Chapter One
The corridors in the castle were completely empty. Not a single guard was on post. Her hooves echoed loudly as she trotted, looking for any sign of movement, any sign that she was not totally and utterly alone. She looked up ahead, at the heavy door.
Guards should have been at the ready. Two on either side of the door. One making rounds patrolling the halls. The maids keeping the place clean. Schools being shown around on strict guided tours, filling the courtyard outside the windows with gleeful shouts. Staff ensuring visiting dignitaries had every level of comfort. Bureaucrats doing whatever it was they did. Sunset had ever cared for that, instead keeping her eye on the main prize.
Again, even during the day, the lack of guards by the door was worrying. She wasn’t a threat anymore, but at one time she had been. With a sigh she reached out with her magic…
She reached out with her magic…
Stomping her front hooves on the ground, she closed her eyes and focused. She could do this. She was a unicorn. One of the most gifted unicorns in Equestria. She had enough magical power to do nearly anything she wanted.
It would not come. Her magic wasn’t responding to the call. There was nothing there. She tried harder, searching deep within herself for that solid thread. She had used it last time she was here. Her breaths were becoming shorter, her eyes wide as she looked around for anyone. Someone had to be there to help her. She ran forward, pushing with all her might against the door, but it wouldn’t budge. Tears were soaking into the fur on her cheeks and dripping onto the floor.
There was no one. All the doors in the hall were closed
She was utterly alone.
Sunset Shimmer sat up in her bed, looking around wildly. She caught her breath as she took in her surroundings. A dresser full of clothing, and a closet with the same. A desk littered with papers and books and electronics. Her blankets laid piled on the floor. Slowly, she laid back, relief flooding through her. It was a dream. Nothing but a dream.
The door to her room creaked open and the familiar face of Celestia peered in. Sunset sat up, looking at the woman who had taken her in. Celestia’s eyebrows raised in worry as she stepped into the room. She bent down and retrieved the tangle of sheets and blankets off the ground. “Is everything okay?”
Sunset watched as she separated the coverings. “Just a bad dream.” She pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. “I couldn’t reach my magic. It was terrifying. There was no one at the castle, and I was…I was alone.”
The blankets were separated and lying on the floor again. Celestia sat on the bed next to Sunset and wrapped an arm around her. She used her free hand to gently bring Sunset’s face up around to look into her eyes. “I won’t leave you alone, Sunset. Neither will your friends. We all care about you.”
Unable to hold Celestia’s gaze, Sunset looked at her toes. “I know. I just.” She sighed. “I miss my home. The feel of magic running through my body. The cobblestones under my hooves. Everything.”
Celestia rubbed Sunsets back. “Why don’t you go back?” she asked. “The portal is always open now, isn’t it? You can always go and visit.”
Sunset nodded. “It’s open. At least, to anyone with magic. So myself and the girls.” They sat in silence for a moment, until Sunset yawned.
Standing, Celestia sighed. “Why don’t you get some rest, and we can talk about this more in the morning.”
“Yeah, that sounds good.” Sunset flopped back, her head bouncing once on her pillow. “We both have school, anyway.” She started at the feeling of a sheet falling over her. She looked over and saw Celestia smiling as she covered her charge with a blanket as well.
“Sweet dreams.”
“Yeah, goodnight.”
Her door closed with a click. She listened as Celestia walked back down the hallway to her own room and that door shut. When the school had been totally destroyed when she had turned into a she-demon, her foster parents had kicked her out. That had been her final strike, and she was going to be put into a group home, out of district, and sent to another school.
Celestia had stepped in. It had been strange at first, living with Principal Celestia. There had been rules and structure Sunset didn’t think she needed, that had reminded her of a time before she came to the human world, when she had spurned every good thing offered to her because she felt she deserved better.
Sunset rolled onto her side, facing the wall. This Celestia was different. She wasn’t thousands of years old. Only decades. She lost her temper. She wasn’t Princess Celestia, she was just Celestia. She was just a person.
This world was so different than home, and yet so much like home it made the homesickness worse. She squeezed her eyes tight together. Tomorrow would be a better day. Her friends would be at school and she could talk to them.
Celestia was right. They would always be there with her.
A loud slam of a tray onto the lunch table captured everyone’s attention. Twilight dropped into her chair, righting the chug of milk that had fallen over. She took a deep breath in and closed her eyes before releasing it slowly.
“Well now, what’s got you so worked up?” Applejack asked.
Her cheeks were still red, but she seemed to have calmed some. “Everfree rejected my application. My references said I wasn’t to be trusted.” She took another deep breath. “I could just scream. Everyone here will know Cinch is just angry but there isn’t a way to prove it. She blocked me from my dream school.”
A pale yellow hand patted Twilight’s shoulder. Rarity scoffed, putting her sandwich on the tray. “You could fight it.”
Twilight shook her head. “No, by the time anything actually was accomplished, it would be too late. I’ve already been accepted by two of my back-ups. I’m just waiting to hear from the rest before I make my decision.” Finally, she relaxed back into her chair and picked up her sandwich. “Which schools did you girls apply to?”
Sunset sat her milk down, her stomach tightening. Colleges.
“Oh, I’ve applied to one school that specializes in fashion design, it’s very small. I’ve also applied to several schools with a fashion design major, as most don’t seem to offer it.” Of course Rarity would want to go to some school across the country to study fashion. Probably some exclusive place a famous fashion designed graduated from.
“Ah, I was accepted at U of C, so I’m just going there.” With two sports scholarships, she would be crazy not to, and it would be returning home for Dash.
“Me, too. They have a nice pre-vet program.” Fluttershy was following Dash, of course. Not that it really mattered. Pre-vet was standard and could be done nearly anywhere.
“Oh, the Cakes want me to go to this really great culinary school, but my parents aren’t so sure I should. I applied anyway, but I also applied other places.” Pinkie was always the wild card. Sunset half expected her to just take over The Sweet Shoppe once she graduated.
“I’m thinking I might just go to the local community college. Stay on the farm and help out. It’s what Mac did.” Apple Jack, ever practical and focused on her family and the farm.
A silence fell over the group and Sunset looked up to see everyone looking at her. She looked at each of them before realizing they were waiting on her. “Oh. I’m not going anywhere. I wouldn’t even know where to start.” She could follow any of them somewhere, but college was different than high school. She would have to make new friends, because her current friends were going to separate, and even the ones that would be near each other wouldn’t talk as much, because they found other people who are interested in the same things and— Someone was forcedly pulling on her arm, causing her to nearly fall out of her chair.
She glared over. “What the hay, Twilight?”
“We’ve got to get you to the guidance office pronto. It isn’t too late to apply, but it is almost.” She looked panicked. “You can’t not go to college.”
Sunset freed her wrist from Twilight’s grasp, placing her hands on Twilight’s shoulders. “Listen, it’s okay. I just don’t think school, here, if for me. I can’t study magic or anything. I’m just going to…”
Twilight waited. Wrinkling her brow in concern, Twilight stepped closer. “Going to do what, Sunset?”
Sunset shook her head, shrugging. “Figure things out. I’ll be fine.”
Dinner was quiet that night. Since moving in, Celestia had been careful to only serve vegetarian meals, though that had clashed with her own eating habits from before. Tonight was Portobello burgers and sweet potato fries. Sunset sighed, poking at one of the fries. She wanted to talk to Celestia about it, to look into those warm eyes, so full of care and trust, and explain everything, starting again with the dream. She looked up to see Celestia watching her.
She sighed again, straightening up in her seat. “I’m sorry. I was thinking.” She waited a beat before continuing, looking back down at her half-eaten burger. “Everyone is leaving. They’ve all applied to colleges and have all these plans.” She swallowed, looking up. “High school doesn’t last forever, and I knew that. I didn’t care at this time last year.” She pushed her plate away, shaking her head. “I have nothing here, and home holds nothing. A disappointed princess, and a reflection of what I could have been. I don’t…” she the burning as the tears began to build. “I don’t know what I’m going to do.” She buried her face in her hands, taking deep breaths to try to stop the tears.
She flinched slightly at the surprise of Celestia rubbing her back. The chair scooted closer to her and they sat like that for a moment, in silence while Sunset collected herself and Celestia comforted her. After she was certain tears wouldn’t stream down her face, she looked up at Celestia, sniffling.
Celestia smiled at her, holding one of her hands. “This is a scary part of growing up. There is a lot of pressure to make these next few years be the focus on which you hang your future, and as a principal I understand the pressure that are put onto your shoulders.” Celestia pushed Sunset’s hair behind her ears. “It’s okay if you don’t have everything planned out. I don’t think anyone ever really does. I didn’t set out to become a principal, it’s just the way it worked out. As your,” she hesitated for a half second, just long enough for Sunset to notice “guardian, I know that you can do whatever it is you want. Even if it takes a while, or a path you never knew it would take.”
Sunset swallowed and took another deep breath. “I just want to go home.”
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Ah the trials and tribulations of leaving High School and getting ready for college. I remember those days, though by then i was already locked into my choice in going to College. Though i can certainly sympathize with Sunset in her moods right now. An Alien in an Alien world, who doesn't feel homesick at times.
I must say for a first outing this is not bad, transitions are a bit choppy and i would like a tighter focus on what exactly is going on and where this places in the EQG world. But overall a valid start, 7.5/10
Good start, I think. I always like the idea of Sunset living with Principal Celestia when it's done beliveably and plausibly. Plus I've always had this little bit of headcanon that the portal only works for things that have magic in them, so seeing mention of this idea here was a nice surprise. I'm interested where this will go.
Only one thing I disagree with, I don't see Cinch being vindictive enough to screw up Twilight's future without anything to gain from the act.
I don't know if I like the way u set celestia up as sunsets guardian yet knowing the history they have. But, with that said I don't think it was wrong ether for what the story is and hope sunset will get guidence from bough Celestia's if u plan to have her stay with bough of them. So fare I like the story and the question it bring about, and is something all friends go through and think about. One more thing I hope something like this becomes cannon in the show and movies because as one of many fans, expecialy of Sunsets, I know I would like this to come up and see how they are going tires love the issue to close off the movie arc. That is if they do before they end the series.
There will come a time where once Sunset graduates from CHS she will come to that crossroad of her career.
7582059 Thank you! I'm glad you've liked it alright so far. This chapter was near the end of their senior year. I'm sorry about the transitions, if you have advice on how to blend them better, I'm more than open to it. Anything that'll make my writing improve is welcome. But yes, thank you for the comment and liking the story.
7582074 Yeah, I rather like the idea of having Sunset living with Celestia, and I actually do plan to eventually write a one-shot about it happening, although I'm not sure it would be 'canon' to this story. It's just a thought I've had for a while, and it works really well with what I'm wanting to do with this story. As far as Cinch, well, she won't get anything out of it, but call it petty revenge. Twilight denied her what she wanted, so she is denying Twilight something.
7582118 Thanks, I'm glad you liked it. Sorry parts of it threw you, but I think that if you give it an chance it'll work out in a way you might like.
7582212 And that's what this story is about. Thank you for reading!
7583394 Guess I just never pegged Cinch as someone who would care about petty revenge, but hey, it's a minor thing in the story so whatevs.
Oh yeah, this is a story that needs to be told by the folks in charge. For now, though, I look forward to more of your version of it.
7584407 Eh, I've known similar people as well and my experience is the opposite of that. Guess it comes down to different interpretations of Cinch in particular. I just can't see it. Heck, even Cadance in FG said that Cinch would most likely "fast track" the application or whatever, just to get someone with a possible grudge removed from CPA. She wouldn't want to anger them even further, it serves literally no purpose to her, and she's very goal-oriented. Antagonising Twilight after FG is counter-productive for her.
You've got a good start. This is an interesting conflict with Sunset and her dual life. I've unfortunately not seen past the first EqG, so I can't comment on possible future paths, but I'll be keeping my eye on this.
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You both have really good points for what Cinch would do. My line of thinking was Twilight is already gone from Crystal Prep, but Cinch has a tarnished reputation and Twilight is, at least in Cinch's mind, getting everything she wanted. With no reasonable expectation of backlash, when Cinch received the call from Everfree asking about the possible income college freshman Twilight Sparkle, she decided to ah, return the favor. At least those are my thoughts.
7584596 Oh, you should watch Friendship Games, it is my favorite one. I wasn't really thrilled with the first or second one, but I watch the third one a lot. Well, comparatively. Anyway, I'm glad you like it! I look forward to hearing your thoughts.
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It really does come down to different intepretations of a character, doesn't it? I've been doing my share of character exploration of Cinch (my only two stories on this site are about her), so I guess I'm just way too used to my take to be able to imagine different ones. Needless to say, she never appeared vindictive or petty enough to do that to me, and heck, I don't even think she goes away from FG blaming Twilight for everything. But since she was vague enough in the movie, I understand it's possible to have a different vision of her that would still fit all of her actions in the movie but have a different personality from what I assumed she was like. Sorry if I'm being tedious about this 
(and hey it's just a tiny nitpick in the end, not really important to the story at large which is cool 
), but as I said, Cinch was what got me into writing. (Also, FG is my favorite EqG movie too, though not being thrilled with the second one seems kinda crazy! 
)
Would it be so unthinkable or be such a betrayal of her friends if Sunset wanted to finish her Master's degree in magic? With the way the arcane is spreading through the human world in subtle and insidious ways, the knowledge could easily be one of the most important things she could learn.
7598798 No, it wouldn't be a betrayal at all, but in order to get a masters, she would have to have at least a doctorate from somewhere first. And also while magic is spreading, it isn't exactly well known.