Sugarcoated
The dark and quiet were comforting friends when one needed to focus, but there was only so much focusing one could do before her eyes began to blur. Sugarcoat had been hoping to have this school history project done tonight, but even taking refuge in the absolute seclusion of her lab within Crystal Prep, she still couldn't quite get it done before she began to lose concentration. Her eyes jerked back to her printer and she yanked off the page that was being noisily spit out, but the words on that, too, just looked like a jumbled blur one would see in a cartoon.
Even squinting she couldn't make out what the history paper said. Either Griffonstone had been founded by llamas in 1429 or she desperately needed to walk away for a little while. So with a sigh she plopped the paper onto her textbook and rose to her feet, leaving the repurposed janitor's closet behind on her way through the empty hallways of her school. She stopped at the vending machine a few hallways down and leaned against it as she waited for her Popstar to roll into the cradle for her to retrieve.
It tasted as crappy as ever, but her attention was drawn away from its taste when she heard a sound echoing down the empty corridors. The school was left open after hours, but Sugarcoat had never noticed another person here this late before. It sounded suspiciously like a voice, too...
Overwhelmed by curiosity, Sugarcoat followed the voice down several hallways until she reached the door to the history classroom. There were now quite clearly two voices coming from inside. Two voices making noises that sounded distinctly unlike studying or tutoring of any kind, but they faded into silence as she stood there. Unfortunately, the blind had been pulled down over the small door window, but fortunately, the door was unlocked. Clearly they didn't expect anyone to be here this late.
Sugarcoat pushed the door open slowly, taking a single quiet step inside and stopped when she saw Fancy Pants sitting on the desk at the front of the classroom with Fleur De Lis sitting on his lap, their clothes seemingly lost to the infinite void of impropriety.
For once in her life, Sugarcoat found her blood boiling. "Are you kidding me?"
"Sugarcoat!?" Fleur's eyes snapped back to her, and her arms moved reflexively to cover her nudity. "What are you doing here!?"
Sugarcoat didn't respond, slamming the door and turning to march down the hallway, but Fleur caught up with her before she could reach her laboratory, grabbing her shoulder and turning her around. She had managed to slip on her school skirt and outer vest before emerging from the classroom. "Sugarcoat, wait! It's not what you think!"
"Not what I think!?" Sugarcoat exploded. "Let me guess, he was giving you CPR?"
"No, that... that part is exactly what you think." Fleur blushed.
"So what isn't what I think?" Sugarcoat threw her arms up angrily. "I'm not stupid, okay? I know how it is! He gets a piece of ass and you get better grades, you hear about it all the time! And I will not stand idly by when I see this kind of academic dishonesty!"
"That's not what this is!" Fleur snapped back angrily. "I've never asked him to change my grades! For crying out loud, your history grades are better than mine! If I was exchanging sex for grades I would be getting gypped!"
Sugarcoat took a deep breath. She was right. Fleur's grades hadn't changed, always trailing behind Sugarcoat's own, and her own grades in history still weren't all that great.
"So then why are you doing this? For free dinner? Is he paying you? Threatening you?"
"Of course not!" Fleur blushed furiously. "Is it that hard to believe we actually like one-another?"
"Yes, frankly..." Sugarcoat shook her head. "There's twenty years between you. You can't actually be in love with him."
"Do I have to know it's love to want to pursue... you know, something?"
"I..." Sugarcoat shook her head. "No. I suppose you don't."
"I swear to you, Sugarcoat, nothing illicit is happening. He's not paying me, he's not threatening me, and he's not changing my grades. We like each other... I don't know how much of a future there is, but we just like spending time together. That's all. Please, you can't tell anyone. I'll be suspended and he'll be barred from teaching for the rest of his life..."
Sugarcoat stared at her friend for a few moments before responding. "You could've at least left the school first."
Fleur blushed. "We... got a little eager."
"Clearly." Sugarcoat smirked. "Okay, Fleur... I won't report this. On the condition that you swear to me that you won't take advantage of the situation... also you'll tell someone if he takes advantage of the situation."
"That won't happen... but I swear." Fleur smiled slightly. "Thank you."
"You can thank me by getting me some brain bleach tomorrow." Sugarcoat turned away from her, heading towards her laboratory. "I really didn't need to see that tonight."
"Um... sorry!" Fleur called after her.
Sugarcoat made her way back to her laboratory to put her things away and close up shop for the evening. She had been planning to get a little more work in, but after that lovely little jolt she felt like she needed to lie down and stop thinking for a while.
***
The next day, Sugarcoat came into school and nothing had changed. Fleur was still sitting beside her in History class, and Fancy Pants was still droning on about archaic information that couldn't benefit anybody today. She understood the saying about those who forget the past being doomed to repeat it, but remembering how bad war is didn't mean one had to memorize the dates of every war ever fought.
When class ended, Sugarcoat rose from her seat, but Fleur turned toward her and pulled a small box out of her jacket to hold it out to her. It was a copy of CarFly 4. "Is this brain bleaching enough to make up for last night?" Fleur asked with a dainty smile.
Sugarcoat stared at the box for a moment before snapping it out of her hand. "It'll do."
The two of them spent the rest of the day around school together when they weren't in their separate classes. Speaking in light tones. They had always been friendly enough, but rarely had they spent any real amount of time together. Fleur was nice enough, and very eager to please, which explained why a teacher would go for her.
"It's been a fun day, but I still have a homework assignment I didn't finish last night." Sugarcoat turned to her friend once the final bell had tolled through the hallways. "Thanks to a certain distraction."
"I'm sorry again." Fleur smiled. "I'll see you tomorrow."
"Same time, same place." Sugarcoat waved after her, then turned to make her way towards her laboratory. The door slipped open with the same ease it always did, but when she stepped in she noticed her computer chair was turned away from the door, and there was a figure with fiery red and yellow hair sitting in it.
Sunset Shimmer turned the swiveling chair around with a crooked grin, her fingers posed in a pyramid in front of her chest. "I've been waiting for you."
Sugarcoat smirked. "How long have you been waiting there just to say that?"
"Not long, you're a very punctual person. A person of habit and dedication. I respect that about you."
"Thank you. Now leave, I have assignments to finish."
"Do you think it's funny to try to brush me aside and declare your homework more important?"
"I think it's funny that you think anybody still finds you intimidating after Indigo Zap sent you running like a little bitch with your tail between your legs." Sugarcoat folded her arms over her chest. "Now leave my laboratory."
"Your laboratory? This room is school property, they just let you use it, and only because Dean Cadence has personal history with its previous owner."
"Yes, they let me use it, not you. My statement still applies."
"You don't seem to have noticed that in this school I do anything and everything I want." Sunset Shimmer rose to her feet. "And when I want something, I get it."
"Not from me."
"No? What if I told you one of your friends is counting on it."
"I'd call you a liar."
Sunset Shimmer's lips curled into a vicious smirk and she reached into her uniform jacket, pulling out a small piece of paper to let it flutter to the desk in front of Sugarcoat. Sugarcoat's eye twitched when she saw a picture of Fancy Pants and Fleur De Lis engaged in decidedly non-academic activities.
Sunset's smirk grew into a victorious grin at the sight of Sugarcoat's expression. "As I said, one of your friends is counting on it. Or does she not count since she's not part of your little clique?"
"She has nothing to do with Cinch's grudge against me."
"Why, who said anything about Principal Cinch?" Sunset Shimmer straightened her back and fluffed her hair behind her with one hand. "A respectable principal would never conspire against a student."
"And I suppose you obtained this picture that clearly came from a security camera by wishing really hard?"
"Is its source important? It's what it means that matters, and it means I have you, Turncoat."
Sugarcoat held back a biting retort. Fleur was on the line now, after all. "What do you want from me?"
"I want you to leave Crystal Prep." Sunset Shimmer put a hand on her hip. "Put in your transfer papers, get sent to prison, run away from home, I don't care how you do it, just leave and never come back."
"That's a very specific and vengeful demand from someone I have barely ever had any contact with."
"You have quite a mouth on you."
"It has gotten me into trouble more than once."
"And I'm getting sick of it." Sunset Shimmer moved around the small desk in the center of the room to approach Sugarcoat, getting right up in her face. "Here's the simple version. Someone won't be coming back to Crystal Prep Academy on Monday. Whether it's you, or Fleur De Lis and her boy toy, that is entirely up to you." Sunset chuckled. "They say you and your clique always go on about how 'friendship is magic' or somesuch nonesense ever since the Friendship Games. Well, are you gonna put your money where your mouth is and save your friend's future?"
"Why do you ask a question when you don't care about the answer?"
Sunset sneered and moved past her towards the door. "You have until Friday morning to either leave or start the leaving process." Her thick boots padded toward the door, and the knob clicked open before Sugarcoat turned to look back at her.
"Principal Cinch will do this to you too, you know," Sugarcoat spoke plainly. "She picked us all as her best and brightest for the Friendship Games, and all it took was one embarrassing moment for her to put a social hit on us. She'll do the same to you the instant you do anything to step out of line. She doesn't care about you, and frankly she's crazy if she's willing to throw one of her own teachers out just to get to me."
Sunset looked back over her shoulder with a wry smirk. "You keep talking about Principal Cinch as if she's out to get you. You may want to think about counseling. You seem slightly paranoid."
"It's not paranoid if you know that at least one person is out to get you." Sugarcoat glared.
Sunset Shimmer just grinned over her shoulder. "Tick-tock." She slipped out the door, letting it close behind her with a soft click.
Sugarcoat gripped the offending picture in one hand, her knuckles turning white. She really didn't want to be in this position, and she wanted to put Fleur in this position even less. Well, there was at least one thing she needed to do before she decided. Fleur deserved to know...
***
Fleur's house wasn't far from the school, as it turned out. Sugarcoat rapped on the door and stood back until her new friend opened the door with a surprised smile.
"Wow, Sugarcoat. You've never visited me before."
"Likewise." Sugarcoat countered.
"Well, yes... do you want to come in?"
"Thank you." Sugarcoat stepped inside, her fingers playing with the buttons of her school uniform nervously. "I wish I could say I was here for a friendly visit."
"You're not?" Fleur cocked her head curiously. "So why are you here?"
"For this." Sugarcoat whipped the picture out of her jacket and held it out to her friend, unable to meet her eyes. Fleur took the picture from her, the silence hanging thick in the air. "Principal Cinch's lapdog dropped that on me earlier."
"This picture... is from our first time." Fleur spoke in a soft tone. "They've known all along... so why say something now? Why say it to you?"
"Because they want me to leave school or they'll expel you and fire Fancy Pants." Sugarcoat finally turned towards her.
"You weren't kidding about Cinch being crazy..."
"I'm so sorry, Fleur. This is ridiculous and stupid and it wouldn't be an issue if it wasn't for me."
"We both knew there were risks..." Fleur looked up at her over the side of the picture. "We brought this on ourselves by being careless. If we'd just stayed out of the school we might have been safe."
"But obviously Cinch didn't care about this until she saw a chance to get to me." Sugarcoat gritted her teeth.
"Do you think it could be a bluff? I mean, Fancy Pants has been a teacher there for over ten years. Would she really sack him just to get to you?"
"I doubt it. If they made a threat like this and didn't follow through, we would know for sure that we have nothing to fear from them. Cinch and Sunset Shimmer would lose all power to intimidate us." Sugarcoat shook her head. "No, I think she's crazy enough to go through with it." Sugarcoat's expression softened. "I'm thinking of transferring to CHS... I mean, it wouldn't look as good on my records, but at least-"
"No." Fleur interrupted her. "This isn't your fault, Sugarcoat. We knew it was a risk, if we face consequences then it's our own fault."
"You said yourself they knew and didn't care, they only care now because they think they can get me to do what they want."
"And are you going to prove them right?" Fleur demanded. When Sugarcoat didn't respond, Fleur gave a sad smile. "Besides, I can always go to CHS instead. I hear they've been doing much better lately. They're not Crystal Prep, but then few places are."
"What about Fancy Pants?"
"I'll talk to him. He's a smart man, I'm sure we can figure something out." Fleur nodded. "We'll be fine, Sugarcoat. Just don't you even think of leaving CPA for my sake."
Sugarcoat took a deep breath to calm herself before she could respond. "Alright... I'll try not to."
"And thank you for thinking about me." Fleur smiled. "We'll keep in touch after I transfer."
"That sounds nice," Sugarcoat nodded in acceptance. "We'll have to trade e-mails before Friday."
"I'd like that." Fleur smiled.
***
And that had been it, Sugarcoat thought to herself as she approached the school on Friday. Her stomach felt like it was doing flips. She could only think that maybe Fleur was right. Maybe Cinch really wasn't so far gone as to throw away one of the school's senior staff just to intimidate Sugarcoat and her friends. The very thought of it was mind-boggling and ridiculous. And over what? Because she was embarrassed at the Friendship Games?
Yet as she approached her usual history classroom, her hopes were dashed when she walked inside and found two desks sitting empty and quiet. She weaved through the existing crowd and took her usual seat just before a fresh, new face bustled in with an apologetic smile.
"Good morning, class." The frumpy-looking man rushed to the front desk and let his oversized bag of papers plop down on the polished wood. "I am Bill Neigh. I know this is short notice, but I will be your new History teacher for the time being... even though my specialty is mathematics and most of you probably know more about history than I do..." the man grumbled. "So, who wants to share their homework first?"
The class was painful, to say the least, but easy. Yet Sugarcoat couldn't even take comfort in the fact that he decided to give everybody A's for participation. Glancing at Fleur's empty former-seat just put a sour feeling in the pit of her stomach, a feeling that didn't go away when she reached the lunchroom. She entered to the sound of slow solo clapping from the table nearby, where Sunset Shimmer was giving her a round of applause.
"I've got to say I'm proud of you, Turncoat." Sunset Shimmer spoke with a venomous, mocking grin. "I would have done exactly the same thing."
What really made Sugarcoat's blood boil was that she knew it was the truth. She wanted to respond, to do anything, but she held back. Not just because acting here would get her expelled anyway, but because she refused to give Sunset Shimmer the satisfaction of victory.
It wasn't like Fleur was gone. They would still be friends... but Sunset Shimmer was still a thorn that would need to be dealt with someday...
