“Um...would you mind repeating that?”

Sour Sweet, as she so often did these days, was wearing an expression that made it very clear that she was displaying a degree of discomfort with what was going on. Currently, she was in one of the favourite hang-out spots of her one-time rivals, the Wondercolts; the music room of Canterlot High. Here, all of the instruments those girls employed, which famously allowed them to “pony up” were carefully placed to the side. But, music was not the order of the day for the time being, as the room’s only other occupant, Sunset Shimmer, regarded the Crystal Prep girl with a slight sense of nervousness.

“I know it’s kinda out of the blue, but it would really help me if you were willing to take part.”

Folding her arms, Sour raised an eyebrow at that.

“Okay, so you’ve got this paper to write about…?”

Smiling, Sunset turned to her nearby schoolbag, rummaging around it for a while before pulling out a book, the cover of which was emblazoned with the words “Psychology 101”. Looking at the thing, Sour’s expression was one of incredulity, looking up to Sunset soon afterwards and remaining silent as the girl spoke up.

“It’s for my psychology class. I have to write an essay on various behaviours and explain why they are the way they are.”

Hearing that, Sour scoffed a bit.

“Seriously? This school does psychology classes?”

Ignoring the thinly-veiled jab at her school, Sunset shrugged her shoulders before letting out a brief sigh.

“Well…if I’m being honest, it isn’t really all that popular. It’s basically just me and about…well…three others who wanted to take it.”

Shaking her head a little, Sunset put on another smile before speaking to her guest again.

“Even so, the paper is important, and…well…it would mean a lot to me if you could participate.”

At that, Sour looked a little uncomfortable.

“I…look…I appreciate that you girls have been helping me, but…being a guinea pig for a science class? That isn’t what I signed up for.”

Giggling a little, Sunset shook her head.

“Don’t worry. I’ll just being doing a sort of amateur interview with you. In truth, I won’t even be asking that many questions. It’ll pretty much just be you talking about, well…whatever’s on your mind.”

Sour raised an eyebrow at that.

“That’s…that’s it? Just me talking about whatever and you jotting it down?”

Sunset nodded.

“Yep. And…if you still don’t want to take part, then…then I’ll respect your wishes.”

Sour looked away, appearing deep in thought over those words. Sunset watched eagerly, awaiting her answer. After about a minute of nothing but silence from the Crystal Prep girl, Sunset looked on as she let out a sigh, allowing her shoulders to slump slightly before turning to look at her once more.

“Well…if there’s one thing I’ve learned from hanging out with you girls…it’s that getting stuff off my chest is good for me. So sure, I’ll play along.”

Smiling, Sunset nodded back to her, gesturing with one hand to a pair of chairs nearby. Looking at them, Sour got the message immediately, and began to walk over, with Sunset not far behind her. As Sour got herself comfortable, Sunset looked in her bag again before pulling out a pen and paper. Seeing that, Sour chuckled somewhat.

“Going all shrink on me, eh?”

Giggling in response, Sunset took a seat before looking right into her guest’s eyes.

“Okay, so Sour…what’s been bothering you?”

To that, Sour looked a little unsure.

“That’s it? That’s all you’re going to ask me?”

Sunset gave a brief nod.

“For the moment. But regardless…has anything been on your mind lately?”

Sour, as before, looked uncertain about all this, but let out a sigh as she slumped back into her chair. She folded her arms and looked away from Sunset, thinking on what had been said to her.

“Well…things are getting better for me, I guess. I mean…with people like Dash and all the others, I guess I feel like…like I have less to worry about than I used to.”

A more thoughtful look crossed the girl’s face, and all the while, Sunset was writing notes on the paper. The latter remained silent as Sour continued to speak.

“It’s like…it’s like you girls are the first to ever be…be okay with me being angry. I mean…not okay exactly, but…you don’t tell me that I should feel bad about getting angry. And that…that’s just so weird to me.”

A frown formed on the girl’s face as she considered that.

“For so long…I kept hearing the same things over and over again. That people don’t want to hear it. When I was little…I used to get ticked off by everything, and I mean everything.”

Looking up, Sunset spoke out at last.

“Can you explain?”

Sour reached behind her head and scratched there a little.

“Well…it was always little things. Sometimes it was something as small as just people bumping into me by accident. I used to explode over that kinda thing. And everyone else…they kept telling me to be quiet about it.”

A somewhat saddened look crossed her face at that.

“And even when I had a good reason to be upset…they kept saying I shouldn’t be. Got a bad grade? Put up with it and move on. Think someone is being annoying? Stay silent and tolerate it. Get offended? Don’t let it show.”

Turning, Sour did her best to hide her expression from Sunset.

“I know I wasn’t the only one going through all that…especially since coming to Crystal Prep, but…it was like…like the world didn’t care.”

Looking back to Sunset, a look of anger now crossed Sour’s face.

“Every day, it seemed like all the world cared about was making sure things were A-Okay on the surface. It didn’t matter how bad we felt or how unhappy, all everyone ever wanted was that we kept quiet about it, like being angry or sad was the worst thing we could do, even when it was justified!”

Looking up from her notes again, Sunset took on a look that seemed to be a mixture of both concern and curiosity.

“And now? When you look back on the way you were made to behave…do you regret it?”

Sour, upon hearing that, raised an eyebrow.

“Regret what? That I allowed people to talk to me like that? Or regret that I never got the chance to feel how I wanted to?”

To that, Sunset shrugged her shoulders.

“Both, I suppose.”

With her expression softening a bit, Sour let out a deep sigh.

“Yeah…I guess I do. It’s just…the world expected us all to be perfect. It expected us all to go about our lives like nothing was wrong. Some days…it felt like people really felt like reacting to something bad was worse than the bad thing itself.”

Another frown formed on Sour’s brow, and she tightened her fists considerably.

“I…I do regret it. I regret letting myself ever listen to those people who just didn’t care. I regret…never going to someone to talk about it. I regret…being almost afraid of ever seeming to be angry over stuff.”

At that, Sunset stopped writing, and looked to Sour with a look of sympathy.

“Believe me…I understand that.”

Seeing Sour’s expression of incredulity, Sunset chuckled a bit.

“I do. For a long time, I was angry. Angry at things and people and…well…I never opened up about it. And when I did…I felt like I was being judged for it. I was in a bad place for a long time.”

Hearing that, Sour gave a brief nod.

“Yeah…I heard.”

A smile crept onto Sunset’s face, and for the time being, she set her notes aside, looking at Sour with a look of sheer honesty.

“I think we both know that, when we have those problems, it helps us more than we can ever say to have someone, anyone, who’s willing to listen. It may be small things that bother us, but even so…it’s not something we should have to shoulder alone.”

As soon as those words had been spoken, a silence fell between the two girls. Sour, despite feeling more than a little reassured by what Sunset had said to her, couldn’t help but feel like something was off somehow. Her eyes darted to the notes Sunset had set aside, and then back to the girl herself. After a long pause, the Crystal Prep student leaned back into her chair, a slight smirk creeping across her face.

“There was never any psychology essay, was there?”

Looking a touch guilty, Sunset shook her head a little.

“Sorry for the deception. But…I figured…you just needed to have someone listen to you. And since I wasn't sure if you’d be open about it…”

Sunset didn’t finish that sentence, instead looking down for the moment, avoiding her gaze. Sour looked at her, her expression a mixture of emotions, leading to Sunset speaking up again.

“Do you want to be angry at me?”

Considering that, Sour let out a sigh.

“I’d be lying if I said no.”

So, Sunset sat there, waiting for whatever bad thing Sour had to say to her about all this. But, in the end, the words never came, and instead, Sour broke out into a small smile.

“You lied. But…thanks for it anyway.”

A smile formed on Sunset’s face, and as for Sour, she folded her arms briefly and let out a hearty laugh, looking almost impressed with what Sunset had done.

“I appreciate what you did, but…damn, that was some sneaky stuff you pulled there!”

To that, Sunset giggled slightly.

“Well…I never said I was completely different from how I used to be.”