//------------------------------// // Power of The Queen // Story: The Queen and her Court // by Eternal Sunset //------------------------------// “I’m home!” Rainbow Dash called out as she entered her house. She heard rushing footsteps before being engulfed in a tight embrace. “Welcome home sweetheart!” Rainbow Dash’s mother, Windy Whistles said with glee. “Where’s dad?” Rainbow Dash asked, not even fazed with the hug. Her parents have always been overly affectionate with her ever since she was little, she was their pride and joy. “Your father went out to the store to get some milk,” Windy Whistles answered as she let go of her daughter. Rainbow Dash merely nodded as she took her coat off to hang it up by the coat rack near the front door, when she reached inside her coat pocket to take out her phone, she found it missing. “The hell?” Rainbow Dash double-checked her coat pockets but still found no trace of her phone. “Where could it-“ Rainbow Dash’s eyes widen as she realized what had happened to her phone. “Gilda.” Quickly grabbing a nearby sweater, Rainbow Dash bolted out of her home leaving a visibly confused Windy Whistles. Sunset stood in front of the school, it looked ominous at night. Since the meeting was taking place in the gym, Sunset mapped in her head all the exits as well as any possible hiding spots. She also took into account that her would-be attackers are just high school students with a grudge and wouldn't be able to come up with a complicated plan. But the fact that they would go this far means they are not to be taken lightly, Sunset might have to actually lift a finger.  “Let’s get this over with,” Sunset said to herself as she made her way inside, her footsteps echoing down the empty halls as she made her way to the gym. She stopped in front of the gym door and stared at it for a split second before pushing it open, she immediately noticed that all the lights were off and instantly thought that they would turn on as a surprise tactic and a way to blind her. She noticed someone waiting in the shadows but couldn’t make out who they were. “I’m here, Rainbow Dash. What’s the proof that you wanted to show me?” Sunset asked as she walked inside the gym, her senses on full alert as she heard the gym door close behind her. “I can’t believe you actually showed up,” the shadowy figure said. ‘That voice!’ Sunset thought as she recognized who this person is. “I should’ve known that you were behind this, Gilda.” “It isn’t just me,” Gilda said, smirking in the shadows. The lights suddenly came on and blinded Sunset, however she didn’t let herself show too much of a reaction. Slowly opening her eyes again, Sunset saw Lightning Dust, Dumbbell, and about 30 students sitting on the bleachers. “Quite the collection you have here,” Sunset said, smiling as she looked at the students. “Hard to imagine you convinced this many people to throw away their lives.” The gathered students started laughing. “Are you saying you’re going to kill us?!” Gilda laughed hysterically. “I could, but what would be the point of that?” Sunset questioned as she looked at her nails. “No, I’m talking about the consequences you will face for breaking into the school after hours and planning to assault a student.” Sunset looked at the laughing students. She saw some of them have looks of hesitation before shaking it off. She remembered a story her mother once told her about an incident during her first few years as Princess of Equestria, not everyone accepted her rule and planned to overthrow her. A small faction of unicorns who believed that they should be in charge because of their vast magical power thought they could overwhelm her with numbers. Sadly, they forgot that Princess Celestia not only commanded the sun but the power of the sun as well. And it was that power that Sunset had inherited.   Calling on her magic, Sunset ponied up as her body released a blinding light. Smiling, Sunset’s eyes glowed as she conjured a flame in each hand and then clapped her hands together before spreading them apart to create a rope of fire. She then spun her arms in a circle, creating a circle of fire, and then she hurled it at the students. It landed around a group of students and then created a barrier of flames that contained them. Another group that had escaped the ring of fire began to back away in fear. “I’m not the one trapped in here with you! You’re the ones trapped in here with me!” Sunset shouted, her voice booming as she used the Royal Canterlot Voice. “C’mon, let’s rush her!” Gilda ordered as she and Lightning charged at Sunset. They threw a punch at her but she caught their fists in hers and then her eyes glowed as she sent them flying. They screamed as they flailed their arms as Sunset floated them up to the gym’s ceiling. “Telekinesis and levitation are the most basic spells for a unicorn,” Sunset Shimmer said. “Let us down from here!” Lightning Dust screamed. “You sure? OK.” Sunset shrugged as she released them and they screamed as they fell but she caught them in midair. “Sorry, but I thought you wanted me to let you down.” She could see how pale they had become, how scared they were, and decided to release them and let them land gently on the ground. She then turned her gaze to Dumbbell who was just frozen in shock. He could not even move as his legs were frozen in fear. “Now, you’re all probably realizing how stupid it was to come after me, right? I mean, what is going through your minds right now? Is it ‘I’m screwed’? Or is it along the lines of  ‘What the fuck was I thinking’? Or maybe you’re thinking of begging for mercy?” She approached Dumbbell and with a show of incredible strength, lifted him by his shirt and held him above her head. “Or are you thinking, ‘I am so incredibly fucked right now’?” She then let Dumbbell go and he scrambled away from her. “None of you thought this whole thing through, did you? And nobody else knows you’re here, right? Good, then how about we all have a little chat?” And many, many screams followed. As a filly, before she came to this world, Sunset had studied many forbidden texts and tomes of dark magic. One such book was about ‘Nightmare Magic’. It was all about bringing a pony’s worst nightmares into reality. It was meant to be used to demoralize enemy forces with fear. And it was working right here. She took a glance at Gilda and was surprised to see that her nightmare was about losing her friendship with Rainbow Dash but then it shifted to her grandfather passing away. ‘So she’s afraid of loss?’ Sunset thought, she can relate as she too feared losing her friends after the Fall Formal which unfortunately has come true. She looked around to see the students desperately trying to escape their worst fears, some of which were common fears like snakes, rats, and spiders. Seeing as they had had enough, Sunset snapped her fingers and made all the nightmares disappear.  Once the nightmares were gone, the students began to break down. No doubt they are scarred from this experience, but Sunset had other plans. Sunset’s body started glowing as she made multiple clones of herself and approached each of the students, she laid a warm and gentle hand on their shoulders. “It’s okay,  everything will be alright,” all the Sunset’s said in unison as they smiled reassuringly at her fellow students. The gentle touch combined with Sunset’s smile and aura of warmth provided a sense of calmness and safety to the students that they immediately wrapped their arms around her in a hug. Sunset was a little surprised but returned the hug, hearing them sobbing against her made Sunset feel a little guilty at what she had done. But she had to do it, the fact that they were willing to go this far was very alarming.  Sunset Shimmer gritted her teeth in anger as she couldn’t believe that they would do this, after saving the school from the Sirens the students treated her a lot better. But that was quickly thrown away as soon as they believed she was causing trouble again. Well no more. “If they want to think of me as the Queen Bitch, then that’s what they’ll get,” Sunset growled. Rainbow Dash was running as fast as she could towards Sunset’s apartment, she needed to warn her. She turned a corner and spotted Canterlot Highschool as she ran by, her sharp eyes spotted something odd with the front door. She hesitates for a bit but something was telling her to check it out, she approaches the door and notices a line of tape over one of the door’s locks. The gears in her head start turning as she opened the door and quietly stepped inside, she immediately noticed a trail of muddy footprints leading down the hall. Rainbow Dash quietly followed them and they lead towards the gym, when she got close enough, she heard someone talking. “Alright listen up!” “Sunset?” Rainbow Dash whispered as she recognized the voice of her former friend, she inches closer to the door and quietly opens it enough for her to peek inside. Her eyes widened in shock at seeing Sunset, ponied up and standing on the bleachers, looking down at a group of students. “As of right now you are all working for me!” Sunset commanded using the royal Canterlot voice. “Anon-A-Miss did her job of turning the school on its head and now it’s time for me to clean up! You all will serve as my eyes and ears, and together we will bring CHS back under control under my rule!” “All hail the Queen!” Dumbbell cheered, oddly very happy about this. “Long live the Queen!” Lightning Dust proclaimed, uncharacteristically happy to be working for Sunset. “We’re happy to serve you, my Queen!” Gilda shouted as loud as she could, a bright smile on her face at being able to serve her queen. Sunset looked upon her subjects with a neutral expression, after breaking their spirits she assumed the role of a shining beacon of hope and they desperately clung to her. They were nothing but blind followers who would do anything she said, it was exactly like her Mom said it would be. But this was only temporary and they will slowly regain their senses, she will also help speed up the process.  Rainbow Dash backed away from the door in utter shock, Sunset had this all planned out all along. She created Anon-A-Miss to pit everyone against each other and she swoops right in and takes over, she grits her teeth in anger and frustration at how stupid she was for worrying about Sunset. Tears spilled from her eyes at the bitter realization that Sunset was just stringing them along this whole time, she never intended to be their friend at all. “Gotta warn the others,” Rainbow Dash said to herself as she rubbed the tears from her eyes. “We gotta stop Sunset.”  Rainbow Dash ran down the hall and out the front of the school, nearly running into Snips and Snails. “Why’s she in such a hurry?” Snips asked as he watched Rainbow Dash run off. “It must be something important if she’s in such a rush,” Snails said in a laid back manner. Both boys shrugged as they continued their way inside. They did not want to be late for their meeting about Sunset. “So let me get this straight, you two thought this was just a meeting to talk about me?” Sunset raised an eyebrow as she looked at her former henchmen. “Well yeah, we heard someone talk about a meeting about you so we thought they were just going to talk about you,” Snips answered. “We didn’t know they were going to jump yah,” Snails said. “You two are just too naive sometimes,” Sunset sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose. “Look, I’ve recruited everyone here to help me bring the school under control. Do you two want to help out?” “You mean like we did before?” Snips asked while raising an eyebrow.  “Kinda, except we’re doing it to stop Anon-A-Miss,” Sunset said. “ Not to mention if someone doesn’t do something soon, things will get a lot worse.” “Sure, why not?” Snips agreed. “We’ll be heroes!” Snails cheered. “Just one question,” Snips said as he pointed to the group of students behind Sunset. “Do we gotta call you "your majesty" too?” “No, you don’t really have to,” Sunset answered. “Then why do they do it?” Snails asked. “Because Sunset is our savior!” A male student with spiky blonde hair said, followed by the cheers of his fellow followers. “I’ll tell you later,” Sunset said before turning around to address her followers. “Tomorrow we’ll meet up at the front of the school, so get some rest because we’re going to be busy.” “Yes, your majesty!” the group of students shouted in unison. Sunset went to exit the gym but one of her followers quickly got in front of her and opened the door for her. “Thank you,” Sunset thanked him, smiling appreciatively as she walked past him. “My pleasure your majesty,” the young man with spiky blue hair said as he bowed before his queen. Sunset was walking down the halls when she remembered something. “Gilda,” Sunset said the former bully's name, she heard hurried footsteps before Gilda stood in front of her. “Yes, your majesty?” Gilda asked as she stood at attention. “How did you get Rainbow Dash’s phone?” Sunset questioned as she looked at Gilda with a neutral expression. “Oh! uh..”Gilda fidgeted nervously under Sunset’s gaze. “I stole it from her.” “Then tomorrow we’ll return it to her and you apologize for stealing it,” Sunset said simply. “Yes your majesty,” Gilda said with shame. Sunset extended her hand out and Gilda understand what she wanted, she dug inside her pocket and pulled out Rainbow Dash’s phone and handed it to Sunset. The former Equestrian noticed the wallpaper of her former friend’s phone was a group photo of the Rainbooms including herself, Sunset smiled slightly before pocketing the phone and resumed her way out of the school. The fact that Rainbow Dash didn’t delete it gave her hope that her relationship with her former friends can be repaired. Rarity is in her room trying to work on the presents for her friends, trying being the keyword as she found it difficult to get motivated and the only present she managed to complete was for Sunset Shimmer. But that was during the first two slumber parties and Rarity was so motivated to make something special for her dear friend that she completed it in record time, now though, Rarity looked at the box containing the gift with a scowl.  “Where did we go wrong?” Rarity asked no one. “We gave her our hearts and she just crushes them.” Tears welled up in Rarity’s eyes before wiping them away, she let out a sigh as she realized that she wouldn’t be able to work any further on her design. She gets up from her work table and walks towards her bedroom window, she blankly stares at the falling snow before spotting a familiar rainbow-haired girl running towards her house. “Rainbow Dash?”  Rarity made her way out of her room and down the stairs, she could hear the doorbell of her front door ringing frantically as she neared it. When she opened her front door, she saw a distraught and panting Rainbow Dash. Her exposed face was red due to the cold wind and she was shivering due to only wearing a thin sweater. “Goodness, darling!” Rarity was shocked at seeing her dear friend in such a state. “Hurry, get inside!” Rarity ushered the shivering Rainbow Dash inside her home as she closed the front door, she set her down on her couch and placed a warm blanket over her. “I’ll go get you something warm to drink,” Rarity said as she went inside her kitchen.  A few minutes later Rarity returned with a steaming mug of hot chocolate. “Here you go, darling,” Rarity handed over the mug to Rainbow Dash. “Now, tell me why you were in such a hurry to see me that you only wear that thin sweater in this dreadful weather?” “It’s bad, Rares!” Rainbow Dash said in a stunned tone. “Sunset is planning to take over the school again!” “What?!” Rarity was aghast. “Are you sure?” “I saw the whole thing with my own eyes,” Rainbow Dash said seriously. “You have to call the girls and tell them to come here immediately!” Rarity took out her phone and sent a group text to the rest of their friends. Sunset was in her room going over the plan for tomorrow, with a show of force she’ll announce to Canterlot High that she is taking over. There would be some students who will not like what she is doing (namely her former friends) but she is prepared to deal with that, her ex-friends will no doubt believe she has shown her true colors. Sunset reached over to her nightstand to pick up Rainbow Dash’s phone, she looked at the wallpaper and smiled. She needed to do this, for herself, for her school, and especially for her friends. Sunset placed Rainbow’s phone back on her nightstand, she opened the top drawer and pulled out her sketchbook. She flips through the pages until she stops at a sketch of Princess Celestia. She trailed her hand down the sketch, painful memories of their fight before Sunset ran to this world flashed through her mind.  “I’m sorry, mom,” Sunset muttered sadly, she drew this sketch shortly after arriving in this world as a reminder of why she needed to prove her mother wrong. “But you were right the whole time, and I refused to listen.” Sunset chuckled before looking at the sketch next to her mother’s which is that of her cutie mark. Since Sunset’s new followers served as her guards in a way, Sunset figured it would make sense to make it official by placing her mother’s cutie mark on their clothing to symbolize that they now work for the royal family. But she didn’t think that would be a good idea since her mother’s human counterpart also used the same symbol, not to mention that she plans to be the Queen Bitch once again to reign in the rowdy students and she doesn’t want to associate her tyranny with her mother. “My cutie mark it is then,” Sunset said as she closed her sketchbook and put it away, she reached for her backpack and took out her journal. She flipped it open to an empty page and started writing to Princess Twilight. “That no-good snake!” Applejack growled, clenching her fists in anger. She and the rest of her friends are gathered in Rarity’s room where Rainbow Dash had just finished telling them what she had seen at the school gym. “Ah knew it was only a matter of time before she showed her true colors!” “How are we going to stop her?” Fluttershy asked with worry. “She has more people helping her this time.” “Simple, darling. We rally together!” Rarity declared with confidence. “That’s how we defeated Sunset the first time and we’ll do it again!” “Yeah! We can do anything if we stick together!” Pinkie Pie cheered. “That traitor isn’t going to get away with it,” Rainbow Dash vowed. “We’ll show her what the magic of friendship can do.” The Rainbooms are determined to stop Sunset once and for all, they had no idea that Sweetie Belle was listening outside Rarity’s door.