//------------------------------//
// After Hours 
// Story: Altered Perspectives: Adapting to Change 
// by CapNTilfy 
//------------------------------//

Neon and Sugarcoat entered Crystal Prep, and Neon sighed.

"What's wrong, hot stuff?"

Neon frowned. "I almost feel bad about having to leave Royal in the dark about what we're doing."

"That's understandable, but it's for the best. The fewer that know, the better."

"I guess..."

A pair of footsteps diverted the pair's attention, and Neon and Sugarcoat slowly watched as Abacus Cinch walked by, unaware of their presence. A wicked smile was on the Headmistress' face.

Once Cinch was out of their sight, Neon and Sugarcoat glanced at each other.

"That... wasn't in the direction her office, was it," Neon asked, feeling confused.

Sugarcoat shook her head. "I didn't like the look on her face."

"I'll go see what she's up to." 

"Be discreet, hon."

"Of course, Sugar." Neon walked off in pursuit of Cinch, and Sugarcoat continued making her way to Cadance's office, texting her parents and Neon's about their staying behind.





Cadance walked to her office, dreading the headache she knew she'd get over the course of the evening. She hoped to have some sort of break between her briefing with Neon and Sugarcoat and all the calls. She wouldn't kid herself, though. She needed to be mentally prepared for what awaited her.

Cadance reached her office and found Sugarcoat waiting alone. "Where's Neon?"

"Cinch looked like she was up to something, so he followed her."

Cadance sighed and put a hand to her forehead. What on earth was that woman scheming now?  "No rest for the weary, I see." She walked up to her office and opened the door, then beckoned Sugarcoat inside. "I just hope he knows what he's doing..."





Neon had found that it was far harder to follow someone when there wasn't a crowd of people to hide in. He would have to wait until Cinch reached the end of a hall then turned, then he'd pray to the higher powers that he didn't lose her. This had gone on for a few minutes, and he had begun to feel a little antsy.

Neon rounded another corner, then saw Cinch stop in front of a door. He barely managed to stifle his sigh of relief.

Cinch took a ring of keys out of her pocket, then selected one and unlocked the door and went in.

Neon couldn't help but swallow nervously as he snuck over to the door. He half expected Cinch's head to pop out and startle him! He took a deep breath, then exhaled. He felt calmer, but still kept his guard up. Each step brought him closer, and he heard objects being moved around along with the occasional sneeze and sniffle.

Neon reached the door, then took a peek inside.

Unlike most rooms in Crystal Prep Academy, the walls were purely concrete. To Neon's left was a bulletin board with several graphs, diagrams of rainbows and notes. A red yarn was strung around, connecting all the pictures to Canterlot High. A desk with a laptop and a couple of books lay just below it.

To Neon's left was a desk with a desktop computer with an empty test tube rack next to it. The wallpaper on the computer was a picture of... Twilight Sparkle's dog?

Another sneeze from Cinch startled Neon, and he decided to back away slowly. He had the feeling nothing good would come of standing around any longer. Once he felt it safe to do so, he ran back to Cadance's office.





Cadance and Sugarcoat had been waiting for Neon, enjoying some silence after all the chaos. Several minutes had passed since he went after Cinch.

"You know what," Sugarcoat asked impatiently. "I can't wait for Neon, I need to get it out of my system. What the fu-"

There was a knock at the door.

"Come in."

The door opened to admit Neon. "Cinch was in Twilight's room," he said as he shut the door behind himself.

Cadance's eyes shot open fully. "Her lab?!"

Neon nodded.

"What was she doing in there?"

"It looked like she was looking for something. What that something was, I have no idea." Neon shrugged. "I only got a quick glance, then high-tailed it out of there because I didn't want to get caught."

"Well," Cadance said with a sigh. "I suppose that's better than nothing to go on... I'll have Benefactor look into it."

"Great," Sugarcoat said. "Now that that's out of the way, what the fuck," she shouted, throwing her hands up in the air.

"Sugarcoat..."

"I'm not finished," Sugarcoat snapped. "Did you have any idea that was going to happen?!"

"No," Cadance said quietly.

"You knew there was magic, why didn't you think to take any precautions?"

"How was I supposed to know that Twilight would end up going on a magical raging bender," Cadance shouted as she shot up from her seat.

"Do you have any idea how scared I was?"

"Do you have any idea how scared I was," Cadance roared as she headed towards Sugarcoat.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Neon shot forward, getting between the two, holding an arm out on each side. "Look. We've all been through a lot of shit today. Why don't we just take the weekend to cool off, then calmly go over this on Monday?"

An uncomfortable silence fell in Cadance's office as Neon looked at Sugarcoat, then at the Dean. He knew Cadance would have more to deal with tonight, and he had to diffuse the situation before things really got out of hand.

"Fine," Cadance said, then walked back to her chair and sat down. "We'll talk about this later."

Neon nodded, then turned to Sugarcoat, who was still breathing heavily with an expression of fury. She took a deep breath, then exhaled. "...Okay. Monday it is, then."

Neon heaved a sigh of relief as he lowered his arms, then took Sugarcoat by the hand and laced his fingers with hers. "See you then, Dean Cadance."

"Yeah," Cadance said quietly as she hid her eyes from Neon. "S-See you then."

Neon closed the office door behind himself, and Cadance almost immediately broke.

Sugarcoat lasted until she and Neon left Crystal Prep.