Sunset had grabbed her bag from her locker and went about her way. Although it was still rather bright outside when she had entered CHS, a sunset had already hit the skies. Time was passing much quicker than she felt, a nice representation as to all these new events she was only recently taking in. She had to head to her apartment soon to pack a few more things before it was time to go through the portal once more. Due to some heavy construction on the path she normally takes, Sunset had to take a temporary detour. This took her past the mall, and some of the local business shops she would usually see, having various students from all over the city hanging out. She noticed a group of friends from Crystal Prep she hadn’t seen in a while. Though something was different. They were suddenly not wearing their school uniforms anymore, even though they usually do off campus. Sunset approached them as they were having a friendly conversation with each other.

“Well girls, with graduation coming up soon, what was your proudest memory in being a Crystal Prep honor student?” Sunny Flare asked.

“Honor students? Yeah right. I’m the only true honor student here, and perhaps maybe Twilight. Though our new exchange student, Moondancer, definitely comes at a close second.” Sugarcoat said bluntly.

“Well, when you put it the way…” Sour Sweet began quietly. She then raised her voice with more aggression in her tone. “It doesn’t matter, smarty. We’re all getting into good colleges since you let us take pictures of your homework assignments. Thanks, again.”

Sugarcoat rolled her eyes. “Even so, it came at a price. I’ll be expecting a huge cut of your allowance since you all got an A+ thanks to me.”

“Eh, you’ll get it soon. You may have smarts, but you certainly lack patience.” Lemon Zest chimed in.

“Even if we have to pay for good grades, I’d say it’s at least easier than how we did it before Sugarcoat joined our gang.” Indigo Zap added. “I had to bully some nerd girl all the time for the homework and test answers, but it didn’t last long. I don’t even remember her name, but I do believe it’s in my blood to give good threats to get what I want. Get this, I bullied her so hard that she ended up dropping out of school altogether. How savage am I?”

Most of the girls were snickering and smirking at what Indigo mentioned about herself, but Sugarcoat show signs of disgust and skepticism in her story. Though she did remain proud of the fact that even if she herself was a nerd like Twilight and Moondancer, she knows how to properly socialize to avoid being bullied. Sugarcoat then spoke up again.

“Well, we’ll see how prepared you are for the real world once you girls get into college. Don’t expect me to do your work for you, even if you offer me money. I highly doubt we’re even going to end up in the same place, the university I applied to would definitely not accept any of you girls. Especially since you got a D in physics.” Sugarcoat looked toward Indigo.

“Pfft.” Indigo scoffed. “You act like I’m going to be spending the rest of my life solving boring math problems all day and not enjoy life at all. I’ll get into college through my athletic skills. I’m gonna be that hot girl every boy wants to date, while you’ll just be that nerd girl the jocks will be picking on all day.”

“Yeah, that’s right!” Sunny Flare agreed. “How come Sugarcoat here has never talked to any boys, or ever gotten any compliments of being pretty like the rest of us? Even I can sometimes use my makeup covered face to entice boys to do my homework for me.”

“Maybe she’s just scared of being rejected.” Sour Sweet interjected. “I can’t think of anyone at Crystal Prep who’d wanna date a nerd anyway.”

Although the girls feel Sugarcoat would feel defeated by their burns, she didn’t at all. She just stared on in her usual blank expression, until she finally spoke up. “I guess you girls are gonna learn the hard way what life’s all about. Don’t even come crying to me for help when I’ll be making six figures a year. And hey, I don’t even need glasses anymore due to a financially stable prescription lens and daily intake of carrots.”

From a distance, one of the girls noticed Sunset walking by, as the rest of the girls focused on Sugarcoat’s words. “Hey look, isn’t that the girl who saved us during the Friendship Games?” Lemon Zest pointed toward Sunset. The rest of the girls focused their attention on her now, almost completely forgetting anything Sugarcoat just said to them.

“Uhh, hi.” Sunset said as she waved to them. “I was heading home, but can’t help but notice you girls here. And since mostly everyone’s heading off to college or the outside world after graduation, this might be the last time we’ll ever see each other again. I guess this is a nice little reunion, even if we’re not really that close.”

“Awwwwww, isn’t that sweet?” Sour Sweet asked rhetorically. “Now really, why are you here? Not to just give us boring friendship lectures, right? How useless.” She snapped.

“Well she did help get Principal Cinch fired.” Sugarcoat said out of the blue. “Though it is probably the only useful thing she’ll ever do.”

“I guess to check in…” Sunset wanted to chat with these girls for a bit, but eventually decided it wasn’t worth her time if Princess Twilight was still waiting for her, and the Shadowbolts were being rather rude to her. She did decide to ask out of curiosity, however. “I’m just curious, by the way. I think this is the first time I’ve seen you girls out in public wearing something casual, rather than your school uniforms or dance outfits.”

“Oh yeah.” Sugarcoat replied. “It’s nothing big. Principal Cadance finally lifted the rule to wear mandatory school uniforms at Crystal Prep, so we decided to simply wear something more comfy and suitable for our expressive tastes. Guessing this is always a luxury for you Canterlot High kids.”

“That said, we are going to keep our school uniforms.” Sunny Flare said. “Those were pretty vintage outfits that can now go up to $20,000 each at the right auction. I checked. Even if those outfits are no longer for us, they got a valuable price, we’d have to be idiots for simply throwing them away.” The rest of the girls nodded, including Sugarcoat.

Sugarcoat then looked toward Sunset’s bag. Although she was no bag expert herself, the current conversation was making her think of which brand Sunset had. “Which designer bag do you have there, by the way?” Sugarcoat inquired. “Mine’s a Canterlot Royalty.”

“What… bag type?” Sunset asked. She looked at her saddlebag, or in this world her book bag she’s had all her life, even back when she was in Magic Kindergarten. Although it had her cutie mark on it, she never really questioned what kind of bag she did have, or who gave it to her. Sunset’s dad seemed like the obvious answer, but she just didn’t know. “I’m not really sure, it’s just my book bag.”

“Eh, we wouldn’t expect some poor student to really know anything about topnotch accessories anyway.” Sunny Flare teased.

“Well, maybe I’ll do some research and find out myself. For all we know, my bag could be worth far more than your school uniforms. it wasn’t even made in this world.” Sunset said jokingly. “In the meantime, good luck in college, let’s see how far you girls will get if you only focus on things like that instead of your studies.”

Sunset then turned and headed back to her apartment, not knowing that most of the Shadowbolts were rolling their eyes at her comments. However, Sugarcoat did admire Sunset’s sense of work ethic, which she figured made sense, since Sunset and Twilight went to the same school.