"So is this the place that might get us to your home?" The girl asked the man she was standing with as they looked at the high school with a horse statue in front.
"Maybe." He said before adding, "And it will be your home too."
She didn't say anything for a moment as she looked at her feet. "Are you sure? Their all dead because I wasn't strong enough. She killed them all because..." With that she began to sob as he awkwardly reached out and hugged her.
As he held her he said, "It isn't your fault Jenny." Stroking her hair he held the crying girl. "No one person could have stopped what happened alone." For a moment his blue/grey eyes flared with rainbow colored fire as he remembered the past. "Trust me, I know better than anyone. I was at least 40 years old and had my friends and 3 armies behind me when I faced her. They sent a child alone into an impossible fight and expected a miracle." Shaking himself out of it he handed her a handkerchief and said, "Here, dry your eyes and we'll go get some pizza." At the mention of food her stomach growled and they both had to laugh as they started walking down the street.
"Hello Mr. Corwin, this is Principle Celestia at Canterlot High School. I know you were not suppose to start until after the holidays, but could you be able to come in as a substitute history teacher? I know you were hired as our new science teacher, but 5 of our teachers are in the hospital with a bad case of food poisoning and we are one teacher short... You will, thank you, you're a god send... Oh. Well I can see how that could be a problem. Hmm... Well I guess we can bend the rules and I think I know the perfect girl to watch over your daughter... Yes, her name is Sunset Shimmer and I am sure she will get along well with your daughter Jenny... Thank you again and goodbye."
Sunset Shimmer had just grabbed her books and was about to rush down the hall when Applejack called out to her, "Hey Sunset, can we talk fer a second?"
"Can it wait until after I find out what Principle Celestia wants?" Sunset asked. "She kind of made it seem important, something about several teachers being sick and whoever our new science teacher is going to be."
"Umm... Maybe we should wait until lunch to ask her if it's that important." Fluttershy said.
"I reckon it can wait for a bit." Applejack said.
"Thanks guys." Sunset said as she ran down the hall towards the Principle's office.
"Pinkie darling, did you leave your cell phone on vibrate or something?" Rarity asked as she watched Pinkie Pie vibrate past her.
"Noooopeeeeer Rooooneeeey!" Pinkie Pie said as the others watched her vibrate past them. "Whaaaat eeeeveeeer iiiit iiiis ~iiiit's aaaa doooozy~" She sang out before vibrating down the hall and around a corner.
"Yeah, after that I vote we just let it be until lunch." Rainbow Dash said as the others just nodded in agreement.
"Hi." Sunset said to the 9 year old girl sitting at Ms. Cheerilee's desk. "Are you Jenny Corwin?"
"Yes, Principle Celestia said I get to be the substitute librarian with someone called Sunset Shimmer." Jenny said with a smile.
"Well good thing I'm Sunset Shimmer." Sunset said only to get a strange look from the girl. "What?"
"You got the same hair color, but the girl in the picture that that girl name Trixie gave me looks like she was one step away from going full on mad scientist with a dooms day device." Jenny said as she showed her the picture from the fall formal Trixie had given her.
"Yeah, I may have had a few issues last year." Sunset said as she tried to laugh off everything that had happened.
"Daddy says most super villains forget that they can't take over the world if they or someone else blows it up first." Jenny said as she scooted over so Sunset could pull a chair over and sit down beside her.
"Oh trust me, I know." Sunset said as she looked over Cheerilee's desk for something for them to do and then thought of just the thing. "Have you ever read any of the Daring Do books?" Jenny just shook her head no and Sunset then smiled as she opened the book app on her phone and said. "Then you're in for a real treat because I'm going to read Daring Do and The Quest For The Sapphire Stone to you the way the person who raised me read it to me. Trust me, it's much better if she is a pegasus pony than if she is a woman."
"Consarn it, where is she so we can ask her about all of this?" Applejack complained as her and the other girls sat at their usual table eating lunch.
"Well she wasn't in English class this morning darling, but neither was Ms. Harshwhinny." Rarity said as they ate. "In fact Vice Principle Luna had to teach English class and told us that several of the teachers are in the hospital after eating some bad Mexican food."
"Umm... Ms. Peachbottom was also out and Principle Celestia taught us how to make red velvet cake with Pinkie Pie's help in Home Economics. " Fluttershy said while Pinkie Pie put a red velvet cake onto the table.
"Yeah well.... I got a double dose of missing teachers..... since both Mr. and Mrs. Doodle are.... also in the hospital." Rainbow Dash said between bites of food. "Trust me... that guy taking over for..... Mrs. Doodle in history class.... must have radar.... Gilda was going to throw... a paper wad at him.... The guy not only caught it.... but nailed her with an... eraser right between the eyes."
"Who's teaching math then Dashie?" Pinkie Pie asked.
"Would you believe that it was the janitor?" Rainbow Dash said after she finished her lunch. "Turns out Discord was a college professor specializing in something called chaos theory before having a nervous breakdown after his wife left him for his sister, Eris, who is also the CEO and owner of the Cotton Candy Cloud brand chocolate milk company."
For several seconds they all digested what Rainbow Dash had just said before finally one of them had to ask. "Exactly how do you know all that?" Rarity asked.
"He wouldn't shut up about it." Rainbow Dash told them. "Seriously, he went on and on while teaching us an easier way of doing certain problem, ranting about the education system failing us by teaching us needlessly complicated ways of solving equations, grading our homework and explaining how we got the problems wrong and how to do it better next time, used a video of me playing soccer to show how everything he had explained to us was part of our every day life, and going on a tangent about how an anime called 'Kiki's Delivery Service' was one of the greatest movie he ever watched." She then began pulling her hair in frustration. "And the worst part is he did it in such a way that I understood everything perfectly, want to now watch that movie, and also find out if I really could kick a ball so hard that it would make a sonic boom like he said I could!"
Once again the table fell silent as the girls tried to wrap their heads around what they had just heard. A minute later Granny Smith called Applejack over and handed her two trays of food. "Take these here to the library fer Sunset Shimmer and Mr. Corwin's kid since they're watching the library fer Ms. Cheerilee while she's out sick."