Lauren Faust was not happy. Not in the slightest. And Luna was well aware of that fact. She had spent over an hour on the phone with her boss as she chewed her out and demanded answers and explanations.
"Damn it Luna, what the hell is going on at that school of yours? This is the second incident!" shouted the woman over the phone, which caused Luna to wince at the sheer volume of the voice and remove the phone from her ear slightly. She let out a sigh and shook her head. This was honestly the least of her problems but she wasn't going to tell Faust that.
"I realize that. It's not like we wanted this to happen. It was an accident, as I already mentioned. The student accidentally set off a chain reaction that caused water to spill on to a power cord and cause a vacuum to explode."
"And you've suspended her correct?"
"For having two left feet? No. I saw the entire situation unfold; this wasn't a second-hand report. This was not intended malice." the voice on the other side of the phone went silent for a moment. Luna swore she could hear the red haired woman thinking.
"And what does your sister say? You know, the principal? "
"Principal Celestia is busy dealing with the students and the fire department." lied Luna, trying her best sound believable. Truth was that her sister had seemed to have turned off and headed to her office. Ever since Saturday night, Celestia had been off and quiet, often retreating to her bedroom or office when things happened or she felt the need to do so. Luna was left basically running the entire school as Celestia seemed to difficulty completing paper work and staying awake. The most frustrating part was that she refused to go home and rest; as if being home alone was on par with being thrown into a cage of hungry wolves. There was not to mention the fact that Celestia was getting even less sleep then before. In fact, she had been up for nearly thirty two hours straight which was worrying Luna to no end.
"She asked me to fill you in on the details of the situation." continued on Luna, one hand clutching the phone while the other twirled a long piece of blue hair and pulled apart knots. Lauren let out a sigh over the phone.
"Fine, fine. How bad is the damage this time?"
"Nothing too bad, the sprinklers activated pretty quickly and the fire department got here in time. Mostly some scorched walls and a few spots on the ceiling. Oh and a chair or two caught fire. But the fire is out now and there seems to be no structural damage; it's all cosmetic. we're probably going to dismiss the students for the day."
"The board is going to want to have a meeting you know."
"I thought we already were going to have one." stated Luna.
"I mean a lot sooner and a lot more intense."
"That should be fun." mumbled Luna under her breath.
"What?"
"Nothing. I have to go, Celestia is calling me on line two."
"But I-"Luna hung up the phone mid-sentence and allowed her self to be pulled into oblivion as she leaned against her desk and rubbed her temples. Their meeting was going to be pushed up? 'By McCarthy!, this is annoying!' thought Luna as she shook her head and processed the situation. Just another thing that would need to be taken care of. Dejectedly, she headed out of her office and towards the gym where the students and teachers had been gathered. Inside, students were buzzing about, talking about the latest incident at Canterlot High. The teachers were having a hard time getting everyone to quiet down and sit down on the gym floor. When Luna stepped into the large gymnasium and walked up onto the stage, everyone quieted down and the students sat down on the floor, waiting for her to speak.
"Canterlot High Students, as you know, there was a incident today in the cafeteria, resulting in a small fire. Fortunately, it was put out quickly and most of the damage is shallow but given the circumstances, school is canceled for the rest of the day." Students began cheering in excitement and the gymnasium quickly began filling up with chatter and talk of what to do now that school was being let out early for the day. Luna made a gesture for the students to calm down and after a few minutes, the chattered died down enough that she could once more speak and have everyone hear her.
"Of course, your teachers will make sure you get all your homework from your afternoon classes before you leave."
-
Sunset was in a hurry. She was currently in the midst of traversing the condensed and packed corridors in pursuit of a familiar group of girls at the other end. Her objective was to stop them before the left her sight and Canterlot High so she could have a chance to talk to them both about Scootaloo and to apologize if she got the courage. More specifically she wanted to talk to two girls in particular, Applejack and Rarity. She spotted the group turning a corner up a head and in an act of determination, began pushing her way agressively through the crowd to get to her target.
"HEY!" shouted someone as Sunset pushed past them.
"Sorryneedtogetsomewhere!" she said hurriedly as she continued on her journey towards her targets. She managed to catch up to them just as they were exiting one of the schools side entrances.
"HEY! Wait!"
The group which consisted of five girls, all stopped and turned towards the voice. They were both surprised and defensive when they realized who was speaking to them. Sunset groaned as she reached them, out of breath from having run to catch up with them.
"What do y'all want?" demanded Applejack, taking a threatening step forward and attempting to look intimidating. Sunset payed her no attention, too focused on catching her breath. She doubled over and let out several gasps, trying her best to get air to enter her lungs.
"Need...to..tal-lk to you about Sc...Ne..eed more e-excercise!"
"You want to talk to us about getting more excercise? Hmmph! How rude!"
"N...o. Ne..ed to t-talk to you about S-Scootaloo."
"What about Scootaloo?" Sunset straightened herself up, still breathing heavily and cursing herself for having neglecting gym glass during the last three years. She really needed to get in shape.
"L-look. I know I've made your hell life these last few years..."
"Hell? Hell don't even begin tah' describe it Sugarcube! You bullied us, blackmailed us, you've done everything to make us miserable!"
"Hell, Tartarus, whatever. I'm not here about me. Yes, I'm sorry I did all that stuff I really am. But I'm here for Scootaloo, not me."
"Huh, so the brute actually knows the word 'Sorry.' How quaint." said Rarity, speaking up and flipping her hair out habit and donning a sneer.
"Huh. So I guess friendship is only magic when Twilight's around."
"And what is THAT supposed to mean?"
"It means from what I recall, Twilight tasked you, and you promised, with trying to help me to understand friendship and while I wouldn't expect you to actually do that after all I've done, you had the audacity to go and punish Scootaloo for my crimes. Not hers, and I'm guessing the only reason you are is because we're related and not because you and Applejack are actually concerned about your sister's safety.
"Are yah' sayin' we're being dishonest?" demanded Applejack. The nerve of that girl, Applejack was anything but dishonest! Stubborn maybe but not that!
"No. I'm saying you're dishonest AND petty for punishing Scootaloo for no reason!" stated Sunset, crossing her arms. Applejack let out a snarl and raised her fist, aiming to punch Sunset. However she found herself blocked by Fluttershy who grabbed her arm and gave her a disproving look.
"Applejack! What are you doing!"
"Defend mah' honor!"
"Jackie, I know you don't like hearing that sort of stuff, but you know Shimmer has a point." said Rainbow, who had been quiet up until that point, which was odd of her. Applejack turned and stared at the cyan colored girl.
"Really, Sugarcube, you're going to side with her?"
"I'm not....look, she's right, you two shouldn't be blaming Scootaloo and stopping Applebloom and Sweetie them from seeing her, they've been friends since the sixth grade!"
"I gotta also agree. Scoots is awesome!" said Pinkie Pie, her hair seemingly deflating a little and turning a tad straight.
"No! I will not have my sister be influenced by that little ruffian! I know for a fact she was hanging around with those little thugs from the ninth grade, those ones who smoke and drink! Plus there was that incident in the cafeteria last week! I have no doubt Sunset has managed to corrupt Scootaloo and while it may seem unfair, I must protect my sister!" exclaimed Rarity angrily, which in turned pissed off Sunset.
"I'll have you know I have had little interaction with Scootaloo up to a few weeks ago and the genius who got her into smoking is her awesome role model, Rainbow Dash."
"Hey!"
"It's true! She worships you and I highly she doubt she would do anything, even breathing, if you didn't do it or agree with it. Besides she explicitly mentioned your name when I questioned her about it!"
"I'm trying to help!"
"Well thanks, but you caused this problem to begin with!"
"STOP YELLING!" The group fell silent as Fluttershy raised her voice, something that only happened when she was truly enraged. The yellow skinned girl was red in the face and also appeared to be very ticked off as she had her fists clenched. She stared at all six individuals surrounding her, staring at them with a dark, unending abyss of rage. Everyone stood rigid as they waited for Fluttershy to speak.
"I can't believe you all! Fighting like this and making a nuisance! I know we don't get along with Sunset and she doesn't get along with us and I know we all have our problems but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try! Twilight tasked us with helping Sunset and here we are, going against her word when we promised her!"
"Look, I don't care about that. I care about Scootaloo!"
"Why though?" asked Applejack, crossing her arms.
"Y'all obviously never cared about her before."
"Because despite what you think, I'm actually sorry for what I've done to you all most of all, I'm sorry that I wasn't the sister Scootaloo deserved."
-
".....and there you are Ms. Hooves!" Nurse Sweetheart, a curvy, homely woman with light magenta colored skin and white and purple hair smiled as she handed over a ice pack to Derpy Hooves, who had sustained a rather nasty bump on her head. Fortunately, it didn't seem to be a serious concern nor was it a concussion, so Sweetheart was satisfied that she could let the girl leave. In her ten years as Canterlot High's main nurse, she had never seen another student even remotely as klutzy as Derpy. The young girl was prone to many accidents and over the years, she spent almost as much time in the nurses as she did in class. Which was probably why she had been held back.
"Thanks Sweet..."
Sweetheart frowned, the normally exuberant girl had been quiet during her entire time in the Nurses Office. It wasn't like Derpy to be quite and out of it.
"Something the matter deary?" she said to Derpy who looked at her for a moment and then shook her head cautiously.
"Oh, I'm just thinking about Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna. They're probably not happy with me right now."
"Don't worry about that sweetie, Celestia and Luna are very understanding people. Now, scoot along. Class has been dismissed early today."
As she stepped out of the Nurses Office, the thought of Celestia and Luna was far from her mind. Sure, she was concerned about possibly getting suspended, but more then anything, Derpy was dreading the inevitable confrontation she was going to have with her mother when she got home.