Twilight Sparkle breathed in the fresh spring air as she walked over the bridge leading into her former hometown of Ponyville. It had been a whole year since she had bid the wonderful town goodbye after taking over as ruler of all of Equestria, yet everything seemed to be the same- there was still the relaxing spa she and Rarity would visit regularly, across from the practical joke shop where Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie bought all their whoopsie cushions and joy buzzers. The town hall, where Mayor Mare was talking to some delegates from Canterlot, and she smiled and gave Twilight a friendly nod as the princess waltzed past her, and she returned the motion. Then there was Sugarcube Corner, where the Cakes were hard at work selling tasty treats to the customers. It had gotten even harder lately now that Pinkie Pie Cheese Sandwich had moved out to their new party-planning hub, expecting the arrival of their baby soon.
Then there was Rarity's boutique, which was now being run by Coco Pommel after Rarity had moved to Yakyakistan, and Sweet Apple Acres and Fluttershy's cottage, the latter of which was much quieter now, as Fluttershy and her animals had moved to Discord's dimension. Finally, Twilight smiled as her eyes rested on the one place she could see hadn’t changed: her old castle. The tall purple crystal building stood high in the sky, looking like no time had passed at all, as it shimmered magnificently in the bright sunlight. And adjacent to the castle, of course, was the School of Friendship, still busy as ever with the differently coloured ponies, griffons, Kirin, and other creatures running around and playing while on their break.
After Twilight was crowned as the ruler of Equestria and moved to Canterlot, she had stepped down as the schools headmare, and passed down the job to her old friend- and former psychopath- Starlight Glimmer, who used to be the school's counsellor, a position she had given to her best and friend and "professional" magician, The Great and Powerful Trixie! While she wasn’t very good at it, as her sessions usually ended with her nearly blowing up her students with her fireworks, she was thankfully allowed to keep her job.
It was the current situation of the school that had brought Twilight back to Ponyville in the first place. The building was suddenly facing complaints about poor teaching by the CMC's, who were trying as best they could to handle all the new students, the bad care that was being taken to its sanitation, as cases of the Blue Flu were beginning to skyrocket, and other issues parents were say were Starlight's fault. So, amidst all her royal duties awaiting her in Canterlot, Twilight decided to take some time off to check in on the school and figure out what the hell was going on.
School had just ended for the day, so there wasn’t a sound in the building except for the vents humming, the wind blowing through the curtains of the open windows, and the echo of Twilight's hoofsteps through her yellow glass shoes as she made her way through the twisting hallways of the school, which she still knew by heart after all these years. As she reached another corner, she heard a pony coming around the corner. Thinking it must be Starlight, Twilight started to say something but was cut off as she bumped into the orange cloaked unicorn, who was busy reading a fascinating spell book, and for a second didn’t even realize he had run over the ruler of Equestria.
"Oh, golly, Twilight. I-I-I didn’t even see you coming. Heh, heh. Im busy reading about this new spell that’s being tested by a group of wizards. It can turn any kind of potted plant into" Twilight rolled her eyes and clamped a hoof over Sunburst's mouth before he began rambling on about science and spells. She had more important matters on her hooves.
"Sunburst, I have to speak with Starlight. Has she been doing anything about the issues I’ve been hearing about the school?" Sunburst just stared at her with a dazed look on his face before speaking in a drone-like voice. "Oh, yes, the problems. Starlight Glimmer, the current headmare, is doing her best to ensure that these issues will be solved as soon as possible." He sounded like a pony in a rash cream commercial naming all the possible side effects. "Oh, great. Well, I’ll just get by here and see for myself hoe things are going." Twilight said, grinning worriedly. Sunburst didn’t answer and just smiled and walked off, reading his book. "Well, THAT was strange." Twilight muttered. "Almost like he was under some sort of spell..."
Twilight suddenly froze. What if Starlight had been REPLACED by somepony who was trying to ruin the school? And she had put a spell on the faculty to shut them up, like what Queen Chrysalis had done with Shining Armor years ago. No, that couldn’t be possible. The only creature who would do something like that was Chrysalis, and she was turned to stone. Twilight dismissed her worries and decided that it was an off day and Sunburst was just being Sunburst.
As she approached the head office, she could hear the ominous glowing of magic coming from inside the room. What in Tartarus is Starlight doing in there?, she wondered.
As Twilight gently pushed the door open, she was surprised to see multiple objects floating around the office, enveloped in a magical aura that seemed a bit brighter than Starlight's usual magic. Starlight herself was seated in her chair, facing away from Twilight, which she considered to be a little rude, but she decided to ignore it. Twilight shrugged it off and cleared her throat. She just wanted to get this over with. "Um, Starlight?" She spoke finally.
Immediately, all the magic in the room suddenly ceased to be, and the objects fell to the floor. Twilight didn’t like the looks of this as she felt a pit start to form in her stomach as she stared at the back of the red chair. "I came to talk about the school like I promised. You know me- when I say I’m gonna do something, I’m gonna do it!" She giggled softly, trying to lighten the atmosphere a little, because she was 99% sure that wasn’t Starlight in the chair.
"Soooo, I guess my first question would be: what is happening in the classrooms?" Twilight began walking towards the desk. "Parents are saying that they’re kids are being neglected because of how busy the teachers are with all the newcomers, and..." She was stopped dead in her tracks by a familiar yet heart-stopping voice.
"Awww, what’s the matter, Princess? I TOLD you I was just trying to spread the magic of friendship to other creatures!" The eerie feminine voice mocked as the seat spun around, revealing a tall dark pink unicorn with a red mane going all the way from her head to her back. She was wearing a suit of Armor with a glowing symbol where her cutie mark should be. Her eyes narrowed into slits as she slammed her armoured hooves on the desk and grinned at Twilight. "And this is a school for EVERYCREATURE!" Sparks of blue ignited from the cracked stub where her horn would be as she closed the door shut behind Twilight. The princess swallowed thickly. She had a feeling this meeting wouldn’t have a very good ending.