“Greetings students of Crystal Prep Academy!” Principal Cinch’s stentorian voice commanded the entire hall to silence. “As you may know, the Friendship Games are upon us and it’ll be time once again to compete against Canterlot High.”
Some students made an attempt at a cheer. Most of the crowd was just waiting for the announcement to finish.
“However, Canterlot High is going through some kind of renaissance. While it doesn’t matter whether we win or not...” She paused to let the students chuckle at that obviously false statement. “...We have a reputation to uphold. So instead of choosing the top twelve students, like we usually do, I decided to choose the top twenty-four and sort out the ones who will most assuredly bring their best to represent the school.”
“You are going to be working in pairs on a single assignment. Your task is to show that you are willing to go that extra mile to bring the most out of the assignment. You will find out whom you’re partnered with from your teachers. Dismissed!”
Her last words marked the end of the lunch break. Some students didn’t mind that the most important break of the day was taken away. Partly because they already had their lunches as they waited for Principal Cinch’s tactically calculated delay to pass, but also because most people tend to lose their appetites when she opens her mouth. After the bell’s sound, the students went to their classrooms, where their teachers would hand them their assignments and the name of their partner.
Soon, the selected twenty-four students hurried to find their assignment-partners. Or at least, talk to each other and promptly get jealous, because their friend was assigned somebody they would much rather work with. The neighbour’s partner is always greener, or something like that.
“You got Sugarcoat?” Moondancer complained. “Ugh, you’ve got an easy one.”
“What do you mean? She’s the top of her class.” Minuette replied.
“But she’s got her own agenda. There’s no way they’re going to choose somebody who talks back to teachers, over somebody like you.”
“I see...” Minuette was unfazed by that explanation, almost as if she had something else on her mind. “Whom did you get?”
“Sunny Flare...” Moondancer grumbled.
“She is below your grades, isn’t she?”
“Yeah, but... You know, it’s Sunny Flare...”
Minuette chuckled. “I see your point.” She finished with the train of thought she was preoccupied with and laid out the resulting question. “Say, do we really want to go to the Friendship Games?”
“What are you saying?” Moondancer raised her eyebrows. “You get so much for your graduation scores if you go.”
“Well, sure, but I’m also sure that they’re looking for the most competitive students.” Minuette explained. “And we are already in a pretty competitive crowd.”
“Hmm, good point... Not the kind of people I want to spend an entire day with.”
“Exactly! If we let them go, we can hang out here in relative peace.”
“So, what? Do we just fail the assignment on purpose?”
“Don’t think of it as a failure. We’re just winning in the opposite direction.”
Moondancer laughed. “Yeah, okay, deal! I’ll be sure to not bring my A-game.”
“That’s the spirit!” Minuette cheered. “Alright, I’m about to meet up with Sugarcoat. I’ll see if I can give her the bigger half of the assignment.”
Meanwhile, in a different corner of the school, the other side of this partnership was discussing their own pairings.
“Ugh, I can’t believe I got Moondancer!” Sunny Flare swung her closet open. “How am I supposed to beat the biggest bookworm in school?”
“Well, that’s too bad...” Sugarcoat said with a smug grin on her face.
“What are you smirking about? Whom did you get?”
“I’ve got Minuette...”
Sunny Flare raised a single eyebrow. “Uhh... Isn’t she like, the top of her class?”
“She is... But she’s also a total airhead and kind of a pushover. I’m sure I can argue her into letting me win.”
“Oh, I see. So you’re going for no mercy.”
“Pretty much...”
“Alright then, I see if I can get something similar with Moondancer.”
With that, they parted ways, to meet up with the people they were just talking about.
Sugarcoat and Minuette sat down on a bench just outside school. They were looking at the three tasks they’ve been given and discussing how they should split it among themselves.
“I’m gonna do the second part of the assignment,” said Sugarcoat, “you can do the other two parts.”
“Isn’t that going to give me the higher score?” Minuette questioned.
“Not necessarily.” Sugarcoat explained. “The second part is the hardest; you have to gather your sources from many different places: Museums, libraries, specific people you need to talk to. The other two are pretty straight-forward and together worth about as much as the second task does. Unless you do the extra work with them, but that’s going to make them way more difficult.”
“Oh, I see!” Minuette glanced through the two tasks given to her.. “Are you sure you don’t wanna do any of the other ones as well?” She asked.
“Why do you ask?”
“Well...” Minuette paused to think about a way to say it. “I kind of don’t want to go to the Friendship Games...”
Sugarcoat gave a very unimpressed expression. “You expect me to believe that?”
“Uh... Yes?” Minuette grinned sheepishly.
“Don’t you plan to be a doctor or something? The Friendship Games would boost your graduation score so much.”
“Eh, my graduation score is high enough as is. Besides, I’m pretty sure they’re looking for the most competitive students and you know how competitive I’m not.”
Sugarcoat thought for a moment. “You are kind of a doormat, I give you that.”
Minuette winced at the remark. “I... Wouldn’t say it that way...”
“And we’re a bunch of jerks that you don’t wanna hang out with.”
“I definitely wouldn’t say it that way.”
“No, I believe that.” Sugarcoat continued with no discernible expression. “If you already have your future in the bag, then why bother with people you can’t stand? I get your logic.”
“Sooo... You’ll do more than just the second part?”
“Nah... If you don’t do the extra work, then just the second part will be enough for me to get selected.”
“Deal!” Minuette straightened back up and extended her hand. “You can count on me to let you win!”
Sugarcoat blankly looked at Minuette’s open hand, then purposefully ignored it. “... I should go... I still have a lot of work to do.” She got up and silently left. Once she was out of hearing range, she muttered to herself with a smirk. “Guess, you’re not just an airhead, but also a loser.”
Weekend has come and Saturday passed as quickly as it came. Then Sunday was about to speed away and Sugarcoat was ready to start the most important part of the assignment: Actually writing it. She has already gathered most of the needed material, but it was still not enough, because most is still not a sufficient amount.
“Of course, they had to be closed this exact weekend! Of all the times to get sick.” She grumbled, while staring at the last remaining item. “Ugh, I already went through the entire town and I’m nowhere near finishing.” She stared at the assignment intensely, her fingers crumbling up the sides. Then she loosened. “It’s not going to get finished if I just look at it, better get to work...” She took out her pen and impatiently clicked it, while still staring at the last missing item. “But I need the full score to beat Minuette!” She swept the paper off the table. It flew up and gently swung towards the ground, like the pendulum of an old clock. “Alright, Sugarcoat, the tantrum isn’t going to help. Keep it together!” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath for a moment, before sighing in frustration. “This isn’t helping either...”
Meanwhile, Minuette was just finishing up her own part of the assignment. “And that’s the whole thing done!” She cheered. “Hmm... That was awfully easy.” She got up and walked towards the window, to look at the setting sun, dragging away Sunday with it. “I wonder how Sugarcoat is doing; maybe I can help her.” She reached for her phone, sifted through the hundreds of names and called her partner.
After a few seconds of waiting, Sugarcoat picked it up. “What do you want?” She barked.
Minuette was taken aback, but quickly gathered up a friendly tone. “Hey, Sugarcoat, I’ve just finished my part and-“
“And you called me to rub it in my face?” Sugarcoat grumbled.
Minuette almost put the phone down at that point, but persisted. “...N-no, I’m calling to ask if I can help you with anything? Don’t worry, I won’t take the credit.”
Sugarcoat’s tone mellowed. “Well, unless you can cure the common cold and get Meadowbrook’s great-great-grandson to tell about his family heirloom... The one who isn’t in the mental institution, I already tried him.”
“You know you can read about that on their website, right?”
“You mean the domain that went for sale?”
“I’m sure you can find it with the Past-Path Machine.”
“The what?”
“The Past-Path Machine! It gives you access to archived versions of websites.”
There was a pause, as Sugarcoat looked up the website. “...Huh, you sure can.”
“Don’t forget to check out the Student-Vault either; they can pinpoint the exact resources you need.” Minuette gathered her friendly tone back.
“Wow, this is really useful!” Sugarcoat said as she scrolled through the new website.
“I know, they helped me get so many perfect grades before.”
“I doubt they can save my grade from Mr. Spruce’s test on Monday.”
“Oh, I have that down as well, I can help you with that too.”
“H-how? That part takes like an hour to get through just once. How did you learn it already?”
“Well, his classes are so boring, I decided to read ahead and transcribed it to just the important words. It is a breeze to get through now.”
Sugarcoat looked back down at her still empty paper. “Nah, I think I’ll just go back to the assignment first. Thanks for the help though. See ya.” She hung up.
Minuette put down her phone with a smile, then she wondered. “Is she really still at that part? She isn’t going to finish by tomorrow. Hmm...” She looked at the items in her assignment; the extra bits she purposefully missed, in particular. “Maybe I can help her out with the extra score.”
Suddenly her phone rung again. It was Sugarcoat. Minuette picked it up and before she could say anything, a grumpy voice erupted out of it.
“I’m not gonna credit you, by the way!”
That was the end of that conversation.
Sunday has passed as well and the sleepy students yawned in the school’s hallway. Especially the selected students, who had no opportunity to rest.
“So how’s your assignment doing?” Sugarcoat stepped up to Sunny Flare.
“Not good!” Sunny Flare complained, before noticing that Sugarcoat had an odd smirk on once again. “Oh, don’t tell me you finished it!”
“I did.” Sugarcoat proclaimed proudly. “Minuette showed me this really useful website and I only had to lose three hours of sleep.”
“So she helped you, huh?”
“Don’t worry, she let me have the higher score. Didn’t even have to argue her, she just gave it to me. Even promised me that she wouldn’t do the extra bits on her end, so I’m sure to win.”
“Well, I bet Mr. Spruce can give you a failure to balance that out.” Sunny Flare grinned.
“Oh, definitely.” Sugarcoat replied with resigned frustration.
Sunny Flare went ahead to their class, but Sugarcoat stayed behind, because somebody called out to her.
“Hey, Sugarcoat!” Minuette ran towards her from the other end of the corridor, carrying the assignment paper. “So, how did the rest of the night go?” She asked once she got close.
“I had to drink coffee at midnight, but I finished it!” Sugarcoat gave a tired smirk.
“That’s good to hear, because I figured I’d finish the extra bits and-“
“You did what?” All of Sugarcoat’s confidence got swept away in that second.
“I finished the extra, but-“
“But you said you wouldn’t!”
“I know, but I saw that you were struggling, so I-“
That’s when Sugarcoat’s exhausted frustration flooded out with full force. “So you took the opportunity and grabbed the easy victory. Is this why you told me that you don’t wanna go, huh? So you could take it away from me like that.”
“No!” Minuette hid away behind the assignment paper.
“I can’t believe I fell for an airhead like you! I thought you were a loser for giving me the higher score like that, but I guess you are a liar as well!”
“I wrote your name on it...” Minuette said softly, looking down at the ground.
The realization sank in, dissolving Sugarcoat’s anger. “...What?” She stared at Minuette, who was on the verge of tears at this point.
“I figured...” Minuette pried the words out her mouth, trying to remain intelligible. “If you don’t finish your part... You might need the extra score...” She handed Sugarcoat the assignment paper.
Sugarcoat glanced down at it and saw that Minuette was speaking the truth. Her name was written all over Minuette’s work. Sugarcoat, Sugarcoat, Sugarcoat. That’s what it looked like.
Once she looked back up, Minuette has already left. She didn’t wait for Sugarcoat to see her tears.
Sugarcoat stared at the empty corridor for a second, then the realization fully hit in the form of her own palm on her forehead. “Nice going, jerkface...” She scolded herself.
Sugarcoat had enough time to reflect on her mistakes, while she failed Mr. Spruce’s poorly time test. After that inevitable failure, she went and looked for Minuette, with the assignment still in her hand. She found Minuette at her closet and approached her apprehensively.
“Hey...” She called out. Minuette turned at her, now with a hint of resentment in her eyes. “So about the assignment...” Sugarcoat continued with an unusually soft voice. “I’m... You know it was really unfair of me to talk to you like that and...” It was almost like she was trying to say one specific phrase. But then she gave up and got to the point. “I crossed my name out and wrote your name on the whole thing.”
“What? No!” Minuette cried out and took the paper out of Sugarcoat’s hand.
“No, just take it!” Sugarcoat insisted. “You’re a way better student than I anyway; Crystal Prep is better off with you. You beat me!”
“Beat you? I just wanted to help you.”
“After the way I made a fool of myself, I don’t deserve your help.”
“No, you do! I know how much wanted to go to the Friendship Games. You just couldn’t stop raving about it all year.” She swiftly took out a pen. “Here, let me write your name back where it belongs!”
“Why are you still being nice to me?” Sugarcoat said, almost offended that she didn’t understand what was happening. “I was using you; I took advantage of your kindness. And then I yelled at you for doing some work for yourself... Which was really a favour for me. I should be the one doing a favour to you!”
“You owe me nothing!” Minuette clicked her pen back and handed Sugarcoat the paper. “I wouldn’t be a very good doctor if I expected something in return, would I? And I won’t take this opportunity away from you either.”
Sugarcoat stared at the paper that was once again filled with her name. “I don’t get it... Are you really not mad at me?”
“Should I be?” Minuetee shrugged.
“Well yeah. If somebody did all that to me, then I wouldn’t forgive them until they broke all their fingers trying to make it up to me.”
“Well, that’s just it. If I was that mad at everyone who ever wronged me, then it would constantly bring me down and make me miserable.”
“As miserable as I am...” Sugarcoat mumbled at the ground. She then looked back up at Minuette. “Did you really finish that whole thing overnight?”
“Yeah... It was a tough one, I admit, but it was worth it, knowing it would make you happy.” Minuette smilled.
“That’s actually pretty impressive... And you did all that for me?”
Minuette placed a hand on Sugarcoat’s shoulder. “Hey, Doctor Minuette is ready to sacrifice all her free-time for those who need her.”
“I guess you really don’t wanna hang out with jerks like me.”
Minuette flinched at those words, then shot a sheepish smile back at Sugarcoat.
“Don’t worry, I get it.” Sugarcoat chuckled. “I’m sorry about the things I said earlier. Thanks for your help, Minuette.” She finally apologized then began to leave.
“Oh, Sugarcoat.” Minuette called out to her. “Please don’t think of yourself as a jerk. It’s not healthy to put yourself down like that.”
“Oh? Well, tell me one thing likeable about me.”
“I like that you’re honest.”
“That’s like the most cliché thing you could have said.”
“No, I mean it.” Minuette stepped closer to her. “You don’t just put down others for your own amusement; that is how you talk to yourself as well. It’s your way of not talking down to others. And it’s good to see, that you don’t talk to me like I’m an idiot, even if you think I am one. It’s kind of refreshing actually.”
“Wow... That’s a pretty good way of looking at it.”
“You could really channel that honesty into something great.” Minuette stroke Sugarcoat’s shoulder. “You’re so good at finding the flaws in everything, so why not find ways to fix them as well?”
“That makes sense.” Sugarcoat scratched the back of her head with a bashful smile. “I guess, instead of hating myself, I could turn myself into somebody I like?” She looked back at Minuette’s welcoming expression, devoid of any malice. She was just about to leave, but had something more to say, so she turned back to Minuette. “I think you’re going to make for a great doctor!”
Minuette then suddenly reached out and hugged Sugarcoat.
“Did you just hug me?”
“I figured you needed one.”
“I did, thanks.”
