Canterlot High was strange. Instead of a standard Orientation, they had the ‘Freshman Fair’. Several of the school clubs met up before school started and created a little Fairground with small tents and little games to show off their clubs.
Sunset had wandered for a while, trying not to pick at the “Hi! I’m a Freshman, my name is:” sticker on her coat. It wasn’t long before she got thirsty. Thankfully, there were a few food stands. Walking up to one with apples on it, she looked over the menu. Both people inside, one a freshman like herself, greeted her and she waved back.
She was vaguely aware of someone walking up behind her, especially as the pair greeted someone again. Yet she froze when hearing her.
“Hello there,” the Princess’s voice said. “So, what do we have this year?”
Sunset whipped around, terror shaking her. There was a woman, taller than any she’d seen. She was white, with long hair in several colors, and a Sun pin on the lapel of her jacket. And stars, her eyes. Those same violet eyes that showed nothing, never a hint of her thoughts or emotions other than one snowy night.
Yet those eyes were not looking at her.
“We have the usual,” the girl behind the counter smiled. “Juice, fritters, everything Apple!”
“Hm,” the woman thought. “How about any strudel?”
“Coming right up!”she chirped.
Sunset stared, trembling, wondering if she should just run. She still had a chance, while she talked with the two. Then those eyes turned to her, but she saw no recognition in them. Not that she expected any, but there was still nothing.
“Hello to you too,” the woman smiled. “You’re one of my Freshmen, aren’t you?”
Sunset nodded, but her internal monologue was just the word ‘fuck’ on loop.
“Nice to meet you,” she said, peering at the nametag. “Sunset. I know you’ll have a wonderful time here. You’ll do amazing things, I just know it!”
“You’ll do amazing things, I just know it!”
Nodding again, Sunset wondered if she was doing it on purpose. Why pretend? Why not just drag her back to Equestria and be done with it? Why was she walking away?
“Yeah, she kinda has that effect on people.”
Sunset jumped, looking back at the two at the counter. The girl was orange with blonde hair, and a Freshman Nametag that said ‘Applejack’. The guy was red with orange-ish hair and no nametag.
“You, uh,” Sunset swallowed. “You know her?”
“Not really,” Applejack shrugged. “I’ve been helping out at the family stands for years, whenever we do some kind of catering thing, so I’ve seen her around a few times. But she just got to be our Principal this year.”
“Principal?” Sunset parroted.
“Yep,” she nodded. “She’s been making rounds and helping set up all day. I’ve heard some good comments about her though. See, apparently she was a student here a while ago, even before Mac here was a freshman.”
‘Mac’ nodded silently.
“Anyway,” Applejack continued. “People are saying that CHS went downhill after Celestia left. Now that she’s back as Principal, everyone’s sure our School’s going to be better than ever!”
“I’m sure it will be,” she nodded.
“So, what can I get you?” she grinned.
Sunset blanked for a moment, having forgotten that she was there for. The two of them snickered as she remembered and ordered a drink. She left quickly, almost bumping into a woman nearly as tall as the one before but colored in blues, and a pink Freshman.
She thought over her choices. That woman was not the Princess. She was the Princess’s Counterpart. And she was now Principal of this school. Could she handle that? Could she handle being so close to someone so like the Princess?
Once more, she was broken out of her concentration by a voice.
“Hey! Fire hair!”
Sunset looked around, wondering if they were talking to her.
“Yeah! You! In the dumb jacket!”
She whirled around, ready to berate whoever was calling at her. Oddly enough, the voice came from a Dunk Tank. Sitting upon the ‘dunk zone’ was a freshman, blue with a rainbow for hair and grinning like mad.
“Bet you can’t hit me!” she shouted, sticking her tongue out.
So that was it. Jeering at people so they’d get mad and waste money trying to dunk her. Pretty brilliant, actually. Of course, still pretty crude. She noticed another freshman, yellow with pink hair, trying to tell her to stop.
“Bet I can!” Sunset jeered back, handing her money to the student running the booth.
As she checked the weight of the ball in her hand, the rainbow-haired girl continued to toss insults. Taking aim at the target, she reeled her arm back. Then she missed.
It hadn’t really been her fault. But she saw her again. The Principal. It was just her hair out of the corner of her eye, but it was enough to make her shake. By the time Sunset realized, the ball was spinning wildly toward a group.
Thankfully, the ball managed to only hit the pink one’s drink, sending juice all over the blue woman and the girl from the Apple stand.
Without thinking, Sunset ran. She wanted to get as far away from the Principal as possible. Slipping back into what she’d been thinking about before the girl’s taunts, she wondered if she could do this. If just a glimpse of the Principal was enough to send her into a panic, could she handle four years with her?
Maybe it wasn’t too late to transfer to Crystal Prep. Maybe it wasn’t too late to transfer anywhere. She could always pack her things and hop on a bus to another city. Then again, the portal would be opening soon. She could go back through and make a mad dash down the halls until she made it somewhere she could teleport.
No, Equestria would be worse. Even if the Princess didn’t want to track her down, the temptation would be too much. The temptation to see her family again, to try and get through to Celestia again. She couldn’t, no, she wouldn’t. She refused to.
“Are you okay?”
Sunset jumped, shaken out of her thoughts for the fourth time that night. There was a hand on her shoulder, and without looking up she knew who it belonged to.
“Sorry to startle you,” the Principal said. “I hope I didn’t scare you too much at the apple stand.”
“N-no,” Sunset managed to get out. “You just reminded me… you’re a little intimidating. But in a good way!”
“I’ve been told that a few times, don’t worry,” she laughed. “Let me make it up to you. How about some of our lovely Wondercolt accessories?”
Before she could answer, the Principal led her to a stand. This one sold shirts and sweaters with the school’s name and logo. But the most popular item seemed to be a set of headbands and belts, mimicking Pony ears and tails. If Sunset hadn’t been so focused on the Principal, she might’ve laughed.
And then there was the girl running the stand, another Freshman. She was beautiful, white skin nearly glowing, purple hair styled perfectly into place, and eyes so blue she thought they might actually be sapphires. Between the Principal and the cute girl smiling at her, Sunset doubted she’d be able to form a coherent sentence.
“Hello again, Principal Celestia,” the girl greeted before turning to Sunset. “And hello to you as well.”
“Hello again to you too, miss Rarity,” the Principal smiled. “Sorry to return so soon, but I ran into miss Sunset here. I might have accidently scared her a bit too much.”
Don’t tell her that! She’s pretty!
“Thank you for the compliment, darling,” Rarity laughed a little. “However, sorry to say I already have an interest in someone.”
“I-I said that out loud didn’t I?” Sunset sighed, hanging her head.
“Yes, you did,” the Principal smiled, holding out a twenty. “Miss Rarity, do you think you could get us a headband?”
“Sure,” she nodded. “Although, I need to get more change from the back. Hold on just a moment please!”
Sunset dared to look up as Rarity walked away. And now, she was left alone with the Principal. She couldn’t meet her eyes. Though she knew it wasn’t her, she still seemed to know too much.
“I’m sorry if I scared you,” the Principal said. “And for telling miss Rarity.”
“It’s alright,” Sunset nodded.
“You started to say I reminded you of someone,” she said. “Can you tell me who?”
“I….”she stopped, cursing how much she felt tricked right back into ‘Celestia’. “She was a teacher, almost a second mom. She taught me everything, gave anything item I asked for, but she never gave me the one thing I’d ever wanted. One day we fought and I stopped talking to her. You just… you look and sound a lot like her.”
“I’m sorry for that,” she said. “I hope you let me prove that I can be me and not her. If I may ask, what is it she never gave you?”
“Her,” she answered. “I knew her for nearly four years, but I never knew who she really was. Her smiles never met her eyes, and even when she was reprimanding me she never seemed angry or disappointed. The only time I saw any true emotion from her, it was few seconds of sadness. I wanted to know her, to know what made her sad, and to fix it, but I ended up leaving her.”
“I’m sorry for that as well,” she nodded. “Perhaps she will one day realize how much she screwed up, and you’ll be able to talk to her again.”
Sunset nodded. But as she did, she noticed something. Just like the Princess, the Principal had the same tone. A smile that never met her eyes, and a calm neutrality. Yet, that last sentence, something had shifted. This wasn’t the Princess or the Principal, this was Celestia. And just like that snowy night, Sunset saw a sadness in her eyes.
“A-are you okay?” Sunset asked, hating that she was falling into the trap again.
“I’m fine,” Celestia said with a sad smile. “You remind me of someone too. Oh, and one last thing before miss Rarity comes back.”
“What?” she asked.
“Go for it,” she smirked. “I know exactly who she’s interested in, and let’s just say that my sort-of-nephew isn’t interested in girls. Or boys for that matter.”
‘Sort-of-nephew’? Had she meant Blueblood’s Counterpart? Maybe since she was only in her twenties here she couldn’t have a real nephew? But then how would they be related or not related? While Sunset tried to puzzle that out, Rarity came back. Soon, both girls were confused as Celestia told her to keep the change and walked off.
“Oh, right,” Rarity said, being the first to come to her senses. “Here’s your headband and belt!”
“Ah, thanks,” Sunset nodded.
She slipped the headband on, now laughing at the irony as she left. Still, it reminded her of the many things she missed about being a Pony. Human ears weren’t as good, and she couldn’t move them, and her back always felt a bit ‘empty’ without a tail. Who knew she would one day miss her ears?
Of course, she wondered. On one hand, Celestia had helped her, had calmed her. But on the other, was it starting all over again? Would she be looking for the ‘Celestia’ in ‘the Principal’ until she couldn’t take anymore?
On yet a third hand, she stopped to wonder where was she getting all these metaphorical hands, but she wondered if this could be different. This was a Counterpart, and maybe, just maybe, she would not lock away who she was.
As she headed to the stage area, she decided to make her judgment. Would the woman making her welcome speech be ‘the Principal’ or ‘Celestia’? Sitting back, she watched the woman walk to the microphone.
“Welcome everyone, to the Freshman Fair!” the Principal said. “I’m proud to be here with our Canterlot Wondercolts. I hope you all will have a wonderful time here at Canterlot High, and that you get the best experience you possibly can. I just know you’re all going to be great students!”
“But above all,” Celestia said, “This year is about reformation. Not just for the school, though I do plan to get your grades up, but for us as people. This year, and for as long as I am your principal, this school will be about fixing mistakes, about becoming a better person than you started as, even if you started out pretty great.”
“Now,” the Principal smiled. “Let’s have a cheer for an incredible upcoming year of learning!”
Surprisingly, that speech did get a cheer. Perhaps because it was short compared to what Sunset knew the Princess to have done. But that’s just it. This is not the Princess.
No, Sunset was not going to be making the same mistake again. She didn’t have to. As she made one last round around the games, she smiled at the thought. There was no ‘Principal’ and ‘Celestia’, not really. Sure, ‘the Principal’ has to come out sometimes, she is an authority figure after all. And Sunset would probably never get close to her because of that. Yet she could still see ‘Celestia’ come through.
“Hey!”
She wasn’t exactly ‘shaken out of her thoughts’ this time, but it did get her attention. The person who had called out to her was a pink girl with far too much hair on her head. She practically bounced her way over.
“Can you do me a favor?” the girl asked. “See, my friends really want to take a group picture, but there’s five of us plus Principal Celestia and Miss Luna and none of our arms are long enough to get all of us in frame, so can you take our picture?”
“Sure,” Sunset shrugged.
She watched the group of them. It was odd. Applejack, Rarity, the tall blue woman whose name was probably Luna, and the two girls from the dunk tank. Everyone she had met that night. Remembering the incident with the ball, she debated about apologizing for the juice splash. In the end, it didn’t seem to bother them, so she just took the pictures before handing the girl her phone back.
“Thanks!” she chirped. “I’m Pinkie Pie, by the way! Want to come with us? Not sure what we’re doing, but I’m sure we can find something with a group of new friends!”
“I’m Sunset,” she replied. “And, uh, sorry, but I need to get home. It’s been kind of a day, you know?”
“Alright,” she nodded. “But you’re still coming to school, right? We can hang out then!”
“I-I’ll see you around,” she smiled.
A part of her wanted to go with them, but it wasn’t a lie. Not really. She really wanted to go home and sleep and process everything. It was going to be a long few years.