//------------------------------// // Plot Progression // Story: Book 1 - The Behemoth came to Canterlot // by Equimorto //------------------------------// Sugarcoat and Twilight stood, speechless, as the large, bug-like, six-legged creature rushed by in front of them, followed shortly after by Shining Armor, clearly intent on chasing her. A moment after the commotion had moved past them, the first turned to the second with a questioning look. Twilight looked back. "I have no idea." "That's reassuring, actually." Sugarcoat returned to walking down the corridor, and Twilight followed at her side. "So," the alicorn began to ask, "what are your plans for the rest of the day?" "Just visit the town," said Sugarcoat. "Go look at the shops. Have a walk in the centre. Maybe read something if there's a library. I will probably look for a bakery or something close and see if they have snickerdoodles." She kept walking, looking straight ahead. "It sounds boring. But I just want to be normal." Twilight bit her lower lip, unsure of what to say. "Do you want me to help you with anything or-" "No," Sugarcoat interrupted her. "Walking around with a princess is the last thing I want in terms of keeping my visit normal, and while your words about the situation between me and my Twilight were welcome and will be helpful you're still a reminder of my mistakes, so I would rather not be with you while I sort things out." A moment of silence went by, then she added, "It sounds like I'm antagonising you for offering help. I'm not, and I do appreciate the offer. I'm horrible at any kind of social interaction, especially with someone I'm not familiar with." "I don't think you are," Twilight immediately replied. "You're being too harsh on yourself. I meant what I said about you and the other Twilight, you should be working on improving things now and not regretting mistakes you can't unmake. And besides, you have friends, don't you? You can't be as bad as you say you are." "I only ever really became friends with them after we almost died together. Before that the closest thing I had was occasionally doing what I can't describe as anything other than bullying together with Sour or Indigo. Every other pretense of me having any sort of social relationship was just the byproduct of being one of the top students, and between the shift in the school's climate after Cinch was kicked out and the way I wasted the rest of that year moping in a corner and completely annihilated my grades that all crumbled away. I'm completely socially inept and just because I was able to bond with other sapient creature through a shared near death experience against a magical entity bent on world domination things aren't going to change." Twilight would have chuckled at that last statement, given her own experiences, but the rest of what Sugarcoat had said kept her from it, especially coupled with the mare's worryingly flat tone. "I didn't know about your grades." "I didn't tell Twilight. I was held back a year. Right now I'm keeping them just on the edge so I can easily tank them again if I want." "But why?" Sugarcoat actually stopped walking there. "Because I've got nowhere else to go outside of that school. My whole personality was built around a system that doesn't even exist anymore. I don't know of any other place where a complete disregard for emotions and an obsessive focus on facts would be welcome. And more importantly, if one exists then I want to stay as far away from it as possible. The old Crystal Prep pressured me into following its concept of being the best so much that I don't think I could ever manage to fit anywhere else right now." Twilight turned towards her, tentatively extending a hoof. "Isn't there anything you wanted to do in your life?" "No." The word was dry, flat, emotionless. "The only thing I ever had time to focus on was being the best student. All I managed to do was hurt others."