Celestia hadn’t said anything else in regard to Sunset’s little excursion with the detention students. But she was under no illusion that the principal had bought that little excuse the boys had come up with to save her ass, which reminded her of a conversation she’d had with Cranky on her first day and how transparent her own ‘clever’ schemes at that age must have seemed to the faculty.
Be that as it may, Celestia had apparently decided that she didn’t want to know anything else as long as nobody ruffled the feathers of any parents or guardians about it. That didn’t mean she had let Sunset get off scot-free, however. A simple look at the daily roster was enough to make that clear, meaning Sunset was saddled with the most unpopular faculty jobs, locking up at night and supervising the main entrance early in the morning. Sunset was in the doghouse, and Celestia made sure she knew it.
The principal had miscalculated on one thing, however. While staying late was an annoyance and Sunset wasn’t usually a morning person, she quickly found that she actually enjoyed standing by the main entrance and watching the students go about their morning, a point in the day where youthful spirit shone the brightest and the students would interact more normally with their teachers, knowing that there was no imminent danger of a pop quiz for at least another fifteen minutes.
“Morning, Sunset!” Three young women passed her by with a smile and a wave.
“Good morning, you three,” Sunset greeted the seniors Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo.
Another two seniors from her AP History class approached, one of them pulling a slender book from her backpack and handing it to her. “Good morning, Ms. Sunset. I’m done with this. Thanks for lending it to me.”
Sunset nodded and took back the obscure local history print about Camp Everfree. “Did it help?”
“You bet,” Diamond Tiara confirmed with a sly grin. “You may want to hold off on reading my paper till last when it’s done. I guarantee you nobody else will have written a better mid-term about the local history of Canterlot, especially not Apple Bloom.”
Sunset looked over the young woman’s shoulder at her friend. Silver Spoon grimaced and tilted her hand back and forth to indicate a little uncertainty at the accuracy of that statement.
“Well, I look forward to reading it,” Sunset finally replied. “See you in class.”
She continued to return greetings from students and to look the part of responsible adult on watch for any mischief, none of which was materializing as was customary for most mornings. The herd thinned as students wrapped up their morning chats with friends from different classes and went inside.
It was then that Sunset walked up to a shifty-looking youth in a dark trenchcoat who had been loitering near the corner of the building. He watched her approach closely, one eye hidden under black hair and the other staring through thick, black eyeliner.
When she was only a step away, he held out a fist. “Hey, Miss S,” he greeted in a transparently faked husky voice that was somewhere between a chain-smoking grandmother and Christian Bale’s Batman.
She bumped his fist from the top, from below and then straight on with a nod. “Crow.”
“It’s Scar now, Miss S,” he corrected her. “Crow was so last week. Scar is my new soul name, captures my daily struggle with the Dark Arts.”
“Sure,” Sunset acknowledged while thinking to herself: The week before that it was ‘Darkling.’ Doesn’t change the fact that it’s Trey on the attendance sheet. She gave him a look. “You got something for me, Scar?”
He drew up his shoulders, casting a suspicious glance to the left and right before reaching into his trenchcoat and staring at his teacher intently for a moment. “Looking for something to take the edge off this morning, Miss S? Sure, I can hook you up. Try this,” he said and pulled a cookie in a paper wrapper from his pocket, offering it to her.
She took the cookie while holding his gaze, sniffing lightly. “Do I smell cinnamon?”
His visible eye sparkled, and it clearly became a little more difficult for him to keep up the husky, conspiratorial whisper through the excitement. “Been trying out some new recipes, something seasonal. Pumpkin spice, crushed cranberry candy and a cinnamon glaze. I call it the Triple Holiday.”
Sunset held eye contact while taking a bite and chewing slowly. “Delicious,” she whispered, “you think this combination might do well for something more substantial? Like a … cupcake?”
He looked at her in both shock and excitement and shuddered. “The Dark Arts are calling to me. I must away to the Dark Lair at once,” he said with a glint in his eye and began walking off a little awkwardly in an attempt to make his trenchcoat flutter dramatically behind him.
“Don’t be late to class,” Sunset called after him, “and don’t forget to clean up in the Home Economics Room when you’re done using it.”
“Got a free period this morning, Miss S,” he said without turning around, his phony growl dropping halfway in the excitement, “I bet I can make enough to share with the whole class. See you for English this afternoon.”
Sunset chuckled, took another bite of her cookie and walked back towards the front entrance where Sunny Starscout spotted her and immediately came running up. “Ms. Sunset! Have you heard about nuclear fusion?”
“Nuclear fusion?” Sunset asked, baffled.
Sunny nodded, pulled a flier from her bag and handed it to her teacher. “It’s Green Week. Trying to raise awareness on clean energy. The person who figures out fusion might be going to our school right now,” she said enthusiastically.
Sunset nodded while continuing to munch on her cookie. Couple of years ago, I would have agreed with that, and I still do. Twilight might be a little miffed if a highschooler beats her to the punch, though.
At that moment, Izzy Moonbow came running over while dragging a hand cart of fliers behind her, one of which she handed to Sunset. “Ms. Sunset! Did you know it’s Green Week? Oh, hi, Sunny.”
“As a matter of fact, I have,” Sunset answered. “What’s your idea to save the planet, then?”
“Well,” Izzy replied slyly, “I’ve been crunching the numbers, and if we plant 150 trees on school grounds, CHS will have cut its carbon footprint in half.”
Pretty sure that would mean CHS ceases to be a school and becomes a wood, assuming there’s even space for that many trees, Sunset thought to herself.
“Ms. Sunset! Would you have a look at this?” She turned to see Hitch running up with a flier in hand, seeing the scene before him and going: “Oh.”
“Hitch, you doing something for Green Week, too?” Sunny asked.
He nodded. “Yeah, I’m running a petition to ask Principal Celestia to have solar panels installed on the roof.”
That’ll go over well with the Princess of Public School Budgets, Sunset thought wryly. She took the third flier and looked all three over. “So, let me get this straight. The three of you each came up with the idea to participate in Green Week independently of each other and printed out a bunch of fliers on non-recycled paper.”
They all looked at each other a little sheepishly.
“Tell you what,” Sunset said, finishing her cookie and placing the paper wrapper atop the three fliers, “I love seeing you take an interest in the future. But how about you three team up together and set your sights on something a little more achievable? You can start with this.” She handed the fliers plus wrapper back. “Encourage your peers to clean out their lockers and start a waste paper collection. Old notes and magazines, that sort of thing. I’ll chip in, too. I drive by the recycling center on my way home. You help get what you collected over the week to my car on Friday, and I’ll drop it off for you.”
Sunny beamed. “That’s an awesome idea, Ms. Sunset.”
Izzy nodded. “And we can double recycle by taping these fliers together and make a banner for the collection point! Let’s set up by the cafeteria! You in, Hitch?”
“Uh, sure,” the boy said, “why don’t you go ahead? I’ll catch up in a moment.”
The two girls nodded and made their way inside, chatting animatedly about their plans for their recycling point.
The front yard was all but empty at this point, and Hitch looked at his teacher a little hesitantly. “I was gonna ask …”
Sunset smiled and nodded. “Fluttershy tells me the pup’s doing fine, Hitch. He’s never gonna be a marathon runner, but otherwise he’s on the road to making a full recovery, thanks to you and the others.”
Hitch finally returned the smile and nodded. “That’s great. I’m not allowed any pets at my place, but I usually work as a dog walker on weekends. You should bring him by sometime.”
“I’ll make sure I do, Hitch,” Sunset said as the final bell rung, “go on now. You don’t want to be late to class.”
As Hitch made his way inside, Sunset decided to remain for a bit since she didn’t have a class at this hour. Standing in front of the cubist horse statue, she watched her breath condense in the morning air and decided that, no, she still didn’t like it.
A gust of cold wind picked up, and a chill ran down Sunset’s spine as the cool air stung her eyes and made her blink. In that moment, she thought she saw a shadow swoop by on the edge of her vision. Startled, she moved around the statue and looked around, only to find nothing.
“… Huh, that was weird.” She shook her head. “I guess Sunny turned me a bit paranoid, jumping at shadows.”