//------------------------------// // Twelve: Questions That Arose // Story: Her Broken Childhood // by girasol //------------------------------// “Stay close to them okay?” Twilight told Sunset, who looked to be on the verge of tears. When the girl nodded, Twilight smiled and placed a kiss to the girl’s amber forehead before turning back around to face Principal Celestia. The principal waved a hand over, signaling the pony princess to follow her to her office. As Twilight walked through the hall to the principals office, a flashback of the first time coming to this world came rushing back to her. She remembered how confused she was and how she marveled at the strange creatures with no magic. She also remembered why she came through the portal, and the defeat of the teenage Sunset Shimmer. She sighed, remembering the events that occurred afterwards and every moment since. My, how the events have turned since that day... If I can just find out why the elements changed her back into a child and find out what’s going on with those... black veins... I need to speak with Princess Celestia right after this... I don’t want to reach out to her when it’s to late. Hmm, maybe I’ll jump back into the portal and have Spike send me a message for her. Before she knew it, she had arrived to the CHS principal’s office. Just as the last time, Principal Celestia waved her inside. Twilight sat down in the seat in front of the principal’s desk, anxiously awaiting for her to begin the conversation. Principal Celestina sat down behind her desk and cleared her throat, “So, how are you Twilight?” “Uh, I’m doing... as well as I can...” Twilight said, trying to keep her tone amiable. The principal quirked an eyebrow at her statement. “How did you fix the front of the school so quickly?” Twilight asked, really curious on how they fixed the disaster that happened the night of The Fall Formal. Principal Celestina straightened out her posture more than she already has, getting into an informative mindset, “Well, I did have Snips and Snails help fix the front entrance of the school. I would’ve also had Sunset Shimmer fix it as well but the turn of events on the night of the Fall Formal of course, changed my plans,” she paused, raising her eyebrows, “As for the crater, it was a job for the city’s construction workers.” “Of course, they asked questions about what caused this, also seeing what happened to the school’s front. Luna and I had to tell them that it was a student prank gone wrong. An accidental explosion. I’m not sure if they fully believed it, but it’s the best I could think of at that time.” “On top of that, I also had to deal with the students holding a grudge the following Monday. I caught so many students vandalizing Sunset’s locker that the poor janitor couldn’t keep up with all the cleaning he had to do,” she sighed, putting a hand to her temples, the principal looked up at Twilight, her facade softening, “How is Sunset Shimmer doing?” Twilight sucked in a breath and gritted her teeth, the question she didn’t want asked was now out in the air, “She’s also doing the best that she can...” Principal Celestia raised an eyebrow, signaling her to continue. Twilight sighed, letting go of the breath that she was still holding, “She’s... not doing okay.” “What do you mean Twilight?” Twilight then told her about what happened after she had their conversation on the night of The Fall Formal, and what has happened since. Twilight sighed, “Our mentor told me that she was abused by her parents... in her memory, she had just escaped from them, which is why she’s so timid and scared.” Twilight paused to glance at the principal’s reaction. Principal Celestia had her elbows on the table, her hands clasped together by her mouth and a dejected expression laid plain on her face. “That’s not the only thing that’s wrong. Apparently, she has the scars from her transformation at The Fall Formal. And she’s always in pain from them... She also has these... black veins on her back... I have no idea what that’s from. I was planning to make a quick trip back to Equestria to send a message to my mentor right after this.” Twilight turned back at the sound of the squeaky door opening to see Vice Principal Luna walking in with an exasperated expression on her blue face. “Twilight Sparkle,” she said, giving her a greeting. She turned to her older sister, “Tia, Ms. Griffon and Ms. Dust’s detention has ended and requested to play a little—‘b-ball’ as they called it.” The older sister nodded, “I guess that’s alright, as long as they leave before the janitor comes.” Twilight was observing the room when certain pictures caught her eye. How old was Sunset when she first came into this world? “Principal Celestia, I hope you don’t mind me asking, but when did you first meet Sunset?” Celestia turned back to look at Twilight. She knitted her brows together, “Well the first time my sister and I met her was when she came to apply to CHS as a freshman. We didn’t really think anything of it.” Luna stood behind her sister, “Children usually come with their parents or guardians to register, but she came alone.” Twilight nodded, “Do you mind showing the paperwork?” Luna and Celestia made eye contact, contemplating whether or no to show the teenage girl before them the private information. Luna finally turned around and opened up the black cabinet that sat on the left side of the wall. After running her fingers through a couple of vanilla folders, she pulled out a small folder and planted it down in front of Twilight. A loud noise from outside made everyone turn their head at the door. Luna frowned at the loud noise, suspicious on what Gilda and Lighting Dust were up to, “I’ll go check that out,” she waved goodbye to Twilight and left the room. Twilight opened up the folder to find only a couple of papers regarding the information of Sunset Shimmer. The first page held a photo of her along with her name, birthdate, her GPA, which was incredibly high, as well as her schedule. Twilight turned to the next page and furrowed her eyebrows at the social security number being displayed, as well as her address. Hmm... I wonder if these are fake... Twilight looked up at the principal of the school, “Do you... have any proof that her address is real? Or any of her documents?” Principal Celestina sucked in a breath, “No. At that time, we just assumed they were real. I’m—“ “You didn’t bother checking? What if these are fake? What if she’s been living on the streets from the start?” The principal sighed, “Twilight, I know. After what you told me, I’m pretty sure she has been living on the streets. If you’d like, we could—“ Principal Celestia was cut off by an ear piercing shriek that filled the air. While the principal looked confused, Twilight quickly stood up from her chair, instantly recognizing who that scream was coming from. Twilight opened the door only to find Rainbow Dash out of breath with a haunted expression of her face. “It’s Sunset...”