Everything was in chaos.
Thankfully, it wasn't the type of chaos that Discord had been sewing recently. But it was chaos nonetheless, and Twilight Sparkle knew that it was all her fault.
Well, mostly her fault. The fact that nopony she knew had a friendship lesson to learn in time for her to send a letter to Princess Celestia certainly wasn't her fault. But the herd of hypnotized ponies rampaging through town in hot pursuit of a fillies' toy...if one looked particularly closely at the situation, they could likely find some shred of evidence that could implicate her.
Twilight wasn't fooling anypony, especially not herself. That stampede was all her fault. Her need to find a friendship problem to solve and write about, combined with the sheer lack of said problems occurring naturally, had made for a deadly combination. To be fair, all Twilight had intended to do with the Want It Need It spell was make Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo argue over her Smarty Pants doll. Three fillies arguing over a doll and needing to learn to share would have been the perfect little problem to write to Celestia about. To say that things had gotten out of hoof was a vast understatement, though, as more and more ponies fell under her spell. Twilight could do nothing but watch with her friends as the town descended into madness over the toy.
"Oh, I've messed up big time," Twilight lamented.
"You didn't even need me to say it this time."
None of the ponies even needed to turn around to know who had said that.
"I know, I know," Twilight sighed as Sugarcoat came up to join the group. "This is all my fault."
"Mostly your fault," Sugarcoat corrected her.
"Okay, mostly," Twilight acquiesced. "If only there had been an organic friendship problem..."
"I don't mean that," Sugarcoat said. "I mean it's all of their faults too." She pointed to the other ponies, who shared a look of surprise.
"Our fault?" Rainbow Dash asked. "How in the hay is this our fault?"
"How are you this blind?" Sugarcoat replied. "Your best friend comes up to you looking more upset than she's ever been, and then when she tells you what she's upset about, you laugh it off like it's nothing?"
"But it didn't seem like something to be concerned about," Applejack said. "How is being late sending a friendship report that huge of a problem?"
"Just because it doesn't seem like a problem to you doesn't mean it's not a problem to anypony," Sugarcoat answered, rolling her eyes. "You could have easily asked Twilight why she thought this was such a problem. But apparently you girls couldn't even bother to do that for your best friend, huh?"
Guilty looks were passed between the group as they absorbed what Sugarcoat had said. In retrospect, the way they had treated Twilight was pretty awful.
"Sorry, Twilight," Fluttershy said quietly.
"We didn't mean to dismiss your feelings, darling," Rarity agreed.
"Well, we kiiiiinda meant to because we thought it was a silly problem," Pinkie Pie said. "But we didn't mean to mean to!" The girls shot a look at Pinkie, but had to admit that she was right, albeit in her own Pinkie Pie fashion.
"It's okay, girls," Twilight said. "I forgive you." The six shared a hug, one which Sugarcoat made a point of staying out of.
"Now, why is it such a problem?" Applejack asked.
"Because if I'm tardy, Princess Celestia won't think I'm taking my studies on friendship seriously," Twilight said, beginning to panic again. "And if she doesn't think I'm taking my studies seriously, she'll take me back to Canterlot and put me back in school and make me prove I'm taking them seriously with a test, and if I don't pass the test then she'll send me back to magic kindergarten!"
Twilight shuddered as she recalled all the fears she had been dealing with all day, but the rest of the group stayed silent.
"Okay, now you can tell her she's being stupid," Sugarcoat said.
"What?!" Twilight exclaimed. "I thought you agreed with me!"
"I agreed that your friends should have been concerned with your problem and heard it out," Sugarcoat stated. "Now that we have, we can see that it's a dumb concern. There's no way Princess Celestia is going to get that upset over a letter being late."
"But I'm supposed to send a letter every week!" Twilight shouted.
"Well, Miss Smarty Pants," Sugarcoat replied, most likely unaware of how pertinent to the situation that name was. "Did you ever consider sending a letter to Princess Celestia explaining that no friendship problems had come up, but that you were still studying and keeping an eye out for them?"
Twilight opened her mouth, but no sound came out. It sounded so simple when put that way.
"I didn't think so," Sugarcoat said. "You can tell her that when she gets here. I'm pretty sure she's on her way to fix your mess.
"Right..." Twilight said softly. "That would make sense, wouldn't it?"
"Mhm," Sugarcoat said. She began to walk off, but stopped when she saw Big Macintosh run by. He was currently in possession of Smarty Pants, and the devotion he was showing to that doll was unparalleled. He stared at it and regarded it with a level of affection that seemed almost impossible to come across naturally. Sugarcoat hesitated, then turned back.
"Hey Twilight...where did you learn that spell?"
Sugarcoat is really smart.
But I feel bad for her because Big Mac is interested in another mare.
Hah, great chapter!
I gotta admit, that was the perfect way to handle Sugarcoat in this episode. She called out everyone!
...though how come she wasn't effected by the spell spiraling out of control?
6630387 Fanon says she learned it as a filly by watching her foalsitter cast emotional manipulation spells on random passersby?
Although it could just be the harmless example mind control spell that all would-be magic unicorns learn in school, amped up to dangerous levels by Twilight's freaky magical strength.
Sugarcoat is quite the enigma here. She seems to know all these friendship lessons and be pretty sensible most of the time, but she's still kind of a bitch. One would guess that this was because she didn't consider Twilight and the rest to be her friends, her moment with Discord showing that it's the other Shadowbolts she cares about, but then we get moments like this:
I'm not sure if she really plans on sticking around, or if that's just a distraction while she bides her time for the several months it'll be before she can get back to the EQG world, and that's if she doesn't mind dropping in before she was supposed to disappear. Or maybe she doesn't care at all, and her ultimate plan is to wait until Midnight Sparkle is doing her thing, walk up to her past self, slap her upside the head, and say "Don't just stand there when there are rifts in time and space all over, get somewhere safe and you won't be trapped in another dimension."
Sugarcoat, taking her own advice, would then not fall into the portal, thus negating this entire thing. But we would remember, and whenever we went back to see the old episodes, we might think of the Sugarcoat That Never Was and giggle.
That ending is wicked. Poor Big Mac and Little Mac.
6630593
Oh, Sugarcoat, when will you accept friendship into your heart?
That's one thing I noticed about the other Shadowbolts: they all seemed to have some concept of friendship with each other (Sour Sweet and Sunny Flare seemed close, Lemon Zest was never rude to Twilight and was happy to interact with the Wondercolts). But not Sugarcoat...
6630385 Yeah. With the new episode, he's forced to choose between Fluttershy, Cheerilee, Marble and Sugarcoat now. Also, it would be bad if the whole fic turned out to be a stabel time loop.
Alas, Sugarcoat, Big Mac was never under the spell. He just really wanted the doll.
6630385
It is still early. She might as yet manage to get Mac. She just has to be persistent.
6630882
Yeah, is still early. But poor Marble Pie.
...Pinkie, take it away.
Okay everypony, follow after me. *Proceeds to run away while screaming into the distance.*
6630831 don't give Sugarcoat any ideas here... (Someone make a Sugarcoat fan art depicting her dressed as Smarty Pants if it isn't too much trouble)
6632335
I got tired of saying things like "the fake X" and wanted to mix it up
The better question(1:30)
6630408
Sugarcoat's gotta crush!
"Were you even there when she gave you that assignment? Because I was. At no point in her entire set of directions did she ever tell you how frequently to turn them in. That time limit? Was all in your head."