//------------------------------//
// 2: Stuck in Equestria 
// Story: Principal of Equestria 
// by MareDoVVell 
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Both Twilight and Sunset flinched away at Celestia's sudden outburst. "Sunset, what does hell mean?" Twilight whispered, keeping her eyes glued to the exasperated Principal.

"It's..." Sunset paused, trying to sum the concept up in her head. While she was sure Twilight would be fascinated with the concepts of religion and mythology in the world beyond the mirror, now probably wasn't the best time to dive into it. Not to mention Sunset had only a cursory understanding of it herself. "Just think of it as Tartarus, the expletive is used pretty much the same way anyways," she whispered back.

Twilight gave a quick nod of understanding, then returned to speaking volume as she addressed Celestia. "Ahem, um, well first of all, let me welcome you to Equestria! I'm sure this is all a lot to take in, but I'd be happy to explain, and then we can get you on your way back home."

Celestia simply gave Twilight a rather grumpy look. She normally would've avoided being so abrasive, but by this point she had firmly and hopefully decided that this must all be some weird dream, and it would be over soon. "I think I'd like to just skip ahead to the going home part Ms. Sparkle."

In response, Twilight could only awkwardly give a forced chuckle. While she now knew this Celestia was not her mentor, she still felt the tiny flutter of fear at the thought of disappointing her in any way. "Right, of course, home is best! Right this way Princes-ipal." Twilight almost facehoofed at her lingual stumble, but instead opted to gesture towards the mirror. "You just have to step back through the mirror here."

Celestia considered asking why she had almost been called Princess again, her natural inquisitiveness needling at the back of her mind, but instead dismissed it. "Thank you Twilight." She smiled softly, incapable of being completely callous to the strange dream creatures for some reason or another. This perked the little pony right up, she noticed, as if she had just been deeply praised, but Celestia pushed the hints of curiosity aside yet again and turned towards the mirror.

"Right, just walk through the magical mirror...you've been reading too many of those fantasy novels again," she snarked to herself, before squaring her...shoulders?...haunches?...well whatever, towards the mirror. She started at it with a determined but loping pace, having never walked on four legs before. Alright, walk through, wake up dozing against the statue, drive home, open largest bottle of wine, GO!

"OW!"

Again, Twilight and Sunset reacted simultaneously, this time with a sympathetic cringe as Celestia face planted against the deceptively sturdy mirror, then stumbled back, her eyes crossed and muzzle scrunched. 

"That's really not good...why isn't the portal working?"  Twilight squeaked as she began to feel the panic return, and rushed to Celestia's side, steadying her with a gentle hoof. "I'm so sorry, that should have worked. Are you ok?"

Celestia grimaced as she massaged her tender nose with a hoof. "I'm fine, I think." She sighed as realization sunk in. "This isn't just a dream is it?" Twilight just gave her a sad smile and shook her head slowly.

Meanwhile, Sunset had walked up to the mirror, staring at it pensively while pressing a hoof against the firm glass. "What could be wrong with it?" she muttered, looking it over. Her eyes landed on the heavily bound book sitting in a stand at the top of the frame. Remembering Twilight's explanation for how she had gotten the portal to re-open, a sudden pang of anxiety shot through her as she cast her eyes around the ground nearby, her fears confirmed as they landed on a cloth bag sitting half open on the floor. Sunset turned towards the two others in the room. "Hey Twilight, I think I figured out the problem," she called, gesturing towards the bag.

Twilight followed Sunset's hoof and spotted the bag, a heavy bound book poking from the top of it. She trotted over to the bag and fished the book from it with a hoof, turning it over to the front. The book was emblazoned with a fiery red and yellow sun, and looked to be a perfect match to the book sitting above the mirror. "If...if this is here then..."

"Then the portal has nowhere to lead to, at least until it opens on it's own again." Sunset confirmed in a defeated tone. "I'm sorry, I didn't even think about it, I always have it on me, so the girls and I can write to you, but I was in such a hurry to try and help..."

"It's not your fault," Twilight said with a comforting smile, trying to ease the distress showing in Sunset's expression. "I shouldn't have left the portal open, I should have known something like this could happen, it was irresponsible. I'm sure I can find a way to get it open again."

Sunset felt a bit better listening to Twilight's reassurances, even though she knew they were probably only meant to make her feel better, but something else was bothering her. A thought was hovering at the edge of her awareness, not fully grasped yet. It hit her like a rainbow laser to the face. "Wait, then I'm stuck here too," she sputtered, sounding like a prisoner who was just told they had a spot at the gallows the next morning.

"Well, yeah." Twilight giggled at the obvious thought, before noticing the haunted expression on Sunset's face.

"Twilight, I'm practically a fugitive here!" Sunset had planted herself on the floor, flinging both hooves over her head. "What will your friends do to me!? What will the Princesses do to me!? I need to hide, does this castle have a dungeon? Right, it's a castle, of course it has a dungeon! Twilight, can I hide in your dungeon?"

Twilight deadpanned, about to tell Sunset that as far as she knew, the castle did not in fact have a dungeon, and that even if it did, hiding a criminal in it seemed counter intuitive, but before she could, Celestia cut in.

"Um, Girls, before we get too far, could you take a moment to explain what you're talking about? Well, that and everything else I suppose? Now that I know this isn't a dream, and that I apparently may be here for a bit, I wouldn't mind knowing where here is...oh and why I'm a pretty little pony."

Twilight nodded, giving a hospitable smile and ignoring the slight sarcasm. "Of course, though it may take a while. We should find somewhere more comfortable than the middle of the library, please follow me." She turned to make for the door before realizing only one of them was following.

Sunset was busy still cowering on the floor and tuning out the rest of the world.

Twilight sighed and lit her horn, causing the yellow ball of terror to float up off the floor and hover gently behind her in a violet haze.

Celestia's jaw hit the floor as she watched Sunset fly across the room. "H-h-how did you do that!?" she stammered, pointing a hoof back and forth between the two.

Twilight's brows knit in question before remembering again the differences between each side of the mirror. "Oh, right, magic. Well...it'll make sense once I can explain." She left it at that and continued out of the room, leaving behind a still staring Celestia, who finally shook her head vigorously before following as quickly as she could manage.

As they entered an enormous hallway, Twilight stopped by a small side door and opened it just enough to stick her head through. "SPIKE! Can you please make some tea, enough for three. Well, four if you'd like some as well. We'll be in the large study."

"You mean the small parlor?" Came a young male voice.

Twilight frowned, trying to remember the convoluted floor plan she had attempted to draw up a few days before. "Um, whichever one is at the end of this hall, with the big chairs."

"Got it!" said the voice.

Celestia followed the conversation absentmindedly, distracted by the enormous and ornate hallway they had entered. She hadn't given it much thought when Sunset had said something about a castle, but now it made sense as she marveled at the grand crystal walls rising around them. "You live here?"

Twilight pulled her head back from the doorway. "Whuh? Oh, yes, though it's still a bit new to me, I used to just live in a tree," she explained nonchalantly, resuming her path towards the end of the hall.

"A tree?" Celestia muttered to herself, again shaking her head and following.

After a minute or so, they came to another doorway and passed inside to a medium sized room filled with overstuffed chairs, piles of cushions, and an assortment of coffee tables, all arranged haphazardly around a fireplace. Sunset, who had given up on cowering somewhere along the way and now looked a bit annoyed at being carried, was dropped unceremoniously into one chair as Twilight climbed into another, leaving one empty in between them.

Celestia didn't need an invitation to know the empty seat was for her, and made her way towards it. After a few seconds of hooves rapidly scuffling against the cushion, and some magical assistance, Celestia managed to haul herself into the chair. For a moment, she felt almost herself again as she sat back in the chair and looked up to the ceiling, much as she commonly did back in her office. She closed her eyes, reveling in the familiarity until she heard giggling. She opened one eye and looked sideways to see Twilight holding a hoof over her mouth, failing to stifle the laughter.

"I'm sorry, I haven't seen anypony besides Lyra sit like that, and the fact that it's you only makes it stranger."

Celestia blushed slightly, not even really sure why she felt embarrassed. She sat forward and pulled her legs in beneath her to emulate Twilight and Sunset's sitting positions. It did feel more comfortable this way, she noticed, even if it felt a bit alien. After settling in a bit, she turned back to Twilight. "So I guess that gives us as good a place as any to start. Why do you treat me like you know me, or at least know me better than I know you?"

"Ah, that," Twilight answered, reddening a bit from awkwardness herself. "Well let's start at the beginning. As I said, this is Equestria. It exists as sort of a parallel world to your own, only here we're all ponies, and there you're all...what was the word...hoomans?"

"Humans." Sunset piped in with a lopsided grin.

"Right, those." Twilight smiled thankfully. "Anyways, when a pony goes through the mirror, they come out a human, and I guess you've just proved the opposite holds true as well. As best I can tell, many ponies have an analog in the other world, though I'm unsure if that holds true for everypony or just a few. For example, Sunset and I have never seen our equivalents, though the Pinkie Pie in your world did mention seeing a human who looked similar to me once." She shrugged as she said it before continuing. "Your counterpart here is Princess Celestia, one of the leaders of Equestria. She was my teacher and practically raised me for many years. You look a bit different from her, and you're not an alicorn, but I can't help but treat you somewhat like I do her."

Celestia sat silently, trying to process all the new, and rather unbelievable information she'd just been given. She had several questions, and was about to start by asking what an alicorn was when she heard scuffling behind her chair.

"Tea is ready," came a familiar voice, accompanied by the gentle clinking of dishware.

Celestia turned to look around the back of her chair at the newcomer, and immediately jumped in fear, falling out of her chair with a high pitched girlish scream.

Spike just looked on with a bored frown, before moving to set the tray of tea on a nearby coffee table.

"IS THAT A GIANT LIZARD!?"