Crystal Prep. A school renowned for its academic brilliance, its strict education and the resounding success of its students. One looked upon this place and they saw refinement, prestige and achievement abound. In the past however, the students here would have gone about their days with looks of determination, effort and downright stress in their quest to be as good as they could be, due in no small part to the efforts of their Principal, Abacus Cinch. Nowadays though, things were different. There were still tell-tale signs of the students putting their all into whatever they did, like study groups sitting together on the grass out front, but now, it was all mixed in with the sense that they actually enjoyed doing what they were doing.
Smiles, laughs and general upbeat-ness could be seen on the faces of more or less every girl and boy that passed through that esteemed school's doors. There was no question at this point, Crystal Prep had changed for the better. One such collection of students was enjoying the day at this very moment in fact. Sitting upon the stairs leading into the main building, Lemon Zest, Indigo Zap, Sunny Flare, Sugarcoat and Sour Sweet were all partaking of their respective lunches, munching down on sandwiches and pieces of fruit, all while keeping their eyes on their classmates, many of whom were too busy with their colleagues to know that they were being watched. After a while, and after swallowing her current bite, it was Lemon who broke the silence between them.
"You know...you'd never think our school would've ever ended up this way."
There was a murmur of agreement between the girls, before Indigo then added her voice to matters.
"Yeah. Old Cinch really had this place under her thumb back in the day."
Realising what she'd just let out of her mouth, Indigo immediately took on a more guilty expression, turning to Sunny.
"Er...no offense."
Sunny sighed, giving a brief nod as she looked to her friend.
"No, it's fine. Even I'd have said something like that."
Thinking on the matter, a small smile crept onto the girl's face.
"But...you know...at least we can say those days have passed now."
Slowly, Sugarcoat glanced in Sunny's direction.
"I know it's not our place to ask, but...how are things between you right now?"
Sunny turned to face her, wearing a happier smile than before.
"It's going good. We've gone back to having our old dinner talks, just like when I was younger. It's...it's just going good."
To her surprise, she felt a hand upon her shoulder, and she turned to look upon Sour, who was smiling right back at her.
"We're glad to hear it."
Sunny regained her smile, nodding in thanks to her colleague. Unfortunately, before any of them could say anything else, they were halted by the clear sound of somebody clearing their throat. Turning in unison, they saw one of their classmates, a boy with silvery-white hair, looking down on them from the stairs behind.
"You okay there, Royal?" Lemon asked.
The boy nodded.
"Sure, but...um...can I just...?"
He kept on fumbling his words for a time, until the girls finally realised that, given how and where they had seated themselves, they were rather in the way of everybody coming out of the school. So, in a rather embarrassed fashion, they all scooted along a bit, creating a space for the boy to make his way past. And pass them he did, turning with an appreciative smile as he started walking down in earnest.
"Thanks," he said.
The girls nodded back.
"No problem," Indigo answered.
And so, the boy was off, but not before casting a glance back to the girls before leaving. In particular, he seemed to look at Sour in particular, blushing slightly before just walking off. While Sour herself had not noticed this, the others most certainly had, and they were all giving her knowing smirks as a result, which she soon saw.
"What?" she asked.
Chuckling slightly, Sunny leaned back onto the steps a bit before answering.
"Oh, nothing. You just seem to have an admirer, that's all."
Raising an eyebrow, Sour looked to where the boy had just walked off to.
"What, Royal?"
The response was a chorus of nods from her friends, leading to a scoff on her part.
"Don't get me wrong, he's nice and all, but...I don't think he's really my type."
Leaning closer, Lemon looked to her friend with interest.
"Oh? And what is your type, exactly?"
Sour shrugged her shoulders.
"Meh. Haven't given it much thought honestly."
Lemon snickered to this.
"Suit yourself."
This time, it was Sour's turn to smirk, as she looked over her shoulder to Lemon.
"Well, we all know what your type is, right, Lemon? Blue hair, likes the guitar..."
Again, Lemon laughed.
"What, your mean Flash? Nah, he's just good for the occasional flirt, nothing more."
Turning to her friends, Indigo chimed in.
"Well, you may have to stop even that, Lemon."
All eyes were suddenly on the athlete, prompting her to elaborate.
"You didn't hear this from me, but..."
Briefly, she looked around, just in case anyone else was in earshot.
"...word on the grapevine is that the guy popped his cherry recently."
Naturally, news like that caught all of their interest.
"What, you mean...him and Sunset...?" Sunny started.
Indigo looked to her, giving a short nod.
"Yep."
If one had to describe the expressions on the girls' faces at this very, moment, that person could probably have only done so by use of the words "oh my". Lemon especially seemed rather amused by this revelation.
"Well then...I know what I'm going to be talking to Sunset about next time I see her."
The remark earned more than a few giggles from the other girls, as well as hearty laughs from both Indigo and Lemon. When the laughter died down however, and after some of the girls wiped some happy tears from their eyes as a result of it, Sugarcoat looked around, keeping her eyes on Lemon in particular.
"Did you ever think we could have a moment like this?"
The other turned to her, bearing looks of confusion, which prompted her to start explaining herself.
"The school has changed, we know that. But in truth...I honesty never expected to see the day where...we could just talk about all these...all these ordinary things."
Indigo nodded to that, leaning forward and joining in herself.
"You're right, Sugar. Back then, it was all homework and keeping our minds sharp and stuff. If you started talking about other stuff...well..."
There was a round of nods amongst the girls, as all of them knew, without even saying, what the athlete meant. A silence passed, but it was short-lived, as Sour began to perk up, turning to all of her friends before speaking up again.
"You know...we should really thank those girls."
Her friends turned to face her as she continued.
"Twilight's new friends. Rainbow, Applejack and the others. If it weren't for them..."
Lemon nodded, finishing her words for her.
"Yeah...this place would still be as dull as a rock!"
Agreement was the order of the day on the faces of many of the girls, and while there was indeed a silence following this moment, it was not one of discomfort or apprehension, but simply one of calm and a lack of worry. Naturally, such a moment prompted many a smile for the girls, as they simply sat upon the stairs and looked out at their fellow students, looking far happier than they had ever been seen before. When the silence ended, it was by the words of Lemon.
"So...getting back to the issue of dates..."
That remark earned her a few grunts of annoyance from her colleagues, Sunny in particular.
"Seriously?! Do we have to talk about that?!"
Lemon folded her arms, looking to her friend with slight annoyance.
"Yes, we have to talk about that! Leave this kind of stuff too long and before you know it, bang, we're single forever!"
Sunny rolled her eyes to this, opening her mouth to speak, only to be halted by the arrival of yet another voice.
"Ahem?"
All of them froze in place for a few seconds, before simultaneously turning to see that Principal Cinch herself was there behind them. Her hands clasped behind her back, the older woman was the very model of orderly in her appearance, with a single arched eyebrow as she regarded the girls before her.
"Sunny, I trust you and your friends are enjoying your lunch hour?"
Her daughter, having gotten over the initial surprise of having her Mother here, gave a nod.
"Oh...yeah, we're fine, Mom."
Cinch gave a single nod, before promptly making her way down the stairs, with the girls having maintained the gap in-between them from earlier. Before the Principal was walking too far away from them though, Lemon spoke up, her voice without any of the apprehension any of the other students might have had when speaking to their foremost authority figure.
"Hey, Principal Cinch? When did you first start dating?"
The other girls looked to her like some kind of blasphemous heretic for speaking such things, while Cinch herself merely regarded her with curiosity.
"Dating?"
For a time, she considered that question.
"Why...I believe it was shortly after I met Sunny's Father."
Sunny looked to her, an expression of slight concern upon her face.
"Er...weren't you about thirty when that happened?"
The Principal gave a single nod to her daughter.
"Yes, I was."
A silence fell, during which the woman looked to her charges with a patient look.
"...Was there anything else?"
The question was followed by many frantic shakes of the head, which gave their Principal permission enough to leave the conversation then and there, turning to head on off to the rest of the school grounds. For those left behind, however, they stayed in silence, looking to one another before finally glancing over to Lemon. Naturally, the rock-lover had a look of "I told you so" about her, keeping her eyes on Sunny in particular. As for the latter, she glared in a resentful manner at her green-haired friend, before simply letting out a long sigh and slumping her shoulders.
"Okay...what dates did you have in mind?"
Smirking, Lemon shook her head.
"None. I just like to mess with ya sometimes."
Slowly, the other girl narrowed her eyes.
"...Of course you did."
