The next meeting started as uneventfully as always. The attendance was a bit light, as it was the summer and therefore the perfect time to formulate new evil plans. Discord had popped in for a minute, but then apologized and said there was some movie he just had to watch.
As the case always seemed to be, the newest member of the group arrived late. She pushed open the door to the building and strode in on two legs as her species tended to do. She twirled a strand of hair around her fingers and smirked at the assorted creatures staring at her.
Discord popped into the room. “Well, the movie only had one showing today—oh, you’re here. I suppose I don’t need to see that after all.”
The newcomer narrowed her eyes. “Who are you? And what are you talking about?”
“Who are you?” Gilda asked.
“Sunset Shimmer,” she replied with a haughty toss of her hair. “Celestia’s former student.”
“How could you be Princess Celestia’s student?” Trixie asked. “You’re not a pony.”
Sunset Shimmer looked down at herself. “I don’t know why I’m human right now. I should have changed back when I came back to Equestria. I did last time.”
“Last time?” Trixie asked.
Sunset sat down in one of the chairs, crossing one leg over the other. “Let me start at the beginning.”
--
I was once Celestia’s student. I was her best student, in fact. She personally taught me all there is to know about magic and Equestria. I was perfectly happy living in the castle in Canterlot, knowing that I was better than anybody—sorry, anypony—else. Celestia had even told me all about the Elements of Harmony, and promised me that when I found them and helped her release her sister, I would join the two of them as a princess.
Yeah, she didn’t even tell Twilight that much!
I couldn’t find the Elements of Harmony, though. I searched for years, everywhere in Equestria. I figured they must be somewhere outside of Equestria. Celestia had told me about a portal to another world, with strange creatures called humans, who look liked…well, what I look like now. I knew I had only three days to find the Elements, or I would have to stay there for another month. I could cover up a three day absence easily, but Celestia would notice if I was gone for weeks.
I landed in a school. I pretended I was a student there, though I thought it was a bit weird that students continued school long after they were fillies. There was a double of everypony I had known there, even Celestia herself. That made it easy to blend in.
I asked around about the Elements, but no one knew anything about them. They hadn’t heard of Equestria, and ponies in their world didn’t talk or have cutie marks. Pegasi and unicorns didn’t even exist. Magic didn’t exist.
I wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. I had exhausted all chances of finding the Elements. I raced back to the portal on the third day, but found it was already closed.
The first few days trapped in this world were hard. The students at the school thought I was crazy. But after about a week, it was easy to observe them, learn how to gain their trust and their worship. I ruled the school by the end of the month.
When I could return to Equestria, I realized that I didn’t want to. Here, I had the respect I never had as a pony. I had also heard that the school was crowning a Fall Princess the next week. I deserved to finally be a princess.
I easily won the contest and was crowned Princess. Unfortunately, I soon learned that beyond controlling the other students, being their Princess had no real power. They still revered Celestia’s double, the Principal. I vowed to stay longer and do all I could to gain even more power in this world.
I needed to know what was going on in Equestria, but I didn’t dare step through the portal again. Instead, I sent one of my lackeys. Once a month, Lyra would travel to Equestria, and return three days later, letting me know all that had changed. She wasn’t a reliable girl—she would be gone for entire months, completely distracted by the idea of living among ponies. But she did bring useful information. From her, I learned that Celestia had gained a new favorite student, all about Luna’s return, coincidentally right when Vice-Principal Luna came to the school, Cadence and the Crystal Empire, and Twilight herself becoming a princess. This Twilight had gained everything I ever wanted in the span of a few years.
Lyra told me that Twilight would be heading to the Crystal Empire, where the portal was now located, for a princess summit. I figured that I finally had a chance.
On the first night the portal opened that month, I snuck into the school and stole that year’s Fall Princess crown. Then, I headed to the statue that housed the portal and I stepped through. I walked on four legs for the first time in three years, which made it difficult to take silent steps. I stayed in the room with the mirror for a few minutes so I could relearn to walk. Muscle memory took over quickly, and I could prance around the room without making a sound. I thought I was set until I tried to leave the room.
In the human world, there is no magic—but you do get opposable thumbs, which are just as useful as magic for lifting and holding things. Still, I got so used to opening a door by holding onto the doorknob with my hand that I couldn’t figure it out with a hoof. Focusing my magic on the knob felt like stretching a very tired muscle, but it was also a good feeling. I did miss having a horn.
I evaded the guards, found Twilight’s room, and easily switched her crown—that Element of Harmony I had long been after—for the plastic Fall Princess crown. I almost got away with it, but my unfamiliarity with my four legs betrayed me. I tripped over her little dragon’s tail.
Even though Twilight woke up, I managed to run away. She teleported in front of me. It took a little concentration, but teleportation was one of the easiest things to learn, so I managed to do the same trick. I escaped back into the portal.
It was still dark when I arrived back at the school. I held onto the crown—I could have put it on right then, but I wanted to do it in front of everyone, to get them to join me right away.
As everyone arrived at school the next day, I stood in front of the doors, ready to crown myself. But some idiot bumped into me and made me drop the crown. It got kicked around, and I lost track of it. When I could finally push past everyone, I saw it in Fluttershy’s hands, and she was heading right for Principal Celestia’s office. Great.
I couldn’t get to her before she gave the crown to Celestia, but at least I could give her a piece of my mind after she did. That little animal-lover had the nerve to tell me the crown wasn’t mine! I would have told her off more, but a girl came around the corner and started talking back to me! She had to be new. No one at that school would have dared stand up to me. I figured she wasn’t worth my time. Talking to Fluttershy was more her speed—that girl hangs around stray animals all the time.
The day went normally, if a little agonizingly slow because I didn’t have my crown. I knew it would be easy enough to win the crown at the Fall Formal. I just had to play the perfect student for a few more days.
During lunchtime, I decided to check on the gym. I had to see how the decorations were coming—if I had to be crowned Fall Princess, I had to make sure the coronation would be worth it. And it was a good thing I checked, because the place looked awful. It looked like a four year old’s birthday party exploded! And Applejack had brought fizzy cider. Ugh, the one thing I really missed about being a pony was real hard cider. They had it in the human world, but I wasn’t old enough to buy it! So unfair.
Applejack decided to talk back to me and tell me that I wasn’t going to win. I seriously had to wonder what was going on with everybody, acting like I didn’t deserve everything. But then, Pinkie Pie told me that a new girl had signed up to run against me. When I saw her handwriting, everything clicked. Her terrible penmanship looked just like a young filly’s mouthwriting.
Somehow, Twilight Sparkle had followed me through the portal.
Of course, I confronted her. She should have known better—I’d been here for years, and she couldn’t even use her hands well enough to write yet! It didn’t matter that she was a princess back in Equestria. Here, I was basically a queen.
It was downright laughable how little she knew. She didn’t even know what the Element of Harmony did! She couldn’t fit in, and there was no chance of her winning the crown.
But just to be safe, I sent some kids who always followed me around, Snaps and something, to spy on her for me. And they delivered! Twilight went around the library on all fours, picked up books with her mouth, and couldn’t figure out the computer. She just couldn’t figure out how to be a human, and she looked ridiculous. I quickly put what those two recorded into an email to send to everybody.
The next morning, everyone was laughing about Twilight Sparkle. I figured she’d be dropping out of the running for Fall Princess at any moment.
But then at lunch, that pathetic pony somehow managed to everyone to join her in some big number, getting everybody on her side! Even my lackeys were in on it! Of course, I stopped that as soon as I could. I needed them to help me.
I got those two to mess up the gym. The decorations were stupid anyways. And then I fixed some pictures I took of Twilight earlier, and made it look just like she wrecked the decorations.
When Vice-Principal Luna saw the ruined gym, she said the dance would have to be postponed another night. She would also be talking to Twilight, but detention wasn’t as good as her losing her chance to get that crown. She couldn’t just steal it, or she would have in the first place. It was the third day already, and the portal would be closing. Twilight Sparkle would have to choose her crown or Equestria.
Of course, I would also have to wait another thirty days to return to Equestria with my new power…so I was glad when the gym was cleaned after all. Of course, I blamed it on those two who messed up the gym. They shouldn’t have wrecked it so much in the first place!
During the dance, I snuck a look at the ballet box to see who would win. I wasn’t surprised to see it was Twilight—but I was glad I had a backup plan. I had those two kids steal her little dog right when the winner was announced.
Twilight told me not to hurt him—as if I would! I want to rule, not hurt anyone. She refused to give me the crown, even when I threatened to destroy the portal. I don’t know why she wouldn’t just hand it over. She didn’t know yet what it would do.
It took too long to get my hands on the crown, but I did finally succeed. When I wore it, the transformation I’d only heard stories about finally happened. I could feel the power of the Element of Harmony surging through me. So what if the students thought I was a monster? I stopped their screaming by getting them under my control.
All I needed to do was brush past Twilight and bring this power into Equestria. It should have been easy. She didn’t have magic in this world, so what could she do to me? Use the power of friendship?
I’m still not sure how, but that’s exactly what she did. The power evaporated from me, sucked out of my body before I could understand what was happening. I had no magic anymore, and with such a fantastic display of it, I knew I had lost my sway over the students. I was back to nothing.
Twilight must have thought she was being generous by telling her friends to befriend me. And they were nice enough until she left. Then they, and the other students, decided revenge was better than friendship. I became the laughingstock of the school, and since the first time I arrived, it felt like I wasn’t one of them. All I wanted after that, more than anything, was to return to Equestria and be Celestia’s student again, but I knew that becoming a pony once more would be worse than the small ridicule from these human teenagers.
--
“You are here now,” Diamond Tiara pointed out. “I mean, this is Equestria.”
“I know,” Sunset Shimmer said. “But after this, I have to go back. If I came here as a pony…Celestia would have my head. I was acting like a monster.”
“So?” Trixie said. “The Great and Powerful Trixie would have done the same in your position, and she is still allowed to keep her magic and walk as a pony. Besides, if you came back, I could use a magical assistant.”
Sunset Shimmer just raised an eyebrow. “Trixie? The only thing Great and Powerful about the Trixie in my world is her love for peanut butter crackers. Why would I want anything to do with you?”
“Trixie was just trying to be generous,” the unicorn muttered. “She is the Great and Humble Trixie.”
“I do miss magic, though,” Sunset Shimmer admitted. “And Celestia’s not here to arrest me right now…I don’t know. I am just a high school student, after all.”
“What’s high school?” Diamond Tiara asked.