One of the duties of CHS’s Principal was one that was shared with a few other staff members: the early morning patrol. This patrol had two objectives to fulfill. The first was to look for troublemakers and interrupt their poor behavior. The second and more enjoyable goal was to greet and check in with the students who show up early. The idea was to both catch delinquents who think they were being sneaky and maintain the healthy rapport between the students and staff that helped to keep the school running smoothly. There was, after all, no sense in letting students and teachers get at each other’s throats. Starfire knew perfectly well what could happen if the students started giving each other Tartarus.
“It was a VERY good thing I had called in sick before the Musical Showcase got hijacked!”, Starfire thought to himself with a shudder whilst he walked down the halls. He kept his eyes and ears open for any sign of trouble or someone to greet. Occasionally, he would see another teacher making their rounds as well. He would wave at them politely while keeping his pace steady in the hopes of keeping up appearances and avoiding a potentially awkward conversation.
He knew that Celestia would always wave at her fellow staff when passing them by, usually with a smile.
During his walk, he couldn’t help but think back to how the Battle of the Bands had been resolved;
“Sunset really pulled through for her friends that night. For all of us. I almost wish I was there to see the Rainbooms’ victory live…”
One short chuckle later and he clarified to himself;
“Well, almost.”
He was just lost in thought enough to almost miss the young lady walking in front of him. Thankfully, he managed to stop himself in time for her to stop as well. The two looked at each other in surprise for a moment before the lady spoke with a demeanor that was genuinely friendly from head to toe;
“Good morning, Principal Celestia!”
Starfire could recognize this specific student in a heartbeat: Twilight Sparkle. Specifically, the former Crystal Prep student who was now a beloved Wondercolt. He was well aware of her vast intellect and nigh-insatiable curiosity, traits he found to be quite respectable. After all, he too had plenty of smarts. Just then, he remembered something that inflamed his nerves considerably: he was warned about Twilight by Luna earlier that morning!
While Twilight Sparkle may sometimes be too preoccupied with intellectual matters for her own good, her analytical mind is quite capable of recognizing clear deviances from known patterns. Be careful when around her.
If that girl wasn’t a total bookworm, she would be just as much of a problem for Starfire as Sunset, who was, thankfully, not with her at the time! Using his best take at Celestia’s own friendly expression that he had committed to memory, he hid his nervousness and answered with polite positivity;
“Good morning to you too, Twilight Sparkle!”
Before he could return to his walk, Twilight declared with growing excitement all over her face;
“How can it not be good? We’re only a couple of short months away from graduation!”
With quick gleeful hops in place, she added while her smile grew larger by the second;
“Oh, I’m so glad to be so close to graduating with top marks! I’ve learned so much in CHS and I’m happy to have made sure the school never wasted its time on me!”
He would have to be some kind of a fool to not notice her concern when it was so transparent, in spite of her genuine happiness. After hearing about what Crystal Prep’s former Principal had done to the budding scientist, he always wanted to help her in some small way. With one of Celestia’s warm glares aimed right at the student, he placed his right hand on her left shoulder gently, which stopped her bouncing. She looked back up in confusion for a moment, but seeing the warmth on the Principal’s face brought out from her a smile of her own. Starfire, sensing the moment, told her truthfully;
“I have not met anyone who was a waste of the school’s time or mine, my faithful student.”
‘My faithful student’... Starfire remembered that this was what Celestia would call a student. It was mainly to compliment them for their fine work and behavior. She rarely did this, not over some ridiculously high standards, but simply to make sure that the phrase never lost the positive effect it had on the students. He watched as that same effect took hold of Twilight Sparkle. A sign of this was her smile becoming an ear-to-ear beaming grin combined with sparkling eyes. After quickly shaking her head to get her thoughts in order, she responded with a sweetness in her voice that Starfire had to resist gushing over;
“Thank you, ma’am… thank you.”
Whatever concerns Twilight had carried into the conversation were cast to the winds, that much Starfire could tell from her voice alone. Before he could gracefully part ways to settle his nerves and continue his duties, another feminine voice gave off a respectful chuckle from behind him before noting;
“Thanks for helping Twi out, Principal. She was really nervous on the phone earlier today, so she needed a good pep talk!”
It was all Starfire could do to hide his growing terror behind Celestia’s smile. Of all of the students to show up early, why did it have to be her? She was a late sleeper, for crying out loud! With calm professionalism that was surprisingly well-acted, given the situation, he turned around to face the owner of the voice. Twilight moved past him to greet her friend as he did this. After seeing that faux-leather jacket, there was no doubt in his mind that it was her.
Sunset Shimmer had arrived!
The transformed assistant to the real Principal felt his nerves shoot up to the sky upon seeing Sunset, who looked to be in high spirits as she gazed at the pair with her hands placed on her hips. The only things keeping him from sweating were his acting ability and the fact that she showed no signs of suspicion.
“Get a grip on yourself, Stafire!”, he thought to himself in an attempt to maintain his composure, only for Sunset to unintentionally make things worse for him by walking towards him and Twilight, her decorative black boots echoing throughout the hall with each step. In spite of his predicament, he would not let himself drop the act so easily.
“Be like Celestia!”, he declared in his mind, which helped him focus on the task at hand. He gave Celestia’s traditional warm glare a little more power as he greeted Sunset with polite friendliness;
“Ah, Sunset Shimmer! I did not expect to see you so early.”
She gave him that sideways smirk that used to be a prelude to disaster, once upon a time. Now, it was a sign that the former bad girl was in the mood for a friendly conversation. She replied to Starfire, or rather, Celestia, in an upbeat fashion;
“I don’t blame you, since I normally sleep in a bit before going to school.”
“More like you show up mere minutes before being late.”, he dryly corrected in his head while listening to Sunset speak further;
“But, I decided to give getting up early a fair shot before face-planting my pillow again.”
For a brief moment, Sunset had raised her right eyebrow while gazing at Starfire, as if she had noticed something odd about him. When he caught this, he suddenly became intensely aware of the drop of sweat that was running down the right side of his face. But, before either of them could do anything about this, they were stopped by a proud Twilight. She looked right at Sunset with a joyful expression and exclaimed happily;
“Oh, Sunset. Soon, you too will see the benefits referenced by that age-old saying…”
She raised her right index finger to the ceiling and recited with perfect accuracy;
“Early to bed and early to rise makes a person healthy, wealthy, and wise.”
Starfire could not resist chuckling over the sheer adorkableness that was Twilight Sparkle, so he used polite restraint to hide most of his mirth and keep up his performance. Internally, he was thanking her for the timely, if unintended, assistance. Sunset gave her pal a supportive smirk while countering with a hint of sass;
“Let’s see how well that saying holds up when my brain rebels against me.”
Right then and there, Twilight started suggesting to her multiple healthy methods of combat said mental rebellion, which gave Starfire the chance to turn around and quietly leave. Thankfully, he managed to do so on the first try, long enough to use a left-hand turn in the hallway to get out of sight before Sunset could remember what she had discovered. He kept on walking for a bit longer to make sure he was out earshot. If Twilight wasn’t there, he would have been caught, of that he was certain! He really needed to recover from facing Sunset, of all people, so early on in the day. Performing his patrol seemed like a good way to do just that. But, before he could even reach the library, he heard three sets of steps coming towards him at a breakneck pace from behind. He was about to look behind him to see who it was when he heard a distinctly young southern drawl that he recognized within seconds;
“Howdy, Principal!”
“Just keep on walking, Star. You can talk with them as you walk.”, he suggested to himself while keeping his nerves from getting out of line. He knew that voice well and, combined with the steps, could only mean one thing: the Canterlot Movie Club had also come to school early! Apple Bloom, the source of the drawl, fast-walked up to Starfire’s right side, with Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle going up to his left. Remembering that these were kids, he greeted them while keeping his eyes on the hallway path before him;
“It’s good to see you three this morning. How are your families doing?”
He figured that the topic of family was a good way to make conversation with the CMCs without raising any alarm bells. This worked out well, for Apple Bloom exclaimed with pride;
“My family’s doin’ just fine, though we’re pretty busy right now! The Spring Harvest is comin’ up and oh Nelly, we’re movin’ left, right, and center just to get everythin’ ready!”
Sweetie Belle chimed in excitedly with that little squeak in her voice that Starfire always found to be too cute to exist, even though it did;
“Rarity and I are gonna have our own karaoke night tonight at home. It’s gonna be so much fun!”
Whilst he held back the urge to gush uncontrollably, Scootaloo explained with gusto and joy;
“Rainbow Dash is gonna teach me how to practice Yoga! That girl can make anything awesome just by doing it! It’s like her awesomeness spreads around, you know?”
Starfire couldn’t help but respect Scootaloo’s heartfelt admiration of Rainbow Dash, as it reminded him of his own feelings concerning Celestia. She was his idol, after all. Before long, the CMCs took a turn away from him after waving goodbye, allowing him to finish his morning patrol without any more surprise encounters.
After that, there were more matters for the Principal to attend to before lunch: the morning announcements via the PA system, budget talks, conversations with visiting students, check-ins with Luna and some of the staff, and so forth. Thanks to Celestia’s new duties as the assistant, she was there to help Starfire whenever possible. Her help may not have come frequently, but it was certainly beneficial to him. As if by luck or fate, however, it was during those times when he was alone that he either ran into Sunset or felt like he was being watched from afar. Whenever he tried to investigate that feeling, all he got was either no evidence at all or, in one case, several strands of red and yellow hair resting at the end of a hall opposite him. It was during lunch that Celestia was reciting to him his schedule, which she was reading on a carefully ripped notebook page that was in her hands;
“After lunch hour, you’ll have to work with Ms. Cheerilee to go through this month's list of recommended books. Most of the students will be in class around this time, so you won’t be disturbed too much. After that, you and Luna will deal with any troublemakers that you haven’t talked to yet. That would be Rainbow Dash in this case. Also-.”
Starfire raised his right hand up to Celestia, who stood to his right, and said;
“Before we proceed further, let’s address the bacon-haired elephant in the room.”
Celestia, with a smirk, pointed out;
“Don’t you mean ‘pony in the room’?”
This wasn’t the best time for a joke and he knew that. Still, Starfire couldn’t help but chuckle a tiny bit before responding with a serious tone;
“You know what I mean. Every time I meet Sunset, she always catches something on me that gets her curious. A drop of sweat, a short stutter, quickness of breath, that sort of thing.”
His assistant dropped the smirk and added calmly;
“Yes, and it was a good thing she was prevented from satisfying her curiosity by one thing or another each time. Still…”
“Luck can run out, I know.”, noted Starfire. With a sigh, he explained further;
“It wouldn’t surprise me if she has been keeping an eye on me whenever she reasonably can.”
He looked over at Celestia and commented with a well-meaning smile;
“I’d say she truly cares about you.”
His counterpart could not help but smile back with a warmth that seemed to come directly from the sun. Before either of them could talk some more, a knock on the door got their attention. A second later, a young lady spoke from outside of the office. Much to Starfire’s surprise, this voice was that of a kid that carried with it a hint of snobbery that was clearly being restrained with impunity;
“Principal Celestia, may I come in please?”
Celestia quietly hid in Luna’s office, but not before giving Starfire a thumbs up. Once she was hidden, he called for the lady to enter;
“Yes, you may come in.”
The door to the Principal’s Office opened, revealing a nervous Diamond Tiara as she slowly walked up to Starfire’s desk.