Sugarcoat walked through the herd of Crystal Prep students with a textbook lodged underneath her left arm. She rolled her eyes as she passed by the students, listening to the many echoes of their conversations that sounded like incomprehensible gibberish to her when put together all at the same time. Through their bright colours and idle smiles, she could still see the level of professionalism that she shared with her peers before, during, and after the Friendship Games—even if said talent had been buried underneath the fall of Cinch and the rise of a new principal.

After Principal Cinch tried to persuade the board to have Canterlot High disqualified from the Friendship Games due to a magical outbreak, the aged woman had not only found herself booted off of the board, but also found herself the target of a lawsuit by Twilight Sparkle for blackmailing. Sugarcoat still remembered the oak tables, pews, and pillars that filled the space in the courtroom whenever she thought back to that day, followed by the screams of desperation, fury, and then insanity as Cinch was deemed guilty and hauled off by the police officers. She still shuddered at the sounds, but shook her head and pressed on regardless.

How quickly this world seems to change... Sugarcoat took a deep breath and exhaled through her nose as she turned a corner and approached a pair of doors. How can the students of this place be at peace when stuff like magic is running throughout this world? Shouldn't they be panicking, or at the very least, disturbed by this whole scenario? Shaking her head, she pushed through the doors and walked into a large refectory. Calm yourself, Sugarcoat. Remember what mother said. Worry leads to disaster. Perhaps something to eat should calm my nerves.

Sugarcoat took a tray and gathered her food, collecting some salad, pasta, and a drink of water as she made her way towards the tables. As she casually strolled past the various rows of seats that had been occupied by other students eating their fill before their next lessons.

"Hey, Sugar! C'mere, girl!" Lemon Zest called out from the top floor as she peaked her head over the mezzanine's banisters. She gave Sugarcoat a vigorous wave, dropping her headphones onto her arm. "We're all waitin' for ya!"

Sugarcoat gave a sigh and shrugged. She walked up the stairs and came to the table where Lemon Zest and her friends were sitting with their trays of food. The four of them all watched as she laid down her food on the one empty slot and slipped her legs underneath the table. "Lemon Zest. I will never understand how you always get the tables up here, let alone save a spot for me."

"Aww, Sugar. Sometimes you've just gotta go with the flow, y'know?" Lemon Zest wrapped her arm around Sugarcoat's shoulders and gave her a grin. "And if that flow takes you all the way to the top, then you've just gotta take it at the first chance."

"I'll never understand this 'flow' you keep talking about, Lemon Zest." Sunny Flare lifted one of her brows as she pulled her eyes from her meal and stared at the headphone-clad girl. "But I suppose that if you like it, then who are we to deny you it?"

"Yeah. It's not like you're considered the weird girl or anything, not when everyone dresses like a unicorn vomited on them." Sour Sweet blew a little tuft of hair poking out above her forehead as she took another bite of her pasta.

"Aptly put as always, Sour Sweet." Sugarcoat nodded and took a small swig of her water. "So, do you any happen to have any topics of discussion, or are you just preparing yourselves for your next class in silence?"

"Eh. Little bit of both, really." Indigo Zap hunched her shoulders and held her hands out flat, poking her fingers out to the sides as she wobbled her wrists. "What about you?"

"I happen to have come out of a very important history exam." Sugarcoat picked her textbook up and slid it into the backpack resting delicately on her shoulders. "Even with Cadence's promotion to Principal, I can't let my grades slip by even an inch. Crystal Prep does still need to keep a good track record, crazed elder's shattered reputation or not."

"Yeah. I never guessed that Cinch was that heartless, really." Lemon Zest kicked her feet up and put her hands behind her head as she looked up to the ceiling. "OK, so there were one or two little detentions here and there, followed by a meeting with mom and dad, but honestly, I didn't really see her as someone who blackmailed people..."

"I have to agree with Lemon Zest on that. Abacus Cinch did a great job of hiding the wolf that she was underneath that crusty exterior." Sunny Flare nodded lightly. "Through her morals and her severe rules, there didn't seem like much to distinguish her. Then, those teenage girls from Canterlot High came along and she became a totally different person."

"Well, what did you expect? She's an old lady." Sour Sweet tipped her hand as she used her other one to gather a clump of mashed potatoes on her fork. "I'm surprised she didn't need any medication or porters. Heck, I think she deserved to be in a retirement home more than prison." Her frown melted slightly as she took a bite of the white slop. "She's not gonna last a day in there with all those big, bad, mean convicts..."

"Let's not spend the whole day talking about Cinch's termination. The mood here's really beginning to turn foul." Lemon Zest shook her head and turned the music up on her headphones. "Let's move on to something a bit more friendly, shall we?"

"Like what, Zest?" Indigo tilted her head as she bit into a piece of chicken breast. "We're Crystal Preppers. All our time here is usually work, work, work. Heck, I barely get any time to practice my sports anymore with Cadence's new timetables. And I've really gotta give that Canterlot High girl a good game when I see her again..."

"Which one?" Sunny Flare asked.

"Y'know? That one with the rainbow-coloured hair. She's pretty radical, if I do say so myself. And I am pretty rad." Indigo had a toothy grin as she pointed both of her thumbs at her chest. "But yeah, if I fall behind on my training, she might think that Crystal Prep's gone soft. I mean, we've changed a whole lot since the Friendship Games, but I still don't want her to think that we've lost our touch when it comes to sporting events now, do I?"

"Ah, don't be so hard on yourself, Indy. You're still a great girl when it comes to sports." Lemon Zest reached over the table and gave Indigo a small hug, brushing her face against Indigo's cheeks as she inadvertently got food all over her dress. "Plus, you're looking so much better now in yellow."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence there, Zest, but I've still got a pretty packed schedule ahead of me." Indigo wormed out of Lemon's hug and watched as she sat upright once again. "Plus, I do kinda need a lighter tone now so that I don't totally freak out and mess up my lessons." She turned to the other girls at the table. "Anyone got any suggestions for what we could talk about?"

"Well, I suppose I could talk about this new profession that I've been taking up ever since the Friendship Games." Sunny Flare raised her finger, attracting the attention of the group straight away. "Who knew that the world of dress-making could be so enthralling? It's not just about your satins and velours, no. There's plenty of—"

"I said lighter, not boring." Indigo Zap put her hand over Sunny's mouth. "I mean, c'mon, girl. Give me something fuzzy to work with, like, uh, I dunno. kittens or something?"

"Kittens are so cliche these days." Sour Sweet scoffed and ate another piece of her meal. "All they do is look at the camera with their big eyes, and yet the world seems to think that they're so cute and adorable. Well, I have a cat like that, and all that she does is lie around and lick her paws, and I don't find it to be that emotionally gripping!" She slammed her fist on the table, causing a small silence to fall between her and the others. She fluttered her eyes briefly and took her hand back. "Sorry."

"What about the news? There's gotta be something good in the headlines that'll make you either laugh or—"

"Lemon Zest, I'm going to have to stop you right there." Sugarcoat gave a quick flick of her hand, silencing Lemon as she brought it back down to the table. "All the news that's going around these days are about stocks and crime. Nothing really that interesting to talk about. And even if we did, it would just make us grimace with how the world is spiralling out of control with economical or political drama."

"Yeah. There's been some pretty bad news going around lately." Sunny Flare slowly blinked as she put her hands together. "I... think that we should try something else."

"Hold on a sec. I've got it!" Indigo Zap shot her finger up in the air. "Why don't we talk about our childhoods?"

"Childhoods?" The other girls chorused as they stared bug-eyed at Indigo Zap.

"Yeah. We all had 'em? Don'tcha remember, girls?" Indigo Zap began to smile again as she stood up from the table. "We didn't spend our whole lives at Crystal Prep. We had to get born and grow up from little squirts until we got where we are today. We didn't just magically forget everything that happened up until now, right?"

"Hmm... I suppose you're right." Sunny Flare put her fingers against her forehead and leaned over as she tried to recall what it was like to be young. "But even if we do reminisce about those days, how is that going to help us feel better?"

"Duh! Because of the fun and games we used to have!" Indigo threw her arms out and walked around the table. "Think about it. We used to draw, play with bouncy balls, run around in the park as fast as our little legs could take us back then, and our voices were way higher back then too. It was like we didn't have a care in the world!"

"I've tried to remember what those days were like, Indigo. And believe me, it's much harder than it sounds." Sour Sweet deadpanned as she turned to face her again. "Nowadays, all I can think of is trying not to blow my brains out with anger as I try to get my grades, then get a job as someone with a pretty face but who ends up in the pits, meets a guy who somehow seems nice, get married, have children of my own, then die peacefully with the knowledge that I could've done more and taught my offspring some better lessons."

"Oookay. I didn't really need to hear that today." Indigo tugged on her collar as some sweat popped out from her forehead.

"You've gotta give it to Sour, though. She doesn't skimp on any of the details when she's describing something," said Sunny Flare.

"Though, I will admit that the memories of our youth does seem like an interesting concept to bring up, Indigo Zap." Sugarcoat's brows elevated a few inches as she looked up and put her utensils down. "Who should start us off?"

"Well, considering that you're the stuffiest and least interested in things most of the time, I figured that you could start us off, Sugar." Indigo sat down and leaned in close.

"M-me?!" Sugarcoat's eyes shot wide open as she lurched backwards and almost fell off the other edge of her seat. "Pardon my outburst, but why do I need to be the one who has to begin this conversation?"

"Let's face it, Sugarcoat, you're pretty boring." Sour Sweet laid down her knife and fork, then placed her elbows on the table and coiled her fingers together. "Most of the time, you always give a snide remark about what a person's wearing, or that the choice someone's making might land them or another person in the hospital. Heck, you don't really seem to smile at anything anymore."

"I do smile! Just... at certain times is all." Sugarcoat took in a massive breath and blew it out through her mouth, pushing her glasses back to her face again. "Shouldn't it make more sense to have Indigo Zap or Lemon Zest do it first? They do seem to be the most spontaneous children here at Crystal Prep Academy..."

"Listen, Sugarcoat, Indigo and Lemon are always gonna be kids with their attitudes." Sour walked over and patted Sugarcoat's shoulders. "If they went first, we probably wouldn't get anything we didn't expect. They probably had wonderful childhoods where they did nothing but mess around, giggle, and play silly games, go to kindergarten together, and most likely became friends long before they attended this musky place."

"Even so, it would make all the more sense to start with them, purely because, even if I did share my life as a single-digit child, there wouldn't really be anything interesting to talk about either," said Sugarcoat.

"But, see, that's the whole point, Sugarcoat." Sunny Flare looked Sugarcoat in the eyes. "You seem to be the least interested at anything here at Crystal Prep. You shoot off papers like they're going out of fashion, and I dare say that you might even be better than Twilight Sparkle now. You're the perfect candidate to start us off remembering our kid lives." She cracked a smile. "After all, what better way to dive into the lives of when we were kids, than to have someone with a lack of emotion recall her time as a little one?"

"Yeah! C'mon, Sugar. What've you got to lose?" Lemon Zest fluttered her eyebrows.

"My self-respect? My sanity? My lunch?" Sugarcoat tried listing off the different examples by pulling on her fingers, but it didn't divert the attention of the other Shadowbolts as they got even closer to her. Defeated, Sugarcoat groaned and rubbed her forehead. "Fine then. I suppose that I could at least humour you with what little shreds of my young life I know."

"Great!" Lemon Zest threw up her arms and put both of her hands on her chin, smiling widely as she awaited the stories of Sugarcoat's childhood. "Just start whenever you feel like it. No need to rush, Sugar."

"This is gonna be good." Sour Sweet smiled as she and the other Shadowbolts huddled up close together and waited patiently for the story.

"You're never going to let me live this down, are you?" Sugarcoat asked the girls but got no response as she tried to pick out a story from the many that her mind had managed to fish out from the recesses of her memory. "Alright then. I suppose I should at least start with a lighter tale. One of the normal days for when I was a small child under the age of ten." She began to envision what her life was like when she was young. No matter what she was going to say, she knew that deep in her mind, she was going to have to consult a therapist for what she was about to say. "First of all, I suppose that, if you want to know what I looked like as a child. Picture me in what I'm wearing right now, only with less pigtails, no glasses, a small red bow around my neck, and a purple teddy bear."

"Oh, we already see it," said Indigo Zap. "And she looks like one super-adorable little Sugarcoat." She stifled a small chuckle.

Sugarcoat's cheeks flushed red at Indigo's remark, but she managed to retain her composure as she began to tell the story. "Ten years ago, in a simpler time than now, there was a little girl named Sugarcoat, living in euphoria with her mother and father in a quaint little house in the town..."