Playground buddies
If they had been staring at a prehistorical landscape full of dinosaurs and volcanos the sight in front of the five girls couldn’t have been stranger. Sour had led the group behind the school building, near the corner of the school property. In front of them was a square sandbox, a bit larger than one of the classrooms. Several constructs made out of metal and plastic were standing in the sand. While their elegant design fit the rest of Crystal Prep Academy their function couldn’t have stood in greater contrast to its strict educational principles: A pair of swing seats, a rotating carousel, a slide, a climbing frame and monkey bars were right in front the five Shadowbolts, the girls curiously looking at them.
“A playground?” Sunny asked, throwing a skeptical glance at Sour. “You know we are high school students, right?”
Sour crossed her arms in front of her chest. “Well, sorry it’s no Shakespeare theatre” she answered with cynical friendliness.
Walking up to the rotating carousel Lemon spun it slightly. “Didn’t even know the school had a playground” she admitted. “Cinch doesn’t really seem like the type to get all cozy and warm when watching children play and laugh.”
“Any school with a significant amount of students under the age of 13 is obligated to have one” Sugarcoat remarked while running her finger over the monkey bars. Either she took no notice or didn’t care about the others giving her weird glances for knowing something like this. "This may be a high school, but because a lot of so self-claimed prodigies who skipped classes go to Crystal Prep we are within the quota I guess."
Indigo jumped on one of the swing seats, pulling the goggles on her head over her eyes. “Woo-hoo!” she shouted, swinging herself forth and back as she was steadily going higher. “Watch me go for the summersault!”
With a big grin on her face Lemon jumped on the carousel. “Time to get diiiiiiiiizzzzzzzzyyyyyyy!” she yelled, pushing the platform to its maximal speed with her feet while holding on to the bars on the edge.
Watching the two Sunny rolled her eyes. She then turned her attention towards the climbing frame, a barred box slightly smaller than she was made out of iron bars. She ran her hands over the perfectly blue lacquer painted on the metal. “This thing must get maintained regularly” she noted. “And it all looks pretty expensive. But I never see any children play here.”
“They don’t have time” Sour explained, standing in front of the slide. “Like us the kids at Crystal prep spend all their time here learning or for extra-curricular activities. And once they are finally out of school they immediately go home or into the library to do their homework. I don’t think anyone has ever played here in years.”
Indigo put her feet into the sand, slowing herself down until she stopped. “Then why does Cinch keep it in such a good shape?” she asked, putting her goggles back on top of her head.
Sour shrugged. “She probably thinks if the school needs to have a playground for children, it should be up to Crystal Prep standards – even if nobody ever uses it.”
Not being pushed anymore the carousel steadily decelerated. Lemon leaned her arms against the bars while kneeling down on the platform. “So, why did you want us to get here?” she asked, moving her head to keep her eyes on Sour as the carousel still turned. “We’re supposed to play around here, swing on the bars and stuff?”
“Maybe she wants to correct her horrible childhood” Sugarcoat theorized, leaning against the monkey bars.
Groaning Sour sat down on the end of the slide. “I just thought we could hang around here a bit” she told them, slightly offended. “Like, I dunno, just talk, goof around, laugh – like we did in school earlier. We barely know each other, so I thought we could hang around a bit to get to change that.”
The others curiously glanced at her. After a while Sunny let out a sigh. “I’m not really sure about all of this, to be honest” she told them, pulling herself up the climbing frame and sitting down on it. She kicked her legs in the air, her eyes cast on the sand. “I mean, we’ve been going to this school since how many years? But aside from some sports events and competitions with other schools, we’ve never really spend time together – it's not just we barely know each other, we’re basically strangers!”
“Well, that’s how it is at Crystal Prep” Indigo stated, hanging her arms around the chains of the swing seat. “The most social interaction I get is with the gals and guys of my sports clubs.”
“I never cared about social interaction” Lemon openly said. Raising her hands she moved them in front of her body, playing on an air guitar. “I was always happy just dancing to my own beat!” she yelled with a big grin plastered in her face. Her guitar riff however abruptly ended. “But somehow that has been a little boring to me lately” she mumbled, dropping her arms and smile. “I mean I still like walking around with my headphones, but… it just doesn’t cut it anymore.”
Indigo nodded, a little sad. “I know what you mean. When I’m with my teammates, it’s always just about how awesome we are, how to get better, how to win the next competition, how to break the next record – it never bothered me, but since a while… it’s not enough anymore. I want something else, something… more!”
“We want friendship” Sunny spoke it out. “REAL friendship. Sure, students here also occasionally meet up or spent time outside of school. But it’s more like partnerships to gain something, an award or a better grade. Even at parties it’s more about social status than anything. Just hanging around for fun isn’t really something that’s done at Crystal Prep.” Raising her glance she looked at the others in confusion. “We’ve been living like that in this school for years, doing all that without caring! Why do we suddenly all want to be friends? What has changed?”
Sour, Lemon and Indigo looked up at the sky, pondering. “There were the friendship games” Sugarcoat’s voice cut through their thoughts. They all turned towards the girl with the three pigtails, standing with her back against the monkey bars, arms and legs crossed. “Maybe what happened there has brought us closer together” she wondered aloud, speaking as fast and dry as usual. “And the friendly and cheerful attitude of the CHS student body might have rubbed off on us.”
Indigo briefly mustered Sugarcoat. “Yeah, definitely on you” she commented, leaning back and stretching out her legs as if she wanted to swing again. “You’re basically overflowing with the spirit of friendship.”
Sugarcoat adjusted her glasses. “Actually… I think I am.”
With a loud shriek Indigo fell backwards. Dropping off the seat she landed with her back in the sand, legs pointing straight up at the sky. “S-seriously?” she stuttered, staring rather surprised at Sugarcoat as she got back on the swing seat.
Sugarcoat shrugged. “I didn’t spend much time with you girls yet, but when I think about it, they are already some of the fonder experiences I have made” she stated nonchalent.
Sunny raised an eye-brow. “Some locker and lunch banter were some of the best memories in your whole life?” she asked.
For a brief second Sugarcoat blushed slightly. “At this school” she clarified, looking a little embarrassed away from the others.
Glancing around the other girls Sour put on a big smile. “So, what do you guys think?” she asked.
As the carousel was coming to a complete halt Lemon put a hand on her head. “I think I shouldn’t have spun around so fast” she murmured, her complexion matching her hair-colour.
Sour frowned. “I meant about us hanging out as friends.”
Back on the swing seat Indigo placed her chin on her hand, her elbow resting on her lap. “I dunno” she replied. “Would definitely be neat to not to just hang around with people outside of a sports club. I just don’t know if I have time for another ‘team’, you know. My afternoons are pretty booked with training and homework.”
“And with all the extra lessons and homework free time is getting sparser for us than ever” Sugarcoat reminded them.
“We could form a study group” Sunny suggested. “If we did homework together we’d save time and see each other more often.”
Despite her dizziness Lemon lay down on her back, her head hanging up-side down over the platform. “Yeah, that sounds like fun” she moaned. “Learning together. Let’s just go party on weekends.”
“I’ve been once on a party with you” Indigo said, looking a little annoyed at her. “You danced all by yourself the whole night and wrecked half of the furniture because you were totally absorbed in yourself until they kicked you out.”
“THAT’S THE BEST WAY TO PARTY!!!” Lemon screamed, grinning widely.
Sugarcoat massaged her temple. “Realistically, we don’t even share a lot of common interests” she said. “It is unlikely our friendship would last long.”
Sunny, Indigo and Lemon dropped their heads. Sour looked at the other, seeing the resignation in their faces. “Why, aren’t you all just sun-shines?” she chirped, then rolled her eyes. “Could you all just for one second stop being so negative?”
“But she’s right” Sunny sighed. “I mean, we don’t even have many classes together – how are we supposed to be friends when we barely see each other?”
Sitting on the bottom of the slide Sour saw how everyone down and depressed was. Her brows furrowed in anger. She jumped up to her feet, all eyes turning to her as she stood straight with her hands on her hips. “So, that’s it then?” she asked them loudly, fury and disappointment in her voice. “We all just admitted we want to be friends, but because it might not work out and we don’t see each other very often, we just let it be? Giving up without even trying – that’s really inspiring♥” she smiled at Indigo, the blue-haired girl avoiding eye-contact as her look turned into a disapproving. “You motivate all your teams like that?”
She threw her arms into the air. “But what do I know? I’m just an immature little girl who wants to hang around on a playground - instead of sitting in my room alone, listening to classic music and thinking I’m sooooo much better and more cultivated than everyone else.” Biting her lip Sunny cast her gaze downwards.
In front of the slide Sour began to walk up and down. “Let’s forget that crazy idea to be friends and just keep having fun on our own” she went on, Lemon feeling a knot in her stomach tying up with each word she spoke. “…because it’s WAAAAY better to stay in our own little world all by ourselves than spending time with others!”
She turned towards the school building, showing her back to the others. “It’s just as Sugarcoat said: This friendship won’t work. And because Sugarcoat said it, it has to be true, so why even bother?♥”
With a loud moan she marched off. “I’m heading to archery training” she said with an angry ring in her voice. Walking away she raised a hand. “Sorry for wasting your time with this stupid friendship idea.” Stomping off in anger grains of sand splashed around her feet with every step. Sour had just stepped with one foot out of the playground when a voice called after her.
“You should learn to quote people!” Stopping Sour turned her head around, looking at a quite furious Sugarcoat. Her eye-brows were knit so far it looked like her glasses could slip off her nose any second. “I didn’t say it couldn’t work” she spoke in an even for her very fast and very hostile manner. “I just said it’s unlikely our friendship would last long. So, if it fails none of us would have wasted much time with it, and if it succeeds, we all got four friends we can spend time and have fun with to make the tortures of this school a lot more bearable.” Her expression suddenly softened, a warm smile taking over her face. “So actually, I don’t see a reason not to try it.”
Sitting up straight on the swing seat Indigo grinned. “Slim chances, huh? Barely a possibility to win?” Vigorously she jumped up, raising her fist into the sky. “CHALLENGE ACCEPTED! We’re gonna pull off this friendship thing, even if I have to drag all of you through it!”
Putting a hand on her chin Sunny sighed, but with a smirk on her face. “Sounds like we don’t really have a choice then” she remarked. She kicked her legs in the air again, in a somewhat cheerful manner. “Okay, I’ll give it a go. Who knows, maybe I might even be able to rub off some of my eloquence on you all.”
Still lying on her back Lemon looked around, seeing all the friendly and warm smiles (although from her position they were upside down). “Er, whatever” she eventually shrugged. “I’m not someone to spoil a party.” She paused, thinking for a moment. “Weeell, at least not before it started. LET’S ROCK THIS!” she shouted in excitement, rolling around and getting on her feet.
Sour looked at the others. While she was joyful about their responses a part of her seemed not completely convinced they were really serious. “You all really mean it?” she asked, skeptically crossing her arms. “You really want us all to be… friends?”
Leaping off from the climbing frame Sunny approached Sour. Standing in front of her she held out her hand with her palm pointing downwards, quietly smiling at her. One by one Indigo, Sugarcoat and Lemon also walked over, putting their hands on top of Sunny’s. Their gazes were all cast on Sour.
For a few more seconds doubt gleamed in Sour Sweet’s eyes. A smile then suddenly flashed over her face – not as artificially wide and hollow like her smiles often were, but warm and genuine. Unfolding her arms she placed her hand on top of the others.
Exchanging warm glances the five girls stood there silently for a moment, holding their hands together. After a while however they could feel how one hand was slightly twitching in the pile. All eyes turned towards Indigo Zap. Her smile was a little nervous, her lips twitching as if she was trying to hold something back.
“Oh, all right” Sour said, rolling her eyes. She still kept on smiling though. “But don’t think we are gonna do this everytime!”
Indigo’s smile turned into a big grin again. All five girls took in a deep breath. In unison they raised their hands, holding them up towards the sky.
“LET’S GO, SHADOWBOLTS!”
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Meow.
I actually wonder how much CHS' Magic of Friendship rubbed off on the Shadow 5. I'd be surprised if they got enough magic to pony up when they express their true selves or play music.
Loving this all the more.:D
Sugarcoat is right to say that friendship needs a common ground. Maybe their common ground is that they're five girls in desperate need of friendship? I mean, seriously, what is the HuMane Seven's common ground, beyond the fact that they have been in peril together and happen to like hanging out with each other doing random things?
6621397 So would I, given none of them had any magic go into their bodies at any point.
6621397 I honestly wouldn't be surprised if that occurred, personally. Right in the epicenter of all that magic, and holding onto them when trying to help them out, only for the magic to activate while in arms' reach of them.
6622325 Not necessarily. They were right in the epicenter of all that magic, and were either touching or within arms' length when the auras of the mane six activated.
s2.quickmeme.com/img/03/03c2a3829ea573abb1e573948875dc4cbc2214e059014e0a1b425df0e8a0b43b.jpg
-Indigo "Gimli" Zap
Great chapter; I'm happy to actually see the Shadowbolts come together like this, and I can't wait to see how much
trouble they get intofun they're going to have hanging out,Ha, ha! Friendship always prevails!
6624118 For example:
I think you mean: "Sunny giggled. "Sometimes I wonder if she only tells the truth or if reality bends around her and makes it come true." she mused."
Now we're talking! Let the official friendship begin!
I like the concept of Crystal Prep having enough prodigies to warrant the need for a playground, having a playground on campus makes the place seem more friendly, and since the girls used it to form their friendship, maybe it'll become a regular hangout for them.
I actually really like this chapter because, even though the friendship thing might seem sudden and forced, I think of it this way: all this time at Crystal Prep they've been put into contact with other students by circumstance - the sports teams, the various temporary arrangements for expected profit, etc. But this is a chance for them to spend time with other students willingly. And even though it is for a benefit, it's something with a slim chance to succeed - and with immeasurable benefits of it works.
Sour sweet is very good at guilt tripping
I've really enjoyed Sour Sweet in this fic.
What does this even mean?
Slim odds with little chance of success! Such is the life of an athlete