“Hey.” Sunset Shimmer opened her eyes and glanced over at Shining Armor, sitting opposite to her. “We’re here. This is where you live, right?”
Sunset looked outside the car’s window. Without a word, she opened the door and stepped a foot outside.
“I had Cadance take the others home so that they wouldn’t find out you’re living with your Principal,” he said as he followed Sunset outside of the car.
“… Remember, no more spying on me,” Sunset said without turning to face Shining Armor.
“Yeah yeah. I’ve had a word with my boss, and he’s called off the agents that were stalking you.” Shining reached a hand behind his neck and scratched it nervously. “Um… I guess this is good then.”
“Yeah.” Sunset turned around and made eye-contact with Shining Armor. The two stared at each other for a moment. “Next time you need something, try not to resort to kidnapping, okay?”
Shining laughed nervously. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Big brother?”
Sunset gasped, and quickly began moving towards her house. “Twilie?” Shining asked as he saw his sister and her friend walking towards him. “What are you two doing here?”
“We just came from the science expo downtown,” Twilight explained to her brother. She held up a golden trophy with a blue ribbon on it, the number one inside of the ribbon. “We won first place!”
“Naturally,” Sunset Shimmer said as she threw an arm around Twilight Sparkle. Spike, who was walking by Twilight’s feet, barked happily at Shining Armor. “We were on our way to the bus station, but I guess now you could just give us a lift.”
“He has work to do,” Twilight told Sunset.
“Actually,” Shining said. “I just got off. And I’ve been given some time off. This case really took it out of me.”
“Really?!” Twilight asked, her eyes wide and sparkling with excitement.
“Yep. Hey, I know. How about we all go to the water park tomorrow? Cadance can come along, too.”
“Woohoo!” Twilight cheered as she threw her arms around her brother.
“Cool!” Sunset said, turning when she heard the sound of a door slam from the house beside her. “By the way, who was that? She seemed familiar, but it’s dark and I couldn’t see her properly.”
“Just a co-worker,” Shining said. “I was giving her a lift home. Come on, let’s go. I’ll give you both a lift to your homes.”
The three of them entered the black car and drove away down the street.
Sunset slammed the door to Celestia’s house shut as she entered. She walked a few steps through the entry hallway and passed by the living room. “I’m home,” she said as she saw Celestia inside, going through some papers.
Principal Celestia looked up from her papers at Sunset Shimmer. “Welcome home.”
Sunset stared at Celestia with a look of disbelief on her face. “… Is that all you have to say?” she asked. “I’ve been gone for three days, and all you have to say is ‘welcome home’?”
Celestia tilted her head to the side. “I’m sorry?”
“You weren’t even worried that something might have happened to me?”
“… Did you want me to worry?”
Sunset Shimmer gritted her teeth together and turned her head to the side. “… Forget it,” she said. She heard the sound of a chair scraping across the floor, followed by footsteps moving closer towards her.
“Sunset Shimmer, I had faith that you would come back,” Celestia said, earning a gasp from her student.
‘She… had faith that I’d come back?’ An image of Princess Celestia entered Sunset’s mind. ‘Did she…’ sunset quickly shook her head to clear the image.
“That’s why I wasn’t worried. But of course, if you had been longer, then naturally I would have been.” Celestia wrapped her arms around Sunset Shimmer. Sunset made no attempts to push her away, but she didn’t move into the embrace either. “I’m sorry if you misunderstood. I care for every last one of my pupils dearly, and you are no exception.”
Sunset turned around so that she was looking up into Celestia’s eyes. ‘Did… Did Princess Celestia… care for me too?’ Sunset lowered her head and stared down at the floor beneath her feet. “… But… you never came after she,” she muttered.
“I’m sorry?” Celestia asked, not quite able to make out whatever Sunset had just said.
Sunset realised what she had just said and gasped as she pushed Celestia away. “Nothing,” she said, turning towards the stairs. “I’m going to have a bath and then I’m going to bed.”
Celestia was about to ask if she would like to have a snack before going to bed, but as she watched Sunset Shimmer storm up the stairs, she decided to remain quiet and leave her be. “… I’m not cut out to be a mother after all,” she said softly to herself. “I know how to run a school just fine, but looking after one student as an individual…”
With a sigh, Celestia walked back into her living room and stared at the papers still stacked on her desk. Suddenly, she didn’t feel like going through the same test paper and marking it five hundred times, so she instead turned off the lights and made her way up the stairs, towards her bedroom.
The next morning, six girls found themselves swarmed by a crowd as they walked towards the front entrance to the school.
“Hey Rainbow Dash, you still okay to play today?!”
“Applejack, you should have called! I’d have been happy to help out at the farm!”
“Are you all okay?! We were so worried about you!”
Out of the six of them, only five were actually being swarmed by the other students. Sunset Shimmer was able to stand off to the side and keep away from the one hundred students asking them if they were okay.
“What’s going on?” Sunset asked no one in particular.
“You didn’t know?” Twist asked, to which Sunset shook her head. “Right, you were absent.”
“The teachers said the five of them got bad food poisoning,” Thunderlane told her. “Which gave them all bad cases of diarrhea.”
“WHAT?!” Rainbow Dash shouted, her face turning beet-red from both embarrassment and anger. “Where did the teachers hear that from?!”
Rarity scanned the crowd, ignoring all the questions targeted towards her, and her eyes fell upon a certain hooded girl who was snickering to herself on the side. “YOU!”
Rainbow Dash followed Rarity’s gaze and glared at the girl in the purple hoodie. “TRIXIE!”
Trixie raised an arm into the air. “Everyone, be sure not to miss Trixie’s show this Saturday!” she said, before a cloud of smoke appeared at her feet. When it dissipated, she was gone… though could still be seen running towards the school’s front doors.
“Darn it!” Rainbow Dash shouted. After a few moments of thinking, a grin spread across her face. “Heh, joke’s on her. I’ve still got her Math notes.”
The five friends heard a giggle to their right, and turned their heads in unison to see Sunset Shimmer holding a hand over her mouth, a streak of read across her face. “W-What? D-Don’t get the wrong idea! I was laughing at you, not with you!”
The girls all turned to look at each other and exchanged knowing grins. They then turned back to Sunset Shimmer and, without any warning, charged towards her. “H-Hey!” Sunset shouted as they surrounded her, Rarity and Pinkie Pie to her right, Rainbow Dash and Applejack to her left, and Fluttershy kneeling down in front of her. “What are you all-” Her words were cut off when she felt Rainbow Dash running her fingers across her sides, catching her off-guard and forcing her to laugh.
A flash of light later, and Rainbow Dash stopped. Sunset Shimmer looked forward with a confused look on her face to see a scrawny little boy holding a camera and pointing it towards them. “Make sure to send us all a copy of that once it gets developed!” Rainbow Dash said, to which Featherweight gave her a thumbs-up. He jumped as he saw the glare from Sunset Shimmer, though, and quickly took off as she charged towards him.
“Snips, Snails!” The two young boys in question jumped out from the gathered crowd and joined Sunset Shimmer in chasing Featherweight towards the school. “Grab that camera and destroy that film!”
“Yes, ma’am!” the two boys shouted as they picked up their speed.
Behind them, the five friends, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy, all laughed together as they watched their final friend, Sunset Shimmer, and wished her luck.