//------------------------------// // Chapter 10: School Daze // Story: Sunset Reset // by LordBrony2040 //------------------------------// Cadance went over the magical formula for the spell in the magic book that Celestia had given her the day before as she sat on the gray couch in the apartment’s living room. Although love may have been her talent, the former pegasus was starting to think that she was in over her head when it came to the magical variety of the emotion. Sure, Cadance had told the princess that she was ready for something more difficult than simple levitation and light spells,  but what was in front of seemed a little too advanced. Not to mention dangerous. The other love magic she had practiced under Celestia’s instruction seemed to invoke something more along the lines of uncontrollable obsession to gain possession of something than actual love. And the ‘true’ love spell Cadence was currently looking at didn't seem to make much sense no matter how much she looked at it. Of course, it didn't help that the immaculate and stylish couch of white with gold decorations on the end that she was laying on was more for looks than comfort. Lumps under her belly were making it hard to concentrate. The thing was obviously not made for serious studying on. After going over the formula again and only getting more confused, Cadance let out a groan and pushed it to the other end of the sofa with her hooves. “Ugh, where are you when I need you, Sunset?” she mumbled before laying her chin down on the hard cushion. The other alicorn had been sent on an errand by Celestia shortly after breakfast, and Cadance hadn't seen her since. Unfortunately, the pink alicorn was feeling her absence like never before thanks to what the mother-daughter duo revealed to her the night before. While not a pony to overly indulge in fearful thoughts, Cadance had to admit that the possibility of a changeling invasion happening in secret didn’t agree with the pink princess’s nerves. Her dreams hadn't been very pleasant either. What few dreams she had anyway. Fear and sweaty sheets hadn’t made for a restful night. Then, the door to the hall flew open and Cadance’s wings shot up in response to the sudden intrusion. She watched as the amber alicorn came trotting in with a deep frown on her face that told Cadance Sunset was currently a peeved. After spying somepony else in the room, she quickly turned her head towards Cadance, and blinked. “What’re you doing here?” Cadance took a second to properly gauge Sunset's mood beyond what a glance and facial expression could tell her. From the looks of the amber alicorn’s twitching wings, she was slightly agitated. But nothing major. “Just waiting for you,” the pink princess finally said. She decided not to say the amount of time she had been in the other alicorn’s room was over two hours. “Where were you anyway?” The curiosity on Sunset’s face as once again replaced by annoyance as she let out a groan and walked over to the middle of her room to collapse on a plush circular rug decorated by her cutie mark. “Mom decided that after yesterday, I should take a few interviews with the papers to let the ponies know the real me,” she grumbled. “Right after breakfast?” Cadance asked before she glanced at the clock hanging on Sunset’s mantle. The time read nine PM. “What happened after that?” Sunset looked up and frowned at Cadance. “I came here, asked what you were doing on my couch, and collapsed on the floor.” “But-” “Twenty-seven interviews, straight!” Sunset went on with a frown. “I didn’t even know we had that many newspapers in Equestria!” Cadance blinked. “Um...well, that must have been...fun?” she asked nervously. Like Sunset, Cadance had her own experience with the Canterlot Times, and the mare that had talked with the pink princess shortly after her arrival in the capital. “I mean, I enjoyed it when I got interviewed.” As soon as the words left her mouth, Cadance knew she had said the wrong thing. Sunset’s expression became a scowl, and her lips curled back to expose her teeth. “Oh yeah, that thing. I still remember the hard hitting questions you had to answer,” she spat before sitting up to put on an overly-innocent look and talk in a sickeningly sweet voice. “Oh Princess Cadance, do you like puppies? Princess Cadance, what’s your favorite flavor of ice cream? Princess Cadance, do you have a special somepony? “Meanwhile I get crap like, Sunset Shimmer, what’s your opinion on the continuous loss of bits that Equestria sends to Griffinstone every year?” the amber alicorn ranted on in a less pleasant tone. “Now that you’ve experienced the horrors of being called a changeling, will you be seeking to oust Strong Withers from his position? Do you think that changelings actually could be hiding in the government? Is the Equestrian school system in need of reform? One little...thing, and suddenly, everybody’s all over me! I wanted to be an alicorn for the phenomenal cosmic power, not...endless press coverage!” As Sunset paused to take a breath, Cadence interrupted her friend. “Well...at least they’re taking you seriously,” she said while hiding the tiny bit of anger that swelled up in her heat. It was just like with Celestia, Sunset got all the attention. In fact, there were times when Cadance wasn’t even sure if ponies knew she was even there. Sunset snorted. “Trust me Cadance, the quiet life you’ve got is much better than what I’ve been cursed with,” she said before standing up and trotting over to where the pink alicorn was laying down. “So what did you want to see me about anyway?” As the amber alicorn looked over to her book, Cadance turned her head back to the fire to hide her expression. “Well...I came here for a little help on learning some magic.” “Ugh,” Sunset grunted as Cadance’s spellbook was taken up in her magic. “Yeah...I’m not really good with this emotional junk. About the only love magic I was ever able to cast was the Want It Need It spell. Hahaha, good times.” Cadance winced at the memory of her own experience with that particular piece of spellcraft just a few hours ago. If Celestia hadn’t been there to undo it, Cadance was afraid she would have caused a riot amongst the palace staff over a simple orange. Although, the way Sunset talked about it… No, she’s a different pony now, and I don’t even want to know. “Actually Sunset,” she said carefully. “I was hoping you could help me with a different type of magic.” The other alicorn frowned. “Cadance, you just moved from learning basic levitation to exploring your talent today. Anything outside of that is going to take weeks to learn even the basics. I’ll help you if you want, but...you really need to get an understanding of the magic you’re born to be good at first. It’ll lay a nice groundwork for the rest of what you can learn.” “But we don’t have weeks!” Cadence blutered out before she could stop herself. Sunset’s expression turned cautious as she raised an eyebrow. “Um...what?” With three seconds of internal debate over whether to simply change the subject and pretend her blub never happened, Cadance sighed and drooped her eyes. “Look...I know Celestia probably has a plan to do something about the changelings, but...I’m scared! Okay?” she admitted. “I mean...I’m the Alicorn of Love! Changelings feed on love! THAT MEANS THERE'S AN ENTIRE RACE OF MONSTERS OUT THERE THAT WANTS TO EAT ME! I’m like their number one target!” “Well,” Sunset replied, obviously a little put off by the pink alicorn’s panic. “Actually, from what Mom said, I’m pretty sure that they’re going to be coming after me. At least, that’s what I’d do if I wanted to hurt Celestia as much as possible.” She frowned at the ground. “Kind of disturbing how easy it is for me to think about that.” Cadance rolled her eyes at the obvious statement. “Yeah, and how are they going to come after you? Are they going to go straight for the big bad alicorn, or are they going to replace her best friend with somepony else to stab her in the back the second she drops her guard?” the pink princess asked as the scenario played out in her mind and helped elevate her fears even more. “I’m supposed to be a guardian of Equestria, but I’m not like you or Celestia, Sunset! You’ve had years of magical study and could kick my plot all over the palace before you became a princess! I’m just a pony from the country that got a horn slapped on her head four weeks ago and can barely make stuff float!” An odd feeling in her foreleg made Cadance to look down. She noticed she was trembling, and sighed before dropping her head in embarrassment. Some princess I turned out to be. “Wow,” Sunset breathed before reaching up to touch Cadance’s hoof with her own. “You’re really worried about this stuff.” After nodding in response, Cadance looked up at the other alicorn in shame. “That’s me. Always afraid to do the right thing.” Sunset shook her head. “Hey, this isn’t some punk unicorn with a chip on her shoulder,” she said before sighing. A second later, the amber alicorn’s face became utterly serious. “But still, there’s nothing to worry about. You’re...well...you’re my best friend. I would crush anything that ever tried to hurt you.” As much as she would have liked to take comfort in Sunset’s words, Cadance found herself finding the hole in the alicorn’s logic. “And when you’re not around?” “Then we’ll just have to hang out all the time from now on,” she said with a cocky smile. “So...you want to have a sleepover?” Cadance hesitated. Although she knew Sunset meant it to be reassuring, the pink princess couldn’t help but feel like a little filly that was too afraid to sleep in her own room because of the monster under her bed. Even though she knew the monster was really outside her door, with the face of anypony it wanted to wear, just waiting to gobble up a loving pony. Which...didn’t make her feel all that much better. So, she nodded her head. “Okay.” Sunset lit up her horn before she doused the flames dancing in the fireplace with her magic and pulled Cadance off the couch to lead the way into her bedroom and used her magic to tidy up a bit and pull back the green sheets on her bed. Then, she stepped back and usured Cadance under the covers with a teasing bow. “Your Highness.” “Why thank you, Your Highness,” Cadance replied with a little giggle before she slipped underneath the sheets and got got comfortable. Not long after the smaller alicorn worked herself under the covers and rolled onto her side, she felt the bigger alicorn press up against her back. Wings came up over her and worked their way under the former pink pegasus along with Sunset’s forelegs as she enveloped Cadance in a full-body hug. “Uh...sorry for the close contact, but my bed really isn’t big enough for two alicorns to not uh...get really close if we don’t want to fall out.” Cadance reached up to wrap her fetlock around the back of Sunset’s to keep the bigger alicorn from pulling away before the pink pony did her best to wiggle even deeper into her best friend’s embrace. “No,” she said while tilting her head down and putting it under Sunset’s chin. “This is perfect.” Safe in her best friend’s forelegs, Cadance closed her eyes and listened to the sound of Sunset’s heartbeat. It was a strong, calming sound that reminded her how much had changed in such a short amount of time with Sunset going from something that Cadance had been afraid of, to the mare that was sheltering her from the real monsters. For her part, Sunset hugged the smaller alicorn that much tighter, and Cadance found herself enjoying the reassuring contact even more. Although...she could feel from a slight twitch in Sunset’s muscles that the amber alicorn had something else on her mind. Still, it was probably best not to press her so late at night. “Hey...Cadance…” Sunset said hesitantly after a few moments of silence. The pink princess opened her eyes. “Yes, Sunset?” “Look,” Sunset replied with a little bit of unease. “You don’t need to be worried about the changelings. I can guarantee you’ll make it through this. And I know you’ll be an amazing princess.” Cadance smiled at the gesture. Even with her friend’s assurances, the pink princess knew it would take years for her to catch up to the pony Princess Celestia had groomed to take over the rule of Equestria one day. “Thanks for the vote of con-” “No,” the other alicorn cut her off. “I’m not just being reassuring here. I know you’re going to be a great princess...because I’ve seen you do it.” With Sunset stopping her explanation there, all Cadance found was confusion. That...hadn’t been what she had expected to hear. “What do you mean?” The sound of Sunset gulping made its way to Cadance’s ear. “Okay...look, you remember when I told you about me going through the mirror?” she asked, sounding like it took a force of monumental effort to get out every word. “Um...you mean that hallucination you had?” Cadance asked hesitantly. From what she knew, Sunset only talked about it when asked, and never volunteered much in the way of personal information about her experience. The bottom of Sunset’s chin rubbed against the top of Cadance’s head as she felt the other pony nod. “MmmHmm. Yeah...about that...I’m starting to believe that we might have been wrong about it being all in my head. I don’t know everything yet, but...ugh, that’s not the important part,” she said before letting out a loud sigh. “What is important is that I did go back to Equestria at one point...or technically twice since I came home, then went back to Earth a few minutes later to steal the fake crown that I could switch for-okay, getting sidetracked. Look, point is, I came back to Equestria, and ending up in this place called the Crystal Empire.” Cadance shifted her head just a bit to look back at her friend out of the corner of her eye. “Um...okay.” She didn’t much like the idea that Sunset had found some way to stumble through time. The whole thing just seemed too dangerous, no matter who was doing the time traveling. “The empire you ruled,” Sunset said with a smile. “So, I know you’re going to survive the changelings, and I know you’re going to be a magnificent princess. Don’t give yourself such a hard time because a mare that’s older than dirt and the violent brat she trained for over ten years before you showed up can wave their horns around better than some-ah, pony that’s been at it only a few weeks, okay?” As much as she would have liked to take the assurance and feel better, the pink princess focused on the change in her friend’s story. “What’re you talking about? You don’t think it was in your head anymore?” Cadance asked with a frown as she gave Sunset a measuring glance. Sunset sighed. “Okay, look...I’m not one-hundred percent sure about how it all fits together yet. But...whatever happened to me the second time around on the other side of that mirror, I know it really happened. That much, I’m sure of...including the future knowledge stuff I told you about with the Crystal Empire.” Turning her head back away from Sunset, Cadance let out a loud breath. She...wasn’t really sure what to think about Sunset’s latest confession. The whole thing had always gone over Cadance’s head when Sunset tried to explain all the time travel nonsense. And...she wasn’t even sure if it made that big a difference in the end. Memory, or magical portal through time, what did it matter? It didn’t change the fact that she was in the forelegs of her best friend, feeling safer than she had all last night. “Well, when you do figure it out, dumb it down for me, okay?” the pink princess asked. “Really don’t want to go into some kind of quantum theory explanation again like the first time. Just thinking about it makes my head hurt.” Sunset giggled. “Sure thing.” “Goodnight Sunset.” “Night Cady.” After a morning breakfast that she found herself needing to scarf down as much as possible when Cadance decided to suddenly remember Sunset couldn’t do more than glide without causing weather pattern problems, the amber alicorn rushed out of the palace as fast as her four legs would carry her with saddlebags full of the books her mother had thankfully precured for her on Sunday while she had been running the tabloid endurance test from Hell. She ducked, dodged, bobbed and weaved her way through the streets of Canterlot for a good fifteen minutes, all the while making sure not to crash into anypony and cursing herself for not visiting the school the day before and marking the place with a teleportation beacon. Three near-collisions and one broken wagon full of cabbages that Sunset promised to reimburse the owner for later, and she finally made it to the gates of the pony high school only five minutes after the bell had been scheduled to ring. Although a little short of breath, she didn’t feel that winded or sore thanks to the earth pony endurance that had come along with the wings on her back. So, as she took a few seconds to breathe, Sunset also looked at the scenery. Canterlot Academy looked...freakishly similar to Canterlot High. Like her old home, it was a three story building with horse decor and a modern castle motif. The only real difference between the two that Sunset could see was that Equestrians weren’t afraid to take the castle theme as far as possible with a gym that could have doubled as a keep off to the right of the building, and the large clock tower built into the front of the school. Sunset found the place soothingly familiar. The perfect place to get away from the Equestria that was quickly becoming a massive migraine, and back to the simple life of high school shortsightedness and cliques that considered themselves the be-all and end-all of everything. Okay so...Cadance said to meet her at the principal’s office, Sunset thought to herself as she trotted forward at a brisk pace. Once she made her way up the stairs and opened the door with her horn to go inside, the alicorn looked around and...frowned when she didn’t see anything resembling an office. “Oh...great,” she mumbled before walking through the main open area in front of her that split off into three different halls. “Celestia forbid someb-pony puts the place where you’re supposed to check in near an entrance!” The familiar sound of metal slamming against metal echoed through the empty building and drew Sunset’s attention down the hall to the left with a large A painted on the wall above it. So, she walked down the hallway as quickly as possible, and found a magenta earth pony mare with some smiling flowers on her butt that had managed to crawl halfway into her locker. “Oooooh, where is it?” “Excuse me?” Sunset asked in a polite tone. “But, can I get your help with something?” The sounds of rummaging coming from the locker stopped, and the teenage mare pulled herself out of her book storage area to sit on her plot and look up at Sunset. She gave the alicorn a startled once-over, and then blinked. “Um...yes?” Sunset’s eyes widened as she heard the mare’s voice. The hair was...different, really different, and the braces she had were new, but...the mare in front of her looked an awful lot like the picture of a teacher at Canterlot High had on her screensaver program that showed off photographs she had of herself through the years. “M-Ms Cheerilee?” The mare in question blinked again. “Yes. Do I know you Ms…” She paused for a second and her eyes widened. “Y-You’re an alicorn!” “Yes, glad you could see that,” Sunset said in a dull tone before she forced herself to shake off her sarcasm. Bad first impressions were bad, and needed to be avoided. Still, finding a teenage pony version of a teacher she had met at Canterlot High had been unexpected. Although...it seemed to match up with the appearance of Trixie and Twilight. It was just that instead of a young adult that got reduced to a little filly, an older adult had a mare that was close to Sunset’s age as her double. And...it was Ms Cheerilee, one of the few teachers that Sunset had halfway liked even before being rainbow blasted. The woman that doubled as a part-time librarian always had a smile on her face whenever Sunset saw her instead of an expression that just screamed ‘Oh great, here comes trouble’ like many of the other teachers at CHS. “Look,” Sunset went on. “I’m afraid I’m a little lost. Could you show me where the principal's office is at? I’m supposed to be enrolled today and...I have no idea where to go.” Cherilee got to her hooves, and after looking at her locker for another second spoke to Sunset. “Um, sure. If you could just give me a second to find a paper that’s due next period that I, um...still have to finish.” The familiar case of black hole locker syndrome made Sunset smile. Oh, how she had missed such problems. Especially now that she had magic. “Here,” the alicorn told the earth pony before she moved Cherilee out of the way to look inside her rat’s nest of a storage area and lit up her horn. A second later, every book, pencil, paper, and thingamajig had been pulled out by Sunset’s magic and separated to float in midair for easy perusal. “So, which one is it?” After looking around for a few seconds, Cherilee grabbed one of the floating notebooks in her teeth, and put it down on the ground to flip through it. Once she had apparently found what she was looking for, the mare happily nodded and Sunset put everything back in her locker as neatly as she could. Then, Cherilee motioned for her to follow. “This way.” Once the magenta mare led them out of the A hall, she trotted across the large open area and into the hall marked C. It wasn’t a journey made in silence though. Cherilee started talking about five steps in. “So...you’re Princess Sunset Shimmer, right?” Figures that I’d run into the one teenager that reads the papers, the not-princess thought to herself before putting on a little smile. “It’s still just Sunset. I haven’t actually been crowned yet,” she explained. “And I won’t be until the end of the month.” Although it had been scheduled for an earlier date, the big princess had decided to give her a little more time of normality. At least, that was what the amber alicorn had thought before she was asked twenty questions over twenty times in one day. Now...it could have been for anything from the need for Sunset to repair her political image to Celestia wanting to narrow down the guest list to friendly ponies only. “Oh,” Cherilee replied before her face became a little curious. “So, what’re you doing here?” That question, Sunset was happy to answer. “Truthfully?” she asked with a little smile. “I’m enrolling here to get away from it all. After what happened Saturday, I need someplace that isn’t going to care about me being a princess and is filled with the least politically-minded ponies in Equestria.” Although, after meeting Cheerilee and Trixie, Sunset had to wonder how many other aged-down ponies were running around with human doppelgangers on that she had met at what felt a lifetime ago. The alicorn’s heart immediately made her consider the possibility that her human friends were out there somewhere as ponies, but...then Sunset realized that they would just be Equestrian versions of the people she had known, not the people she had grown so attached to. If they aren’t little fillies too, she thought as she followed the teenage mare down a turn in the hallway. From the direction they were headed, Sunset guessed they were heading in the direction of the gym. But on the other hand, that didn’t mean everything she knew from CHS was worthless. If the adults had pony doppelgangers that were a lot younger now...Sunset actually found herself wondering if she’d run into any other teenage teachers like old man Cranky, the gym teacher Bulk Biceps, or...well, she knew Principal Celestia had been an oddity in the whole human to pony matchup, what with one just being a human principal and the other one being an immortal ruler of a country that also happened to run a school named after her. So...Sunset had to wonder about the human Celestia’s sister and other cosmic hiccup that didn’t fit the mold: Vice-Principal Luna. Since Celestia didn’t really have a sister in Equestria, was there some teenage pony with something approaching the vice-principal’s personality running around Equestria somewhere? Or was she the exception to the rules in other ways? Perhaps here and now, she was the principal of Canterlot Academy, the less prestigious school in pony-Canterlot. “Here we are,” Cheerilee said as she came to an office door that was on the opposite end of the building than the main entrance, and only a dozen feet or so away from the double doors leading to the gym. Sunset nodded. “Thanks Cheerilee,” she replied. Then, as the mare started to leave, Sunset held up a wing to block her. “Hey uh...look, I’m new here and don’t really know that many ponies so...do you want to hang out come lunch?” The offer had the earth pony looking at the alicorn as if Sunset had just grown a second horn. “You want to...eat lunch...with...me?” she got out...eventually. “Sure,” Sunset said with a shrug, ignoring the odd reaction from the mare. Going by her human world experience, the fact the mare had a brace-face in pony high school probably wasn’t all that good for her social standing. But Sunset didn’t much give a damn about that. Her other lessons at CHS had taught her the higher a girl’s popularity, the bigger bitch she was. Since Shining Armor seemed to fit that mold on the guy side of things with his lack of popularity matching his niceness, it was a safe bet that it was the same way here. Sunset found it a little comforting that no matter the dimension, the rules of high school never changed. “Okay!” the magenta mare replied with a bright smile. “I’ll see you then Prin-uh, Sunset!” As Cheerilee quickly trotted away to wherever her class was, Sunset walked into the school office and found Cadance laying on a couch right next to the door, and a pony sitting behind a desk on the other end of the room, with another doorway leading to what was probably the private offices of the school’s higher-ranking staff. The place looked like a carbon copy of the office at Celestia’s school. “There you are!” Candace exclaimed with a frown. “What took you so long?” Sunset rolled her eyes. “Walking, and then I actually had to find this place since someb-pony decided to just fly off and leave me,” she snarked back. Then, a smirk appeared on her face as she prepared to take a little of the wind out of Cadance’s sails. “Why didn’t you wait on me? More afraid of a tardy than a changeling is going to jump out and grab you?” As Cadance’s eyes widened in fear, Sunset winced. That had been way too mean. “Sorry,” they both said at the same time. Followed by a surprised glance at the other, and then a little giggle. Sunset cleared her throat, and looked around the office. “Okay so...um, what do I need to do to finish my enrollment?” “Oh don’t worry,” Cadance said, apparently putting Sunset’s remarks behind her as she stood up and smiled back. “Auntie Celestia’s already taken care of the paperwork. Principal Cinch just needs to meet with you for a bit, and then I can show you to your second period class after the assembly. So let’s...uh, Sunset? Is there something wrong with your eye?” A deep rage built within the pits of Sunset’s stomach, but thankfully, the amber alicorn was able to hold in. DAMNIT! MOTHER...CELESTIA... FUCKING DAMNIT….GAAAAAAAAAH! “And...what’s with the growling?” Mostly. Although not an expert on human ages, Sunset thought that Abacus Cinch looked younger than the biped she had met on the other side of the mirror despite the fact that Cinch was still an adult. Of course, since it was only a ten year difference in age for everyone but her mother, it was possible that Cinch also fit into the same category as everyone else, and that she was just one of those people who had been in her position for longer than a decade. But, as the amber alicorn stood on the small stage in the auditorium and waited for the snobby unicorn with the light blueish coat and cutie mark in the shape of a constellation that if Sunset connected the dots right actually formed something resembling a raised middle finger to finish talking, she came to a conclusion. The mare in front of her was indeed the same type of creature as the other Cinch, whom had forced a poor human girl to nearly destroy two different dimensions. Sunset took an immediate disliking to her. “Students of Canterlot Academy,” she said into the microphone with that same odious voice that made the alicorn force herself not to cringe. “It has been said that my school is merely a home for the castoffs and failures that Celestia’s school didn’t accept, and more common ponies that are denied entrance because they had the unfortunate fate of being born without a horn.” From her place behind Cinch’s right flank Sunset looked over to Cadance on the odious unicorn’s left with a raised eyebrow and spoke in the language of faction expressions. ‘Are you kidding me?’ However, when the other alicorn looked back and just shrugged, Sunset looked back out to the crowd to see if she could find any other pony counterparts to the humans she had known. While she couldn’t make out any, she did notice something from all the silhouettes. From the makeup of the crowd, it seemed that she had found the one place in Canterlot that didn’t actually favor unicorns so heavily it created a three-to-one ratio against every other kind of pony. In fact, the tribes looked just about even in numbers. “However!” the principal went on. “When I arrived here two years ago and began working diligently on our reputation, increasing grades across the board by helping to gain the latest educational materials and aides, and finding ways to turn our polo team into something recognizable across all of Equestria, even the royalty took notice and chose to send the newest of the alicorn to me rather than her own school! “Some called this a fluke! Some kind of error in paperwork, and Princess Cadance would be transferred out by the end of the week,” Cinch told them. “Well to them I say...HA!” The unicorn threw out one of her forelegs towards Sunset, and a spotlight clicked on to illuminate the amber alicorn. “Princess Celestia’s personal student and second descendent to show herself this year, the top student at her academy has come here after deciding that the school for the gifted just wasn’t good enough for her!” Was the human one this obnoxious? Sunset asked herself, and then blinked when the mare turned back towards her. “Princess Sunset Shimmer,” Principal Cinch spoke with a tone that seemed a weird mix of smug and...reverence, maybe? If the mare was obsessed with her reputation so much, a pair of alicorns would seem to be the perfect meal ticket. “Would you say a few words?” Doing everything she could to hide her unease, Sunset walked up as the thing she had come to this school to avoid shined down on her. Did Cadance have to go through with all of this? she wondered before bringing the microphone up with her magic to adjust for the difference in height between Sunset and the unicorn that was more than a head shorter than her. “Hello everypony,” Sunset said as she quickly tried to think of what to say next. Should she try to dissuade the students from using her title on the technicality that she was uncrowned and send a message to Cinch at the same that that she wasn’t some feather in the snooty unicorn’s cap? Outright tell them all that she didn’t want to be treated differently than anypony else? Laugh maniacally and try to recreate her reign at CHS in its entirely, this time for the full support of a government behind her? Sunset blinked at the last option that came to her mind. Ugh...I think I hurt my brain. “You know, a lot of ponies seem to be making a big deal out of the fact that a pony with a horn got a pair of these,” she said before looking back at her wings as she slowly spread them for all to see, and then turning back to the crowd. “And I’ve already seen how some can feel threatened by it.” The amber alicorn help back a sigh. She didn’t want to bring any of the baggage from the outside world into the high school bubble. “But I don’t really see that much of a difference between all of you and me of right now,” Sunset told them. “Sure I’ve got a Princess in front of my name, but at the moment the only orders I can give revolve around what I want for breakfast, lunch and dinner.” That got a little laugh from the students. “And while I’m not going to be stupid enough to think I won’t be thought of any differently than everypony else here, I will say that I didn’t come to this school to be fawned over.” Sunset’s tone lightened, and she found the words coming more freely than before. It was as if a light inside her just...turned on. “I came because I saw something special in it. But not in it’s curriculum, or sports team, or any kind of fancy equipment. I came because of its students. I came here because of all of you. I wanted to see you, to meet you all, and so...let’s all be good friends!” A part of her knew it all sounded cheesy, stupid, and was just about the corniest thing outside of an actual farm that raised the stuff, but...something about it just felt so...right. And it made her feel better than she had since before the weekend began. “Ooooooooh! Aaaaaaaah!” Sunset blinked in confusion as the crowd looked up at her in awe for a few seconds before they started applauding by stomping their hooves or clopping their hooves together, and then she backed up when the principal came forward to dismiss the assembly for third period. There was a bit of a smirk on Cadance’s face as she walked up to the amber alicorn.  “Showoff,” she said without any bite to it. Completely confused, Sunset just stared at her with a lost expression as she tried to find the words to eloquently state her discombobulation. “Huh?” “That shimmer in your hair at the end of your speech,” Cadance said with a smirk. “It was a nice touch. Almost made you look like Celestia for a few seconds.” In response, Sunset could only blink. All in all, Sunset found Canterlot Academy...pretty boring. The two classes she attended before the lunch bell rang seemed almost remedial compared to the lessons she only half-remembered from her time in Equestria and what she took on Earth. And although the history class that was scheduled after lunch was hopefully somewhere on the same level of challenge that Celestia’s school offered, Sunset didn’t much feel like learning something that Celestia herself had said was so edited that it might as well have been a fairy tale. Although, as she started to head down the hallway towards the giant dining area, Sunset did encounter something actually made her feel a bit more at ease about going to the school. “Princess Sunset! What clubs are you going to join?” “Do you want to be on the cheerleading squad Princess?” “...the magic club!” “......swim team!” “.........quidditch!...with uh, you know pegasi.” As dozens of other offers came in Sunset found herself actually blushing at the attention instead of putting on the mask of her old self and just letting her sponge of an ego simply absorb it all to increase in size. But whenever a small mob managed to corner her, the amber alicorn smiled and waved the offer off. “Well I’m still pretty new here, so how about you all just give me some time to look around, and I’ll give your offers some thought. Okay?” Then, she blinked when she come up on a group of three unicorn mares standing next to the entrance to the cafeteria. Even though there wasn’t any magic in use, Sunset could see their in-school social standing had created a kind of force field all its own that kept the other students from coming too close. The leader of the group was an exceptionally tall mare, although nowhere near equal to Sunset’s alicorn height. Still, the white mare with the long pink mane was obvious a product of good breeding and probably a few alchemical beauty treatments to get as tall as she was with such a long horn in imitation of some early paintings that showed Princess Celestia with such a coloration. The second was only a little shorter, with a blue coat and somewhat...rainbow-ish coloration to her mane, while the third member of the trio was considerably shorter than the other two and had a mane of light bluish-purple and a yellow coat. “Greetings, Princess Sunset,” the lead pony said with the hint of an accent before all three dipped into a short bow that made Sunset have to stop herself from cringing. Maybe one day she would get used to ponies bowing to her, but for the moment, it still made the alicorn uneasy to have others planting ther faces on the floor in front of her for a pair of wings she didn’t earn. “My name is Fleur de Lis, Your Highness. And these are my compatriots, Sassy Saddles, and Upper Crust. As the...ahem, Princess of Canterlot Academy, allow me to welcome you to our school. If you may, might the four of us speak in private?” Sunset glanced at the cafeteria, and then back to the other ponies. Despite the high social rank, they didn’t seem all that bad. “Well...I suppose,” she agreed. “Although, I do need to eat. So I’d appreciate it if you didn’t take the whole lunch period.” Another bow. “Of course Your Highness,” Fleur said before motioning to a spot down the hall and away from the crowd of ponies. “If you would?” Not seeing the point in arguing, Sunset followed the trio until they led her to a small nook in the hallway that one of the school’s larger windows created. Although not really that private, the extra bit of room and the group’s status allowed ponies to give them a wide berth and thus, plenty of room to talk. “Do not worry about being last in line for lunch Your Highness,” Sassy quickly told Sunset. “Yes, the ponies here know not to stand in the way of their betters,” Upper Crust added. With the yellow mare’s comment, Sunset found her patience quickly running short. “Look, just say what you need to say and let’s get this over with,” she said evenly before deciding to add a bit of an explanation as not to appear completely hostile to the three divas. “I’m hungry.” Fleur nodded. “Of course Highness. Although growing up here in Canterlot, you many not require them as much, but we wish to offer you the same services that we give to Princess Cadance.” “That poor mare,” Upper Crust added as she shook her head sadly. “Princess Celestia’s niece she may be, but she just carries on without a modicum of social navigation skills. Why, I’ve even heard she’s consorting with the lowest of the low these days!” Sassy giggled. “Well, everypony knows that ponies such as her should be the most charitable.” “Still, there are limits!” Crust went on. “I thought that polo captain was supposed to be keeping the bottom feeders away from the Princess.” Stopping her friends from continuing on as she cleared her throat, Fleur looked back to Sunset, who was fighting the urge not to kick the yellow pony through the window. An internal battle she might have been losing. “Yes...well, if you wish, we can show you around the social circles, Princess. But if you wish to simply be left to your own devices as Princess Cadance does, then we will put the word out that other ponies should stay clear of you.” Sunset was about to tell the three girls they could take their offer for help and shove it up their asses when another mare came trotting over to the group. “Oh, Sunset, there you are!” Right as Cheerilee entered Sunset’s field of vision, Sassy and Upper Crust moved moved to intercept her, with the taller pony intervening first. “Cheerilee dear, I’m afraid that the princess is much too busy to see you at the moment.” “What my friend here is too nice to say is that a pony such as yourself is not meant to converse with the likes of Princess Sunset Shimmer!” Upper Crust added with a sniff that made the earth pony actually back up a trot in fear. “Now, stop taking up so much of our air and...go plant a tree or something. That is what your kind of ponies do, correct?” Sunset’s eye twitched as she watched Cheerilee's expression turn to one of hurt and disappointment at being just tossed aside by proxy. “Okay first off,” she said before forcing herself between the two mares by walking in between them and lightly nudging the girls out of the way so they only stumbled about a foot before regaining their footing. “You two don’t speak for me, or anypony else.” She turned around to glare at the two, then the ring leader. “And Fleur, I’m sure in your super aristocratic, I-just-love-looking-down-on-everypony-else mind, you think you’re doing me a kindness,” Sunset went on with a little frown while giving her voice halfway-civil, half-disgusted tone. “So I’m going to let this one pass. But if you try to get between me and anypony that wants to talk to me from now on, I’ll contort that slim body of yours, shove you in a locker, and place a sealing spell on it that nopony short of my Mother could remove!” The threat made the classy mare’s eyes widen, and she instinctively backed away as Sunset threw out a wing to grab Cheerilee and pull her close. “Do we have an understanding?” “Y-Yes Princess,” all three of the girls spoke at the same time. Sunset gave them a curt nod. “Good! Now,” she said before looking over to the magenta mare in her wing’s grip. “Cheerilee, let’s get something to eat, and I’ll introduce you to the guys and Cadance.” Obviously overwhelmed by the attention, Cheerilee nodded dumbly for a few seconds before finding her voice. “T-Thank you, Princess” “It’s Sunset,” Sunset corrected her as she led the mare back towards the cafeteria. “So, what’s good to eat here, because I am starving!” It was a sign of the end times. Somewhere out there, an ancient prophecy probably spoke of it in some long forgotten place of Equestria. And it said something like ‘And there shall came a day when the topsy shall turn turvy, the pretty shall sit to dine with the nerdy, and all things will be undone!’ Because at the moment, Shining Armor’s world was currently turned on its head. As he sat in the school cafeteria, he felt as if every single stallion in the school was giving him a death glare because of the two mares flanking him as they sat at the long table meant for sitting about one-hundred-plus students. Even the three stallions sitting across from him seemed to be angry at the impossibility of the situation. And on top of all the guys, some of the more gender picky mares seemed to be calling for the unicorn’s head with their eyes. On his left sat a pony that could most definitely be called the prettiest mare in school, and probably ranked in the top five female ponies of all Equestria. It didn’t help that she was as nice as she was beautiful...most of the time. Although a small part of Shining had to wonder if the outbursts Cadance displayed meant something a bit more...wild lay beneath the princess’s surface. Then there was the newest alicorn in the school: Sunset Shimmer. Although not the textbook definition of beauty that Cadance was, she seemed to be every bit as friendly and much cooler than her pink counterpart in an action oriented kind of way that left Shining Armor a little more in awe of her abilities than he was gaga for Cadance’s looks. “Is something wrong Shining?” Cadance asked as she finished the second salad on her tray. From what Shining remembered of their meal at the fancy restaurant, both she and Sunset were eating light. His whole body had a tiny little spasm at the question, and the unicorn quickly looked over to Cadance to give her a forced smile. “Oh! It’s uh...nothing, Cadance,” Shining said. Then he looked back to his plate. “But uh...just out of curiosity, why are you eating with us? Don’t you usually eat by yourself on the roof, Princess?” Cadance got a strange regretful look in her eyes. “Sorry if I’m intruding.” “Because I dragged her over here,” Sunset said right as Cadance finished. She she looked back to the pink alicorn. “And the roof? Seriously Cadance? I know you can use those wings, but...that’s a little cliche, don’t you think?” Instead of drawing in on herself even more, the pink alicorn smirked back at the amber one. “Says the power-hungry shut-in of a nerd. Remind me, how many friends did you have two weeks ago?” Sunset snickered. “Point taken.” With the light verbal spar completed, the section of the table the seven ponies were occupying became a little quiet. Then, in what was an obvious attempt to keep the talking going, the earth pony with the bow tie looked over to the other member of his tribe sitting next to Sunset. “So, uh...Cheerilee, right? How do you know Princess Sunset?” “Well...I don’t,” she admitted a little uneasily. “The Princess just came across me in the hall and asked for directions to the principal’s office, then invited me to eat lunch with her. How did all of you meet her...Poindexter, right?” The stallion looked a little proud that girl had actually managed to remember his name for a second before Sunset suddenly cut in with a forced even tone. “I met them and Shining’s house on Saturday, when they left me unconscious on the floor after Shining and I got done fooling around.” Shining Armor’s face turned red as his unfortunate stallion mind realized how that could very well be taken. It almost sounded like Sunset wanted other ponies to think they had… “Sunset!” Cadance scolded the other demigoddess. Much to Shining’s surprise, Sunset’s eyes went wide, and she shrunk in on herself. “Sorry. Sorry everyb-pony,” she apologized before looking over to the white stallion. “Sorry Shiny. I just, um...have a problem with letting the wrong words out sometimes.” The unicorn nodded, hoping that Sunset didn’t see his blush. “It’s...okay.” It’s not that he didn’t want to...well...take a ride on Sunset Shimmer. Anypony in their right mind would have sold their front legs just for a chance to get that close to royalty. But...he also couldn’t help but remember what Princess Cadance had told him about Sunset, and the things Shining had already witnessed when it came to the impossibly amazing pony. And then there was how she had just gushed at Twilight the other day. While Cadance had said that their time together in the restaurant had gone off perfectly, Shining felt a little confused at the fact that the mare that came over for a game of O&O suddenly became obsessed with Shining’s little sister on the same day. So...more than a little part of the stallion had to wonder if he was just going to be completely cast aside when Sunset found somepony more interesting than Shining Armor to hang out with. Of which he knew there were plenty. Twilight Sparkle had been enough to pull her away from him for crying out loud! “I’m sorry, I…” Sunset let out a long sigh and looked down to her empty tray. “You know, I should probably go check out some of those clubs. See you on the walk home, Shining?” Shining Armor blinked in confusion. “Walk home? What for?” The question made Sunset roll her eyes, as if the answer was obvious. The smile on her face kept it from behind too mean-looking though. “Well, I do need to meet with your parents to see if they’ll let me tutor Twilight in magic,” she said before standing up and backing away from the table with her try held in midair. “I’ll see you after school by the front gate, okay?” Without even waiting for an answer from Shining, the amber alicorn turned and quickly trotted away from the six ponies. So, a little lost, he turned to the relationship councilor who had been kidnapping him for the past week of school to give tips on what to do...most of which involved opening his mouth and making the sound he wanted to come out be right when around an alicorn. “Uh...did I do something wrong?” Cadance looked away from the retreating princess and over to Shining Armor with a sympathetic smile. “No, it’s just...Sunset has a little bit of relationship baggage that she’s having some problems with,” she said before backing up and grabbing her tray in enough magic that made Shinning Armor’s horn feel a tenth as long as it really was. “Come on, let’s go show her everything’s okay.” Not wanting to argue with a princess, Shining Armor quickly finished the last of his lunch and followed her down the aisle. But not quickly enough that he didn’t pick up the murmurs of his friends though. “I can’t believe I used to be jealous of him for all of that,” Eight-Bit said. “The word you're looking for is envious,” Gaffer corrected him. “Right Poindexter?” The other stallion smiled at the magenta mare sitting across from him in a goofy way, completely oblivious to the other two stallions. “So...braces, huh?”