//------------------------------// // Chapter 9 // Story: Hotter Than Hell // by totallynotabrony //------------------------------// The frozen sidewalk felt good against Sunset’s face, but fatigued as she was, she still had the presence of mind to immediately get up after landing in a heap exiting the portal.  She looked around.  Morning, in front of the horse statue just outside the school.  Her timing had been perfect. She glanced down.  The flames had gone out. Her clothing was still steaming in the cold air, but more importantly, the golden crown she’d snatched from Twilight Sparkle was in her hand. The workmanship was exquisite - if Sunset correctly understood what the Elements of Harmony were, then it was actually magic.  The jewel set into it would have sold for millions on Earth.  But this was worth more to Sunset than perhaps literally anything. She’d done it!  She’d gone back to Equestria, gotten the better of three alicorns, and come back with an artifact that might very well boost her own power even further. It was already shaping up to be an excellent Monday morning. She nearly clutched the crown to her chest and squealed in glee, but barely managed to limit herself to merely a smirk.  She was in public after all, and Silver should be meeting her around here somewhere. On cue, she heard footsteps and Silver rounded the statue.  She seemed surprised to see Sunset, even though she’d been told to meet here now, but quickly turned to opening Sunset’s backpack that she carried.  The first thing she handed over was a plastic water bottle, which Sunset drank in one long chug.  It wasn’t going to be enough, but it was a start. “Um, they were out of avocado bagel spread at the shop,” Silver said.  She still seemed to be distracted, and Sunset realized she was looking at the crown in Sunset’s hand  “I got cream cheese instead, but didn’t put it on in case you didn’t like it.” Sunset put the dry bagel in her mouth, already wishing for more water. “Here are the clothes,” Silver said, handing the backpack over.  The school-chic outfit was inside, neatly folded, with Sunset’s leather jacket on top.  “And the rabbit food.” Sunset accepted a plastic bag of alfalfa cubes from Silver and slung the backpack over her shoulder, taking the bagel out of her mouth long enough to ask, “Can you handle the rest?” “Um…”  Silver turned to look at the folded tarp and coiled chain beside her.  “I still don’t know why we’re doing this.” To keep anypony - anyone - from coming through the portal after Sunset.  “Just do it.  Quick.” Sunset turned for the school.  Some of the sports teams had early morning practice, and she was able to slip in and use the locker room to shower and change clothes. After finishing the bagel, she stuck her face in the bag of alfalfa while she continued changing.  It wasn’t, strictly speaking, good for a human digestive system, but she enjoyed a little treat now and then.  Plus, she got some enjoyment from seeing how far she could push Silver until the girl finally asked where the rabbits were. Part of her wondered why she was doing this, coming to school the day after her greatest triumph over Equestria.  Greatest triumph so far, she reminded herself, admiring the crown again.  Well, at least part of it was to look Celestia - a Celestia, anyway - in the face and feel smug.  The other part was that she had much to do, and even a victory such as this was no reason to take a day off.  She couldn’t very well get ahead by not working hard.  Her battle wasn’t over yet, though it had admittedly been trending positive as of late. Sunset threw the partially-eaten bag in the trash.  Coming out of the locker room after getting dressed, Sunset found Silver almost done with her task.  The tarp covered the square base of the statue.  It had been painted with the slogan Chain the Crystals! and a picture of a football.  Canterlot High was about to play their crosstown rival, Crystal Prep.  The tarp was held on, and accented, by a chain looped around the base of the statue and padlocked. It looked like a campus morale boost, but in actuality was a way to stall any intervention from Equestria.  Sunset didn’t know if they would follow her through the mirror to this world, but she wasn’t about to make it easy.  A tarp and a chain wasn’t foolproof, but it would give pause to somepony who didn’t know what to expect on the other side of the portal. Silver turned as Sunset approached.  Sunset zipped the backpack shut on the crown and handed it to her.  “Don’t look at this, don’t show it to anyone, and bring it by my place this afternoon.  Guard it with your life - it’s worth more than that.” Silver might have been about to ask where she had gotten it, but the seriousness in Sunset’s tone ended the topic.  Silver put the backpack on, and looked back at Sunset.  “Um, did you want to go without makeup today?” It was a reminder that Sunset hadn’t done it.  There was some in the backpack, but she couldn’t be bothered.  “I’ll get Rarity to do it.” A few students had begun to appear around campus, slowly filtering in before classes.  Silver and Sunset parted ways to go to their respective homerooms.  Sunset left her with, “Remember, don’t show it to anyone.” On her way to class, Sunset encountered Celestia in the hallway.  Despite her earlier desire to feel smug in front of one of them, she wasn’t yet prepared. “You seem to have had a rough weekend,” Celestia said, concern in her voice. Sunset summoned a bright smile while simultaneously hating her guts.  “I’ve just been really busy.  A lot of it is still learning to ride a motorcycle.  I want to do it well, and safely, so the helmet hair is pretty bad.”   Was her usual appearance really so picture-perfect that people were startled when she didn’t wear makeup?  That was both good and bad.  Sunset would have to consider it. “Oh, the new students I told you about will be here shortly,” Celestia said.  “They’ll be waiting for you in the office.” Sunset said she would be there and went on her way.  Further down the hallway, Rarity was not hard to spot.  She was easily the most fashionable girl in school.  That was a title that Sunset had no desire to claim for herself; too much effort for too little return. Rarity stood in front of her open locker, checking and rechecking her extravagant wave of purple hair.  She saw Sunset coming and turned, mouth opening in exaggerated horror.  “Sunset, what’s happened to you?  I mean, aside from the new jacket; that looks fantastic.” Sunset recognized that most people were shallow and they liked her better if she was pretty.  As with ponies, really.  Rarity was a person who wanted to beautify everything and everyone.  That seemed like a lot of effort for no gain to Sunset.  But Rarity was useful to her in other ways. “I had a few things come up this morning,” Sunset said. “Say no more.  Look here, darling,” Rarity said.  She already had her makeup compact out and began to work on Sunset’s face. “I heard something happened between the cheerleaders and the drama club,” Sunset said. “Oh yes, dreadful really.  The principal found cigarettes and - well, you probably heard.  I’m so thankful you offered to help sort it out,” Rarity said, going on to explain a few intricacies.  She was a member of both groups and therefore a useful source of information to Sunset.  The two of them swapped more gossip as Rarity worked, giving Sunset a few ideas about other feuds she could engineer to her benefit. And speaking of, Sunset said, “Oh, I heard Pinkie is making a pair of shorts for the School Sewing Spectacular.” Rarity sniffed.  “Well, she’s going to be disappointed that her handiwork will not hold a candle to the haute couture I will have on display.  I’ve been working for weeks on this dress.” There was a dress hanging in the back of the locker.  While Rarity continued working, Sunset used her best slight of hand to unfold the knife from her pocket and cut a slit in the fabric.  She pinned a pink joy buzzer to the hole.  Not that she needed to bother with the stealth; Rarity was in the zone working on makeup and still ranting about Pinkie. Having a knife was highly against school regulations, but Sunset was even more willing than usual to ignore rules. Rarity finished up and showed Sunset a mirror, because of course Rarity had a mirror in her locker.  Sunset had considered making Rarity her fulltime stylist, but would mean dealing with her on a daily basis. Now that she was ready to make a good first impression, Sunset headed for the school office.  There, she found three new students who she would be escorting.  Their names were Adagio Dazzle, Aria Blaze, and Sonata Dusk. Sunset had heard they were sisters, though the three didn’t appear to have much in common, aside from matching necklaces of red stone. They were very diverse in appearance and, Sunset would shortly learn, personality.  That would make it a little more difficult to pander specifically to each one, but Sunset was unconcerned for the moment. “Good morning and welcome to Canterlot High!” she greeted each in turn, voice bubbly but dialed back a few notches from annoying.  “My name is Sunset Shimmer and I’m here to help you get started.  I’ll show you how to get around, and don’t hesitate to ask me for anything.” “Do you have tacos?” Sonata, the one with a ponytail, asked. Adagio, the one with fluffy hair, smacked the back of Sonata’s head without even looking.  Aria, the one with twintails, rolled her eyes. “Taco day is Tuesday,” Sunset provided.  “But I know a really good taco shop in the neighborhood.” “This isn’t our first new school,” Adagio said, personality instantly switching for the more cheerful as she spoke to Sunset.  “We move a lot, so I want to thank you for being so helpful.” The way she said it triggered something in Sunset’s instincts, as if the three of them were hiding something.  She wasn’t sure what it was, or maybe she was just imagining it because she herself was out to deceive. Though as she walked the trio through the school on their first day, more and more Sunset began to suspect that she might be correct in supposing something about them.  She still didn’t know what it was, but confidently assumed she would get to the bottom of it sooner or later, and then figure out a way to use it as leverage. The sisters had a different first class than Sunset.  She showed them to it and then departed for her own classroom. Sunset ended up distracted all through the morning.  Maybe she shouldn’t have come to school after all.  The excitement at a successful raid was still reverberating.  At lunch, still hungry despite breakfast, she was on her way to the cafeteria when there was the telltale sound of a fight breaking out down the hallway.  Ordinarily, Sunset wouldn’t have paid too much attention, or depending on who it was, perhaps interceded to make herself look good, but when she realized one of the voices was Silver’s, decided to at least take a look. Silver was at her locker, surrounded by a small group of other freshman girls.  One of them was named Diamond Tiara.  Sunset knew her as an instigator, though cut from the same social class as Silver.  She had actually considered selecting Diamond as an assistant, but ultimately went with someone who was content to follow and not cause so much trouble on their own. “Stop it!” Silver insisted as Sunset joined the rear of the crowd of onlookers, having missed the context of the conversation.  She clutched her backpack in front of her defensively. “You can’t just ignore my birthday party like that,” Diamond said, sneering. “I told you, I was busy this weekend!” “What do you have in that bag, anyway?  Is it my present?”  Diamond made to take it from her, but Silver resisted.  The two girls flanking Diamond grabbed Silver’s elbows and Diamond made to take the bag again. Silver headbutted Diamond in the face, and using the space vacated as Diamond fell back, jerked free of her restraints.  But before she could go three steps, someone else tripped her and she fell heavily, still clutching the bag. “You bitch!” Diamond screeched, picking herself up as the crowd began to chant Fight! Fight! The other girls had piled on top of Silver, one of them jerking her head up by her braid.  Diamond dropped to the floor, putting her entire weight behind a punch that broke Silver’s glasses and snapped her head back. Diamond yanked at the backpack, but even bloodied and stunned Silver managed to cling to it.  Diamond leaned back, as if playing tug of war, and with the strain between the two of them, the bag split open. The golden crown clattered down the hallway, drawing a collective gasp - surprise from the crowd, horror from Sunset.  She shoved forward, knocking people aside to go after it.  Silver, despite being restrained by several people, threw them off and dashed after the crown, Diamond right behind her. At that moment, Principal Celestia rounded the hallway corner and picked up the crown at her feet. “It’s mine!” Silver howled at her, face bloody and quite forgetting to whom she was talking. “She’s lying!  She attacked me and stole it!” Diamond shouted. Celestia - either of them - had always been a quick study.  She didn’t ask questions or even pause to look surprised.  “Both of you to my office now,” Celestia said, using a voice of such sharpness Sunset had never heard before on this side of the portal. Celestia set a heavy hand on each of the girls’ shoulders and steered them away, her long reach keeping both of them separate even as they tried to continue the fight.  Momentarily stunned, Sunset watched them go, and the crown with them.  She made to follow, but Principal Luna arrived just then, blocking the hallway just with her presence. Luna crossed her arms, spared Sunset a glance, and then looked past her at the crowd of other students.  “Now, what happened here?”