"Let's go, Shadowbolts!"

Chapters

Locker neighbors
Lunch comrades
Partners in crime
Detention fellows
After-school companions
Playground buddies
Classmates
Friends
Enemies
Schoolmates

Locker neighbors

The intervals between lessons at Crystal Prep Academy were rather short, just giving the students enough time to pick their things from their lockers. Aside from the rustling of books and the sound of opening and closing locker doors, the hallways of the school were relatively quiet at those time compared to other schools. There was some conversation and laughter, but the majority of the student body just minded their own business. Even after the principal's announcement there were only few talking about it, and instead of openly complaining about the additional lessons and homework they were mostly either quietly expressing their concerns of the extra work or hid their nervousness behind a smug attitude.

Mostly.

“Ugh!” Sour grunted, slamming her locker shut. Turning around she leaned her back against it, pressing her books against her chest. “Is it just me or did Cinch become even MORE terrible since the friendship games?” she asked.

Sugarcoat’s head peeked out from two lockers next to Sour’s. “This is no surprise considering her top student has left to go to CHS instead of applying for an elite school” she simply replied as she pulled out some books from her locker. “Now she fears the reputation of Crystal Prep might be in danger, and seeks to improve the grade point average by adding even more discipline and sternness into her education.”

Turning her head to the side Sour put on a darling look. “Oh, thank you for explaining it all in so much detail, Sugarcoat♥” she chirped, before her face fell into an annoyed grimace as she asked with dry sarcasm: “Or should I call you Captain Obvious?”

Holding her books under her arm Sugarcoat closed her locker, before pushing up her glasses slightly. “Better Captain Obvious than Obnoxious” she remarked, earning an even angrier glare from Sour. Pushing herself off from her locker the yellow-skinned girl with the ponytail took a step towards the blue-skinned girl with the three pigtails, about to snap something at her. Suddenly the girl occupying the locker between them held out a hand to both of them.

“Girls, calm down!” Indigo Zap insisted, sounding demanding and soothing at the same time. “I know it sucks the little rest of our free time is cut even shorter, but hey – this isn’t the first time Cinch randomly decided to toss more work on us. We’ll get through it, like always.” Grinning widely she reached out her hand between the two, yelling with a loud rallying voice: “Come on, give me a “LET’S GO SHADOWBOLTS”!”

Both Sour Sweet and Sugarcoat looked at the overly motivated student with a face that screamed “Seriously?”

On the other side of the hallway Sunny Flare reached her head out of her locker. “Sheesh, I really wish I had your spirit, darling” she told Indigo, gathering the books for her next lesson. “I had to move my piano-“

Sunny then paused, glancing in annoyance at to the locker next to her. The green mane of Lemon Zest poked out behind the door, Sunny clearly hearing the music banging from her headphones. “Excuse me, but would you mind turning down the volume of your noise a little?” she tried to call out to her. “I am trying to talk here!”

With a loud slam Lemon Zest shut the door of her locker, furiously staring at Sunny. “Hey, what did you call my music, dude?!” she shouted over the music from her headphones.

Sunny rolled her eyes. “I’d say “you heard me right”, but that would probably be a false statement” she calmly replied, making Lemon even more furious. “And I’m a lady, so please refrain from addressing me as dude.” Turning to the girls on the other side of the hallway Sunny continued: “As I was about to say, because of the arbitrary amount of math homework I had to move my piano lesson this afternoon, and-”

“Uh, look at Miss Fancy here and her piano lessons!” Lemon cut her off, flailing her hands in an exaggerated gesture of shock. “She had to move 'em! You want me to play on the world’s smallest fiddle for ya?”

Hands on her hips Sunny was about to return something, when she noticed a teacher coming down the hallway behind Lemon. Alarmed she pointed with one hand behind Lemon Zest, and with the other at her ears. At first Lemon raised an eye-brow at the wildly gesturing girl, before her eyes shot wide open as she got the message. Quickly she took off her headphones, almost dropping them in her haste. Switching off the music she hid them behind her back and pressed herself against her locker door. She put on a big nervous grin, her forehead getting sweaty as the teacher walked past her. Lemon looked after her until she was completely out of hearing range, then let out a huge sigh of relief.

“Thanks, Sunny” she said with a smile, putting her earphones back on.

Sunny smiled back. “You’re welcome” she told her, waving it off with her finely polished fingernails. Pointing with one of those sharp finger-nails at Lemon she added more seriously: “But you owe me one!”

Indigo Zap looked after the teacher, in her grey skirt and blazer, wearing a pair of large glasses and her hair in a bun similar to their principal’s. “Where does Cinch get those guys from anyway?” she wondered aloud. “Aside from Dean Cadance they are all boring eggheads! I sometimes can’t even keep them apart...”

“They really share a lot of characteristics which makes their distinction difficult” Sugarcoat agreed. “They even have a lot of similar voice patterns.”

Leaning back against her locker Sour chuckled. “Yeah, there are like two ways they can speak: Either they lull you with their charmingly boring voices into a deep slumber…” she spoke with a voice as clear as a bell, which suddenly cracked when she went on “…or they haunt you in your nightmares with their rants about discipline!”

Indigo broke out into laughter, while Sunny giggled with a hand in front of her mouth. A wide grin on her face Lemon said: “Damn right! It’s like half of them are failed clone experiments of Cinch who keep hammering into us to study, and the rest are zombies slurping from classroom to classroom while spreading boredom!”

“Them being zombies would actually make sense” Indigo joked. “First they teach us all this stuff so our brains get nice big and juicy, and when we’re ripe they crack open our skulls and slurp ‘em up!”

The others laughed. Lemon stretched out her arms, pulling one leg behind her as she began to walk around like a zombie. “Braaaaains!” she moaned, rolling up her eyes and opening her mouth wide with her tongue hanging out. “I’m gonna bore you to death and eat your braaaaaaains!”

“Braaaaains!” Indigo joined in, the two Shadowbolts limping like they were undead. Sour burst out into wild laughter, Sunny pressed her hand tightly against her mouth as she held back a chortle, and Sugarcoat raised one of the corners of her mouth to a smile.

Suddenly Sunny stopped, looking a little irritated at the others. “Wait, what are we doing here?” she asked.

“We are gonna eat your braaaaain!” Indigo mourned, playfully lunging herself at Sunny.

“That’s not what I mean” she responded, pushing the blue-haired girl away. “We’ve been locker neighbors for years, but we usually just silently pack our books and head into our next classes. Since when do we talk to each other, gossip or goof around as if we were… friends?”

Stopping in their tracks and falling silent the others almost simultaneously raised an eye-brow. Standing in the hallway the five girls exchanged uncomfortable glances for a few moments, feeling somewhat uneasy all of a sudden.

“You’ve made it awkward” Sugarcoat finally said.

Lunch comrades

The spaghetti were drenched in red as the cafeteria woman poured the tomato sauce on top of them. She handed out the plate through the counter, at the same time already taking the next empty one to fill it with noodles and sauce. Quickly Sour Sweet snatched the spaghetti from the woman’s hand and put it on her tray, next to her cup of lemonade. She moved on to the desserts, grabbing a small bowl of vanilla pudding with chocolate on top before leaving the counter and turning towards the wide hall of the cafeteria.

The place was rather crowded, as to be expected at lunch time. But the hall was so large and she was fairly early, so there were plenty of free seats and even a few empty tables left to choose from. Sour looked a little grumpy as she walked through the cafeteria, trying to decide where to sit down. Every table where she passed she could hear hushed whispers and small conversations – like the hallways the cafeteria of Crystal Prep Academy was a rather quiet place compared to other schools, with only few laughter save for some devious giggles. Moving past her fellow students Sour rolled her eyes at the little bits of conversation she caught. Tattle about someone who failed a test, boasts about grades or awards, students badmouthing each other – rather annoyed Sour’s gaze wandered through the hall, searching for something aside from the usual. Something that was more interesting than making fun of others, or shoving into everybody’s face how awesome she was. She was awesome, no doubt about it, but she didn’t want to rub it under anyone’s nose right now…

In the middle of the cafeteria Indigo Zap was making her way through the maze formed by the seats and tables. Even at high times there were always a few chairs unoccupied, as principal Cinch had installed so many every student was sure to quickly and efficiently eat their lunch before continuing to their next class. Despite the large number of free chairs however Indigo seemed to have trouble finding a place to sit down. It wasn’t like she didn’t have anyone to sit with: She could chose between spending her lunch with the rowing club, the marathon runners, the school’s soccer team or one of the various other sports clubs she was captain of. Usually she’d go into a rotation or sit down where her encouraging spirit was needed the most, for instance when a big match was up ahead and her team needed some extra motivation(regardless of if they wanted it). There were no games up ahead though, and somehow she didn’t really feel like sitting down and holding a pep speech anyway. With a rather discontent look on her face she walked through the cafeteria with her tray in her hands, not knowing where to sit down…

Through her glasses Sugarcoat watched how the other students around her were running through the cafeteria and taking seats. For some strange reason, the choice of her own seat was giving her quite some thought this day. Usually, she’d just sit down at a random table and tell everyone sitting around her how unhealthy their food was, chime into conversations when somebody said something that wasn’t absolutely correct, or just bluntly share her own opinion without being asked to. Today however, she wasn’t really in the mood to. Even as she wandered along the tables, she didn’t interrupt anyone when snatching some brief snippets of a conversation. Quite a lot were talking about the announcement from Principal Cinch earlier and all the additional work. A lot of false statements and rumours were mixed into, like Cinch having said everybody who didn’t get an B or higher in the next math test would be expelled. But Sugarcoat had no motivation to correct them, just walking by while her eyes wandered around…

When moving through the cafeteria of Crystal Prep Academy there was one student everyone took caution: At lunch Lemon Zest usually danced around to her music while carrying a full tray in her hands. More than once this had already caused accidents with uniforms getting stained in tomato sauce or drenched by lemonade. While she did wear her headphones that day as well the volume of the music was actually so low however she could hear the people around her, and – even more unusual – she did take notice of her surroundings. Normally she would just sit down at the best nearby place and begin eating while sunken in her own world, often playing the beat from her headphones on her plates. This time she seemed to be looking for a specific seat, several people hearing her music come and go as she passed by…

Tapping with her feet Sunny Flare looked around the dining hall. It wasn’t something weird, for she did often examine the student body and consider who she wanted to eat with before sitting down somewhere. A math test was coming up? Then she would hang around with the geeks and try to turn the conversation into a private tutoring lesson for her. There was an upcoming birthday of a popular girl? She’d sit down at her table, chuckling about her jokes while making compliments to increase her chance of getting an invitation. From the outside, it looked again this day as if she was evaluating the tables, trying to find out where she could get the most benefit. However, in her mind, she wasn’t really thinking about any benefits. Her eyes and eventually Sunny herself moved along the tables, intensely looking around…

After walking through the cafeteria a while Sour noticed she was starting to run in circles. With a grunt her gaze again went over the numerous students sitting or searching a place. All were wearing Crystal Prep uniforms, all were having the same stern and smug expression on their face - although after what principal Cinch had said a lot of them did look slightly concerned, even if they were trying to hide it behind their conceited attitude. Sighing Sour turned into the next corridor of tables. She didn’t even know why she minded the business as usual at Crystal Prep all of a sudden – since before a few weeks ago she had never been bothered by it, even happily participated in the rituals. It was like after the friendship games a switch inside her had been turned, and now she looking for something different, something like…

Suddenly, Sour Sweet stopped in her thoughts and tracks, as did Sugarcoat, Indigo Zap, Lemon Zest and Sunny Flare. They were all standing around the same empty table in the middle of the cafeteria.

Quietly the Shadowbolts looked at each other and the table, uncertainty flickering in their eyes. After a while Sour slowly sat down at one of the corner seats. As she put her tray down Sunny hesitantly sat down to her right, while Indigo, also a little nervous sat down on the place opposite to Sour. Lemon followed by taking seat next to Sunny, and eventually Sugarcoat took her place next to Indigo, opposite of Sunny.

Surrounded by the noises of the cafeteria the five girls silently sat there. All of them mostly stared at their trays, although no one took a bite from their spaghetti or a sip from their cups. Sour bit her lip, mustering her courage. Raising her gaze she put on a big smile, staring across the table at Indigo. “So, uh, how was your class Indigo?” she asked sweetly.

Sitting up Indigo looked rather irritated at Sour. “Um, we just had chemistry together” she replied, incredulously raising an eye-brow. “We were lab partners, remember?”

The cheeks of the yellow-skinned girl turned red. “Oh, right” she mumbled, sounding both embarrassed and a little angry as she dropped her chin onto her tray. She picked up her fork, rolling it in her spaghetti.

“It’s kind of worrying you don’t remember your last class” Sugarcoat commented, casually winding some spaghetti around her fork as she spoke. “If you have problem with your memory you should consider seeing a doctor.”

Sour frowned. “I’m not dumb or sick!” she snapped at her, angrily raising her head. She pulled her fork out of her spaghetti, noodles and sauce dripping from it back onto her plate. “And it’s not like the chemistry lesson was something to remember” she said while wrapping up the noodles still hanging down her fork around it. “The entire time the teacher was just standing at the chalkboard, babbling something about potash and some high docile ox while scribbling down formulas that looked like he was writing in some ancient language!” She pushed the noodles into her mouth, pouting.

Leaning her elbow over her chair Indigo chuckled. “That pretty much sums up every class here at Crystal Prep” she said with a smirk, before also eating some spaghetti.

“It is kind of hard to follow the lessons sometimes” Sunny agreed. Slowly and very cautious not to make a mess she rolled up a small amount of noodles with her fork and spoon. “I just got here from biology, and honestly, I have no idea if we were talking about genetics, protein stabilization or the mating dance of flamingos.”

“Yeah!” Lemon chimed in, raising her fork. With a powerful thrust she dug it deep into her spaghetti, lifting a large chunk of noodles and sauce. She made one quick turn of her fork, and then shoved all of it into her mouth at once. Sunny looked in disgust at her neighbor, watching her slurp up the noodles hanging from her lips. “A’m all in for mufic claff” the green-haired girl mumbled with her mouth full, Sunny backing slightly off from her as little droplets of sauce were flying out of her mouth with every word. “But fat old egghead even makef a guitar riff found boring ‘nd d’ll!” Swallowing down the noodles Lemon then glanced at Sunny. “You’ve got something there” Lemon remarked, pointing at a tiny tomato spot on her chin she had just spit on her. Seeing the lower half of Lemon’s face was completely covered in red sauce Sunny rolled her eyes.

After taking a sip from her still water Sugarcoat put her cup down. “School lessons are supposed to be educational and not fun” she told the others as bluntly as ever. “But it’s really fascinating how our history teacher manages to even make lessons about wars sound like he was talking about old women holding a tea pary.”

Indigo couldn’t hold back a giggle as Sugarcoat spoke. “Yeah, like you’re one to talk!” she told her seat neighbor. “I could TOTALLY see you standing in front of the class and boring everyone just as much to death.”

Everybody’s plates shook as Lemon slammed her hand against the table, laughing out loud. “DUDE, that’d be SO good!” she blurted out, pieces of noodles flying out of her mouth to Sunny’s great disgust. “Like, the teacher just leaves, and Sugarcoat picks up right away, and nobody notices the difference!”

All the girls chuckled, only Sugarcoat throwing rather discontent glances at them. “That’s very funny” she told them, her eyes focused on Indigo. “And you would just annoy your students with silly pep speeches and try to convince them into being thrilled about stuff they don’t care about.”

Indigo’s grin turned into a rather puzzled frown. “What’d be so bad about that?” she asked.

Sour put her elbows on her tray, folding her hands and placing her chin on her fingers. “Oh, I don’t know” she said with a friendly smile, looking ponderous up to the ceiling. “Maybe becaaaauuuse…” The corners of her lips sunk, and her eyes stared straight at Indigo. “…you trying to get everyone psyched up about the sentence of Pythagoras would be one of the most annoying thing in the world?”

At first Indigo seemed offended, but then she smirked. “You’d be funny as a teacher too” she said, pointing with her fork at Sour. “When giving back a test, you’d go through the seats and be all like ‘Gratulations you got an A♥! You got an F, you failure! Here an A♥! And for you an F! A♥ F! A♥ F!’” She mimicked Sour, constantly switching between a honey-sweet and very grumpy expression and voice. The others giggled, only Sour looking rather bad-tempered. But after a while she also cracked a smile.

“And you wouldn’t notice what any of your students did while wearing these in class” Sunny remarked while poking at Lemon’s headphones. “You might not even hear when the bell rang, and suddenly realise all your students have gone home already and you are the last in the classroom.”

The others chuckled. “Oh yeah?” Lemon asked, stemming her fists against her hips while grinning at Sunny. “And you would… errr… yooouuu… if you were a teacher… um…” She paused, scratching the thick jungle of her hair.

“Yes?” Sunny asked superiorly, putting up her nose slightly while folding her arms before her chest.

After pondering some more Lemon threw her hands into the air. “I give up. You’d probably make a good teacher.”

A slightly snobbish chuckle resonated from Sunny’s throat. “Thanks, dearie” she said, raising her steaming cup of tea and victoriously taking a sip from it.

“That’s actually worse than anything else we just said” Sugarcoat told her.

The cup on her lips Sunny froze, looking a little shocked. After putting her cup down however all five girls suddenly burst out into laughter. Indigo held her stomach while putting her head back, Lemon slammed her fist on the table and made the plates tremble again. Sunny and Sugarcoat were more reserved, but still chortled rather heavily for their standards. Sour, wiping a tear from her eyes casually threw a glance to the side. Her laughter then slowly died off, just as that of the other girls as they all took a look around.

The whole cafeteria had gone silent. No sound of clanking forks or spoons could be heard, while all conversations had stopped. Everybody in the hall was staring at their table, giving them puzzled, irritated, and slightly obnoxious looks.

Watched from all sides Sour began to feel rather uncomfortable, ducking herself a little under the table. “Why are they staring at us like that?” she whispered.

Sunny threw a cautious glance in all directions. “I… guess they are not used to seeing students chatting and laughing together at this school.”

The five girls all cast glances at the students staring at them, nobody saying a word. Only the beat of Lemon’s headphones slightly cut through the silence.

After a while Sugarcoat pushed up her glasses. “They’ve made it awkward.”

Partners in crime

The ringing of the school bell declared the end of the current lesson. Soon the various doors to the classrooms opened, flooding the corridors of Crystal Prep Academy with students. The books for her next lesson under her arm Sour Sweet walked down the clean and shining hallways, her image reflecting on nearly every surface. As she looked around, seeing the crystal pillars and decorations a slight shiver crept down her spine. It was all very pretty and beautiful, perfectly polished, and of course horrendously expensive. But at the same time the sleek ornaments, walls and floors also felt cold and sterile, even a little lifeless.

The chilly atmosphere was greatly emphasized by the students’ behavior and appearance, walking around in the their uniforms with cold looks on their faces. Despite lunch having been long over some still glared at Sour when she passed by. Every raised eyebrow and skeptical glance ticked her off a little more. All she had done was have a nice conversation, and now she was treated like she had started a fight or something! Sour wondered if the others were also treated like this – aside from sharing chemistry with Indigo and being in a handful of sports clubs together they didn’t really see each other often. Strangely, that thought was upsetting Sour slightly when it crossed her mind. The other girls all had their little issues – Sugarcoat’s bluntness, Lemon Zest’s habit to get absorbed in herself, Sunny’s slightly snobbish behavior and Indigo’s annoying pep speeches – but despite all of their flaws she found they were surprisingly nice. They all appeared so different from each other, Sour thought while walking around a corner, but maybe they had more in common than it seemed – who knew, if they weren’t in such a horrible school, they might even have become…

A door suddenly opened, cutting into her thoughts. Turning towards it Sour saw it belonged to one of the chemistry labs. A small girl with pink skin and purple hair dashed out of it in panic. Sour recognized her as Suri Polomare, one of the younger students at Crystal Prep. She didn’t know her personally, but she was famous for gaining an award at a competition for up-coming fashion designers – something that Principal Cinch, of course, had been very pleased with. However, there were rumors she had actually stolen the designs from a student of another school – something that Principal Cinch, of course, wasn’t very eager to investigate.

The little miracle student immediately closed the door behind her and stemmed herself against it. Her face full of fright she turned towards Sour. “You, you over there!” she called out. “You gotta help me!”

Sour raised an eye-brow, before smiling at the young girl. “Why, yes of course I’ll help you!” she chirped, before cynically asking: “You need help locking up your imaginary buddy?”

Suri threw a dark glance at Sour. “Hey, I’m not a baby, okay?” she hissed at her. Her anger quickly turned into worry however as something suddenly seemed to lunge against the door from inside the lab. Startled Sour took a step back, watching wide-eyed as the door buckled slightly behind Suri.

“What the…” Sour was about to ask what was going on when she saw white foam appearing in the window of the door. She watched in disbelief how the tower of bubbles rose ever higher, pushing with steadily more strength against the door.

“I tried an experiment from a higher class” Suri explained, pushing her small body as good as she could against the door. “I thought if I could impress Principal Cinch with this she might sign me a recommendation for an elite design school. But…” Another jolt was going through the door, making it dent further. “…something went wrong. Please, you gotta help me keep the foam in the lab so none of the teachers will notice!”

After digesting the shock Sour composed herself. “Aw, you poor little thing♥” she sobbed, looking pitifully at Suri. Wiping all signs of sympathy from her face she turned around. “Have fun cleaning up” she told her, waving as she continued towards her next class.

“HEY, don’t leave me like that!” Suri angrily yelled after her.

“Your mess, your problem” Sour simply replied. “You shouldn’t have tried shoes on too large for you.”

The young girl grunted. “Well thanks for nothing!” she shouted. Her anger however quickly vanished again as she felt the weight on the other side of the door increasing by the second. She tried to press herself more forcefully against it, but bit by bit the door was pushing open. Groaning in exhaustion Suri slowly was pushed away, her back slipping down the smooth surface of the door.

Sour wanted to keep on walking. She wanted to leave that little brat alone with the results of her failed experiment. Wanted to tell herself she deserved it. But instead she stopped in the middle of the corridor, and looked over her shoulder back at her. The face of the girl was full of fear, sweat rolling down her cheeks and forehead in thick drops. Looking up the door Suri watched in horror as the first bubbles squeezed through it, about to break free into the hallway.

Biting her lip Sour turned away again, but hesitated. She grit her teethn clenched her fingers around her books, closed her eyes. Her whole body trembled slightly. “OH DANG IT!” it suddenly broke out of her. Dropping her books she ran to the chemistry lab and pressed her hands against the door. It budged back inwards a bit, but Sour could feel the foam pushing back with growing force. “Gosh, what did you try to mix together in there?” Sour grunted. “Some kind of chemical weapon?!”

“Hey, this is an experiment from YOUR grade!” Suri yelled at her. “I just picked the one that looked the most complicated!”

The two girls fought against the foam, which was probably filling out most of the chemistry lab by then. While the extra strength of Sour seemed to help for a moment the door soon began to buckle even further.

“I… can’t… keep it shut… much longer!” Sour moaned.

Suri threw a glance up at the older student. A devious smirk crossed her face. “Your mess – your problem.” The door was pressing with even greater strength against Sour’s hands as Suri suddenly ran away, skipping down the hallway.

“HEY! COME BACK, YOU BRAT!” Sour shouted, angrily reaching a hand out to her. A jolt in the door however quickly made her put it back. More and more bubbles were squeezing out, the rift slowly enlarging as the door pressed open. Sour kept pushing, angrily grunting. “Oh, that was so kind of you♥” Sour said to herself, her sweet voice sounding more forced than usual as she stemmed her hands against the door. “You helped a poor little girl and now you will probably get kicked out of school for it. WELL DONE!”

Under the door a puddle was forming, and some kind of liquid slowly seeped into the corridor. Sour’s feet began to slide backwards, and her arms were starting to feel numb.

“Sour?” she suddenly heard a familiar voice. Glancing with one eye to the side she saw Indigo Zap standing in the hallway, looking rather dazed at her. “What are you doing there?” she asked, putting one hand on her hip.

Without turning her head Sour quickly replied: “Long story short, there is a lot of foam in there and I get into deep trouble if it comes out!”

At first Indigo just blankly stared at her. Then she grinned. “CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!” she declared, raising her fist into the air. Throwing herself right next to Sour she pushed her shoulder against the door. Some of the pressure was lift, but it still kept on opening slowly.

“We’re not gonna make it!” Sour cried.

“Not with that attitude!” Indigo called back.

Down the hallway then Sour and Indigo could hear a beat approaching. From around the corner Lemon Zest appeared, humming and bopping her head to the music from her headphones. At first she didn’t notice the two girls’ struggle, almost walking past them. Only when she randomly threw a glance to the side she saw what was going on, and stopped in her tracks. “DUDE!” she exclaimed, taking off her headphones. “What kind of party is going on here?”

“The kind that will get us in a lot of trouble!” Sour replied.

Lemon hesitated a moment, but then put on a confident look. “That’s always been my favorite kind of party!” she smirked, putting her headphones around her neck. Indigo and Sour made her some room as she pushed with her back against the door. It closed a little, but all three of them could feel the pressure of the foam from the other side, the entire door window only showing bubbles at this point.

“What the heck’s going on?!” Lemon asked. “This stuff is tougher than the bouncers who kicked me from that disco last week!”

“There was this girl who tried some experiment she didn’t understand” Sour explained with short breath. “I tried to help her…” she said sweetly “…and she left me with her mess!” she finished sourly.

“I guess you are talking about Suri Polomare?” The three girls turned their heads, seeing Sugarcoat standing in the hallway alongside Sunny Flare. Her arms were crossed in front of her chest, staring through her glasses with her usual, slightly unfriendly look at them. “This sounds like something an overly ambitious and ill-hearted girl like her would do, at least according to the very accurate rumors I’ve heard” she told them.

“Exactly” Sunny agreed, nodding her head in approval. “Everybody knows you can’t trust that girl, no matter how cute she is and how eloquently she dresses – outside of school I mean.”

“Not that most other students at this school wouldn’t have left you alone” Sugarcoat added. “So I guess it doesn’t really matter if she is a backstabber and cheater.”

“Good point” Sunny admitted, putting a finger on her chin.

Sour sharply glared at the two. “If you’re just standing there to sound smart, GET LOST!”

Sunny and Sugarcoat looked at the three girls fighting against the foam, then at each other, before Sugarcoat let out a deep sigh. “I’m going to regret this” she stated as she walked over to them. She knelt down in front of the door, careful not to step into the puddle, and began pushing with her arms.

Scratching her chin Sunny watched as the four girls pressed their bodies against the door. After observing them for a moment she quickly dashed over, taking position next to Sugarcoat. “You SO owe me for this!” she told them as she stemmed her back against the door.

All five students moaned and groaned as they tried to keep the door closed. It continued to bend despite all their efforts however, even the glass window becoming slightly convex as the foam pressed against it from the other side.

“This is too hardcore!” Lemon screamed, sweat rolling down her face.

“I… can’t… take much more!” Sunny winced, her back aching from the pressure.

“Yes you can!” Indigo shouted, trying to muster more strength into her shoulder. “The Shadowbolts… won’t surrender… to a few bubbles!”

“That would be nice if it were true” Sugarcoat said, the exhaustion audible even in her voice. “But I doubt a pep speech will help us stop the mountains of foam forming behind that-“

“JUST PUSH!” Sour screamed.

The girls put all their force into it. None of them noticed how the puddle kept spreading out from under the door, until the liquid was all around their feet. Then, just as the door seemed like it would give in to the girls’ attempts all five of them suddenly slipped simultaneously. They shrieked in unison as they slid off the door, unable to keep it shut any longer. The moment the pressure was lift it swung open and released the towers of foam from the chemistry lab. Like an avalanche the bubbles rolled into the corridor, right over the five girls. Burying them completely the foam kept spreading out into the hallway, filling out the entire area in front of the chemistry lab from wall to wall.

For a moment silence lay over the place. After a while the girls slowly emerged from the white mountains. Sugarcoat looked rather annoyed at the bubbles covering her body, trying to wipe them off her uniform. Sunny was the most distressed, even a little disgusted. Squealing she jumped to her feet, waggling around as if she had spotted some sort of vermin. Indigo groaned slightly as she got up, a huge pile of foam on her head. A little dazzled she rubbed her head, even more when Lemon Zest appeared in front of her with a foamy Santa Claus beard covering most of her face. Lying flat on the floor Sour got up on her knees. Feeling rather groggy her eyes were staring at the ground, following the trail of foam in front of her as she slowly raised her head. At the edge of the foam, where the floor was showing the clean smooth crystal floor of the school again she saw a pair of sharp high-heels, one of them angrily stepping on the tiles.

A horrible suspicion arose in Sour, one that seemed to confirm the further she looked up, spotting a familiar skirt and blazer. Her heart beat faster as she stared up right into Principal Cinch’s stern face, Dean Cadence standing behind her. While the dean seemed more shocked and worried about the students than anything, the look the principal was throwing through her glasses on the five girls seemed less concerned but rather furious, Sour watching as Cinch’s brows knitted even more than usually.

The lips of Sour, Sunny, Sugarcoat, and Indigo curled up into big nervous smiles – Lemon’s too, but it wasn’t apparent behind her foam beard.

Detention fellows

The shutters in the detention room of Crystal Prep Academy were always half-closed, creating a rather gloomy atmosphere. At the desk at the front the teacher was sitting, dressed like most teachers at the school in a simple blazer and skirt. A pair of small rectangular glasses was sitting on her pointy nose, which were mostly cast on a book lying in front of her on the desk. Every once in a while though she lifted her glance to look at the five girls sitting in the front row of the room, the only students currently inside.

Her head resting on her fist Sour Sweet stared out of the window. Despite the low shutters she could still see the courtyard in front of the school. With a slightly bitter look in her eyes she watched the students leave the building and head for the busses. They were mostly by themselves, only a handful of small groups walking around, even less who looked like they were talking with each other. Sour grunted, before slowly turning her gaze to the other side. Next to her Indigo Zap was sitting, followed by Lemon Zest, Sugarcoat and Sunny Flare. Indigo had crossed her arms on the table and put her head on top, staring in boredom at the chalkboard. Lemon seemed very uncomfortable without her headphones – occasionally she tried to tap a beat with her hands or feet, but immediately froze whenever the teacher glared at her. Sugarcoat was looking just as disinterested in everything as usual with her arms crossed in front of her chest, while Sunny leaned her arms against her table and let out a sigh from time to time. After observing them for a moment Sour took a look up at the clock hanging above the door.

Their detention had lasted two minutes.

Sour dropped her head onto the table, moaning so loud the teacher gave her a cold glance. A bit embarrassed she looked away, back to girls sitting next to her. “Well, doesn’t it feel nice to do a good deed?” she asked with a quiet, very sweet voice, before angrily furrowing her brows. “And now we have the whole afternoon to relish in the feeling.”

Without raising her head Indigo sharply glared at her. “And who do we have to thank for that?” she asked cynically, keeping her voice low. “Why did you try to help that brat? You know she is a total backstabber and grump!”

“That’s right!” Sunny whispered from across the seats, leaning a little forward. “And she is several classes below us - it’s not like she could do something for you in return.”

“It was actually very stupid to stay there in the first place” Sugarcoat remarked. “A teacher was bound to come by eventually, and you didn’t have a plan what to do with all the foam in the lab anyway. You should have left before anyone came by instead of staying and trying to convince the teachers you only wanted to help a younger student.”

Sour put on a big smile. “I’m so sorry I didn’t see the dean and principal coming from around the corner with the eyes on the back of my head” she replied, then frowned. “I don’t remember any of you saw them coming, too.”

“Will you shut it?” Lemon suddenly said, barely able to keep her voice down. “I’m trying to remember the melody to one of my favorite songs! Gosh, I really wish I had my headphones…”

Raising her head from her book the teacher glanced at the girls. They nervously smiled at her, until she cast her eyes back on her book.

“This is all Sour’s fault” Sugarcoat whispered, earning an approving nod from Sunny, Lemon and Indigo. “If she didn’t try to help that little brat we wouldn’t be here.”

“Hey, don’t blame me!” Sour hissed at them, cautious not to speak too loud. “It’s not like I asked you to help me!”

“Well, I hope you’re happy” Indigo murmured, her head still on her arms. “Now we're gonna waste our last free afternoon sitting around. I’ll miss my training because of this! Which means the rest of the team will slack off without me motivating them!”

“You mean without you yelling at them to train harder” Sunny mumbled, slumping in her chair. “But I can kind of relate - I’m gonna miss my piano lesson.”

Lemon rolled her eyes. “And here goes Miss Fancy again...”

The look Sunny threw at Lemon looked like she wanted to bore a hole into her with her eyes. “I should have let the teacher take away your headphones” she growled. “Maybe you would finally stop running through school like you’re deaf then.”

“But then I wouldn’t “oooowe youuuu oooone”, right?” Lemon Zest mocked her. “This is all that matters to you, right? You act like you are sooo generous, but then you make everyone pay you back double and triple!”

“Well, this is how it works darling” Sunny replied, putting up her nose. “You do something nice to someone, and they’ll repay you one day.”

“Then it was rather stupid to help us close the door by that logic” Sugarcoat told her. “Because if you think about it the benefits you could gain from this didn’t really add up to the risk of getting caught and-“

She was cut off, but surprisingly not by Sunny. “Can’t you just keep quiet for five minutes without shoving everybody’s mistakes into their faces?” Indigo asked, gritting her teeth in annoyance.

Sugarcoat adjusted her glasses. “I could, if other people would actually make no mistakes for five consecutive minutes” the girl with the triple pigtail replied. “And I’m actually doing all of you a favor. By pointing out your flaws you can work on correcting them so- ”

“Blablablabla!” Lemon Zest now mocked Sugarcoat, moaning out loud. “Jeez, usually only hot air and cheesy pep speeches come out of Indigo’s mouth, but she’s so right about ya!”

Indigo raised her head. “Hey what’s supposed to mean?” she asked, turning her anger towards the green-haired girl. “Am I a dork just because I show some school spirit?”

“Well duuuh!” Lemon replied. “You go around through school, shouting “Crystal Prep this” and “Shadowbolts that”, “we are so awesome”, “No one can beat us” – and all of that just so people join your sports teams and you can hang another trophy over your bedroom! It’s almost more worse than our little Miss Fancy and Sugarbabe here combined!”

Placing her elbows on the table Sour folded her hands, putting her chin on her fingers. “Oh wow Lemon, you must have super good ears♥” Sour complimented her with a lovely look in her eyes. “How else would you hear Indigo’s pep babble, Sugarcoat’s smart-aleck rants and Sunny’s snobbish gibberish over the noise of your earphones all the time?”

All eyes turned towards Sour. “Shut it, two-face” they said in unison, evilly glaring at her. Sour returned their stares, about to snap something back. A sudden crash almost made the girls jump up from their chairs. Startled they all stared at the front where the teacher had slammed her book against the desk, obviously seething with anger.

She seemed like she was about to scold the girls, when the door to the room opened. The girls were blinded slightly as the light from the hallway streamed into the dim room. Shielding her eyes Sour then recognized the silhouette standing in the door, holding a clipboard under her arm.

“Dean Cadence!” the teacher said in surprise, pushing up her glasses slightly. “W-what brings you here?”

The dean smiled, looking first at the teacher and then at the students as she spoke: “I have talked with Principal Cinch about what happened earlier. We came to an understanding that the sentence was a little too harsh on the students, considering nothing harmful leaked out of the chemistry lab. Also, we acknowledge they wanted to improve on their chemistry skills outside of class, even if it was without permission. So, we decided to cancel the detention, and leave it with a formal warning. You girls are free to go.”

Sour immediately sat up, her face brightening. Indigo also straightened herself, clenching her fist in joy, while Sunny let out a sigh of relief and Lemon looked like she was about to shout in cheer – even Sugarcoat, while not as enthusiastic as the rest seemed happy she didn't have to sit the whole afternoon in that room.

The teacher incredulously looked at the dean. “That is rather strange” she remarked. “It is uncommon for Principal Cinch to show so much consideration.”

Dean Cadence looked a little like she was trying not to smile even wider. “Well, maybe it did help I mentioned it wouldn’t benefit the school’s reputation if five of our top students and athletes spent their time in detention instead of learning for school.” She pulled out a sheet of paper from the clipboard. “Here is the official order of the principal, if you want to check it for yourself.”

The teacher stood up, walking over to the dean. Taking the paper from her hand she gave it a thorough inspection. Nervously the students watched her. Sour grabbed the edge of her table, tightly clinging her fingers around it. Indigo was leaning over hers, while Lemon tapped with her fingers on the bottom of her chair. Sunny bit her lip in anticipation, and Sugarcoat grabbed the fabric of her sleeve a little tighter.

Eventually the teacher put the document down, looking at the five students. “You’re free to go” she told them, walking back to her desk to grab her things. In unison the tense students relaxed. Big smiles formed on their faces. "WOOHOO!!" Lemon screamed, nearly tossing her chair over as she leapt into the air.

After-school companions

It didn't take long for the five girls to pick their things and step out of the gloomy detention room into the bright hallway. Dean Cadence and the teacher followed, the latter quickly heading for the exit.

“Thanks, Dean Cadence” Sunny told the dean, smiling a little sheepishly at her. “We… owe you one, I guess.”

Closing the door behind her Dean Cadence warmly smiled at the students. “Oh, not at all!” she replied, a cheerful ring in her voice. “In fact, I feel like I should be the one thanking you.”

The girls threw confused looks at each other. “Us?” Indigo repeated.

“Yes!” the dean nodded. “Helping one of your fellow students is something seen much too rarely at this school.”

The confusion in their faces turned into surprise. “Wait, you believe us?” Lemon asked.

Again the dean nodded. “But of course I do! There was no reason for you to randomly stir up some chemicals in that lab – and even if, you girls are too competent in chemistry to create such a chaos. Also, I know Suri Polomare had been trying to get the principal’s approval to transfer into a design school, so your story she wanted to impress her seems plausible. Of course, we will never be able to prove it was actually her who caused that incident, but that doesn’t change the value of your deed.” Her smile grew even warmer and brighter. “You tried to support her when she was in trouble, and then helped each other out. I think such a display of friendship and comradeship should be encouraged!” She then averted their eyes, pulling her clipboard closely around her. “So… giving you detention for something so noble just didn’t feel right.”

Embarrassed the quintet blushed. “W-well, it was no big deal” Sour said softly, although she quietly whispered to herself: “Even though we nearly wasted a whole afternoon for it.”

The dean pulled out a set of keys from her skirt, and locked up the detention room. “I have some more work to do” she told them after putting the keys back into her pocket. She turned into the direction of her office, waving them a quick goodbye before she walked away. “I hope you enjoy the rest of the day, girls! There is nothing better but to spend an afternoon with your friends.”

Sour and the others watched her go down the hallway, until she vanished behind a corner. Once she was gone they exchanged some glances, appearing somewhat lost and guilty.

After a while Sugarcoat opened her mouth. “Yeah yeah, we know” Indigo cut her off before she had the chance to speak. “It’s awkward.”

Sour cleared her throat, looking a little shameful at the others. “Hey, um, I’m sorry about what I said in there” she apologized, nervously rubbing her shoulder. “I really appreciate you tried to help me there, and… I’m sorry you almost got dragged into trouble for it.”

For a moment the others were taken aback. “There is no need to be sorry” Sugarcoat eventually stated, pushing her glasses up her nose a bit. “We acted on our own without you asking for it. We shouldn’t have complained in the first place.”

Indigo sighed, but with a smirk. “You know what’s the worst about you?” she asked Sugarcoat. “That you’re always right.”

Sunny giggled. “Sometimes I wonder if she only tells the truth or if reality bends around her and makes everything she says come true” she mused.

Meanwhile Lemon Zest took out her headphones. The moment she put them over her ears and switched on her player loud punk rock music could be heard all around her again, Lemon putting on a big satisfied grin. “Ah, much better!” she sighed, leading to a chuckle from the others.

They all began to get moving, walking down the hallway towards the exit. “Will you be in time for your training?” Sour asked Indigo. The blue-haired girl took a look at one of the clocks hanging in the corridor.

“I’ll be a few minutes too late” she replied, adding with a grin: “I doubt though any of my teammates will be mad – they’re probably happy I didn’t show up already and started the warm-ups.”

“What team is it?” Sunny asked. “Soccer? Marathon?”

“It’s actually the rowing team” Indigo replied. “I’ll have to catch the bus to the port.”

“You gotta to go far for your piano lesson?” Lemon asked, lowering the volume of her music a little.

“It’s downtown” she answered. “If I hurry I might catch the next bus.”

“You don’t need to rush” Sugarcoat told her. “Somebody didn't take a curve tight, and now half of downtown is blocked. No bus that comes or goes there currently has less than five minutes delay.”

“Really? Thanks Sugarcoat!” Sunny smiled. Sugarcoat seemed surprised by her reaction.

“You’re… just gonna trust me on this?” she asked her. “I could lie to you so you don’t catch your bus.”

Sour giggled. “If there is one person in this school you can rely on it’s you” she told Sugarcoat in her honey-voice, before adding a little more grime: “Even if it’s just at blatantly pointing at what everybody else is doing wrong.”

The others laughed. Frowning Sugarcoat first seemed like she wanted to respond something. However, after pondering for a moment her face softened, and she simply shrugged her shoulders. “That’s not the worst reputation I guess” she said.

“Tis better than being known as the doofus who never gets what happens around her because of her headphones” Lemon stated.

“Or the annoying girl who runs around shouting “GO SHADOWBOLTS” for no reason” Indigo added.

“Or the snob who only helps others if it benefits her” Sunny remarked.

Sour put on a bright look. “Or the girl who acts half of the time like she is a cute little angel” she chippered, before her face slumped into a grumpy grimace. “…and the other half is an old hag who hates everything and everyone around her.”

All of them laughed happily as they reached the large doors of the school. Once they had stepped out of the building however their laughter quickly died off. Instead of feeling the freedom the release into the fresh air after a day at school usually brought, they all seemed a little down. In front of them was the courtyard, with some students still waiting for their busses, or just standing around. There were some groups, but they didn’t look very cheerful – at best their expressions were snarky, as if they were making fun of someone. Standing on top of the stairs the five girls silently glanced at each other. The only sound came from their environment and Lemon’s headphones.

“Well, I’m on my way then” Indigo eventually broke the silence, sounding not very enthusiastic. Walking down the stairs she took off to the right, waving at the others. “See you gals tomorrow!”

Sunny pulled a little uncomfortably on her collar. “I should also not slack too much, delay or not” she told them. She also got on her way, heading left after stepping down the stairs. “Um… have a pleasant afternoon!” she called out.

“I’m also off” Sugarcoat said. It was subtle, but her voice seemed to have a sad ring to it. “There is a math test tomorrow, so I intend to learn a bit more for it.” She also went left after taking the stairs, but not quite as much as Sunny.

Only Sour and Lemon remained at the doors. The punk music got louder as Lemon turned up the volume again. “Got stuff to do” was all she said to Sour before also walking away, in a direction between Sugarcoat’s and Indigo’s.

Standing alone in front of the school Sour looked after the other four girls heading off in different directions. Her hand stroke over her neck in discomfort, while she bit her lower lip. After watching the others slowly leave for a moment she took in a deep breath.

“W-wait!”

Sugarcoat, Lemon, Sunny and Indigo stopped. Turning their heads they saw Sour skipping down the stairs. She was smiling, but seemed somewhat uncomfortable. “I, um… I just thought it might be a good idea if we, well…” Sour could feel her freckled cheeks blushing, while her eyes were avoiding eye-contact as she fumbled for the right words. “Y-you know, it was kind of fun today talking and goofing around with you, and it was really nice you tried to help me earlier, so I thought maybe, perhaps, possibly…”

The other four girls began to grow impatient. “Get to the point!” Indigo demanded.

Instead of making a snide remark Sour ducked a little, crossing her hands behind her back while looking at the ground. “Like, hang around some time?” she asked, shyly raising her glance. “W-when we all have time? Maybe tomorrow after school? If the extra homweork isn't too much? Is that okay with you all?”

She glanced at the others, waiting for a reply. They quietly stared back at her, eyes wide in surprise. Inside her stomach Sour could feel a tornado of butterflies tying a knot. “Good job” she could hear her sweet voice in her head, before the sour one continued: “You successfully embarrassed yourself.” She was about to walk away with her head down, when suddenly a voice broke the silence again.

“Weeeeeell” Indigo said, sounding a little insecure while her hand went through her blue hair. “Our rowing team is actually in a rather good shape, and the season won’t start before next week, so…” A smile hushed over her face. “I guess I could let my team off the hook for today.”

Sour straightened herself, staring at Indigo. “Actually” she then heard Sunny say, turning her head to see she was nervously tapping her feet on the ground. “My piano lesson isn’t THAT important… I mean I don’t have to perfom anytime soon, so… it wouldn’t be so tragic if I “missed” my bus” she winked at Sour.

Staring at the street Sugarcoat adjusted her glasses. “Thinking about it I have probably learned enough already to certainly score a B in math tomorrow. I could go for an A with some extra effort, but…” She glanced over at Sour, showing her an unusually soft smile. “I guess I could also take the rest of the day off.”

Feeling the tension inside her dissolve Sour Sweet’s heart made a small jump. The four girls looked friendlily at each other, genuine smirks on their faces. All eyes then were cast on Lemon Zest. Crossing her arms she glared back at Sour, music banging from her headphones. With a sigh she them took off, hanging them around her shoulders. “Oh all right” she said. “It’s not like I got anything better to do. But say, you got actually a clue what we should do?”

Sour pondered about Lemon’s question. “Um, I dunno” she admitted. “What do you guys usually do after school when you have no obligations?”

“Train till I drop!” Indigo shouted, raising a fist into the air.

“Enjoy the beauty of classic literature” Sunny replied, stroking through her hair with her head held high.

“PARTY REAL HARD!” Lemon Zest yelled, lifting both arms up in the air.

“Tell strangers on the street what they are doing wrong” Sugarcoat stated without making a signature pose.

Sour’s smile became a little more nervous again. “These all sound like really great hobbies♥” she chirped, before continuing more dryly: “Buuut I think I just thought of something that might be fun for all of us.”

Playground buddies

If they had been staring at a prehistorical landscape full of dinosaurs and volcanos the sight in front of the five girls couldn’t have been stranger. Sour had led the group behind the school building, near the corner of the school property. In front of them was a square sandbox, a bit larger than one of the classrooms. Several constructs made out of metal and plastic were standing in the sand. While their elegant design fit the rest of Crystal Prep Academy their function couldn’t have stood in greater contrast to its strict educational principles: A pair of swing seats, a rotating carousel, a slide, a climbing frame and monkey bars were right in front the five Shadowbolts, the girls curiously looking at them.

“A playground?” Sunny asked, throwing a skeptical glance at Sour. “You know we are high school students, right?”

Sour crossed her arms in front of her chest. “Well, sorry it’s no Shakespeare theatre” she answered with cynical friendliness.

Walking up to the rotating carousel Lemon spun it slightly. “Didn’t even know the school had a playground” she admitted. “Cinch doesn’t really seem like the type to get all cozy and warm when watching children play and laugh.”

“Any school with a significant amount of students under the age of 13 is obligated to have one” Sugarcoat remarked while running her finger over the monkey bars. Either she took no notice or didn’t care about the others giving her weird glances for knowing something like this. "This may be a high school, but because a lot of so self-claimed prodigies who skipped classes go to Crystal Prep we are within the quota I guess."

Indigo jumped on one of the swing seats, pulling the goggles on her head over her eyes. “Woo-hoo!” she shouted, swinging herself forth and back as she was steadily going higher. “Watch me go for the summersault!”

With a big grin on her face Lemon jumped on the carousel. “Time to get diiiiiiiiizzzzzzzzyyyyyyy!” she yelled, pushing the platform to its maximal speed with her feet while holding on to the bars on the edge.

Watching the two Sunny rolled her eyes. She then turned her attention towards the climbing frame, a barred box slightly smaller than she was made out of iron bars. She ran her hands over the perfectly blue lacquer painted on the metal. “This thing must get maintained regularly” she noted. “And it all looks pretty expensive. But I never see any children play here.”

“They don’t have time” Sour explained, standing in front of the slide. “Like us the kids at Crystal prep spend all their time here learning or for extra-curricular activities. And once they are finally out of school they immediately go home or into the library to do their homework. I don’t think anyone has ever played here in years.”

Indigo put her feet into the sand, slowing herself down until she stopped. “Then why does Cinch keep it in such a good shape?” she asked, putting her goggles back on top of her head.

Sour shrugged. “She probably thinks if the school needs to have a playground for children, it should be up to Crystal Prep standards – even if nobody ever uses it.”

Not being pushed anymore the carousel steadily decelerated. Lemon leaned her arms against the bars while kneeling down on the platform. “So, why did you want us to get here?” she asked, moving her head to keep her eyes on Sour as the carousel still turned. “We’re supposed to play around here, swing on the bars and stuff?”

“Maybe she wants to correct her horrible childhood” Sugarcoat theorized, leaning against the monkey bars.

Groaning Sour sat down on the end of the slide. “I just thought we could hang around here a bit” she told them, slightly offended. “Like, I dunno, just talk, goof around, laugh – like we did in school earlier. We barely know each other, so I thought we could hang around a bit to get to change that.”

The others curiously glanced at her. After a while Sunny let out a sigh. “I’m not really sure about all of this, to be honest” she told them, pulling herself up the climbing frame and sitting down on it. She kicked her legs in the air, her eyes cast on the sand. “I mean, we’ve been going to this school since how many years? But aside from some sports events and competitions with other schools, we’ve never really spend time together – it's not just we barely know each other, we’re basically strangers!”

“Well, that’s how it is at Crystal Prep” Indigo stated, hanging her arms around the chains of the swing seat. “The most social interaction I get is with the gals and guys of my sports clubs.”

“I never cared about social interaction” Lemon openly said. Raising her hands she moved them in front of her body, playing on an air guitar. “I was always happy just dancing to my own beat!” she yelled with a big grin plastered in her face. Her guitar riff however abruptly ended. “But somehow that has been a little boring to me lately” she mumbled, dropping her arms and smile. “I mean I still like walking around with my headphones, but… it just doesn’t cut it anymore.”

Indigo nodded, a little sad. “I know what you mean. When I’m with my teammates, it’s always just about how awesome we are, how to get better, how to win the next competition, how to break the next record – it never bothered me, but since a while… it’s not enough anymore. I want something else, something… more!”

“We want friendship” Sunny spoke it out. “REAL friendship. Sure, students here also occasionally meet up or spent time outside of school. But it’s more like partnerships to gain something, an award or a better grade. Even at parties it’s more about social status than anything. Just hanging around for fun isn’t really something that’s done at Crystal Prep.” Raising her glance she looked at the others in confusion. “We’ve been living like that in this school for years, doing all that without caring! Why do we suddenly all want to be friends? What has changed?”

Sour, Lemon and Indigo looked up at the sky, pondering. “There were the friendship games” Sugarcoat’s voice cut through their thoughts. They all turned towards the girl with the three pigtails, standing with her back against the monkey bars, arms and legs crossed. “Maybe what happened there has brought us closer together” she wondered aloud, speaking as fast and dry as usual. “And the friendly and cheerful attitude of the CHS student body might have rubbed off on us.”

Indigo briefly mustered Sugarcoat. “Yeah, definitely on you” she commented, leaning back and stretching out her legs as if she wanted to swing again. “You’re basically overflowing with the spirit of friendship.”

Sugarcoat adjusted her glasses. “Actually… I think I am.”

With a loud shriek Indigo fell backwards. Dropping off the seat she landed with her back in the sand, legs pointing straight up at the sky. “S-seriously?” she stuttered, staring rather surprised at Sugarcoat as she got back on the swing seat.

Sugarcoat shrugged. “I didn’t spend much time with you girls yet, but when I think about it, they are already some of the fonder experiences I have made” she stated nonchalent.

Sunny raised an eye-brow. “Some locker and lunch banter were some of the best memories in your whole life?” she asked.

For a brief second Sugarcoat blushed slightly. “At this school” she clarified, looking a little embarrassed away from the others.

Glancing around the other girls Sour put on a big smile. “So, what do you guys think?” she asked.

As the carousel was coming to a complete halt Lemon put a hand on her head. “I think I shouldn’t have spun around so fast” she murmured, her complexion matching her hair-colour.

Sour frowned. “I meant about us hanging out as friends.”

Back on the swing seat Indigo placed her chin on her hand, her elbow resting on her lap. “I dunno” she replied. “Would definitely be neat to not to just hang around with people outside of a sports club. I just don’t know if I have time for another ‘team’, you know. My afternoons are pretty booked with training and homework.”

“And with all the extra lessons and homework free time is getting sparser for us than ever” Sugarcoat reminded them.

“We could form a study group” Sunny suggested. “If we did homework together we’d save time and see each other more often.”

Despite her dizziness Lemon lay down on her back, her head hanging up-side down over the platform. “Yeah, that sounds like fun” she moaned. “Learning together. Let’s just go party on weekends.”

“I’ve been once on a party with you” Indigo said, looking a little annoyed at her. “You danced all by yourself the whole night and wrecked half of the furniture because you were totally absorbed in yourself until they kicked you out.”

“THAT’S THE BEST WAY TO PARTY!!!” Lemon screamed, grinning widely.

Sugarcoat massaged her temple. “Realistically, we don’t even share a lot of common interests” she said. “It is unlikely our friendship would last long.”

Sunny, Indigo and Lemon dropped their heads. Sour looked at the other, seeing the resignation in their faces. “Why, aren’t you all just sun-shines?” she chirped, then rolled her eyes. “Could you all just for one second stop being so negative?”

“But she’s right” Sunny sighed. “I mean, we don’t even have many classes together – how are we supposed to be friends when we barely see each other?”

Sitting on the bottom of the slide Sour saw how everyone down and depressed was. Her brows furrowed in anger. She jumped up to her feet, all eyes turning to her as she stood straight with her hands on her hips. “So, that’s it then?” she asked them loudly, fury and disappointment in her voice. “We all just admitted we want to be friends, but because it might not work out and we don’t see each other very often, we just let it be? Giving up without even trying – that’s really inspiring♥” she smiled at Indigo, the blue-haired girl avoiding eye-contact as her look turned into a disapproving. “You motivate all your teams like that?”

She threw her arms into the air. “But what do I know? I’m just an immature little girl who wants to hang around on a playground - instead of sitting in my room alone, listening to classic music and thinking I’m sooooo much better and more cultivated than everyone else.” Biting her lip Sunny cast her gaze downwards.

In front of the slide Sour began to walk up and down. “Let’s forget that crazy idea to be friends and just keep having fun on our own” she went on, Lemon feeling a knot in her stomach tying up with each word she spoke. “…because it’s WAAAAY better to stay in our own little world all by ourselves than spending time with others!”

She turned towards the school building, showing her back to the others. “It’s just as Sugarcoat said: This friendship won’t work. And because Sugarcoat said it, it has to be true, so why even bother?♥”

With a loud moan she marched off. “I’m heading to archery training” she said with an angry ring in her voice. Walking away she raised a hand. “Sorry for wasting your time with this stupid friendship idea.” Stomping off in anger grains of sand splashed around her feet with every step. Sour had just stepped with one foot out of the playground when a voice called after her.

“You should learn to quote people!” Stopping Sour turned her head around, looking at a quite furious Sugarcoat. Her eye-brows were knit so far it looked like her glasses could slip off her nose any second. “I didn’t say it couldn’t work” she spoke in an even for her very fast and very hostile manner. “I just said it’s unlikely our friendship would last long. So, if it fails none of us would have wasted much time with it, and if it succeeds, we all got four friends we can spend time and have fun with to make the tortures of this school a lot more bearable.” Her expression suddenly softened, a warm smile taking over her face. “So actually, I don’t see a reason not to try it.”

Sitting up straight on the swing seat Indigo grinned. “Slim chances, huh? Barely a possibility to win?” Vigorously she jumped up, raising her fist into the sky. “CHALLENGE ACCEPTED! We’re gonna pull off this friendship thing, even if I have to drag all of you through it!”

Putting a hand on her chin Sunny sighed, but with a smirk on her face. “Sounds like we don’t really have a choice then” she remarked. She kicked her legs in the air again, in a somewhat cheerful manner. “Okay, I’ll give it a go. Who knows, maybe I might even be able to rub off some of my eloquence on you all.”

Still lying on her back Lemon looked around, seeing all the friendly and warm smiles (although from her position they were upside down). “Er, whatever” she eventually shrugged. “I’m not someone to spoil a party.” She paused, thinking for a moment. “Weeell, at least not before it started. LET’S ROCK THIS!” she shouted in excitement, rolling around and getting on her feet.

Sour looked at the others. While she was joyful about their responses a part of her seemed not completely convinced they were really serious. “You all really mean it?” she asked, skeptically crossing her arms. “You really want us all to be… friends?”

Leaping off from the climbing frame Sunny approached Sour. Standing in front of her she held out her hand with her palm pointing downwards, quietly smiling at her. One by one Indigo, Sugarcoat and Lemon also walked over, putting their hands on top of Sunny’s. Their gazes were all cast on Sour.

For a few more seconds doubt gleamed in Sour Sweet’s eyes. A smile then suddenly flashed over her face – not as artificially wide and hollow like her smiles often were, but warm and genuine. Unfolding her arms she placed her hand on top of the others.

Exchanging warm glances the five girls stood there silently for a moment, holding their hands together. After a while however they could feel how one hand was slightly twitching in the pile. All eyes turned towards Indigo Zap. Her smile was a little nervous, her lips twitching as if she was trying to hold something back.

“Oh, all right” Sour said, rolling her eyes. She still kept on smiling though. “But don’t think we are gonna do this everytime!”

Indigo’s smile turned into a big grin again. All five girls took in a deep breath. In unison they raised their hands, holding them up towards the sky.

“LET’S GO, SHADOWBOLTS!”

Classmates

The pen of Dean Cadence tapped on the clipboard on her desk. Quietly she mustered the five students sitting across her: On the left Sugarcoat, unusually tense, her arms crossed over her chest and clenching her sleeves. Next to her Sunny Flare, who was sitting on her polished fingernails. The dean’s gaze changed to the right where Lemon Zest sat, the girl’s hands on her lap, one silently patting on her knee. Unusually the most noise was coming from the next to her, Indigo Zap nervously tapping on the bottom of her chair. All four of them held their heads low, glancing up at the dean with a hopeful, but also very uncomfortable look on their faces.

Dean Cadence then looked at the girl directly opposite to her on the other side of the desk. Sitting with her legs crossed and her hands folded on her knee as she tried to radiate self-confidence. It was obvious however she was probably the most nervous of them all, having to stare the dean directly into her eyes – they were nowhere as strict and hard as Principal Cinch’s, but there was still a slightly stern touch to her expression. For a while Dean Cadence silently looked at the student in front of her. The girl tried her best to hold her gaze. Eventually she cleared her throat.

“So, what do you say?” Sour Sweet asked, in the most pleasant sounding voice she was able to speak in. She and the other four girls looked with big puppy eyes at the dean.

Dean Cadence dropped her pen on the desk, letting it roll around until it bumped against a pile of papers. “Let me make sure I understand you correctly” she calmly began, crossing her arms on the desk. “You five girls come back into school after being released from detention, just to ask me if I am able change your classes so you can all go share the same ones?”

Slowly the five girls nodded. “That, um, would be very kind” Sunny said.

“Can you do it?” Indigo asked, leaning a little forward with her fist clenched tightly around her chair.

Dean Cadence picked up the clipboard lying in front of her. “I’m not sure, actually” she told them, looking over the document while rubbing her forehead. “Principal Cinch’s plan to add an additional lesson to each subject makes planning the time table currently quite a head-ache, to be honest. I’ve been at it for quite some time, and still have hours of work ahead of me. Moving five students with barely common classes into the same ones would basically force me to start all over again.” Dropping the clipboard she raised her glance back at the five students. “Is there a reason you want to change classes in the middle of the school year?” she asked them.

The girls looked at each other for a moment, unsure what to respond. “Well, we um, formed a study group!” Sunny eventually told her, forcing a stiff smile on her face. “And we thought if we all are in the same classes… well, we could cooperate better!”

“Y-yeah!” Indigo went on, trying to sound enthusiastic. “We thought we could, um, raise our grades like that, a-a-and help the school’s reputation!”

Lemon Zest nodded her head quickly. “Right!” she said. “All for one and… stuff!”

Dean Cadence raised an eyebrow. “Is that true?” she asked, fixing her gaze on Sugarcoat.

The blue-skinned girl gulped. The corners of her mouth rose higher than they probably ever did in her entire life, forming what was probably the mother of all awkward smiles. “Uuuummm” she brought out, keeping her head low. Small drops of sweat formed on Sugarcoat’s forehead. The others all were looking nervously at her. It seemed as if for her, keeping herself from bluntly telling the dean the truth was like asking her to hold her breath – and the truth seemed about to burst out of her mouth any second.

“OH FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!” Sour suddenly shouted, jumping up from her chair. Dean Cadence looked rather surprised as the girl slammed her hands against her desk, directly staring the dean into the eyes. “Listen Miss, we are sick and tired of how this school is only full of grumps and snobs who only care about themselves! We were at CHS, where everybody seems able to be good students AND have fun! So, we decided that we want to be friends – REAL friends – and that’s why we ask you to change us all into the same classes, so that we actually get to see each other more than five minutes a day and this whole friendship thing won’t fall apart BEFORE IT EVEN STARTED!”

Their jaws dropped the others blankly stared at Sour. She huffed and puffed, her face only hovering a few centimeters in front of the dean’s. After a moment of staring into the unwavering face of Dean Cadence her expression suddenly softened, a big uneasy grin plastered on her face. “Um, if you don’t mind that is♥” she quickly added in a darling voice, before hastily sitting back down.

Dean Cadence sternly stared at all of them. “Just to make sure I understand your point” she said strictly. “You want me to make changes to the time table for which I will probably have to work the whole night through, and the only reason is because you try to be friends?”

Sour swallowed. “So… is it okay?” she asked, cowering slightly.

All signs of sternness were wiped from the dean’s expression by a gracious smile. “It’ll be my pleasure.”

The five girls all looked up, smiling in surprise and happiness. “ALL RIGHT!” Lemon cheered, hopping up on her feet. “You’re a-ok, lady!” she yelled, pointing both hands at the dean. She then blushed, the pink hue of her cheeks turning darker. “Er, I mean, t-thank you very much, Dean Cadence” she mumbled, quickly sitting down again.

Chuckles erupted from the others, including the dean. “I can’t guarantee you will share every class” she explained them. “But I’m gonna do my best so that you will have at least three or four common lessons every day.” Overjoyed they were all about to pour the dean in their thanks, when she raised her index finger. “Under one condition!”

Irritated the girls stared at the dean. “Um, a condition?” Sour repeated, raising an eye-brow.

Pushing her chair back Dean Cadence stood up. Their eyes followed her as she walked around her desk, sitting down on the side. “I want you to try and spread this spirit of friendship you discovered throughout Crystal Prep Academy” she told them, crossing her legs. “This school has been a dark and gloomy place since a very long time now. It could really use a fresh breeze of air – a warm breeze, if possible.”

Sour glanced at the others, exchanging slightly confused looks with them.

“Well, I guess it would be nice if things here got a bit friendlier” Sunny then admitted, scratching the back of her head.

Sugarcoat wrinkled her nose. “Principal Cinch won’t approve of this” she stated with a frown.

“Duuuh” Lemon moaned, slumping in her chair. “She thinks a good atmosphere in a school is when everybody hates each other!”

Dean Cadence cleared her throat. “Well, this is more of an informal agreement, so Principal Cinch doesn’t have to know about this” she told them. “Also, while I know the principal can be rather…difficult, if we manage to show her excellence and friendship don’t have to rule each other out, maybe she will change her mind. Besides, even she can hardly forbid friendship among students.” She looked anticipant at the five students. “So, do we have a deal?”

“How do you know we keep our part?” Sugarcoat asked.

“Yeah!” Lemon agreed, looking curiously at the dean. “You gonna walk through the school with a friendship-meter or something?”

Standing up again Dean Cadence walked back to her chair. “I simply have to trust you will do your best” she replied while sitting down. She then paused, pondering for a moment. “But you could write me regular reports” she suggested “About how well you are doing with your progress of spreading friendship at the school, and about the experiences you make while you deepen yours.”

“You mean some sort of friendship reports?” Sunny asked, sounding a little doubtful of the idea.

“Sounds like something from a cartoon for little girls” Indigo moaned, apparently not very thrilled. She placed her elbow on her leg, putting her head on her hand while grabbing her knee with the other one. “And it’d probably be easier to climb up a ten thousand feet tall mountain with bare hands than trying to turn this school into some place decent…”

Sour turned her head. “What’s wrong, captain?” she asked Indigo, smiling defiantly at her. “Not up for the challenge?”

After staring at her for a moment Indigo smirked back. “Well, as you said earlier Canterlot High did manage to compete with us AND be nice to each other” she declared, sitting up straight on her chair. “If some guys and gals from a random high school can pull that off, the Shadowbolts of Crystal Prep Academy can do it even better!” Getting on her feet she pumped her fist into the air. “We’ll show them we’re gonna be the best of academics, best of athletics, AND the best of friends!” she yelled, her voice beaming with confidence and enthusiasm.

Sour giggled, before turning her eyes at the others. Sunny, Sugarcoat and Lemon were not quite as excited as Indigo, but in their expressions she could clearly read they all agreed with her. Standing up Sour leaned over the desk, reaching a hand out to the dean. “I’d say we have a deal” she replied, a wide grin on her face.

Dean Cadence stared up at Sour, also smiling. Gladly she took her hand and shook it. “You can come by tomorrow before the first lesson and pick up your new time tables” she told them. “I look forward to your first report.” She then embraced Sour’s hand with her other one, the girl blushing slightly as the dean looked warmly at her. “And I wish you the best of luck – I am certain your friendship will flourish, and never wither.”

Friends

“Phew” Sunny sighed in relief, putting a hand on her chest. She and the others had left the dean’s office and were standing in the hallway again. “I really wouldn’t have thought she’d be willing to load all that extra-work on herself for us” she admitted.

Closing the door behind her Indigo grinned victoriously. “Told’cha she’d do it!” she exclaimed. “I mean she even went up against Cinch to bust us out of detention! She’s really alright, for a teacher at least.”

“That doesn’t mean a lot by your standards” Sugarcoat remarked, leading Indigo to toll her eyes.

Lemon put her headphones back on. “So how are we gonna sit?” she asked, beaming with excitement. “I’m calling shotgun on whoever is best in math and history!”

Sunny smirked. “Could have figured you only agreed to being friends so you can write off from us” she joked.

Lemon grinned back. “You know what? Screw what I said – I’m gonna sit next to you in EVERY class, just so I can annoy you!”

While the others broke out into giggles Sugarcoat threw slightly stern glances at them. “You shouldn’t get too excited considering we don’t have our new time tables yet” she warned them. “We don’t know how many classes we’ll have together. And the seating plan is in the hands of the teachers, so we might not sit next to each other even when we share-“

“Oh, lighten up!” Indigo chimed in, playing her arm around Sugarcoat’s shoulders. “Have a bit of trust in the dean! And I’m sure we’ll get the eggheads in class around too!”

“That’s right!” Sunny agreed, pride in her voice as she winked at Sugarcoat. “I mean, for a group of friends, nothing is impossible.”

Sugarcoat looked around, seeing everyone around her smile. “Yeah” she said, the corners of her mouth also rising. “You’re right.”

Confidently Sour stemmed her hands against her hips. “Now that this is settled, any ideas where to spend the rest of the afternoon?” she asked cheerfully, her mood considerably dropping as she went on: “The last one before Cinch’s crazy plans to turn us into braniac zombies take effect?”

“DISCO!” Lemon hollered, turning on her music.

Rolling her eyes Sunny sighed. “It’s in the middle of the week, and far too early anyway!” Sunny told the party-girl. “I still have to do math homework. How about we got to the library and do it together?”

“Again with the homework?” Indigo asked, crossing her arms as she gave her a slightly concerned glance. “You really gotta learn to relax, girl!”

“You have stated earlier you spend most of your free time training for competitions” Sugarcoat reminded her. “That doesn’t sound too relaxing either.”

”Yes Sugarcoat, go tell her!” Sour cheered her on, a very sarcastic smile on her lips. “It’s not like ranting at strangers is the weirdest hobby ever♥”

“You probably spend most of your free time talking and arguing with yourself” Indigo snapped at Sour, making her pout.

“And you probably cheer yourself on when nobody is looking!” she hissed back.

“She already cheers herself on when everybody is looking” Sugarcoat remarked.

Making a super hero-pose Lemon called out: “And Captain Obvious strikes again - fear not citizens! She will annoy all villains away, with a flood of unnecessary information everybody already knows!”

“Captain Noise should turn her volume down a little” Sunny suggested, holding her hears at Lemon’s loud music.

“Urgh, you really are a Miss Fancy!” Indigo moaned.

The Shadowbolts silently glared at each other. A wild mixture of loud offenses, dry insults, smug sarcasm and vulgar exclaims suddenly erupted from their mouths, mixed with hints of cynical friendliness. Soon they didn’t even know who they were yelling at, just randomly glaring at someone while throwing out an insult.

“AHEM!”

The fight abruptly ended, all eyes turning to the dean’s office. Dean Cadence was standing in the door, throwing a sharp glare at them.

“Excuse me, girls” she said with a hypocritical courtesy that was on par with Sour. “But could you please be a little quieter? I’m having trouble concentrating on the changes to the time table.” She grabbed the knob, glaring once more at them before closing the door behind her.

Alone again in the hallway the five girls blushed, shamefully keeping their heads low. “Let’s… just hang around on the playground some more” Sunny suggested.

Enemies

The afternoon sun shone over Crystal Prep Academy. While most of the school property was deserted, save for the athletic fields where the sports clubs were practicing, a place that was usually bare of people was unusually occupied. On the playground five girls had settled on the play equipment: On top of the slide Sour Sweet was resting, stretching her legs out on the steep surface. Sunny Flare was sitting sideways on the climbing frame, her feet pointing behind her. Indigo stood on one of the swing seats, grabbing the bar above her head and swinging herself slightly forth and back. Sugarcoat was standing on the lowest stave of the monkey bars, leaning her back against the ladder. Lemon Zest was lying on the rotating carousel, arms and legs stretched out as if she was making a snow-angel.

The five girls idly chatted with each other, some giggles and chortles mixed into their conversation. A rather light-hearted atmosphere was hanging over the place – most of the time, at least. Regularly the peace was broken by a snide remark or unfriendly comment: Sunny complaining about Lemon’s music, Sugarcoat dryly pointing out someone’s flaws, Indigo getting overly motivated or Sour saying something mean with a kind voice. But in the end, all of that was laughed off, time flying by as they hung around in the sandbox, talking and goofing with each other. While occasionally things were getting grumpy, most of the time all of them were bearing genuine smiles.

During the entire time nobody of them noticed they were being watched.

In one of the windows of the school building a dark silhouette was standing, looking over at the playground. The girls were far away, making it hard to observe what they were really doing. Yet the figure could clearly see they were chatting and laughing, and frowned at their behavior.

“What an ungrateful bunch these girls are!” Principal Cinch scoffed, closing the shutters of her window. The slight hint of brightness vanished from her office, darkness taking over most of it again. “I gave in to Cadence’s sentimental urge and relieved them of their just punishment, so they could enhance their academic and athletic abilities, and what do they do? They waste their time on a playground like little kids! If it was possible I would drag them back into detention for it…”

Her sharp high-heels clapped on the hard floor as she walked over to the trophy shelf. Through the glass plates she stared at the numerous trophies, so clean and polished they even shined in the sparse light of the room. Her eyes were fixed on one in particular, although it was placed slightly off from the others in the background, as if it was not intended to be seen. On the emblem the word “FRIENDSHIP GAMES” as well as the current year were imprinted, alongside a line that made the principal grit her teeth in anger whenever she read it.

AWARDED FOR
TYING WITH
CANTERLOT HIGH SCHOOL

Principal Cinch took in deep breathes, calming herself. Her voice still was seeping with passive fury however as she talked to herself. “I lost my best student to a second-rate high school, and the name of Crystal Prep Academy was humiliated” she spoke, running her hand over the trophy shelf. “Everything I have achieved in all those years, all the sweat and tears I spilled for this institution and its students – all of it is about to fall apart. But I won’t let the work of me and my predecessors be destroyed! The spirit of excellence and academic discipline will prevail at Crystal Prep Academy!”

She took off her glasses. With her bare eyes she stared sternly into her own reflection in the glass plate. “I will defend the reputation of my school, at ANY cost!”

Author's Note

Thank you all for reading my first My little pony fanfiction! I hope you enjoyed it :)

Schoolmates

Thirty minutes left.

Five minutes less than last time she had looked at the clock over the door.

Actually, she had rounded the five minutes up from three minutes.

Which she had rounded up from two minutes and forty seconds.

Those were rounded up from two minutes and thirty-two seconds.

And the thirty minutes left were actually rounded down from thirty-seven minutes.

Silently Sour Sweet groaned in frustration. She took a quick look around the classroom. Like herself her classmates were quietly sitting at their tables, heads hanging over their notebooks as they were trying to keep up with the endless stream of facts and information that were pouring down on them. With no pause the teacher, a middle-aged man in a brown business suit with grey skin and sleek white hair was tossing his lesson on them – he didn’t even seem like he was taking a breath as he talked. For the fifth time he erased the chalkboard, as it was filled from top to bottom and corner to corner with small texts, diagrams and drawings showcasing the most important facts about the famous novelist Star Swirl the bearded. All the while he kept on flooding the students with details, from his private life to his most prominent works and the political and social structure of his time.

Sour’s pen moved as fast as it could over her notebook as she tried to copy the contents of the chalkboard before they were erased, simultaneously trying to catch everything the teacher said. He spoke with a very dry and monotonous voice, but at the same time so fast the words were barely distinguishable sometimes – “pre-classic Renaissance” became “Precure Rainsauce” in Sour’s head, and sometime she would actually write nonsense like that down. He also constantly jumped in time and topic, mentioning a love affair in his late years in one second to suddenly talk about how an economic crisis influenced the works he wrote during his studies. Sour did her best to keep up, her pen almost flying over the notebook. Her notes were a complete mess full of ink spots, and it was questionable they would really help her at learning. Yet she continued to write down as much as she could, just like everyone else in class.

Her writing spree suddenly came to a halt as her pen broke at the tip. The cracking sound was drowned by the scribbling noise from all around, nobody turning their attention from the teacher to Sour. Holding the pen up Sour watched the ink run out, panicking. She looked up to the teacher who took no regard of her crisis, already starting to fill the chalkboard for the sixth time. Quickly Sour looked around, her gaze eventually turning at the student to her left. She didn’t know her name, although they had been seat neighbors for quite some time now. She had long pink hair and ivory white skin, and a very slender body build. On the edge of her table a green pen was lying.

Carefully Sour leaned a little closer to her. “Hey!” she whispered, nervously eying the teacher. Wearing a slightly too big smile she asked in a honeyed voice: “Would you lend me a pen please?♥”

The girl sharply glanced at Sour. Pushing her notebook to the other side of the table she covered her arms over it, slightly turning her back to Sour.

Frowning Sour put her hands on her notebook. “Well thanks a lot” she mumbled. With a sigh she dropped her head onto her arms. Her eyes stared at the chalkboard, watching as the teacher drew a hasty and untidy diagram of how the cultural revolution started a new literal age, while at the same time he was talking about Starswirl’s conflict with another author ten years prior to this. Business as usual here at Crystal Prep, Sour thought. It was tough, but after dealing with destructive magic and interdimensional space rifts, Sour was kind of happy everything had settled back to normal – even if it was brain-draining, smug and up-high Crystal Prep normal.

A peeping noise suddenly caught Sour’s attention. “Attention all students!” The lectures of the teacher were cut off by a very sharp and stern sounding voice coming from the intercom. Immediately everybody in the room stopped writing, including the teacher. All eyes turned towards the corner where the loudspeakers were installed. Sour raised her head, gulping. She knew this voice too well.

“This is an announcement from myself, Principal Cinch, towards the entire body of students as well as teachers here at Crystal Prep academy!” Sitting alone at a table Sugarcoat looked up from the book she was reading. While her expression was the same as usual, mostly indifferent with her eye-brows slightly knit the other students in the library glanced up in surprise as the principal’s voice interrupted their studies.

“Everyone here at Crystal Prep Academy is very proud of the reputation this school has established in the many years since I have taken the post of the principal.” Looking up at the speakers around the athletic fields Indigo Zap stopped in the middle of her lap. She turned towards them and put her hands on her hips, while the rest of her physical education class came to a halt a few dozen meters behind her on the track, panting and sweating.

“I have decided that, in order to maintain and enhance our reputation as an elite school, a few changes to the time table are necessary, as well as to the general approach at education here at this institution.” The students in the hallways of Crystal Prep academy all went quiet. Pressing her notebook against her chest Sunny Flare stood in the middle of a corridor, looking more than just a little worried.

“Beginning from tomorrow an additional weekly lesson will be added to each subject – meaning every student will have two additional lessons per day.” In one of the chemistry labs Lemon Zest nearly dropped a full test tube she held onto the floor. She pushed up the safety goggles she wore, looking alongside the rest of the class in shock at the loudspeaker.

In her office Principal Cinch was sitting straight at her desk. Elbows on the table she had folded her hands, staring over her fingers as she talked into the microphone in front of her. “Also, I have decided that for most subjects, some of the lectures from the next higher class will be moved one grade lower. For the seniors, we will include subject matter from colleges to close the resulting gaps in the curriculum.” Behind her chair, in the sparsely illuminated back of the office Dean Cadence quietly stood behind the principal. Listening to her she uncomfortably tapped with her finger on her clipboard, casting her glance down at the ground.

“To make sure all classes can get all the additional work done within the year the body of teachers is advised to increase the amount of homework.” All students in Sour’s English class widened their eyes – even the teacher seemed a little uneasy, rubbing the back of his head with a nervous look on his face. “I am convinced these measurements will cement our reputation as an elite school for all time and make us known throughout the entire country, if not in the whole world. Now, please continue with your regular lessons. And don’t forget: You must always be excellent.”

The intercom went quiet. There was an awkward silence for a moment. Some students exchanged glances, but nobody said a word. It took almost a whole minute before the teacher cleared his throat. Without saying a single word about the principal’s announcement he put his chalk back on the board, and continued with his lesson where he left off. Though it was clear they hadn't really recovered from Cinch's interception one by one the students got back to their notebooks, hastily scribbling down the lectures.

Only Sour sat there without a pen, watching in slight disbelief everyone around her returning back to business as usual. With a rather grumpy expression she dropped her head back onto her notebook. From the bottom of her heart she wished for a rift in space and time to magically pop up above her head and a giant monster plant to pull her into another dimension, one that was more pleasant.

Like one full of piranhas nibbling at her flesh.