flowers they planted with Gloriosa smiling in the background.
>By the time the planting activity for the day or whatever ends, April Snow is invited into Canterlot High.
>”Oh hey!” Vice Principal Luna waves to Gloriosa as Principal Celestia sits on the phone with someone in her office.
>”How ya doing?” Beams Gloriosa. 
>”Oh, just the usual. Checking up on some of the things in the file cabinet, and all that.”
>Celestia waves over to the other two while still on her office phone, not recognizing April Snow but recognizing the Crystal Prep clothing.
>But Gloriosa is friendly with this woman, so everything’s definitely alright; there’s no shade business going on like how some of the other time in the past were.
>”So who’s this?” Luna looks at April. “I see you’ve been out in the garden with Glori and her students. Heh, I’m really sorry about that. Getting dirt all over your pants and all.” She says with a laugh.
>”I’m a physical education teacher at Crystal Prep. April Snow… nice to meet ya!”
>”Neat!”
>”She agreed to come to visit really briefly while helping out with the botany program.” Says Gloriosa.
>”The one that’s going across both school, yes?”
>”Absolutely.”
>”I’ve always wondered a few things about flowers that I had hoped you and the kids in the program would know. Like, if it’s possible to grow a flower with only moonlight.” Wonders Luna.
>”Ooh, I’ve never thought about that before.”
>”I’d join you all but there’s just not enough time.”
>”I know that feeling. Wanting time to do things but your schedule just doesn’t like you.” Recalls April Snow.
>The three talk for a few minutes before Celestia finally gets off of the phone.
>Luna explains to her sister who this is, and Celestia seems to already know.
>”Oh yeah, I know her. You’ve been here for a few of the Friendship Games competitions that used to happen.” Celestia finally remembers after getting a closer look. “I didn’t recognize ya at first. How’ve you been?”
>”Same ol’ daily grind at Crystal Prep. Dealing with snooty students and all that.” April looks at both her and Luna. “Your friend’s doing a great job being in charge of the place.” She politely lies through her teeth.
>”I’m happy to hear that. Especially with all of the drama that’s been happening recently… again.”
>”Oh right, that.”
>Gossip is a wonderful thing.
>”Have you heard of the deal with the fashion show, Miss Snow?” Asks Celestia.
>April nods. “Oh, I’ve heard many things about the back-and-forths between the schools. I’d say it’s more entertaining than anything else. Did anything new happen?”
>”Apparently, that Suri Polymare student is making a big fuss out of something again.” Celestia rolls her eyes. “She sounds like quite the card.”
>All of them start talking about the recent fashion show related events that have been going down.
>Comparing students and trying to decide which school has them crazier.
>Canterlot High’s students have more rowdy students with antics while Crystal Prep is more… psychopathic, a rather colorful term used for it by April Snow herself.
>It’s sort of funny how one could learn so much about Crystal Prep from the principals of the other high school Canterlot High.
~
>Multiple days later, sometime in January.
>There used to be lots of noteworthy events going on, but now Sour Sweet just packs up her things and fixes to drive home without even paying a visit to the dean’s office.
>She enters the parking lot before feeling her mobile phone vibrate in her pocket.
>[Wanna hang out?] Sunny’s text reads.
>Sour Sweet cannot be bothered with this right now, she has some business to attend to.
>She texts Sunny Flare back. [I might have time, do you want to come to my house with me?]
>On the other end, Sunny stares at her phone, remembering the last time she went to Sour Sweet’s house.
>Remembering that crazed grin on her face as she stared out the window, remembering that massive public pentagram she drew on the gym wall as a decoration.
>She promptly changes her mind, not wanting anything to do with that.
>[Eh I’m staying at the school for right now. You go on ahead.] Sunny replies.
>Sour Sweet chuckles quietly, knowing exactly how Sunny reacted on the other line, having predicted it.
>She now has the whole day to herself, and home she drives.
>…
>Once inside her room, Sour Sweet opens up her new laptop computer and checks the social media accounts of Suri Polymare and Upper Crust.
>They only posted a couple of status updates, shared a few things from their feed, etc.
>But still, she’s gonna watch them as closely as she can. and in ways that just the internet cannot suffice for… she needs to see into their heads.
>This is how to win any kind of subtle smiley-face drama.
>If you can read their mind, you can see what’s really going on behind that smiling face.
>And so, Sour Sweet takes the candles she bought and sets them up around the pentagram she drew on the massive sheet of construction paper she has sprawled about on the floor.
>The girl has no idea what she’s doing, but she’ll be damned if something about this doesn’t work.
>The seance begins, and Sour Sweet utters any random phrases she can think of while sitting in the middle of the pentagram worrying about one of the candles falling over and burning the whole place down but she ignores it.
>Suri’s facebook is open on her computer screen with the screen facing Sour Sweet.
>… Nothing happens.
>Sour Sweet becomes frustrated and starts opening up tabs for the site page info for Suri’s Facebook in an attempt to somehow hack her facebook just in case this ability comes in handy later on down the line.
>She left the candles burning on the floor, not paying attention to them.
>But it’s okay because they burn out completely before any of them can fall over, and it’s only about 20 minutes after the last one goes out completely does Sour Sweet realize that she left the candles on.
>She yelps and spins around, only to find out that time put out the candles for her.
>Now she spins back around and continues trying to hack Suri’s facebook even though nothing new has happened to provoke her to want to do something like this, but Sour Sweet doesn’t care.
>She’s not taking any chances, not with another one of the students form this school.
>Everyone who goes to that place always has some metaphorical dagger behind their back, every single person. Even Lemon Zest.
>Sour Sweet is absolutely certain of this, and she’s not going to let go of this mindset until she once again convinces herself that the entire world is going to bend to her will.
>She pretty much already got the school, and now she needs to keep it. No time for relaxing, she needs to stay focused and avoid the boredom that could make her weak.
>Dominance is fleeting when one has it, especially when others who can take it want it.
>The whole seance ordeal is attempted time and time again well into the night.
>…
>Sunny Flare sits on the super long sofa in her living room with the footrest out.
>Catching up on the latest episode of [insert cookie cutter Hollywood gossip show here] while munching on graham crackers and fiddling with her new iVambraces.
>Something in her head tells her to go to Facebook and check up on her new friend Upper crust, with whom she’s found a lot of common ground with in terms of pop culture and really nice trends that they both like.
>They already added eachother as friends, but now Sunny feels bored enough to send her a direct message.
>[hey]
>[Hey, Sunny. Whats up?] Replies Upper Crust.
>[im bored lol wanna hang out or something (happy grin emoji)]
>[Sure, I’d love to. I’m free for this part of the day.]
>[awesome]
>The two soon agree to do stuff at Sunny’s place, and Upper Crust arrives there within the next 20 minutes.
>But during those 20 minutes, Sunny Flare notices something odd happening with her iVambrace on her right forearm.
>It keep glitching when she opens up facebook, and it opens up the page info for people’s facebook pages after a blog post by Sour Sweet goes by in her feed.
>Sunny Flare finds this weird, but doesn’t care after the glitching stops right before Upper Crust arrives.
>”I just got these at the mall, by the way.” Upper Crust says to Sunny as she enters through the front doors.
>Sunny looks down and gasps as Upper Crust’s new shoes.
>”Oh… my… GOSH! Which store?!” She covers her mouth and widens her eyes.
>”Supreme.”
>”We gotta get right on that, gurl! I NEED to get me a pair of those!”
>”Oh, alright. Works for me.”
>Sunny Flare races upstairs to go get her wallet and stuff, almost drooling in anticipation to get those fuzzy uggs that Upper Crust managed to snatch for herself.
>After about a minute and a half later, she makes it to her room.
>Her iVambraces start to vibrate, and it almost would have startled her if she had been paying enough attention and wasn’t blinded by the allure of the expensive shoe sale.
>The url that’s currently up on her internet connection her her iVambrace switches to “get page info” for Upper Crust’s Facebook page, and a few glitches later, a password is conveniently obtained.
>Sunny Flare is momentarily back downstairs and ready to leave with Upper Crust to the mall where she got those oh so amazing shoes. “C’mon, we’ll take my new car.”
>With her iVambraces lighting up like they’re in a Star Wars movie or some shit.
>…
>The two arrive at the mall.
>Start walking around aimlessly at first, before finding the directory which they use to make their way to the big ol’ supreme store.
>”I’m going to have to tell you this now.” Says Upper Crust. “The shoes technically aren’t out yet.”
>”What?! You mean… how did you…” Sunny still looks around for the shoes anyway.
>”I got special access. Here, don’t worry, I’ll help you get a pair now that we’re here.”
>The two go up to the front desk and ask to speak to the store’s manager.
>Meanwhile, Sunny sees a fur coat that would go perfect with the shoes, and gets herself some new bracelets and earrings while she’s at it.
>”Yes, hello. This is Upper Crust. I have my credit card with here.” Upper Crust speaks into her mobile phone as she pulls out her wallet.
>The manager and two employees watch this happen, wondering why this random girl is calling people who work for their headquarters.
>”I do believe I’ve spoken with one of you a couple of days ago… Yes, that’s my father’s phone number. This one is my own phone number.”
>Upper Crust is starting to sound like she’s the one in charge of the conversation as she is taken to another phone line and begins to speak with someone who’s probably not a sales representative.
>Meanwhile, Sunny Flare goes to checkout with about a hundred dollars worth of new clothes and stuff after Upper Crust informs her that she’ll get the shoes too but they’ll arrive in like a day.
>”Why is she doing this in front of everyone?” One employee mutters to his manager.
>The manager shakes her head and shrugs. “No idea. She didn’t say there was an issue or anything. And she could have probably called these people from her house.”
>They continue to stare over at Upper Crust in utter confusion.
>They learn that she’s talking about those new shoes that haven’t reached their branch’s stock yet; she mentions them by name like five times along with some serial number.
>She talks more and more like she’s negotiating with someone, and she strikes a deal.
>”Oh, and um, could you hold on for one sec, please?” Upper Crust puts a finger over the mouthpiece. “Would any of your friends like any too?”
>”You mean… it won’t cost extra?” Sunny Flare stands there with her shopping bags in her hands.
>”Not necessarily, I could pay for it if you want.”
>”It’s cool. I have enough on me.” Responds Sunny.
>”…Or lower the price.” Adds Upper Crust.
>The manager and employees drop their jaws at this.
>She’s straight up saying this kind of stuff right in front of everyone! What is she doing?!
>”Excuse me. Miss?” The manager walks over.
>”One moment, please. I’m speaking with your boss.” Upper Crust quickly replies to her.
>Everyone within earshot of this falls silent.
>The manager has no idea how to react to this, so she just awkwardly stands there with the two store employees.
>”No, really, it’s fine. I have more than enough on me to get one more pair for Sour Sweet if she wants one.” Sunny only mentions Sour Sweet.
>”Works for me.” Upper Crust develops a ‘looks like we really are doing this the easy way’ expression on her face. “Standard pre-order price it is, then. Two pairs, please.”
>…
>Lemon Zest walks through the mall entrance after her usual after-school video game fest with medieval and ancient warfare to be had and all.
>With her music playlist still going strong. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pU-DfRSFWbA
>She gets a smoothie at the food court and then ventures further into the mall where her eyes scan the stores.
>Everything is lit lined with neon bars in her mind, with a vast mist filling up the entirety of the open corridor used for walking through.
>The tiles of the floor is perfectly shiny, with floor lights jutting through the cracks wherever Lemon Zest takes a step.
>Everyone else in the mall is tall and slender, standing straight up perfectly aligned with the earth’s core, taking long, deep strides in a dreamlike setting.
>Each step Lemon Zest takes is in sync with each clap in the song.
>A few people in a nearby bar turn around when they hear the legend’s footsteps, looking through their opaque, pitch black sunglasses.
>One of them wearing a large fur coat stands up and walks over towards lemon, dropping their cigarette and putting it out with her shoe.
>She follows Lemon Zest down the mile long corridor as her friend follows.
>Glowing mannequins line the walls as Zest passes them, stepping to the beat and sipping from her glowing drink.
>Her eyes wistfully dart around for new grounds to cover, new territory to explore in this underground city.
>Outside of the long overhead sky-window, a massive hovering aircraft passes by with lit up text advertising souls for sale on it.
>There is no price they could put on it to convince Zest, her own soul is already worth enough for her.
>The two mystery people with sunglasses get closer to Zest as she slows down a little to gaze at the arcade.
>Lights flashing to the beat shine back at her eyes from inside the place, distracting her from the approaching footsteps.
>…
>”Yo Zesty!” Sunny Flare has to tap Lemon Zest on the shoulder to get her attention.
>Lemon Zest snaps out of her musical trance to find her acquaintance standing before her. “Oh hey.”
>Upper Crust walks up to the other two, having lagged behind in those shoes she has.
>Upon asking Sunny Flare how everything’s going, Lemon Zest happens to look down at Upper Crust’s shoes.
>She pauses for a second in mid sentence then gasps. “What are thooooooooooose?!” Zest points.
>”Pre-order uggs.” Upper Crust concisely explains. “I know a few people and got special access to them before they came out. Your friend Sunny here just got herself and your other friend a pair each. You want one too?”
>”Oh, nah. I just wanted to know what they were. They look like feet ferrets to me. Why do you wear those? Did they cost a lot?” Zest points at the shoes again.
>”They weren’t much.” Sunny joins in. “You should try them, they’re really nice. They got special cushioning on the inside that is supposed to keep you from getting trench foot or something. High-grade material, only gucci supreme can offer it.”
>”I’ll pass. I like the shoes I already got.” Zest looks down at her average shoes.
>”Oh, by the way, they’re also selling these nifty new headphones too!” Upper Crust had at some point pulled out a flyer with gucci supreme products all over the pages. “They double as earmuffs and have the same anti-trenchfoot material the ugg boots have.”
>”What, are they supposed to keep me from getting… trench ear?” Asks Zest with a giggle. “A little late for that, sis.”
>”Well they’re perfect for winter.” Upper Crust says to Zest.
>”We live in Florida, lmao.”
>”Yeah, but what if you go vacationing to Vermont where it’s cold? You can still listen to music while you ski and stay warm.” Upper Crust is really trying to sell these headphone earmuffs to Zest.
>Lemon Zest takes a look at the price and almost stumbles back laughing. “A hundred and eighty dollars?! Whaaaaaaaaat?”
>”Trust me, there’s a reason behind that. But I can make a couple of calls and bring that number down a bit if you want.” Upper Crust is almost ready to pull her phone out again.
>”I’d rather save my money for things like food. Or internet.” Replies Zest. “Thanks for the offer, though.”
>She starts to figure that Upper Crust might as well be working for fuckin’ gucci supreme with the way she’s been trying to convince her to buy the product.
>If only she knew how accurate this was.
>She walks off back into the depths of the mall with her smoothie once more, slipping her headphones back onto her head and tuning out all the background noise that distracts her from living.
>Plays the next song in her playlist https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4c8O2n1Gfto
>And walks away.
>Maybe she’ll play more video games later this afternoon.
>…
>Sour Sweet is lying face up on her bed trying out some different voices she can use for specific demon chants for summoning purposes.
>Even she herself is a little surprised at how ridiculous this is, but what else was she going to do with her time anyway?
>Maybe she needs to emphasize the consonants in her chanting more, maybe that’s why nothing showed up yet.
>She’ll never get Suri’s facebook password at this rate.
>Her phone vibrates at the foot of her bed, and she perks up into a sitting position to answer.
>Oh, it’s just a text message… from a new number.
>[yo sweetie upper crust from school just got us some new shoes but its all good cuz i paid for everything (cry-laughing emoji)]
>Sour Sweet looks at her phone, a little confused until she sees another message.
>[its sunny btw, my phone died but i got my vambies / new tech who dis lmao xdddddd]
>[What kind of shoes?] Sour Sweet texts back.
>[gucci uggs]
>[LMAOOOOOO NO WAAAAY (shocked emoji)]
>[ikr? hey also thers something i wanna show you] Sunny brings up.
>[What is it?]
>[Do you know what these random phrases mean?] Sunny sends two clusters of letters and numbers that somewhat resemble words to Sour Sweet’s phone. [my vambis wont stop making them appear and its really weird]
>The clusters of characters are addressed, and Sour Sweet at first can’t figure out what they are either; she’s more excited about those shoes than whatever it was she was doing before thi-
>Oh, that’s right!
>She was trying to summon demons to obtain Suri Polymare’s Facebook password.
>Probably. Definitely something close to that.
>Wait a minute… what are these clusters of text characters?
>[Neat! Uh anyway I gotta go] Sour Sweet texts to Sunny Flare. [ttyl]
>[laterz]
>Sour Sweet sets down her phone and immediately goes back to her opened laptop where Suri’s Facebook is still on the screen.
>Types the phrases into the little text box she has open next to the window while chanting “ooh-ga-cha-ka-oh-ga-oh-ga-oh-ga-cha-ka-oh-ga-oh-ga…~”
>…
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bo-qweh7nbQ
>Lemon Zest presses down on the four syrup containers to the chanting at the beginning of the next song on her playlist.
>Singing along to the song as she makes the syrup containers sing with her. “I can’t stop this feeling… deep inside of me!”
>The other patrons in the IHOB stare awkwardly at her as she continues with her knees on the cushioned seats and her elbows on the table.
>Wondering if she has someone who’s supposed to be supervising her or something.
>”IIIIIIIIIIIII’m HOOKED ON A FEELING! Da, da-da, dah, dadaaaaah! I’m high on believing! Dah dada, dah da daa, that you’re in love with meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee~”
>Less than a minute later, Lemon Zest is kicked out of the IHOB and no longer allowed back in.
>She just walks away once more and nods her head to the song, passing by the mall fountain and continuing to sing the song with not a care in the world.
>Now the whole mall gets to listen to her.
>Zest eventually trots her way out of the place after the song draws to a close, as Sunny and Upper Crust continue to go through the outlet stores with their shopping bags growing each time they walk through the shop doors.
>And Zest walks home on foot, just like how she got here, imagining the entire surrounding environment being a massive desert she’s taking a shortcut through as she continues to listen to classic rock.
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSAJ0l4OBHM
>…
>The musical warrior stops at a lone oasis to fill her canteen up with more water as the sun’s heat bears down on her.
>Surely, this place won’t be a challenge for her, knowing all of the tests of physical exertion she’s been through in the past.
>There looks like there are sets of footprints just over that one hill to the right. Zest fixes to follow them after she finishes filler her canteen with fresh desert water.
>She takes a massive preliminary gulp before continuing on the journey.
>Setting aside the canteen and gazing upon the vast canvas of dunes before her, wondering what she would find if she didn’t follow the footprints.
>And just that that, her adventurous side leads her astray, sending her into the woods in the real world as she envisions a canyon or something around herself.
>She overlooks the narrow streams at the bottom of the walls of rock, almost falling until she uses her sword as a counter balance as she leans over the edge looking down.
>There’s something odd about the water at the bottom, it looks a lot lighter than the water where she just walked from.
>Zest looks back at the desert anyway to be sure, but she confirms that the water in the desert is much darker than the water at the bottom of the canyon.
>Maybe she’ll gain immortality if she drinks the water from the bottom of the canyon.
>She retraces her steps back to the point where she was already halfway down the rocks of the canyon before the walkable area led back up to ground level.
>”Laaaaaa laaaaa lalaa lalaa, la la laaaaa. La laaaaa. Laaaaaa laaaaa lalaa lalaa, la la laaaaa. La laaaaa.”
>She skips around in the wilderness like some sort of a little green riding locks.
~
>It takes January forever to end, but it eventually comes to a close and makes way for February, the slightly less shitty version of January.
>It’s closer to the start of Summer, and it’s shorter than January.
>And into this start of February, Sour Sweet and Sunny Flare keep their friends close and their enemies closer.
>Meaning they stay in touch with eachother, but more closely in touch with Upper Crust and Suri Polymare.
>It’s been a little bit difficult trying to figure out what they’re doing at an exact given moment, at least outside of Facebook.
>Even if Sour Sweet didn’t have their passwords through what must have been some bullshit miracle, she’d be able to tell a lot about their lives through their status updates and blog posts on social media.
>The long and short of it is that she managed to use the same passwords to get into all of their other social media account too.
>They’re really long and impossible to guess passwords, and they must be the kind you copy and paste into the text field.
>And these two business oriented girls use these same passwords as a universal key to all of their accounts, since they’re so confident that they wouldn’t be hacked.
>But Sour Sweet’s got ghosts n’ shit on her side.
>And she’s going to be right there when the fashion show at the end of February happens.
>She’s preparing for it just as much as the contestants are, but still not looking forward to it as much as Suri and Upper Crust are.
>The other two girls see nothing but a massive promotion and/or payday waiting for them just around the corner regarding the event.
>And they’re ready to make some fuckin’ money.
>…
>Sometime in early February.
>While everyone else’s stories are going on, Mulberry and Cadance each have their own little schtick going on.
>As for Cadance, she’s having a lot of difficulty communicating with Shining Armor.
>Valentine’s Day is coming up soon, and the couple really needs to do something to enrich their relationship before they soon get married.
>The holiday is perfect to use as a testing ground for their love, and both of the lovers have yet to ask the school dean about whether or not he wants to jut himself between the them just for a night or two before they tie the knot.
>Neither of them had anticipated that they’re need to ask someone this, and Shining Armor is regularly scolded about how he’s being too shy about this and should just go and ask the dean himself.
>Meanwhile, Cadance actually works in the same place as this dean and is told by Shining Armor that she is the one who should ask him.
>With Valentine’s day creeping up within the next week, they need to make a decision fast and really fucking fast.
>”This is the last weekend we have before Valentine’s Day!” Urges Cadance. “Didn’t you say you were going to ask him?”
>”I… can’t remember. But you work with him!”
>”He’d believe it a lot more if he heard it from you!”
>Shining sighs. “Okay yes, that’s true. But I don’t work at Crystal Prep. And you do.”
>”Why can’t you visit? Like you do every other week…”
>Shining stutters for several seconds before Cadance continues.
>”Honey, please. You can do this. I believe in you. I know you’re just trying to put it off, but you have to be brave. This is the first hurdle our relationship needs to endure. We have to be able to get through this.”
>Shining shudders and Cadance places a hand on his shoulder.
>She smiles at him, and Shining reciprocates.
>”Remember when we first started dating? You couldn’t even tell your parents about me.” Cadance brings up. “And I had to tell them myself.”
>Shining Armor just sits there and nods.
>”Counseling sessions with Twilight were pretty awkward after that. It’s a good thing there weren’t many of them.”
>They get all mushy in their half-argument half regular conversation, apologizing to eachother and stating how great it is for the strength of their relationship. Dumbasses.
>But that’s all that happens.
>Meanwhile, Mulberry keeps on Mulberryin’.
>He’s not suspended any more, probably cleared things up with the principal, no one really knows or cares, Mulberry was never important.
>But his little freakouts are funny as hell. Mulberry is the embodiment of that one bad movie that tried to be good that you can’t help but openly make fun of. It’s too entertaining.
>Every time one of the sites on the internet he doesn’t like starts going well, he will watch it like a hawk, maybe drop a few illiterate sounding posts in there to bastardize them.
>But he backs down whenever someone starts putting lots of content there; Mulberry don’t want none of that shit. That’s not his battle to fight… because it’s always been a losing one.
>Especially when he spams autism pics at the bloke with every post he makes. How to get kicked off the site but not care because you have endless IP addresses from your lab and your phone anyway. Might as well go down swinging, eh? Give your enemies some entertainment as they tear you apart.
>Every time Mulberry sees one of their sites pop up, he just makes up reasons not to go there and shit up the place like he failed to do before. They must not know how scared he is to leave his self-circlejerk.
>Because Mulberry needs to focus on the main objective: NEOOOOOOOON!!!!! Oh what a lad Neon is, yes indeed. Still in casts in the hospital, but also in a video game so it’s all good.
>Mulberry’s whole life revolves around one thing: Neon Lights.
>And he thinks that the internet should too, trying his best to work around the clock to make Neon Lights the greatest thing that ever happened to the video game he just knows he is going to star in.
>First, you gotta put yourself in Mulberry’s shoes. He’s been feeling like everyone’s against him because not enough people like his creation.
>Quirky little references to obscure concepts or something, no one really knows. Mulberry himself thinks it’s funny, at least. And that’s all that matters to him because all of the other computers he controls think they’re funny too.
>Once again, Mulberry plans to start up a web page about the video game itself this time. There are already other web pages that exist about the game, but they don’t belong to Mulberry.
>He wants the big fish in the water to be HIS fish. And he will feed it all he can until it becomes the big fish.
>He can’t do that without a computer lab. This is all he has, but it’s all he needs because it’s all he wants in life.
>Going back and firth between computers like this, making a d i f f e r e n c e .
>And if it doesn’t work out, he can just say he was messing with everyone. Failproof!
>You thought he was committed? Nope, he is just that good at pretending (with whether or not he meant the things he said depending on the results)
>Before making his own webpage again, he has to warm up the waters for himself.
>Posting on other people’s webpages and making small little discussion threads of his own putting the topic of his star character Neon Lights in everyone’s head.
>He’s used to the resistance to it, every time someone calls him out, all he needs to do is reply to himself again. And any rebuttal to this will just make it look like he’s trolling them!
>There’s no way anyone can read into this! Mulberry is just as clever as he believes he is.
>But he’s gotta play dumb too; it’s one of the characters he plays.
>Just because he gets to be anonymous doesn’t mean he’s off the hook from having to talk differently to give the illusion of different people liking the thing only he likes.
>A couple of his characters crossed over, like the poor old chap who can’t speak English very well.
>This guy will be presented more on Mulberry’s page since it’s better as a defense mechanism. talk shit about him and he’ll just be like “lol wut y u no leave me alooone?”.
>The second idiot Mulberry has set up is a lazy dude who uses the same image at the top of every page.
>Everyone who figured out that it’s just Mulberry will think he’s really that stupid, and then when he swoops in later on with his FACTS and LOGICA, it won’t fit the character he put in their memory.
>Trolling is an art. An ART.
>A text from Clayton appears on Mulberry’s phone. [Hey uh we’re playing Warcraft later today wanna join? We miss you!]
>Mulberry doesn’t need friends anymore, he can be his own friends who care about the important things in life: Neon Lights.
>Mulberry proceeds to reply to criticism wherever he speaks, posting that same image, and then going to a different lab computer with a new IP saying [He’s not the guy who always posts the image, that’s me!] every time someone accuses him for what he’s doing.
>Puppet shows are time consuming, it’s a good thing Mulberry doesn’t do it around the calendar. Not needing to cover up how obvious it is when his recognizable posts start flooding a certain corner of the internet all of a sudden after weeks of relative silence.
>It’s fine, Neon’s just popular 30% of the month, is all. Right around the time Mulberry’s metaphorical male menstrual cycle is kicking into gear all over the web.
>And it’s mighty magnificent making these memes materialize out of nothing but so many machines.
>Mulberry’s a master of puppets, making his main site known to the world now.
>There’s a file somewhere on Mulberry’s computer, a bingo board he made at some point when the game was announced, based on predictions of what the game will have.
>He forgot about it.
>Only needed to make it that one time a couple of weeks ago during the last time he had his main site up, to try and flex how many more imaginary friends he has than everyone else.
>Now the bingo board is lost on his computer, oh well!
>[If you don’t like our successful discussion site, then leave. So much s e e t h i n g C O P E] He types on one computer, beating down the inevitable criticism he got in the first two hours of having the site up.
>It ain’t easy being measly.
>Just keep his head up, acting like they have their heads down and calls anything mean they say to hurt his feelings coping. Cause they gotta cope with his loud ass for the next week or two before he gets tired and fucks off again.
>[It’s not my fault this game is the most popular game in the industry!] Mulberry says under hundreds of posts prepping support for himself that he wrote.
>[The game gets little funding and nowhere near as much coverage as at least five other games.] A reply says.
>[Hahah wow you’re so delusional. It’s okay you can tell us you’re salty, you can admit it bro.]
>It’s popular among this discussion thread only around this time of the month, that’s enough for Mulberry to convince himself. It has to be HUGE in the real world.
>And this popular video game has Neon in it! Mulberry’s famous!
>He’s getting so much love and attention!
>Those people who booed his monthly Neon-exclusive site off the stage a couple of months ago can’t stop this video game from being released with Neon front and center!
>Oh, Neon’s not front and center? Bah, Mulberry was just pulling your leg lol. Don’t let the berries get to ya, dumbass.
>It ain’t easy having two faces. Or rather ten. Thirty? Nah, some of the faces in the crowd aren’t masks, it’s fine. It’s enough for Mulberry Seed.
>[Are you sure you don’t wanna play with us?] Clayton texts his fading friend again. [We’ll let you go first this time.]
>Mulberry keeps himself from feeling bad about this; he has a mission to accomplish.
>He’ll play with his friends next week.
>His sites have been slowing down because too many people started calling him out, killing his motivation and the population of all two of his genuine followers.
>Mulberry’s gotta make a comeback this time! Change everyone’s minds.
>Neon and his world will NOT be disgraced in this way. Yeah, just fill everything up with those pre-planned posts.
>The lab rat finds anything about the boring game clips he can and makes it seem interesting, analyzes anything he can, repeat sentences and phrases lots of times if he has to.
>You’re doing it, Mulberry!
>Because Mulberry knows that no one could imagine just one person doing this alone for so long.
>So if he persists into that unimaginable realm, this will be even more foolproof.
>He can just plead innocence through impossibility. “pssssh, you dare accuse someone of having the autism to put this much effort in? Wow dude, you’re coping hard with the fact that everyone loves me.”
>With this hanging off of the edge of his goal post, Mulberry keeps going; everyone around here needs something to laugh at nowadays anyway.
>And so, Mulberry persists and persists and persists, thinking he’s the only one who truly has a smile on their face.
>Look at that website! So much insight!
>Neon wasn’t really mentioned, but Neon’s gonna be in this totally awesome second part of a game that’s coming straight outta the corporation’s ass.
>Mulberry NEEDS the game to be good. So Neon is good whether he ends up existing in the game or not.
>He must nurture his creation, and make sure Neon’s environment is safe and warm for his entry.
>Too late to go back now, all those times Mulberry talked to himself is laid out up to 500 ready to be viewed with ridicule by anyone who knows the story behind it, and viewed with pride by Mulberry who thinks no one can possibly figure it out.
>He doesn’t want any of it to be deleted, and neither do his critics.
>The whole story is right there, it’s perfect. Keep it this way.
>Mulberry bounces around happily in the computer lab chair, clapping like a giddy high school girl (who rejected him once).
>Mulberry Seed fulfilled his smoldering need. He pats his shoulder and wheezes as it’s finally over and free of sleepless nights.
>All of his friends go back to school after the weekend is over, wondering if they need to give Mulberry an interrogation.
>…
>On Sunday night, Sour Sweet finally feels a bit of a chance to relax.
>Her little series of seances has worked, and it’s brought her enough confidence on her own to sleep at night.
>Nope, there’s no way she’s in the wrong here, no way.
>Sour Sweet thinks about all the times she rejected any advances from the dean recently… he doesn’t know.
>There have been multiple occasions during which she has wanted to tell him, and recently, the opportunity to do so has never been so apparent.
>Sour Sweet is on the edge of her seat, she’s not really relaxing like she thought a few minutes ago. Upper Crust and Suri Polymare have to be taking over the school. They must be.
>Sour Sweet read into their Facebook and Twitter posts. She knows they have double meaning.
>She just knows it.
>The times when they logged in and out are also suspiciously close to certain events in real life that don’t add up or make sense. Something big is going to happen at the fashion competition.
>And Sour Sweet knows that they had to have ran some things by the dean once more in order to get whatever foothold they have now… and they did it all lying through their teeth at her.
>Sour Sweet cannot bear this thought, it’s unacceptable.
>But it’s fine, she has a secret weapon up her sleeve, or rather, under her clothes. And it’s the very secret she’s been keeping from the dean as long as the shape of her body allows it.
>Sour Sweet strips down to take a shower, takes off her shirt, vest, skirt, and unravels the binding she has over her abdomen.
>The prominent bulge in her belly pops out before she steps under the heating water.
>And Sour Sweet chuckles to herself when she realizes just how powerful she really is right now.
>Because the cause of that bulge… belongs to the dean. It’s the dean’s.
>All those little moments of pleasure they shared… really paid off, didn’t they?
~
>On Monday, they start to test the waters with all of the other students in the school.
>It doesn’t take much time to print out enough papers from the computer lab to start handing out to people… after all, that Gloriosa Daisy did the exact same thing months earlier, so this sort of thing happening should be much less of a head-turner under Cadance’s rule than back during Cinch’s rule.
>The printer in the lab whirs, and whirs and whirs as the sheets come out in waterfalls of questions, a little bit of a questionnaire for the students to tell the two business oriented girls to figure out just ho to appeal to them to make the biggest impact they can in the fashion show that they’re definitely going to win.
>It’s early enough for Sour Sweet not to be lurking, but there’s someone else taking up a couple of the computers at this time of day.
>Mulberry sits before the multiple screens and keyboards, having learned how to swivel back and forth in the same chair for maximum time efficiency and speed in order to mobilize his imaginary army with more ease.
>Replying to his own posts saying that anyone who does so much as reply to him is mad in his eyes. Acting like he found a gold mine despite him being the one with the brush with yellow-orange paint in his hand.
>The holiday season has ended, but his holiday spirit lives on with his urge to create his own holiday, one about Neon Lights.
>Neon Lights is Mulberry’s whole life now, and he’s not about to shut up about his idol as long as he has internet access, the world must hear, and lately, they’ve started to forget.
>Someone online started to spread a rumor that Neon was gay, and it really stuck with Mulberry that someone would spark such blasphemy.
>But that was only the beginning, the main thing that happened is time itself.
>Neon’s image doesn’t stand the test of time, as nothing about him is gaining traction no matter what Mulberry is putting onto the website.
>He has to pay extra attention now, because the internet MUST NOT forget about Neon Lights under any circumstances. Mulberry has waited a long time for this to kick off, why would he drop off of this dream now?
>”What are you two doing?” He annoyedly turns his head. “I was just about to use that.”
>”You’re gonna have to wait, we have to print these out for a school activity.” Suri tells him.
>Mulberry looks at the special computer used to connect to the scanner in the lab, the one he was about to use so he has a new IP address… just in case.
>But now these two nosebleeds are hogging it up with whatever unimportant shit they’ve got going on in their lives.
>”We should start with the drama students first.” Suggests Upper Crust. “They should be meeting at any point now, and they’re the closest thing I can think of to both being here right now and just like the fashion students.”
>”Yeah, a lot of us overlap too, I’ve noticed.” Suri agrees with a nod.
>”Excuse me.” Mulberry almost stands up, but his legs are sorta numb. “I was about to use that.”
>”For what?”
>”Printing out my own flyers!”
>”Sorry, we have our own business to take care of. You’ll have to wait your turn like everyone else. Especially the other freshmen.”
>It takes at least a half an hour to get everything printed out, with Mulberry keeping his website up on his screen.
>”There. It’s all yours.” Suri spins the empty chair as she walks away from it.
>The two walk out of the room and start handing the survey to the drama kids the very moment they walk through the door on the other side of the school; wasting time is not an option here. Not when there’s money to be made.
>…
>In comes Sour Sweet, right before the school day is supposed to begin, and the first thing she notices is the similar piece of paper the students all have in their hands as they mingle in the hallways before the bell herds them into the classrooms for homeroom.
>”What the…” She investigates immediately.
>She sends Sunny Flare a text and starts to look for the source of the paper before figuring that it would be easier if she borrowed one or two from one of the other students.
>Time to ask one of the students nicely to let her take a quick humble peek at the flyer out of curiosity; Sour Sweet snatches one of them out of a student’s hand, almost ripping it.
>”February 28th… stores bought from…” She skims. “Wha… Suri and that other fucking…. FUCK!”
>They’re already doing something to reach out to ALL of the students.
>All of the students who are under Sour Sweet’s dominion.
>This could be it, the danger that Sour Sweet had nightmares about before she snagged those facebook passwords.
>Her phone vibrates in her pocket, startling her before she looks at Sunny text on the screen.
>[It’s Suri and Upper Crust, theyr doing a thing] Sunny texted back. [its about the fashion show or whatever, nothing to worry about]
>That morning bell that just rang is going to have to wait, because Sour Sweet’s clumsy fingers can only type so fast as she explains to Sunny Flare in grand detail the risk this is putting her at. How they could influence all of the students.
>[so what] Sunny responds. [We got the dean on our side… It doesn’t matter what they know :/]
>[they can still make a scene! are u kidding me?]
>The late bell rings, and Sunny obviously stopped texting because she’s in homeroom for attendance, and she’s not allowed to text there due to the homeroom teacher being particularly strict about mobile phone usage.
>As well as iVambrace usage.
>Sour Sweet recognizes Fleur walking by with a hall pass in hand.
>This is perfect, she should know where they are.
>”Hey!” Sour Sweet follows her and yells until she gets her attention.
>Normally, teachers would be popping their heads out at this point because there’s never yelling in the school, but that was during the Cinch era, the pre-pandamonium era.
>”What is it?” Fleur spins around with her hair almost whacking her in her face.
>”Where’s Suri Polymare and Upper Crust?” Asks Sour Sweet.
>”…Why?”
>”Just where are they?”
>Fleur looks down at her hall pass and hesitates, starts to take a couple of steps away after examining the look on Sour Sweet’s face.
>Sour Sweet takes another step towards her. “What, you don’t know?” She raises an eyebrow.
>”No, I don’t know where they are.” She responds.
>And just like that, Sour Doesn’t believe her.
>She could have figured out that she got the facebook passwords and is trying to avoid spilling more info to her for all she knows.
>She remembers this girl talking to those other two many times before.
>Fleur starts to walk away as Sour follows her in pursuit with an anxious look on her face like that of a rabid squirrel.
>”Hey! Listen here, you weeping willow!” Sour Sweet angrily points a finger at Fleur. “You better spill the beans right now before I tip you over and make you break a nail! I know a liar when I see one!”
>”What do you want from me?” Fleur is actually confused by Sour’s tone despite her always being at least something close to this.
>But this time seems different, Sour Sweet is more urgent than she usually is.
>”I want the truth!”
>”What’s going on over there?!” April Snow’s voice startles both of the girls.
>Sour Sweet scowls at Fleur, as though she knows that Fleur somehow orchestrated for April Snow to swoop in and save her from interrogation at the last second so she can get away with inside info.
>Just another tiny step towards unraveling Sour Sweet’s power, as least in the mind of Sour Sweet herself.
>She got her power, but keeping that power is another story.
>”You two have hall passes?” April Snow approaches the two.
>Seeing Sour Sweet and Fleur next to one another like this raises a red flag for April Snow, for she and Gloriosa have done a pretty good amount of talking recently that has made her a little more aware of certain things.
>Especially the students like Sour Sweet and the people she hangs out with.
>But Fleur has a hall pass, yet doesn’t seem to want to vouch for Sour trying to have an excuse to be out here in the halls when she should be in homeroom.
>One thing is clearly going to lead to another worse thing, here.
>”Whatever, this works too, I guess.” Sour Sweet mutters to herself, figuring that it might have been easier for her to go to the dean first anyway.
>…
>You sit at your desk once more, already tired of today and want to go home and sleep.
>You’re finishing up some paperwork, finally getting into this whole dean thing for real now, when you hear a knock on your door.
>Knock knock.
“Come in.”
>And in walks Sour Sweet, with Coach Snow right behind her with a look on her face that tells you that Sour is definitely getting herself into trouble.
>You let out a sigh, and that’s all Coach Snow needs to hear to understand that you’ll take things from here and she can go back to whatever it was she was just doing.
>Coach Snow leaves and Sour Sweet calmly sits down and lets the door close.
“So what was it this time?”
>”I was in the hall when I wasn’t supposed to be. That’s all.” Sour Sweet crosses her arms.
>You sign again.
>”Whatever.”
“I suppose you want to go now?”
>Sour Sweet looks at you in that weird way you just now recognize.
>You might not know everything about her, but it’s pretty easy to tell that she’s skeptical about something, and she stands up.
“Is everything all…”
>Sour Sweet already started walking towards you with that same old devious look on her face.
>What’s going on this time?
>Her smile turns more sultry, and she sits herself into your lap, to your surprise.
>This is a feeling you’ve long missed, especially after having been blue-balled for this long.
“Miss Sweet, I…”
>”Shhh…” Sour Sweet doesn’t even bother locking the door. “You feel like doing something?”
>That smile on her face looks a bit more antagonistic than it usually did when she did this with you.
>Something’s up and you can feel it, but something else under your pants goes up even higher and distracts you.
>But then Sour Sweet speaks again. “Is there anything that happened between you and Suri Polymare or Upper Crust I should know about?”
>Oh. Those two.
“No, of course not.” You fail to prevent a non-believable answer from spilling out.
>And of course, Sour’s smile only widens instead of turning into a frown… because it was already malicious from the start.
>Welp, looks like you might not be getting it on after all. Unless she changes her mind before sh leaves your bumpy lap.
>”I got a present for you.” Sour Sweet sighs at you. “It’s a really good surprise.” She takes your hand and pushes it right into her chest.
>Damn, you’ve missed this girl’s… girls.
>You can slightly feel the nipples even with her vest shirt and bra in the way… a little more perkier than you remembered, but it’s making you reach full mast regardless.
>She’s probably got two nice presents for you.
>Sour Sweet lets out a giggle. “You missed this, didn’t you?”
“Yeah.” You blush.
>”Tell you what. If you want your present, you’re gonna have to unwrap it.” She says to you, as though she’s ready for you to make a groundbreaking discovery.
>Damn, you don’t know what it is, but she is busty as hell today. All more the reason to slip her vest right off and work your way down the buttons on her shirt.
>Your hands rush to her jiggling cleavage like magnets, and you let your fingers dive under the edge of the light purple bra cups before you realize it.
>Miss Sweet gives you a kiss on the cheek and hints for you to “unwrap” your present some more.
>You have to make sure you don’t rip the clothing off of her body, hands wildly feeling Miss Sweet up on her soft skin and- why is there one of those binding things on her torso?
>Has Sour Sweet put on a little weight?
“What the…” You barely register what you’re seeing before Sour Sweet giggles giddily and whispers for you to continue unwrapping her.
>And so you do… slowly realizing what this could mean, and strongly hoping that it’s just your imagination expecting the worst as you unravel the fabric off of Sour Sweet’s abdomen.
>…
>Look at that bump; it’s not your imagination.
>You look up at Sour Sweet’s eyes, realizing one thing after the next in a matter of seconds.
>She just nonchalantly grins back at you, letting it all hit you like a freight train.
>And she has the nerve to kiss you on the cheek again.
“Y…you’re…” You stammer.
>”Yup. It’s yours.”
>…
“B-but-“
>”Are you really that surprised?”
>You don’t remember if she ever told you if she was on a pill.
>Not like it matters, because she’d be lying if she /did/ say she was, after all.
>”Look, I’m not going to ask you again, not even right now.” Sour Sweet goes back to Upper Crust and Suri Polymare. “I know this is a lot to take in. So I’ll let you come to terms with it and gimme a text if there’s anything you want to admit to me.”
>You watch in horror as she re-binds herself, boner loooooooooong gone.
>Before you know it, she left the room.
>You sit in your chair for some number of minutes, hoping another students doesn’t come knocking on your door when you’re in this horrendous moment of what is certainly the beginning of the end of your life.
>Spot a decorative pillow on one of the shelves.
>Don’t even remember walking over to it, but now you stand in front of the shelf with the pillow in your hands, and you bury your face into it so you can scream.
>W H A T T H E F U C K J U S T H A P P E N E D
>W H Y
~
>During P.E. class.
>Gloriosa has the botany students on their own little mini field trip just conveniently close enough to Crystal Prep for her to be able to see what’s going on.
>The students in gym class are getting ready to play some capture the flag in the field behind the school, and of course, it’s still slightly extreme because Crystal Prep.
>But it used to be extremely extreme when Cinch wanted all of the students to be the absolute best in the world at capture the flag and [pretty much every other sport or activity].
>April Snow herds the students out into the field in their gym uniforms, and spots Gloriosa and her group in the field outside of the school ground but within line of sight.
>Gloriosa recognizes April and starts to scout for Suri Polymare and Upper Crust.
>The two girls are already starting to stray form the groups, under the impression that they don’t have to participate in the games today.
>Maybe it has something to do with the dean, maybe it doesn’t. Gloriosa and April have no idea yet.
>April chuckles at the fact that she glossed over Indigo’s name on the attendance sheet like she usually does when all of the students’ presence in class is checked up on. That girl might as well never have been here during anything going on that the students had to do.
>It’s a mess of a game, now that the students don’t have to strictly follow guidelines anymore; the Friendship Games are slowly becoming less and less of Crystal Prep’s history at this point.
>Cadance always wanted the students to care more and more about love and affection. the real winners are the ones who have the most fun yadda yadda yadda.
>No one is getting any points, and many students are trying to find a way or an excuse to sit out this round.
>Especially Suri Polymare and Upper Crust, who don’t even feel compelled to ask, meandering their way over to the benches… the far side of the benches where they sit down and start talking before noticing the botany students tip-toeing through the tulips a few dozen feet away.
>One of the students, Wallflower Blush, gets up close to them, but the two business girls only notice the more further away students.
>Gloriosa watches the scene go down for the next several minutes as the remainder of the Crystal Prep students undergo their usual gym class outdoors.
>Suri Polymare and Upper Crust like being separate from the rest of the group, muttering some things to eachother when they’re sure that no one else can hear them.
>There’s no way this is a good sign… they’re definitely up to something bad.
>…
>There are many occasions in which Gloriosa and April spy on Suri Polymare and Upper Crust.
>The gym class was only one of many… and the eavesdropping is basically going nowhere with the fact that whispering can’t be heard when you’re far away enough.
>Wallflower is the only one of Gloriosa’s students who manages to get close enough to the two girls without being immediately noticed.
>The problem is, Gloriosa can’t just tell Wallflower that she’s trying to get her to help her eavesdrop on someone.
>It’s more of a proxy chain of command, if that makes any sense of it.
>April often steps in for Gloriosa and gets Wallflower to approach Suri when Upper Crust is off somewhere else distracted by watching the stock market on her phone or something.
>And finally, Wallflower sat close to Upper crust and Suri Polymare often enough to finally gather some useful information.
>”Hey uh, so about that possible party with some of the Crystal Prep students…” April Starts off. “Did you find out if Suri knows if Sour Sweet wants to come?”
>”She didn’t say anything when I asked her. She started talking about how much yarn she’s gonna need for some scarf.” Responds Wallflower. “But when I asked Upper Crust, she told me that she’s not exactly friends with Sour Sweet.”
>”What did she mean by that?” Gloriosa steps in.
>”I think they’re having drama or something.” Responds Wallflower. “I think you should ask Sour Sweet about it. Those other two aren’t big on talking to people. Though it’s probably just me. I think you should talk to them.”
>April Snow nods slightly. “Hmm, okay. Okay, I gotcha.”
>She momentarily continues to go about the activities of the botany programs when she’s available… the time after school hours used to be boring for her until she started hanging out with the CHS botany students.
>Now she’s learning to get along with Gloriosa and her students more.
>Gloriosa has this tendency to link all of the plants in the gardens with types of political systems and how they interact with eachother.
>How some take advantage of other plants, how some focus more on growing from gaining nutrients on their own while others depend on other plants of different types to thrive…
>Ah yes, a crazy cat lady, but with plants.
>But April Snow finds it adorable; Gloriosa is making herself out to be a good friend regardless.
>This is the main thing she’s thinking about when she notices that Sour Sweet has skipped way too many P.E. classes for it not to be addressed.
>Even Sunny Flare has shown up more times than Sour Sweet has, despite only sitting around browsing social media on her phone when everyone else was actually doing stuff in class.
>This is the perfect excuse for April to have a talk with Sour Sweet and ask her about Suri Polymare and her friend.
>It’s a couple of days before the fashion show when Sour Sweet is caught meandering the hallways.
>…
>[Alright look, just tell them I’m someone who has my files being transferred from one health provider to another] Sour Sweet paces back and forth with her nose glued to the phone screen. [The stuff I gave you should have been enough. Why did they look into it?]
>[i think they do tht all the time!] Sunny responds. [I’ll call them again… but I dont think i should use my dads number this time]
>Sour Sweet mashes her fingers onto the touch screen. [IT HAS TO BE THE SAME NUMBER. THAT’S THE FUCKING POINT. THEY’LL GET SUSPICIOUS IF YOU USE A DIFFERENT NUMBER.]
>”Miss Sweet.” April’s sharp voice booms.
>”Gah! Uh…” Sour Sweet can’t believe she forgot about that.
>April Snow widens her eyes, ripples her forehead and tilts her head in a questioning manner. “You got a hall pass?” She already knows the answer to the question.
>”Hmph.” Sour Sweet pouts. “I guess I’ll go to the dean again.”
>”Nah nah nah nah, you’re supposed to be in P.E. right now anyway.” Coach Snow curls her finger. “C’mon. Go get your uniform. There’s still 35 minutes of class left.”
>Sour Sweet has no choice but to obey, unless she wants to act up again and get herself sent to the dean’s office through disobedience alone.
>But she’s too tired for that right now, the act won’t be convincing enough, plus, she’s getting a bit of a cramp from what’s under the tight binding.
>”You got your uniform with you?”
>”I uh, no.” Sour Sweet responds. “I think it’s in my locker though, lemme get it.”
>April shakes her head at the messy response.
>Sour Sweet sees Coach Snow following her up to her locker in an impatient manner as she promises to get her gym uniform.
>”Hurry up, we barely got half the class period left.” April Snow Rushes her.
>Sour Sweet gets her uniform from her locker and soon goes into the locker room from the hallway.
>”Chop chop, lemme know when you’re done. The other students are waiting.” April looks back in to the gym to see the students doing trust falls, which was the thing for today.
>Sour Sweet comes out a couple minutes later, questioned by Coach Snow on what took her so long, to which she responds with the usual “uh I’m tired”, which Coach Snow hears all the time form students.
>”Well maybe some push ups and sit ups will wake you up a bit. C’mon.”
>Sour Sweet’s pupils retract; she has to think of a way to back out of this as soon as possible.
>The dean’s child inside of her is already giving her a hell of a bad time without her moving around or straining much.
>Sour Sweet can’t even imagine what it would be like to do sit ups like this… it took her most of the time she took to get ready to make sure this binding was on tightly enough.
>She’s in quite the situation now, and April Snow isn’t going to ease up on her for this because she has no clue what the truth is.
>The truth under that fabric wrap, and Sour Sweet’s phone is in the pocket of the gym shorts just in case she needs to give Sunny Flare any more last minute instructions.
>It was a little difficult finding a pair of these things that include pockets at the store.
>”I said hurry up!” Coach Snow starts to get impatient, now within earshot of the other students who can hear her raising her voice.
>The other students starts to do their trust falls with a lot more EMPHASIS now that they hear that Coach Snow is losing her temper, which is never a good sign.
>They fall backwards into eachother’s hands EXTRA hard, support eachother’s weights EXTRA good!
>One kid whose assigned partner is away at the bathroom (with a hall pass, of course) gets scared and starts to run laps around the gym to look like he’s doing something.
>”What’s taking you so long?! I said HURRY. UP.” Coach Snow’s eyes grow figurative switchblades out of them.
>Sour Sweet finally makes it to the gym, with her secret inside of her and all.
>The other kids instantly recognize her, but are still surprised that she’s in her gym uniform and actually about to join them.
>Especially with how territorial she’s been lately, but then again, April Snow’s tough as nails, so this somewhat makes sense as long as Sour Sweet didn’t have a reason to want to get sent to the dean.
>”By the way, have you seen Miss Flare?” April Questions Sour Sweet. “I noticed she’s marked present for school today, yet she’s not here.” She crosses her arms.
>”I haven’t seen her.” Sour Sweet lies.
>”You haven’t? That’s quite odd, seeing as you’re always hanging out together.”
>”Well I don’t know where she is. I’m sorry, Coach Snow.” Sour Sweet puts on her puppy dog face as she formulates a plan to get out of the gym as quickly as possible.
>”If I see you two together later on today, you’re in b-” April Snow starts off before a vibrating noise comes from the pocket, which makes Sour Sweet’s eyes shoot wide surrounded by beads of sweat.
>There’s a long, awkward silence. Among not only Sour Sweet and the coach, but all of the other students who are intimidated enough to successfully hold back their laughter.
>”Gimme your phone.” April holds out her hand.
>Sour Sweet looks down, not even knowing for sure where the new text came from, but she has a pretty good idea.
>And sure enough, the new text is from Sunny Flare herself.
>With her name right there in bold letters, and it’s anything but something that Coach Snow won’t acknowledge.
>”Oh you don’t know where she is, huh? Well why don’t you reply to her and ask her?” Coach Snow’s voice goes back to being more calm as the content of what she’s saying gets more cheeky.
>The students in the gym feel the green light to start audibly chuckling at the scene taking place.
>Sour Sweet tries to snarl at them, but the cramping returns and she’s too occupied dealing with Coach Snow.
>”Well, go on. Text your friend and ask her where she is so she can join us too.” April Snow looks over towards her office and tries to remember if she left a spare blank detention slip or two out. “You didn’t know where she was, so now you can ask her. Go ahead.”
>April Snow looks so fuckin’ thrilled to have caught Sour Sweet in a lie in this way.
>Sour Sweet just starts walking in the direction of the exit.
>”Where you going?” Coach Snow asks with a smug face.
>”Dean.” Sour Sweet might as well just go without an explanation this time, fuck it.
>”I’ll get the detention slip, in that case.” April Snow heads for her office. “One for you and one for your friend too.”
>And just like that, they part ways and the class goes on with the students trying to to snicker at eachother from what happened.
>…
>”So you’re sure Sugarcoat wants nothing to do with them anymore?” Gloriosa asks April after the school day ends.
>”Absolutely certain. And I had Sunny and Sour sent to the dean’s office already. So that only means that Lemon Zest is the one left we still don’t know enough about.” Responds April.
>Gloriosa hesitates, still to this day not willing to accept that maybe Sugarcoat isn’t part of the problem anymore.
>Her mind keeps going back to that first couple of days of school, and she wants to tell Sugarcoat a thing or two in response to the things she said in the past.
>A couple of rants about the president, a couple of rants about foreign nations, and a few other things… but April snow wants to go straight to Lemon Zest for final questioning.
>Because time is running out.
>”How about I go see Sugarcoat and you go see Lemon Zest?” Suggests Gloriosa.
>”No, we have to do this with as much ease as possible. Leave Sugarcoat be, it’ll only complicate things to drag her back into this.” Urges April. “We have to focus on the things we don’t know enough about. And not only that, but we know exactly where Lemon Zest is right now.”
>”So we can’t at least stop by wherever Sugarcoat is?”
>”She probably already left anyway, it’s pointless. And the fashion show is tomorrow.”
>”Tomorrow?”
>”Yes! Wednesday night, remember?”
>”Oh right. Wednesday night, Wednesday night. Sorry, I forgot.”
>”It’s fine, let’s just get this over with now.”
>Gloriosa and April go back into Crystal Prep after the botany program at CHS is dismissed slightly early for today.
>They find the library computer lab, and there sits Lemon Zest; they can see her lime green hair through the narrow window already.
>Outside the room is Mulberry Seed, arms crossed and pouting.
>”What are you doing here?” He looks at Gloriosa. “Aren’t you from the other school?”
>”Yes, Coach Snow here is a friend of mine.” Gloriosa gestures to April Snow with her hand.
>Mulberry recognizes the coach and instantly changes his tone. “O-oh…”
>”You waiting to go in there?” Coach Snow asks him. “It’s okay, school hours are over, you don’t need a hall pass.” She makes a light-hearted joke.
>”It’s… a whole computer lab, right? You got plenty of open computers to use.” Adds Gloriosa. “You don’t have to wait for Lemon Zest to leave.”
>Mulberry hmphs and picks up his backpack. “I never WANTED to go in there anyway!” He stomps off, causing Gloriosa and April to shrug at eachother.
>”He… does have friends, right?” Asks Gloriosa.
>”Dunno, don’t care. Come on.” April opens the door.
>…
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gblr07yKLBQ
>Three players are facing off in the rocky grasslands of some part of Anatolia.
>”D’aahhh, it’s Crusading time!” Says the Teutons.
>The Byzantines have a high number of ships guarding the bay while the Teutonic transport ships carrying their troops approach the shores.
>On the land, rows and rows of camels march back and forth by a few outposts and stone walls.
>Out of the transportation ship comes a few knights on horseback, men-at-arms, crossbowmen, teutonic knights traveling on foot and a trebuchet.
>The camels up on the hills wait until they are out of range of the Byzantine ships before charging towards the enemy, with a few monks (or imams, but the game still calls them monks) in their ranks.
>A massive digital AOE battle ensues, and some units end up getting scattered about, with some of the monks led astray.
>And there goes the trebuchet, rolling around on its wheels until it goes into transformation mode in order to unpack itself and get ready to fire at a nearby gate.
>One of the Monks on the side of the Turks walks up to trebuchet and begins to convert it to Islam.
>Now the trebuchet has changed teams. Now it sets its sights on the area where the Byzantine warships are being spawned, specifically the dock, where it starts firing at.
>The Byzantine camp sends out a few cataphracts and a couple of missionaries to the rogue trebuchet and converts it back to Christianity.
>It goes back to attacking the gates of the opponent until a barrage of soldiers on camels beat back the cataphracts and uses their own monk to try and retake the trebuchet.
>But the Teutons on the battlefield have finally prevailed and proceed to march over with their knights, who have a special attack against the units on camels.
>They proceed to chop them down, but a newly spawned trebuchet from the castle of the Turkish player fires from a distance and destroys the first trebuchet.
>So all the teutonic knights go and chop down the newly spawned trebuchet the opponent player has while getting shot by their castle’s arrows.
>And when all is said and done, the crusading armies have their numbers shrunk to thirds while the opponent spawns new units.
>And then Lemon Zest appears on the scene.
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgFaSqrF_lw
>She flies in on a pegasus with wings lighting up the sky, sending tunnels of loud sound waves to bear down on the enemy town center.
>They smash into the dirt and make the ground shake, leveling buildings and sending enemy soldiers flying.
>Lots of things catch on fire, and the crusaders have to step back for a moment to let the musical barrage take its toll on their target.
>Many villagers flee in terror… except a few who keep chopping the wood off of trees or mining gold or stone as though nothing’s happening.
>Lemon Zest is having a good old time taking out target after target until she feels something tap her on the shoulder and the music momentarily stops.
>…
>”Miss Zest.” Coach Snow taps her on the shoulder. “Can I have a word with you? It’s about your friends.”
>Zest has to take off her headphones and then have April Snow repeat the question so she knows what she’s asking.
>”Your friends, Miss Zest. I have a few questions about them.”
>”But… Indy’s still in prison.” Lemon Zest responds. “Who are you talking about?”
>”Sour Sweet? Sugarcoat?” Gloriosa says to her.
>Lemon Zest recognizes Gloriosa and pulls her headphones closer to herself.
>Gloriosa chuckles nervously. “Relax, relax. I’m not trying to take your headphones away. Coach Snow and I just have a few questions about Sugarcoat and the other girls.”
>Lemon Zest pauses for a bit. “Oh, them. I dunno what they’re even up to these days.”
>”You don’t know?” April Snow seems a bit surprised by this, not willing to let up just yet. “I would have figured you at least talked to them by text or something.” She thinks about the lie Sour Sweet told today, and the fact that Lemon Zest has been suspended multiple times before.
>”Nope. I don’t really talk to them anymore. They’re kinda lame to be honest. I only like Indy now.”
>”Don’t you still sit with them at lunch?”
>”Not really, no.” Zest is actually answering honestly.
>”But they’re your friends, though.”
>”No they’re not.”
>”They’re not?”
>”Nah, they’re not. I think you would have a better chance asking Sugarcoat. I think she still hangs out with them last I saw.”
>Gloriosa looks over at April, who shrugs back at her.
>”Well, alright then. So you’re sure you don’t even associate with them anymore?” April can now hear the genuineness in Lemon’s voice.
>”Yup.”
>And with that, the two teachers bid Zest farewell and let her return to her video games.
>”Hol’ up.” Lemon Zest follows them out the door before turning to Gloriosa. “You’re planting flowers n’ shit now, right?” She points at the floor like it’s soil.
>”Yeah.” Gloriosa responds.
>”Language!” Coach Snow scolds Zest.
>”Is it cool if I join you?” Lemon Zest asks.
>”Well we’re already finished for the day, but you can come tomorrow if you’d like.” Gloriosa tells her, still unsure if there will even be one since she might cancel it just to go watch the fashion show to see if Upper Crust and Suri Polymare try and funny business.
>”Sweet.” Lemon Zest walks back into the lab to turn off the computer she was using.
>Gloriosa and April leave several minutes before Lemon Zest walks out the door.
>…
>The school day is long over, and the sky slowly begins to fade darker, with the only people left in the building being Cadance and a couple of the custodians. Even the dean has left at this point.
>Like a cockroach crawling out of the cracks after the kitchen lights turn off, Mulberry Seed re-emerges with 5 unread texts from his friends on his phone.
>He doesn’t have much time before he gets home, so he is going to have to make one post right after another a minute apart to fill his site up and set up the foundations for his puppet show.
>Mulberry’s been out for blood lately; people on the internet have been making fun of him too much, and they made fun of Neon too!
>It’s become well known in discussion forums that Neon is nothing more than a character used for shitposting, something that escaped Mulberry’s control.
>Neon was originally Mulberry’s actual dream character… he truly wanted Neon to save the 1/10 video game from its usual bullshit.
>It’s really hard for Mulberry to pretend that the game is good, and it will be especially hard for him to do so once it comes out and people playing it will see just how bad it is. Then again, Mulberry’s own webpage won’t be effected, because almost all of the posts there are him anyway.
>There are certain benefits from having the majority of a website hide and clock his page… now he barely faces any outside opinions about his irrelevant Neon character, and he can speak in place of the masses of people who don’t care enough to visit his page.
>Mulberry’s page is nothing but agreement, but even that is not enough.
>Someone noticed that Mulberry didn’t post a monthly discussion about Neon in about three months, no now Mulberry is starting to get scared and cover up for the previous time he got scared and makes a Neon discussion again.
>It’ll be great, though. Barely anyone else is going to go to Neon’s site, Mulberry can control everything that’s said there. All he has to do is post very often and frequently, and the two or three other people there will feel right at home with the “dozens and dozens” of Neonbros.
>Mulberry’s brightening their world!
>He’s gonna need at least three of the lab computers at once for this, and the time is perfect now that Lemon Zest left for the day.
>And there he goes, Mulberry keeps on Mulberryin’.
>Going back to sites who successfully denied his dream hero, and starting shit there because he can’t stand to see them enjoying things without Neon in the picture.
>[You’re obviously mad, because you replied to me] He types in response to someone telling him to stop being annoying after he tried to force another Neon discussion. [You don’t wanna talk about Neon cause you hate fun]
>[This is a webpage about automobile mechanics, not your video game oc. Go away.] They type back.
>[lolololol you’re so mad X D so salty! yikies!] Mulberry replies before seeing his posts getting deleted from him breaking the site rules. [wow you guys are getting triggered, reporting posts saying the truth!]
>[none of us reported you dumbass, the moderators are just doing their job they’re SUPPOSED to do. Are you Jabbber Jane or something? You seem to be just as autistic as him.]
>[S.ALTYYYYYYY!] Mulberry gives up on his crusade and puts a fake medal around his neck with a self-pat on the back. Imaginary honor preserved.
>Anywhere where Neon isn’t the talk of the town is Mulberry’s next stop. He MUST keep Neon relevant!
>Mulberry forces himself to laugh at how cool and funny he is from his off topic ramblings getting deleted.
>He then starts up his Neon page once more and proceeds to metaphorically suck his own dick by replying to himself.
>It’s sad, really. Mulberry didn’t want to be lumped together with other shitposters when he started the Neon project. But it just sort of happened.
>The best thing he can do now is go along with it and pretend that it’s all banter, but he still prays that no one with more than half a brain will figure out from how hard he tries that he’s actually serious deep down.
>Yeah, he totally roasted those cyberbullies and spammed an o.c. into reality and- oh, it didn’t change the world? It was all jokes! All jokes!
>It ain’t easy being so spineless. You gotta change your stance!
>But Mulberry can be smart too. Like when posts an original Neon post, but talks like absolute idiot in it to draw attention to that flaw instead and have the critics go past the central point, then render himself completely free to reply to himself continuing the conversation.
>All the while still refusing the acknowledge the missing bingo board.
>”Ahem.” Principal Cadance’s voice startles Mulberry.
>He turns around, having anticipated this moment.
>”We need to lock up.” The custodian next to Cadance says. “Time to log off.”
>Mulberry finally looks at his text messages after he goes out the door.
>Ignores them and instead mentally counts how many IP addresses he managed to add to his site from the computer lab alone, and now only has his home computer but that’s fine because he can use his phone for more IP’s now.
>He starts posting immediately while his parents pick him up and ask him if he had fun at his friends’ house. [Only my fun is fun! Anyone who disagrees hates fun!]
>…
~
>Everything is not okay.
>You walk into your office ever so slowly, not feeling any of this dean shit anymore.
>This is absolute dogshit.
>Sour Sweet is pregnant with your child, thus basically ending your life right then and there.
>Why did you do it, dumbass? Why did you stick your dick in a crazy?
>And the way she revealed it to you…
>She teased you with her body, let you get yourself all worked up and horny just to tear it all down with the truth she made you unveil yourself.
>And then she had the nerve to come in yesterday after something with Coach Snow happened.
>Sour Sweet couldn’t do her exercises in gym class because of her condition, unbeknownst to April Snow.
>Came into here all smug and bossing you around like she usually does.
>Saying some shit like she’s glad she eventually found out that she got pregnant in like November, and that it was a good backup thing to use just in case the pictures she has on her phone weren’t enough.
>You have a feeling that the pictures on her phone no longer exist… they might as well have been deleted at this point.
>Sour Sweet now has MUCH more convincing evidence that you had sex with her. She probably deleted the images off of her phone right before she mingled up to your office.
>Bragging about how her tits are getting bigger like her belly is.
>Teasing you with innuendos and then telling you that she’s gonna be away for a while.
>Never before have you found such a deep-seated hatred for Sour Sweet within yourself.
>And you find the same kind of animosity for this job within yourself as well, but you’re beyond stuck with it now.
>Quit, and Sour Sweet is free to reveal the truth simply by taking the binding off of her body.
>Stay at this job and your hell continues.
>You legitimately consider JUST ending it all on several occasions before figuring that it wouldn’t solve jack shit.
>Even though what Sour Sweet did pretty much potentially threw a monkey wrench into at least the next 18 years of your life.
>Maybe you’ll just bite the bullet and go to prison for the next 18 years somehow, and not have to worry about raising the kid with Sour Sweet. You’re not even sure why you’re thinking about it this way.
>Maybe you’ll kill Sour Sweet.
>That possibility seems a lot more desirable to you seeing as… well, you know. But you probably would never pull it off anyway.
>Killing a pregnant 18-year-old? That can’t possibly look good no matter how you look at it. You’d definitely go to prison for more than 18 years if you did something as horrendous as that.
>That’s some 25-to-life shit right there.
>This leads to to imagine how Indigo Zap must be doing.
>It’s been about 2 and a half months since she went to prison, and you’re already aware of the fact that her sentence is going to end sometime before the month of April, but you’re not entirely sure when.
>You’re almost feeling like one of those men in prison who hasn’t seen a woman for years, and probably fucks some other inmate’s ass in the showers.
>What with how Sour Sweet’s been tantalizing you. A huge chunk of you just wants to roll over and die.
>Knock knock.
“C-come in.”
>Upper Crust enters the room, unusually early even for a student like her.
>You’re just so fucking done with this shit, done worrying about the fashion show, done worrying about Sour Sweet and everything about her, done worrying about Cadance popping in at the wrong inconvenient time.
>This isn’t the job you wanted, this isn’t the situation you wanted.
“Is this about the fashion competition?” You ask.
>”Yes, I just have a few last minute questions to make sure everything’s going smoothly. Suri told me I gotta do it since she’s not here yet and won’t have time.”
>Upper Crust proceeds to ask you about some of the guests who will be showing up, the music that will be playing, who the official judges are… a bunch of stuff a completely innocent person wouldn’t need to ask.
>And you have a hunch that Suri Polymare sent Upper Crust to do this dirty work on purpose.
>And of course, Upper Crust brings up Fleur’s name as well.
>”Suri just wanted us to be clear that Fleur is still on the judges panel. So she’s there, correct?”
“Yes. Last time I checked, her name was there.”
>”Can you check again really quickly? It’ll only take a sec.”
>Well this sure isn’t odd at all, nope.
>But you’re so distraught from everything else that you don’t care enough to question it any more and get the file out from your file cabinet.
>Sure enough, there’s Fleur De Elise right there next to the other judges’ names.
>Upper Crust hesitantly asks you if she can see the file herself.
>She doesn’t seem too enthusiastic about this, probably because you still have the power to take Fleur off of the list any time you want even right before the show starts.
>Now you’re starting to wonder if you should do this, since it would compromise whatever Suri Polymare is obviously planning.
>But doing something like that at the last minute would only further complicate things regarding who’s going to step in for Fleur, and guess who would have to be involved in that shit? You.
>Maybe not if you do it minutes before the competition and invalidate anything Fleur says, and then she can go about the competition with Suri Polymare and Upper Crust and do whatever there is to be done.
>You’re seriously considering this, but you really just don’t care anymore.
>It would be easier for you to just help them do their thing so there’s no complications, and they’ll hopefully be on their way. And then you can worry about Sour Sweet and that possible extra lawsuit that could be filed against the school.
>That’s a mess you REALLY want to prevent.
>You’re really not processing what Upper Crust is saying to you at this point.
>”So uh… I guess I just wanted to make sure.” She says to you, crossing her legs basic instinct style.
>She really doesn’t sound like she’s sure of what she’s saying, you haven’t really seen her this nervous before. It’s pretty clear that Suri Polymare edged her on to do this.
>In fact, that might be the case with lots of things, but your mind soon derails itself from that when you notice her legs again.
>The way she’s sitting there, the way she crosses them, you can’t take your eyes off of her thighs, not even when she’s looking right at your face.
>Your brain isn’t working well right now, and the school is basically void of people for the next 20 minutes or so, and now your morning wood came back and refuses to go away.
>And you know from the records that Upper Crust is 18 years old.
>”Is… everything alright?” Upper Crust likely has no idea that you’re the literal human embodiment of a dog that’s gone without a bone for too long.
>You’re not even being subtle about leering her anymore, but she’s not addressing it; maybe she’s too nervous to.
>All you know that her loyalty to Suri might be dwindling, but that not what you need to play upon right now.
“Look, I know you just want to win the competition. I’m aware of it.” You tell her, hoping she doesn’t think you’re bluffing.
>”I-I…”
“Listen, listen.” You say, still letting your eyes drift. “I personally don’t care whatever happens. Because whatever happens happens. You following me?”
>She nods, knowing that you still have the power to undo anything that is agreed upon in here before the show even starts.
>Her eyes tell you that it’s mostly Suri’s fault, you know it.
>You stopped caring a long time ago; you figure that you’re going down with Sour Sweet and her dumb shit no matter what. And meanwhile, you have this dime sitting right here in front of you, nervously crossing her legs over and over again in that skirt.
>How long would you go to prison for pushing Sour Sweet down a flight of stairs or something? This might be your only chance to get a last hurrah before your whole life inevitably goes out the window.
>It could be nothing but downhill from here. After even this very day.
>Upper Crust continues to look at you, playing with the fancy necklace on her collarbone.
“You want to win the competition, right?” You say to her.
>She nods.
>…
>Less than five minutes later, the door to your office is locked.
~
>The sun rose hours ago, the bus left hours ago, and yet, Lemon Zest is just finishing up with her current game of Age Of Mythology.
>She’s not up early, she’s up still.
>She’s been playing through the campaign once more on Titan Mode all night long, looking for easter eggs and trying to complete it in record time. It’s a fun game.
>Forget about going to school, that shit doesn’t matter anymore.
>And her parents already went to work and all that, figuring she’d get her friend to drive her to school.
>They probably imagined Sunny Flare, Sour Sweet or Sugarcoat driving her, not her friend.
>Lemon Zest’s friend’s name doesn’t start with an S, it starts with an I.
>The girl finishes some more random player versus player battles in the game before getting too tired to focus, then goes straight to bed with a night of enjoyment and relaxation well spent as a placeholder for a day of fatigue, institutional lies and resentment at school.
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEwSfbE9IXc
~
>Wednesday goes by smoothly.
>It goes by smoothly for Sugarcoat because everyone is leaving her alone now, and she can angrily go read her book in peace when she’s not sitting in class thinking about how quickly she can get the homework and projects done as quickly as possible so she can go back to silence to read her book.
>It goes Smoothly for Sunny Flare because that’s just how most of her life is anyway; she rarely suffers in anything.
>It goes smoothly for Sour Sweet because she still feels like she has absolute control over all of the other people in the school, retaining the foothold she got and constantly checking on her body to make sure all is well… but she’s still a little nervous about that fashion competition that’s gonna happen tonight.
>It goes smoothly for Indigo Zap because she’s away from all of those stupid motherfuckers she was so sick and tired of being around, and she’s been starting to get used to being behind bars, and she just got good news too… the paperwork went through, some other things happened, and she’s set to be released on March 9th.
>It goes smoothly for Lemon Zest, because she’s away from all of those stupid motherfuckers she was so sick and tired of being around; she slept all day and then pretended to have had a hectic day at school when her parents got home and saw that she was sleeping in bed.
>It goes smoothly for Principal Cadance because she didn’t have to ask you to be the bull between her and Shining Armor because you were cooped up in your office all day for reasons you would rather remain tight-lipped about.
>It goes smoothly for you because you finally relieved yourself of your stress.
>It goes smoothly for Suri Polymare and Upper Crust because they now know for sure that the dean is on their side whether he’s doing the right thing or not; after Upper Crust approaches Suri Polymare and assures her that everything is going to go as planned and the dean will not get in the way under any circumstances.
>And now here you sit, in your office in the middle of the day.
>Almost sleeping.
>It’s a good thing no other students are coming or anything, because you’re tuckered out already.
>Maybe you can quit on your own without getting fired, after Sour Sweet graduates and this no longer has to continue.
>But now she still has the baby thing going on.
>Everything would have been perfectly fine after the school year ended if it weren’t for that.
>You’re just glad that these five girls in particular are seniors, including Sugarcoat.
>It’s too awkward to think about her now, too much to take in, too much on your mind.
>This whole thing that happened is so wrong, and you didn’t even choose for any of this to happ-
>Knock knock.
“Come in.”
>The door swings open.
“Oh, hello again miss Upper Crust.”
>She stands there for a couple of seconds, looking behind her far down the hallways checking to see if anyone’s around… she has her phone in her hand.
>Why did she come back?
>Does she… does she actually want to do this again?
“Is everything alright?”
>”Oh yes, everything’s fine, it’s just that… well let me show you.” Upper Crust walks through the door.
>She locks it immediately.
>Holy shit, you didn’t expect your last hu- wait, she’s turning on her phone.
>”Listen.” Upper Crust says to you in the most complacent voice you’ve ever heard out of her. “This is the part where we tell eachother ALL of our secrets.”
“I… thought we did that already.” You reply.
>Upper Crust just gives you a… look. And then she sits down in the chair in front of you and shows you her phone screen.
>It’s showing the start of a video with a completely black screen aside the play button.
>You’re already getting nervous from this alone.
“What’s that?”
>Upper Crust presses play.
>You automatically recognize your own voice saying something for several seconds before color starts to fill the screen, some really light, pale blue emerges all over the screen in the blackness with a blurry line going up and down part of the screen.
>At this point, you begin to recognize some of the things you say, and you realize what this is with a heavy gulp.
>”Just lean back and let me do everything, kay?” Your aroused voice from a couple of ours ago says in the phone audio before the blurry tint opens up to reveal your frantic fingers.
>And before you know it, the light blue that was Upper Crust’s shirt is pulled to the sides like stage curtains to unveil your greasy face front and center (but towards the top of the screen too).
>And yes, it’s at THAT low-phone angle usually seen in bad selfies.
>That look on your face you can see plants more shame into your heart than anything even Sour Sweet has done… because it’s your own face, in one of the dirtiest, most perverted time of your life.
>Upper Crust maintains her stoic poker-face, instead of a sinister grin like Miss Sweet would have right about now.
>And your brain goes over the moment from a while ago as the video plays…
>…That weird looking gem on the connecting button thing on the front of her bra, it was more than just some fancy rich-girl decoration.
>It was a fucking camera.
>IT WAS A FUCKING CAMERA.
>And you had NO knowledge of this even after it was over. Not a clue.
>You watch the rest of the video, which proceeds to show all of the things you spent about 15 minutes doing with Upper Crust in your office, with evidence of you being… like this… all over the place all over the video.
>You’d be glad that you didn’t go all the way with her like you did with Sour Sweet, because the last thing you need is two pregnant psychos with you under their thumb.
>”Allow me to explain, since you can’t back out now.”
>You stutter with your mouth closed and ball your hands into fists.
>”We knew that Sour Sweet and Indigo Zap were doing shady things from the start, Suri and I. We watched your behavior, and figured out where this was going. We knew Sour Sweet was going to get her way one way or another. It was only a matter of time before she’d take over and start teasing you about it. Based on things she’s done before.”
>You stare at the girl, having expected words like these to come out of Suri’s mouth instead.
>”We can’t have her doing anything to get in the way of the fashion show. There’s a brand name we need to get out there, so one of us had to step in and play her game.”
>Upper Crust goes on to explain to you about how she was behind the scenes all along, and that it was mostly an act to get you to focus more on Suri and Sour while she prepared to do her thing for the fashion show.
>Fleur was in on it, and now you have to keep quiet about it or else the video will be released, and it’s already in other storage places outside of Upper Crust’s phone.
>Upper Crust tells you that she and Sour Sweet are not at all “on the same side”, and that they’re actually enemies.
>Sour Sweet gaining control over the school was the perfect thing to wait for before she and Suri stepped in and took the reigns away from Sour Sweet when she wasn’t looking. It was all carefully calculated.
>And Sour Sweet still has no idea.
>No one counted on Indigo Zap actually going to prison and Sunny Flare replacing her as Sour Sweet’s right hand girl, that wasn’t predicted.
>But now the fashion show is going to go as planned, and Upper Crust just sealed her power over the dean’s office with Suri Polymare at her side.
>And they’re getting a brand name out through exposure from fashion show coverage, to contact some advertisers, get a few connections here and there and swim with the big fish for a while until enough money is made.
>And even if you cared about that, you can’t say a damn word about it.
>The most awful feelings dwell within you are Upper Crust continues to talk to you like she’s your boss now, having done everything she did on purpose. She even knew when you were going to crack and make that “deal” with her.
>She played into all of this from the sideline.
>There’s even a couple of things about Principal Cadance that you had no idea were going on.
>She and her fiancé Shining Armor are secretly looking for people with whom Cadance can deliberately cheat on Shining Armor on while he is fully aware of it, and this is apparently a huge secret that was supposed to stay between them, but it was found out somehow.
>And Shining Armor is being a fucking coward about it.
>This was one of the smaller details that Upper Crust simply included to show you how much she knows around here.
>And now with Cinch gone and Sour Sweet’s position in jeopardy, Upper Crust and Suri Polymare can use the school as a tool to promote many fashion products they’re selling, as a start to other things they’re connected to business-wise to promote and make money off of.
>It’s all about money, isn’t it?
>You can’t trust anybody in this fucking place. Should have never taken this job.
>”Now I need you to tell me everything you know, so we’re on the same page.” She tells you. “All I want is the truth. And don’t worry about Sour Sweet. I’ll take care of her. She’s my business now.”
>You gulp.
“Alright, well, here it goes.”
>Upper Crust seems extremely surprised when you tell her about Sour Sweet’s pregnancy… and her jaw drops when you tell her that the kid is definitely yours.
>And then you tell her that you’ve had sex with Sugarcoat and Sunny Flare too, both of whom hate you now, you’re pretty sure.
>And you tell her more of the details about the lawsuit that Neon Light’s family filed against Crystal Prep Academy.
>”Oh, right. I already knew about all that.” Upper Crust isn’t fazed by that part. “But I could have sworn Sour Sweet was walking funny. Is she binding it?”
“…Yes…”
>You can tell that this wasn’t part of Upper Crust’s plan.
>Her eyes tell you that she’s thinking of something horrible, and you have an idea what that is.
>”Well I guess we’re stuck with this situation. I’m not killing a baby. That’s too far.” She straight up says it to you point blank. “But you are NOT to tell about the baby to anyone, however, you are to do what I say from now on. Not what Sour Sweet says. What I say. Understand?”
“But what about the baby, then?!” You ask her.
>”Keep quiet about it. I’ll handle Sour Sweet’s stance on the matter. I’m not going to show her the video, she can’t be trusted with that kind of dirt. Not even if she only knows about it. I’m not taking any chances with her.”
>Okay, you can understand that sentiment.
>”But you are to not speak a word of this.”
“Okay, okay. I understand.”
>”Also…” She adds. “Sugarcoat? Really?”
“It’s… it’s complicated.”
>”I can understand Sunny Flare and all that. But Sugarcoat’s better than that.”
>You feel yourself get internally triggered and almost say something like “and you’re not, evidently”, but that would be an unwise move.
>Just bite your lip.
>”Sugarcoat didn’t deserve any of this. And honestly, that Coco Pommel doesn’t either. The way Suri treats her just isn’t right.” Upper Crust has the nerve to get on her high horse after the shit she just did. “They shouldn’t need to put up with our bullshit. With how annoying Lemon Zest and Indigo Zap always were. With how shallow Sunny Flare is. With how neurotic Sour Sweet it. But then again, no one said life would be fair.”
“I feel sick.”
>”Believe me.” Upper Crust actually starts to shudder. “You aren’t alone. If that’s any compensation.”
>You’re silent.
>”You can go ahead and say it doesn’t redeem me. I don’t care. Just be happy you didn’t have to deal with what some of the guys on the football team do. They get even worse.”
>You don’t even want to imagine… and you’re honestly not sure where Upper crust is going with any of this.
>Is she trying to sneak trust for her into your heart somehow? Because it’s not working.
>”You’re lucky you only had to put up with Neon and Mulberry. All Neon does is whine 24/7 and all Mulberry does is throw fits online.”
>What do the football team guys do here? Is there a fucking drug ring going on or something? You wouldn’t even be surprised by that at this point.
>You and Upper Crust eventually “get onto the same page” through conversation until there’s nothing left to say.
>And you feel astronomically worse than you did before.
>”If only you knew just how corrupt Crystal Prep really is.”
“I have a pretty damn good idea of it, you know!” You blurt.
>”You haven’t seen nothing.” Upper Crust gets up to leave the room. “Your ass hasn’t seen jack shit.” She unlocks the door and opens it. “Good day to you, sir!”
>And just like that, she’s gone. Gone with the little bit of hope you had left that you didn’t even know you had.
~
>Wednesday night.
>The Wednesday night fashion show of Wednesday night goes just as planned on Wednesday night.
>It’s a really fun and eventful Wednesday night.
>Everyone gathers together in the recreation center on Wednesday night with the stage set up, and the event proceeds to be underway.
>The parents of the other schools basically just came over to see their kids do dress-up.
>The parents of the Crystal Prep kids sit there with blank expressions hoping their school wins, which they still expect despite Cinch not being a thing anymore.
>It’s kind of funny, you almost hung yourself on Wednesday night, but never went through with it.
>You don’t have to an hero, your life is over on its own and you’re dead inside, what’s the difference? You’d rather just be lazy and rot in prison.
>…
>There she is, Principal Cadance.
>She’s been your boss for a few months now, but that’s not the only highlight of her titles in your mind in this moment.
>No, there’s something else to it.
>She is Shining Armor’s newly wedded wife since Valentine’s Day.
>Shining Armor sits on the other side of the room, watching her consult with the Dean of the school she’s principal of.
>All three of you know what you’re about to do.
>You’re in Cadence’s special office in her home.
>She sits with you on the side of the bed where it’s more comfortable, and goes through some paperwork with you with her hip right up against yours.
>You compliment her on her wedding ring, telling her it looks so beautiful on her.
>Compliment her on her hair.
>Compliment her on her uniform.
>Shining Armor smiles as you say so many nice things to her.
>It’s pretty easy for you to woo Principal Cadance, as she’s already very interested and has her husband’s blessing.
>Her husband watches the two of you very closely, sitting in the chair right across from you now to get the best view possible.
>And Cadance leans forward a little to give you the best view possible of her cleavage.
>The signs are clear, more so when you put one arms around Cadance’s back and stroke her shoulder.
>She reads through more of the paperwork, but your attention is on her uniform now.
>And her attention on the papers is dispersed by the growing bulge in your pants.
>It’s redirected to you now, and she stares in awe as she remembers how big you had already were when you were limb.
>Now she can see you’re full mast under there, and the difference is making her want to drool a little.
>Shining Armor watches you pull his wife close, start to talk about much more personal things with her.
>Go from talking about her ring to talking about her Crystal Prep jacket.
>How comfortable it is on her, how comfortable her skirt is.
>Cadance crosses her legs and lets her high heels fall off, and Shining Armor picks them up to neatly place them to the side.
>She must have worn a low top and a shorter skirt by her own intent today.
>And she knows it’s accenting her C-D cup chest wonderfully.
>The formal uniform tightly wrapped onto her hips pushing out from under that skirt.
>It must be so comfortable.
>You ask Cadance about her top under the jacket, then about her bra under that.
>Cadance answers honestly about her laced black panties when you ask.
>Her husband Shining Armor watches you put your hand on the side of Cadance’s blushing face and turn her head towards you.
>She’s thirsting for a kiss, and you lean yourself in and give her what she desires.
>You take a couple of curious fingers and pull open the front button of Cadance’s jacket.
>…
>You wake up in a cold sweat on Wednesday night.
>Damn, all that shit that Upper Crust told you has got you thinking.
>You start to wonder if this would happen in real life… what if she’s been meaning to have this happen at some point?
>If there’s anyone you should have done it with this entire time, it’s Principal Cadance.
~
>…
>And now it’s Friday once more.
>March 2nd.
>In exactly one week, Indigo Zap is going to be released from prison.
>In exactly one week, Lemon Zest is going to get her only friend back.
>Then again, it’s going to be a while before the other students at school get to see Indigo Zap.
>There’s a long process with paperwork that needs to be followed before Indigo can start going back to school, it’ll take several days after her release is official and carried out.
>But naturally, word of this spreads throughout the school.
>Sugarcoat is reminded of the punishment she had to go through, and it’s making her feel pretty bitter on the inside right about now.
>The school day is over, nothing new happened anyway.
>Sugarcoat walks through the hallways all alone, sort of moping at her reflection in the floor’s shine.
>”Hey.” Sunny Flare’s voice startles her.
>Sugarcoat spins around. “What do you want?”
>”I just wanted to… I dunno… know if you’re doing anything lately.”
>”What do you mean?”
>”Well, Sour Sweet’s been kind of ignoring me lately. She’s kinda bent out of shape about the fashion show still going on and her not knowing anything about it.”
>”What do you want me to do about it?”
>”She wanted me to talk to you and ask you if you said anything to the dean.”
>Sugarcoat looks at Sunny, confused.
>”But I more just want to ask you if you want to hang out. I know you and I don’t talk much, and Sour Sweet’s been a Debbie downer lately, and I just wanted someone to talk to for a change.”
>”Why me, though?”
>”Because I never see Lemon anymore, and Indy’s still gone.” Sunny Flare goes on. “Look, I’m sorry I’ve been such a bitch. I remember the time you pushed me into the pool and all that, and the times you told me off. And I kinda feel bad that we haven’t been very good friends recently. And I feel bad about the thing with Sour Sweet. And I wanna say I’m sorry.”
>Sunny Flare has rarely apologized for something before, let alone something like this.
>”I want to to know that even though all that happened, it’s all good. And I’ll still be your friend if you wanna be mine. Sour Sweet originally wanted me to ask you if you said anything to the dean, but because she figured you’d listen to me more than you’d listen to her. But I just want to put all this behind us now. I hate it. I miss hanging out with you girls all the time. I’m… I’m sorry.”
>Sugarcoat cannot find it within herself to trust Sunny Flare.
>”You’re too late apologizing. The damage is already done.” Sugarcoat tells her.
>”Please, I just want things to get better now. I don’t like what Sour Sweet’s done to all of us. Yeah, it’s my fault too, but-”
>”Oh, so you admit it, then!” Snaps Sugarcoat.
>”Yeah, I admit it! Fine! Okay? A big part of it IS my fault! And I feel terrible now! I’m sorry, okay? I don’t want us to not be friends anymore.” Sunny Flare confesses. “I can’t believe I stooped to this, but I’m like, so done with it now. I can’t even… anymore. It’s too much. I just want things to go back to normal. I’m tired of getting in trouble with Sour Sweet, I’m tired of doing her dirty work. I’m sick of it! I know it’s my fault but I’m sorry.”
>”You should have owned up to this a long time ago. It’s too late now.” Sugarcoat remembers that she has a criminal record now.
>That she had her heart broken. Along with all of these other things that this toxic group of friends has caused her. It’s horrendous and unforgivable.
>”I’m sorry!” Sunny apologizes again.
>”I don’t forgive you.” Harshly replies Sugarcoat. “It’s too late. Don’t talk to me ever again.”
>”Please! I just want things to be normal again!” Sunny’s voice starts to break. “What happened to all of us? I never wanted to lose my friends! None of you! I didn’t know it before, but it’s true. I wanna be friends with you. Even if we annoy eachother sometimes at least we’re still cool with it in the end. Please…”
>Sugarcoat silently stands in place.
>”I won’t even ask you about the dean now, since that probably pissed you off. I’m sorry, I just realized. I’m sorry. Please, let’s at least still be friends. I miss you.”
>Sugarcoat stands there, motionless.
>”Sugarcoat?” Sunny Flare walks around from the girl who is trying to face away from her.
>Sunny Flare can now see the tears filling up Sugarcoat’s glasses.
>Now neither of them speak for what feels like an hour.
>Then, without warning, Sugarcoat takes a step forward, and then another, and another.
>Sunny Flare hesitantly steps out of the way. “I-I’m… I’m sorry…”
>At this moment, Sugarcoat breaks out into a run, trying to leave eyesight and earshot of Sunny Flare before she breaks down crying.
~
>Now lots of students staying inside their own homes more often.
>Afraid to go out to school, playing hooky as thought it’s a hip new thing.
>They know about the shit that goes on here, the dumb shit that happens between students and staff.
>Sunny Flare and Sugarcoat each find ways to stay home to avoid eachother… Sunny Flare convincing her parents that she’s sick while Sugarcoat goes to the public library to read books.
>Sugarcoat.
>She sits at the table the same way she used to at the school library, reading the first book she found on the shelf.
>The tears are held back by the story she’s engulfing herself in. It’s working to a good enough extent.
>She tries not to think about the dean, tries not to think about her former friends. And she succeeds.
>Now she’s truly sitting the way she used to.
>A little bit more relaxed yet perched in her seat, with a sharp gaze locked onto the words of this novel, wondering if it’s going to be this stupid all the way to the end.
>Who cares? It’s a decent enough read to keep going through, isn’t it?
>Most people don’t understand the value that books have anymore, now that they have all this technology that suffices and pacifies their need to fill the time that used to be occupied by staying alive in the wild.
>It’s like no one wants to try to be smart anymore, didn’t they hear about so many successful becoming sharper through literature? They must have gotten wind about it at some point.
>They’re willing to watch a whole season of soap operas but not read through one book? Is reading really that boring?
>And the answer is yes. A big yes.
>The TV’s and big movie screens have all these colorful moving pictures, sounds, and the whole picture painted right there before your very eyes for you.
>You don’t have to do as much work, it’s just time to enjoy yourself, not time used to build yourself. And that’s exactly the problem Sugarcoat sees with this.
>People are getting lazy.
>They deny it all the time, but Sugarcoat knows the truth, as she has accepted that it has affected her as well due to the fact that technology is so heavily depended on nowadays.
>Can’t walk anywhere you want to go anymore, you need money for a car, the gas, the car insurance, the taxes and tolls… and not to mention the places where pedestrians aren’t allowed to go and the long distances required to get to somewhere you need to be like a job meeting.
>But hey, you can still walk and run on the treadmill for a few bucks at the gym!
>It’s silly, really. But it’s really not. It’s angering.
>Wow, this book is really trying to put its message across strongly, what book is this again?
>Sugarcoat tries to look at the cover, but everything’s blurry.
>She wipes the tears away from her glasses; those surely didn’t come from anywhere other than the depth of the novel.
>With a sniffle, Sugarcoat swallows a sob and looks at the book’s cover.
>Oh, it’s that thing the unibomber (or however you spell it) wrote.
>Sugarcoat puts it away and tries another book that might be less damaging to her sanity.
>No matter which book she picks up, the tears keep coming back to her eyes and fogging her glasses.
>How did she even real the small text but still can’t see the cover?
>Well, the tears came as soon as her encouraged immersion into the story was broken, broken like a certain something else.
>Sugarcoat looks at her phone, hoping that Sour Sweet never texts her again for as long as she lives.
>…
>Sunny Flare.
>You know… she could be reading a book right now.
>But nah, she’s sitting in front of the massive flatscreen TV watching her favorite Reality TV show.
>Eating out of a bucket of ice cream and wrapped up into her little cocoon of blankets.
>Her parent’s don’t need to go anywhere today, so they’re doomed to check up on her at some point.
>She does this little routine of faking a few coughs and sneezes every now and again to make sure her parents don’t see through the act.
>Sunny Flare considers actually getting herself sick on purpose somehow so it can be more convincing. Fuck it, might as well.
>The best way to play a part is to be it, as Sherlock Holmes said in whatever that one story in 7th grade talked about.
>Sunny Flare scrolls through her social media and checks feeds, timelines, app updates, etc…
>That’s odd, where did Indigo’s Facebook go?
>The two girls had already unfriended eachother after the incidents and whatnot took place, but Sunny could at least tell that Indigo’s page was still around from other people’s gossip posts and message history.
>And it was inactive for the last couple of months for obvious reasons.
>But now it’s gone.
>Sunny Flare stares at her iVambrace, confused until a buzz from her phone startles her.
>[SUNNYYYYYYYYYYYYYY] Sour Sweet’s text reads. [WHERE ARE YOOOUUUUUU :((((((]
>Sunny even wants to keep up the act with Sour sweet, because it’s not like she’s gonna turn trustable any time soon.
>[Im sick, tired too] Sunny types, sort of telling the truth with the way she words things. [whats up?]
>[I miss you!]
>[i miss you too gurl] Sunny lies.
>[You can still call that clinic place, right?] Sour Sweet asks. [Just in case? If you have time?]
>Oh, so it’s like that.
>Not only is Sour Sweet doing her usual “waaaahh, my friends aren’t at school today” routine, but she’s also only doing it to carry out the dirty work she’s getting Sunny to do.
>This isn’t fair. This is Sunny’s fake sick day!
>[parents r here so cant, sorry] Sunny responds with a sad emoji at the end of the message.
>Sour Sweet whines all over her phone’s keyboard but accepts the fake circumstances.
>Ah, yes back to relaxation.
>Sunny doesn’t need to go to her classes much anyway; she already knows that she’s going to get accepted into some university because of parents’ money. Why should she care?
>School feels like reading a book, unnecessary when you can stay home and watch TV and gossip on Twitter instead. All that other shit is boring.
>…
>Sunny Flare and Sugarcoat aren’t the only ones who stay home… you actually take one sick day since your schedule allows one.
>One.
>And here you sit, lethargic as hell on your living room couch, not even having the TV on even though you feel like you should.
>But you just blankly stare at it, thinking about all of the things you’ve done.
>With Sour Sweet, Sugarcoat, Sunny Flare… it’s so wrong.
>And you have to go back to that same desk tomorrow with no exceptions.
>Why didn’t Cadance change the rules for sick days yet? And why does she herself take so many days off? Does she even care about the other positions?
>Does she even realize that the old “Cinchian” system is still in place?
>You have several questions that not only go unanswered, but get drowned out by the guilt you can’t ignore.
>Sour Sweet still has a child, that isn’t going away.
>You wait several minute… yup, this is still reality. Can’t escape this shit.
>So much regret for taking this job fills your head, if only you knew what could potentially happen…
>Poking a bear like this isn’t exactly rewarding, at least not in the long run.
>And worst of all, now you have Suri Polymare and Upper Crust on your hands.
>And they SWORE that they will take care of Sour Sweet but you have no idea what’s going on.
>She could have murdered them both by now for all you know.
>You keep staring at the blank TV screen, wondering in you should read a book instead.
>…
>Mulberry Seed would be at school right now if he hadn’t gotten suspended.
>And here he comes again, once again.
>Sick and tired of waiting, Mulberry watches the calendar and sighs.
>Mulberry's been waiting for this, his time of the month.
>Finally, a full length play-through scenario that he can show the whole world he enjoys.
>But something's wrong... other people are setting up their own webpages to gather and play the game together.
>Mulberry watches in horror as all of the pre-planned blog posts he typed up go into jeopardy.
>These sites about the game aren't even his! They're made by OTHER PEOPLE!
>Mulberry used to fantasize about this, even pretend it was happening many times, but he's gotten used to doing everything himself that he can't trust anyone to talk about the game the same way he does.
>Who else would separate individual questions into individual posts instead of putting them in one post?
>Look at these casuals!
>Putting more than one question or statement in one post.
>Using correct grammar and punctuation.
>Not even counting down every few hours until the game drops.
>It's like they're not even trying to inflate the place with as many posts as possible. dumbasses, lol what crap!
>Mulberry goes to every single one of their pages and tells them to all come to his SPECIAL page that he made sure to set up earlier so he can say he was the first one.
>He knew that would be the only thing he could go on to cancel out the fact that the other pages are higher quality than his.
>[We already have an official page (link) come here] Mulberry types, foaming at the mouth for company.
>[Stop fucking śhilling already, god damn] The reply reads. [leave us alone, we just wanna talk about the game without putting up with you]
>What Mulberry doesn't realize is that most people filtered his site title, and thus didn't see it and made their own sites once they saw no sites up after forgetting all about his monthly episodes.
>And Mulberry doesn't like this one bit, used to like having control of what was posted all to himself.
>And here he comes again, once again.
>Likewise, he wants his own little monopoly, but this ain't the time for board games.
>That comes later with Clayton... after Mulberry isn't grounded anymore.
>Mulberry digitally stomps his feet back to his own turf after he's told to take a hike.
>Continues his usual puppet show, with more effort required now that all he has is his room computer and his phone.
>But whatever, now he can control what more of the posts say again.
>Typing quietly so his parents don't take away his electronics privileges entirely, he can't wait until he makes it back to the lab where he belongs.
>Imaginary honor is on the line!
>There are no printers in here, so Mulberry has to resort to using Photoshop to make images of Neon.
>Man, this is so much different than MS Paint. Too complicated for Mulberry Seed's mulberry seed-sized brain.
>Too stressful whenever he has to defend the home front.
>[LOLOL it's just typos bro!] He says to anyone pointing out his purposefully bad grammar then spams a few more posts to get strength in numbers.
>Man, Photoshop is hard! Multitasking is hard! Mulberry downloads MS Paint onto his computer and works from there until he can figure out how the big boy tools work.
>He gets distracted anyway when he sees Neon now canon in the game.
>He wheezes in joy, getting saliva dribble on his desk as he posts as frequently as he possibly can.
>"Mulberry!" His mom's voice sounds from outside his bedroom door.
>Oh shit! He forgot to stay quiet!
>And now the house is loud as all fuck with Mulberry's screeching as his computer and phone are taken downstairs to the dining room until tomorrow.
>Mulberry’s mouth overloads with stuttering apologies to his mom and dad, but he stays at his door knowing that it’s his fault he fucked up.
>He could have prevented this, but he brought it upon himself.
>Know your place and stay there.
>…
>Lemon Zest doesn’t even know what’s going on at Crystal Prep Academy.
>But if she did, she’d come to school today anyway.
>Coming to school itself, but skipping all of her classes as she takes her eternal turn in the computer lab while little berry boy is pidgeon-holed at home.
>She cracks her knuckles, gets her imaginary headset on over her headphones, inserts one of the CD’s into the drive… yup, it’s gamer time.
>The next song on her headphones starts playing.
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bl4dEAtxo0M
>…
>Lemon Zest stands tall atop the peak of a mountain, overlooking a vast red sea of algae.
>She has two battle axes in her hands, and two chainsaws bearing down upon the land from her gaze.
>Down below, the ground opens up, and Zest knows that she’s even more prepared for this than last time.
>She looks to her side, to where the Indigo warrior used to be perched up on her watchtower.
>The barren post bears a flag in the gentle breeze.
>With a ghastly image of the missing hero at her post, waiting an eternity and a half to finally return to this land.
>Lemon Zest nods, whispering to herself “soon”.
>Soon, her friend will return, and everything will be made right. The voices in the dreams foretold this.
>Indigo’s return might be delayed by paperwork, but she’s coming back.
>Lemon Zest tightens her grip on her battle axes, enters the battlefield with one leap of fate.
>She spins as the Devil himself emerges out of the fiery inferno of hell, it’s bubbling up to Earth.
>It’s ready to taste the glorious blade of her ax. And her other ax.
>Music may already be here, but music is coming.
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYbeZi925nY
>In the local neighborhood.
>There’s the distant sound of a bedroom window opening.
>No one thinks much about it until they hear the hollering.
>What appears to be a high school kid begins jetting it down the street, looking back to make sure he’s not being followed.
>His yelling gets louder all the way to the public library, knowing that it won’t have a place in the nearby high school at this time.
>Mulberry realized what he just did.
>He used gaming stream links to get company to his site, but now it started getting shit tons of activity.
>All of the posts he typed out will be all for not if he doesn’t make a new page before it’s too late.
>He still needs to go and have his comfy thread, and what if these new people who were there in the big release stay?
>Mulberry knows that he must try to carry this over, it’s his only chance.
>Maybe it won’t matter how many times he’s been filtered, he has this new audience. Fuck those other guys who don’t like him.
>And so, the kid storms into the library, getting a tidal wave of shushes the second her enters.
>Now he creeps over to a computer like a mouse, getting online and assessing the situation.
>Sugarcoat slams down her book with an annoyed glare… oh fuck, it’s this kid again.
>Mulberry’s fingers clack away at the keyboard, but he knows that he now has no other choice but to make a new page.
>He basically had the page reset back to the beginning because the other one got filled with people sperging out, throwing a monkey wrench into the little thing he was doing there.
>Now he has to build this one from the ground up. Quick, get people talking about Neon and make him relevant again!
>Mulberry tries to join in, bringing up Neon as often as he can so no one dares to forget, but the masses have a hard time listening to his whiny voice.
>[you totally saw Neon though, right?] Mulberry’s fingers slip off of the keys on the keyboard.
>He just watches and people leave the stream he missed a lot of, but barely anyone is talking about Neon.
>At this moment, the doors burst open.
>No, it’s not even the cops, it’s Mulberry’s parents barging into the quiet environment.
>They manage to drag him out right after he manages to get one last message out to his digital playground not to forget about Neon Lights.
>He just gets one last glimpse of his site going back to its usual self before getting hauled out of the library.
>”Wh-why does nobody care about him?” Mulberry croaks and tries to think of a way to backpedal what’s happening as sad violin music plays in the background.
>How is he supposed to go back from the start and revive everything when he’s getting dragged away by his parents?!
>Tantalization at its finest.
>Sugarcoat just watches him in aggravated confusion.
>Did he run all the way over here?
>Oh wait, there’s the cops.
>Sugarcoat looks over to them, realizing that she’s supposed to be in school right now.
>Looks down and realizes that she’s still wearing her uniform from when she left today to pretend to go to school.
>And of course, all of this is figured out relatively quickly.
>…
>You know… it’s like a reverse version of what happened before.
>The cops take Sugarcoat in the back of the cruiser all the way back to Crystal Prep Academy to face the full extent of disciplinary action.
>They herd her into the vicinity of the school like a sheep, with all of the students eyeing her like she’s a new prisoner, especially a certain Sour Sweet that Sugarcoat half mentally swore she never wanted to see in person again.
>Sour Sweet awkwardly walks over to Sugarcoat with a little bit of a pained waddle and stares at her.
>”Well, then.” She starts off.
>Sugarcoat bitterly walks past her.
>Sour Sweet taps her foot on the floor and returns to sitting around trying not to look pregnant.
>She’s considering skipping some school herself but now gets a few second thoughts abut it now that she’s seen Sugarcoat come back to school in custody of law enforcement.
>But as she’s walking around, she’s noticing a few glares from the other students.
>She stares back at them, suspicious that they might be plotting to overthrow her now that she’s obviously showing signs of physical weakness.
>Not that that mattered anyway since she’s a girl.
>A couple of them are chuckling, and sour Sweet doesn’t take too kindly to this.
>She growls at one of them, who backs away promptly as she steps towards him on her path to class.
>They could all tell before that she had connections with the dean, albeit what kind of connections.
>But she still has to remind them that she’s not afraid to abuse this power, at least Sour Sweet feels like she needs to.
>She goes back to class without another word, but with a lot of heavy, uneven footsteps. More suspicious than ever.
>Sugarcoat goes to the school library and pulls out a book to read, now feeling anger more than any other emotion.
~
>You’re back at the place the next day.
>Back at /that/ place, the one you’ll never escape as long as there’s this lock on you.
>What happened with Sour Sweet? Didn’t Suri Polymare and Upper Crust promise that they were going to take care of her.
>Then again, you don’t know if they promised it.
>Don’t remember… all you know is that they were a mistake to try and break a deal with, now you could very well be in deeper than you were before.
>But that doesn’t mean that you can’t stop; you don’t have a choice but to show up in the morning or lose your job.
>And once again, you sit here.
>Asking various students to come in, filling out various paperwork, and so on. Some of the paperwork has to do with Indigo’s release from prison. Like that feeling couldn’t be needed enough.
>Not only dealing with another one of these students but dealing with the one who started all of this shit.
>If there’s anyone who deserves to have to end all of this, it’s Indigo.
>She can’t be free soon enough; you want to attach another ball and chain to her ankle.
>Now you’re getting lethargically tired, like to the point where you’re almost falling asleep in your chair forgetting how much you hate your job only because of the fact that your brain isn’t working right now and would rather sit around motionless in your head.
>It’s hard not to get dizzy, in fact, that knocking on your door went mostly unnoticed until you heard it again a lot louder.
>KNOCK. KNOCK.
“Come… in…”
>There she is again, Sour Sweet.
>Wearing a blank face right now but could go from either grimacing to grinning in a matter of seconds after that door closes.
>But she just sits down.
>Sits down and stares for a couple of seconds before asking a question without greeting in in even her devious little ways.
>”Do you have the manila folders of schedules on you right now?” She leans back in the chair.
>You nod to her.
>Sour Sweet asks to see them, grabs them pretty quickly when you hand them over to her, and then proceeds to scan the pages like she’s a printer until she finds whatever it is she’s looking for.
>You’re so tired at this point that you don’t even process half the shit that’s going on.
>This whole situation had corroded you, eroded you, to the point where you’re on the verge of collapse every second of the day.
>”Hey listen.” Sour Sweet says after telling you a bunch of other things.
“Yeah?”
>”Uh… nevermind. It was about the kid.” Sour Sweet stands up.
>You grunt and lean back in your arm chair as Sour Sweet chuckles at you.
>”Oh come on, you should be used to it by now.”
>Shake you head a couple of times before she leaves the room.
>This is so, very tiring. But super rewarding in regards that you saved your life at the end of it all.
>When something happens where Sour Sweet dies or something, hell, the one where you die sounds better.
“Hey, Miss Sweet.” You says to her before she goes out the door.
>”Hm?”
“How’s… Upper Crust and Suri Polymare?”
>”They’re cool. For now.” She replies.
“Also, where you going with that?”
>”I’m doing something.” Says Sour in an increasingly malicious but calm tone.
>You don’t question it any further and let her leave.
>…
>Citrus Drops is just minding his own business in study hall.
>Doing some homework early, making sure he gets it done before the school day is over so he doesn’t have shit to do later today.
>The place is quiet, he’s still sitting there until he hears footsteps coming his way.
>”Hey there.”
>Citrus looks up.
>”Can we talk?” Sunny Flare looks down at where he’s sitting.
>He gives her a confused look before she repeats what she just said.
>What does this girl of all girls want to do with him? Does she have a crush on him?
>Citrus lets Sunny Flare sit down next to him.
>She looks like she’s not enjoying what she’s about to say, like it’s something she’s tired of, but she goes ahead and pushes through anyway.
>”What makes you think Sour Sweet is pregnant?” She lowers her face to look at the floor.
>”What do you mean?”
>”You made a post on Facebook the other day. Talking about how things changed a bit here… saying some things about Sour Sweet.”
>”Oh, uh, I didn’t mean it like that.” He responds. “Wait… you… went through my Facebook? I thought I deleted that post.”
>”You did.” Sunny Flare figuratively turns into Mark Zuckerfucker. “And that’s part of the issue.”
>Sunny Flare goes on to ask him question after question regarding what he knows about Sour Sweet or the dean.
>And if he’s planning on telling or finding out something and doesn’t want it to be obvious. She legitimately starts interrogating him.
>And he’s getting reluctant with his answers, snarky in a couple of them too.
>This is what Sunny Flare was hoping this wouldn’t come to, but she has no other choice and she’s pretty good at this sort of thing.
>”Hey you mind if I ask something else?” She says.
>”Sure…” Citrus skeptically stares at Sunny Flare like he’s pressing the X button.
>”How’s your hentai collection? The cartoons? The comics? The figurines? The… jar?”
>Citrus freezes up and straightens his spine. “What are you talking about?” He plants his feet onto the carpet and glances over at the door.
>Sunny eventually squeezes the truth out of him… the collection’s doing fine.
>”Tell you what. If you don’t want others to know that your hentai collection is doing just fine. You are Sour Sweet are just fine. Ya hear me?” Sunny tries to sound like a movie mobster to rive the point home but she’s never seen any mob movies that weren’t parodies on YouTube so it’s difficult.
>Citrus complies. Reluctantly, but he complies.
>…
>Okay, so now a couple of days have passed.
>Everything’s spiraling out of control, shit needs to slow down, despite the fact that things are so sluggish.
>It’s really hard to think straight now, for you, for Sour Sweet, for everyone.
>As for Sunny Flare, she didn’t enjoy doing what she did, and she hopes that Sour Sweet is pacified by now and won’t try to fuck anyone else over for talking shit about her or try to find out what’s really going on.
>Like, what is all of this even for? They’re all about to graduate anyway. Sour Sweet’s motives are a complete mystery sometimes.
>But Sunny Flare can tell that Sour Sweet’s cramps and stuff aren’t getting any better.
>That combined with the fact that she can’t decide what to do next is probably making her more unstable than ever; it’s a good thing she can’t move around much.
>There are many occasions during which Sunny Flare considers just dropping all of this because it’s not worth it.
>So what if she gets in trouble? Her parents can just pay bail money or something easily. Maybe even pay off the law itself but that seems a bit risky and Sunny Flare isn’t one to take risks.
>Meanwhile, Sour Sweet is increasingly worried about her position in jeopardy.
>This can’t be good: Indy is coming back at the end of the week.
>She doesn’t want to fight a two front war, so she eventually confronts Upper Crust and Suri Polymare.
>Which is pretty coincidental, because they were just getting ready to talk to her about something.
>Lots of things are becoming a haze for Sour Sweet through the pain and everything, but this is basically what happens.
>”Listen…” Sour Sweet furrows her brow. “I’m just gonna be real with you here. I run this shit. The dean and Principal are friends with me, and I’m going to have to ask you to be a little more honest with me.” She strains her voice a little due to the cramping.
>And Upper Crust hears this immediately. “Perhaps we should tell you now.”
>She then goes on to explain to Sour Sweet what she did, and how she already has the dean under her thumb. And that she’s not exactly enthusiastic about what she did with the dean but a power move is a power move.
>”The deed is already done.” Upper Crust informs the pregnant girl. “But it’s all fine now. I’m going to pull an Augustus and hand the reigns back to you. You can have the dean now, we already got what we wanted.”
>Sour Sweet growls at her, mostly aggravated from the cramping pain.
>”She could have fucked the dean way better than you did, you know. She could have went all the way, but didn’t because he isn’t good enough and she doesn’t care anyway.” Suri snarls at Sour Sweet. “You have no idea what the fuck we’ve been through. Or what we can do. You better stay in your fucking place.”
>”Oh, but… do take the dean back. All the power to you!” Upper Crust sarcastically remarks.
>Sour Sweet is left fuming, holding her abdomen as the other two girls walk away with smug grins on their faces, knowing that they had to have left her destroyed in some way just now.
>And Sour Sweet is lucky no one else was around to see this; this would be the worst look for her.
>One thing keeps leading to another, in a slippery slope kind of way.
>She gets a headache from the stress and then cannot text Sunny Flare for the moment, and then misses when Sunny Flare texted her about something she said to the clinic.
>And it poked a major hole in sour Sweet’s lie she told them because of that, because she spoke to them next and didn’t have a certain amount of accurate information.
>There’s really no important details to remember at this point, but Sour Sweet can feel her world spinning, more than it ever has before.
>Even Sunny can tell that something’s horribly wrong… wondering what horrid things go on inside of that house, behind that window where she saw Sour Sweet smiling terrifyingly before.
>Sour Sweet is desperate to hold onto her power… like Saturn.
>And she’s not about to let herself be had by misfortune.
>Everything that happened was a mistake, but Sour Sweet misunderstands this as a burden she must carry out.
>But the window of opportunity is missing. And now it’s just mishap after mishap.
>This whole being the “Miss Sweet” of Crystal Prep isn’t going well for Sour Sweet. She miscalculated what it would bring her.
>Everyone misses the old days now. Especially Gloriosa and April, who are now just running in circles trying to find the truth, only misinterpreting what they find: It’s only a bunch of students telling them that they don’t know exactly what’s going on with Sour Sweet, but they suspect that she’s pregnant.
>It’s almost to the point where Sour being pregnant is unmistakeable.
>…
>There’s a specific day… when Sunny Flare’s concern for Sour Sweet flares up so much that she HAS to go check on her.
>And it’s an unforgettable day.
>They both texted, and Sour Sweet agreed that she will try to figure things out at a more slow pace, but then comments that everything’s going to be “perfect” in a strangely triumphant tone.
>Knowing the batshit insanity of Sour Sweet’s nature, Sunny knows that this can’t be good.
>Sunny drives up to Sour Sweet’s house, expecting nothing but the creepiest of things to happen, and she isn’t wrong.
>She goes up to the front door and knocks; it’s already unlocked.
>The door us swung open.
>“Listen, Sou-…” She pauses dead in her tracks to find a self-made do-it-yourself voodoo doll resting on one of the kitchen chair in front of the table.
>”Oh…” Sunny awkwardly sits down across from it for a bit, expecting Sour to come down until she takes long enough to prompt Sunny to go upstairs.
>”Sour…” Sunny calls as she makes it to the second floor hallway… finding a second voodoo doll hanging on a noose of twine from the ceiling.
>”Sweet?” Sunny nervously goes up to Sour Sweet’s bedroom door, walks through the doorway and approaches her friend sho is lying in bed.
>Sour Sweet’s face is trapped in a crazed grin.
>Staring at the ceiling, she lets out a terrifying sounding sigh.
>On the wall behind her, is a pentagram on the wall… drawn in blood… lots of blood.
>Less than a second later, Sunny Flare understands what horrors have happened in this room.
>”OOHOKAY! NO! NOPE! NO! NO!” Sunny Flare spins right around and leaves the house faster than she would have if it were haunted. “NOPE. FUCK THAT, I’M DONE. TOO FAR. FUCK THIS. FUCK THAT. I’M DONE.”
>She’s out the font door in in the car door, puts the keys in the ignition, floors the gas pedal and drifts at hihg speeds Déjà Vu style once again before crashing into a telephone pole… and then keeps driving.
>The telephone pole falls to the road.
~
>…
>Lemon Zest is glad she stopped skipping school so much.
>History class is starting to get fun again, and the teacher lets her listen to her music on her headphones because of all the times she’s been seen mingling with Sour Sweet in the past.
>The best part about that is… Zest doesn’t have to deal with Sour Sweet’s bullshit anymore AND she gets to have her influence help her do whatever she wants in class… she could even chew gum if she wanted to!
>She sits in the back row with her feet crossed on the tabletop and arms crossed behind her head.
>The powerpoint slides can just get retained into her memory by her looking at them and nodding her head to the beat, just like earlier in the school yeah. Reviving her slipping grades is going to be effortless.
>She knows this as she leaves the room.
>Trots through the hall as she tries to figure out where she’s going to go as she skips her next class on her shifted around schedule.
>Seeing the hallways as towering walls of pure stone as she turns her music back on and gazes from her soul out the windows of her eyes to observe the world around her.
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwiTs60VoTM
>The sun rises early in the morning, and the weak are too weary to get out of bed.
>There is a very slow breeze that passes by the town, and riding with it in her stride is the musical warrior herself, twirling around a shotgun in her hand with the safety on so she doesn’t waste any bullets.
>The soles of her shoes kick up dust and send it to join her in that morning breeze. The dew on the grass cowers at her presence.
>Just as she cowers at nothing, waiting for anything to go awry.
>She approaches the towering concrete monolith of the dam that holds back the sacred rapids.
>Her jaw and chin catching the breeze as it changes direction, hoisting a determined grin upon Lemon Zest’s face.
>She raises the barrel of the shotgun and takes the safety off… and hears a battle cry from behind.
>She only has a second to spin around; here comes two men on horseback.
>Each of them wielding a long javelin, they have been told that Lemon Zest would be here.
>Only a couple of hoof falls later and the first blast is sent into the kneecaps above where the hooves landed.
>”Fall off your horse.” Commands Zest as she glares into their souls.
>One tumbles to the ground, and then the other after the echo of the second shotgun blast reaches the far cliffs.
>She shoots them like fish in a barrel, then turns back around to fire a single shot at the wall of concrete.
>It starts with a small cluster of cracks in the surface, but what it starts with is all it takes.
>The cracks spread, and the trickle of the water grows into a full-on flow of glory as the rising sun illuminates it from the east.
>It cannot be held back any more, and the defenders have their own blood leaking into the dirt as it mixes with the water.
>Lemon Zest slowly walks away as a burst of shite water fills the entire view behind her, casting a shadow over her under which her lime green hair and golden eyes glow.
>The levee breaks, and the veins of the barren land finally bring life to those who have needed it for centuries.
>Finally, the waters have returned to the lands for irrigation, their tide returned to them after being snatched away by past greed, driven by past lust and past envy.
>Validated by past sloth and carried out by past wrath. Housing past gluttony at the top of the damn dam that was built with past pride.
>She looks around as the world surrounding her starts to fall back into its intended place that was set by the gods in the heavens above.
>Raises her head to see a light part the clouds overhead, and Athena herself descends from the heavens.
>”Dark Times are coming, and you are needed.”
>Lemon Zest continues acting out her visions as the school day crawls to a close.
>She plays the next song on her playlist. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHI-_HFdCuM
>And right when she turns the corner of a massive castle banquet that is the cafeteria during lunch period, she runs face to face with the Valkyrie.
>…
>Sour Sweet decided to come to school super late today.
>Didn’t want to lose much sleep that she needed to catch up on.
>She’s been extremely exhausted after what happened, exhausted to the point where she almost saw the grim reaper himself aiming for her neck.
>But eating some warm foods seems to be helping, also getting lots of fluids. She’s mostly just glad she can walk regularly again.
>But that’s not the main thing she’s fixing to utilize today, but it’s still sort of part of it.
>She sits down and then stands back up to walk around and then sits down once more, in search of Suri Polymare and Upper Crust.
>Remembering the way they talked to her, remembering those looks on those faces as they said the things they said.
>Not to go unpunished, not to go unpunished at all. Sour Sweet chooses her own place in this situation.
>The girl gets up once again and walks around but then bumps into lemon Zest as she’s turning a corner.
>”O-oh…” Sour Sweet says as she recognizes that slight rock music sound from the headphones to realize that it’s Lemon Zest before she even looks at her face.
>But when she does look at Lemon Zest’s face, boy does she see something remarkable.
>Some extremely distant gaze in Lemon Zest’s eyes, one that says that the girl is not fully… here. She’s basically in outer space in a way, lost in whatever she’s listening to.
>Almost like she’s looking through Sour Sweet and at the scenery behind her instead, but Lemon Zest still speaks to her. “Why are you here, brooding tyrant?!”
>The way Lemon Zest says this cannot be taken seriously, she’s talking like a cartoon.
>Sour Sweet almost asks her if she’s seen either of the business girls she’s hunting, but then remembers that Lemon Zest has her headphones in.
>She’s not in the mood to go through the effort it takes to adequately communicate with Lemon Zest since it’s always so hard with the music, she she brushes it off and impatiently continues the hunt she’s on.
>But out the window, Sour Sweet sees two familiar faces on the bleachers of the baseball field.
>It’s a little hard to see details, but it’s still enough to recognize Sunny Flare and Upper Crust.
>With a deep huff, Sour Sweet marches on out the nearest door and through the warm Florida air.
>…
>”What about that one?” Upper Crust points to the screen on Sunny’s iVambrace. “That one has the same fur lining but isn’t in an ugly shade of green.”
>”Uh… I guess…” Sunny’s voice is quiet and meek.
>Upper Crust has noticed this, and could immediately tell that there’s something really bothering her new friend. But she hasn’t said anything out of a combination of not completely caring and not wanting to ruin the vibe they’ve got going on.
>These two have found more in common than either of them had predicted, and sitting out here alone away from everyone else’s noise was exactly what Upper Crust needed to clear her thoughts and come up with whatever her next plan is going to be.
>Maybe she’ll even get Sunny involved at some point if she feels up to it. Then again, it’s not like Sunny would have a reason to care all that much about making some extra money.
>”Well do you like it?” Asks Upper Crust. “I don’t even need to make any phone calls for that one, it looks like. Look, they have it right there in the inventory.”
>”Yeah, I like it, I like it.”
>”We can go to the mall after school’s over so there’s a better chance they’re in stock.”
>Sunny Flare just sighs.
>”Is everything alright?” Asks Upper Crust with a concerned frown.
>”Everything’s fine. I’m just… going through a lot.”
>”…Those two things are pretty much opposites. What’s wrong? You can tell me.”
>Sunny Flare remembers the vivid scenery from yesterday.
>Walking through the front door, seeing the voodoo doll at the table, seeing the other voodoo doll hanging in the hallway, seeing the scenery around Sour Sweet lying in bed.
>How horrified she was… how quickly she noped straight outta there.
>It’s going to make her experience a loss of sleep for the next few days, she knows it.
>”It’s kinda personal.” Sunny answers before noticing a familiar face across the field.
>Sour Sweet is walking faster than she did the last time she was at school, and Sunny knows exactly why.
>She watches Sour Sweet quickly approaching, chest larger and bouncing more from the recent pregnancy, face locked into a vengeful scowl from the recent extra mood swings.
>There is no way this is a good combination.
>”Oh… fuck…” Sunny starts to consider escaping.
>”What is it?” Upper Crust turns her head to where Sunny was looking as Sour Sweet would now be within stapler chucking distance if she was carrying one. “Oh… you…”
>Upper Crust doesn’t even see the danger, not budging as Sunny Flare starts fidgeting around in her seat.
>”What’s up?” Sunny Flare nervously greets her friends with the memory of yesterday festering in her mind and making her tremble.
>Sour Sweet only takes a brief look at Sunny, almost feeling sympathetic towards her for having to see something even more traumatic than what took place yesterday… and she hasn’t even stopped walking over yet.
>”What do you wa-“ Upper Crust starts before a fist knocks the side of her head and forces her to turn her gaze to the trees in the distance.
>”Holy shit!” Sunny Flare springs up and takes a few stumbling steps back until she nearly trips over the aluminum bleachers.
>Upper Crust’s body struggles to its feet and begins to panic, trying to simultaneously run away and defend.
>Sour Sweet lands another blow to Upper Crust’s stomach and then a third to her face once more, and persists until Upper Crust’s hair is making direct contact with the dirt.
>Sunny Flare knows her friend well enough to not get involved, she watches Sour Sweet kick at Upper Crust’s ribs.
>”You know who you’re fucking with?!” Upper Crust lets out a few pained grunts as the pain keeps on coming. “I’ll- AH!”
>Sour Sweet stomps directly onto her fingers.
>Upper rust’s agonized screaming is what sets Sunny Flare in motion. “Sour! Stop this! Holy fucking shit!” She lunges over to grab her.
>”YOU WANNA GO?!” Sour Sweet gives Sunny Flare an angry glare and takes one huge menacing step towards her as Upper Crust writhes in pain on the ground.
>”You’re gonna hear… from my lawyers…” Upper Crust holds back tears.
>”Fuck your motherfucking lawyers!” Sour Sweet kicks her again. “I’ll kick their asses too!”
>”Sour!” Sunny Flare grabs Sour Sweet by the shoulders and dodges a fist. “Sour Please!”
>”Stay the fuck out of this.” Sour Sweet then realizes that these two were already sitting together. “Unless you’re on their side!”
>”Wh-what?! No!” Sunny back away even further before Sour gets closer.
>Upper Crust raises her head from the dirt with her hair in her face. “Fuck… you… you bitch.”
>”Cry harder, cunt!” Sour Sweet spits at her then turns back to Sunny Flare. “You’re siding with them, are you?” Her brain spins faster than usual.
>”I’m not!” Sunny Flare realizes her mistake and now sees the metaphorical frying pan she’s in.
>Sour Sweet takes another swing, but her hand hits Sunny Flare’s iVambrace and injures a finger.
>Sunny keeps her arms raised for protection.
>”Gah!” Sour Sweet backs away, holding her hurt hand.
>She’s pretty convinced that her finger broke, but she looks and sees there doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with it.
>Then Sour Sweet looks back up and sees Sunny Flare already running away.
>She pursues her across the grassy knoll, finding that she’s not as fast a runner as she is hard a puncher.
>Sunny Flare slowly loses her, and Sour Sweet knows that she needs to go back to the main target: Upper Crust.
>In less than a minute, she returns to the scene in front of the bleachers as Upper Crust still struggles to get onto her feet.
>It would take more than a minute for Upper Crust to recollect herself and escape, and Sour Sweet lightly pushes her again to make her fall back to the ground.
>”So you thought you could get away with talking to me like that, huh?” Sour Sweet sneers at her. “Turn around. Face me.”
>Sour Sweet flips the other girl over like a pancake and pins her onto her back.
>”You’re gonna… ergh… regret this…” Upper Crust blinks some dirt out of her eyes.
>Sour Sweet slaps her across her cheek. “Shut your whore mouth.”
>”You’re one to talk.”
>Another slap.
>”Yeah. That’s what happens, bitch. That’s what happens.” Sour Sweet’s ignoring the pain in her sprained finger now.
>Upper Crust starts to say something, but winces when she sees Sour Sweet lean in again.
>”I don’t give a fuck what you throw at me.” Sour Sweet presses herself onto Upper Crust.
>Upper crust suddenly makes the realization that Sour Sweet isn’t pregnant any more, she can feel it.
>She doesn’t know why she didn’t think of this before, mostly because of the abruptness of the surprise attack.
>”You’re up against someone with nothing to lose. Yeah the dean is mine, but now you’re mine too.” Sour Sweet grabs Upper Crust by the throat. “And right now, you’re going to tell me where Suri Polymare is.”
>Upper Crust lets out a couple of pained coughs.
>Sour Sweet pushes her against the dirt and keeps saying the same things. “Where is she?”
>…
>Suri Polymare gets home from the beauty salon, getting out of her car, making sure all the car doors are locked, and then entering her house.
>She sets her bag down and checks her phone to see if Upper Crust has texted her at all yet.
>She had said something yesterday about planning for the upcoming weekend, and then planning what they’re going to do for the summer.
>Oddly enough, Upper Crust hasn’t texted Suri at all today. She’d usually have texted her at least once by now.
>Suri just sighs and sits herself down on the couch to tune into the news so she can watch the section showing the stats for the stock market.
>She also has her phone out with the appropriate websites to see if she’s going to get any luck today.
>Her new fashion line seems to be doing relatively well, jump-started into the limelight.
>A steady revenue should be just enough for adequate vacation money. Forget getting a job, this is where the good paychecks are at.
>She soon goes around her house doing random shit.
>Finding that she needs to clean the place up a bit more than she remembered she needed to.
>A lot of things almost seem like they are out of place, looking like they were moved. But Suri probably just didn’t remember putting them in different places before leaving this morning.
>But Suri doesn’t process any of this as much as she probably should; she keeps ignoring this and soon microwaves some pork chops and mashed potatoes to fill up on for the rest of the night.
>But she still feels like something is out of place, not really anything physical, not in the same way as her possessions at least.
>She starts to look around the house. It’s completely quiet.
>She really doesn’t have any interest in going anywhere but the living room, kitchen, bathroom or bedroom.
>Suri’s mind doesn’t even consider the basement.
>About an hour later, she decides to take a quick shower before bed.
>The downstairs lights are turned off and Suri heads up the stairs not thinking about anything other than the money she’s making.
>Suri’s now in the shower, and can’t hear anything else that’s going on in the house.
>Starts to imagine every little sound being a home invasion like lots of people do when they’re showering.
>Even when there’s no sounds and it’s all just their imagination.
>When Suri gets out of the shower, she walks around on the second floor with her towel and sees that the first floor is completely dark like she left it.
>Then she goes into her room, locks the door, gets into her sleeping clothes and checks Twitter once before bed.
>That’s odd, Sunny Flare seems to be freaking out over something.
>Saying things like “shit’s real now” and “I just fucking can’t right now like omg”.
>It’s all extremely vague and there’s like half a dozen tweets just saying this vague shit.
>Looks no different than all the other times she blogged about minor things happening all over Twitter for everyone to know about her life.
>Suri pauses, almost thinking she heard a noise come from somewhere, but brushes it off as nothing and then goes to sleep.
>…
>And she sleeps.
>…
>Suri wakes up, not remembering if she dreamt anything; her alarm is going off.
>Gets herself up, takes a second shower, gets dressed, eats breakfast downstairs and then gets ready to leave super early to make it to school before everyone else.
>Something inside of her tells her to get to the car as quickly as possible.
>Get to her car and leave the premises as quickly as possible.
>And so she does, not really registering why in her head.
>She makes it to the car and locks the doors, almost feeling like she’s pretending to run from a movie monster or some dumb shit.
>Right before she can reach the garage door opener, she feels a hand grab her from behind and a cloth press up against her face.
>She gasps and everything goes black.
~
>Suri fades awake out of nowhere, shaking off the dizziness in her head and trying to figure out what just happened.
>She can’t move, and then looks down to see that she’s tied to a chair.
>”You’re finally awake.” Sour Sweet says to her from behind with a kitchen knife in her hand.
>”I… wha…?” Suri sways back and forth.
>”You tried to cross me, eh? Well so did that slut over there.” Sour Sweet points over to Upper Crust, who is tied to a chair right next to Suri.
>Upper Crust’s hair is really ruffled, and there’s a bruise on her face.
>Sour Sweet then explains that they’re all in Upper Crust’s basement, and that she drove Suri over here with her car when she was unconscious, and that they better not try to run away because she has a copy of the video Upper Crust took on her phone and will show it to everyone and ruin their whole reputation and money machine if there’s any funny business.
>Upper Crust just sadly looks over at Suri Polymare, who looks back with an enraged glare.
>”How about I fetch us something to drink? You look thirsty.” Sour Sweet announces before heading to the stairs. “I’m sure ol’ Crusty has something nice in her fridge. What would you like?”
>Upper Crust just groans.
>”Oh, stop it. I already did you. Suri’s the only one who has it coming now. But I promise you’ll both be on your way. Now… do you have anything in your fridge you want?”
>Is this girl serious?
>Neither of the tied up girls answer, and Sour Sweet just figures she’ll bring them something of her choice before beating the crap out of Suri in just the right way to be able to cover it up with makeup before school starts in an hour.
>As Sour Sweet is upstairs, Suri immediately and desperately tries to break the creaky wooden chair she’s tied to as Upper Crust tries to regain enough energy to do the same, figuring that Sour Sweet can’t take both of them at the same time.
>They both growl ferociously, having already started to adapt to the current situation and seek to overcome it as quickly as possible and beat the shit out of Sour Sweet… well at least Suri wants to do that part; Upper Crust wants to make absolutely damn sure everything’s in her favor it court once that time inevitably comes.
>Doesn’t even care if attacking counts as self-defense in this situation, she’s overly careful about this by default.
>She’ll just let Suri do all the punching for her as she distracts Sour Sweet.
>Suri finds some luck in making the chair make sounds she’s pleased with, and then find some more luck in this when the crackling noises erupt from the wood.
>And then there’s a sudden snapping sound.
>It came from the back of the chair that Suri’s tied to, and now it only takes a bit of maneuvering in order to get her hands in front of her body and slowly slip her hands out of the rope.
>Meanwhile, Sour Sweet is holding a cup with lemonade powder under the running sink.
>She stirs it together and places it next to the other cup of lemonade she made the same way.
>By the time she starts doing back down the basement stairs, something seems off.
>She can’t even see the chairs from the stairs because she has to turn around a corner to get to the tucked away corner of the basement where she tied the two girls up.
>But something inside of her head, a voice, tells her that Upper Crust and Suri Polymare have broken free.
>The pentagrams she’s drawn can be felt in this little voice in her head.
>Sour Sweet goes back upstairs to fetch the knife she couldn’t hold in her hands because of the glasses of lemonade.
>But as she’s going up the stairs with her hands full, she hears the other two girls rushing around and approaching fast.
>That feeling one gets when they’re running up the basement stairs after turning the lights off asserts itself in Sour Sweet’s mind and she begins to panic, and it clashes with her urge to turn around and subdue the two other girls.
>They’re already closing in on her on the stairs, and Sour Sweet splashes the lemonade into Suri’s eyes.
>Suri falls back into Upper Crust and they both land at the foot of the stairs as Sour Sweet jumps down after them.
>There’s a few noises of scuffle that would deeply concern the neighbors if they were paying enough attention to hear any of it, but luck is on Sour Sweet’s side and no one comes to intervene.
~
>…
>Homeroom has already started, and there’s no sign yet of Sour Sweet.
>Sugarcoat and Sunny Flare sit at polar opposite sides of the room, doing everything they can not to look at eachother.
>The teacher goes through the attendance roster, the rest of the students are just sitting there waiting for the humdrum school day to begin.
>Lemon Zest teeters back and forth on her chair, swaying to some more music as she waits to be let out of her so she can either go wandering around the school, go to the computer lab to play video games and maybe shitpost or even go home to play video games and maybe shitpost but the only difference there is that she can sleep too.
>Sugarcoat keeps her attention glued to the book she’s reading until she heads someone sit next to her.
>Oh look. Sunny Flare decided to come on over.
>With a hmph, Sugarcoat looks away deliberately yet still tries to cover the text of the book so Sunny can’t see what she’s reading despite it just being another one of the novels Sugarcoat reads.
>”Sugarcoat.”
>Sugarcoat ignores Sunny despite her being right next to her.
>”Sugarcoat, just listen.” Sunny Flare continues anyway in a quiet voice. “You don’t have to forgive me, fine. But I just want you to know that I really am sorry about… well, everything. I know you’re really pissed off at me, but fine, whatever. I don’t blame you. I just want you to know that I’m sorry and can’t possibly feel more guilty about what happened. If you do forgive me or not forgive me, I still feel guilty as fuck. I’m sorry, okay? You don’t have to be my friend anymore, but at least know that.”
>Sugarcoat sets down the book.
>She looks over at Sunny Flare who has a forlorn frown upon her face.
>”I guess we still have classes together, so I kinda had to say this sooner or later. So it’s not awkward.” Adds Sunny.
>With a deep breath, Sugarcoat looks down. “I… understand…”
>”If it helps, Sour thinks I turned on her now. And now no one’s on her side.”
>The bell rings.
>Sunny Flare quickly nods and stands up to get her things and leave.
>”Hey Sunny?” Sugarcoat closes the book she was reading.
>”Yeah?”
>”You wanna talk for a bit?”
>Sunny Flare nods.
>The two girls gather their belongings and then proceed to skip the first class of the day together by hanging out in the girl’s bathroom.
>They enter the room and stand in front of the sinks together.
>”So Sour Sweet’s alone now, huh?” Begins Sugarcoat.
>”Yup. I did sorta abandon her right before she thought I turned on her, so she was kinda right but also wrong because I just wanted to do what Indy wanted to do and separate myself from it all.”
>”What changed your mind?”
>Sunny Flare gulps. “I kinda walked in on something… horrifying a couple of days ago. About the… you know.”
>”The what?”
>”Wait, did you even know?”
>”Know about what?”
>”There was… oh fuck, this is gonna be hard to say… there was a baby.”
>Sugarcoat’s eyes shoot wide open.
>”I didn’t know either, don’t worry! Not until like a couple of days ago. And Sour Sweet told me not to tell anyone.”
>Sugarcoat gawks at the tile floor as she listens, shaking her head slightly at the news.
>”She wanted me to help contact people about it who could get her through the situation more easily since she was keeping it secret.”
>”So she’s pregnant?!” Sugarcoat steps back.
>”She… was… pregnant.” Sunny Flare’s face starts to look uneasy as the vision comes back to her.
>At this, Sugarcoat gasps loudly with trembling hands over her horrified face.
>”It’s… yeah, it’s that bad.”
>”Oh my fucking god!” Sugarcoat knows there is no way she can look at Sour Sweet the same way again. “Holy fucking… but…”
>”It’s fucked up. I know. And now you know why I bailed on her.” Sunny shudders in discomfort.
>Sugarcoat starts to gag and cover her mouth, facing the sinks and looking in the mirror at how greenish her face has turned.
>This is wrong. So wrong.
>”Sugarcoat…” Sunny continues as the other girl faces her once more. “I’m so sorry. I should have known better.” She starts to tear up.
>It’s several more seconds until Sugarcoat recollects herself.
>When she makes eye contact with Sunny Flare once more, they both instantly know that neither of them are going to want anything to do with Sour Sweet again.
>They have a common enemy, and this common enemy is bringing them back together, especially as they embrace one another and take deep breaths to cope with the current circumstances.
>They eventually leave the bathroom because of the possibility of someone else walking in on them while they’re talking about such things.
>Both of them head on down to the library where they can find a quiet corner where no one can hear them whispering well enough to understand what they’re saying.
>”How could she do something like this!” Sugarcoat basically hisses. “This is too far even for her.”
>”She’s off the deep end. More than she’s ever been.” Answers Sunny.
>”We can’t just sit around and let it continue like this. This is too wrong for me to ignore, I’m sorry. We have to go to Principal Cadance and explain what happened.”
>”What if she snaps again?” Asks Sunny Flare.
>”We’ll have to do it quickly and make sure the police or something get her before she can do anything. There’s no way I’m not taking action now, I’m sorry. I was perfectly willing to stay out of this until she did THAT.”
>Sunny Flare feels her chances at ignoring Sour Sweet disappear as Sugarcoat plunges herself back into the situation. “Well… when’s the right time? What should we say? ‘Hey, Sour Sweet legit got pregnant with the dean’s kid and killed it and she’ll kill us if she finds out we snitched on her’?”
>”When’s Indy getting back? Tomorrow?” Sugarcoat brings up. “I’m pretty sure she’ll be willing to help us.”
>”The day after tomorrow, I think.” Says Sunny. “Today’s Wednesday, right?”
>”Yes.”
>”She’s coming back Friday.”
>Sugarcoat grimaces at the fact that she’s going to have to wait that long. “Well we can’t do anything with the dean.”
>”Fuck no, we can’t do shit with him. He’s under her boot. It has to be Cadance if we’re gonna do this shit. There’s no other way.”
>”And what about the dirt Sour apparently has on Cadance? Is it serious?”
>”It’s just the dumb marriage cheating shit. It’s nothing.”
>”So if Sour Sweet tells about that, lots of the students already know, and it’s just gonna have to be some tough shit Cadance will have to deal with.” Says Sugarcoat.
>”What about us, though? And what we did with the dean? It’s not like she’s not gonna say anything about that. She’ll have nothing to lose.”
>Sugarcoat shudders. “We’re gonna have to deny it.”
>…”But Sour Sweet still… has the evidence.”
>Sugarcoat balls her hands into fists and trembles like an earthquake.
>”I know I know, I’m so sorry, but she does. She still has it all.”
>Sugarcoat fights the urge to suggest killing Sour Sweet, knowing there’s no way that would turn out well no matter which way one looks at it.
>”You destroyed all her shit before, didn’t you? We gotta do that again before we tell Cadance about the stuff that happened.”
>”But then we’ll be punished for destroying her belongings. Myself again.”
>”We gotta find a way to…” Sunny starts off before she notices a couple of familiar faces across the library.
>It’s Upper Crust and Suri Polymare.
>They just meekly entered the place in the middle of first period and are looking for somewhere secluded to sit down. Neither of them look too happy today.
>They walk slowly with their heads hanging down, not saying a word and seem to be wearing extra makeup today.
>And Sunny Flare realizes that she’s sitting across from the usual place where Upper Crust would sit when she comes to the library.
>It’s basically no time at all before eye contact is made.
>Sugarcoat is the first one to stand up and walk over to them, but the other two are already more than willing to walk over to Sugarcoat.
>Suri approaches Sugarcoat. “Can we talk?”
>But right as she says this, Sugarcoat says to her “We need to talk”.
~
>Once again, you sit at your desk.
>Nothing remarkable has been going on, except for the fact that Sour Sweet came in about an hour ago to make sure you mark her down as “on time” today so her attendance record doesn’t have any extra holes poked into it.
>It seems that suri Polymare and Upper Crust have checked in late to school too. This doesn’t fare well for you in your mind; what if those three are in allegiance now?
>Them with that Fleur girl would be a hell of a combination, and you just don’t know what on earth is going on anymore.
>Everyone around here either acts like there’s been some sort of a gas leak nearby or has no depth to their personality whatsoever.
>Maybe you signed up for the wrong school. What if that Canterlot High school was the better choice.
>Well, they weren’t a choice. There were no positions for a school dean open at the time.
>So now you’re stuck here waiting until this batch of problem students leave for good so you can finally start your job for real next year. At least that’s what it feels like.
>But just like all the times before, your mind keeps drifting to this Canterlot High, like something’s telling you a position just opened up.
>You know that Gloriosa Daisy does things there, and that she knows the administration there pretty well.
>And you also know that Cadance is close friends with the administration there too.
>Something possesses you to start looking through the files, particularly the clubs that the school’s online database lists and who’s involved.
>There’s a little voice in your head, one that you can’t decipher where it’s coming from, but it feels familiar in a sense where it’s connected with Canterlot High.
>You can’t see any of the names of the students, which gives you this misplaced sense of disappointment somehow.
>But you’re distracted by yet another knock on your office door.
“Come in.”
>This time, it’s one of the other random students who have nothing to do with what’s going on.
>Cold Forecast recently caught up on a missed assignment and needs the dean’s signature for verification, which you’re about to give.
>But you keep looking at that file you had open, the one with the names of people involved with the botany program from CHS.
>It seems to be occupying your thoughts a little much for something that has to do with a school you’ve never been to.
>You decide to chalk it up to you wanting to be away from this god forsaken place for a change, and then you internally make mental plans to go over to that school to see what it’s like there before sending Cold Forecast on her way.
>And now you’re back to sitting around and looking for any more tasks to complete.
>You’ve been able to finish almost everything else on your plate since the stress has put you in a mood to do nothing but work now in order to forget everything else going on.
>Your mind goes back to CHS so much that you call Cadence’s office to see if she can get you on the line with the principal there since they’re friends and all.
>And of course, Cadance does not pick up the phone. She’s not here.
>The best best thing you can do is see if Coach Snow can get ahold of Gloriosa.
>And after checking, you verify that the next P.E. class isn’t until over an hour from how.
>Give Coach Snow a call in her office and ask her if she has time to come up to your office to talk about Canterlot High school and Gloriosa.
>Minutes later…
>Knock knock.
“Come in.”
>”Hey, you wanted to see us?” April Snow enters the room.
“Yes, I… what do you mean by that?”
>Right behind April Snow is Gloriosa Daisy herself, to your surprise.
>”Hi.” Gloriosa wriggles her fingers in a shy wave. “Hope I’m not bothering any of you here.”
“Oh no worries, you’re okay. I was just getting ready to ask for you anyway. What brings you here anyway?”
>”Oh, well the CHS botany program doesn’t start until after school, and I figured I’d hang out here to see if anyone from the Crystal Prep Botany program wants to come join, since no one really does much with the courtyard here, as I’ve seen.” Gloriosa says to you.
>”I have to admit I’ve been rather dissatisfied with no one every using the courtyard.” April adds her input. “In fact, I expected Principal Cadence to finally make some changes with it, but she’s rarely even here anymore.”
“I feel ya.” You say with a chuckle of agreement.
>”So what did you need me for?” Gloriosa asks.
“What’s it like at Canterlot High?”
>At this very moment, there’s another knock on the door.
>Knock knock.
“Come in.”
>In enters Sugarcoat, who stops in her tracks at the sight of Gloriosa.
>Gloriosa and Sugarcoat make eye contact that seems to last ten times longer than it really does, then proceed to purposefully look away from eachother.
>Gloriosa then continues. “Oh, the students at Canterlot High as so nice and laid back. They are very understanding of progressive views that help people in society get along with one another.”
“Oh?”
>”Why, yes. They’re all a bunch of talented young individuals who don’t feel the need to show it off all the time. And they provide very insightful inputs into political debates that consider the will of the people and not some authoritarian world view.” Gloriosa makes sure that Sugarcoat can hear her loud and clear.
>April has to sit there and listen to Gloriosa ramble on and on about every single great thing about Canterlot High and how it’s so much better than Crystal Prep Academy.
>You can tell what’s going on, and you’d rather wrap up this back-and-forth before Sugarcoat says something sharp enough to burst Gloriosa’s bubble.
“Well, as I was about to say a couple of minutes ago, is there any chance I could tag along? Maybe today? To get to know the other school more.” You say.
>”Sure! That works.” Says Gloriosa. “Would you like to try out the botany program yourself or just watch? April here already planted a few children into the dirt of her own.” She actually refers to the flowers as ‘children’.
>”Hey uh, I don’t mean to interrupt, but I gotta get the gym ready really soon. The kids are gonna be rope climbing today and there’s a lot of stuff I need to set up.” April looks at the door.
“Oh, sure, go right ahead.” You say as Gloriosa nods in agreement with you.
>April hurries out shortly before Gloriosa swears that you’ll love planting flowers into the ground with the other botany students.
>Then Gloriosa leaves as well, giving Sugarcoat a spiteful smirk which receives a raised eyebrow in return.
>Sugarcoat sits down in the chair and locks her fingers as the door closes.
“So what’s going on?” You ask, mostly as an acquaintance at this point.
>”How has Sour Sweet been doing?” She asks.
“What do you mean?” You feel the tension hit you right at this moment.
>”Has she been… planning anything recently? Like an event? Gathering?”
“Nothing that I know of, no. Why do you ask?”
>”Well I’m sure you must have found out be now. About what she did?”
“What did she do?”
>”…Did she come into your office at any time today?”
“Yeah, earlier.”
>”So surely you must have noticed, then.”
“Noticed wha-”
>”She got rid of the baby!” Sugarcoat interrupts you. “You mean you didn’t know?!”
>You sit in your chair, feeling the room start to spin, getting more lightheaded as the seconds of realization go on.
“I…I…” You’re almost retching. “I didn’t notice.”
>”She’s probably about to do something bad.”
>You take several deep breaths as Sugarcoat finishes explaining everything to you; she seems rather willing to be open about everything now, as if there’s suddenly some miracle chance against Sour Sweet.
>Sugarcoat goes over everything that’s happened, hopefully every single thing that you don’t know. Maybe there’s a detail or two you still don’t know that Sugarcoat still doesn’t know, and that makes you uneasy.
>But as for right now, this would help at least a little bit, as long as all goes well, apparently. At least from what Sugarcoat is telling you.
“So you know about Upper Crust, then?”
>”Yes. We’re planning on telling Cadance but at a time when Sour Sweet’s too occupied to do anything before the police find her. Which is why I need you to do something to distract her as soon as possible.”
“Okay… okay, okay, okay.” You’re surprised that Sugarcoat suddenly wanted to jump back into this. “I suppose you don’t know when she’s going home today.”
>”I was originally going to suggest you send her an email after the school day’s over, but we’d still have no idea where she is, and she could use that pocket of time to do something extremely drastic.”
“Okay, that makes sense.”
>”So we gotta figure out a way to work together to keep her occupied while one of the others lets Cadance know and has the police get to Sour Sweet before she even finds out we’re doing anything.
>You nervously look over at the door, sweating bullets as you remember all of the other times Sour Sweet eavesdropped.
>Sugarcoat already saw that no one else was out there, and she knows that Either April or Gloriosa would have said something if they saw Sour Sweet nearby, but she gets nervous too anyway when she sees the expression on your face.
>You were talking pretty loudly, there. Loudly enough for Sour Sweet to be able to hear clearly if she was standing right out there.
>Can’t even imagine what would happen to you in the next minute or two if she turned out to be out there just now, listening in on the sudden conversation Sugarcoat sparked up.
>With this, you get up out of your chair and walk over to the door.
>Crack it open.
>Right away, you expect to see Sour Sweet’s ponytail right there in the gap between the door and doorway… but nothing’s there.
>Open the door all the way, swinging it slowly, only to find that no one is standing there. No one at all.
>And your heart is at ease once more.
>Damn, what has this girl done to you?
>Sugarcoat can be heard letting out a sigh of relief too.
“Alright, so we nee-… you cut yourself off and then lower your voice to a whisper and shut the door before locking it. “We need to come up with a plan. She just came by this place about an hour or so ago, I’m sure she won’t think anything’s wrong if I call her back up again.”
>”Okay, so what should I tell the others?”
“Just tell them to hold off for now. We have to do this carefully, because we all know how crafty Sour Sweet can get. But do tell them that I know and I’ll do anything I can to end this.”
>Sugarcoat nods.
“I’ll think of something after the next time I talk to Sour Sweet.”
>…
>You barely remember Sugarcoat leaving your office. You wanted her to stay so badly, like she was almost your protection or something.
>A symbol of you not being truly alone in this hellish situation.
>She brought you news of other people wanting to help you at this point.
>But also bad news about the lengths Sour Sweet is willing to go through in order to keep doing what she’s doing.
>It’s really stupid how it managed to get this far now that you think about it.
>None of this would have happened if you knew better to begin with, or rather had more of a backbone when you started this job, and if Cadance wasn’t so incompetent as a principal.
>Cinch might have been a complete authoritarian from what you heard, but it’s easy for you to tell that this shit would NOT fly under her watch.
>You have a feeling that Sugarcoat misses Cinch too, if this is what she has to deal with without Cinch being here.
>At least Gloriosa seems like a nice person, and April Snow should really have been the next principal, not Cadance.
>April Snow clearly shares the same no-nonsense sentiment that Cinch did, but with less of a desire to control everything around her and more of a “let’s just make things work properly and get through the day without any problems” sentiment.
>Besides April Snow, Sugarcoat and maybe Gloriosa, who else around here whom you’ve gotten to know well seems like an okay person? Tenderhoof? Nah, you don’t know enough about Tenderhoof.
>That Cold Forecast girl was very kind and laid back.
>A good number of the guy students you’ve talked to here seemed like snobby assholes, but then again, just as many of the girls here were like that too. And this isn’t counting the people you’ve interacted with that act like complete sociopaths.
>You continue to think about this to yourself.
>…
>There goes Mulberry Seed again.
>Parents sent him back to school tokeep his grades from slipping.
>And what was the first thing he did? Went straight to the computer lab to make a brand new Neon Lights page to compensate for his past failure.
>The new game dropped long ago, which means lots of newcomers to the fanbase! Mulberry has to act fast.
>There’ve been a lot of old websites about this game in the past, one that people stopped caring about because they moved on with their lives. Because they’re unlike Mulberry.
>No no no, they don’t have OC’s, or special headcanons.
>But that’s fine, Mulberry can be that true fan they never could be; fill their shoes.
>He makes posts on his websites pretending to be one of them, from the dead sites no one returned to. Acting like he found Mulberry’s site from a mention, and came here because his old site was no more.
>Makes sure to put all of these words out in the open, so all the real newcomers can see and look at the tale that Mulberry’s telling.
>He wants them to think his site is like the Rome of the video game fanbase; accepting all kinds of new people from dead sites with dead presidents that didn’t represent them.
>[Yeah I came from the dead site that no one cares about anymore, I totally care about this place now because you’re so creative! w,o.w!] Mulberry chooses his wording carefully.
>Very carefully, trying to be cool using cringy-ass acronyms with slogans.
>N.E.O.N. - National Embassy Of Newcomerz! (“Greetings, we are agents from CIA.”)
>C.I.A. - Cocks In Ass (“DUDEs only”)
>D.U.D.E. - Dipshits Undergoing Dimension Exploration (“We don’t have real drugs so we use: Extra Autism [E.A.]”)
>A.U.T.I.S.M - Acronym Usage Totally Isn’t Stupid, Mulberry [reverse it!] (“Mulberry Seed Is The Ultimate Aspie”)
>”Out of the way, squirt!” Lemon Zest shoves Mulberry aside in his rolling chair, causing him to sail clear across the computer lab then fall to the floor.
>The lime-haired girl finds a computer and revs up that EU4 once again as she plays the next song on her playlist.
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3L4YrGaR8E4
>…
>The ripply plains of Eastern Europe sway with each blade of grass in the wind, the sky rugged with deeply-colored clouds as the sun begins to rise.
>Some of the dirt under the grass is getting kicked up by something. The hooves of horses.
>And on their backs are armored warriors with wings, wielding terrifying weapons that dimly glow in the early morning light.
>They ride forth in slow motion, their wings against the wind and their warlike glares fixated onto the opposite end of the battlefield.
>Their uniforms and armor already bloodied from previous battles they have fought on all frontiers of their homeland. They have been eliminating front after front with as many casualties as it takes.
>Whether the casualties be those of the enemy of their own.
>Failure is not an option, nor is surrender, when one stands for their home lands on their feet, ready to die before facing enslavement.
>The warriors charge at the enemy, drawing their weapons with ear-piercing battlecries as they watch the enemy hesitantly draw their own arms, almost stepping back at the sight of the glorious charge they face.
>On the front lines is the one with long flowing green hair, shouting taunts at the enemy as she prepares to run them through with all her might.
>…
>Mulberry’s hair got messed up from his little fumble, but he picks his chair up and marches over to Lemon Zest with a sharpened pencil in his hand.
>But he doesn’t know how to use that thing like she does.
>Lemon Zest caught in in the corner of her eye, and whips out a pencil of her own, not even sharpened.
>Mulberry angrily raises his arm and makes a jabbing motion, only for Lemon Zest to elbow his fist, spraining a couple of his fingers, and then ramming her own pencil into the side of his arm.
>The sharpened pencil clatters to the floor and is snapped in half by Zest’s shoe.
>At this moment, Sour Sweet enters the room with her phone already out.
>Mulberry stands there awkwardly, finding more anger at Sour Sweet once her cackling laughter dares to reach his ears.
>He thinks this was all a set up, since Sour Sweet raised her phone to look like she’s filming him.
>With a massive leap, Mulberry makes a charge over at Sour Sweet, foaming a little at the mouth as she casually waits for him to approach her.
>”Oh noooo, I’m so scared!” Sour Sweet teases him and playfully backs away as he starts to chase her around the room. “Oh noooo! The big bad Mulberry’s gonna get me, Zesty!” She knows that Lemon Zest can’t even hear her.
>Once Mulberry gets close enough with the most violent intentions in his head, those intentions are erased with one powerful blow to the abdomen delivered by Sour Sweet’s brute force.
>Mulberry Seed twirls, he heaves and he hurls.
>Falls down to his knees, beaten up by two girls.
>Doubles over to the floor with drool on his cheek.
>Regretting that he came over to school this week.
>…
>Lemon Zest looks over to her side, where the wind has not yet blown.
>The retreating enemy routed right into another army, but it’s not her own.
>Leading this army is the Valkyrie of two faces, sawing down the enemy’s ranks with their blades.
>Blood runs out of veins and all kinds of places, glowing in the morning as the night darkness fades.
>Shoulders between falcon wings, Zest grins from afar.
>Declaring “You might be a Valkyrie, but I’m a Hussar.”
>Neither girl payed enough attention to whenever Mulberry fumbled, bumbled, mumbled, grumbled and stumbled out of the room.
>Sour Sweet just gets straight onto the computer connected to the scanner printer, ready to make her own propaganda about Suri Polymare and Upper Crust and hand out flyers all over the school like she’s the new Gloriosa Daisy.
>Despite being 10 times as crazy as Gloriosa, she’s definitely still got the freckles and tits for it, so why the hell not?
>Sour Sweet and Lemon Zest go ahead and do their thing on the computers in the computer lab, knowing that Mulberry’s inevitably going to come limping back after repressing yet another loss.
>He always comes back. Let him, this is too fun.
~
>You sit in your office once again.
>Waiting for literally anything to happen.
>At least you feel better than you did before.
>Still feeling pretty uneasy about that… thing… Sour Sweet did. But not as badly as before.
>That’s on her hands, not yours.
>About a minute or so ago, you called the class that Sour Sweet is supposed to be in for her to come to your office.
>Knock knock.
“Come in.”
>”Heyyyyy!” Sour Sweet floats on into the room with a couple of papers in her hand.
“You wondering why I called you here?” You ask, having planned out what you were going to say.
>”…You called me here?”
“The teacher didn’t… uh…?”
>Sour Sweet just gives you a grin and you already know what this means.
“So where were you really?”
>”Just hanging out. Thought I might as well come talk to you.” Sour Sweet places the papers on the desk.
>You look at them and see a bunch of words listed by bullet point.
“So what’s all this?”
>”I was you to be in on the Senior Prank I’m throwing for the rest of the school.” Sour Sweet announces to you as you blankly stare at the paper.
>Notice Upper Crust and Suri Polymare listed multiple times in the casserole of words.
“So this is the senior prank?”
>”Pfffft, no! It’s the blueprint, you silly banana!”
>Sour Sweet locks her fingers in front of herself and shrugs her shoulders with an adorable smile, probably dilating her pupils on purpose somehow like she has cocaine in her veins.
>You take another look at the paper, pick it up and flip it over… there’s pictures of the two girls routinely mentioned on the other side.
>Pictures with words and arrows all over the place pointing to various things, nitpicking their appearance and behavior.
>It’s not hard to figure out that they did not consent to this being made, this depiction of them.
>Nice to know the dumb war is still going on between then and that they’re not actually on the same side… which means lots of good and bad things.
>This is all just so tiresome.
>”I’m also making one for Indy when she gets back tomorrow!” Sour Sweet excitedly tells you. “She’ll love it!”
>No, she is not going to love it.
“Uh, okay, I’ll help you with your prank. But I did want to call you up here for a reason.” You’re really reminding yourself more than you’re reminding her at this point.
>Hell, she’s still going with her bullshit.
>You’re extremely glad that people like Sour Sweet are extremely rare in the world, complete god damn psychopaths.
>Then again, Upper Crust and Suri Polymare aren’t that much better than her and they ended up in the same high school as her.
>Why can’t this fucking school have more than a total of like, 5 normal people in it?
>Almost every single human being here is either absolutely braindead, schizophrenic, or psychotic enough to belong in a straight jacket; you fully understand why Sugarcoat hates it here so much.
>You should have worked at Canterlot High School, the worst case scenario for that place has to be better than the best case scenario for here.
>There is no way the WHOLE TOWN is this bad, let alone the whole county.
>It’s impossible, they’d quarantine the place. You’d have never been allowed to leave because you live here.
“Miss Sweet!” You repeat.
>”Oh, right. I’m sorry.” Sour Sweet bashfully tilts her head downward. “So you wanted to call me up here anyway, right?”
“Yes, I…” You forgot everything about what you were about to say, about the excuse you came up with to distract Sour Sweet with tomorrow.
>”Well what was it?” She seems in a good enough mood.
“Well since you now have this whole senior prank thing planned, how would you like to… go over it with me tonight?”
>”Tonight? Like, here?”
>You hesitate.
“M-my place?”
>”Ohhhhhhh.” Sour Sweet comes to the realization and then giggle. “Ooh, okay~”
>You already know you’re going to regret this.
>”One thing though. Can we do it tomorrow night?” Asks Sour Sweet. “That way we have the whole weekend.”
“Fine.” You are already thinking of ways to tell Sugarcoat and the others that it’s going to have to wait until tomorrow.
>”Super! Anyway, I guess look over these when you get the chance and we’ll chat it out at our place, okay?”
>Our place.
“…Okay.”
>Sour Sweet says a few things to comfort you, leaves, and you’re alone once again.
>Before you try to get Sugarcoat to come up here to your office, you look to see for sure if Indigo Zap is really coming back tomorrow or not.
>Look through a couple of folders in your email… yup, she really is.
>…
>As far as Sour Sweet is concerned, you have not contacted Sugarcoat at all since the last talk with you.
>As the final bell rings, you go home mentally preparing for the action that’s going to happen tomorrow.
>Here it comes, the event that has been long overdue.
>The night before.
>Lemon Zest hops onto her computer and revs up that Age of Mythology and Age of Empires and Nemesis of the Roman Empire.
>She anticipates her only friend’s return tomorrow, and would like to be awake for it.
>So to do so, she’s going to work with her strangely adapted sleeping pattern and be up all night then all day; she just got up a few minutes ago.
>If it weren’t for Indy, she wouldn’t even bother getting out of bed to go to that fucking place.
>The history lessons got boring after the teacher started talking about the cold war and systems of government.
>Might as well have been Gloriosa talking about stuff at that point.
>Zest wants stories about sword fights and charging at the enemy on horseback, not economic sanctions or speeches giving insight into a political party.
>She misses the good old days where she would enjoy class while hating everything else at school.
>History class being the only cool thing left, and she reveled in it.
>Now she’s just sitting here listening to the earliest forms of metal playing computer games waiting for the school year to end.
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCkHanF4v1w
>No foe can stand in the shadow of Lemon Zest’s prowess, not in any era.
>Her presence terrifies all who stand in her path of destruction, her war cry brings the mighty to their knees, brings the loyal into treason, makes the strongest stomachs churn with apprehension.
>One cannot hate her without fearing her as well.
>She spreads her wrath throughout the ages, from the ancient legends to the intermediate world conquerors to the medieval rulers.
>Striking lightning and fire onto the unworthy, scorching the earth and toiling the soil beneath their feet until her will is made clear, and those who deserve to reign supreme have been lifted to their rightful place on Earth.
>All night long, she does nothing but destroy and rebuild.
>…
>Still the night before.
>In La Gadda Da Vida still plays.
>Gloriosa has stayed over at Canterlot High, watching all of the flowers the students have planted sway in the moonlit breeze.
>These nights are warm, cozy and enjoyable to create memories in.
>She basks in the reflected celestial beams that illuminate her grinning face.
>Teeming with pride, she begins to wander around, spreading her arms in the breeze that energizes her to the fullest extent, feeling a very important event coming… another revolution.
>Just like the one she started on her own, now it will be someone else’s turn to change a society.
>She kneels down next to the lilies that Sunset Shimmer planted, bows as though in prayer, and listens to the soothingly whispering voices that tickle her ears.
>The spirits of the ether inform her of future events that will take place, future events that will change the scene of that forsaken school that has become corrupt once more.
>And the energy inside of Gloriosa agrees with a rush of warmth that goes through her spine and down her arms all the way to her fingertips.
>The fingertips brush by the blades of grass, catching dew and taking refuge up against the soil.
>Gloriosa raises her head to the sky, howling at the moon like a wolf and spreading her arms once more in a Y shape.
>She can feel the winds of change in her veins, in her spirit, in the plants that foretell the incoming reconquest that will be undergone by the good.
>By the chaotic good, aided by the chaotic neutral.
>She sways in the breeze, feeling the new beginning overtake her soul.
>Adam and Eve are here.
>And they tell Gloriosa all about what is about to take place; the tale of two musical warriors, sisters with what the ancients used to call brotherhood, ending a local tyranny without fear of their impending exile.
>And so Gloriosa heard.
>And so it was written.
>And so it shall be done.
>The current song ends.
>…
>Yet still the night before.
>Deep within the confines of the neighborhood with castles in it, a Crystal Prep student adjusts the brightness settings on one of her iVambraces.
>She lies on her bed lazily kicking her feet in the air as the late night rages on with not a hint of fatigue to help fast forward it.
>On Facebook, Sunny Flare likes a couple of posts here and there, even shares one.
>She’s like, so done with her friends. She can’t even.
>Everyone wants to be like that new pop singer that just became famous, but they’re all such posers that don’t have the same charm.
>It’s hilarious to watch. These nosebleeds aren’t as cool as they think they are.
>But all of a sudden, Sunny sees a problem she can’t ignore.
>She sees someone say something bad about her favorite pop star. Calling their music… cliché!
>Sunny Flare proceeds to explain to the assholes who dared to insult the singer why her favorite pop star is pure and how they changed the face of music in their five month career with only two mediocre songs that just get played on the radio non-stop.
>They eventually get bored and leave to whatever website they’re from, which definitely isn’t facebook.
>Right away, Sunny goes to ranting on Twitter about it, after posting about it on Facebook and uploading an annoyed selfie on Instagram titled “gettin’ tired of the incełs :/”.
>Begins to chat with people about how the new zooming generation is so dumb and how the old generation that liked early 2010’s music is waaaaaay better and beat out every other generation ever by a mile.
>She then notices Upper Crust’s profile.
>She immediately DMs her and asks her how she’s doing.
>[Hey]
>[Hello.] Upper Crust responds.
>[You doing okay?] Asks Sunny Flare. [just asking cause of how much of a psycho sour is]
>[I told you, I’m fine. The situation has already been explained to my lawyers, we’re going to get her into a headlock in no time.]
>[why dont u just call the cops on her? thats what i almost did one time]
>[We’re making sure she doesn’t have any squealers on her end. Trust me, my family members and I have been through this sort of shit before.]
>[what do u mean?]
>[I can’t say any more than that. Just know that Sour Sweet is basically fucked. Even if she doesn’t come to school tomorrow.]
>Sunny Flare stares at the phone screen in silence for the longest time, confused as all fuck.
>And worried just as much.
>[By the way, did you see the new Supernatural episode yet?] Upper Crust stoically continues. [I still need to get caught up.]
>Sunny Flare uncomfortably drifts into a conversation about TV shows with the girl who was literally kidnapped by her former friend and roughed up in a basement and blackmailed not to tell anyone about it.
>The fact that Upper Crust has gone back to being so calm, so collect, and talking about this trivial stuff seconds later confirms that she’s got something up her sleeve, and it’s something terrifying.
>And yet, it somehow makes it worse that Upper crust goes back to talking about the whole shitstorm.
>[By the way.] Upper Crust revives the subject. [I know you are Sugarcoat turned coat on Sour Sweet. You know for sure if Lemon Zest and Indigo Zap did the same? I’m iffy about the latter coming back from jail tomorrow. That’s usually a bad sign from someone, in my experience.]
>Sunny sits there shuddering a bit before replying. [Zesty never had anything to do with this since the beginning. And Indy definitely hates Sour. There’s no way she’s backing her up. We all hate Sour Sweet now and want nothing to do with her.] She resorts to typing properly like Upper Crust does, as well as distancing herself from Sour Sweet herself just in case this conversation is being monitored by the fucking mafia or some shit.
>[Okay, just checking.] Responds Upper Crust.
>The TV show conversation resumes.
>…
>And yet still the night before.
>In his room, Mulberry noticed people making fun of his site, and it’s getting to him emotionally because of how hard he worked.
>After moping for a day or two, he revived his site’s activity then posted the stupidest things he can imagine so his hecklers would look stupid imitating it.
>He forces a laugh, expecting an onslaught of new attention from his bombastic display.
>But nope, he’s barely mentioned and his site archives fossilizing all of the dumb things he himself polluted it with; he can’t even go back to damage control now, it’s over a week too late.
>The kid pretends that getting so thoroughly countertrolled was no big deal, and resumes coping with irrelevancy as those laughing at him even a week or two later don’t even need to bother replying to him.
>Life’s funny, ain’t it?
>…
>And yet still the night before.
>Sugarcoat lies awake in bed wondering why things like this keep happening.
>All of the other school years were relatively normal, why did this one in particular have to go to shit like this?
>She should have never made friends with Sour Sweet, remembering all those times she had to sharpen her tongue just to keep that girl’s sociopathy at bay.
>She almost considers just going straight into the dean’s office and telling everyone over the intercom what’s going on.
>She sort of still feels bad for the dean, but none of this would have been allowed to happen if it weren’t for his spinelessness.
>Indigo Zap would have never even bothered trying to weasel her way out of trouble with the after school sports drama that was her own fault anyway.
>And then Sour Sweet would have had basically nothing to work with, and Sugarcoat would have probably never fell for the dean in the first place.
>Things would have been NORMAL.
>Sugarcoat’s honestly just pissed off now.
>But she’s not going to cause the dean to lose his job over this, that would only cause more losers than winners.
>Sugarcoat tosses and turns, unable to sleep a wink.
>These thoughts in her head must not be allowed into her dreams; it’s all too tiresome.
>She gets out of bed and gets herself a glass of water.
>She stands in the kitchen and stares at her reflection in the microwave, noticing the heavy bags under her aggravated eyes.
>She regrets getting the water and wants orange juice now, but knows it’s already too late because she has the water in her stomach and anything more is too much to go back to bed with.
>”You’re seriously still worrying about this?” Sugarcoat hears her own voice say to her.
>She looks around and soon finds her attention drawn back to the reflection in the microwave.
>It’s already clear that she needs to get more sleep, because now her reflection is talking to her.
>”You have already done well enough on every single other grade for it to not matter if you skip school or not. You should never have worn your school uniform to the library, because now you can’t distance yourself from this as easily.”
>”Fine, fine. You’re right. I wasn’t thinking.” Sugarcoat replies to her reflection. “Won’t stop me from trying again.”
>”What do you even see in the dean? He’s one of the most average looking people in the world.”
>”I dunno. I don’t even think that’s a real question since you’re me, and I’m too tired to think rationally anyway.”
>”It’s only affecting you because you care so much. Forget about him. Sour Sweet had a point when she said he was a bitch, as absolutely insane as she is.”
>”It’s a little late to forget about him at this point, you know.”
>”Well that’s your fault. Too bad. The best way for you to get out of this is to skip school from now on and let the situation unfold on its own. This is extremely complicated and unnecessary.”
>”You could say the same about school.”
>”And both of those things together just makes it worse, doesn’t it?”
>”Yeah, well it’s too late to back out now. Not after what Sour Sweet did.”
>”Forget about what she did. Don’t let it get under your skin. You’re going to let your feelings get the best of you and get you into trouble again if you continue this. Let it go. Forget Crystal Prep. You’re lucky you still kept your college acceptance. You should stop now before this spirals out of control again. Skip school and stay away from those psychopaths. The dean’s on his own.”
>”I guess you have a point. And Suri Polymare and Upper Crust seems to be able to take care of Sour sweet’s bullshit anyway. But you’re just my lethargic imagination right now, I can’t trust anything you say because obviously none of this is real. It’s redundant and pointless..” Sugarcoat then turns away. “I guess I’ll have this conversation with myself for real when I can think straight. When I’m not, you know, hallucinating. Nice talking with you, me.”
>”Listen to me. Listen to you.” Sugarcoat’s reflection stops her. “You know I’m right. Sour Sweet is headed for absolute failure no matter what. If you stick your hands into the situation, you’re only going to get them dirty. Think about your own life.”
>Sugarcoat just looks at her reflection, frowning and blinking slowly.
>”You know I’m right. You know YOU’RE right.” The reflection Sugarcoat repeats.
>”Shut up. I’m too tired for this shit. Goodnight.” Sugarcoat heads back upstairs.
>She goes back to bed.
>…
>The night before ends, and fades light into morning.
>The whole town starts out quiet, the whole school starts out quiet.
>And the calm before the storm only brings goosebumps to those who expect what’s to come.
>The sun slowly rises into the sky, and more and more cars start to populate the roads and freeways.
~
>Principal Cadance is the first to enter the school, unlocking the doors before anyone else gets here because she most likely got up the earliest.
>Had gotten a ton of sleep from all the times she was absent from school; it’s not often when the principal plays hooky.
>She really needs to stop this bad habit. It’s getting ridiculous and it’s pretty obvious that the students are going to start noticing sooner or later.
>Probably sooner.
>She sits down at her desk and organizes a bunch of papers, getting ready for yet another boring ass day at this place, but at least the year’s almost over.
>Might not even skip any more days because of this, now that she’s pretty close to the finish line of her first year of having to be principal here.
>Next year will officially begin her first full year of being principal.
>Cadance almost considers asking the dean if he would like another position so she could let Shining Armor be the new dean instead.
>It’s Shining’s fault he didn’t step up to the plate when he could have, letting that new guy become the dean.
>It’s a shame too, because that whole thing would have been a hot overtone to him letting the current dean get down with her, the newlyweds would have loved the feeling of that.
>But the blame is shared on their end regarding that; they were both too hesitant to ask the dean to get involved with this very unprofessional affair.
>Hey, shouldn’t the dean be coming in right about now? Or is he going to make his arrival time closer to that of the students again?
>Cadance doesn’t see him when she looks through the window.
>It’s just that one student, Upper Crust, walking by in a quick glance that Cadance is able to take through the narrow window.
>…
>Upper Crust makes her way to the back of the school, searching through the hallways until she sees someone else standing there.
>”I… I’m not sure about this.” Coco Pommel returns from what she just did in the furthest point in the back of the school.
>”You won’t get in trouble. You used what I told you word for word, right?” Asks Upper Crust.
>Coco sheepishly nods before Upper Crust holds her by the arm and takes her to the room where fashion club usually meets.
>”Remember…” Upper Crust reminds the nervous girl. “When you came in, you went straight into this room, understood?”
>”Mhm.”
>”Say it back to me.”
>”I went straight to the fashion club meetup room when I came here.”
>”And I joined you on your way over here after having just entered through the front doors. We were the first ones into the room.”
>”Okay.” Coco looks down, feeling extremely guilty.
>”I knew we’d find a better use for you.” Upper Crust mutters under her breath.
>Coco hears her, but isn’t in the mood to question anything with this girl.
>The two girls are soon joined by Suri Polymare, who approaches Upper Crust with a very quiet question asked.
>Upper Crust responds by whispering something into her ear.
>…
>April Snow arrives at the school early, rubbing her eyes as she enters her office.
>Gloriosa said she wasn’t going to be able to make it until a little bit later today, but she’s looking forward to teaching her how to strategically plant flowers in a way that doesn’t let the weeds interfere and thus won’t require her to have to kill the poor weeds.
>Coach Snow has gotten quite used to this, and would easily prefer it over the bullshit that the bratty students give her.
>Why is it that only the brattiest ones get suspended and won’t appear in school today?
>Why can’t it be more of them?
>After a quick swig of Gatorade, April Snow leans back in her office chair and stares at the ceiling, wondering how far her life is going to go in this job.
>Was it really worth it? What else is out there for her to take?
>She’d be a cop if some of the cities around here weren’t so chaotic.
>…
>Sugarcoat is the first of the Shadow Five to enter the school.
>Last night, she had neglected to remember that she didn’t want to come to school today.
>And yet here she is.
>Book in hand, her destination is the library where she will do her usual routine of reading a book.
>Except this time, she’s going to stay there and pray that Sour Sweet doesn’t find her in the slew of inevitable shit that will happen today with Indigo’s return.
>She just now remembers that she could have changed her clothes and just went into town somewhere, but then that causes a whole new worry that she’d be somehow found out again.
>Might as well appear on the attendance roster and stay in the same place for the day.
>She goes down to the library and sits down at one of the table.
>Scratch that, Lemon Zest was the first one the Shadow Five to come to school today, AND she was by far the first person to wake up since last sleeping.
>There goes that music in the computer lab again, through her headphones.
>Now the girl sits there and reads non-stop, listening to more and more girls enter the school before she notices Suri Polymare enter the library and start walking towards her.
>”Hey.” Suri tells her.
>”Anything I can help you with?” Asks Sugarcoat, already tired of this before it began.
>”Sour Sweet is definitely here.”
>Sugarcoat pauses for a few seconds. “Thank you for the terrible news. Can I go back to reading now?”
>”It’s wonderful news. It’ll make how we drive her out a lot easier instead of having to chase her all over town.”
>”…What did you do?”
>”That’s not important. What matters is that you should probably stay in here the whole day until she’s gone to avoid any suspicion. You don’t have to worry about going to the dean now.”
>”What a coincidence.” Replies Sugarcoat. “I was just about to do that. Can I go back to reading now?”
>Suri shrugs. “I… guess? That’s kind of what I meant.”
>”Thanks.” Sugarcoat’s attention is now 100% devoted to the book.
>The hallways start to flood with more and more students.
>And one recurring student; Sour Sweet.
>She almost pouncing around in a lively manner, in search of Indigo Zap.
>She remembers all of the static they had between eachother, and she wants the girl to know right now that she’s not about to let her take her dominance away.
>The rivalry is over, Sour Sweet is queen here now. Even over Principal Cadance.
>Sour Sweet is a queen in search of revenge.
>She already got Sugarcoat, and has her in enough submission to not worry about her any more.
>And now comes time to bring personal comeuppance to the girl who broke less of her things.
>If Sunny Flare dares to get in the way of this, Sour Sweet is going to do anything but hesitate to put her in the same place as Indigo.
>Sour Sweet spots Pepper Twist. “You!”
>Pepper Twist freezes in place.
>”Yeah, you. I recognize you.” Sour Sweet matches over to him as he cowers in fear. “I got wind that your lunch table was talking about Indy the other day.”
>”Um, y-yeah, so?”
>”You talked about her for a long time. Longer than most other tables. Almost like you wanted her to come back and kick my ass.”
>Sour Sweet is hinting at something she herself overheard them say, seeing if Pepper Twist is going to lie about it.
>”W-we weren’t serious. It was a joke, I swear.” Pepper stands stiff as a board. “Ask anyone else at our table…”
>”Listen here, squirt.” Sour Sweet lifts him up by the collar of his shirt. “I know you little freshman shits are up to something. Because you’re the only ones left I haven’t gotten on lockdown.”
>”I’m a sophomore!” Groans Pepper.
>”Whatever, makes no difference to me. If I see any funny business, you’re fucking dead, kiddo.”
>”Okay! Okay! I’m sorry!”
>Sour Sweet places Pepper Twist on top of a nearby trash can. “Now sit on your throne and think about your past actions.”
>She then walks down the hallway a little bit, soon seeing one of the football players she made an “alliance” with and giving him a nod saying “nothing yet”. 
>She spots Sunny Flare walking by after turning a corner.
>With a wistful gasp, she rushes over to her. “Sunnyyyyyyyyy!” She reaches the girl before she has a chance to run away.
>”Oh shit, Sour!” Sunny gasps before being surprised that the other girl is hugging her.
>”Sunny, honey, I’m so sorry about the other day! I’ve been trying to get to you by text and I wanna say I’m sorryyyyyyyy!”
>With a suspicious gaze, Sunny Flare hugs Sour Sweet back. “Well I… I just wish we can stay friends.”
>”Me toooo!” Whines Sour Sweet. “And without that bitch Sugarcoat. I’m so sorry I came at you the other day! Let’s be friends again! You don’t have to help me anymore, I got everything under control.”
>The other students in the hallway watch nervously, knowing full well about the true level of genuineness of Sour Sweet’s words.
>”Anyway, have you seen Indy?” Asks Sour Sweet. “I’ve been looking for her.”
>”I don’t think she’s here yet.”
>”Awww, well she’s gonna be late to school! The bell’s gonna ring soon.”
>…
>Down in the computer lab, Lemon Zest finishes up a game of Age Of Empires 3 as quickly as she can, playing some of the same songs in her headphones she’s played before.
>She looks at a text her friend sent.
>[I’ll be there at 8:30, meet me then at the main entrance so there’s no shitheads to annoy us]
>The bell for homeroom will ring at 7:30 in a couple of minutes.
>Zest is going to stay right here, since Sour Sweet had already gotten the dean and the staff to leave her alone when he hangs out in here whenever she wants anyway.
>The game continues along with the playlist. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWvKvOViM3g
>…
>Many different eras collide in the future when cultural echoes ring down new generations.
>The Romans did it with The Greeks before then, The Medieval Europeans did it with The Romans and The Vikings and so on, and The United States did it with the Europeans with elements of those the Europeans learned from.
>It all adds together, the stronger concepts and values being the ones that really last and survive into newer and newer cultures.
>And it all culminates in a high school girl sitting in her computer lab destroying her enemies one military division at a time, defending the land she had taken from the German Teutonic Knights, from Ottoman Janissaries in the south.
>Take a biker gang from the 70’s and conflate it with a 17th century gun battle, and that’s pretty much the scene here.
>The musical warrior leads her ranks not on horseback but on her motorcycle, wings still flowing in the wind as the bike’s engine roars more viciously than a hungry Tiger.
>Zest points her sword forth, and is the first to break into the line of Janissaries shooting at her.
>No matter where an opponent is from, whether it be the north or the south, the east or the west, they will taste the rubber of the tire if the metal of the blade doesn’t reach their tongue first.
>There’s enough taste of death to go around for all the armies, anyone who wants to try to take this land and enslave its people. The banquet is open to anyone.
>The winged hussars and cossacks fight for their homeland as the natives of the new world do.
>Line after line is taken down by courageous hearts that drive the blades into flesh and armor extra hard.
>The human struggle screams the loudest in warfare.
>…
>Homeroom had begun.
>The other students including the other three of the shadow five have gone into the classrooms or library.
>Homeroom ended and the first class fo the day began.
>The front hallway is quiet; on one side is the Dean’s office and on the other side the Principal’s.
>Neither of them are looking out their little windows into the hallway.
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRA3pyb1WvI
>The clock strikes 8:30.
>The front double doors slowly swing open to unveil the silhouette of someone standing there.
>The first thing Indigo Zap sees after walking through the doors is Lemon Zest standing at the other end fo the main corridor.
>With rock music playing in her headphones and all.
>The air outside of the headphones falls silent, even more silent than before aside the resounding taps of Indigo Zap’s footsteps.
>Lemon Zest’s footsteps join them.
>Their two shadows draw closer in the beams of the morning light, arms extending.
>With a smile, the hussar flips her bright hair to the side, stepping forth to her returning friend, the cossack.
>Their hands meet in a firm handshake as the guitar chords let out a powerful strike, the explosively dynamic duo is reunited.
>And they ain’t gonna die, but they’re not scared anyway.
>Eyes meet, glances exchanged, catching up is to be had.
>…
>Sour Sweet has been anxious about when Indigo Zap is going to return.
>Leaves first period early and ventures into the hallways, snarling, texting on her phone and stretching her arms in preparation to deal with Indy.
>She goes towards the front, but never makes it there when she hears a locker door get opened.
>Turns her head, and there she is… Indigo Zap.
>Sour Sweet cracks her knuckles and strides on over as quietly as she can to preserve the element of surprise.
>Indigo is putting a couple of books into her locker when she notices a hand out of the corner of her eye loudly slapping itself onto the locker next to hers.
>”So… here we are.” Sour Sweet mutters menacingly as Indigo turns around. “Welcome back, Indy.”
>Indigo is face-to-face with Sour Sweet, almost to the point where their noses would touch.
>”Did you miss me?” Asks Sour Sweet.
>”Did you?” Replies Indigo.
>Sour Sweet nods in response then proceeds with her taunting. “Listen, I know neither of us want this to be more complicated than it has to be. So let’s get to the point. This is my turf now.”
>Approaching from behind Sour Sweet is the football player from before.
>Dark hair, beady caveman-like eyes, little bit of stubble on his face, eyes directly aimed at Indigo Zap.
>”This is my new boyfriend.” Sour Sweet tells Indigo. “Since last night. Say something nice to him.”
>Indigo’s locker is closed for her.
>She’s cornered.
>”Now, I know you- hurgh!” Sour Sweet is taken by a strong sudden blow to the abdomen by Indigo’s left fist.
>Sour Sweet backs away as her “boyfriend” takes one surprised step forward, and in the same second, Indigo’s right fist slams his cheek and jaw in an even more powerful blow.
>He goes down, hitting the side of his head on the marble floor, losing consciousness.
>There’s a three second window when Sour Sweet heaves loudly with her arms crossed over her stomach. “You… bitch!”
>The same right fist that knocked the football player out knocks out Sour Sweet just like it did months ago, making her head ricochet off of a nearby locker.
>After a few more seconds, Lemon Zest come out from the corner she was hiding behind. “That was fucking awesome!”
>One of the teachers in a classroom peeks out into the hallway and discovers the scene, and rushes back inside to call the Principal’s office.
>”Getting tired of this stupid shit.” Indigo Zap looks over in the direction of the dean’s office.
>The camera pans from a low angle behind Indigo Zap as she strides over to the dean’s office door with the two unconscious students lying on the floor nearby.
>Lemon Zest follows.
>…
>And yet again, here you are sitting in y-
>The door opens without any knocking.
“O-oh! Hello?”
>”I’m back.” Indigo marches in with Lemon Zest right behind her to close the door and lock it.
>The way she’s walking right at you tells you that a simple greeting isn’t appropriate for this time.
>Feel under your desk for any kind of panic button out of instinct; there’s too much space underneath to check before Indigo is on your side of the desk.
>You are pushed away from the desk in your swivel chair.
“Hey!”
>Meanwhile outside, Principal Cadance exits her office and and gets ready to head directly to where the teacher called her to.
>But she heads to your office first to let you know that something just happened and two of the students appear to be unconscious in the hallway.
>”You wanna know what I think?!” Indigo Zap snarls at you. “You-” She’s interrupted by the locked door handle making locked door handle noises.
>”Are you here?” Cadance’s voice urgently asks through the door. “I need you to call 9-1-1 for an ambulance! Something just happened!”
>Indigo grabs you by your collar and holds her index finger to her tightly frowning mouth, then pulls the cord of your office phone out of the device and snatches your mobile phone.
>Fucking hell, she’s strong for someone her size.
>Cadance’s footsteps are clearly heard rushing down the corridor deeper into the school to investigate.
>Indigo takes one quick look at you and then signals for her friend to follow her out of your office.
“What are you-”
>”Shut up and listen!” Indigo snaps at you before leaving the room, confusing you greatly by this.
>Lemon Zest follows her, and the two girls go across the hallway to the Principal’s office.
>…
>The dean does not pursue as Indigo rushes behind Cadance’s desk and grabs the microphone to the intercom. She pushes the button.
>Lemon Zest closes and locks the door with another song playing in her headphones.
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxk3c_SbWMg
>…
>[“Attention all mothafuckin’ students.”] Indigo’s harsh voice rings throughout every single nook and cranny of Crystal Prep Academy. [“Fuck it, faculty and staff too. Especially the motherfucking dean. You wanna know what I think?”]
>The teacher that’s cupping Sour Sweet’s head in her hand looks up at the speaker as Cadance rushes around a corner to the scene before realizing that the intercom is in her office.
>[“I think you’re all a bunch of uptight hacks. Aside those of you that are complete psychopaths. And school is a fucking joke, especially this school. Fuck this place, fuck getting a diploma, fuck waking up early to get on a bus to go study shit I don’t care about, and fuck you too if you wanna tell me what to do when I’m young. Kinda had to get that offa my chest first, but that’s not the important part I wanna get out.”]
>The students in their desks widen their eyes at this surprise announcement.
>[“Sour Sweet and the dean are fucking, and Sunny Flare’s gotten involved too. And it’s all one big old secret that I was asked to keep as such, and today, I’m lettin’ the cat outta the mothafuckin’ bag!”]
>Sunny Flare straightens her spine as she sits in her desk; all of her classmates turn their attention towards her as her face fades as red as a cherry.
>Sugarcoat anxiously looks around for anyone else in the library listening in just in case she gets mentioned in the midst of all this.
>Indigo Zap continues as Lemon Zest plays air guitar with the song still playing into her ears.
>[“Sour Sweet has taken pictures and shit of her panties or whatever on the office floor and used it to blackmail the dean to not say shit and let her get away with skipping class and breaking tons of rules. Anything the dean let her do was because of that. And she used other things to blackmail me too, just look through her phone, she probably has something on there.”]
>Knock knock.
>”Fuck off!” Indigo yells at the door before turning back to the intercom microphone. [“Oh yeah, Sour Sweet has been having sex with the dean for so many months now. Those two probably got it on at least fifty times by now. She even bragged to me about it, and bragged about Sunny Flare taking the spot I never took. The two of them have had the dean under their thumbs like a console controller knob. While hopping on his fucking knob.”]
>”Miss Zap! Open this door this instant!” Cadance bangs on the door and peers through the window to see that both Indigo Zap and Lemon Zest are inside.
>Indigo just throws a stapler at the door, cracking the glass on the window. Cadance had to duck away for a split second.
>[“Oh yeah, and Sugarcoat is head over heels for the dean! You better believe she probably got some dick from him too! Wouldn’t be surprising since Sour Sweet’s taken miles of dick from his fucking chode!”] Indigo grips the microphone with white knuckles. [“And to the dean! You’re a spineless fuck for letting all of this shit happen! Hell, you should have just suspended Sour Sweet like you did me that one time! But you couldn’t all of a sudden? I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this and you know, it just doesn’t add up. What the fuck happened? If your balls dropped off that easily, then how did you have anything left to pump into Sour Sweet and Sunny Flare? No really, I’d like to know!”]
>Sugarcoat goes and hides in a corner, having no way to respond to any of this.
>Sunny Flare flees from the classroom and goes into the girls’ bathroom and has a panic attack there, fanning herself with her hand and hyperventilating like she just ran a dozen miles.
>Half of the students in every classroom are gripping their sides, laughing either silently or in deafening shrieks.
>The shushing of the teachers does nothing. Nothing.
>This is ending now. The students are getting rowdy.
>April Snow sits in her own office, listening to every juicy detail of all of the things Indigo is saying, one line after another, like she’s internally one of the students laughing.
>[“…Cadance is a fucking incompetent principal. Piss poor choice, almost never here, ignores the problems right in front of her, didn’t even repeal any of the dumb shit that Cinch used to have in place. She did nothing! Did you know her fiancé and her have been looking for someone to cheat with in the middle of their relationship? Ah fuck it, half of you already know about it anyway. Well now it’s time to bring the other half up to speed.”]
>”MISS ZAP!!!” Cadance hollers and bangs on the door. “OH MY GOOOOOOD!”
>Indigo Zap goes on and on and on, calling out more and more people at school she absolutely hates to be around.
>[“Suri Polymare’s a bitch! Her and her friend Upper Crust! I always knew you talked shit behind my back, saying I was really a coward and covered it up with toughness. Well you know what? Fuck both of you. I’m not scared of you. And leave Coco out of all the bullshit you do. She doesn’t want to start a business with you, she just needs a real friend that isn’t someone trying to get them to do their dirty work for them! And you think I’d be too scared to say this shit. Fuck you! And Coach Snow? Fuck you too! You were always mad that I was the best player on the team, so you wanted to give the other players the better position on the field. Why the fuck do you think I stopped showing up?”]
>Cadance peers in again. “Miss Zest! Open the door!”
>Lemon Zest can’t even hear her. “Fuck you I won’t do what you tell me! Fuck you I won’t do what you tell me!” She headbangs and flips her hair back and forth like a giant sledgehammer. “MOTHERFUCKER!!! UGH!”
>[“Sugarcoat, fuck you too! Shittalking open-mouthed bitch! Garden Grove, fuck you too! Smug little cunt thinking I won’t do shit about you stealing my place on the team!”] Indigo continues.
>Cadance bursts into the dean’s office, asking if 9-1-1 was called yet.
>[“Melon Mint, Taffy Shade, fuck you too! Both of you. Stuck up bitches trying to make it look like I wanna sit with you at lunch. Fuck you and your whole motherfuckin’ table. Lightning Blue, fuck you too! Blank-faced piece of shit. Just fucking ask me out already so I can reject your creepy ass. Bitch. Peter Bread, fuck you too! Fuck the annoying ass music you play from your car. I slashed your tires on the way in here!”]
>Indigo Zap is talking shiiiiiiiiiit.
>She simply snaps, loses it, flies off the handle. Absolutely unhinged and untamed.
>Different students are laughing the most now… the ones that weren’t called out in the reply of the Indigo cossack. The ones that were called out still awkwardly laugh along, still knowing that this whole place has been fucked for a while.
>But entertainment is had all the way around, especially for the students who were annoyed by the same things Indigo was annoyed by.
>And at this very moment, Gloriosa walks into the building having no idea what she’s walking into… but she is pleasantly surprised by the flashbacks that are brought to her.
>[“Now I shall conclude… school’s out. Yeah, I mean it, school fucking out. Fuck the principal, fuck the dean, fuck school, school’s out. Fuck all this stupid shit. They’re gonna get arrested for all the dumb shit that happened under their watch anyway. Pack your shit and go home, don’t bother coming in tomorrow. Year’s over. Congrats to our graduates. Shame I couldn’t join you, but whatever. I don’t give a single solitary flying fuck anymore. Fuck the system, fight the power.”]
>Just like at the beginning of the school year, the students rebel.
>The corruption had been kept under wraps until someone burned them off. It all reaches a boiling point, and overflows past the rim.
>Lemon Zest’s next song on her playlist plays. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l__NCIoEObQ
>Books, binders and papers go flying everywhere.
>And revolution strikes again.
>The teachers retreat into the classrooms, afraid as their natural habitat is compromised.
>Zest plays her trusty air guitar, also not giving the tiniest of fucks and skipping around in absolute energetic glee.
>Indigo Zap and Lemon Zest burst straight outta the Principal’s office with blind ambitions everywhere they look.
>Zest looks around and sees Cadance exiting the duke’s castle, with her army behind her.
>Indy stares straight at her and pushes over a trash can, then runs deeper into the school.
>Pandemonium breaks out in the school, and all of the teachers hide inside of their classrooms as the students have their day once again, while Gloriosa watches and rejoices after the vision she had has come true.
>Zest only sees epic battles she’s partaking in, while Indigo runs around by her side to cause some more havoc before ditching this joint for good.
>Suri and Upper Crust watch everything unfold with silent nervousness, wondering how it’s about to clash with what they have set up to happen… the cops should already be here.
>It’s all over now, but Zest and Zap better escape the place quick.
>They need to get out, but neither of them want to leave until there’s nothing fun left to do here.
>Zest plays another sing into her own ears from the playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JreQrmHH8M0
>…
>In Lemon Zest’s mind.
>She is alongside her fellow warrior and enters the mighty cathedral ceilinged banquet hall, raising their weapons and torches burning the wooden chairs.
>Shotgun blasts are fired, making the un-expecting patrons do backflips in sync with snare drum hits.
>An axe wielding Viking Lord leaps atop a table and starts running down the length of it towards Indigo with all of his fortitude at the top of his lungs.
>Indigo fired one shot at his kneecap, letting him face-plant into a plate of mashed potatoes as she turns and rams her elbow into an elf’s nose that tried to sneak up behind her with a knife.
>Lemon takes a grappling hook and lifts herself up towards the beams of the ceiling pulling the trigger of her napalm down at a biker that got up from the bar with a golf club.
>The biker is unaffected by the flames, wearing a full body fireproof suit and full helmet that make the flames meaningless, and he walks to where Lemon Zest would have been had she stayed at ground level.
>Flames engulf the tables and the foods on it, cooking it further until it is completely blackened.
>The rope of her grappling hook gets affected by the heat from the napalm because heat rises.
>It catches fire and snaps from the weight of the weight of a person pulling on it.
>The biker below waits with his club raised, with a couple of his buddies behind him, but Zest just goes according to what she planned and clicks her heels together to make spikes come jutting out of the soles of her shoes.
>She lands on his shoulders like a cheerleader, but he’s the one who lets out a shout to his team as Zest’s hair light up in a bright green inferno like she’s about to transform into a monster.
>The warrior lets the porus barrel spill its guts all over the biker’s team with a prolonged hiss, making them bow and kneel in submission to the holy fire.
>A massive chalice is knocked over by an excitedly advancing Indigo Zap who had a retreater in her sights and almost arm’s reach.
>Wine spreads like ink all over the cobblestone floors of the hall, painting in a deep red that seeps deeply into the cracks.
>”Are we the only ones here with firepower?!” Yells Indigo as she watches a headless knight ride down the middle aisle of tables, hoof-falls resounding with ghastly persistence.
>”Fuck yeah, we are- waoh!” Lemon Zest slips on the wine on the floor after it reaches her feet, but turns her fumble into a front flip.
>…
>Indigo pushes Lemon Zest’s shoulder. “I said what the fuck are the cops already doing here?!” She has a sandwich in her hand ready to throw it just like she did the other three.
>The food fight that Zest and Zap incited suddenly halts as everyone else realizes that the shouts from outside are by police officers storming the school.
>”What the fuuuuuuck, it’s only been like one minute!” Indigo chucks the sandwich to the floor and stomps on it. “God fucking damn it!” A breakfast burrito hits her on the side of her cheek, and she marches over to find whoever threw it… but is stopped by one of the cops that entered the room telling everyone to get down.
>”Fiends!” Zest points a spork at another one of the officers. “Thou dare encroach on this hall of honor on the say of the sabb-” She’s luckily silenced by a taser, still waving her fists around after falling stiffly to the floor.
>Officers are flooding the entire school surprisingly early, and there’s a reason why.
>Here’s what happened:
>…
>The doors are about to be locked by Principal Cadance, she races back into her office at lightning speed trying to push the panic button under her desk that the dean’s desk does not have anymore.
>But she hears the front doors burst open with glass shattering just a few seconds after the locks click, and only now does she notice the sounds of police sirens outside.
>Well that was fucking fast.
>”Police! Nobody move!” A strong voice shouts.
>The voice echoes through the school, surprising everyone with its early arrival aside Upper Crust and Suri Polymare.
>The two business girls stand and prepare to raise their hands, having expected this to happen any second, and they prompt Coco to do the same once the classroom door is kicked open.
>A bunch of police officers and a SWAT team enter from the front, back and sides of the school; the entire perimeter of the school grounds is under heavy law enforcement presence now.
>Every student that was running around throwing their papers and things around now stands silently as the armed officers flood the hallways and classrooms.
>A still unconscious Sour Sweet in the arms of one of the concerned teachers is approached by a bunch of the storming officers within the minute.
>Sour Sweet’s eyes twitch as she somehow senses what’s happening despite not having any consciousness at the moment.
>Those voices in her head came from a place much more prominent than even she knew.
>Faculty and staff are all surrounded by law enforcement remarkably quickly, and a squad tasked for defusing bombs enters the place, surrounded by about five more police officers.
>It’s pretty safe to say that Zest and Zap aren’t going to be able to run away that easily… or at all. 
>The two are grouped together with almost all the other students and staff, lined up with them outside sitting on the curb as officers go through everyone’s backpacks checking belongings.
>The only students who aren’t grouped with everyone else are Suri Polymare and Upper Crust, at least not after they have their ID’s and belongings checked.
>A round old man in a suit and hat with sunglasses enters the parking lot where everyone else is being examined by law enforcement.
>He’s the only one here that knows that the serious threat that was reported was entirely fake aside the three girls involved.
>He approaches Suri Polymare and asks for her ID first, and then checks her backpack and runs a metal detector around her, then does the same with Upper Crust.
>Realizes that Upper Crust is the daughter of someone who’s name he was expecting to see, because he’s been told.
>Pulls the two to the side to a nearby grassy area as they start to look extremely confident right bout now.
>All of them start talking to eachother out of earshot of everyone else… no one even thinks to try to hear what any of them are saying, not like they could do anything about it anyway.
>Cadance sits on the side of the curb as she watches the gray haired man talk to the two girls, nodding a lot with them.
>But just like everything else, she doesn’t register anything about what this could mean and just waits for the man to come over to her.
>”Principal Cadance?” He says as Upper Crust and Suri Polymare slither away in the direction of one of their cars.
>”Yes.” Cadance perks her head up. “You guys got here fast!”
>The man shows his badge and scratches his belly. “I’m going to need to ask you a few questions about our current situation.” He wipes a donut crumb off of the side of his mouth and keeps himself from burping.
>…
>You have no idea what the fuck just happened.
>After Indigo’s little rant about everything she doesn’t like, you just sat there at your desk.
>When it was over, you felt like you had repressed it already, in a combined state of shock and grief after realizing that there’s no way you’re not absolutely royally fucked now.
>Pretending tat it wasn’t over, but it is. It’s entirely over.
>The police came to the school rather quickly too, as if Cadance had a panic button under her desk or something that you can’t seem to find under you desk when Indigo was talking her shit.
>Principal Cadance burst through the door either after or before Indigo spilled some beans about her and her husband-to-be, your head’s spinning too much to remember.
>Cadance said something to you but you already started to feel dizzy and almost passed out upon trying to get even one word out.
>You remember trying to ask something about the missing panic button, but that became a moot question when you heard what was definitely officers storming the school, confirming your sealed fate.
>Three panic attacks take you, and next thing you know, you’re being sat up on the curb at one of the school’s parking lots.
>Don’t even remember passing/blacking out, but there’s no way you didn’t.
>”Sir, sir, sir, sir…” A female police officer lightly pats you on the cheek after she sees your eyes start to show life. “Sir, look at me.”
>You do everything she says, tell her your name and occupation (which won’t be for long), explain that you had nothing to do with the threat that was reported and honestly explain that it’s news to you, and then you let her and another officer finish searching you with metal detector in hand.
>There’s no way Sour Sweet didn’t have anything to do with this.
>But that mentality ends when you see Sour Sweet unconscious several feet away from you being lifted on a stretcher with an ambulance behind her.
>One police car follows the ambulance.
>You finally regain your composure as the cops who examined you herd you over to Cadance with this chubby man probably in his mid 60’s who is definitely a detective talking to her.
“Wha… what’s going on? What happened?” You ask despite already being told the story by the other two officers.
>”We’re still determining what happened. Still got teams in there doin’ their job.” The portly detective answers in a smoker’s voice. “I’m getting too old for this shit.” He mutters under his breath.
>He shows you his badge and then goes on to explain the exact same thing the officers told you, and the more you hear, the more you think of Sour Sweet.
>There’s no way she didn’t do this; who else would be psychotic enough to falsely report a bomb threat?
>Doesn’t explain why she was unconscious on the sidewalk… maybe Indigo knocked her the fuck out again. That wouldn’t surprise you.
>But now your current situation resurfaces regarding the things Indigo said now that you’re reminded of her, and the dark cloud is back over your head.
>”I’m so sorry.” Cadance says to you after the old man goes to talk with one of the cops. “I didn’t mean for you to find out like this.”
>She’s clearly referencing to the thing with Shining Armor.
“O-oh, I… what?”
>”We meant to tell you about it. And then ask you if you wanted to… you know…”
“Ohhhhhh.” You’re honestly too fucked to care right now.
>The rest of the inspections and questioning goes on for the next hour or two or however long that type of thing takes.
>Soon coming out of the school, the squads that were sent in with trained dogs and everything have all come back empty-handed; the threat was fake.
>But investigators were able to trace the calls back to Sour Sweet’s home address, hence the police car following the ambulance back to the hospital.
>…
>It’s been an unknown amount of time, and there’s no way of telling whether or not it’s nighttime yet because of the windowless examination room Sour Sweet has been taken to.
>Sour Sweet gradually fades awake with a bandage on her nose once again.
>She winces at the bright lights on the ceiling. “What the fuck…”
>”Miss, I’m going to need to ask you to remain calm.” A female voice tells her. “Miss, hold still. Hold still.”
>Sour Sweet feels a bit woozy like she’s at the dentist tripping on Novocain, and first assumes the voice belongs to coach Snow. “I’m… I’m not pregnant…”
>Takes a closer look and realizes this is another woman, in some sort of medical uniform dabbing some gauze on the side of her head… it’s got a concerning amount of blood on it.
>What is this place? Who are these people.
>These are among the questions Sour Sweet starts to ask everyone over the next few minutes as she comes to the realization that she’s in the hospital.
>Once she shows that she’s fully coherent, Sour Sweet is stood up and turned around as she notices a couple of police officers step through the doorway.
>One of them say something she’ll never forget. “Hands behind your back. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can be used against you in the court of law. You have the right to speak with an attorney before questioning. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed to you…(yadda yadda yadda)”
>She feels the cold cruel handcuffs close around her shaking wrists.
>Anything you say can be used against you… huh, it’s about time this neurotic bitch got a taste of her own medicine.
>Sour Sweet, of course, ends up screaming and struggling as more cops have to enter the room to restrain her.
>”INDYYYYYYY! SUGARCOOOOAT! YOU BITCH! YOU BACKSTABBING BITCHES! SUNNNYYYYYY!” What little composure Sour Sweet has is gone in half a second.
>She grunts and cries out in sheer rage, kicking her legs until she’s tased by one of the officers.
>Back at the school, people she knows start answering questions that have become more about her.
>”She was always one of the problem students.” April Snow tells one of the officers. “Her and her friend Indigo. Those two would always run around causing trouble and being irresponsible. They’re a couple of stuck up brats. And I wasn’t about to tolerate their bullshit. And let me tell you about what Indigo herself just revealed.” She continues to talk to the officer.
>At the hospital, Sour Sweet is restrained by like five officers, finally coming to again as she is hauled off towards the back seat of a police car to be transferred to a holding cell at the police station.
>All of her boiling emotions spill over and out, her messy hair flicks around, her hollering voice turning all nearby heads.
>At the school, Sugarcoat is questioned by one of the police regarding Sour Sweet.
>”We aren’t friends. I don’t even think we ever were friends. I never liked her. I’ve even told her but she was too narrow minded to take me seriously. That girl is such a bitch. I didn’t do anything to her this time but I’m glad she got punched again.” Her face is still as red as a tomato.
>Out on the road, a police car is driven in the direction of its station, with Sour Sweet angrily crying and carrying on in the back, blaming everyone but herself for what happened.
>What’s funny is that this part of it wasn’t entirely her fault… she’d have Suri Polymare and Upper Crust to thank for that if only she knew.
>…
~
>School is cancelled for the next few days.
>The story unfolds all the way, everything.
>The fake threat, the scandal with the dean, the developing scandal with the principal, the thing about neon being somewhat revisited in rumors.
>When Cinch, wherever she is, finally hears about all of this, she’ll be relieved that she doesn’t have to have this mess a burden on her reputation since she’s not associated with that school anymore.
>Now she can try and make the argument that everything went to shit when she left… well, more to shit.
>But whatever kind of shit it is, it’s Cadance’s shit now. Not hers.
>Meanwhile, the superintendent gets word of everything that happened.
>Crystal Prep Academy is now in the shadow of a storm that is MASSIVE lawsuit that basically involved multiple things that have happened.
>Makes the lawsuit with Neon Lights look like little baby shit.
>Cadance is left pulling her hair out, now under the microscope of her superiors and alike.
>She’s nowhere near as equipped to deal with this kind of shit like Cinch was.
>And because of that, she has no choice but to call you to the school one Saturday afternoon.
>Long story short, she fires you.
>Basically explains that the position she’s in right now leaves her with no other choice; the school board knows about what happened at Crystal Prep, and it can’t slide under the Principal’s watch.
>Not only that, but the school is being sued by Sugarcoat’s parents, and Sunny Flare’s parents too.
>Her hands are tied.
>Multiple people are talking to lawyers and awaiting trial that won’t officially come until sometime in the summer, maybe later if things get dragged out with the legal shit.
>It’s all one huge mess now, and the lack of reparations for what happened will only make it worse… you pack your things from your office and leave unsure how you feel about being defeated into freedom.
>All the girls were 18 years old, so you’re at least not going to get arrested for this, so that’s a relief.
>It’s nice knowing that Sour Sweet is going to go to adult prison; she won’t handle it like Indigo would. Though, you still kinda hate Indigo.
>…
>And here you are, sitting here on your sofa, out of a job and out of a life with no way to pay the bills.
>Still instinctively expecting someone to knock on your front door like it’s your office.
>Sugarcoat is no longer texting you, and you’re not willing to try to patch things up now.
>Every time you think about the shit that happened, it leaves a bad taste in your mouth that you can’t stand having there.
>It’s all over now, and you’d rather it stay that way. No need to jump back into that shit while you’re still distant enough from it to be able to sit comfortably at home and not get fucking arrested.
>In fact, you delete Sugarcoat’s number from your phone entirely, as well as the numbers of everyone else involved.
>The school is suing people and getting sued by people, and you’re lucky enough to have only gotten fired for fooling around.
>Sugarcoat’s and Sunny Flare’s parents could have easily turned on you for this, but to them, it was evidently the school itself that allowed this to happen. The school “let in a bad egg” that started fooling around with the students in ways he wasn’t supposed to, without doing the proper background checks, so it’s really apparently their fault.
>So the school fired you, and you’d rather it not get worse than that for you. Fuck it, less you have to worry about. One bombshell released by Indigo over the intercom and you’re done, finished, you’re out. And that’s it. That’s all it is.
>Knock knock.
“Come i-” You instinctively start but stop. “Oh…”
>Get up and go to your front door to unlock it.
>Upon opening the door, you feel storm clouds surround your heart when you see who it is; Suri Polymare.
>There’s some bald guy standing behind her.
“I… what do you want?” You’re trying to break out of your state of shock enough to tell them to fuck off.
>”Hello. This is my lawyer. Don’t worry, we’re not involved with the Crystal Prep Academy Scandal.” She names this whole thing accordingly.
>”Hi, I’m Padded Briefcase, employment attorney. Nice to meet you.” The man happily shakes your hand as though everything’s hunky dory. “My client and I would like to have a quick chat with you, if that’s alright with you.”
>You sort of feel like you wouldn’t have a choice considering everything else that’s going on.
“Chat about what?”
>”We understand that you’re out of a job, and for reasons that we understand that were out of your control.”
“Oh… well, it’s fine I don’t wanna go back to that school.” You find it odd how enthusiastically this guy talks in a situation like this.
>”Oh, it’s not about there anymore. We’d like to help you out a little bit.”
>You hesitate for a few seconds, not sure how to feel about this.
>”May we come in?” Asks Padded Briefcase.
“Sure…”
>Let them in, do the whole glass of water offering crap, whatever, and then they soon explain everything about what they want to propose to you.
>Padded Briefcase goes off, there’s no doubt about that. He goes into grand detail about his legal experience and ways he can get anyone anywhere a job they’re happy with, and he would like to represent you.
>You ask him what for, and he says that the other school Canterlot High, the non-prepatory school you have seen as “not possibly as bad”, has “potential spots” opening up that you could fill.
>He then explains how it’s very possible, and understand that you don’t have the best history with Suri Polymare or her friend, but would like to “make things right”.
>Sooner or later, he prompts you to engage in conversation with him, and very successfully as he gets you somewhat agreeing with some of the points he’s making but still keeps it clear that this is ultimately up to you in terms of whether or not you want a new job at this other high school you already heard about.
>You think about it but aren’t able to come up with a definite yes, but surprisingly, not a definite no either considering how persuasive this guy is (and the fact that you would blame sour Sweet for being behind the police storming the school with a fake threat long before blaming Suri).
>Long story short, these people can pull some strings for you and land you a job at CHS as probably a school janitor, or something else close to that.
>And both Suri Polymare and Padded Briefcase insistently remind you that they do not plan to involve you in anything other than this specific thing, so you don’t have to worry about Crystal Prep one bit.
>The attorney actually brought his paperwork with him and reads it to you, going over every single aspect, making this visit eventually take over an hour and a half.
>It’s made crystal clear that none of this will involve you in the thing with Crystal Prep, and it’s even in writing now.
>It’s also soon revealed to you that there’s a space on a contract part of the paperwork you can sign onto to commit, but you’d have to go to the attorneys office to officially do this and this right here is just preliminary consultation.
>Look back at Suri Polymare; she does kind of look genuinely sorry, not that you trust facial expressions anymore anyway.
>Do you give your signature?
~
>Fast forward the clock a couple of weeks.
>It’s some time in mid May.
>Into a dark room, two girls are directed to enter and sit down at a metal table with a dim light bulb dangling overheard on its wire.
>Indigo Zap and Lemon Zest.
>What they did recently at their school has put them in hot water, and sent them on the verge of being arrested with it only being the first time for Lemon Zest, but something turned the attention away from them.
>It didn’t even matter that they both got expelled from school by a very enraged Principal Cadance; both of them were hoping to be freed from that dumb shit anyway.
>Now their families are angry at them and drama on that front is bubbling up, but neither girl cares any more… and neither of them are planning on staying in town that much longer.
>Indigo told Lemon about her plans on accessing those college funds when the rest of the families are distracted. Cashing the money and using them to not only sustain themselves long enough to stabilize their lives, but also to afford really expensive plane tickets.
>Tickets to somewhere said to be perfect.
>The plane ticket money will come out first, then the rest of the funds from the bank accounts and kept in a safe place where no parents or anyone can grab it until (maybe) new accounts are opened up.
>Indigo learned a thing or two from her fellow inmates in prison, aside the time she took learning how to draw.
>In walks an older man in not a suit, but a dress shirt.
>White hair, really not-trustworthy looking expression, papers in hands.
>Followed by him are a couple of familiar faces: Suri Polymare and Upper Crust.
>Followed by them is a man actually wearing a suit. “Hello. Miss Zap. Miss Zest.” He nods sharply. “Name’s Padded Briefcase, nice to meet you.”
>The man in the simple dress shirt doesn’t give his name.
>”Are we under arrested?” Asks Lemon Zest after the door is closed and locked.
>”Under what?” Padded Briefcase tilts his head in confusion. “You’re not under arrest… or being arrested.”
>In Zest’s mind, that stack of papers the man in the dress shirt set down has that same list she saw before, with the list of names under the category of unknown and the names under the category of arrested.
>She swears she can barely see it on the underside of the top page.
>”Then why did you want us here?” Indigo questions.
>”What we have here is the start of a brand new future. A chapter in one’s life. And of course, the paperwork for it.” Briefcase continues. “And a few of its prospects include you.”
>The two girls sitting down give him a confused look, waiting for him to stop beating around the bush, and he can see this, nodding to his buddy in the dress shirt.
>”Let’s cut to the chase.” The man in the dress shirt starts off in a really gruff voice. “You really shouldn’t be getting off with a warning at all. Especially you, Miss Zap. After all the stuff you’ve been through. But Miss Crust and Miss Polymare here seem to have taken a liking to you.”
>Indigo looks over at the two girls she disrespected over the intercom.
>”We gotta appreciate your ballsiness, Indy.” Comments Upper Crust. “I like that.”
>”And what about Zesty?” Asks Indigo with an annoyed shrug.
>”Same thing, as I’ve heard from them.” Continues the man in the dress shirt. “But let’s get to the point. You both got expelled from school, but I don’t think you care about that part anyway, but we all know that mucked up your chances at college, didn’t it?” He opens his stack of papers.
>Indigo hesitates, skeptical of where this is going. “Yeah. Don’t really give a shit anymore, though.”
>Zest nods in agreement. “School’s a drag. Why would college be any better?”
>Upper Crust and Suri Polymare smile at eachother and then the two men.
>”Aha, but that’s where I’m going with this.” Dress shirt man pushes the papers across the table towards the two girls. “You ever wondered what it would be like going to college and having someone else do the entire application process for you?”
>”What, you want me to sign this thing?” Indigo points to the papers.
>”Absolutely, but I advise you hear what I have to say about it before signing.” His voice gets sly. “Just so you know what you’re being offered. So you know you can trust us.”
>Indigo knows that she’d rather hear what the papers themselves say in their dozens of pages rather than what this guy has to say on their behalf.
>But she wants to see how this guy sells them. “Alright. So what is this?”
>”My clients and I have decided that we want to hook you up with a certain type of program that allows you to go to college with all expenses paid, no questions asked. And half the stress form that dull old workload would be eliminated.”
>”Our team will be basically holding your hand all the way through. And all the way up to your last final exams will be like the first level of a video game.” Briefcase adds. “You could barely fail if you tried.”
>”But the main perk is, you get to spend time away from this town, and away from your family.” Dress shirt man’s voice gets softer. “And leave the whole scandal behind you. No run-ins with the law, no dealing with the mess of setting up a life for yourself, just freedom.”
>He 100% sounds like he’s trying to sell something to them.
>”Yeah, but I’d still have to do work, though.” Says Lemon Zest.
>”Oh, you can pick and choose which courses you want to take, any subject of your liking. Including any history or music class you want.” Dress shirt man tells her. “And you don’t even have to do very well as long as we’re helping you. Just enough to make yourself out to be the good student we all know you are.”
>Upper Crust has been nodding to Zest and Zap the entire time now.
>”I already did all of the legal work and got it out of the way. As well as the financial hurdles. Thanks to three of your friends.” Briefcase looks over at Suri and Upper.
>Indigo takes one ‘are you kidding me’ look at them. “They’re not my friends.”
>”No, but we could be.” Says Suri. “Like Upper Crust said. We like ya. We like ya a little too much to not want to work with you.”
>”Oh, and the third of your friends who chipped in is Sunny Flare. She and her family already helped with the financial portion of the plan.” Mentions Briefcase. “And your *ahem* acquaintances here helped pull some of the strings that made any of this possible.”
>”Mainly by convincing me that you deserve this.” Dress shirt man’s voice gets a little blunt again. “You’re really lucky to have peers like them. They’re basically saving you here.”
>”Oh, and uh, by the way…” Dress shirt man announces. “Sunny Flare and her father already signed this same contract. So did your other friend Sugarcoat. For the sake of their own college experiences, since they lost their first ones after what happened.
>”Both of them signed. You have nothing to worry about. Their part isn’t too much related to yours if you sign, it’s not joint and several.” Explains Briefcase. “You’ll be independent of eachother but still with the same helping hand.”
>Indigo has already started to sift through the pages, looking for keywords that might poke holes in this guy’s story.
>But it checks out, at least regarding everything he mentioned.
>They’re still heavily obligated to stay under the plan and at the university, and are obligated to be involved in something that is apparently described in more detail on page 33.
>”Long story short, this contract is basically your ticket to easy street.” Dress shirt man says. “And you don’t deserve it, but these two over here convinced me to give you a fair chance at it.
>Anything being a ticket to easy street.
>Implying.
>”Like I said, your peers already signed. No, you don’t have to see them again, don’t worry. We’re only doing this for your happiness. For your life.” He then turns to the equally rebellious Lemon Zest. “And don’t you worry about your parents. You’ll be a legal adult at the end of the month, you can sign this thing on your own if you choose to. We’ll take care of everything else and explain all of this to your folks in due time. Don’t worry. Oh, and name’s Jerry, the way.” He shakes her hand. “How rude of me not to introduce myself. My mistake.” Weeeeeee, he’s a human that makes mistakes just like you and meeeeeee!
>Everything about this.
>Imfuckingplying.
>The Costanza face has never felt so relevant.
>The two not-so-broke girls and their schemer friends continue to polish the bells and whistles of the contract, playing on the things they know Zest and Zap feel strongly about.
>They then leave the room, under the impression that the moral defenses of Zest and Zap are corroding from everything they told them, and that they will cave in to signing out of the irresistible interest of the life that they see ahead of them.
>They have no idea that the two girls already had plans of their own.
>Jerry and Briefcase wait silently outside of the door for 45 minutes, giving Zest and Zap enough time to cave in
>It then takes another 45 minutes for the girls to finally knock on the door to be let out.
>Jerry is handed the contracts, then flips to the signature sides as the two girls walk away.
>On top of the signature line, Indigo drew a very detailed hand sticking up a middle finger with her new drawing abilities, and Lemon crossed out a lot of the text and wrote down the lyrics to a famous diss track.
>The two girls leave the building they were summoned to, as Zest slips her headphones back on.
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wauzrPn0cfg
>Zest will be 18 on May 31st. Indy will be 19 on June 6th.
~
>…
>Rewind the clock a week before room with the light bulb. Early May… ish.
>Lots of conversations were had, lots of paperwork filled out, lots of drama to be had.
>It’s been some amount of time now, and the prep school close to the city is still closed down due to legal battles really kicking into gear.
>It’s starting to look like the final exams are going to have to be a series of take home tests or something else that will have to suffice while half of the faculty and staff including the principal herself are under investigation regarding the scandal.
>More and more shady and troubling things are found at the school online and in real life, all because of a few problem students, and it has reached the point where the year will just have to end now and summer will have to be a buffer zone to get everything straightened out.
>Sugarcoat and Sunny Flare have both seen their acceptance to college revoked in light of the scandals that happened, and this is a large part of the reason why their families are now suing the school.
>People have been talking to lawyers, including Sugarcoat and Sunny Flare, and they eventually sign onto some contract with Padded Briefcase.
>You soon hear about this, and start to have second thoughts about having put your name on that line.
>Were you smart to trust Suri Polymare?
~
>Maybe this new job idea wasn’t such a bad thing.
>You’re going to get a new desk soon, and new students to really connect with outside of blackmail and other unrealistic drama.
>There is a little bit more paperwork that you have to sign, but you get it out of the way and start preparing for the new set up job you’ve signed up for.
>Sure Padded Briefcase was a trustworthy fellow, why wouldn’t he be?
>You happen to be on social media, looking forward to the future and stuff, when you notice a new DM on your facebook.
>It’s none other than something from Sugarcoat.
>There is this half second window when you almost start reading it, but then your hand click the little text box closed because a seemingly metaphorical voice in your head and heart told you to do so.
>All of that noise is a thing of the past now; she’s not going to Canterlot High, and you’re not going to whatever fucking college she’s going to.
>You continue about your business, a formal dean.
>Can’t back out of the contract anyway.
~
>At the (early) end of the year, there are winners and losers.
>Suri Polymare and Upper Crust are a couple of the winners.
>They wear smug expressions as they mosey about next to the school grounds, resting on benches, counting their amounts of money on online accounts.
>Watching the numbers continuously grow.
>Oh how it delights them so.
>Coco pommel is also with them at times, but only when they say it’s okay for her to be around to be able to look at their screens.
>They start telling her all about how life is unfair and you sometimes have to play dirty in order not to get screwed over sometimes.
>It’s a really wholesome talk to them, because they’re telling her that they’re not going to be around to “help” her anymore and she needs to be able to fend for herself in the corrupt environment they’ve managed to bend to their favor.
~
>A rather notable winner is Sunny flare.
>Of course, her parents’ money has always been a nice cushion to fall on, for almost any situation. And this situation is no exception.
>Oh, they have the best money for the best lawyers, probably more than even the school itself they’re suing could get their hands on, because it’s all about who makes the phone call first… and Sunny Flare enjoys the rest of her spring relaxing in her castle room shittalking her Instagram enemies and eating cookies n cream ice cream.
>Upper Crust sends her a few text messages every now and then, starting some deal making with her as they both now watch the numbers go up and down and begin to plan how they’re going to manage this together since the contract is a thing.
>Sunny takes a bite of the cookies n cream ice cream, talking online about cream.
>She looks on shopping websites and uses the price tags she sees to divide up her share of the amounts and plan how she’s going to build her spoils of war, or in this case, networking and court battles.
>And the lawyer costs are anything but ignored, but it’s no problem for Sunny’s family.
>Sunny Flare and Upper Crust strengthen their friendship and hook eachother up with some bankrolls.
>Padded briefcase and his folks will take care of taking to the banks and baking the dough into bread, and the cream to spread onto it after it’s done better be pretty fucking sweet.
>There’s going to be some chips with some gravy on the side, how much of it depends on what collared shirt man says to certain people.
>Maybe hunt down some bucks on the way. Though, some prefer duck meat, but Sunny and Upper prefer their bills dipped in cheese.
>Taking some serious paper, raking some delicious green; stacks and wads delivered in the back of a limousine.
>…Money, I don’t fuckin’ know.
>Anyway, Sunny’s family already obtained the best lawyers.
~
>But of course, there’s the losers as well.
>At the library, Mulberry desperately replies to himself with alternative failed memes.
>Losing fights left and right and denying it after realizing his unfunny spam isn’t as safe to post anymore; it takes less and less effort to laugh at him these days.
~
>A rather notable loser in this is Sour Sweet.
>She currently sits in a jail cell, waiting to have one singular phone call with even someone she promised not to talk to, but she knows that’s not going to happen.
>One officer walks by with a bandage on his face over where the nails scratched. He sees the look in her eyes and gets a notion to reach for his taser again before remembering that there’s bars in the way this time.
>A couple of female cops haul her out of the cell and take her into an examination room.
>Hours later, Sour Sweet has to remain on sedatives lest she go berserk once more.
>She used to have visions and plans for taking over the school more than Suri Polymare or Upper Crust ever could.
>Now she has visions and plans for escaping the police station undetected, while mostly dreaming about it while unconscious.
>Rage infects her dreams, after having lost it all because she became shortsighted in the face of two cunning con-artists.
>If she ever makes it out of this place, there is going to be hell to pay for the entire world.
>But of course, there’s that little possibility that Sour Sweet will never make it out of here that lingers in the back of her known mental possibilities.
>She knows that dreams don’t always come true, and the handcuffs on her wrists really ring that statement home.
>For her, for the officers hoping she doesn’t make a scene again and basically all of her former friends that are glad as all fuck she got hoisted away behind bars after all the shit she’s done.
>Here’s part of the story of arguably the two greatest winners of the feud.
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBejeI1Sax4
>Lemon Zest and Indigo Zap strut through the local park together.
>Stepping to the rhythm of the beat and swinging the bag full of spray paint cans they hold together in one hand each.
>The sun should be coming up soon, but they won’t need too much time to do this.
>They make it to the stone bridge and set up their temporary studio.
>Distant hissing sounds can be heard from where some frisbee landed that a dog never caught.
>In Zest’s mind, the blood of her enemies is smeared all over the castle walls, a reminder of what it’s like to go to war with her legions.
>A reminder of what there is for them to lose, and lots of it.
>Beautiful crimson tapestries are put up, directly on the cold hard stone.
>They really tie the room together, like a cornerstone in a magnificent arch that tells the story of the ages.
>The story of the duke’s exile, the story of the Valkyrie’s imprisonment, the slaughter of all the Indigo warrior’s foes from Cadence’s tower.
>Death never looked so lively, crushing one’s enemies never felt so satisfying.
>A colorful message is left on the inner wall of the bridge, over other people’s graffiti, drowning it out with the well thought out message of::: “SAMPLE TEXT”.
>3D extrusion letters, shading, shine, hyperrealistic detail, perfect for being shared around the internet as a bland meme for a couple of days.
>The sun is now high in the sky, and the two ambitious comrades stroll through the park on Sunday Morning with piercing glares scanning the clouds overhead.
>Still walking to the beat.
~
>Early in the morning.
>Rising to the garden.
>Gloriosa watches the arrival of the pardoned.
>…
>Here it goes, your first day at Canterlot High.
>The school year can’t end for you juuuuust yet, but your new position could have at least started on next Monday instead of today, a Friday.
>There’s Gloriosa Daisy, you’d recognize her pretty much immediately.
>”Well look who it is!” Gloriosa calls over in a ‘rise and shine’-y voice at you.
>She’s smiling way too pleasantly for this time of morning, usually people are devastated to get up early to do this shit.
>But hey, passion for your job goes a long way.
>You walk on in expecting that previous thought to play into what you’re going to say to Celestia and Luna, the two you heard about who run this joint.
>At least there’s two others instead of just one other being Cadance this time around.
>If anything, you just hope these two are a lot more responsible than Cadance as Principal (and now also Vice Principal).
>You almost took the janitor job, but then realized that such a position might not be as desirably with a less proper school, and that the offer for guidance counselor might be better now that there’s not shady things going on in here that’s pretty much only one step below literal drug rings.
>Why is there no one here?
>All office doors are locked, so you just sit on one of the nearby waiting benches with your belongings you brought with you until someone else pulls up.
>Finally, there’s someone.
>There they are, Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna. Right as there are already a bunch of students walking into the school.
>Damn, they’re just as fine lookin’ as Cad- hey stop that, you should have those thoughts anymore, not after what happened.
>No slippery slopes this time.
>Celestia lets out a playful “aww”, “Oh, you didn’t have to come in this early!” She plants her hands on her cheeks. “Were you waiting this whole time?”
“I… oh. I just usually come in early since that’s how it went at the other school.” You reply.
>”Oh that’s right.” Says Celestia. “Well don’t you worry, you don’t have to always be bright and early.”
>Vice Principal Luna walks in right after her and says hello to you.
>You begin by talking to the two and doing a really informal tour of the school with them.
>Right away, you can tell that they’re nowhere near as uptight as Crystal Prep Academy.
>There’s already students everywhere, and some of the are waving hello to you as you walk by with their Principal and Vice Principal.
>The rooms you see aren’t as decorated, the floor isn’t as shiny and everything just looks standard as far as you can tell.
>And there are a lot less rooms to see as well, let alone the hallways not being as long.
>Students who interact with you are already enough evidence to prove that they’re ten times as friendly as the last place.
>One dude with dreadlocks and a hacky-sack chills by a couple of the lockers all like “sup?” as he turns to you.
>You wave back and he returns to his business, not appearing to be plotting anything at all.
>In the midst of conversation, the two women let you know that they’re sisters who have been running the school together for a while.
>They used to attend the school and then went to college in the nearby area, and then they became staff members and eventually took over as Principal and Vice Principal.
>It was a pretty interesting story.
>You’re soon introduced to your office.
>It’s about the size of your study at home, couple of bookshelves, one file cabinet, and of course, desk and chair to go with it.
>Other than that, there’s basically nothing in the room.
>”This used to just be a makeshift conference room that we didn’t really use for anything other than meetings for when the regular conference room is in use.” Luna tells you. “It’s pretty nice we finally found a permanent use for it.”
“Interesting.” You nod. “Seems cozy in here already.”
>”Anyway, that’s all of your things?” Celestia points to the cardboard box in your arms.
“Yeah. I’m a light packer.”
>”Hah, we know the feeling, right, Luna?”
>Luna nods right as the bell rings.
>”Oh! We gotta get to our offices now. See ya and good luck!” Celestia and Luna hurry on back to their offices down the hall so they can start morning announcements.
>They literally squeezed the school tour into their schedule at the last minute, but they seemed pretty on the ball about things.
>It’s clear they know this place very well, and know what everyone’s like and aren’t distant like Cadance was regarding the Crystal Prep students.
>You already have a good feeling about this school.
>Almost feel like something’s been beckoning you to come here, all throughout your time at Crystal Prep, or at least most of the time.
>There were so many times when you thought about this place, and you feel like you’re catching the tail end of something that’s been going on here that went some kind of a signal to you.
>What makes that funny is that it’s late into May now.
>You missed the entire school year here until the last part.
>…
>Anyway, the morning announcements are had as you’re unpacking your things, making everything feel like the beginning of a movie or something.
>Then homeroom, first and second period of the day go by completely eventless.
>Your mind is still so corrupted by the bullshit that it keeps going back to wondering if Celestia and Luna steep in the same room… or the same bed.
>All that’s happened has done this to your imagination, but things keep telling you not to let such impure fantasies into your thoughts.
>Feels like the same notion that told you to close that DM from Sugarcoat.
>And the same notion that’s been making you think about this school at all in the first place.
>For some reason, you imagine a plane crashing into the ocean.
~
>It’s the middle of the day now.
>Indigo Zap decides to head on over to Lemon Zest’s house for a celebratory sleepover during which they’ll play endless video and computer games and listen to countless old-school rap and classic rock songs.
>She brings her own sleeping bag, her own X-Station video game console and a bunch of junk food, just to name a few of the things she packed.
>They drive over with the wind blowing over the town from the distant horizon, feeling it in the open air as they step out of the car.
>Sentimental echoes of the past are mimicked as they do the exact same thing they used to do together, have some wholesome innocent fun while pretending the rest of the world doesn’t exist.
>No blackmail text messages here, just a messy kitchen full of splatters and spills from the process of “inventing a new kind of cookie that has dorito batter in it”.
>No loud dramatic arguments here, just over-the-house tennis with proper tennis racquets to make sure that the tennis ball makes it over the roof without breaking any windows.
>No secretly shittalking any “friends”, just a challenge to play on the electronic keyboard the exact melody or theme to a Pirates of the Caribbean movie blasting at full volume in the living room.
>No waiting for class to end here, just racing around the neighborhood streets with a couple of old bikes.
>Lemon Zest and Indigo Zap start up what’s going to be a whole weekend of things like these along with winning endless battles in Zest’s historical computer games with Indigo’s undying winning spirit.
>They can’t wait until the sky starts to turn colors and they start their Lord of the Rings marathon after crushing digital enemies of their own.
>Prepared to go on an Odyssey.
~
>Sugarcoat sits in her room, blank face and phone glued to her nose.
>She sees that the formal dean still has his Facebook in existence.
>Something just happened to come over her, since all of the drama has basically ended aside the lawsuits that are piling up.
>But she has learned that the dean himself is exempt from that burden, and she at least wants to formally apologize for everything.
>She forgot what his number is, and she doesn’t remember how it got deleted off of her phone; her head is kind of spinning right now.
>Can’t remember if someone else took it off or if she went into a fit of rage and got rid of his number herself. But either way, Sugarcoat regrets it being gone, now that there’s no more school and the dean was the last thing she remembers being some sort of beacon of hope for common sense and maybe affection from that place.
>The girl is doing everything she can to contact him; she can see him online.
>She’s been trying all day, but to no avail.
>Former dean is just… not responding.
>Sugarcoat doesn’t understand this… was she really too abrasive with him? That really isn’t too little of a possibility what with all the things she said to him before.
>It would not at all be surprising if he kept the mentality that she doesn’t want anything to do with him anymore, and he now has her blocked.
>Probably under the assumption that she has him blocked, but nevertheless, he’s not responding to him. And it’s obviously not because he blocked her because the messages are still going through.
>Sugarcoat prays that he stays logged in and types up another message, wanting more than anything else in the world to apologize, but she’s just left there with tears in her eyes once again.
>…
>Welp, it’s towards the end of your first day here, already past the end of one of the last Fridays of the school year for the students at this place.
>It’s a good thing you’re a guidance counselor now, because the students coming to your office aren’t coming for technical or disciplinary purposes, but for seeking social help or whatever it’s called.
>Nothing anyone has ever approached you with was even remotely serious or sounding like it would be a process to handle.
>Just “I’m kind of stressed out about homework and I heard you were the new guidance counselor”.
>Because, hey, that’s how that shit works around here, right? You’re just suddenly plopped into this position of being a guidance counselor out of nowhere and that there’s not many preliminary requirements that come beforehand.
>(different sounding) Knock knock.
“Come right in!” Your voice is finally cheerful again, a little surprised that there are students still coming here after school is over.
>Shouldn’t they be eager to go home for the weekend, at least students in a school like this?
>Actually, they might be enjoying school so much that they don’t want to leave, who knows?
>In walks this girl whom you’re not sure whether or not you’ve seen before.
>She has light tangerine skin, vibrant red and yellow hair… and tears in her glossy turquoise eyes.
“What happened?” You start before a couple of more girls enter the room behind her as they console her.
>Her friend with pale skin, swirly purple hair and lots of eyelashes speaks first. “My friend is having an emotional breakdown.”
>…Why did they come to the guidance counselor?
>Another friend with dark hair with a pink streak in it fills you in. “She just got harshly rejected by a guy she really likes who made a huuuuge scene about it in front of everyone.”
>Oh, well now it sounds like something you should handle, or at least call her parents for.
>Look at something in her friend’s hand.
>What kind of flowers are those?
~
>It’s funny how Crystal Prep actually had to close down completely.
>None of the uniformed school students know what the fuck to do now that their lives aren’t confined into a grueling daily schedule, except the money driven ones of course.
>Some of them just wander around town or maybe stay in their rooms reading books.
>As if they need to be constantly reminded that they’re in school somehow.
>But surprisingly, none of the Shadow Five are part of this group anymore.
>Zest and Zap are completely alone hanging out in workless sleepovers until seemingly the end of time.
>Sunny Flare spends a lot of time with Upper Crust and Suri Polymare as they help her prepare for the college they helped set her up to go to.
>Sour Sweet has nothing better to look at than the inside of a jail cell, and maybe through the lens of her medication she has to take now.
>While Sugarcoat sometimes gives up the lens of her glasses in favor of the lens of her tears.
>She still wonders why the former dean won’t even try to contact her back.
>All of the issues should be over for him by now, and she’d love to start things over with him; no one else has made her feel this way.
>But no matter how long she waits, he messages fall upon deaf ears.
>And there’s one night when she’s staying up late, wishing she had what it took to read herself a book just like she used to, before her heart started caring about things so much.
>He’s still not answering anything she had sent to him; and nothing new was sent to the man since, to not seem desperate.
>But going through this feels like wading through a thick swamp, trying to get to the other side of a bayou without knowing if anything’s even there… and Sugarcoat’s rational side addresses her in the mirror once again.
>”What’s going on with you?” Her reflection asks. “Get ahold of yourself!”
>”What can I do?” Asks Sugarcoat. “All of the blackmailing ended but he’s saying nothing. How am I supposed to make him care again?”
>”Let. Him. Go.” The reflection uses the same tone as last time. “He’s not worth it. You have a life to get on with. The only one continuing this is you with your feelings.” Her imaginary words cut into Sugarcoat’s tired ears.
>”But… what if I can’t do anything about them?”
>”Do you hear yourself? Sour Sweet’s bullshit really changed you, hasn’t it? And now you can’t even read a damn book on your bed without getting all emotional and mushy.”
>”But what do I do?!”
>”Forget about the fucking dean already! He’s not your problem anymore. You have to just do it, there’s no other way.”
>”But what if I can’t?”
>”Shut the fuck up, yes you can. Now do it. Delete his contact info, put him out of your mind, and read your god damn book.”
>”But… but I…”
>”That’s all I have to say for you.”
>And then, Sugarcoat’s stern-faced reflection transforms back into the reality of a tear-drenched mess, lines of eyeliner over rippling cheeks that can do anything but force a smile.
>Sugarcoat’s hands shake uncontrollably, her book motionless on the bed, the bags under her eyes only becoming more visible as they glisten with tears.
>It takes a couple of minutes for her to make her wya back to her bed, then to go downstairs and get herself something to drink.
>When she comes back, fatigue takes her down, and she falls asleep without even touching the book.
>She still has all of the lawsuits and the contract to worry about anyway… maybe it’s for the best that the former dean should be the least of her worries for now.
~
>Summer’s always been a hasty time for Mulberry because school’s out and he’s in the spotlight almost 24/7.
>Like a deer in the headlights, or crosshairs, he knows he has to watch his back. Even in the public library’s computer lab.
>He has to sit around on the computer compensating for his site dying early because he overslept one morning on an eventful day and let it slip off the edge of pruning.
>It’s like a good punchline at the end of a really long, bad joke.
>And now, like a toy-less toddler, he stomps over to the places where people usually laugh at him, orange dust on his frantic fingers and keyboard, and plans how he can blame them without looking stupid.
>But that fell apart instantly; all he can do now is shitpost however he can until the salt is out of his system and dust off his fingers.
>He doesn’t care how many times he has to reply to himself or the same person multiple times, he’ll never let it end at him being blown the fuck out.
>Hoping he can turn this around and scare off his natural predators, but alas, Summer is hunting season.
>Mulberry isn’t ready to have to watch his front, because here they come out in the wide open.
~
>The morning after Sugarcoat talked to herself.
>”So you’re saying I can get my own Lamborghini under this thing?” Sunny Flare looks at the new contract that Padded Briefcase slid across the table towards her.
>”Absolutely. Lots of foreign exchange students do something similar to this all the time. And you don’t have to worry about convincing your father to get you one this time.” The man replies.
>Sunny Flare’s mind drifts away to mental Hollywood.
>There she is, tweeting pictures of herself standing in front of her car, taking 20 thousand selfies with 20 thousand hashtags each.
>All these things she starts to imagine to herself.
>So many new followers from her new source of clout, from her entrance into the gated communities where celebrities live.
>She might even get to see [insert generic pop singer name here] in person, all she has to do is drive across the country and keep enough money to get into clubs.
>A bright yellow Lamborghini would surely so the trick to get heads turning and get people to think she’s a hotshot, it certainly worked for GumRice, or whatever that kid’s name is.
>”Yeeeeah! Let’s do this shit!” Sunny throws her hands into the air with an energetic flare. “Where do I sign?”
>There are many places where Sunny Flare needs to put her signature and/or initials, and she happily fills it all out like it’s a required school essay she’s surprisingly eager to complete.
>”Holla!” She struts out of the room as collared shirt man beckons her to follow him so she can pick one of the vehicles from the nearby garage out.
>In the corner of the room, Upper Crust giggles under her breath with her fingers locked.
>Fingers as locked as the current situation she put Sunny Flare in. There’s gonna be a biiiiiig paycheck soon.
>…
>It’s not long before Sunny cruises away from whatever fuckin headquarters Padded Briefcase works at and heads back home to brag to her father and mother that the car is legally hers now under that contract and there’s nothing they can do.
>They never wanted her to get a Lambo because they were afraid she’s get into another accident after finding out how fast those things can go.
>But now they got one traveling up the driveway, and they’ll see what kind of car it is once it gets close enough to be easily seen form the windows.
>Sunny could feel the aura of concern from the tone of her father’s voice, especially since she’s an adult anyway and he can’t really do anything to stop her.
>She just goes up to her room and continues to boast on Twitter how she got a hip new exotic car, and how it’s going to change her whole life just like that one pop song she fell in love with after it played on the radio 50 times in a row.
>Her blogging about her car is only halted by a direct message from Sugarcoat coming in.
>[Sunny, can we talk?] She obviously wants to do this online.
>Sunny’s so caught up in her personal parade. [u want me to drive over?]
>[Do you have to?]
>[pleeeeeaaassee]
>Sugarcoat, tired of this already, gives in so this can be over and done with already.
>She lets Sunny drive over with a “surprise” for her.
>…
>The horn blares in the driveway are much shorter than the times Sour Sweet was there to pester Sugarcoat when she was trying to sleep.
>It seems like it was two seconds ago Sugarcoat was looking out the window at the fancy car she wasn’t surprised to see there due to the fact that she has social media.
>”Do you like it?!” Sunny bounces up and down in place. “Mr. Briefcase got it for me!”
>”You mean to tell me that… nevermind, that’s not what I wanted to talk about.” Sugarcoat goes back to the question she wanted to ask. “Did you ever hear anything about the dean recently?”
>”Wait… you mean the guy that was fired?” Sunny is hesitant to go back tp the memory, not enthusiastic about the details it brings. “Why do you still care abou him?” She chuckles.
>Sugarcoat just stares at Sunny, which gets the message across just fine.
>Sunny’s eyes widen a little but not too much due to the shortage of surprise. “Oh my gosh, really?” She covers her mouth. “You really did like him?”
>”Just… did you hear anything about him or not? Yes or no?” Sugarcoat stiffly stands there in her room, wishing she made Sunny just talk to her online.
>”Uh, no. I didn’t hear anything.”
>”Okay… thanks.” Sugarcoat sits down on her bed and expects Sunny Flare to just leave at this point.
>But Sunny stays, looking directly at Sugarcoat on the side of the bed. 
>That dark cloud over Sugarcoat’s head that was growing starts to slow down.
>Sunny sits next to her friend. “Hey now… is everything cool?”
>Sugarcoat hesitates and then lets out a sigh. “Honestly, no, but thanks for asking.”
>”Oh.”
>”Well I guess I’m better now that you care.”
>Sunny lets out an awkward giggle. “Yeah, well that’s nice to hear.”
>”Yeah…” Sugarcoat is just glad her friend stayed.
>”So you wanna ride in my lambo or what? I GOTTA show it to you!” Sunny’s tone instantly changes back. “Come oooooon, I drove all the way over here!”
>The metaphorical dark cloud turns into a piano and drops onto Sugarcoat’s head.
>”It’s so cool, you gotta hear what kind of sounds it makes!” Sunny continues. “And I didn’t even have to pay for it though I totally could! I swear it’s the best deal of my life. And we’re under the same contract anyway so I just thought… why do you look so angry?”
>Sugarcoat’s eyes tell Sunny Flare to leave, but her mouth says something different. “Did you sign an extra contract to get the car?”
>”…Yeah?”
>Sugarcoat groans and buries her face into her hand. “Oh my gosh, you’re stupid. Did you even read the thing?”
>”Mr. Briefcase said to me it was like the same th-”
>”No, it’s not! He probably ripped you off and you probably have a huge lump sum of money to pay now.” Sugarcoat tells her. “If there needed to be a separate contract, then it obviously said something different! How could you be this stupid? I could get affected by this too, since we actually ARE under the same contract.”
>”Well, I…”
>”I hope that thing was separate enough to not include me.” Sugarcoat crosses her arms. “What did you even do this for? Instagram?”
>”Obviously.” Sunny Flare shrugs. “I dunno, maybe we could go on a road trip together before going to the university. Could be fun.”
>Sugarcoat already hated how this looked on her academic record despite what the now apparent con men said to her.
>It’s like she didn’t earn going to school here through academic achievements, which is anything but like the way Twilight did it.
>And she wants to kick herself for not thinking straight when she signed the initial contract to help herself get out of the messy situation that the thing with Sour Sweet left.
>She keeps forgetting that Suri Polymare and Upper Crust are always on their toes, especially when others aren’t.
>And it’s all because of the way she felt for that dean. It blinded her.
>Sugarcoat takes another look into the mirror, this time sober with the lack of fatigue.
>That stern face she sees is for real now, after having started to scold Sunny Flare for the stupid decision she just made.
>”Sunny.” Sugarcoat stand up. “I’m not going to ride around in your prop car with you. I’m going to get out of this contract before something bad happens.”
>”Aw come on! What’s the worst that could happen? I got a Lamborghini deal all because we’re under a contract for a free pass to go to college.”
>”You need to think more about the phrase ‘too good to be true’, Sunny. You’ll need it.”
>Sunny is eventually kicked out of Sugarcoat’s house while Sugarcoat starts making some phone calls to see where she can go with this… but not before deleting some certain contact information from her social media.
~
>Despite this being a rather odd way to become a guidance counselor to a school, you already like this better than the last job you had.
>You don’t even mind being paid less.
>The currently graduating seniors are to be dealt with by the Principal and Vice Principal themselves, so you really don’t have to do anything regarding that, which is more than fine by you.
>But a couple of the students at this place keep coming to you about the episode that apparently happened last Friday.
>There’s been some drama going on surrounding that one girl being rejected, and a couple of her friends are coming to you asking what the hell is going on.
>The most frequent one is Rainbow Dash, an athlete girl who’s basically Indigo Zap but nowhere near as pushy as far as you can tell.
>She’s always racing over to your office, telling you what’s going on, and every time she tells it to you, parts of it keep feeling familiar to you even though they’ve never been a part of your life before… yet they feel like they have.
>Apparently, this girl that got rejected by that guy likes him so much that she’s not giving up… and refusing to take no for an answer.
>And another one of her friends is helping her, you think you already saw this play out the first time they were here.
>Now the lovestruck girl is trying to do some publicity stunt, or something? You kind of stopped paying attention and Rainbow Dash said she’ll be back with more details later on, but you’re distracted by Padded Briefcase entering your office unannounced.
>”Hello there.” He greets as he sits down.
“Uh… come in.” You half-sarcastically reply.
>”So I have a few… questions for you regarding your desired flexibility in the contract.” He already has a paper in his hand. “Since I’ve been getting contacted by a few others under it, and I want to make sure that you and I are on the same page.” He sounds like he means this in a literal sense.
~
>The more time that goes on, Lemon Zest and Indigo Zap plan to spend more time together. It IS summer, after all.
>The Trojan War has ended, and victory is in the hands of those who hunt the mulberries down like deer.
>Achilles will always go down as one of the bravest and worthy of being remembered.
>But his rage burns on in the hearts of the living, his spirit ablaze over the shoulders of their souls.
>Indigo races through the neighborhoods on her bike, wanting to never go back to simply running for the time being, seeing how fast she can go with this thing.
>The school probably can’t do anything about one of their motorbikes being taken; what are they gonna do, send her to back prison again?
>She sets her gaze upon the gentle rolling hills in the distant park as the wind rushes through her hair. The rest of the world silent; her ears deaf to it.
>There is a chance that Indigo Zap believes in the afterlife, and if she does something in the near future that introduces her to those who dwell within it, then so be it.
>What even is this world anymore?
>So many ways to rationalize it but the truth always bubbles back up. Every single time, and it got so repetitive that Indigo wants to see what the top speed of this bike really is.
>She has one life to live, but what’s the point of protecting it if you don’t do whatever you want to do with it before it ends?
>Indigo snarls in ambition, now riding along the path between a few of those gentle hills that used to be in the distance.
>Introducing her to a new perspective with each location she rides to; open air mirroring her mind.
>There’s a whole world out there, one of physical landscape and one of possibility.
>There she is. Lemon Zest.
>Unsuspecting of Indigo having taken the shortcut.
>The very thing that blossomed in Indigo’s mind and heart blooms in Lemon Zest in all the same ways.
>The front wheel of her bike lifting up off of the asphalt and colliding back down with each time she headbangs to the metal playing into her undying spirit.
>All the clouds above her head wave down to her from the heavens whenever she looks up with carelessly happy eyes.
>Blue behind the vivid colors, airplanes like stars in the realm of the gods and goddesses.
>It’s blending together in such a beautiful visual flow.
>To only be interrupted by the sound of the subtle motor from Indigo’s bike through the music suddenly closing in and passing.
>Sideswiped, she finds herself… taken by surprise but luckily, since the motors are just loud enough to be apparent.
>This is something Indigo didn’t take into account, and the girl in the lead is under the assumption that she still has the element of surprise for a few seconds longer than she actually does.
>Winning is in Zest’s dreams just as much as they are in hers.
>She’s taken by surprise when Zest almost regains her lead within seconds, enraged that her element of surprise was all for naught.
>Second place is tossed back and forth by each front wheel of the bikes, racing fast enough to peel the Crystal Prep Shadowbolts designs off of them from wind resistance alone.
>If they went any faster, the tires would surely blow in the hot Florida Summer air and pavement.
>Incinerated by the fiery rage between the two competitors.
>Trying with all their might to best one another.
>There it is, the finish line and final destination, Lemon Zest’s house once more.
>Underneath a soon-to-darken sky, the girl who lives there switches to the next song in her playlist, one she loves to play on vacations.
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaN3pwBsRf8
>It continues playing.
>…
>After tire tracks fill the grass in the yard and a VERY FRIENDLY debate is had, Lemon Zest and Indigo Zap agree that the result of the race was a tie.
>They laugh along together and playfully punch eachother in the arms with smiles on their faces as they quickly hide the school property bikes before anyone realizes what they’re doing.
>It’s a REALLY bad time to be stealing school property for the sole purpose of having fun when they’re in the middle of a lawsuit storm, but neither girl cares.
>They don’t even go to school there anymore, and they’re planning on not going to society anymore either.
>Forget it, maybe they’ll take their bikes with them.
>Claim them as their own and ride them around some beach resort until they fall apart. After that, Indigo could refurbish them while teaching Lemon how.
>The two sit in the living room with their lightly packed bags sitting in the hallways closet, ready to be taken out in a rush at a moment’s notice.
>Zest’s parents figured they could just go on their own vacation away from all the noise now that school’s no longer in the equation, so this task should be easier to carry out.
>With this, the two best friends watch movies and play some more video games together, cleaning out the fridge of exclusively the food they like.
>They’ll need it; they won’t get a chance to eat anything for a while given what’s about to happen.
>As they’re getting ready to return to another night of relaxing fun, Indigo’s keen eyes notice a police care stop right outside the house.
>She has no idea how lucky she is to have chosen Zest’s house to stay at this time over her own house, because it has already long been too late at her house.
>Unbeknownst to her, the place has been surrounded immediately and crashed into, due to Indigo’s criminal record.
>But at the same time, one car stops in front of the house of Indigo’s apparent best friend.
>But only one car, since Lemon Zest surprisingly never got the same kind of record as Indigo Zap.
>Just drove over here at the same time just in case, with contact to other nearby units.
>And yup, they’re looking for the motorbikes that the school reported missing, and guess who the primary suspect was?
>Indigo Zap Toretto, who now has a deep feeling as to why the fuck the cops might be here, like she has a sixth sense for running form the law like this is “Fast and Furious 19: Faster but Furiouser Too™ (now give us money)”.
>And as though this movie was actually real, Indigo Zap springs up from the couch and alerts her best friend, who springs up just as fast but with fury.
>They instinctively grab their bags from the closet and race out to the back where they hid the motorbikes, somewhat glad that this works into their plan since they already took a bunch of money from the bank a while ago.
>With the money in one of the bags, some clothes in others, and other things in the last bags, Indigo Zap and Lemon Zest rev up their engines quickly as one cop is already coming to the back of the house.
>Yeah, NOW he comes, just like the movies that totally make no fuckin’ sense.
>”Hey! Stop right there! Stop!” The cop reaches for his taser as dirt is kicked up in his direction.
>Within the minute, Zest and Zap are out in the street. Speeding away with their packed bags on their backs, having gotten an early surprise farewell party.
>Sirens distantly blare behind them, and soon not so distantly.
>These bikes better have enough fuel in them to effectively evade these guys enough to run out of fuel at a safe place.
>Officers of the law follow in hot pursuit like a large storm that just won’t go away.
>Zest doesn’t have to imagine anything; the action is in real life now.
>It’s easy for them to follow the bikes down the regular roads and streets, and that’s pretty obvious to Zest and Zap.
>The problem arises when they try to seek out a place to turn off of these and find somewhere where only a helicopter could follow them to, and even that would be a problem once that becomes a reality in this situation.
>Now there’s three vehicles in pursuit, now there’s five- no six.
>The two girls riding motorbikes will soon be heard about on internet news sources, whichever ones want to deliver the Florida news first.
>In any case, Florida is just fucking awesome. It’s like that one state that’s the embodiment of a crazy action movie that you can’t help but enjoy.
>Not even to mention the epic storms they get there (as long as people stay safe).
>Block after block, the growls of the motorbikes are spread, and the blaring of the police sirens tries to catch up.
>Indigo leads Lemon down a side path along a downtown park area where there’s lots of grass and sidewalks.
>But then into an area with trees blocking the cars.
>The handlebars must be held onto tightly when going over the grassy knolls, some of those knolls acting as ramps when the bikes are traveling fast enough to catch serious air off of the sides of them.
>And thus, the spirit within Zest’s heart can’t help but cheer out in glee, as she flies through the air and hits the ground speeding once again.
>Indigo grins along with her friend, leading the way into a hiking path with lots of rocks where the cops would definitely need to get out of their cars in order to follow someone.
>”Careful not to hit anything!” Indigo calls back to her friend.
>Lemon Zest replies with a giggle of joy and a thumbs up.
>There’s one rocky ledge the girls can use to leap with their bikes over a small gorge with a stream running through it.
>The terrain is kind to the motorbikes, but the police vehicles cannot follow.
>The sounds of helicopter blades echo over the thick forest and shrubbery.
>But it’s hard to trace where the engines of the motorbikes are sounding off now that it’s hard to tell if it’s coming from anywhere or not.
>The lead that the cops had is slipping away, and they could hardly get a helicopter in the air in time in the first place.
>But the search continues, and the locals of many surrounding towns are asked for tips.
>All of this effort wasn’t going to do much; as Indigo was smart enough to know to turn off her phone and prompt Lemon to do the same… after they stopped to camp out in the middle of the woods.
>It’s a good thing they took all of the stuff they packed with them, because there’s some food there too to serve as quick things to eat when there’s nothing else available.
>But it’s going to be practically impossible getting those tickets now, since they need to show some ID for that.
>But there’s easily enough money taken out of the bank to afford more food as long as it’s the cash used to pay for it.
>With this, the two camp out in the woods with intention of staying there so long as the chance of encountering an alligator stays low.
>The ground beneath them is soft with the bushes on the ground in the way, and the sky is almost completely dark now.
>And the playful mood has been replaced with grouchiness from fatigue.
>”It’s your fault for wanting to take the bikes, Zesty!” Indigo pouts after finding a comfortable position up against a tree. “Now we gotta do this earlier or else it’s all over.”
>”We made it away, didn’t we?” Whispers Lemon Zest after she pulls her headphones off for the first time in 900 billion years.
>”Yeah, but for how long? We still need plane tickets! And the cops are super fuckin’ good at finding people. And now the whole state’s going to be on the lookout for a couple of girls on motorcycles by the time it’s morning.”
>Lemon Zest groans and rolls her eyes.
>”But don’t worry. I’m thinking something up. Just go to sleep and I’ll tell you tomorrow.”
>”Tomorrow? Why can’t we plan tonight? We should try to make a campfire and do that now.”
>”No, don’t. It could give us away. Just go to sleep now. If we stay up, we’re gonna be leaving the woods when they have more daylight.” Indigo points out. “Ugh, just trust me, okay? I’m tired.”
>”Well I’m not and I can’t just fall asleep.” Zest feels the pattern of her computer game schedule taping her eyelids open.
>”We have to. There’s no other way. Understood?”
>Zest groans again with her headphones slipping over her ears once more.
>The two actually manage to find the adequate amount of fatigue through their exhaustion.
>Having no idea what in the world they’re going to do once they leave the cover of these woodlands, or if law enforcement has already started to follow them into here with bloodhounds hot on their trail.
>This thought jolts Indigo back awake.
>All of a sudden, she’s starting to give more of a shit about whether or not she goes back to prison.
>The stressful night drags on.
~
>Canterlot High still seems a lot better than Crystal Prep.
>Even with all of this stuff surrounding a certain student, you’ll still take it over the dumb shit you got sucked into in the past with the richer school.
>This student, and her friend too, appear to be the only real problems around here, aside what Padded Briefcase lectured to you that you already forgot.
>Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer.
>Hey, one of those names sounds familiar… isn’t that…?
>It is!
>Twilight was that one student who supposedly graduated from Crystal Prep Academy, and most likely moved onto an Ivy League university or something similar to that.
>This already makes zero sense.
>Why would she move /down/ a level in schools after overachieving in an elite school then graduating? Obviously, that didn’t happen.
>So what the hell is this girl doing here? What is she REALLY doing here?
>You don’t have access to file cabinets or whatnot, so there’s nothing you can do except watch her come to your office a couple of times throughout the day on one of the last days of the school year.
>That outfit she likes to wear looks like it’s from the 19th century or something, which you find odd but not helpful as to why she might be at this school she clearly doesn’t belong in.
>”Anyway, he’s been super distant to her and doesn’t even want to apologize.” Twilight tells you for the fifth time. “I mean, he obviously likes her, but she can’t get him to admit it.”
>She seriously thinks this is her problem?
“Well, uhm, Miss Sparkle… if you want my take on this, I feel like you should leave this for your friends and her guy friend to decide on their own.” You tell her.
>”I know, but they aren’t talking, and I want to help them get together for the sake of friendship. Could you at least bring them in here together to talk? Maybe tomorrow at 11 AM?”
>That sure was a specific time.
“I’ll see what times are available.” You say before quickly sending her off.
>She’s definitely the more suspicious one.
~
>During the night, it’s like everyone’s on edge by default.
>Sugarcoat’s still sitting up alone at night, questioning her foolish motives for still trying to get into contact for some guy she hasn’t known for even a year yet, while Sour Sweet can’t contain her misplaced disdain for how she was locked up because her plan backfired due to a certain other two sociopaths existing.
>Suri Polymare and Upper Crust await the next slew of excited text messages from Sunny Flare asking them where they want to take the Lamborghini next.
>Almost amazed at the fact that Sunny seemingly refuses to catch on to the fact that she’s in the situation she’s in, and only seeks further vanity.
>Mulberry postponed his next site to later when he has access to a computer lab again, then goes to someone else’s pages due to his hesitation to make a new Neon specific site because he’s shook after being cracked down on.
>Someone else even made their own about the game because he hesitated. Mulberry couldn’t accept this, he NEEDS the site to be his to fill up with his braindead bumbling.
>He makes his own while desperately shitposting on sites that aren’t his with tears in his eyes and foam at his mouth, wondering why no one ever liked his failed memes.
>Hoping the game series doesn’t end on him before he has a chance to regain a sliver of dignity.
>…
>Indigo Zap and Lemon Zest get moving right before sunrise after a night of troubled sleep in the woods alone, rolling their musty motorbikes along the ground as quietly as they can while listening out for any signs of followers nearby.
>There seems to be nothing, and the buzzing of mosquitos and calling of birds helps to mask their footsteps that creep through the trees and shrubbery.
~
>And of course, you yourself stayed up for quite a bit wondering about the true origins of this Twilight Sparkle.
>Now that you think of it, she does look a lot like the girl you vaguely remember seeing in that portrait that Cadance showed to you a long time ago; you barely thought about it until now.
>It was just “oh, so that’s what she looks like, cool whatever” and that was all the thought you gave it. But now, it’s different.
>There’s no way she’s going to Canterlot High after graduating from Crystal Prep, something’s definitely up.
>You’re going to get the two other students talking to eachother first thing before 1st period starts before this shady Twilight Sparkle has a chance to do anything.
>And that’s exactly what you have on your mind when you’re sitting at your guidance counselor’s desk, waiting for the bell to ring.
>You contact Celestia and Luna regarding which students you’d like to see, since they’re the ones who are in charge of calling students down.
>Unfortunately, you’ve started this so soon that you can only catch Sunset Shimmer right now, but that’s enough anyway.
>The girl enters your office, red and yellow hair somehow making you freeze in place like it did last time.
>Why is there something odd about this girl too? It’s like you recognize her as much as you do Twilight somehow.
>Your whole world has been running together so much tat she might have come over to Crystal Prep for something and you just saw her then.
>”Is this about…” She’s almost too nervous to say his name.
“Yes. So Twilight was here yesterday and wanted me to help you two set this straight. She wanted me to get the two of you in here at the same time at eleven, but I’m… extreme busy today.” You hope the tone of your voice doesn’t change as you enter fibbing territory. “So since you’re available now, I’ll just get your side of the story now.”
>Sunset nods, and you feel like something is peering over your shoulder, you swear it, but there’s nothing there when you turn to look.
>As if Sour Sweet was somehow here, but you already know that’s impossible.
>Sunset begins by proclaiming her love for this guy in school she loves, but you’ve already lost focus and are no longer following along.
>Hearing her talk like this is making the atmosphere around you feel funny, funny in the same way you felt around Sugarcoat.
>Which only takes you back to the time you spent with her, which leads to more and more intimate thoughts that distract you from whatever Sunset is saying now.
>You should contact Sugarcoat once more and make things up with her. Yeah, that should happen.
>”Anyway, thanks for listening.” Says Sunset. “I appreciate this. I hope Twilight is okay.”
“Oh, uh, yeah. Yeah.” You’re too lost in all the times you had tons of “fun” with a certain three of the Shadow Five.
>Sunset reaches over to shake your hand, which you reciprocate by leaning over the desk to avoid standing up for certain reasons.
>Her hand feels nice in yours, making you imagine thing about what you did with Sour Sweet, Sugarcoat and Sunny Flare. Which leads you to imagine what that would be like with this girl… through that same strange atmosphere in the air.
>Sunset’s eyes grow distressed when she makes contact with you, like she just saw something horrible happen.
>You can feel her want to pull away immediately through her apprehensive grasp.
“I-is something wrong?” You ask.
>”…No…” Sunset stands there, visibly shivering as she backs away closer to the door.
>Those scenes in your head where you were reminiscing the times of intimacy with various Shadowbolt girls fades away as it’s replaced with concern regarding Sunset’s sudden behavior after shaking your hand.
“You sure? You look tense.” You stupidly say to her as she then reaches for the door handle.
>She’s back out into the hallway before you know it, after a quick nod with frantic eyes looking for escape.
>She was acting a hell of a lot less suspicious than Twilight before this moment, what happened? Was it something you said?
>There is something in the atmosphere that’s telling you that you may or may not get fired today.
>But it’s interrupted by someone else’s entry. “Hello there.” Padded Briefcase enters the room.
“What’s up?” You shuffle around in your chair.
>”You… made up your mind, right?” He asks.
“About what we talked about before?”
>”Yes. Just felt like I’d check in and see if everything with the contract is okay.”
>He did mention this a lot yesterday, despite you not paying attention on account of all the fancy words he was using. It’s almost like you completely forgot what he said.
>Give him a quick nod.
>”Splendid. Glad you like this job.”
>You’ve already been feeling really iffy about Padded Briefcase, but now the things he’s saying are straight up troubling you.
>This doesn’t feel too much like resolution.
>”Anyway, have you been in contact with Sugarcoat recently?”
“Oh… uh, not really.”
>”I’ve been talking with her about the contract as well, said the same things I told you. And in the process, I think I’ve found a solution that will make everyone happy.” He talks like he’s in a TV commercial.
“What’s the solution?”
>”If there’s a time you could meet me in my office at my building at the same time as her, we can hammer out the details.” He says to you. “When you have time, no pressure.”
>You’ve been feeling a slight need to reconnect with Sugarcoat, but you’ve also been doubting this contract a lot that she’s also under.
>Like, where did this guy come from all of a sudden? He wasn’t around during the whole first part of the school year, and only appeared after shit hit the fan with Crystal Prep.
>The more you think about this, the more you want out of this contract so everything’s done and over with; but you don’t want to just lose this job.
>”Suri Polymare is going to be there too, since she and Sugarcoat have been acquaintances for a while anyway.”
>You know just how to contact Sugarcoat, and you think you know what to say by now.
“I uh, let me see if there’s anything in my schedule I can open up. In the near future.” You try to sound like him a little in the way you talk.
>”Understood.”
>…
>You race home after the day is over, get onto your computer and send Sugarcoat a direct message on social media, intending to converse about the contract.
[You there?]
~