This story is a sequel to Unfriendly Competition
This story also contains references to Fey Breeze and Blue Sunny Days and Pink Lemonade, though reading them isn't strictly necessary.
The first summer vacation after the world changed was eventful for most of the top Shadowbolts. Some came to understand one another. Some got lost outside of reality. Sugarcoat and Moondancer just fumbled their way through a relationship as best they could given their combined social acumen was comparable to a sheet of sandpaper.
The school year has begun, and they're still not entirely sure how to make this whole "them" thing work. At this point, Sugarcoat is getting fed up with the passive approach.
She just never considered that Moondancer might be as well.
Part of the Oversaturated World. Rated Teen for fairly explicit discussion of things that capture teenagers' interest.
I knew you were up to something
Can't wait to see what you've got up your sleeve :3
MoonSugar is more accurate than expected because drugs?
Or Therapy Crystals.
Or Moon Phase Mental Stuff.
...
Whooo! New Story!
......... I think Moondancer might have been either replaced by a member of the Commune (i think that's what the Changeling group was called) or slipped some mind/mood altering effect.
And now I'm curious whats up with Moondancer. Definitely tracking this
What are the therapy crystals again?
I've probably said before but I'm a big fan of your Sugarcoat.
I'm wondering just what she invited into her mind to help with contact and confidence. Numerous possibilities, and none of them particularly good.
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https://www.fimfiction.net/story/323071/315/group-precipitation/sour-rinse-re-sweet-by-fome
Mind-helping crystals made by Crystal Aspects.
...
And now betting deliberate Crystal Split.
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That's "The Wholesome", by the way.
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Ah, been a while since I read the full story.
the difficulty is she is unhappy with the state she is in normally, but doesn't know the degree of change the attempts to fix it will cause
And the drama thickens. So what exactly is this pill Diamond create? Will that be addressed in the
Oversaturation Sequel Shorts One ShotsGroup PrecipitationAwkward-marine. That is a magnificent pun. OTOH, I'm now feeling sad for Sugar and Moon, and I hope they figure things out soon.
Oh, just f
k already, you two.
Second Person is tofu. Never thought I would read something like that
From all we've seen, emotion containment / alteration devices suddenly breaking does not lead to a gentle letdown.
But, Sugarcoat doesn't seem to be feeling any effects, so maybe only Moondancer got a massive dose of Awkward?
...
Blue Crystals from Yellow Diamond. Reminds me of Blue Diamond...
Does Blue exist and is manufacturing these crystals, while Yellow does talk therapy and stuff?
So, who did? My guess is stated above.
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Sugarcoat's mother, named!
Her dad, still unnamed?
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More info on Honesty! Nice!
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That warning label was not followed. Which is bad.
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Awesome speech from Sugarcoat at the end!
Ouch. Definitely hitting the nail on the head with the motivations, and the antidepressant metaphor, and... yeah, ouch.
Antidepressants from a physcatrist= great!
Antidepressants from untrained people= What the hell are you doing idiot!?
Is Yellow Diamond qualified to hand out therapy crystals?
Did someone pray to Sunset for her, or was Sunset watching??
...
Aww! Such good friends!
...
Ooh! International ambiguity of "breaking myself"? That she broke, and "breaking, myself", that she's experienced the crystals breaking?
...
Wooo! They worked things out!
...
And someone doing Threrapy Crystals right! Cool!
...
Lol, the last line!
Winter Lights does nothing for five months, which should be longish enough for her to get together with Sunny Flare. Then one afternoon, she dresses up as a pizza delivery person and rings the doorbell whilst Sunny and Lemon are 'busy'.
She says nothing, only smiling and handing the pizza over before leaving.
The pizza toppings are well-known aphrodisiacs.
Lemon reminds me of Aragon.
Ah, another unfinished one. And a skooma fic, at that. This was one of the more unexpected pairings to come out of this universe, but I like how you write their relationship. Also, I am consistently impressed by your ability to draw logical and intuitive connections between canon characters who have no apparent relation to each other. I'd have never thought to connect Zesty Gourmand and Lemon Zest, because they're so different in personality and have never even appeared in the same franchise together, yet because of the name theme, it works. Wallflower and Fuchsia Blush from the last one I read was another damn good one. I hope you know I plan to steal all of these ideas if I ever have the opportunity to.
Anyway, hope to see this update soon.
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Hey, theft is the second-most sincere form of flattery. Expect an update to this in a more timely fashion than the Lyrabon story.
Your still throwing to the wolves. Shes just a wolf who isn't biting people on purpose.
Yellow cares! And she knows her competencies and blindspots and stuff! So good!
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Nice subversion, later in the scene!
Hmm... The Crystal Prep crew is connected to the dark conspiracy by way of Winter Lights and Indigo... Not sure if anything will come of that...
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I was wondering more between the Cheekbones and the Pies, when I saw "Cadence-era Crystal Prep", especially given their history of Pink...
But that's a good point too...
Are Aspects inherited?
The deceased didn't retroactively get headgems or anything, did they??
Uhh... ... What happens to headgems when a Unicorn Aspect... Ya know... Dies? Gems don't rot... Well, they sorta do, but you know what I mean...
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So, Equestrian Crystal Pony Magic isn't a guide to what Crystal Aspects can do? Or not enough to be really useful?
So glad to see you get back into the swing of things :) "offers you huggies" Awesome!
You know, given how much Lemon and Sunny needle each other, how often Lemon’s proven right about something, and how Lemon learned after learning about Sunny’s hands what really sets her off, I can’t stop wondering, has Lemon ever been truly, actually angry or upset by something Sunny said or took too far?
That was sweet, though.
I reread this from the start. It came out pretty well as a tale of ups and downs, I think. Still, I have a couple of questions, more about the Oversaturated World than the fic. First, who would actually marry Zesty Gourmand to produce Sugarcoat? She never struck me as being very lovable. And second, if phones and computers are semi-sentient, how do they feel about their users looking up... adult material? It must be supremely awkward for all involved, even more so than Sugardancer here.
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Zesty is Lemon’s mom, not Sugarcoat’s
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Yellow is more of a police dog. She's well-trained, just not for scenarios that call for, you know, empathy or people skills. Hence why she's calling in her sister, who is an emotional support dog in this metaphor.
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Almost certainly. But, Lemon being Lemon, she likely didn't hesitate to tell Sunny, allowing them to hash things out. Or at least take a break from not-dating to let their tempers cool.
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Well, there was this one chef. Very talented, very quiet, had a pet rat who ate like a king. Zesty saw greatness in him, but while they worked wonders in the kitchen together, living together turned out to be a very different story. The marriage only lasted a few years.
No more awkward than their users feel when they look up footage of those same devices being mass produced. Different beings, different minds, very different standards for erotica.
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Indeed. Like most teachers at Crystal Prep and even Cinch herself when she wasn't hopped up on dark magic, Yellow genuinely does want to help the students to be their best. She just doesn't have the tools needed to help them be their best psychologically or emotionally. Growing up with Blue means she's fully aware she isn't the sister to turn to for that kind of thing.
Hard to say, though the same could be said about anything involving the brewing conspiracy pile-up.
Cadence's family tree may be a complex tangle of a mangrove forest, but I'm pretty sure she isn't related to Pinkie to any significant degree.
As much as pony tribes are. There's general continuity, but then you get something like the Cake twins.
Human magic warped every aspect to one degree or another. Crystal aspects are among the more extremely altered.
The deceased were not effected by the transformation. Unicorn headgems are organic and can decay given sufficient time.
So Indigo is not going through Stockholm syndrome? Is it healthy? Because I am assuming even if it's not Stockholm syndrome she has been manipulated by Winter Lights, magically or not.
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It's definitely not the healthiest relationship in the world, but it's not as bad as it could be.
Admittedly, that isn't saying much.
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I get it's not as bad as it could be but I still don't understand if it's Stockholm Syndrome, magical manipulation, normal manipulation, or just obsession from Indigo
Edit: Sorry if I was rude
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Attempting to apply human psychology to nonhuman individuals will often result in misunderstandings. Winter Lights is manipulative, but not abusive--she respects the people she uses, Indigo especially. She finds joy in illusion and imagination, but believes in the sanctity of the word, so she will never lie even as she layers implications. She will toy with Indigo's mind like an artist with a ball of clay; it's hers, and she wants to shape it, but at the same time she's not the one who's directing the final shape--just the one doing the shaping. The clay itself wants to be something. And in shaping the clay, the clay shapes Winter too.
Also she's technically mortal now and Indigo has a better understanding of the world than her. Winter Lights is, in certain ways, subservient to Indigo. As much as the girl is her toy, the moment she requests anything Winter will immediately do what she can to fulfill that request. It's a very strange relationship, but it is one of mutual respect and love. Winter just doesn't admit it because her previous experiences with love of any form were all in the context of her being the princess of the Winter Court and, to her, that means what she's feeling obviously isn't love because she's not calculating what to do with Indigo. But keeping Indigo happy
makes Winter feel goodkeeps Indigo loyal and potentially useful so it's all perfectly justified, riiiiight, it's not something silly and emotional...Winter Lights is strange.
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Thank you so much for the explanation
I see that I did not comment on this earlier but I read it as each chapter came out and just didn't have anything sensible to comment chapter by chapter.
Now with the last chapter out I went back and reread it from the start to refresh, and the whole thing was good and sweet and sensitive and I liked it. Thanks for the story, I'm glad you finished it.
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Glad you enjoyed it! Never think that needing something sensible to say is a requirement for a comment on my stuff. I never let that stop me.
Good to finally get the conclusion to this. Though, on the re-read, I find myself stumbling over Cadance and Lemon Zest being related, considering Equestrian Cadance has no known blood family. Either that's something I missed on the first read, or I've forgotten whichever story explained it.
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It's... complicated. The details are buried in Group Precipitation. Cadence's mother was an teenaged inmate in an asylum when... well, I think you can piece together that much. Her maternal grandparents are Mr. Discord and Abacus Cinch. Cinch's sister is Zesty Gourmand, which is how we get Lemon's relation to Cadence. On a related note—no pun intended—Mr. Discord's sister is Celestia and Luna's mother.
This is what happens when an AU's lore is developed over time by multiple people and I have difficulty saying no to any of it.
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Those're some real Winningverse-esque shenanigans you got going there. Does Cadance have any secret lovechildren too?
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Not to my knowledge, though she's pregnant with Flurry during the events of this story.
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Secret Flurry.
You
just
fuckin
Yellow Diamond
I really wish I could remember the context for both Moondancer's troubles and Indigo's relationship, but at least that was not a detriment to getting through this story!
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When you pull in scraps of nearby universes to patch the holes in yours, sometimes you get... inappropriate material.
. Just keep telling yourself that.
I think stockyard syndrome would be funnier
Wait, wouldn't that mean that he looks like Sour Sweet whenever they're being intimate? Eh, works for me.
Millions of men will die of stubbornness. no we won't
Decided to reread because I reread Unfriendly Competition and wanted more Moonsugar.
> I basically fell into its lap. Still, happy to help."
Heh, falling in love!
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Typo? Or is it referencing cheerleaders?
the cheer degree > the sheer degree
I hope she plans on either finding a substitute to take over once she has Flurry Heart, or a replacement as it makes sense she'd want to take an extended absence away from CPA as most moms do that after having a child.
Yep, it's clear being in a relationship for her is tough.
Yeah, something is clearly not eight here revolving Moondancer.