Sweet Feelings, Sour Thoughts
Sour Sweet grumbled as she walked through Canterlot Mall. Her phone kept rumbling in her pocket. With a huff she pulled it out and switched it on. Sure enough, the other Shadowbolts were still going at it. Each seemed to have a different idea for the science fair—and per usual, there were no agreements.
“Why can’t we just sit it out?” she muttered under her breath.
She walked a few more feet before she bumped into someone, who gave a startled “oof!”
“Huh?” Sour stepped back and looked up. She blinked in surprise as Rarity steadied some shopping bags she was carrying.
“Oh, terribly sorry, I was standing in the way again,” Rarity said, smoothing out her skirt. She looked up and blinked. “Oh, Sour Sweet. What a nice surprise. Sorry about that.”
“No, it’s okay. I wasn’t looking where I was going.” Sour shot a frown as her phone buzzed in her hand.
“Oh, nonsense. I was so enraptured by this elegant dress on display I was standing in the way,” Rarity said, gesturing to a nearby shop window.
Sour glanced up and nodded at the dress in approval, before frowning at her vibrating phone.
Rarity took notice, raising an eyebrow. “What seems to be the matter, darling?”
“It’s the science fair coming up,” Sour said with a sigh. “The others don’t know what we’re going to do. On top of all our normal classes and extracurricular stuff.”
“Oh yes, Sunset and Twilight were discussing that,” Rarity said, nodding. “You seem stressed. Perhaps you should unwind. Ah, what do you do for fun?”
“Fun?” Sour squinted.
“Yes, like a hobby or a pastime.”
“Uh, well… I don’t really have one,” Sour shrugged. “I’ve always been busy studying.”
“Oh, no, no, no, this won’t do,” Rarity said. “Tell you what: I’m starting a crochet club at CHS. There’s no restrictions as to membership—after all, membership is at my discretion as club president—so why don’t you swing by and join us?”
“Crocheting? Like, that stuff old people do?” Sour asked, tilting her head.
Rarity giggled. “It’s an excellent way to relieve stress and make something with your hands, and seeing your handiwork at the Friendship Games, I know you Crystal Prep students have talent in that field.”
Sour huffed, crossing her arms. She shot a glare as her phone buzzed one more time and she crammed it into her pocket. “Fine,” she exhaled. “I might as well give it a shot.”
“Lovely! Our first meeting will be tomorrow afternoon at four. Down the hall from the chemistry labs,” Rarity said. “See you then, darling.”
“Yeah, see you,” Sour said, offering a brief wave as Rarity departed.
“Oh, and don’t steal my idea, hmm?” Rarity called playfully, punctuating it with a giggle.
“It was one time,” Sour growled under her breath, frowning.
Sour tightened the drawstrings of her hoodie to try and conceal her face as much as possible. It wasn’t much of a disguise—it was even the same dark red of Crystal Prep’s uniforms—but it was the best she could do on short notice.
Slipping into the school was relatively easy. The other CHS students stood around chatting, barely paying any attention to the hooded girl making her way through the halls. It took Sour a minute to get her bearings and find the chemistry labs, but after that she found the room Rarity had pointed out.
Inside were a few tables with seats in front of them—and all but two of them were empty, to Sour’s relief.
“Ah, Sour Sweet, so glad you could make it,” Rarity said, rising to meet her at the doorway. “There is, unfortunately, a shortage of interested members at the moment, but hopefully more will come.”
Rarity led Sour over to the tables. “Sour Sweet, I would like to introduce you to Miss Coco Pommel. She’s a new student here at CHS.”
Seated at one of the tables was a girl with cream-colored skin, light cyan eyes, and pale cyan hair styled into a bob. She wore a lavender sailor-style shirt with a scarlet tie and a plaid skirt that matched her hair. A tri-color, ruffled hair clip was tucked behind her right ear. She offered Sour a small smile.
“Hello,” she said, her voice soft and demure.
“Hey,” Sour said, blinking. She felt her cheeks warm a little as she lowered her hood and shook out her ponytail.
“I don’t think I saw you around today,” Coco said. “Are you new here too?”
“You could say that,” Sour said, quietly judging the seat next to Coco’s. When she felt like it was far enough away, she sat down. “I actually go to Crystal Prep.”
“Oh? That other school in the city?” Coco asked. “What brings you here?”
“Rarity invited me. I figured I’d give it a shot,” Sour said with a shrug, finding the wood grain of the table interesting as she stuffed her hands in her pockets.
“I haven’t done any crocheting either,” Coco said, flashing a friendly smile.
Sour smiled softly, glancing at her. “So, uh, where are you from?”
“Manehatten,” Coco said. “My family just moved to Canterlot a month ago.”
Unnoticed by the two of them, a sly, knowing smile crossed Rarity’s lips. She rifled through a large tote bag full of supplies and huffed. “Well,” she declared aloud. “It seems I misplaced the crochet hooks. I must have left them in my locker—I’ll just be a moment.”
Rarity left the room, quietly shutting the door behind her.
Sour and Coco glanced up before continuing their conversation. “I’m from Manehatten too,” Sour said. “Been a while since I’ve been back.”
“I kinda miss the big city too,” Coco said. “One day, I’m hoping to go back and do work on Bridleway.”
Sour’s eyebrows raised. “What, like acting?”
“Oh, no, no. I have terrible stage fright,” Coco said, cheeks flushing. “I mean as a costume designer for the big plays. I’ve only worked on small-scale school plays so far, but people seem to like my work.”
“I see. So why are you trying crocheting?” Sour relaxed a little in her chair, shoulders slouching.
“Same as you, actually. Trying something new,” Coco said. “Might come in handy sometime.”
“Yeah, and Rarity told me it’s great for—”
“Hey Rarity! Whatcha doing there?”
Sour and Coco turned towards the door at the sound of Pinkie Pie’s loud voice outside. The door opened a moment later, with Rarity, her face flushed, shooing off her friend as she stepped inside.
“I was… thinking, Pinkie,” she stuttered, shutting the door behind her. With a breath of relief, she straightened herself out and smoothed out her clothes. “So sorry about the wait.”
She produced a pair of crochet hooks and set them before Sour and Coco before returning to the tote bag. “Now, we just need some yarn to get started,” she explained.
“So, uh,” Sour whispered, leaning closer to Coco. “Maybe we could, uh, talk later?”
Coco’s cheeks reddened, but she smiled and nodded. “I’d like that,” she whispered.
As Rarity set about handing out their yarn and began instructing on how to start a crochet chain, Sour admittedly found it hard to concentrate as her thoughts ran a mile a minute.
“Just bring those boxes over here, Sour,” Sunny Flare instructed, pointing next to a rack of costumes. Backstage had plenty of room, but Sunny had her organizational system—whatever it was.
With a grunt, Sour set the three boxes next to the rack like instructed. She tried to be careful with them, heavy as they were. Sunny had yelled at her for breaking props before—she wasn’t called the Drama Queen for nothing.
“So, where are the others?” Sour asked, dusting her hands off and looking around.
“Rehearsing, I’d hope,” Sunny said, checking a clipboard. “If you mean our friends, probably still brainstorming. But as head of the Drama Club, I have a show to put on.”
Sour nodded, working her jaw. “Hey, Sunny? Can I ask you something?” She averted her eyes to another rack of costumes.
“Hmm?” Sunny raised an eyebrow at her. “About what?”
“Well, uh, you theater kids know about, like… romance stuff, right? What’s it all about?” Sour asked. “Just wondering.”
Sunny scoffed. “Romance? Since when do you care about that?” She smirked. “Did you take a liking to someone? Or did someone start liking you, sarcasm and anger and all?”
Sour’s face burned and she glared at the rack. “Forget about it,” she growled.
Sunny followed her gaze to the rack and walked over to it with a sigh. She lifted the sleeve on one of the costumes and felt the fabric. “You’d think with how modern and new everything else is around here, they’d help us fix our costumes.”
The door to backstage slammed open and Suri Polomare marched in. She paid no attention to Sour as she went right up to Sunny. “I see you’ve noticed our costumes too. I was just coming in to talk to you about them,” Suri said. “If you’d just let me help, I could get them fixed in no time.”
Sunny squinted. “Didn’t you also want a significant part in this play, Suri?” she asked. “That means you better not mess up your lines. You should be rehearsing right now!”
Suri rolled her eyes. “Fine, have our costumes fall apart then,” she huffed, storming back out the way she came in.
Sour, meanwhile, perked up. “Hey, Sunny. I think I might know someone who can help. She’s said she’s worked on costumes before—maybe she can come fix ours up.”
“On such short notice?” Sunny asked, surprised. “Is it anyone here at Crystal Prep.”
“No, she’s… uh, someone I met from CHS. But she’s had experience with this sort of thing,” Sour explained.
Sunny hummed, her eyes sliding over the racks of costumes around them. She finally let out a huff. “Alright, I’ll give her a shot. Tell her it needs to get done as soon as possible—we have a show coming up.”
“Great! I’ll let her know.” Sour grinned, hoping her blush wasn’t too obvious.
Coco went to and fro, checking the checklist on her clipboard and measuring costumes with a tape measure. She flipped to another page and jotted down some notes before moving on.
“Thanks for this opportunity, Sour,” Coco said without looking up from her work. “This is the most costumes I’ve ever had to work with.”
“No problem,” Sour said, her hands fidgeting with the hem of her skirt. “I’m just surprised Rarity didn’t come to help you.”
“I asked her if she wanted to come, but she said she had full confidence in me doing it by myself,” Coco replied, flashing a flushed smile towards Sour.
Sour gulped in response, her throat suddenly dry. Words had been pinging around in her head since she had met Coco, refusing to simmer down long enough for her to enunciate them. Now that they were alone, at least she could try.
“Hey, uh, Coco. I was wondering—”
Sour was cut off when the backstage door slammed open. Once more, Suri Polomare stomped over to the costume racks. Coco blinked in surprise, holding her clipboard against her chest and backing away as Suri marched over.
“And just what do you think you’re doing here?” Suri sneered, jabbing a finger at Coco.
“I-I’m just getting th-things together to f-fix up the costumes,” Coco started.
“You? Work on our costumes?” Suri hissed. “You’re just some second-rate student from CHS. You don’t deserve to work here, or anywhere else. I should be the one to fix these costumes, not you! You probably don’t even know what you’re doing!”
Sour’s face burned, for an entirely different reason than recently. She all but forced herself between Coco and Suri, facing the latter, fists clenched tightly at her sides.
Suri raised an eyebrow. “Well? Don’t you agree, Sour?” she asked, her anger simmering down to irritation. “Our school still has its reputation to uphold, after all.”
“You can take your stinking reputation and cram it up your nose!” Sour roared, causing Suri to shrink back. “Coco agreed to help us, and you should be freaking grateful!”
“What?!” Suri spluttered.
A second door opened. “What is going on in here?” Sunny demanded and she marched in, her own clipboard in her hand.
“I found this CHS student back here, probably trying to sabotage our costumes,” Suri said, jabbing an accusatory finger at Coco.
Sour smacked it aside, taking a step forward. “No she’s not! Coco’s trying to help us! You’re just a sore loser, Suri!”
Suri looked to Sunny for backup, only to shrink away. Sunny had locked onto her with a murderous squint, slowly approaching Suri until she was looming over her.
“Suri Polomare, I swear, if you don’t get out of here and start rehearsing, your, lines, I can and will have you replaced,” Sunny said in a very calm, quiet voice.
Suri gulped, looking between Sunny’s murderous gaze and Sour’s angry glare. Without another word, she quickly backtracked out from backstage, shutting the doors behind her.
Sunny huffed, smoothing out her outfit and turning to Coco. “I’m so sorry about that, Coco. Are you alright?”
The red hot rage—and the rest of the color—drained from Sour’s face when she realized Coco was still there. And realized she had witnessed her outburst. Slowly, she turned around to face her.
And found Coco staring back up at her.
“Oh… uh…” Sour found her mouth dry again. She glanced at Sunny, who raised an eyebrow at her, before looking back to Coco. “I, uh…” What could Coco be thinking about her after losing her cool like that?
Sour bit her lower lip, eyes darting around, before she quickly turned and ran from the theater, letting the door slam shut in her wake.
Sour took deep breaths as she leaned back against the wall in the hallway and slowly slid down to sitting against it. “Oh you stupid idiot,” she muttered. “Stupid Suri, stupid me, stupid everything!”
She covered both eyes, muttering more curses in her mind when her thoughts were broken by the sound of footsteps in the hallway. They grew closer and closer until Sour felt a presence next to her. Risking a glance, she saw Coco sitting beside her.
“Coco…” Sour dropped her hands and leaned back against the wall, looking straight ahead. “I’m sorry… sorry about Suri and… that you had to see all that.”
Coco shifted, and Sour glanced over. She noticed Coco rubbing her upper arms. “It’s alright… it’s not the first time that sort of thing’s happened. I guess I’m just… too shy and quiet. Sometimes it’s people like her, who think I don’t belong where I am. I’m sort of used to it.”
Sour grimaced, letting out a quiet groan. Coco looked over and offered a small smile.
“But,” she continued. “It also means I’ve gotten to be a pretty good judge of character.” Coco reached over and gently took one of Sour’s hands.
The heat returned to Sour’s cheeks and she swallowed. “What I was trying to ask, before… Suri, was… would you want to hang out sometime, other than crochet club?”
Coco stood up, gently urging Sour to her feet as well. “I’d love to,” she said.
Sour opened her mouth to say something—only for it to die in her throat when Coco pulled her into a hug. Sour felt her body temperature skyrocket.
“Thanks for sticking up for me,” Coco muttered, pulling back to reveal her face was as red as Sour’s. “I, uh… should go back and start working on those costumes.”
“Oh, yeah. Don’t want to keep you,” Sour said, reluctantly pulling away from the embrace.
Coco smiled sweetly up at her, before giving her a brief wave. Sour watched her turn and walk back to the theater, a lopsided smile of her own plastered on her face.
Now if she could only get her heart to stop doing backflips.