//------------------------------//
// Settling In 
// Story: TD vs Equestria Girls 
// by BronyWriter 
//------------------------------//

"So I take it that this wasn't what you were expecting Princess Anta... er... TD?"

I groaned and rubbed my temples as I stared at the school in front of me. "No, Captain Blaze. No, this is not what I was expecting. At all. This is actually just..." I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. "High school was weird for me. I was glad to be done with it, honestly. It seems like forever ago, especially now that I'm one of the rulers of Equestria and haven't seen Earth in three years, so..." I tilted my head and tapped my jaw with my finger. "Of all of the strange connections to Earth I could experience in this world, high school is the one I expected the least." I clicked my tongue and shrugged. "Still, we gotta get that Element back, so if we have to infiltrate a high school to do it, then so be it."

"As students?" Lieutenant Rapids questioned as I began walking forward. Her and Captain Blaze followed me, walking a little uneasily on their two legs for a few steps, but given that their spines were built for it, they took to it rather well. "I mean, wouldn't that be kind of complicated?"

I nodded as we neared the front entrance of the school. "Yeah, I would imagine so. However that's why I brought backup." I jostled the backpack to draw their attention to it. "I knew that bits wouldn't really work here, but precious stones are something that tend to be valuable across universes, I noticed. At least, between Earth and Equestria. They're less valuable in Equestria by a lot. I'd say the contents of my backpack there are roughly, say, five to ten thousand bits maybe? Being generous." I stopped just outside of the door and looked around just in case someone was listening in on our conversation. Seeing no one, I leaned in close to my guards to whisper.

"But if the gems in my backpack are worth here what they are on Earth, then I might have tens of millions of units of local currency for us to play around with."

As expected, the eyes of my guards widened and their jaws dropped. I smirked at them and leaned against the door frame. "You may find me greedy, but I'm just trying to cover my bases here. On the off chance we get stuck here, I want us to be self-sufficient to avoid drawing too much attention to ourselves. That much cash will allow us to deal with whatever comes our way, I think. It's more than enough for us to get by for two and a half years, yeah? Also, even besides that, we need stuff to prove that we're from here. I'm not talking stuff like birth certificates or something like that, but IDs wouldn't hurt. If we can't get them through official channels fast enough, I'm sure with this much money we could figure something out. Also, if we're here for more than just today, I want us to have food money, a place to stay, and so forth. Might not hurt to buy some phones, a computer, and maybe even a car if we can."

That last bit snapped them out of their shock. They exchanged a baffled glance before looking back to me.

"Er... excuse me, Princess Antares, a what?" Captain Blaze asked.

I waved my hand and turned to the school doors. "I'll explain when it comes up. For now, let's just do some initial looking around, alright? This might not even be the place where Sunset took the Element. Once we find out one way or the other, we'll figure out our next step. Sound good?"

Blaze and Rapids both saluted me, something that they would probably have to avoid in the future, but given that no one was around, I thought nothing of it. Once we established a base of operations and I really figured out how much this world and Earth had in common, we could start going into the smaller details.

With nothing else for it, I pushed the door open and walked into the high school.

The first thing I noticed was a large banner hanging over a trophy case that read "Welcome to Canterlot High."

Uh... Canterlot High? I have to admit: that one threw me for a loop a little bit. The name of the capital of all of Equestria was the name of a high school here? Were we in the capital city of this nation, or state? Were there states here like America, or provinces like Canada, or was it just one small country with a bunch of cities and towns, and whatnot? Did they all relate to Equestria somehow, or was this just a complete coincidence?

"Princess Antares?"

Okay, so maybe this would be harder to navigate than I originally anticipated. Of course, a lot of those questions could be solved with some research. Shouldn't be too hard, especially if this place has internet. I could find out a lot of information through there. Finding a computer would probably be the best place to start if I wanted to do that.

"Princess Antares? What are you doing?"

It was a school, so I figured that it should have a library. Any modern school worth its salt would have a few computers, even if they were in lower-class areas . Given the state of the school, I doubt that to be the case. So I guess--

I found my train of thought cut off when Captain Blaze grabbed my shoulder. I flinched in surprise and turned to face him. Turns out both him and Lieutenant Rapids had been staring at me with looks of confusion.

"Er, Princess Antares, are you okay?" Captain Blaze asked. "You've been staring at that banner for, like, five minutes now."

"Oh, yeah..." I grinned sheepishly. "Yeah, I was just thinking is all. We need to do some research on this school, I think. We shouldn't stay here too long if the Element isn't even here, after all."

I could tell that Captain Blaze wanted to respond, and would certainly have done so, but right then something interesting happened.

The bell rang.

Gosh that brought back some memories for me. Memories that I thought I had repressed, since I really didn't care to experience them again. Before I even realized what was happening, hundreds of high schoolers started pouring out of every single nearby door like an unstoppable tide of awkward acne ridden hormones. I felt Blaze and Rapids both grab onto me as if these kids were some dangerous enemy that we needed to be wary of. Well, probably not, unless they had Xbox Live in this world.

Another bell rang, and the herd of teenagers began rapidly thinning as they filed into their classrooms. Seeing this made Blaze and Rapids release their hold on me, now that they had a little more room to spread out. A little more, but not a lot. Before I could get my bearings, a yellow blob was pushed into me, on accident, I imagine, knocking me to the ground. I heard Blaze and Rapids cry out, and another whimper as footsteps faded away with one more bell going off.

I pushed myself to a sitting position and saw a most unusual sight in front of me. Blaze and Rapids stood over a yellow skinned, pink haired student who looked oddly familiar. She covered her head with her arms and shook on the ground, whimpering like a little filly.

"Got her for you, Pri-- uh, TD," Captain Blaze said, looking rather pleased with himself. "This is the one who attacked you."

I rolled my eyes and got to my feet. "For goodness sakes, Burning. She didn't attack me. It was an accident. Does she look like some assassin to you?"

"Er..." Blaze bit his lip and uneasily scratched the back of his neck. "Well, okay, I guess not. Might have gotten a bit overzealous. Sorry."

I scoffed and walked over to them. "Don't apologize to me." I reached the shivering girl and squatted down in front of her, gently putting a hand on her shoulder. She squeaked and flinched like I had hit her. "Hey, it's okay. I know you didn't mean it. It was an accident, alright? My friends here are a bit... overprotective, that's all. They didn't mean it either."

The girl stopped shivering, and she moved her arms away from her head, revealing one eye looking straight at me. Yup, same color and everything. Seeing it left no doubt in my mind: this world had an equivalent of Fluttershy. I smiled warmly at her and extended my hand. Her eye flicked over to it and stared at it, uncertainty ever present in her expression. Finally, after a few moments of uncomfortable silence, she gently raised her hand and took mine, allowing me to help her up. I noticed that the books and papers she had been carrying scattered all over the floor, so I bent down to start collecting them.

"So, my name is TD," I said, grabbing a math book. "These are my friends Burning Blaze and River Rapids." I straightened up and extended my arm with the math book in it. She took it after a moment's hesitation. "What's your name?"

I should have expected that the answer I would receive would be a barely audible whisper. I mean, I already knew her name, or at least, I felt pretty sure what it was, but I needed confirmation. I picked up another book and handed it to her.

"Sorry, didn't quite catch that. There's no need to be afraid." I glanced at my guards, and both of them took a few steps back to give her some space. "What's your name?"

"Um... I'm... Fluttershy."

I tilted my head. "Fluttershy?" I think that's what I heard.

She slowly, almost imperceptibly, nodded, triggering a wide smile from me. Good. If I could become friends with her, that could really help me out here. I picked up the last of her stuff off of the floor, and noticed that the papers all seemed to be fliers of some sort. A quick read through of the top one showed me that they were fliers for an animal shelter, one that I would bet my throne she volunteered at. My grin turned into a slight smirk. Bingo.

"So," I said, handing the papers back to her. "You like animals, huh? That's cool stuff. I do too. I saw your fliers. You volunteer at an animal shelter? I think that's awesome!"

And it was like a switch had been flipped.

Fluttershy stopped hiding in her hair, and a wide grin spread across her face. She squeezed her books and papers tight like she was hugging them and gave a little squee of delight.

"You like animals?! Oh, that's so wonderful! I almost never meet anybody around here who cares enough beyond finding them cute!" Fluttershy blushed a little and kicked at the floor. "I pass out fliers by the statue outside every week, but nobody ever takes any of them." Her grin widened and she leaned in a little more to me. "What's your favorite animal?"

I chuckled and crossed my arms. "Well, my family had a really cute dog when I was growing up, but I have a certain passion for ponies."

Blaze and Rapids rolled their eyes in perfect unison.

"Oh, that's so wonderful!" Fluttershy squealed. "Dogs are cute, and I love each and every one of them, but there's something just majestic about ponies, don't you agree?"

"I completely agree," I said with a nod. "Although..." I tapped my jaw thoughtfully. "I did see two ponies once, and their cruel owner had painted one red, and the other blue. Then he branded the red one with this fire design, and the blue one with a whirlpool design. It looked absolutely horrific."

Fluttershy gasped and brought one of her hands up to her mouth. "Buh-buh-buh-but who could do something like that to a poor, innocent animal? That's so cruel!"

"I know," I said with a sad sigh, pointedly ignoring the glares from Blaze and Rapids. "They didn't look majestic at all. They looked pretty ridiculous when all was said and done. Don't worry. They're in good hands now."

"So you know why places like animal shelters are so important!" The next thing I knew one of her fliers was in my hands. I'm actually not sure how it got there. "They need help to save more poor animals from unfortunate fates like being painted red with a flame brand!" Fluttershy's eyes turned all innocent, but somehow really manipulative. "So can I count on you to help me this Saturday?"

"Uh..." I scratched the back of my neck and looked down at the flier. "I don't know about this Saturday, but if I can't, I'll certainly spread the word around."

"Wait..." Fluttershy sighed and looked down at the ground. "I forgot. The Fall Formal is this Saturday. You're probably going to that, aren't you?"

"Fall Formal?" I tilted my head. "Is that the school dance, or something?"

Fluttershy looked at me quizzically. "Um... yes. You've heard about it, right? I mean, it's all anybody has been talking about for the past month." Her frown deepened. "There's no way that you haven't heard about it." Before I could respond, she blushed and hid in her hair again. "N-not that I'm accusing you of something, or anything like that. I-it's just that..."

"Well, that would be why I haven't heard about it." I motioned to Blaze and Rapids. "The three of us are new here. We just transferred."

Fluttershy raised an eyebrow in interest. "Really? This late in the semester? Are you going to be able to keep up with all of the classes?"

I scoffed and waved my hand with a confident grin. "Oh yeah, no problem. I made sure I could fit in smoothly before coming here."

"From where?"

I froze for a moment, causing Fluttershy to once again blush and hide in her hair.

"I-if you don't want to tell me that's okay. I'm sorry for prying."

"No, no, it's fine," I said, looking over at Blaze and Rapids. I could see that I had their undivided attention now. Of course I did. I mean, I was making up our cover story here. They needed to know the deal.

"I'm from Canada."

Sure, Antares. Just say the first thing that pops into your head. No way that could go wrong.

Sure enough, Fluttershy gave me a look like I had just said "I'm from the place where apples and oranges are the same thing." She chanced a look back to my soldiers, both of whom nodded to her, thus solidifying my story for our origins.

"Okay. Canada," she said quietly. "I've never heard of that place."

"It's a small town," I elaborated. "It's a long ways from here. Not much really happens around there."

"Long ways away like in the next state, or a different country?"

"Next state over," I confirmed. If I said country she'd ask which one. "Or rather, the one right on top of this one. Canada is a small town of about five thousand people in the northernmost part."

I really, really really hoped that there was a state above this one. If not, she'd spot my lies immediately. I kept up my smile up as she stared at me. After a moment, though, she slowly nodded, relieving a bunch of tension in me. Close call.

"Okay. That sounds nice." A very "Fluttershy" smile crossed her face. "Did you like it up there?"

My smile became a touch more genuine, and I raised my fist to about head level. "True north strong and free."

Fluttershy giggled at that. "You're not that far north."

I shrugged. "Well, we're farther north than you. And besides, with a town that small, it's a pretty tightly-knit community. Ergo, we don't identify as people from our state, we identify as Canadians."

"Canadians," Fluttershy repeated as if testing the word out. "Okay, I guess that makes a little bit of sense. " Her smile returned. "Well TD the Canadian, welcome to Canterlot High."

"HEY!"

I flinched back at the loud noise, and it took me a second to realize that I had heard a human voice shouting. I turned around to the direction of the voice and saw a girl with light amber skin and red and yellow striped hair stomping towards us with the nastiest snarl on her face this side of a pitbull. Flanking here were... human versions of Snips and Snails? I stared at the two human versions of the colts I had come to know very well in my time at Ponyville, watching in a state similar to awe at the sight of them trying to look tough, but failing on "Blueblood prank war ability" levels. I almost felt embarrassed for them.

Before I could reflect on that any further, the queen bee one pushed past me and stood in front of Fluttershy, who had already fallen to the floor and curled up into a ball again.

"I thought I told you to get to the south locker hall!" the new girl screeched, pointing down the hallway she had just come from. "I wasn't finished talking to you!"

"B-but the bell rang," Fluttershy whimpered. "I was gonna come down, Sunset, but I--"

"But I, but I, but I!" the girl repeated in a mocking tone.

Wait... did Fluttershy just call her "Sunset?"

I cleared my throat and tapped Sunset on the shoulder. "Excuse me, Ms. Shimmer, but I--"

Sunset slapped my hand away without even looking back. "I'm not talking to you!" she snapped. "Get out of here if you know what's good for you."

"Huh, huh, yeah!" Snips said before joining his friend in a series of guffaws.

I sighed and rubbed my temples. "Okay, first off..." I looked back at Snips and Snails. "I couldn't be more embarrassed for you if I tried, and I really am trying. You're better than this. I know you are. Secondly..." I shifted my attention back to Sunset. "Can you not be such a jerk to her? Because seriously, there's an obscenely crass gynecological term that perfectly sums up how you're acting right now."

Somehow the atmosphere in the room tangibly changed. I began to suspect that I might have interfered in some rigid social order here. Not that I cared, honestly, but from the way that Fluttershy's eyes went almost as wide as her head, and Snips and Snails needed to pick their jaws up off the floor, I figured that Sunset wasn't someone I wanted to mess with.

The fact that Sunset stood perfectly still, barely even breathing, not even turning to look at me, solidified that in my mind. I exchanged an uneasy glance with Blaze and Rapids, causing the two of them to start inching closer to me.

Finally Sunset spoke. When she did, the venom in her voice could create an entirely new breed of scorpions.

"What. Did you say. To me?"

I sighed. "I said 'because seriously, there's an obscenely--'"

Sunset wheeled around, fire almost literally in her eyes.

"YOU DON'T GET TO TALK TO ME LIKE THAT, YOU LITTLE PUNK! DON'T YOU KNOW WHO I AM?!"

I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms. "Let's just calm down before things get out of hand, yeah? I don't want any trouble, okay? And to answer your question: your name is Sunset Shimmer. But I'd like to follow up with one of my own." I tilted my head. "Do you know who I am?"

Sunset stomped a few steps closer and poked a finger in my chest. Blaze and Rapids nearly tore her head off for that alone, but a quick shake my head made them back down.

"Obviously you're new here, so you don't know how things work." Sunset poked my chest again. "I rule the school, okay? You don't get to back talk me. Now since you didn't know I'll be nice and let you off the hook this once if you just go back to your class and keep your nose out of business that doesn't concern you."

"Fluttershy is my friend." I couldn't help but notice the relieved, almost hopeful smile that Fluttershy got when I said that. "You are being cruel to her, and will continue to be so if I leave. Ergo it concerns me."

"You're stepping into stuff you can't begin to understand," Sunset growled. "Just walk away. I'm only gonna talk to her."

"Sunset, I'm sorry I took the crown to Principal Celestia," Fluttershy whimpered. "B-but I didn't think it was yours!"

Uh...

Okay, firstly, Principal Celestia? Well, I'd have to reserve judgement on that one. Secondly... it seemed I had found the Element.

Sunset whirled around and turned her wrath on Fluttershy. "It wasn't yours, you moron!"

"W-well, it just looked like the one for the Fall Formal, and it just kind of came out of nowhere, so..."

Yeah, target acquired.

Before Sunset verbally assaulted Fluttershy anymore, I stepped between the two of them. "Okay, so, I'm going to take Fluttershy to class, and Sunset, you can just lament the loss of your perceived possession in peace, okay?"

Sunset didn't like that idea.

"I told you to stay out of this!"

"But I won't," I said, helping Fluttershy up, " and I know that you don't want to turn this into a big fuss now. Not in the middle of the entryway. Besides, you can scream at me all you want and I'm not going to care." I could see a vein beginning to bulge in Sunset's forehead, but I continued. "And furthermore, if you decided that it might be a good idea for physical violence, I would like to draw your attention to my two associates, both of whom know three forms of offense based martial arts."

Pony versions, but hey, why let her know that?

Sunset looked over at Blaze and Rapids, and I allowed myself a small smile when I saw her give the barest of flinches at the sight of them. Were they both completely ripped? No, but she could tell they had some decent muscle mass. Stuff typical of soldiers, really. So while Captain Blaze might not be able to do big crazy karate moves, Sunset did get the idea that he could break her nose with very minimal effort should I command him to do so.

A rather impressive scowl crossed Sunset's face. I had the power in the scenario here, and she knew it full well. She huffed and turned around to face me, her glare back in full force.

"This. Isn't. Over."

I shrugged and moved a bit closer to Fluttershy. "I'm counting on it."

With that, the gauntlet had been thrown down, and we both knew it. While I doubt she realized she was dealing with an Equestrian princess Celestia had sent after her, probably because she was expecting Twilight to come for it, and I don't think she knew about any "Princess Antares", I think she figured that I wasn't your run-of-the-mill high school transfer student. With one final glare, she turned around and walked away, leaving me to contemplate all that had just transpired.