Indigo Zap finished her milkshake, then looked out the window.

Nothing.

She looked at Sugarcoat, Sunny Flare, and Sour Sweet. All three of them collectively shrugged back at her.

Finally, she looked around the rest of Sugarcube Corner. Other customers, seated at their own tables and booths, continued to talk and eat, barely aware of Indigo's existence, if they were aware at all.

"Late as usual," Indigo huffed, looking at the time on her phone. She growled at the numbers. "Where. Is. Lemon Zest?"

"You know how she is," Sugarcoat said, shrugging one shoulder.

"Yeah! Totally super attentive!" Sour Sweet said, with an overbright smile. Her expression dropped, and she gestured with one hand. "Until she finds something shiny on the ground."

"I don't care if she went total magpie," Indigo said. "I just hope she didn't get caught."

"We could always go back and check," Sugarcoat said.

Indigo shook her head. "No way. Are you kidding? The rest of us were lucky enough to get out when we did!" She leaned forward, pointing at the other Crystal Prep girls. "They might notice us if we go back! And we did not come here today to be noticed."

All four girls heard a loud thump from the window next to them, followed by a squeak. Turning, they saw Lemon Zest pressing her face against it.

Indigo facepalmed, then glared at Lemon, whose cheeks were flattened into the glass. "Get in here," Indigo mouthed. "Now."

Lemon stared vacantly at Indigo's mouth for a second, then squealed and ran around the building. Zipping in through the front door, she quickly plopped down in the booth beside Indigo.

"Hah! I totally made it!" Lemon said, taking her headphones out of her bag. "Betcha thought I wouldn't, but I showed all of you!"

"Like you could blame us?" Sour Sweet said, clenching her teeth. She yanked Lemon's headphones to her side of the table. "What took you so long that you couldn't even answer our texts?"

"Um..." Lemon giggled sheepishly, as she put a hand behind her head. "...emergency jam session?"

"I knew we shouldn't have sent you to Music," Indigo groaned.

"Are you kidding?" Lemon gasped. "That was, like, the best class you could have sent me to!" Missing the others' eyerolls, she kept talking. "That Vinyl, she's soooooo cool, you guys. We totally hung out after class—all I have to do is say the word 'beat' and she gets going like a rocket! Seriously, we could've talked for dmmph mmrp hm dm!"

Even with Sugarcoat's hand over Lemon's mouth, Lemon kept talking. After nearly a minute of muffled bursts, she quieted. Sugarcoat took her hand away.

"We get it," Indigo said. "They're all cool. But today isn't about them. What'd you see in class?"

Lemon blinked. "Oh, that," she said. "Well, it's, uh, probably safe to say none of us thought our girl was big into the musical arts, right?"

The others nodded. Sugarcoat chuckled softly.

"So yeah. It was almost funny seeing her fumble on the piano," Lemon said. "Almost. Even I started feeling sorry for her, especially since I couldn't do anything to help without blowing my cover. But there was this other girl, uh... 'Octavia,' I think? She seemed to be a TA. Anyway, she stepped in. Dude—endless patience on that one! I was way impressed."

"Yeeesh, always with the 'helping out.' You can set your watch to it at this school," Sour Sweet said. "A broken one."

"Did it help?" Indigo asked.

Lemon nodded. "I think so? By the time class was over, she sounded a little bit better. Also, more smiles and less hitting her head on her desk. Honestly?" Lemon shrugged. "Yeah. I think she'll be totally fine."

"Well, then, that makes five class periods and five of the same answer," Indigo said. "So it's unanimous? She really is happy there?"

The girls nodded soberly, looking down at their empty milkshake glasses.

"She never smiled with us," Lemon said.

"That's because with us," Sugarcoat countered, "she never had a reason to."

Sour scoffed. "When I saw her in math today, you couldn't have paid her to stop smiling."

"Yeah, same for gym," Indigo said, resting her head in her hands. "Even with her failing up and down the court." Indigo sighed, and looked down thoughtfully. "But she's smiling now. And that's all that matters."

Bringing her gaze back up, Indigo straightened in her seat. "In other words, girls: mission accomplished," she announced. "Come on. We should get ready to head back—"

"Oh, crap!" Lemon said, pointing out the window.

The others turned to see the last seven girls they wanted to see. Marching towards the diner's entrance was a group of students from Canterlot High. A very specific group. Indigo's heart sank.

"So, um... is this a bad time to tell you guys I was kind of being tailed?" Lemon said.

"Yeah, Lemon, it kind of is!" Indigo hissed. "What, did you leave an engraved invitation, too?"

"I couldn't lose 'em, okay?" Lemon replied, defensively. "I ran, and took the long way, and everything!"

"By which you mean you got lost?" Sugarcoat said.

Lemon whirled on Sugarcoat, her face full of indignation. It lasted all of a second. "Yeah," she said, looking down. The other girls all groaned, slumping in their chairs. "This isn't my neighborhood, okay?" Lemon protested. "I'm not a human GPS! What do you want from me?"

"Shh!" Indigo slashed the air with her hand. The girls all snapped to attention. Indigo leaned in, and the other girls did the same.

Speaking softly and coolly, she said, "We're still in disguise, it'll probably still be fine. But for all we know, they might have magical super hearing or something." She turned to Lemon. "So Zest, shut it."

Lemon saluted, miming a zipper over her lips.

Facing Sour Sweet and Sugarcoat, Indigo added, "And you two, none of your usual cracks!"

Sour Sweet placed her hand to her heart. "You wound me," she said, mock-dramatically. "I just want you to know that."

"What she said," Sugarcoat said, flatly.

"I'm serious," Indigo said, straightening her beanie. "Just act natural, and they'll never see through us."

---

"You're from Crystal Prep, aren't you?" Sunset Shimmer said. She, and the other six girls, stood in a cluster at the Crystal Prep students' booth. Twilight Sparkle peered curiously at them.

"Great plan, Zap," Sugarcoat mumbled.

Indigo kicked Sugarcoat's shin, making the other girl yelp. "We, uh... we don't know what you're talking about," Indigo said, trying to make her voice gruffer.

"Seriously," Lemon said, sitting up straight, while pulling her floppy hat over one eye. "Nothing but perfectly ordinary Canterlot High peeps here. Go Wondercolts!" Lemon raised a fist. "Whoo!"

Sunset, Twilight, and the gathered Canterlot High students stared flatly at the Crystal Prep girls.

Indigo coughed, looking significantly at Sunny, Sour, and Sugarcoat.

"Oh, uh, yeah," Sugarcoat said. "Go team, go."

"Hooray Wonderbolts!" Sour said.

"Colts," Sugarcoat corrected.

"What she said," Sour said, pointing at Sugarcoat.

By this point the Canterlot High girls were visibly holding back laughter. Indigo laid her head on the table, pulling her beanie over her eyes. "You're not buying this, are you?" she asked.

Sunset chuckled. "Yeah, not in the slightest," she replied.

"I knew it!" Twilight snapped her fingers. "I thought I kept seeing girls who looked like you all day!" She stared into space, counting on her fingers. "Well, at first I thought it might have been lingering hallucinations brought about by my last all-night experiment a couple of days ago, but—"

"What are you doing so far from home?" Sunset interjected, placing a hand on Twilight's arm. "The Friendship Games are over."

"Yeah! And I thought we started burying the hammers afterward!" Pinkie Pie said.

Sugarcoat held up a finger. "I, uh, believe you mean 'hatchets'—"

"We did bury the hammers! All the hammers! I promise we did!" Lemon said, her voice pleading.

Sugarcoat groaned. "Sour, tell me you brought aspirin."

Sour Sweet shook her head. "Sorry, girl. I'm afraid we're both stuck with these headaches."

"Why are you here?" Twilight asked, trying to get the conversation back on track. "And why are you in disguise? Are you doing some kind of weird infiltration thing—" Twilight gasped. "You came to pull a prank, didn't you? I've heard of the ones our school's done to CHS before! There's no need for it! Not now! Heck, not even then!"

"No!" Indigo shouted, knocking over an empty glass."It's nothing like that, we swear!"

All of Sugarcube Corner went quiet, as Indigo's final word echoed through the restaurant. A tense silence settled as the other customers stared at the girls.

"Ahem."

Everyone turned to see Dean Cadance and Vice Principal Luna standing in the doorway. Their arms were crossed, and their gazes were stern.

"You're crowding the place," Cadance said, her voice carrying easily in the silence. "I think you'd all better come outside."