Afternoon had arrived at Crystal Prep, the time when the late classes interlaced with early extra-curricular activities. At most other schools lessons were already over, but evening was still so far away the students who were lucky enough to go home had plenty of free time left. Her eye-lids half-closed Indigo stared from the sports fields over to the school building, seeing the numerous students still walking around. Some of them sneered in her direction, but the lethargic girl didn’t take notice. More than their laughs their uniforms were taunting her, the colours of the vests, skirts and pants mocking her louder than the students ever could.
“HEY!!”
Her eyes snapping open Indigo turned to the side. Roughly twelve meters away from her a girl in the sports clothes of Crystal Prep was standing, impatiently tapping with her sneakers on the grass. “Are you gonna pass the ball or what?” Mirror yelled over to her.
Indigo lowered her glance, looking past her own sports clothes down on the ball at her feet. “Oh yeah, right” she muttered, taking a step back. With remarkably little drive she kicked the ball towards Mirror. Mirror tried to take it, but the ball arrived in such a terrible ankle she could only brush its side with her foot, causing it to swirl through the air. Both girls watched it fly over the field, landing in the bushes at the edge of the school property.
Furiously Mirror glared at her captain. “What was that?” she asked snidely.
Embarrassed Indigo rubbed the back of her head. “Sorry” she apologized, putting on a nervous smile. “Feeling a little low today…”
Grunting Mirror stemmed her hands against her hips. “Well you insisted on us training today even though nobody wanted to!” she reminded her sharply. “Don’t think I’ll pity you just because you got a kick in the booty by Cinch!”
Indigo’s nervous smile turned into an annoyed frown. “Stop your rambling and just get the ball!” she told her.
“Why should I get it?” Mirror asked angrily. “It landed in the bushes because of your lame pass!”
“Maybe it was my fault, but you’re the last who touched it with her foot” Indigo argued, sounding somewhat tired.
“But-“
“Also, I’m the captain” she strictly cut off her teammate’s objection. “And I’m telling you to get it!”
Averting Indigo’s eyes Mirror crossed her arms. “Fine”, she mumbled, grumping as she marched towards the bushes.
Indigo looked after her for a moment, before her gaze went to the rest of the team. They were all practicing passes in pairs, kicking the ball from one to another. As she watched her teammates Indigo noticed none of them really seemed to be into it. They did hit the ball with the right technique, and then took it perfectly almost every time. But they all stood around with slack shoulders, a look of fatigue in their eyes. Some of them actually seemed worried – in the contours of their faces Indigo could almost see how they dreaded the unfinished school work that was waiting at home for them, and wished to get away as quickly as possible.
Indigo watched them for a few seconds, quietly observing them pass the ball without any passion like an army of robots. Turning her head around, she stared back at the students near school in their uniforms, then again at her own team in their tricots. She took in a deep breath, holding it for a moment, before she let out a loud sigh. Quickly she jogged over to Mirror, who was still mumbling to herself as she slowly walked over the field. “Hey, Mirror!” Indigo called out to her.
The green-skinned girl turned her head, glaring at her captain. “What is it?” she snapped at her.
Indigo stopped in front of Mirror, panting slightly. “Once you got the ball, you can bring it to the shelter” she told her teammate, pointing towards the building on the side of the field.
At first Mirror didn’t seem to understand, giving Indigo a weird glance. Her eyes abruptly widened, looking in irritation at her. “Wait, y-you mean…?”
Indigo nodded. “Let’s call it a day” she confirmed her suspicion. Feeling a little more confident she managed to crack a smirk. “I think we are good enough to kick those suckers’ butts big time. Just keep practicing on your passes.”
Blinking frantically Mirror stared at Indigo in disbelief. “Um, sure captain” she mumbled.
Indigo turned around, going towards where their teammates practiced. “I’m gonna tell the others” she stated. Looking back at Mirror she tried to appear assertive, but her face and the way she walked revealed her inner despondence. “Good luck with history!” she called to her teammate, holding up a hand.
Her mouth slightly open Mirror gazed after her captain, watching her walk towards the rest of the team. “Thanks” she whispered. Slowly she turned around, moving like she had been hit hard at the head. As she headed for the bushes again she didn’t notice some of the leaves were rattling slightly. From one of the bushes four heads poked out. With a sad look in their eyes they stared over to Indigo. While all of her teammates looked rather surprised when she shared the news to them the look on her own face seemed rather crestfallen, her apathy even apparent from the distance.
“Poor Indigo” Sunny sighed.
“Yeah” Lemon nodded. “I mean it’s kind of awesome to walk through school as a clown, but not like this…”
“She was lucky Dean Cadence could give her a reserve uniform before lunch” Sugarcoat stated. “Or she would have had to wear that costume for the whole day.
Sour smiled at her. “Yeah, that’s a huge relief!” she said softly, before adding more hardly: “It’s not like everybody will keep mocking her for weeks anyway.”
The four Shadowbolts pulled back their heads, and got out of the bush. Though they were not hunkering in the leaves anymore they remained in cover, standing in the shadows of the various bushes and trees at the edge of the sports field.
“I don’t think it’s so much about the clown thing” Sunny remarked, her eyes still fixed on the blue-haired girl. “She’s probably more frustrated that her revolution failed so fast and so hard.”
Uncomfortably Lemon scratched the side of her headphones which were hanging around her neck. “Is it really over?” she asked, putting on a smile all of a sudden. “Can’t she just try again tomorrow?”
“So Cinch can humiliate her with another ridiculous costume?” Sour asked cynically. “Don’t forget that animal suit Sunny sewed together is also in the theatre funds.”
Sunny crossed her arms, pouting. “I worked really hard on that…”
“And although everyone laughed at Indigo, they all know now what will happen if they follow her” Sugarcoat stated, her voice dry and fast as usual. “Her idea to inspire the whole student body is pretty much dead.”
Quietly the four girls watched as Indigo slurped behind the rest of her team towards the changing rooms. “I can’t take this!” Lemon suddenly shouted, clenching her fists in anger. “We can’t let Cinch win! There’s gotta be something Indigo can do! I mean at the end of the real revolution everything also ended swell, and we got our liberty and stuff, right?”
“But this isn’t a real revolution!” Sugarcoat harshly reminded her.
Looking at the canopy of a tree above them Sour pondered. “Well, does anyone know what happened at the end of the real revolution?” she asked.
Sunny pulled out her smartphone from her pocket, clicking and wiping around on the touchscreen. “Apparently the civil war between the royal forces, the Puddinghead party and the deserting military went on for several years without any side gaining the upper-hand” she began to read out from the internet. “One year however a very strict and long winter strained all three fractions. Due to the land being fractured after the constant fights and split up unfavorably between them no side had the necessary resources to survive until spring. So, without the approval of their leaders the sub-commanders decided on a truce, and everybody worked together to make it through the winter. During this time members of all sides grew closer, and when spring finally arrived nobody wanted to keep fighting. A few months later the leaders eventually were able to make a compromise and agreed on a common charter. Thus, our country was born.”
Sunny put her smartphone back into her pocket. The four Shadowbolts had formed a circle, looking at each other for a moment. “Soooo… we have to make it snow really hard?” Lemon eventually suggested, causing the others to roll their eyes.
“I think what we can learn here is maybe Indigo should be a liiiittle less stubborn and try to make some sort of compromise” Sour said in friendly tone.
Sunny raised an eyebrow. “A compromise?” she repeated incredulously. “With Cinch?”
“We’d rather make it snow” Sugarcoat commented.
Sour huffed, but then lowered her glance. “Yeah, it’s pretty hopeless” she sighed, looking almost as depressed as Indigo. “You were right, Sugarcoat: Cinch won’t budge just because one student refuses to wear the uniforms.”
The other Shadowbolts also hung their heads. “Yeah” Lemon mumbled. “One student...”
After a few seconds the four girls looked up again. They exchanged glances, a certain sense of suspense lying in the air.
“We… are all thinking the same thing, aren’t we?” Sugarcoat eventually said in an unusually slow pace.
Sunny rubbed her arm. “Probably” Sunny muttered. “But I’m not sure if I like this idea…”
“Even I have a bad feeling about this” Lemon admitted, pulling slightly on her collar.
Sour took in a deep breath. “Well, if you wanna be a rebel, you have to take some risks” she quoted Indigo, adding in a soft tone: “And… I guess the same goes for friends.”
Silence fell over the group again. “Let’s head home and get ready for school tomorrow” Sunny eventually said, sounding a little melancholic, but at the same time determined. “Who knows? It might be our last day at Crystal Prep.”
Sugarcoat looked at the shining, but cold facade of their school. “That might actually not be that bad” she remarked as they began to walk away towards the street.
“If it’s fine by you, maybe you should be the one to tell my parents when we get kicked” Sour offered to her.
Lemon giggled. “Telling mine would probably be the best thing about it, just to see the look on their faces.”
The Shadowbolts kept talking as they walked, the atmosphere around them being both light-hearted and heavy at the same time. As their voices had trailed off one of the bushes suddenly began to rattle. Out of the leaves a red-haired girl in sports clothes was rising, holding a soccer ball in her hands. Staring after the silhouettes of the four girls she bit her lip, her fingers tightly clenching the hard ball.