//------------------------------//
// New 
// Story: Such Sweet Lunacy 
// by FanOfMostEverything 
//------------------------------//

Cadence still felt more at home in the dean's office than the principal's, in no small part because most of her things were still in there. The interim dean of students had done nothing to make the office feel more like hers because she knew as well as anyone that she was, quite emphatically, the interim dean of students.

And as Cadence paced in front of what part of her still thought of as her desk, she acknowledged that the adjective was well-earned. "I can't say I'm happy right now, Yellow."

Yellow Diamond gave a sharp glare in response. Everything about her was sharp and angular, all the more so since the great change had made her name a little more literal. "Cadence, I was hired as a gym teacher."

"You were still the most qualified faculty member to act as interim dean of students." 

That got a roll of Yellow's eyes. "Only because I took a few undergrad psych classes with Blue and I sparkle like a poorly written vampire." She held up a hand and turned her wrist, letting the scintillation speak for itself.

"You being a crystal aspect was not a factor." Cadence stopped her passing to press her hands on the desk and lean towards Yellow, scowling. "If I had known you'd use emotionally resonant crystals so carelessly, it would've counted against you."

Yellow met her gaze head-on. "Fine. Then replace me and let me get back to the job I should be doing."

Cadence was tempted to do so. But she had to straighten back up, shake her head, and say "The sad thing is you're still one of the most empathetic members of the staff. If I put anyone else in this position, I might as well just throw students to the wolves."

"Abacus did have a habit of hiring functional sociopaths. With varying degrees of functionality." Yellow glared in the general direction of the teacher's lounge, then gave a sympathetic look no Crystal Prep athletic team would ever believe she could offer. "Still looking?"

"Still looking. I do have one promising prospect, but Radiant Hope won't be available until next month." Cadence ran a hand through her hair. "We are incredibly fortunate that those girls agreed to let this rest without getting lawyers involved, so long as it doesn't happen again."

"Your aunt going on about how 'the Bacon Horse forgives' likely helped there."

"First cousin once removed," Cadence said automatically. "Just... don't hand out magical antidepressants like they're candy while we wait for Radiant?"

Yellow shrugged. "I'm not sure what else you expect me to do. Electroshock therapy?" She clenched a fist. Electricity crackled along it. "Because I'm not trained for that either."

"Yellow."

Another roll of the eyes. "Fine, fine, I'll see how much time Blue has to spare. She got the empathy for both of us. At the very least, she can give me some pointers."

"I'd appreciate that." Cadence let herself relax enough to smile. "Thank you."

Yellow shook her head. "Don't thank me for being a stopgap until the real dean gets here. Save it for when I'm whipping the field hockey team into shape."





Four figures watched the meeting, hunched over a bowl that glowed like captured moonlight. "Do you think they suspect anything?" said one.

Lemon Zest looked up at Sunny Flare and shrugged. "Probably not. Cady's married to an O&O player, so she should know scrying is a thing, but not specifically a thing her students can do."

"For now," said Sunny.

"Yeah, so we should make the most of..." Lemon trailed off as she noticed the glow fade in her peripheral vision. "We missed the end of the meeting, didn't we?"

Sunny nodded. "Completely."

"You didn't miss much," Sugarcoat said as she sat on Lemon's bed. The dorm room was surprisingly tidy, largely because it was early in the year, and rooming with Sour Sweet meant one had very strong incentives to be a good roommate. "Mostly pleasantries and moving on to something that isn't our business."

"They're still talking, but I ended the spell once they started on someone other than me." Moondancer hesitated for just a moment before sitting next to Sugarcoat. They shared an uneasy smile.

"You two doin' okay?" said Lemon.

"We're here if you need us," added Sunny, "for whatever that's worth."

Sugarcoat quirked an eyebrow. "Frank self-awareness to the point of self-denigration is my thing."

"This is Cadence-era Crystal Prep, Sugarcoat," Sunny countered. "We're all looking at ourselves and being disgusted by what we see."

"I'm not." Lemon ducked under a telekinetically thrown pillow. "But for cereal, you two doin' okay?"

Moondancer waggled a hand. "It's a day-to-day thing. Some days are better than others."

Sugarcoat nodded. "It's like the weather. We don't have any control over it and little ability to predict it. We just deal with the bad days and enjoy the nice ones." She held out a hand.

Moondancer took it and squeezed. "And I'm researching other conventional medications. I may not necessarily take any, but I'd like to know my options. Sour and Second are helping there."


— — —


Sour Sweet paced in front of Moondancer like a general before her troops, complete with monologue. That they were on the grounds of Crystal Prep rather than some military base with a massive Amareican flag behind her was a minor detail at best. "It's the Wild West out there for memory crystals, almost literally. The government has no idea how to regulate them, no one is quite sure what goes into them, and good luck finding any way to properly quantify the active ingredients, if any. There are refractive bastards out there selling junk they pulled right out of some New Age wellness store and claiming they instilled it with transcendent inner peace."

"And then there's Ms. Diamond," said Moondancer, who was doing all she could to keep from getting swept along the sheer degree of passion.

"Right," Sour said with a nod so sharp, her ponytail nearly whipped her in the face. "Based on what you told me and my own experiences, she went and gave you a triple dosage of confidence without meaning to." in a blink, Sour mellowed to something resembling human sympathy. "I can't say I'm surprised. This is Coach Diamond we're talking about. She expects one hundred percent from everyone, especially herself. The problem is you don't always want to give one hundred percent with pharmaceuticals."

"So, how are you feeling now?" said Second Person. "Any lingering effects?"

Moondancer looked askance at him. "It's been the better part of a week."

"And we have no idea how long it takes for a body to flush out synthetic emotions," Sour countered. She beamed, and Moondancer had no idea how much sarcasm went into the smile or her next words. "We're exploring brave new medical frontiers! Isn't it exciting!?"


— — —


"So long as you keep me in the loop, I'm happy," said Sugarcoat. "It was not knowing that bothered me more than anything. That and the sudden shift."

Sunny nodded. "Forewarning helps when dealing with a Lemon-like personality."

Lemon quirked up a corner of her mouth. "I'm sitting right next to you."

"And?"

The two traded a fistbump before Lemon marshaled herself. "In all seriousness, you two cool?"

Moondancer shrugged. "I don't think we'll ever be one hundred percent cool. But really, who is?"

"Twilight and Sunset?" said Sugarcoat.

Lemon snorted. "Please. When's the last time you've talked to those two? They get on each other's nerves almost as much as Sunny and I do. And I can't threaten to worship Sunny ironically." After a moment, she added, "I mean, I can but it doesn't have the same impact when she doesn't have an unwanted church around her already."

"Don't get any ideas there," said Sunny.

"I make zero promises."

Sugarcoat crossed her arms. "You do realize that comparing our relationship to yours only invites further teasing about your refusal to admit you're a couple."

Lemon matched the gesture. "You do realize you can bite me."

Sunny shook her head. "Such witty repartee flows in these hallowed halls."





Moondancer took a deep breath as she approached her target. The athletic fields were very much not familiar territory for her. Asking for help even less so. But there was still one viable source of data for her problem she hadn't consulted yet, even if it didn't have an index or a wiki.

She approached as said source was stretching out assorted muscle groups at the school track, using her wingbow for some literally dizzying contortions. "Hey, Indigo?"

"Yeah?" Indigo said as her bizarre weight distribution made her slowly drift upside down.

"Um, is this a bad time?"

"Not if you're here to ask me what I think you're here to ask me." Indigo straightened out in a blur of movement, settling on her feet and twisting her neck about for good measure. "It is about Sugarcoat, right?"

"Well... yes. How do you deal with such a stark disparity between you and your, uh..." Moondancer trailed off, biting her lip.

Indigo smirked. "Let's just leave it at 'your, uh, awkward pause.' My mistress generally doesn't do labels."

"I'm just going to ignore the contradiction there."

"Good, you're learning." Indigo shrugged. "And honestly, I don't even think about it."

Moondancer took a moment to process that. "You don't?"

"No. I'm hers. Simple as that."

"I... honestly find that hard to believe. Even I know about your reputation as the most gung-ho athlete at Crystal Prep."

"That's part of it." Indigo interlaced her fingers and stretched her arms up. "It's honestly a relief to have a place and a person where I don't have to push myself to be the absolute peak of human performance." She scowled. "Especially since that peak rose."

"I see." Moondancer didn't, not really, but she could tell she wouldn't get any more clarity on that relationship for the time being. "So, with Sugarcoat..."

"You know, she asked me the same thing?"

Moondancer almost physically staggered as she took that in. "She... she did?"

"Like ten minutes into grilling me to make sure I wasn't brainwashed or in full Stockhorn Syndrome, but yeah. That's the thing. Sure, Sugarcoat's better than you. You're also better than her." Indigo shrugged. "Everyone's got their strengths and weaknesses."

"Even you in comparison to Winter Lights?"

"In a few ways, by certain criteria, from a certain perspective... Yeah. The point is that you guys shouldn't have to feel like you have to constantly earn each other's love. Love isn't a muscle you have to keep conditioned. You shouldn't take it for granted, but you don't have to have, like, a specific love day every week where you work your affection quads." Indigo sighed and facepalmed. "I'm spending too much time around Lemon Zest."

"I... think I understood what you meant," said Moondancer.

"Okay, not as much time around her as I thought. Good to know."

They shared a laugh at that. Moondancer waved as she turned to go. "Thanks for the insight. I'll get out of your hair."

Indigo rubbed the back of her head. "I mean, I'm not the best source for this kind of mushy crap. I basically fell into its lap. Still, happy to help."





Watching a sunset together was the sort of sappy dreck that both Moondancer and Sugarcoat would mock in others. But both acknowledged that there was a time for sap, and recovering from an emotional meltdown definitely qualified. Especially when they could do it from the security of Moondancer's dorm room. Her roommate, Alizarin Bubblegum, was low enough on the social totem pole that they had little to worry about her airing their dirty laundry.

Also, Alizarin and Moondancer got along well enough that she respected their privacy, and Moon returned the favor with Alizarin's relationship with Celery Stalk. So there was that.

After some time spent in companionable silence, Sugarcoat said, "So. How are you feeling?"

"Still kind of embarrassed. Still kind of nervous." After a deep breath, Moondancer added, "Still wondering what you see in me sometimes."

Sugarcoat nodded. "So our mutual ground state?"

"Yeah, I guess so." Moondancer leaned back until she ended up lying on her mattress. "I'm stumbling through this, but I guess everyone is."

"Dad does like to say that adulthood is just doing a better job of hiding how you have no idea what you're doing." Sugarcoat turned to Moondancer and smiled. "If I have stumble along with anyone, I'm glad it's you."

Moon straightened up and returned the grin. "I love you, Sugarcoat."

"I know." After Moondancer swatted her on the shoulder, Sugarcoat just said, "I deserved that."

"This isn't Force Wars and you aren't Lonesome Hans."

Sugarcoat slowly wrapped her arms around Moondancer and nestled into her shoulder. "Better?"

After a few moments, Sugarcoat felt a nod against the top of her head. "Better."