//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: Sunset's SPARTAN // by Hokuto Ulrik //------------------------------// “So are you ready for your first day of teaching?” Kerra Prower looked up at her new boss, Principal Celestia. A tall woman, mostly leg, with off white skin and pastel colored hair. “Yup. Just going over the lesson plans one last time.” Kerra replied with a smile. “Good. If you have any issues or questions, feel free to email or come talk to me.” Celestia said as she left the classroom. Once she was gone, Kerra sighed. Ten years ago she had tried to commit suicide via a planet cracking NOVA warhead after the last human in the universe died. She had wound up on this admittedly strange Earth, but she was able to quickly create a new background that was very, very hard to discover that it had been falsified. Once that had been done, she had gone to college. Despite having had numerous doctorates and PhDs, she had wanted to learn as much as she could about this world she was in. She wound up following an education path, something she had only done professionally in her first century of life, but she did recall enjoying passing on knowledge. Though instead of teaching young witches and wizards how to defend themselves, she was Canterlot High’s new Physics teacher. She had gotten a doctorate in the discipline three years ago and had just finished her masters in education and had done her teaching assistant duties at the college she attended. Now she had been dropped into the cesspool of hormones that was public high school. ‘Come on Prower. You’re over ten thousand years old. You have faced down mad wizards, aliens with delusions of grandeur, honest to goddess space vampires and come out fine. How hard can teaching high schoolers be compared to that?’ She thought to herself as the warning bell rang. Her third period class was when she first saw her. She was cleaning the whiteboard from her last class when something brushed her magic. Turning slowly, she saw a junior with yellow skin and hair that was red with yellow streaks. Or would it be yellow with red streaks? She turned and studied her class as she had done so with the previous two, mentally judging where they would fall score wise. ‘Probably a bit unfair to them, but I like to be surprised when someone does better than I expect.’ She thought as the bell rang to start class. “Good morning, my name is Ms Prower. Welcome to Advanced Physics. I know that all of you met your previous teacher’s requirements, but I do want to test you to ensure that you meet mine. Especially if you are planning for a career that requires a knowledge of physics.” Kerra said. The girl with red and yellow hair scoffed. Kerra raised an eyebrow. “Something to say Miss…” Kerra said. “Shimmer. Sunset Shimmer. I doubt that your requirements would be high enough to challenge me.” Shimmer said haughtily. Kerra simply raised an eyebrow. ‘So she is one of those girls. Beautiful and highly intelligent. But also full of herself and by the way the class is looking at her, the Queen Bee of the school. Let’s how she likes this then.’ “Well then. Class, say thank you to Miss Shimmer because she just moved the test from Wednesday to today.” Kerra said as she grabbed a stack of tests from her desk. “Books and calculators away. You only need pencils and scratch paper.” She said as she passed out the tests. “I do expect you to show your work on this.” She added. There were plenty of groans and only a few dirty looks thrown to Shimmer. ‘Apparently, she has been ruling over this school for a while.’ Kerra thought as she observed the students working on the test. Kerra stretched her back out after finishing her lunch in the staff lounge. “So I heard you gave a test on the first day in your advanced class to determine their fitness for your class.” Kerra turned. “Hey Luna. It was more to determine who needs help and who doesn’t. Just had a student with a smart mouth that pushed the test up a couple of days “ She said to the vice principal. “What student?” Luna asked her. “Sunset Shimmer.” Kerra replied before finishing her drink. “I would be careful with that one. She has been lucky that I haven’t been able to get solid proof of anything.” Luna said. “She is the main reason that this school is so divided.” Kerra rubbed her chin for a moment. “Don’t worry too much about me. I know her type.” She said. “I know how to keep her in line. Luna nodded hesitantly. “Just be careful.” She said. Kerra nodded before heading back to her classroom. Kerra sat at her dinner table that night grading the test she had sprung on her third period class. She had just finished grading Sunset’s paper. “Sweet Chaos, this girl could have given Sam a run for her money.” She said quietly to herself. Now burning with curiosity, she moved to her computer room. Inside was what amounted to a mainframe computer that was at least a millenia ahead of anything that currently existed. “Natasha, can you pull up everything there is on a CHS student named Sunset Shimmer?” She asked to the room. Crystals on the ceiling warmed and an avatar of a curvy raven haired woman appeared. “Cyberstalking a student on the first day?” The AI asked. “Not looking to start a forbidden romance are you?” Kerra spluttered indignantly. “No you cheeky little brat. The girl set my magic off. Apparently she has been the Queen Bee of the school for a few years.” She replied finally. Natasha smiled. “Searching. Well this is odd.” She said raising an eyebrow. “What is it?” Kerra asked. “There are two Sunset Shimmers coming up. One is your student and the other is a girl the same age, but living in Europe.” Came the reply. Kerra’s eyebrows raised in surprise. “What have you found on my student?” She asked. “Surprisingly, not a whole lot. Just her enrollment paperwork and progress reports from the school, minimal social media activity, a P.O. Box in her name with a couple of false names as users of it, and nothing else.” Natasha reported. Kerra sat down in her chair and leaned back. “Theories?” “Dimensional alternate is the most likely reason. You said your magic reacted?” “Yes. Not a danger or warning response, but more like knowing another magic user is nearby. But her magic didn't feel human though. It was weak, like it was blocked or something.” Kerra replied. “Hmmm, possibly from a reality that has magic as a universal constant then. This planet has a relatively weak magical field. It could be that she isn’t able to draw on it.” Natasha hypothesised. Kerra nodded. “Well, for now I will keep an eye on her. She has, potential.” She said before leaving the room.