//------------------------------// // Chapter 4. Gathering Intel // Story: Help // by WittyNameTFM //------------------------------// Sunny read off her to-do list, names in order of people that could shed some light on her inquiry. With their project almost completed, she was running out of time. First up. Sugarcoat. The number 2 student in the school, second only to Twilight Sparkle. Rumor had it that Sugarcoat knew Indigo back in middle school, a few other students knew her back then, but a lot of the stories seemed to end the same. Abruptly. Indigo appeared to be very flighty, especially when other people started to get close to her. 'Okay. You can do this.' She nodded, approaching the picnic table she sat at before classes started.  "Can I help you?" Sugarcoat asked, looking up to Sunny. The thespian took a breath. "May I take a seat?" "If you want." She shrugged. "I wanted to ask you about Indigo." Sugarcoat lifted an eyebrow. "Why would I know anything about her? We haven't spoken since middle school." "Precisely. I recall you two spoke often back then, but I didn't know either of you at the time, could you tell me more about that?" "I could but, I have to ask, why?" "I just-," She sighed. "We started talking because of a project and once it's done, we're likely just going to go back to never talking again." "And that's bad?" "Is it so wrong to want to make a friend?" Sugarcoat sat up straighter. "It isn't. I just wouldn't expect that from you, no offense." "None taken..?" She asked. "So, you want to know about Indigo, what do you want to know exactly?" "Well, has she always been so shut off? If she used to talk with you, that has to mean she was more outgoing." "Makes sense. No. She hasn't always been so withdrawn. Indigo used to stick up for people who got bullied. That's how we met, actually. It was in the fifth grade, I had just gotten braces and that's all it took for people to start in on me." *** "Hey brace face, what'd you pack for lunch? Can you even eat it?" A young boy asked, standing over the annoyed girl. She took a step back, bumping into another boy. "Let's take a look!" He snatched her lunchbox and tossed it to the first boy. "Hey! Give that back!" Sugarcoat cried out, biting back her fear. "Or what?" He sneered. "Hey, bud." Another voice spoke up, the three looking to see Indigo standing with her hands in her jacket pockets. "Give her back the box before I give you a reason to see your dentist." "That a threat, girl?" He asked, turning to face her. Indigo sighed and quickly slammed her forehead against the taller boy's mouth. He fell back, crying out in pain and holding his face. Indigo looked to the other boy, blood trickling down her forehead. He let go of the box and took off, the injured boy running behind him. "Wow, thanks." Sugarcoat mumbled, picking up her lunch. "Owww!" Indigo whined, holding her head. "That frickin' hurts so bad." "You're bleeding." "What?!" *** Sugarcoat pointed to a spot on her forehead. "That's why she has a scar, it's faint, but it's there." "Wow. I could see her doing that." She nodded. "So what happened to make you two fall out?" "I-" She blinked. "I never found out. One day she came in and just looked past me. I thought it would be a one day thing, maybe she was sick or something, but she never talked to me after, I don't know if I did anything." She shrugged. "I figured she thought she was better than me, like all the students in CMS started to act." "That's ridiculous, why would she just suddenly-" Her mind rewound to their hangout. It only took a text to ruin the comfortable air and make Indigo shut her out again. "Was that all?" "Huh? Oh, yeah. Thanks Sugarcoat." "Good luck." She waved as Sunny stood to continue her search. She walked away from the table, going over what she needed to do next. She scrolled to her next informant. Lemon Zest. Number 5 in the school. Surprisingly intelligent, despite her carefree attitude. Just as perceptive as she is social, an oddity in this school. Sunny steeled herself. 'Finding Lemon could be tough. She's never in one place for too long.' "Heya Sunny." Lemon said as she walked past her, bopping her head to whatever she was listening to. "Lemon Zest!" She jolted, following after her quickly. "Mmmyes?" She hummed, taking her headphones off. "I wanted to ask you about something." "Shoot." She said with a smile. "Can you tell me your history with Indigo? I heard you hung out with her around the same time Sugarcoat did." "Oh, yeah. Then she bugged out and we lost touch. Yesterday was the first time she'd spoken to me since then." "Yesterday? I overheard bits, but what happened?" "Oh, Ginger, the girl on uh, one of the sports teams, tried to bully Sour Sweet. Indigo stepped in after she threw me into a locker." She rubbed the back of her head. "That sucked." "Why do you think she stepped in like that?" "Well, Indigo has never been a fan of bullies." She crossed her arms. "Guess she saw a chance to stop one and took it." "She doesn't like bullies? Has that always been something she felt strongly about?" "Yeah! Back when we were hanging out she used to scare off anyone who wanted to start trouble. Indigo was a big influence on me standing up for Sour Sweet when she and I first met." She grinned. "But then Sour yelled at me for getting in the way." She poked her index fingers together. "But uh, she didn't try to fight me, so that's progress!" "Wait, why would she-? Oh right Sour Sweet is the unstable girl, right?" "Don't call her that!" Lemon snapped before taking a breath. "That's-, I dunno what it is fully, but she's doing better, and I'd appreciate it if you didn't say things that made her sound like she was crazy." Sunny began to reply, but the sound of footsteps cut her off. Sour Sweet stepped around the corner, watching the floor as she walked, she glanced up to spot Lemon and stopped, looking over to see Sunny as well. "Is she bothering you, Lemon?" "Nope! Just asking about Indigo." Lemon smiled, stepping over to her side. "How are you doing?" "I'm pissed off and need to vent." She grumbled. "Let's go rock out and get rid of those bad vibes." Lemon suggested with a smile. "Okay…" Sour said quietly, looking over to Sunny. "You were asking about Indigo? She's-," The girl bit back a harsh outburst, even Sunny could see the struggle in her features. "She's cool. Never poked fun at me like the others in the school, maybe she just understands what I'm going through." "What do you mean?" Sour tilted her head. "Are you stupid or something? How can you not see she's got issues?" Sunny flinched at the venomous words, but noted how Sour reacted after saying them. "I-uh," She cleared her throat. "Indigo just has that vibe, like she's never comfortable in one spot, I noticed she's always moving or itching to move. According to some of the recent stuff I've been looking into, those are signs of anxiety. Next time you get to talk to her, see if you notice any other signs. Now, what could she be anxious about? I don't have a clue. I just get that feeling that she's carrying a lot." "I do as well. That's why I'm asking around." "Whoa, you're worried about Indie?" Lemon asked. "I suggest asking her yourself." "That wouldn't work, you idiot!" Sour spat, then cringed. "It-uh, she'd deflect and escape. Trust me, it's what I'd do." "I know it's what you'd do." Lemon crossed her arms. "It's too bad I'm dumb enough to challenge your stubbornness." "You're not dumb." Sour mumbled. Whatever friendship these two had, strained as it seemed on the surface, felt much deeper than Sunny would have ever expected. "Thank you girls, I think I'm going to attempt to talk with her through texts tonight, she outright refuses to answer when I call." "Good luck." Sour crossed her arms, and for the first time, she didn't hear the snark in her voice. The snark that she always automatically added to everything the conflicted girl had said.  Sunny bid them farewell and headed down the hall, three conversations within the walls of Crystal Prep and they didn't end in insults or threats. She actually learned something about each of the girls she spoke to. She sighed. "Why is it that the most normal of things to any other school feels like a miracle here?" 'Now, what did I learn?' She pulled up her notes on her smart watch. She pressed the record function as she went over her findings. Indigo has no tolerance for bullies, injuring herself to defend a stranger. Once getting to know said stranger, she withdrew.  "Granted, these have to be taken with a grain of salt. They're only one perspective." She sighed again.  Indigo defends people who have trouble standing up for themselves.  "Sorta goes hand in hand with the last one..." Indigo shows signs of compassion towards people who are ostracized, treating them normally as opposed to teasing them. A rarity at this academy. "Sounds like a third way to say she doesn't like bullies, but that could be confirmation. Three separate sources with three different yet similar examples." Shows signs of anxiety and has trouble sitting still. "I'll bet she doesn't even know what she's doing could be giving away her restlessness." She thought back to their get-together, "Indigo did shake her leg for a good bit of the time." The way Sour used the word "issues". "That's the most concerning one. Sour even looked worried when she brought it up. Getting her to talk about that will be hard." Sunny glanced around, luckily finding herself alone. She hit the record audio button once again. "Note to self, work your thought process out without saying it aloud. If someone overheard all that, they'd probably think I was obsessed or something. I don't wanna weird Indigo out before I get to know her." Sunny lowered her arm and looked up at the sky, having taken a seat at the top of the staircase leading out of the prep school, she breathed in the air. "Well, onto the next step then." Indigo pushed off the pillar near the stairs, glancing up at the girl in the afternoon sunlight. She felt something. She wasn't sure what it was, but her chest felt fluttery. The fact that Sunny was this dedicated to talking with her? To go out of her way to learn about her? She shook her head, dipping back to sneak away. She had to get home. She spared one last look, Sunny was watching the clouds and Indigo's chest fluttered again.