A stallion, wearing some kind of stereotypical I-am-a-bad-greedy-guy (now that Sunset thought about it, a lot of things in Equestria are generally stereotypical) was standing in front of the mare who owned the orphanage. She had been always overworked and thus always in a bad mood. In her youth Sunset like most others at the orphanage had avoided her, for even Pinkie Pie would have a hard time turning that frown upside down.
"Well?" the stallion asked.
"I...I-I....I need more time!" The mare stammered. Sunset had completely forgotten her name. "Just one or two days. I promise I have the money by then, Mr. Goldcoin."
The stallion, now dubbed as Goldcoin, laughed coldly. "Now if I had a bit-coin every time I heard that phrase. Cheer up, a renovation was overdue at this piece of rubble. Would probably cost you more than you owe me!"
Sunset had heard enough. This guy was either the worst or a loan shark...which was actually the worst in her opinion. As much as she disliked her old life at the orphanage, she still owed that mare something. The best part was she could actually do something.
"Is there a problem?" she made herself known to the other two ponies. They turned around, one hoping the mare wouldn't get caught up in the trouble as well, the other being annoyed, expecting it to be one of those hero type ponies. Both were taken aback at seeing one of the princesses casually walking up to them.
"Y-your highness!" the mare exclaimed, bowing immediately. The stallion was brought out of his stupor and did the same.
Nope, still not used to it.
"Alright, enough bowing already." Real smooth talk Sunset. "It looks like you two have a little...disagreement." She looked at each of them for a few seconds. "As far as I heard you owe him a debt. Do the two of you mind explaining this in further detail?" she asked.
"Oh, I assure you, nothing you have to bother yourself with, princess." I should throw him into the dungeon just for his voice.
He levitated a paper out of his tuxedo and showed it to Sunset, who immediately took it with her own magic.
"I'm simply here to collect the money the fine mare here owes me."
Sunset carefully read through the paper. It was an official document alright, with a high interest. Sunset did some quick math inside her head and concluded there was no way an under-payed orphanage like this could actually come up with the money.
"Hmm dededede....must pay if dededede insists, yada yada yada...doesn't look too good." she muttered. There wasn't much Sunset could do regarding this document.
...No, that was wrong. She COULD actually do something. She had the money and moreover she had even more authority than she ever could dream of in Canterlot High. Urrgh, thoughts heading towards the wrong direction.
"Wait here."
Her horn lit up and she disappeared in a flash of light. Up until she appeared in her own room it had only been a theory, but it was true. Thanks to her alicornhood, her teleportation range had greatly increased. Teleporting into the castle wasn't a problem. But instead of admiring her new energy reserves, she had something to do. Opening her drawer, she searched through her jewelry, looking for something that was just enough to pay off the depth.
Damn, I should have asked how much she owed him. But now it was no use. It didn't really matter, since everything looked excessively expensive. She might not look like it, but Sunset had amateurish knowledge as to how valuable a gem or a necklace was. Years of trading Equestrian gold and gems, plus a few books from the human world and lastly the internet taught her this. One had to be skills in many things if you wanted to survive on your own in the human world. Some of she wasn't really proud off anymore.
"Tch, I this one is as good as any." She finally decided on a gold necklace with a ruby attached to the middle. One teleport later, she again stood in front of the two ponies.
"All right. How much do you owe him?"
"Y-your highness?!" Both ponies were aghast. "B-but-"
"Just tell me, already." Sunset said, a little more aggressive than she wanted.
"Th-th-three thousand bits, your highness."
Yikes. Does this guy ever gets his money back, the way he lets the liabilities rise? Tch, damn that stallion, today is his lucky day.
"Here." she pushed the necklace into the stallions chest. "The thing is worth at least five thousand. Now do everypony here a favor and go away, before my mood really begins to drop."
The stallion gulped and quickly headed away, after another bow. The mare in the meantime gaped at Sunset Shimmer, before the owner of the building threw herself to Sunset's hooves, crying.
"Thank you, your highness. sob Thank you from all of my heart."
Needless to say, Sunset felt a bit uncomfortable.
"H-hey, come on. Stop it already. Let's get inside. There's something I wanted to ask you."
"A-a-are you sure your highness? It's-"
"I swear if you tell me it's too dirty for a princess like me, I'm...I'll think of something."
Despite the joke not really being that funny the mare couldn't suppress a giggle. It must have been the stress of the situation, Sunset concluded.
"I-if you wish, your highness. Please follow me."
"By the way, what's your name?" Sunset asked, as she started trotting next to the mare.
"Caring Heart, your highness."
No wonder I didn't remember her name. Doesn't quite match with the picture I remember.
Caring Heart looked like a really stressed mare and way older than she actually was. Her yellow mane had long ago lost its brightness. Her orange fur looked a little grayed out, like a t-shirt you've put too often in the washing machine. Her tail was short and flat, her blue eyes looked a little bit more alive than 5 minutes before Sunset showed up. Her cutie mark was a daisy flower with a smile inside. (Bet you guys expected something heart-themed. HA!)
The mare (a unicorn, almost forgot about that part) opened the door with her magic, which was a dark blue. A wave of nostalgia overcame the princess, as she walked into the old building immediately followed by the familiar smell it gave off. A mixture of a dusty building and the cafeteria, which was just down the hall. Sunset took a quick sniff.
"Pizza? Now you're making me hungry." The concept of Pizza wasn't alien to ponies. They just only had vegetarian pizzas. Caring Heart blushed a little. "I thought I would do one last thing for the children, before...oh well, now I have an excuse for the children."
Sunset laughed a little. "Yeah, I can guess." She looked around the hallway. The floor was made of a dark wood, which creaked every now and the, when somepony stepped on it. The walls were white with all kinds of kid's drawings on them. Old magic lamps were stuck on each side on the wall every ten to twelve meters. Nopony was sitting behind the reception desk.
"I kind of expected more fillies and colts running around."
"Yes well, they have lessons at the moment. The classrooms are on the other side of the building."
"Right, school. Somehow I already forgot about that." The princess shook her head. Wait, if it's a school day, shouldn't I have school too? Or at least a private tutor? Urrgh, details, who cares about them? That's how I understand Hasbro Logic.
"Y-your highness, if I might ask a question?"
"Go ahead." Sunset titled her head.
"Not to appear disrespectful or ungrateful for what you have done for me..., no, for the children," Caring began "but won't it bring you trouble for helping us?"
"Trouble?" the princess was confused, then snorted. "You mean that guy from earlier? How's he supposed to get me into trouble?"
"No, I didn't mean him. Not exactly anyway..." The other mare shook her head. "What I mean is that, you're a princess. The crown-princess at that."
THAT'S a new one. Crown-princess?! "Celestia is kind of immortal already. Crown-princess is kind of a useless title if you think about it, you know? Sorry, you were saying?"
"What I meant with trouble...how should I....? Won't other ponies bother you? I mean they could say: You helped that orphanage, why aren't you helping my bakery? Ponies might think if you don't help them, you're not a fair ruler. I don't know about politics, but I don't think the nobles-"
"Urrgh..." Sunset let her head hanging down, startling the other pony.
"Y-your majesty?"
"Well done, Sunset Shimmer. Well done." If Sunset would have been able to clap, she would have done it slowly. "I've done it yet again."
"H-huh?"
"I've done something without thinking it completely through." Sunset chuckled dryly. "You're right. It wouldn't be a matter if I would be just some rich kid." Sunset rubbed her forehead, groaning. She could already see Celestia giving her a lecture actions that just so might have a greater impact in the future.
"Do you have some tea by any chance? I think I could need some right now."
"Of course. Please follow me to my office, your highness."
The office was located on the other end of the hallway. As for the office itself, the word 'dusty' was the first one that came to Sunset Shimmer's mind, when she entered. It wasn't like a layer of dust was settled everywhere, just that it seemed like nopony dusted off the shelves and everything else. Photos of different generations of children were hanging on the walls.
The only thing missing is an old PC that runs on Windows XP. Or 98. Meh, human jokes aren't really working here.
There was also an old tea-set standing on the windowsill, the only thing that seemed to be really taken care off. Said set was levitated up by the owner of the building. "I'll get right to the tea, your highness."
"Take your time and relax already." Sunset said with a smile, trying to reassure the other mare.
"I'm sorry, your highness."
Now she's acting like Fluttershy.
"Please excuse me, your highness."
Sunset was left alone inside the office, after the mare left. Sighing, she placed herself on a chair, thinking about her current situation. Ignoring came to mind, but that would hardly work. She wasn't sure what kind of reputation she had in this universe (it had to be another universe or timeline, anything else didn't make any sense), but most likely the nobles will be the same. She could already hear their complaints, since that pretty much seemed to be the only thing they were doing, as far as Sunset remembered anyway.
Looking around the room a little, she noticed a certain piece of paper. It stuck out because it was the only one without at least a little bit of dust on it. Sunset could imagine Caring just sitting in this room, despairing over the fact that she would lose this orphanage. The stacks of papers indicated that work hadn't been done here for quite some time.
Curious about this piece of paper and ignoring the slight guilty feelings, she took a good look at the document. Calling it 'taking a peak' would have been a complete lie.
"This looks awfully familiar....oh right. I thought about getting my own house. It's a contract about selling the building. Somepony and I think I know which pony, thought of this as a last resort. If this building is really in need of renovations, than its pretty overpriced. Who'd thought my experience of signing all kinds of apartment contracts would come in handy...hoofy? In Equestria?
While I'm at it, I might as well have a look at everything around. Had my fair share of rusty pipes and...urrgh... mold. Also, I should stop talking to myself before it gets a habit." Now where's a pen? Oh right, they still use feathers and ink here. There we go.
A couple of minutes later Caring Heart entered her office, carefully levitating the tea. Sunset was sitting on the chair in front of the desk, examining her right wing. "They're aching. Probably need to actually use them." she muttered.
"Thanks." she said to the older mare and levitated one cup towards herself.
"Sugar, your highness."
"Ehh, I try to keep short on that stuff. A friend of mine makes the best sweets in the entire world and I kind of overdid it already yesterday." she chuckled.
Caring Heart smiled and took seat behind her desk. Silently she wished she would have at least cleaned up her office. Princess Sunset Shimmer wasn't the kind of mare Caring expected her to be, quite the contrary from what she'd heard.
"Wow, that's some good tea."
"Thank you." Caring smiled at the compliment.
"Say Caring" Sunset nipped on her tea again "is your money problem really solved? Your debts are paid for that stallion, but there's gotta be a reason you needed the money in the first place, right?"
The other pony placed her cup on the table and sighed. "I don't want to bother you with my problems, your highness. I am really grateful for what you have already done for us and wouldn't it get you into more trouble?"
Sunset smiled. "Depends. I was a bad pony and took a really close peak at the thing you wrote." She levitated the paper in front of Caring, whose jaw dropped immediately, when she saw the sign on the of the two required lines. She looked up towards the princess in front of her or rather gaped.
"B-but...!"
"It solves both of our problems. Celestia has her school for gifted unicorns, so why can't I do something similar?"
"I-I...d-don't..."
"By helping me bringing this in front of Celestia. Sheesh, what have I done? This day is getting really confusing. And it's not even lunchtime."
Reminds me of one of those really bad written fanfictions. A giant robo attack and this could have been easily written by Rainbow Dash. Damn you Rainbow, why did you ever show that web-side? I didn't need to read Pinkie's Cupacake story.