"We're not dating," Lemon said firmly.
"Yes, that's what I told Indigo--"
"No, you said that me and Sunny are 'definitely not dating,' which is of course sarcasm for 'they're totally dating and pretending that they aren't,' but I want to make it clear: Me and Sunny Flare do not have a romantic relationship in any way, shape, or form, and it was inappropriate of you to put forth that implication upon our reunion with Indigo Zap, and I am very severely disappointed in your behavior."
Sour Sweet's expression was midway between incredulous and bemused.
"I can be serious," Lemon said flatly. "I don't like doing it, but I can be serious when I need to be."
"It is one of her more rarely demonstrated talents," Sunny Flare mused. "But I find myself in complete agreement: the situation with Indigo is certainly not one where our presumed dalliance should have been aired, no matter whether you choose to believe the completely accurate assertion that said dalliance is in fact nonexistent."
"Alright, alright, I get it. Not the time or place. Just..." Sour Sweet shrugged. "The rumor mill being what it is, Indigo would have heard eventually, right? Best to let her know up front instead of getting the message from some outside source."
"Maybe so, but that should be our decision," Sunny replied. "By which I mean myself and Lemon."
"Yeah, Flarebear and I shoulda been the ones to break it to her on our own level. Seriously: Not. Cool."
"...Flarebear."
Lemon threw up her hands. "I give people nicknames! It's not something to read into!"
"Really?" Sour Sweet smirked evilly. "What's my nickname?"
"Sweetbeat," Lemon replied without hesitation.
"Never heard that before."
"Sure you have."
"Nope. Never have."
"She usually only uses the nicknames to pester people," Sunny Flare pointed out. "And... your condition being what it is... pestering you is sort of a touchy thing to do."
Sour shrugged. "While that is a fair point, I feel I must point out that you don't seem that irritated by the Flarebear nickname."
"I've learned that reacting only encourages her."
"And how did you learn that?"
Lemon groaned. "Stop that. Stop implying we're falling in love and ignorant about it. Look, we're getting away from the main point, which is that Indigo is in a delicate position and throwing out deliberately misleading statements at this time could be very bad for her in the long run!"
Sour Sweet nodded thoughtfully. "I think... that you two are overreacting a little."
Sunny snorted. "We are not."
"You're right. You're overreacting a lot." Sour Sweet held up a hand. "Look, I understand that Indigo is in a bad place mentally. And I agree that there should be some watching of words around her. But whether or not you two are dating, and whether or not I implied it sarcastically, is not something that I think will affect the specific problems that she has at the moment. It was clearly framed as a joke, a natural way for friends to interact, and as such will not have such a large impact as the two of you seem to be fearing."
"That still doesn't--"
"I live with schizophrenia, girls. I know a lot about mental imbalance, and how it can be affected by statements and words. There was no judgement in my proclamation of you 'definitely not dating,' against you or Indigo herself. I was just filling her in on what she missed--something she explicitly requested. After, might I add, we pressured her about what she thought of..." She trailed off for a moment. "My point is, nothing about what I said is objectionable in a way that will harm Indigo's recovery. Which means for you to react that way suggests it is objectionable in some other manner."
"As I have stated," Sunny Flare pointed out calmly, "the description and communication of our romantic status should be our decision. Not yours."
Sour Sweet smirked. "You're absolutely right, of course, I apologize. Lemon should have been the one to say that."
"You're damn right I should have been," Lemon growled. "In fact, you know what? You know what I'm going to, what I'm going to do?"
"What are you going to do?"
"I--I'm going to do... something!" Lemon pointed at her. "Something that proves, right, that proves me and Sunny Flare are just friends and not romantically interested in each other at all!"
Sunny Flare facepalmed. "Or, you know... you could just be the bigger person, and let this whole thing go before it drags out into a foolhardy comedy sketch that inevitably ends with your every gesture being interpreted through a romantic filter."
"Pretty sure it's too late for that."
"Yeah," Sour nodded, "everyone and their dog is shipping you. That's not entirely hyperbole, Twilight's dog is the one running the Canterlot-Crystal Prep Common Considered Couples Compendium website."
"That damned data dog," Lemon Zest hissed. "Why did I ever introduce him to the concept of fanfiction?!"
"I was wondering why he wanted me to teach him coding," Sunny Flare mused. "I mean, I couldn't say no, he's just too cute, but it did strike me as kind of weird." She paused. "Then again, there aren't really that many openings for puppies in the current job market. Having a useful skillset should help him out in the future."
"We've created a monster, Sunny. Soon he'll graduate from shipping high school students to college students. Then coworkers. Before long, he'll see one of his ships work out--he'll study all the psychological studies on love and romance and make a dating website for desperate people. Our next generation will be determined by a canine mastermind! It will be a total reversal of the fancy dog breeding we've had all our history--there will be fancy human breeding shows, with weird mutations like longer fingers and patterned skin and long floppy ears being kept in the gene pool just to show the skill and prowess of those devoted to making the craziest-looking bloodlines!"
"Don't worry, Lemon, it won't be that bad. The dolphins are sure to get in on it too, they'll probably keep the dogs from going too out of control."
Sour Sweet pinched her brow. "And they call me crazy."
Mmm... Nice message here on how the mentally imbalanced shouldn't be treated as they're on a knife's edge, unless there's good reason to assume so.
Whoo! More alliteration!
There are no cross Canterlot-Crystal Prep, couples, right? ... Rarity and Royal Pin... Nope, superceded by Rarity X Applejack...
...
Isn't Kikai doing some techy-thing? Correction, she's the Logistics Officer. Well, I guess it makes sense for the TalkingAnimals to be doing stuff that doesn't require a humanoid plan.
... Is there a betting pool set up yet?
Let's hear it for the CCP4C!
Spike is best data dog.
Spike's resume should look impressive XD
8748523
2 Calcium, 1 Phosphorous, 4 Calcium ?
8748936
Actually, in atomic notation, the number indicates the amount of the preceding atom. So it would be 4 phosphorous in that case.
I think a better way to say it would have been: a CC of Quadriphosphos Calcite.
Actually, I have no idea if that's the right sciency way of saying "P4C"
8749414
i got it wrong too, "C" is carbon, "Ca" is calcium.
Spike knows he'll only be so cute for so long. He's leveraging it as best he can. I'm not sure if Twilight would be proud or just confused if she ever found out.
Also, part of me hoped Lemon would somehow try to disprove the romance by kissing Sunny.
"There! See? Nothing! I definitely don't want to do that again."
"Actually definitely or sarcastically definitely?"
"..."
I didn't realize how much I loved your interpretation of Lemon Zest until she posited the Canine Conspiracy