To say that Sugarcoat looked uninterested would have been a great understatement. As she walked down one of the many streets of Canterlot, her expression was so blank and unflinching that it would have been easy for a passer-by to assume that she was simply a statue that had decided to come to life and walk about. And yet, there was nevertheless a purpose in her walk, a look to her movements that made it clear that she was intent on getting to where she needed to be, and quickly. With her hands clasped behind her back as she walked, the air she gave off was one of formality and professionalism, stopping only every once in a while to adjust her glasses. After a good few minutes of walking, she finally came upon her destination; the local animal shelter of Canterlot. Looking the place over, she let out a brief sigh before marching forward once more. Coming to the door, she opened it, and was immediately met by a barrage of noises from the animals kept inside.

But this did not deter her, and she made her way inside despite the racket going on. While some of the animals, most notably a few dogs, stopped barking when they saw this newcomer, most just kept on going. Sugarcoat looked around, regarding each of the animals in turn before finally starting to look around the place properly. There seemed to be nobody here to speak to, which, if she had been one to look annoyed, would have indeed elicited a look of annoyance upon her. But, before she got the chance to simply turn around and leave, the door on the other side of the room creaked open, catching her attention. She stayed in one place as she saw that there, finally coming into view, was Fluttershy. But, for the time being, Sugarcoat said nothing, for it was clear she was not alone here today. As the pink-haired girl entered the room, she was followed by what looked like a younger boy, though one Sugarcoat didn’t recognise.

“I keep telling you, Snips, you can’t just bring in any kind of animal you find here!”

Fluttershy’s words were tinted with feelings of disapproval, though still in that meek Fluttershy-way of hers. The boy, Snips, placed his hands on his hips and frowned slightly at the girl’s words.

“What?! Just what exactly is wrong with the critter I brought?”

Fluttershy twiddled her thumbs a little as she considered that, finally speaking out in a voice that was just barely above a squeak.

“Well…um…it was a snail. And…well…it wasn’t even a hurt snail, it just…it’s just one you found in your garden this morning.”

Hearing that, Snips shrugged his shoulders.

“So? The sign on the shelter says that we can bring any homeless animal here to be looked after, right?”

Fluttershy hesitated over that for a moment, before finally nodding in response. Smirking at this, Snails took on a look of triumph before starting to march off in a cocky manner towards the exit. Sugarcoat stepped aside, more than happy to let the kid get out of this place, but stopped as he himself paused for a moment. He spun around, calling out to Fluttershy once more.

“Oh! And you’ll tell my teacher that this counts towards that whole “rescue-an-animal” project the class is doing, right?”

Fluttershy opened her mouth to speak, only to stop when Snails simply broke out into a smile and called out again.

“Great! Thanks, Flutters! You’re the best!”

And with that, the boy was gone, heading out of the shelter and slamming the door behind him. Sugarcoat turned to look through the window section of the door, seeing Snips run off like he was fairly happy to be out of here. Turning back to Fluttershy, she saw that the appropriately-shy girl simply shrugged her shoulders, all while maintaining a sweet smile.

“Well…I suppose he did a good thing…right?”

Sugarcoat raised her eyebrow at that, never giving an outright response. Seeing this, Fluttershy cleared her throat a little, keeping up her smile as she began to approach the Crystal Prep girl, clasping her hands together as she did so.

“It’s wonderful that you agreed to come, Sugarcoat!”

The other girl nodded, adjusting her glasses slightly before speaking up again.

“It is no bother. I’ve always found animals to be interesting to work with. Although…”

She turned, looking upon many of the creatures in the nearby pens.

“…I will fully admit that I don’t think I adore them as much as you do.”

To that, Fluttershy merely giggled.

“Well, let’s see if we can fix that, shall we?”

Sugarcoat shrugged her shoulders in response, watching as Fluttershy made her way over to the nearby front desk of the shelter. Upon it was an already-open box of food, ready to give out to the animals, which Fluttershy then busied herself preparing. As she did this though, Sugarcoat leaned against the desk, looking at the girl with some curiosity.

“What happened back there, exactly? With that Snips boy?”

Fluttershy hesitated for a moment before finally speaking up again.

“Oh…well…he just needed some help with a little class project of his. No need to worry about it.”

Sugarcoat raised an eyebrow at that.

“Really? Because it looked to me like he was taking advantage of you.”

But Fluttershy shook her head.

“Oh no! He wouldn’t do that! He was just…really, really adamant about me accepting his…animal.”

The hesitation with which she’d spoken that last word gave Sugarcoat all the information she needed, she then placed one hand upon her hip as she spoke up to Fluttershy yet again.

“Fluttershy…he was taking the laziest, easiest option he could to get out of his project, and went to you because he knew you were going to be an utter doormat about it.”

Needless to say, Fluttershy was taken aback by those words.

“I…I just wanted to help him and…”

But, she didn’t get the chance to speak, as Sugarcoat raised a hand and stopped her.

“Helping people is all well and good…but you do nobody any favours by doing it in the way you just did. You’re not helping him, and you’re certainly not helping yourself.”

Looking down at the ground, Fluttershy poked her index fingers against one another as she thought on that.

“I…I suppose not. It’s just…it’s always better to be nice to people, right?”

Hearing that, Sugarcoat folded her arm for a moment, staring intently at the meek girl before her.

“Is this why animals are better for you? Because they don’t go around taking you for granted or making you a pushover?”

Fluttershy’s head snapped in her direction, and she spoke in a manner that made it clear that she was at a loss for words over that.

“I…well…erm…animals are so much…so much nicer and less…”

But, yet again, Fluttershy was halted, as was Sugarcoat, when a new sound could be heard. Turning, they both found that it was a knocking on the door. Walking up to it, Sugarcoat saw that it was another younger boy, but this one somewhat taller than Snips had been. Seeing the boy herself, Fluttershy walked to the door and opened it.

“Oh! Good morning, Snails!”

Smiling at her, Snails entered, after which he turned around and looked at Fluttershy in an excited manner.

“Hey there, Fluttershy! I’ve got some great news!”

Hearing that, Fluttershy’s face lit up.

“Oooh! Really? What?”

Still smiling, Snails began to explain himself.

“Well, Snips came over and talked to me a while back saying that you could help us with this project. And since, well, you weren’t gonna to say no or anything, he said that we could just show up with anything! So here!”

With that, the boy held out his hand, and in its palm, there was a single, tiny ant scurrying about. As Fluttershy looked at the miniscule creature, her expression became one of being disheartened, which then morphed into uncertainty as she looked back up to Snails again.

“Oh…well…I, er…that’s very nice, Snails, but…”

Getting a good feeling on where this was going, Sugarcoat let out a sigh, rubbing the bridge of her nose before taking a step forward, coming in-between Fluttershy and Snails.

“You’ll have to go somewhere else.”

The authoritative way she’d spoken caught both Snails and Fluttershy by surprise, and the former tried speaking up again afterwards.

“But…but Snips said…!”

But Sugarcoat was already ahead of him.

“What Snips said doesn’t matter. It wasn’t right for him to be so lazy about it, and it’s not right for you to be either. Now…”

Stepping aside, Sugarcoat kept her eyes on the boy while gesturing to Fluttershy at the same time.

“Apologise to Fluttershy for using her like you did.”

Snails opened his mouth, perhaps to protest. However, there was something about the unmoving and stoic look on Sugarcoat’s face that, just for a moment, caused him to look more than a little concerned with his current course of action. A silence fell between the three of them, but, in time, Snails began to develop a look of guilt and apology, putting the hand with the ant behind his back before looking to Fluttershy.

“I’m…I’m sorry. It…it won’t happen again.”

Fluttershy opened her mouth to respond, only to stop when Sugarcoat did so in her stead.

“Apology accepted…now leave.”

Without another word, Snails left in a dash, not even closing the door behind him as he left. As Fluttershy watched him go, running as fast as his legs could carry him, she then turned, looking to Sugarcoat with amazement.

“How…how did you do that?”

To that, Sugarcoat shrugged her shoulders.

“Simple. You know how to handle animals…and I know how to handle people.”