Despite entering the school early to avoid too much negative attention before meeting with Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna, the other students still took notice of the Dazzlings as they leaned against a group of lockers.
While they seemed to have kept their distance for the most part, the dirty and worried expressions worn by those who noticed them made it very clear that they hadn’t forgotten the damage that they had caused at the Musical Showcase.
“Why do they keep staring at us?” Sonata asked, the negative attention from so many making her feel uneasy.
“Because they don’t trust us.” Adagio replied. “As soon as our necklaces shattered our spell wore off, remember? Besides, it hasn’t been too long since then, so I doubt they would just forget about us so easily, even if that were a common occurrence in this world.”
“I know that, I just don’t like it….” Sonata clarified before lowering her voice. “They aren’t going hurt us, are they?”
“If they try it won’t be here at the school.” Aria replied, apathetically as she leaned back against a locker, crossing her arms. “Some of them might be thinking about it, but I highly doubt any of them will actually have the guts to go through with it.”
“But, some of them still might?” Sonata asked anxiously.
Aria was about to respond when Sunset Shimmer approached them.
“Took you long enough.” Adagio commented. “Where were you anyway?”
“One of the benefits of having friends is that you can rely on them when things go south-like not having a place of your own to stay outside of school.” Sunset replied, leading them toward the Principal’s office. “Anyway, it will probably be best if I speak to Celestia and Luna first on your behalf.”
“Fine, whatever makes jumping through all of these hoops easier.” She sighed.
“So you’re taking advantage of their kindness.” Aria observed. “It looks like there’s still some of the old Sunset in you, after all.”
“No, I’m not manipulating them.” Sunset replied, “They are all very well aware of my situation and have offered to help me out.”
“For nothing in return?” Adagio asked, visibly shocked.
“For realizes!?” Sonata pressed.
“Yes,” Sunset replied. “That’s what friends do-they help each other in times of need, I could have sworn I just told you that.”
“Well, we have a hard time buying it.” Aria elaborated. “Besides, if we knew how naïve you all were in the beginning, we wouldn’t have wasted so much energy causing chaos through our magic-we could have saved it until the very end-and probably beat you Rainblossoms.”
The uneasy looks the other students were giving her did nothing to increase her wavering confidence in this plan. Of course it would look suspicious, having the girl who formerly ruled the school with an iron fist and became a bloodthirsty demon leading the three girls who brainwashed and caused discord throughout the student body down the hall. But hopefully, she could get them to change their ways-though, as anticipated it didn’t seem like it would be very easy.
“I do hope you haven’t forgotten your end of the bargain?” Sunset asked, after listening to Aria’s comment.
“Just sayin’, in hindsight we could have done things so much better.” Came her response. “Of course, I don’t need to tell you that.”
This earned a giggle from Sonata as Sunset tried to control the anger that flared up inside her.
“That’s in the past.” She replied, trying to maintain her calm demeanor. “As will your actions, if you can prove to us that you’re sincere.”
“Speaking of your friends why aren’t they here with us?” Adagio pressed.
“They still have to go to class,” Sunset replied. “I’m the only one in our group who’s acing all of her classes-one of the benefits of being gifted with genius intellect.”
“Nice to see your ego’s recovered.” Aria muttered dryly.
“Just stating a fact.” Sunset shrugged.
“Wait, if you’re so smart-then why are you still here instead of college?” Sonata asked.
“Just because I’m doing well in my academic studies, doesn’t mean I don’t still have a lot to learn.” Sunset pointed out. “Before the Fall Formal, I knew how to socialize in the form of manipulation and intimidation, but forming genuine relationships was something I never thought possible or worth the effort. I believed that since I was faking sincerity, that everyone else was or were simply to incompetent to utilize such tactics to get ahead in the world.”
As they reached the Principal’s office, Sunset lightly rapped on the door.
“Come in.” Came the exasperated voice of Principal Celestia.
Sunset opened the door just enough to stick her head in the room to see Principle Celestia sitting at her desk with Vice Principal Luna standing next to it, both of them appeared to be drinking coffee and seemed to have been discussing something before her interruption. Sunset wasn’t sure what their reactions would be upon seeing the Dazzlings, but reasoned that they probably wouldn’t be the best if she just brought them into the office. It seemed like it would probably for the best to ease them into the idea before making the big reveal.
“Principal Celestia? Vice Principal Luna?” Sunset began nervously. “There’s something I need to talk to you about…if you’re not too busy, that is. But, it’s kind of important.”
“No, it’s fine…” Celestia sighed.
Sunset then opened the door wide enough to completely enter, but was careful enough to make sure the door obscured the view of the Dazzlings standing beyond the doorway before closing it completely and standing in the center of the office. Sunset noticed that Celestia hadn’t yet crossed the previous date off the calendar hanging on the wall behind her. She and Luna must have been in their conversation since they entered, it must have been pretty engaging if she was too focused on it to multitask as she usually did when speaking to students. Sunset couldn’t help, but feel a little guilty for interrupting and more than a little curious as to what they were discussing.”
“I…I’m sorry.” She apologized. “I’m actually a little nervous because I’ve found myself in quite an awkward position.”
The two administrators exchanged glances.
“Well, just take the time you need to collect your thoughts.” Luna replied.
“I’ve been trying to since yesterday, but I don’t think this is going to be any easier than right now…so, try to bear with me…a few girls approached me in the study room yesterday…they wanted me to convince you to let them enroll here.”
“So what’s the problem?” Celestia prompted, the irritation in her tone making it very clear that she believed this was a waste of her time.
“The issue is that these three have been students here before-quite recently in fact, however they were…disruptive during the extremely brief amount of time that they were enrolled here.”
“Disruptive?” Luna repeated.
“In what capacity?” Celestia pressed.
Sunset opened the door and gestured for the trio to enter the office, Celestia and Luna’s facial expressions upon seeing the Dazzlings before them once more were about what Sunset had been expecting, a mix between shock and anger.
“Sunset Shimmer, what is the meaning of this?” Celestia demanded. “Know that if this is intended to be some kind of prank, we are not amused.”
“Yeah, I kind of thought that would be your reaction…” Sunset muttered. “Well, I can see that you still remember the Dazzlings…as I said earlier, they approached my friends and I in the study room yesterday.”
“And they…what?” Luna asked. “Blackmailed you? Somehow made you suggestible to whatever form of hypnotic suggestion they specialize in?”
“That’s funny, if memory serves-when we came to you before with our concerns about the Dazzlings utilizing dark magic to control others, you claimed it was difficult to believe such things, despite previous experience.” Sunset retorted before seeing Celestia and Luna’s irritable expressions.
“My apologies,” she amended. “It’s just something I find interesting, in any case-I can assure you that my friends and I are completely lucid, they could not put us under their spell before and they certainly wouldn’t be able to now.”
“What makes you believe this is the case?” Luna pressed. “And how have they been able to convince you to vouch for them in this endeavor?”
“The bond Twilight Sparkle and her friends have was what protected them during…The Fall Formal-for the most part.” Sunset replied, not enjoying having to bring up the incident that seemed to have earned her Celestia’s permanent contempt, the reminder of which might ultimately prove counterproductive to this meeting. “For whatever reason it appeared that I was immune as well.”
“The reason I am here today is because when the Dazzlings approached us, they made the case that they are willing to make an effort to change their ways and are attempting to improve themselves by learning how to better interact with others.” Sunset continued.
“And they believed you would be the ideal candidate to appeal to us on their behalf?” Celestia pressed, raising an eyebrow. “You, who caused so much chaos throughout all of your time at Canterlot High? Not to mention the property damage you caused at the Fall Formal, and sabotaging the Rainbooms-your alleged friends at the Musical Showcase. In fact, given these past actions and your questionable character, I would not be at all surprised if you had struck some sort of deal with these girls in a bid to regain whatever social status you had before the Fall Formal.”
Sunset felt anger rise up in her stomach, this was becoming just as frustrating as she feared-unlike her Celestia-this one was completely unreasonable, whenever she thought this about her mentor, she realized that she was being the unreasonable one in retrospect. Unfortunately, that assessment of this Celestia was not only completely accurate, but had held true with the Dazzlings, and now it was happening again.
“I believe you are being more than a little harsh.” Luna chastised her. “After all, they have not fully presented their case-it would not be fair to prematurely pass judgment on them-especially not while making such baseless accusations. The other girls in the band have since come forward and stated that her actions were merely a result of poor judgment, not a result of intentional sabotage.”
“I would say that these allegations are far from baseless, Luna.” Celestia retorted, folding her hands on her desk as she glared at Sunset. “Need I remind you of the damage she had caused towards school property on the night of the Fall Formal? Not only did she have a severe disregard for other students’ safety, but openly expressed malicious intent towards six others and attempted to assault them with deadly force. I would say that is legitimate cause for concern.”
“While I agree those actions were reprehensible, I would also like to point out that Sunset voluntarily chose to repair the property damage she had caused.” Luna reminded her.
“If only to avoid a legal sentence.” Celestia replied, curtly before directing her attention back to Sunset. “What happened at the Formal is something I take very seriously and since then, many students have come forward citing your poor moral standing and how you have made their lives a misery under our very noses. The resources required to give you the tools you needed to repair the property damage you cause during your rampage dipped into the school’s funds considerably.”
Aria faked a cough to remind Celestia that she and the other Dazzlings were still there.
“I haven’t forgotten about you three.” Celestia replied, never moving her gaze from Sunset. “Before we make a final decision, we need to assess how genuine Miss Shimmer is with her intentions, it has recently come to light that she is a very good actress when it comes to getting her way.”
“Yeah, I know I screwed up…” Sunset admitted. “And that’s why I stayed here to try and fix things, after that incident…I realized who I really was, and I didn’t like her…why do you think I offered to show the Dazzlings around in the first place?”
“So they could meet the façade before the other students could reveal your true nature to them beforehand.” Celestia countered. “These girls turned out to be a lot like you…perhaps they were even sweet girls once before you manipulated them to your cause.”
Sunset slapped a palm to her forehead in frustration.
“If I was with them in some kind of scheme, then why would I help out the Rainbooms against them throughout the Musical Showcase?” she pressed. “What sense would that make?”
“Chaos seldom makes sense, and you have shown that you are more than willing to cause it when the opportunity arises.” Celestia replied. “Perhaps you and these girls were in the same group, but had some sort of falling out.”
Realizing that the discussion would be getting them nowhere, Luna spoke up.
“I understand your concerns, but perhaps I could make a suggestion?”
“Very well,” Celestia sighed. “What is it?”
“Perhaps we could allow these girls to re-enroll, but they will be Sunset’s responsibility-since she seems to have enough in their reform to vouch for them.” Luna suggested. “That way, she will be penalized along with them for whatever severity the punishment of their infractions entail.”
“Including expulsion and legal action…” Celestia mused.
“If necessary.” Luna agreed. “What do say, Sunset? Do these sound like acceptable terms?”
“I….” Sunset began.
These terms didn’t sound fair at all, given the situation at hand. She didn’t even trust the Dazzlings to behave and now she would be punished along with them? As unfair as it was, she did have a deal with them standing and she couldn’t very well keep up her end of the bargain or keep an eye on them if they weren’t at the school.
“Yes…thank you.” She conceded, oblivious to the smirks the Dazzlings wore behind her.
“What are your names again?” Celestia asked the Dazzlings, pulling out a notepad and uncapping a pen.
“Adagio Dazzle.” Adagio re-introduced herself, confidently.
“Aria Blaze.” Aria followed suit as their eyes trailed over to Sonata, who was bouncing on her feet, humming to herself.
Aria nudged her.
“Hm?” Sonata looked around at everyone in the office staring at her. “Oh.”
“Sonata Dusk.” She introduced herself, giving a curtsey.
“Now it’s coming back to me.” Luna muttered.
Sunset wondered why Celestia and Luna were having trouble remembering the Dazzlings’ names. It could have been a side-effect of the spell wearing off. Their judgment seemed off when she and the Rainbooms first came to them for help-even by the standards she had come to expect from them, but could their memories have been affected as well?
“We still need time to put together a curriculum for you three and notify the teachers in question that they will be having three new students as well as explaining the situation to them.” Luna concluded, leading the girls out of the office with Celestia getting up from her desk and following closely behind. “If you have any further questions or concerns-our door is always open.”
Sunset turned around to thank her before Celestia slammed the door in her face.
Real friendly lady.” Aria deadpanned.
“Are you sure you didn’t prefer her under our spell?” Adagio added.
“She treated me the same way, regardless.” Sunset grudgingly reminded them. “And while we’re on the subject of others’ perceptions….yesterday, Flash came up to me and told me his wallet was missing. You three wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”
The Dazzlings exchanged glances.
“Nope.” Aria replied.
“Are you sure?” Sunset pressed, narrowing her gaze. “If you did, the consequences would be less severe if you admitted to it now, rather than us finding out later.”
“We already told you, we don’t have the stupid wallet.” Aria growled, crossing her arms. “Why do you keep grilling us?”
“Yeah, that’s like calling us liars.” Sonata pointed out.
“We’re trying to chance.” Adagio reasoned. “Perhaps into something the opposite of our nature, but we’re not stupid. Obviously theft and lying would be counterproductive to that end. Especially since those were things we had done in our old lives.”
“Fine.” Sunset sighed. “I’ll give you the benefit of a doubt this time, but if I do find out you were behind it somehow, I won’t believe anything you say in the future without proof. There is one other thing, though…that spell you cast on the school-is memory loss a typical side-effect of it wearing off?”
“No idea,” Aria replied nonchalantly. “Those we held under our power in Equestria were like that for generations before we were banished to this pitiful world by that old, bearded wizard.”
“Santa!?” Sonata asked hopefully as her eyes lit up.
“No, Starswirl.” Sunsest corrected. “I wonder if her knew this world was also inhabited by sentient beings or just didn’t care as long as you weren’t causing problems in Equestria…”
“In either case, the humans we’ve affected here we’ve only been able to use to generate small meals of chaos.” Adagio added. “Usually on buses, restaurants-places where there’s lots of people, but you don’t typically stick around them long enough to keep tabs on them-so we wouldn’t know. It’s helped us avoid suspicion for centuries.”
Sunset sighed, that meant there was something else she would need to ask Twilight to research for her.
The bell rang as the halls flooded with students as the trio followed Sunset down the hallway to her locker as she prepared for her next class.
---
“That wasn’t very professional.” Luna chastised her sister. “I am aware that Sunset Shimmer’s behavior has been less than sterling in the past, but how do you expect her to improve herself if we keep cutting her down every time she tries to build herself back up in a positive manner?”
“Sunset has deceived us far too many time in the past for me to be able to take her word at face value, anymore.” Celestia replied, sitting back down. “Even if what happened at Musical Showcase occurred the way she and her friends claim, one good deed is not enough to make up for her entire time her spent lying and rule-breaking.”
“And yet, here I am.” Luna retorted, crossing her arms. “If you truly believed what you are saying-then why have you not only given me a second chance, but assisted me gaining this position?”
“You were young.” Celestia sighed, leaning back in her chair.
“So is Sunset.”
“That’s debatable, we know very little about the world she comes from, how it works, or even if she’s the age she claims and appears to be, or if it’s another one of her tricks.” Celestia countered. “To date, there has only been a single representative of this otherworld who I have seen-one positive example out of five students-that’s statistically disappointing to say the least. I sometimes wonder what kind of nightmare world it must be…”
“Based on what I’ve heard, Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer seemed quite fond of it with the way they spoke.” Luna pointed out. “Perhaps, it is a good world…or at the very least has the same balance between good and bad as this one and only the truly evil are sent here as punishment?”
“That’s even worse.” Celestia replied. “Does that mean that they look down on us to the point that they send all of their trash here? Sunset Shimmer….The Dazzlings, they’ve caused nothing but trouble since their arrival.”
“What about Twilight Sparkle?” Luna pressed. “You seemed to be quite fond of her and she brought this whole school together during a time the students couldn’t be further apart.”
“That’s different,” Celestia grunted, indignantly. “She was here by choice and only because Sunset Shimmer somehow found a way back to steal something from her world and left as soon as she retrieved it.”
“All I am saying, is that I believe it is hypocritical of you to give me a second chance and yet, deny the opportunity to Sunset when the majority of the school has warmed up to her-a large number of which used to be bullied by her…why would they do that if she hadn’t truly changed?”
“Stockholm Syndrome?” Celestia suggested. “She could also be bribing or blackmailing them behind the scenes for good publicity, now that Twilight is no longer around to stand up to her.”
“Well, I believe the Sunset is sincere.” Luna pressed. “I see a lot of myself in her, she has exhibited a lot of negative behavior in the past, but has seen the error of her ways and is seeking to make amends for them.”
“She has also proven to easily be able to pull the wool over your eyes.” Celestia replied nonchalantly, as she began typing on her computer. “Or was it someone else that was easily fooled by a sloppy photoshop framing another student for destructive behavior before the Fall Formal.”
Luna glared at her.
“Now, if you’ll excuse me-I have to get ready inform our staff about the new students. One of us has to maintain order in this school. As much trouble as they might have caused, at least the Dazzlings haven’t tried to burn any other students alive…”
Luna was about to retort, but decided it would be a waste of time before storming out of the office, wondering if the other world’s Celestia was this unreasonable.