> Such Sweet Lunacy
>  by FanOfMostEverything
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Waxing Gibbous
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Before the world changed, if someone had told Sugarcoat that she'd be part of one of the four couples in her circle of friends, she'd have begun her objections by casting doubt on her having friends. Even putting aside her abrasive personality, Crystal Prep had been a cutthroat social arena where the closest thing to friendship was mutually beneficial alliance. That hadn't changed for the most part.

Sugarcoat, however, represented the least part. The aftermath of the Friendship Games had taken the top students of her year, bound largely by sharing the school's highest GPAs and Lemon Zest's desperate efforts to foster positive affect, and forged them into something resembling actual healthy human interaction well in advance of then-Dean Cadence's projected timeframe. No one was more surprised by this than Sugarcoat herself, especially in light of the aforementioned abrasive personality.

And yet, a few weeks into her senior year and a few months after the Games, she found herself gravitating towards a lunch table that, through repetition, had become hers. Or more accurately, theirs. Sunny Flare and Lemon Zest were already sitting and engaged in their typical affectionate bickering.

"All I'm sayin'," said Lemon Zest, wielding a fork to emphasize points like visual aids would be edited in later, "is an actual zombie apocalypse isn't an action movie. It's closer to a siege, just like in The Great Zombie War."

Sunny Flare nodded along like that was a completely reasonable thing to say. "Book or movie?"

Lemon flinched back as though struck. "Book. Obviously. Point is, castles are super-useful when you're dealin' with a bunch of wacky waving inexorable arm-flailing dead men."

"Then they aren't really inexorable, are they?"

"Again, siege. Their exorability is a factor of how quickly you can clear 'em out of your supply routes."

"I would ask how this conversation started," Sugarcoat said as she sat, "but I'm much happier not knowing."

Lemon nodded. "That's fair."

"I'm not sure how it got to zombie warfare, and I've been here the whole time," added Sunny.

The answer was obvious, and Sugarcoat said it before she could even think to stop herself. "Because the two of you went from acquaintances to an old married couple over the course of the summer."

Sunny rolled her eyes. "Ugh. This again?"

"Seriously. Just because an ancient alien fish-horse taught us to hear each other's souls, that doesn't make us a couple."

Sugarcoat stared at Lemon Zest for what people with normal social graces would probably consider an uncomfortable length of time. Fortunately, neither of them were so burdened. "I cannot tell if you're being sincere or not."

"Right now or in general?"

"Yes."

Lemon leaned back, arms behind her head and a smug smirk on her face. "Then my master plan is working as intended."

Sunny looked to the next arrivals. "Sour, back us up here. We're not a couple, right?"

"Romantically? Oh, yeah, sure, you're just 'best friends.'" Sugarcoat had to admire Sour Sweet's ability to apply air quotes solely through vocal inflection. "Never mind that Lemon's my roommate, but spends every other night at your place."

"Hey, I'm just trying to make it so you don't have to leave a sock on the door." Lemon Zest punctuated that with finger guns at the nondescript boy who sat next to Sour.

Sour grabbed Second Person and held him to her like she was afraid Lemon would reach across the table and take him for herself. "Second and I are saving ourselves for marriage."

"And I didn't even hear about the engagement. Rude."

"We're working up to that," said Second.

Lemon shrugged. "I'm just sayin', girl could use the stress relief."

"I'm happy to leave it to the therapy crystal." He took Sour's hand in his and smiled. "We've got time."

Sour smiled back, then held up her necklace, its magical prism glittering in the cafeteria lights. "Getting to be a bitch on my own terms helps a lot."

Lemon held up her hands. "You all heard it. She said it, not me."

Indigo Zap plopped her tray down, followed by herself. "You two saying rude stuff. Wow. So much changed while I was away."

"We can't all have miraculous fairy godgirlfriends, Gogo Reference."

If looks could kill, Indigo would have reduced Lemon to a charred skeleton. "Don't call her that."

Lemon blinked, her usual carefree poise broken by the sheer vitriol. "Uh, which part?"

"Any of it."

A voice from behind Sugarcoat said, "Should I ask?"

She looked up and smiled, scooting aside to give the seventh member of the group room. Moondancer smiled back as she sat. "We're discussing our significant others," said Sugarcoat. "I believe it's our turn."

"Yeah, no, not poking fun at you two," said Lemon. "You're too precious. You got all the leftover adorkable after Twilight and Sunset grabbed their share." The others nodded and gave other signs of assent.

Even Indigo relaxed as the conversation moved away from the... entity that called itself Winter Lights and her relationship with it. Leaning back, she said, "Also, Sugarcoat would tear our heads off if we said a word against Moondancer."

Sugarcoat allowed herself a much smaller smile than the kind Moondancer could coax from her. "It would be far slower and more painful."

"Hey! Sugar made a funny!" Lemon's grin turned plastic. "Hopefully. Moony, tell me if I should sleep with one eye open tonight."

"You should be fine."

"'Should.' Nice. Keepin' me on my toes." Lemon fired another round of finger guns.

Sugarcoat and Moondancer shared a smile, though the hints of tension along Moon's eyes told of her growing discomfort. Sugarcoat reached out an arm to drape across her shoulders—

And froze as she saw Moon shrink back. She awkwardly rerouted the arm to cough into a fist. "Sorry."

"So am I." Moon stared at her lunch tray. "It's just—"

"You're not always comfortable with touch. I should have asked first."

The silence lingered long enough for Sugarcoat's guts to twist with unfamiliar shame. Then Lemon slammed the table with an open palm. "So! How about that completely natural topic change?"

"Let's go with Paradiamond," said Sunny.

Lemon nodded. "Yeah, craziest thing. Apparently some sophmore at CHS thought it up..."

The others lost themselves in idle chatter, but Sugarcoat couldn't get her mind off of her faux pas. And judging by Moondancer's frown, neither could she.





The principal's office had seen the most change out of any room at Crystal Prep. Gone was the barely-there lighting, the display cases of trophies, the diplomas so numerous that they felt like they were compensating for something. Now, even without windows, it was a brighter and airier area. Even the wallpaper had been stripped and replaced with a more soothing carnation.

Principal Cadence herself matched the area quite nicely, far more approachable than Cinch had ever been. She sat in an office chair an actual person might use rather than a high-backed throne on wheels. The cracks in her armor, from fidgeting with her still-novel wedding ring to the way her pregnancy was starting to show in earnest, helped further give the impression of someone who genuinely cared about her students and not just her reputation.

Indeed, it made Sugarcoat comfortable enough that the first thing she did upon entering the room was look around and say, "Board of trustees dragging their feet on the renovations?"

Cadence made her own survey of the office that, aside from the desk, the chair, and the two people, was completely barren. She nodded with a wry smile. "As much as they can get away with, though you didn't hear it from me. What brings you in today, Sugarcoat?"

"I..." Sugarcoat's words briefly failed her, as they often did with matters of the heart. She kept pushing. "Moondancer and I. We... I want to..." Eventually, she found how she really felt, and it came surging out the way nothing else could. "I don't know what I want for me, but I know I want her to be comfortable with me. And us. Together. And I don't know how to help her."

After Sugarcoat didn't, couldn't say anything more for a few moments, Cadence nodded. "I can understand why you came to me to discuss this, but I'm technically not your dean of students anymore."

This wasn't Sugarcoat's love life, and so she knew exactly how she felt. "You still have a unique magic directly relating to interpersonal relationships. And I'm a lot less comfortable discussing this with Ms. Diamond."

The principal nodded at that. "Yellow was the best member of the existing faculty to take the role, but I admit, she can be a bit... prickly."

"Piezoelectrically so."

"Still..." Cadence took another pointed look around the nearly empty office. "Sugarcoat, I would love to help, I really would, but I'm in the middle of revamping Crystal Prep as a whole."

Sugarcoat crossed her arms. "Helping a student who came forward with emotional problems would encourage the kinds of changes you're trying to cause."

Cadence sighed and shook her head. She was smiling, but it didn't seem like a particularly helpful smile. "You really are a lot like Twilight."

"... In what sense?"

"You're both devastatingly brilliant, but you're still teenagers, ones convinced that your relationships are the most important things in the world."

Sugarcoat felt her eyebrows rise. "She's having trouble with Sunset?"

"Don't go getting your hopes up." Cadence started drumming her fingers against her desk.

Sugarcoat winced. "I... I have something else to apologize for."

"Moondancer probably would've reacted the same way. I am a bit concerned about the two of you effectively picking up each other on the rebound, but you seem to have been handling yourselves well. Now, I don't mean to imply your relationship is unimportant."

Despite just doing so. Sugarcoat's fists clenched until her oversized fingernails nearly drew blood, but she managed to keep the comment to herself.

"It is," Cadence continued. "But you don't need to go running to the 'Principal of Love' every time you commit a faux pas. I'm going to tell you what I've told Twilight: One misstep isn't going to drive her away. You're brilliant. You can certainly learn from your mistakes."

"In theory, yes." Sugarcoat chewed her lip, her gut twisting with anxiety. "I didn't express myself clearly earlier. I'm not concerned about Moondancer, I'm concerned for her."

"How so?"

Sugarcoat looked down at her wringing hands. "She was growing more comfortable with physical contact over the summer. An arm over her shoulders, holding hands... but now even an attempt at a touch is enough to make her flinch."

"Well, it may not be a magical solution, but I can give you some advice."

Sugarcoat's head whipped up at the offer. "What?"

Cadence gave what Sugarcoat had to assure herself wasn't meant to be a patronizing smile. "Talk to her. Tell her how you feel, how you've noticed this, and how you want to make sure she's still comfortable with physical intimacy."

That got a wince. "You didn't have to phrase it like that."

"That's what it is," the principal said with a shrug. "And holding hands may be exactly as embarrassing to her as what you're thinking about is to you."

Another wince. "Point made."

"Good." Cadence's smile became the beatific one she slapped on for most school events. "Now, with all due love and respect, please get out of my office."

Changes or no, there was only one way a Crystal Prep student could respond to that. "Yes, Principal Cadence."

Sugarcoat stepped out of the office with a head full of unanswered questions, enough that it took the other person on the third floor landing to gasp before she even registered her presence. She couldn't help but give an honest response. To her delight and relief, it was a smile. "Moondancer."

"Oh. Uh. Hi." Moon fidgeted, slipping her hands in her blazer pockets and back out, looking everywhere but at Sugarcoat.

"What's wrong?" Sugarcoat took a step closer.

Moondancer practically leapt back. "Nothing's wrong! Who said anything was wrong?" She tried to smile and at least managed to bare her teeth.

"You're clearly more anxious than usual, seeing me is causing you visible distress, and everything I'm saying is just making it worse." Sugarcoat drooped as she made that last observation.

"No, no, Sugar, it's fine." Moon came closer, though still out of arm's reach. Her attempt at a smile did at least lose a little of the raw, animal fear. "It's not you, it's me."

"That did nothing to help my own dwindling confidence." Sugarcoat raised an eyebrow. "Why are you up here, anyway?"

Moon jumped as though struck. "W-well, why are you here?"

"I tried to talk to Principal Cadence about... us." Sugarcoat's eyes narrowed. "Your turn."

"It's, uh, it's funny you should ask that, because..." With a flash of light and a puff of smoke, Moondancer vanished. Judging by the sound of rushing footsteps coming from below, it was easy to guess to where she'd teleported.

As Sugarcoat watched the smoke dissipate, a thought came to mind and slipped out her mouth before she could even think to stop it. "This is becoming a pattern."





Sugarcoat didn't wallow in despair, because the world certainly wasn't going to wait for her to get over herself. Principal Cadence did have a point; Sugarcoat was being a teenager about the whole thing, and while emotionally it still felt like making Moondancer feel better was on par with Sunset making sure the universe didn't dissolve into stray photons, intellectually, she knew it was only about half as important.

Okay, maybe not from a purely intellectual standpoint, but she was only human. And trace amounts of earth pony.

The point was that she was able to wait out the motorcycle ride home—she lived close enough and had a good enough relationship with her parents that she didn't feel the need to board at Crystal Prep—plus a whole five minutes on top of that before sending Moondancer a text asking if she wanted a talk. And a private message on Disqourse. And... nothing else, because she knew bombarding Moon with a dozen different electronic notifications would neither prompt a reply nor undo the knot in her own guts.

So Sugarcoat did her homework, took a walk around her neighborhood, picked up what few bits of her room were out of order, and never once looked at her phone.

She did listen for the notification chime. And check to see if the connection was stable so many times that she managed to annoy even the limited sentience her magic granted the device.

Dinner was a lonely affair; just Sugarcoat in an enormous kitchen where the quality of the appliances was matched only by how little use most saw. Her parents were both out on business and would be for the rest of the week. The thought brought to mind an image of Lemon Zest waggling her eyebrows, a single entendre on her smirking lips.

Sugarcoat snarled, only to sigh a moment later. "I'm a mess." Given her friends, she was in good company in that regard, but it was still true.

The fact that she had her phone in her hands almost before the notification for the text sounded only emphasized the point.



Moondancer now
Sorry. I'm fine. See you tomorrow. 



Sugarcoat stared at the notification long past the point when the screen should have gone dark. She ordered it to remain lit until she could decipher the message.

Was Moondancer just apologizing for the delay, or for something else?

How fine was fine?

Why didn't she want to talk any more tonight?

Since when did she use emojis?

Eventually, a gentle suggestion brought Sugarcoat's eyes to the phone's single digit battery percentage. She groaned and relented, only to wince as her eyes let her know just how little blinking she'd been doing lately. By the time she recovered enough to open them again, the rest of her dinner had gone cold.

"She's right. I'm in no shape to talk to anyone right now. Except myself, apparently."

"Well maybe you should do something about that," she said in response.

Entirely logical. "Maybe I should."

She trudged to her room, gave her hair the most cursory brushing she could allow herself, and fell asleep almost before her head hit the pillow.





The next day, Sugarcoat beat her alarm by twenty minutes, but did not race through her morning routine. She was anxious, yes. She recognized that anxiety, but would not let it rule her. She was better than that. Moondancer deserved better than that.

That said, twenty minutes was twenty minutes, and so she did have to wait a few moments after arriving for Ms. Hedges, the Crystal Prep groundskeeper, to unlock the school.

Regardless, Sugarcoat ensured she was the mistress of her emotions and not the other way around. She had paid no heed to her phone with any of her senses since last night, and planned on a calm, collected conversation with Moondancer whenever she next happened to see her.

Getting grabbed from behind while opening her locker was, needless to say, not part of that plan. After a brief moment of panic, she recognized the hug for what it was, rolled her eyes, and said, "Good morning, Lemon Zest."

"Morning, Sugar! Though now I'm wondering if I should be jealous."

The panic returned. That had not been Lemon Zest's voice. That had not been Lemon Zest's voice at all. Sugarcoat looked behind haltingly, fighting against fear of what she'd see.

Moondancer smiled back, her hair loose, her smile the confident one that usually only came out after especially devilish final exams. She kissed Sugarcoat on the nose and waved as she departed. "See you third period!"

A lump of ice found its way into Sugarcoat's gut as she watched her girlfriend all but prance away. "What."
> Full
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sugarcoat shoved her way to calculus in a daze, unable to integrate herself into the flow of hallway traffic or derive a better route. She had much more important matters occupying her mind.

Once she dropped into a chair hard enough to make it creak, a voice broke through the stupor. "You look worse than I felt on tranquilizers," Sour Sweet said from the seat next to her. "What's up?"

Staring up at the ceiling, Sugarcoat said the only thing she could think of. "Moondancer kissed me."

"Moondancer kissed you?" Sour said skeptically.

"Moondancer kissed me." Sugar confirmed.

Sour gasped, suddenly beaming. "Moondancer kissed you!"

Sugar turned, trying to communicate everything the three words couldn't with her haunted stare. "Moondancer kissed me."

"Oh." The smile collapsed. "I think I see the problem."

Sugarcoat just nodded. She didn't trust herself to say anything other than the thought echoing through her head.

Sour stuck out a hand. She probably meant to reassure Sugarcoat, but going by how she kept clenching and twisting her fingers, she didn't seem sure what kind of gesture would do that. Finally, she shrugged, awkwardly patted Sugarcoat's shoulder, and said, "Well, hold out until lunch. We're figure this out one way or another."

The murmuring around them took on a greater intensity. Sugarcoat noticed how many of their classmates looked in her direction. She held back a groan. By lunch, there would be no telling what the Crystal Prep rumor mill would do with this grist.

Thankfully, Ms. Curl Vector chose that moment to enter the room, silencing the students with a single look. Even Sugarcoat managed to shift some focus to the class.

Moondancer kissed me.

Some.





Lemon Zest was the common thread that tied together what she insisted on calling "the Shadow Elements." In Sugarcoat's case, they knew each other through their mothers, Honey Glaze being the head chef at Gourmand, the crown jewel of Zesty Gourmand's culinary empire. With any other student at Crystal Prep, that would have made Sugarcoat Lemon's subordinate. Instead, they'd been something like friends even before the Games.

"Moondancer kissed me."

"Nice."

There were still times when Sugarcoat wondered how they'd managed that.

"Sugar? You really gonna leave me hanging?" Lemon shook her extended, still unbumped fist.

Sugarcoat glared at the offending hand like it had been dipped in filth. "I think we both know the answer to that."

Lemon sighed and crossed her arms. "It's a special occasion. Thought you might be a bro for once."

"We're both girls."

"Broness transcends gender. Thus spake Broseidon."

Sugarcoat rolled her eyes. "Are you done with the tangles of irony and sincerity yet?"

"Habitrapped reader. I am forever a tangle buddy." Lemon intertwined her fingers and wriggled them, which probably emphasized the point in her eyes.

"Especially with Sunny Flare," Sugarcoat snarled out.

"You really wanna go down that road? I figured you brought up your mirakuru romansu 'cause you were flipping out in your own understated way and wanted advice, not just to brag 'n' rag. Though, again, nice. Legit happy for you two." After a moment, Lemon's smile slipped. "Are... are you not legit happy for you two?"

Sugarcoat looked away, thoughts retracing a path they'd been carving all morning. "She was acting like you."

"That being cause for concern would normally be kind of insulting, but this is Moondancer we're talking about, so I see your point. You got a plan yet?"

Sugarcoat's head darted back up. More than a dozen other students looked away and did their best to look like they hadn't been eavesdropping. "For the rumor mill? No. For Moondancer herself? We share our next class. I can always just ask her what's going on."

"Speaking as her apparent role model, be prepared for a lot of obfuscating dumbassery if she doesn't want to talk about it. Or for smooches." Lemon poked Sugarcoat's temple, pulling back before the other girl could grab at her finger. "Seems like that did a good job of short-circuiting your headmeats."

"She caught me off-guard the first time. I know what I'm dealing with now."

Lemon bit her lip. "Yeah, see, that's the problem. What you're dealing with is easy; you're dealing with a Moondancer who's comfortable in her own skin. What you need to ask yourself is whether anyone, Moon Unit included, knows how to deal with her."

That left Sugarcoat speechlessly deep in thought until the class began.





Sugarcoat had never understood dread. Fearing the inevitable had always seemed like a pointless waste of effort to her. After all, it was inevitable. No amount of worry on her part would change that. And if it could, then whatever concerned her wasn't inevitable and she could focus on constructive efforts to effect that change rather than pointless anxiety.

As she walked to her third period class, she finally grasped the concept. If nothing else, love was a very educational experience.

"Sugar!"

Contrary to what certain girls might think, it wasn't the unexpected hug that left Sugarcoat stock-still. The reason went far deeper than that.

In Lemon Zest's theological headcanon—her term, which she insisted that the Church of the Divine Bacon Horse encouraged—Sugarcoat was Brutal Honesty, speaking the truth without thought or regard to whether anyone wanted to hear it. She recognized that she wasn't the most tactful person in the world, but she'd learned to watch her tongue at least a little around Moondancer.

But as the half-remembered Harmony school lesson said, Honesty was truth, not fact. It was what someone sincerely believed, not objective reality. At that moment, two subjectively true beliefs ran through Sugarcoat's mind and into a head-on collision:

This is wrong.

This is nice.

And once again, Sugarcoat stood dumbstruck, unable to reconcile them.

Moondancer stared in to her eyes, concern clear in her own. "Sugar? Are you okay?"

"I..." She wanted to say yes. At least nod. But she couldn't bring herself to do something so transparently false. After a deep breath, she managed, "It can wait."

She'd deal with it at lunch, she told herself.





"So after a good ten minutes of trying to help this guy, he finally tells me what book he's looking for, and it's about horoscopes. I tell him we've been looking in the wrong section all this time, and he just looks at me like I told him there's no such thing as the Tooth Fairy and says, 'Astronomy and astrology are different things?'"

Most of the lunch table burst into laughter. Sugarcoat looked to Indigo Zap for solidarity.

Indigo looked back, scowling. "She had me up until the tooth fairies. I've met one. They use pliers. You don't want to know what they do with the teeth."

"I'm horrified, yet intrigued," said Lemon.

"Of course you are." Sunny and Sugarcoat shared a surprised look at their accidental chorus.

Then Moondancer giggled, and Sugarcoat remembered just what she was dealing with.

"Sugarcoat?" She blinked and turned her attention to Second Person. "Are you okay?"

"Aw, Sugar's fine!" Moondancer latched onto her arm much the same Sour Sweet clung to Second's. "Right, dear?"

While Sugarcoat had been adapting to the touches and cuddles, the pet name locked up her thought processes once more.

"See? Perfectly fine!"

Lemon snorted. "Yeah, 'cause nothing says 'I'm okay with this' quite like paralyzing horror." 

"I'm... surprised, is all." Technically true. Very technically true. But true enough that Sugarcoat could get it past her lips.

The others shared several looks. They clearly didn't believe Sugarcoat, which was entirely fair given how she didn't believe herself. But the conversation turned to the first play of the year and Sunny Flare's ongoing struggles to get the rest of Crystal Prep's performers up to her exacting standards.

Sugarcoat told herself she'd steer it back to Moondancer's change once she got her arm back.

Moondancer clung to it until the bell rang.





The rest of the day passed in a blur. Sugarcoat couldn't say what her teachers thought of her performance. She barely even remembered what classes she attended. Her mind was too full of Moondancer and all the myriad magical ways she might have changed to register much of anything else. 

With the last bell of the day, that haze cleared into anger. She prided herself on her intellect just as much as any top student at Crystal Prep—with the possible exception of Lemon Zest—and being so thoroughly indisposed for even one day was unacceptable. She marched to a familiar locker, once more heedless of the hallway traffic. But this time they made room for her, or got shoved out of the way like they were air themselves.

Finally, she reached her target, and when she slammed the locker next to her emphasis, she left a handprint in the door. "What's going on?"

A crouching Moondancer pulled her head out of what was still a meticulously arranged locker and blinked up at her. "What do you mean?"

"Arcane accident? Experimental mind magic? Did Moondancer hire a member of the Wholesome to stand in for her?" Sugarcoat had thought of many more possibilities, but those seemed the most likely.

Moondancer—possibly—just kept staring. "Sugar, it's me."

"That doesn't mean much when there's a portal to a parallel universe in the suburbs. Which you are you?"

"Me me. Moondancer. Human, to within an acceptable margin of error. Fellow member of the Shot-Down Sparkle Suitors Society." She snarled at the eavesdroppers who had been less-than-subtly edging towards the two. "And don't act like we're the only members here!"

As the other students backed off—to a degree, anyway—Sugarcoat said, "This kind of spontaneous, massive personality shift doesn't happen without some kind of external stimulus. I know you're too smart to try an illegal substance, so it's almost definitely magic."

Moondancer shut her locker and stood. "Can we take this somewhere more private?"

The two stared at each other long enough for Sugarcoat's skin to crawl, but after the day she'd had, that wasn't saying much. "Fine." She marched towards the nearest girls' bathroom.

Moondancer tried to wrap her arm around Sugarcoat's elbow as they went. "Don't."

"What?" said Moon, the picture of innocence.

"Just don't." As they entered the bathroom, a single glare was enough to evict those already in residence. Once they were alone, Sugarcoat turned back to Moondancer, arms crossed. "This whole mess started because of little displays of affection, didn't it? You flinch one day, and the next you kiss me in the hallway like we're in one of those terrible animes Lemon and Sunny watch semi-ironically."

Moondancer looked away, twirling one of her bangs with a finger. "That's certainly one way of looking at it."

"What did you do to yourself?"

"Does it really matter?" She still tried to look everywhere else.

Sugarcoat narrowed her eyes. "I didn't fall in love with a spell."

That got Moondancer to glare back. "If I took a pharmaceutical antidepressant, would you say you didn't fall in love with a pill?"

"If the effects were this drastic, I might. I barely recognize you, and you keep refusing to tell me any details about the treatment. What. Did. You. Do?" With every word, Sugarcoat took another step forward, until she backed Moondancer into the far wall.

The other girl trembled. "I... I thought it would make you happy."

"What would?"

Moondancer shut her eyes and pulled a sky-blue crystal necklace out from under her uniform blouse. "I got it from Ms. Diamond yesterday. It's..." As she trailed off, the crystal flashed. She straightened up and looked Sugarcoat in the eye. "It's an awkwardmarine."

Sugarcoat just stared for a moment. "You're serious."

"She didn't name it."

"And you thought this would make me happy?"

"I just... I can love you this way! Properly! My mind doesn't think unexpected touches are attacks. I can hug you without worrying if I'm doing part of it wrong." Moondancer did just that, her next words half-whispered, half-sobbed into Sugarcoat's ear. "Don't you want this?"

Sugarcoat stood as stiff as a lamppost. All the words that wouldn't come earlier in the day chose then to arrive. "I want you to be happy. You don't need to prove your affection physically if it makes you uncomfortable, nor should you feel forced to. I'm sorry if I made you think you did."

Moondancer released her and maneuvered so Sugarcoat was the one with her back to the wall. "But this way I am comfortable! I am happy! What if I want to be like this?"

"Then that's fine. But you just said why you did this. So do you want it, do you want to want it, or did you just think I wanted it without ever asking me?"

The awkwardmarine strobed at an increasingly irregular rate. Moondancer opened her mouth, but said nothing. 

Then, with a sound like stepping on a sheet of ice, the crystal cracked apart.

Moondancer staggered to one side, then ran out of the room, sobbing.

And Sugarcoat felt her heart break like the awkwardmarine.
> Waning Crescent
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Time, as the saying goes, is an illusion. The human mind perceives entropy worrying at the universe as a continuous progression from cause to effect, and thus that mind tells itself a story with a beginning, a middle, and an end. But those concepts are all as fictional as the story itself. There is no time lost in that bathroom because there is no time to lose. There is no Sugarcoat to lose it. There is no bathroom for her to—

Alright, that's quite enough of that.

"Okay, I think she's coming out of it."

Sugarcoat staggered and blinked. Judging by how her eyes burned, she hadn't been doing nearly enough of the latter. "What happened?"

"You had a teensy-weensy little panic attack." Sugarcoat certainly didn't need to see to recognize Sour Sweet. "First one's a real bitch, isn't it?"

"I found you in here when I had to excuse myself from the auditorium," said Sunny Flare. "When you didn't respond to any kind of stimulus, I went to get help."

More of Sugarcoat's senses started reporting in. "Is that why my cheek hurts?"

"I did say any kind of stimulus."

"Come on, Sugar." She only then registered that she'd been leaning on Lemon Zest. "We got Second too; he's waiting outside. And I figured you wouldn't want to have the whole conversation in the bathroom anyway."

"That would be counterproductive." Sugarcoat staggered out. She appreciated Lemon's support, but she wasn't going to say anything.

"You're welcome," Lemon said unprompted.

After all, she didn't need to.

Second Person waited for them outside of the bathroom, more than his usual concern in his eyes. "How are you feeling?"

In a way, Sugarcoat appreciated the question. Leveling a flat stare at someone was comfortable, familiar ground. "I just upset my girlfriend so much I managed to overload the crystal that was magically suppressing her anxiety. Then I apparently went into a fugue state, and I suspect that only the literal grace of Sunset kept me from going mad."

"The Bacon Horse protects," Lemon Zest said with indeterminably sincere reverence.

"Moondancer was using a therapy crystal?" It took Sugarcoat a moment to register Sour Sweet's tone. She'd almost never heard the other girl speak with legitimate concern in her voice before. "And it broke?"

Sugarcoat raised an eyebrow. "Yes."

"Okay, we need to find her. Broken therapy crystals are no joke."

"I mean, looking back, it was kinda funny..." Lemon trailed off as both Sour and Second glared at her. "Yeah, fair enough. We gotta track her down."

"I'm missing something," said Sugarcoat.

Sour Sweet held up the necklace from which her own therapy crystal hung. "I've had some bad experiences with these things breaking myself."

Lemon's lips twitched as she fought back a smirk. "Yeah, you could say that."

"First I've heard about this." Sunny Flare looked up from her phone. "I have Indigo looking for Moondancer, but even she'll take a while to cover the whole campus. So, what happened?"

All three of the people who knew traded awkward looks. To Sugarcoat's surprise, Second Person spoke first. "Well, long and very embarrassing story short, she ended up split in two."

"Simpering wuss and raging bitch," added Sour. "And to drive home the point, the bitch turned into one of those bat-variant pegasus aspects."

Sugarcoat blinked as she tried to process that. "Schizophrenia doesn't work that way."

"Yes!" Lemon cried. "Thank you!"

Second glared at her. "I'm still mad about you shoving me into her room."

"Hey, you were the one holding onto her spare, and calling you was her idea anyway. Didn't know she'd strip to her undies in the meantime."

That got Sugarcoat to raise her eyebrows. "Since Lemon hasn't arranged an incredibly inappropriate celebration, I assume nothing came of that."

Lemon snorted. "He literally prayed to Sunset for deliverance from twins."

"She wasn't in her right mind!"

"And Sweeten Sour isn't getting anywhere near him!" Sour pulled Second in to an embrace so violently, Sugarcoat could've sworn he squeaked like a chew toy. "The point is that one of those things breaking makes for a bad time. All the neurochemical fun of going cold turkey on your meds compressed into a few seconds. Though at least Moondancer didn't literally break in half."

Sugarcoat clenched her fists. "Point made. Enough goofing around. We need to find her."

"We have Indigo working on that, remember?" said Sunny. "Say what you will about Winter Lights—"

Lemon held up a finger. "Note: Do not say things about Winter Lights. Nothing definitive, anyway. She'll view it as a challenge."

"Isn't that a definitive statement?" said Second.

"It is!" Lemon said, beaming. "I am fully prepared to get annoyed by Indigo's elf girlfriend at some point in the coming weeks."

Sunny rolled her eyes. "Say what you will, or don't, about Winter Lights, she's made Indigo into a twisted sort of romantic. She's taking this seriously, and you know what that means."

Sugarcoat nodded. "She'll go at full intensity until she achieves her goal."

"And in the meantime, we've got other issues to worry about," said Sour, "like where Moondancer got this therapy crystal."

That, at least, Sugarcoat knew. "Ms. Yellow Diamond."

Sour gritted her teeth and squeezed Second hard enough that his nondescript complexion started turning definitely blue. "Ah. Well then."

Lemon Zest cleared her throat. "Ease up, girl, you're gonna pop him like a zit."

"He's okay with that."

"Good for him. He still needs to breathe." Lemon turned to address the whole group. "Now, I don't know about you guys, but I think Principal Cadence would really appreciate learning that our dean of students-cum-gym teacher is handing out brain rocks without a prescription. Someone ought to tell her, hint hint."

"Well, you're her aunt," said Sugarcoat, silently noting how that statement never got any less absurd. "You go tell her. I need to know when Indigo finds Moondancer."

"One, first cousin once removed. B, what'll you do in the meantime, wallow in your anxiety? Moondancer's probably already doing that; we don't need both of you stuck in your heads. Come with us; it'll keep you occupied and you can unload on Ms. Diamond if Cadence confronts her."

Sugarcoat considered this for a few moments. She didn't sigh or sag or show her concession in any visible way. She just said, "You are simultaneously an excellent and deeply irritating friend."

Lemon nodded and smiled. "You're welcome."

A familiar laugh made Sugarcoat blink, having come from the wrong direction. Sunny Flare spoke and cleared up the confusion. "Hold that thought. We've found her."

"You made Lemon's laugh your text alert?"

"It gets my attention. You want to poke fun at me or find your girlfriend?"

"Both," said Sugarcoat, "but Moondancer takes priority."

Sunny led them out of the building. Once Sugarcoat spotted the sallow light of Indigo's wingbow overhead, she moved to the front. After a few moments, Moondancer came into view as well, at least once everyone thought to look around the corner of the school where Indigo hovered and spotted her wedged against the spikes lining the roof. Lemon Zest spoke first. "Huh. Girl can really jump when she wants to."

"She's getting very good with teleportation." Sugarcoat looked to Sour. "Do you think you could get me up to the roof?"

Sour rolled her eyes. "You airlift your boyfriend one time..." She waved up to their spotter. "It'll be a lot easier with Indigo's help. Getting Second out of the Games was mostly adrenaline and momentum."

One tandem airlift later, Sugarcoat approached Moondancer as carefully as she could. Part of that was working against the roof's steep incline, but most was for Moon's sake. Sugarcoat had never dealt with wounded animals, but she couldn't help but think along those lines: No sudden moves or she'll bolt or snap. But Moondancer did neither, and Sugarcoat eventually got close enough to sit next to her, wincing when she first heard the quiet sobs. "Hey."

Moondancer hadn't shifted from her almost fetal huddle the whole time, and she didn't do so now. "Go away."

The flat sentence stabbed into Sugarcoat's heart. Her breath hitched, but she didn't budge. "I will if you really want me to."

"Of course I don't want you to," Moondancer half-mumbled. "But you should. I'm not worth the effort."

"I think you are."

"Then you're wrong. I'm the biggest mess at Crystal Prep, and we both know that's saying something." Moondancer heaved a sigh. "I can't even abuse magic effectively."

Sugarcoat sat next to her. It was awkward, sure, but what part of their relationship hadn't been? "I meant what I said. I want you to be happy."

"But I want you to be happy. And I can tell you want to, you know, touch more often."

And before Sugarcoat could think better of it, she grabbed Moondancer with both arms. The other girl stiffened, but she didn't let go. "I do. I want this. I want us to work."

Over the course of a minute or two, Moondancer relaxed into the hug. "I... It's scary. I have no idea what I'm doing."

"Neither do I. We can figure it out together."

Another few moments passed before Moondancer said, "I can't help but note you didn't deny my comment about being the biggest mess at Crystal Prep."

"I made your awkwardmarine explode. You're going to be especially emotional until you readjust, and we've already established that you're saying a lot of things you don't mean right now. Try a prescription next time." An unfamiliar twist in Sugarcoat's gut made her add, "Maybe. Just a suggestion."

"I've tried a few," said Moondancer. "Haven't found one that works well enough to be worth the side effects. Just living with it was better... mostly because I could just ignore most people. But now I have friends, more or less, and a girlfriend and I..." She trailed off and shook her head. "How does Twilight do this? Socialization comes so naturally to her, like it was just waiting for her to pick it up!"

"You're not Twilight."

That got a scoff. "No. I'm not. Forget my issues with being touched, that's the biggest issue in our relationship."

Sugarcoat shrugged. "I'm not Twilight either. We shouldn't compare ourselves to her."

"Why not? I saw her and Sunset together just before school started again. They were..." Moondancer blushed red enough to match her hair. "Kissing. In public. I... I can't even picture myself doing something like that, but—"

"Then we won't," said Sugarcoat, simple as that.

And Moondancer finally looked her in the eyes, her own panicked. "But—"

"We aren't Twilight and Sunset." Sugarcoat couldn't help but smirk. "We're about as far from Sunset as it gets."

"But if you want to and I can't—"

"I never said public displays of affection were a dealbreaker. I..." And it was Sugarcoat's turn to blush and turn away. "I admit, I do like them. I'm awful at saying nice things; every time I try, I feel like I'm reading off of a greeting card. It feels so cliché and contrived that I lock up. I tried to show you how I feel through actions instead." She took a deep breath, turned back, and gave her best attempt at a smile. "But I can adapt to whatever makes you comfortable."

Moondancer lolled her head back and groaned. "Now I just feel bad for making you have to bend over backwards to accommodate me."

"You tolerate me at my most tactless. I'd say we're even. You may even be getting the better deal out of all of this."

Moondancer snorted at that, making Sugarcoat give a much more natural feeling smile in turn, along with something that might—might—be termed a giggle.

Naturally, that made both of them burst into Lemon Zest-grade idiot laughter.

Once they calmed down, Moondancer said, "I am sorry for springing this on you."

Sugarcoat held out her hand. Once her girlfriend accepted, she said, "If you really are more comfortable with a therapy crystal and it really isn't harmful, I'm fine with you wearing one. I was mostly worried about your refusal to tell me anything. That's almost never a good sign, especially with such a drastic shift in character."

"In hindsight, Ms. Diamond may have been a bit too eager to hand it off to me."

Sugarcoat nodded. "We're planning on talking to Principal Cadence about that."

"Yeah." Moondancer made a show of considering the triangular panel supporting them. "Though first we'll need to get off the roof. I'm not entirely sure how I got all the way up here in the first place; my range shouldn't be this good."

"Just give me the word," said Indigo Zap.

Both girls locked on her, hovering directly above them in a blind spot they hadn't even considered. "How long were you there?" said Sugarcoat.

"Oh, we barely moved after we dropped you off," Sour Sweet chirped, poking her out from the other side of the roof trim. "You've just been caught up in your drama. And I can definitely recommend Dr. Even Keel. He actually knows what he's doing with therapy crystals."

"Is that your phone?" Sugarcoat felt her blood turn to ice and carried that chill into her tone. "Were you recording this?"

Sour snorted. "Oh, like you two aren't going to have an issue like this flare up again in a few months. I'm doing you both a fav—" A nimbus of pale magic pulled the phone out of her grip. "Hey!"

Moondancer telekinetically passed it to Sugarcoat just before they both dodged away from a lunging Sour Sweet. "If you would be so kind?"

"It's already erasing the footage." Sour hadn't even had a chance to lock her phone. Telling it to wipe the incriminating video was child's play for Sugarcoat.

She smiled. Moondancer returned it without a trace of malice or shame.

Then Sour ruined the moment by slamming into Sugarcoat and clawing at her phone, but still.
> New
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cadence still felt more at home in the dean's office than the principal's, in no small part because most of her things were still in there. The interim dean of students had done nothing to make the office feel more like hers because she knew as well as anyone that she was, quite emphatically, the interim dean of students.

And as Cadence paced in front of what part of her still thought of as her desk, she acknowledged that the adjective was well-earned. "I can't say I'm happy right now, Yellow."

Yellow Diamond gave a sharp glare in response. Everything about her was sharp and angular, all the more so since the great change had made her name a little more literal. "Cadence, I was hired as a gym teacher."

"You were still the most qualified faculty member to act as interim dean of students." 

That got a roll of Yellow's eyes. "Only because I took a few undergrad psych classes with Blue and I sparkle like a poorly written vampire." She held up a hand and turned her wrist, letting the scintillation speak for itself.

"You being a crystal aspect was not a factor." Cadence stopped her passing to press her hands on the desk and lean towards Yellow, scowling. "If I had known you'd use emotionally resonant crystals so carelessly, it would've counted against you."

Yellow met her gaze head-on. "Fine. Then replace me and let me get back to the job I should be doing."

Cadence was tempted to do so. But she had to straighten back up, shake her head, and say "The sad thing is you're still one of the most empathetic members of the staff. If I put anyone else in this position, I might as well just throw students to the wolves."

"Abacus did have a habit of hiring functional sociopaths. With varying degrees of functionality." Yellow glared in the general direction of the teacher's lounge, then gave a sympathetic look no Crystal Prep athletic team would ever believe she could offer. "Still looking?"

"Still looking. I do have one promising prospect, but Radiant Hope won't be available until next month." Cadence ran a hand through her hair. "We are incredibly fortunate that those girls agreed to let this rest without getting lawyers involved, so long as it doesn't happen again."

"Your aunt going on about how 'the Bacon Horse forgives' likely helped there."

"First cousin once removed," Cadence said automatically. "Just... don't hand out magical antidepressants like they're candy while we wait for Radiant?"

Yellow shrugged. "I'm not sure what else you expect me to do. Electroshock therapy?" She clenched a fist. Electricity crackled along it. "Because I'm not trained for that either."

"Yellow."

Another roll of the eyes. "Fine, fine, I'll see how much time Blue has to spare. She got the empathy for both of us. At the very least, she can give me some pointers."

"I'd appreciate that." Cadence let herself relax enough to smile. "Thank you."

Yellow shook her head. "Don't thank me for being a stopgap until the real dean gets here. Save it for when I'm whipping the field hockey team into shape."





Four figures watched the meeting, hunched over a bowl that glowed like captured moonlight. "Do you think they suspect anything?" said one.

Lemon Zest looked up at Sunny Flare and shrugged. "Probably not. Cady's married to an O&O player, so she should know scrying is a thing, but not specifically a thing her students can do."

"For now," said Sunny.

"Yeah, so we should make the most of..." Lemon trailed off as she noticed the glow fade in her peripheral vision. "We missed the end of the meeting, didn't we?"

Sunny nodded. "Completely."

"You didn't miss much," Sugarcoat said as she sat on Lemon's bed. The dorm room was surprisingly tidy, largely because it was early in the year, and rooming with Sour Sweet meant one had very strong incentives to be a good roommate. "Mostly pleasantries and moving on to something that isn't our business."

"They're still talking, but I ended the spell once they started on someone other than me." Moondancer hesitated for just a moment before sitting next to Sugarcoat. They shared an uneasy smile.

"You two doin' okay?" said Lemon.

"We're here if you need us," added Sunny, "for whatever that's worth."

Sugarcoat quirked an eyebrow. "Frank self-awareness to the point of self-denigration is my thing."

"This is Cadence-era Crystal Prep, Sugarcoat," Sunny countered. "We're all looking at ourselves and being disgusted by what we see."

"I'm not." Lemon ducked under a telekinetically thrown pillow. "But for cereal, you two doin' okay?"

Moondancer waggled a hand. "It's a day-to-day thing. Some days are better than others."

Sugarcoat nodded. "It's like the weather. We don't have any control over it and little ability to predict it. We just deal with the bad days and enjoy the nice ones." She held out a hand.

Moondancer took it and squeezed. "And I'm researching other conventional medications. I may not necessarily take any, but I'd like to know my options. Sour and Second are helping there."


— — —


Sour Sweet paced in front of Moondancer like a general before her troops, complete with monologue. That they were on the grounds of Crystal Prep rather than some military base with a massive Amareican flag behind her was a minor detail at best. "It's the Wild West out there for memory crystals, almost literally. The government has no idea how to regulate them, no one is quite sure what goes into them, and good luck finding any way to properly quantify the active ingredients, if any. There are refractive bastards out there selling junk they pulled right out of some New Age wellness store and claiming they instilled it with transcendent inner peace."

"And then there's Ms. Diamond," said Moondancer, who was doing all she could to keep from getting swept along the sheer degree of passion.

"Right," Sour said with a nod so sharp, her ponytail nearly whipped her in the face. "Based on what you told me and my own experiences, she went and gave you a triple dosage of confidence without meaning to." in a blink, Sour mellowed to something resembling human sympathy. "I can't say I'm surprised. This is Coach Diamond we're talking about. She expects one hundred percent from everyone, especially herself. The problem is you don't always want to give one hundred percent with pharmaceuticals."

"So, how are you feeling now?" said Second Person. "Any lingering effects?"

Moondancer looked askance at him. "It's been the better part of a week."

"And we have no idea how long it takes for a body to flush out synthetic emotions," Sour countered. She beamed, and Moondancer had no idea how much sarcasm went into the smile or her next words. "We're exploring brave new medical frontiers! Isn't it exciting!?"


— — —


"So long as you keep me in the loop, I'm happy," said Sugarcoat. "It was not knowing that bothered me more than anything. That and the sudden shift."

Sunny nodded. "Forewarning helps when dealing with a Lemon-like personality."

Lemon quirked up a corner of her mouth. "I'm sitting right next to you."

"And?"

The two traded a fistbump before Lemon marshaled herself. "In all seriousness, you two cool?"

Moondancer shrugged. "I don't think we'll ever be one hundred percent cool. But really, who is?"

"Twilight and Sunset?" said Sugarcoat.

Lemon snorted. "Please. When's the last time you've talked to those two? They get on each other's nerves almost as much as Sunny and I do. And I can't threaten to worship Sunny ironically." After a moment, she added, "I mean, I can but it doesn't have the same impact when she doesn't have an unwanted church around her already."

"Don't get any ideas there," said Sunny.

"I make zero promises."

Sugarcoat crossed her arms. "You do realize that comparing our relationship to yours only invites further teasing about your refusal to admit you're a couple."

Lemon matched the gesture. "You do realize you can bite me."

Sunny shook her head. "Such witty repartee flows in these hallowed halls."





Moondancer took a deep breath as she approached her target. The athletic fields were very much not familiar territory for her. Asking for help even less so. But there was still one viable source of data for her problem she hadn't consulted yet, even if it didn't have an index or a wiki.

She approached as said source was stretching out assorted muscle groups at the school track, using her wingbow for some literally dizzying contortions. "Hey, Indigo?"

"Yeah?" Indigo said as her bizarre weight distribution made her slowly drift upside down.

"Um, is this a bad time?"

"Not if you're here to ask me what I think you're here to ask me." Indigo straightened out in a blur of movement, settling on her feet and twisting her neck about for good measure. "It is about Sugarcoat, right?"

"Well... yes. How do you deal with such a stark disparity between you and your, uh..." Moondancer trailed off, biting her lip.

Indigo smirked. "Let's just leave it at 'your, uh, awkward pause.' My mistress generally doesn't do labels."

"I'm just going to ignore the contradiction there."

"Good, you're learning." Indigo shrugged. "And honestly, I don't even think about it."

Moondancer took a moment to process that. "You don't?"

"No. I'm hers. Simple as that."

"I... honestly find that hard to believe. Even I know about your reputation as the most gung-ho athlete at Crystal Prep."

"That's part of it." Indigo interlaced her fingers and stretched her arms up. "It's honestly a relief to have a place and a person where I don't have to push myself to be the absolute peak of human performance." She scowled. "Especially since that peak rose."

"I see." Moondancer didn't, not really, but she could tell she wouldn't get any more clarity on that relationship for the time being. "So, with Sugarcoat..."

"You know, she asked me the same thing?"

Moondancer almost physically staggered as she took that in. "She... she did?"

"Like ten minutes into grilling me to make sure I wasn't brainwashed or in full Stockhorn Syndrome, but yeah. That's the thing. Sure, Sugarcoat's better than you. You're also better than her." Indigo shrugged. "Everyone's got their strengths and weaknesses."

"Even you in comparison to Winter Lights?"

"In a few ways, by certain criteria, from a certain perspective... Yeah. The point is that you guys shouldn't have to feel like you have to constantly earn each other's love. Love isn't a muscle you have to keep conditioned. You shouldn't take it for granted, but you don't have to have, like, a specific love day every week where you work your affection quads." Indigo sighed and facepalmed. "I'm spending too much time around Lemon Zest."

"I... think I understood what you meant," said Moondancer.

"Okay, not as much time around her as I thought. Good to know."

They shared a laugh at that. Moondancer waved as she turned to go. "Thanks for the insight. I'll get out of your hair."

Indigo rubbed the back of her head. "I mean, I'm not the best source for this kind of mushy crap. I basically fell into its lap. Still, happy to help."





Watching a sunset together was the sort of sappy dreck that both Moondancer and Sugarcoat would mock in others. But both acknowledged that there was a time for sap, and recovering from an emotional meltdown definitely qualified. Especially when they could do it from the security of Moondancer's dorm room. Her roommate, Alizarin Bubblegum, was low enough on the social totem pole that they had little to worry about her airing their dirty laundry.

Also, Alizarin and Moondancer got along well enough that she respected their privacy, and Moon returned the favor with Alizarin's relationship with Celery Stalk. So there was that.

After some time spent in companionable silence, Sugarcoat said, "So. How are you feeling?"

"Still kind of embarrassed. Still kind of nervous." After a deep breath, Moondancer added, "Still wondering what you see in me sometimes."

Sugarcoat nodded. "So our mutual ground state?"

"Yeah, I guess so." Moondancer leaned back until she ended up lying on her mattress. "I'm stumbling through this, but I guess everyone is."

"Dad does like to say that adulthood is just doing a better job of hiding how you have no idea what you're doing." Sugarcoat turned to Moondancer and smiled. "If I have stumble along with anyone, I'm glad it's you."

Moon straightened up and returned the grin. "I love you, Sugarcoat."

"I know." After Moondancer swatted her on the shoulder, Sugarcoat just said, "I deserved that."

"This isn't Force Wars and you aren't Lonesome Hans."

Sugarcoat slowly wrapped her arms around Moondancer and nestled into her shoulder. "Better?"

After a few moments, Sugarcoat felt a nod against the top of her head. "Better."