IX - The Canterlot Mercenary Club
“Order, please.”
Rainbow Dash snickered behind Rarity as she reached a hand forward and petted little Pound Cake’s head. “Oh, he is so precious. And he seems to have really taken a shine to you.”
Sunset’s eye twitched as Pound Cake giggled and squirmed about in her hold. “Order, please.”
“Why ah think ya make a great babysitter,” Applejack commented. “Never knew ya had such a soft spot for the kids, though.”
Sunset felt a vein popping beneath her eye. “Order, now.”
“How d’you get him to sleep though?” Rainbow Dash asked, still snickering as she leaned onto the counter with a coy grin. “I’ve heard you sing, and it’s not that good.”
“ORDER!” Sunset snapped, startling the girls in front of her and the baby in her arms. As Pound Cake began to cry, Sunset had to restrain the curses in her throat as she carried him quickly into the living room. “Snails, take over!”
“Need any help?” Fluttershy asked as Sunset retreated, but was only answered by the slamming of the door. “Oh, um… okay…”
Sunset paced around the living room, gently rocking the baby in her arms and gritting her teeth together. “I should have known better than to visit the café that they frequent.” Pound Cake’s crying seemed to stop for a second, but it started back up after a momentary hiccup. “Of course, it’s not like I was expecting this to happen.”
As Pound Cake’s crying slowly started to die down, Sunset Shimmer sighed and approached his bottle lying nearby. She picked it up and offered it to the baby, who quickly snatched it from her hand and happily began to drink away.
“Well, so long as they pay me for this…” After seeing that Pound Cake had calmed down, Sunset Shimmer decided to head back out into the café and continue her work. “Better get this over with. And you,” she said to Pound with a glare. “Stop causing me so much trouble.”
“Pinkie!” Pound cried as he reached forward and grabbed Sunset’s nose.
“… My name is Sunset Shimmer,” she said as she removed the hand around her nose and walked towards the door leading into the café.
Snails saluted Sunset Shimmer as she walked back out of the living room and stepped up to the counter. She looked around to find that the girls were no longer there. “Did they leave?”
“Yes, ma’am!” Snails replied. “They took their orders and said that they would be heading to the arcade, ma’am!”
“The arcade?” Sunset said with a scoff. “Yeah, sure. ‘Cause I totally wouldn’t rather spend my time there than here.”
“You can go if you want!” Snips said quickly. “We can take care of things here, and you can go have some fun!”
Sunset gave the boy a flat stare. “You honestly think I would leave you two to take care of a baby?”
“Aw, how hard could it be?” Snips asked, approaching Pound Cake and scratching under his chin. The baby responded by opening his mouth and clamping it around Snips’ finger. “… YAAAAAAAH! Get it off, GET IT OFFFFF!”
“He has one tooth,” Sunset said as she pulled Pound Cake away. “Anyway, I wouldn’t want to go to the arcade if they were there, so it doesn’t matter.” Sunset turned away from her two servants to face her next customer. “Now, who’s nex- Oh, you have got to be kidding me.”
“Good afternoon,” Celestia said as she smiled down at her student. “I wasn’t aware that you were working today.”
“I wasn’t,” Sunset said with a groan. “I was just checking this place out when suddenly, Pumpkin Cake had to be rushed to the emergency room for ingesting some silica gel.”
“Oh dear.”
“I’m just covering for the Cakes for a little extra money,” Sunset finished.
“You’re covering for them?” Celestia asked as she turned to the kitchen to see Snips and Snails frantically baking treats and handing them out to customers.
“… They told me to watch the store and the kid. They never said to work the store. Anyway, what are you doing here?”
“Is there a problem with me being here?”
“You don’t exactly blend in,” Sunset said in a flat tone as she looked around at all of the quiet students sitting around the café.
“I suppose not,” Celestia admitted with a laugh. “The truth is, I wanted to take a look at some of the places my students ‘hang out’ at. By the way, is it always so quiet in here?”
“That’s only because you’re here,” Sunset told her.
Celestia looked around with a raised eyebrow. “Is that so?” The students tried their best not to stare at their principal watching over them, and not a single one of them dared to utter a single word. “It’s okay,” she told them. “You don’t have to be quiet on my account. I’m not your principal outside of school.”
After a few tense moments, one student sitting in front of Celestia leaned forward to say something to his friend. “Ah-ah!” Celestia said suddenly, startling the student. “No slouching. You’ll hurt your back.”
“Um, s-sorry,” the student said as he quickly straightened his back. Whatever he was about to say was lost as he simply stared down at the table nervously.
“So, you gonna order something or what?” Sunset asked.
Celestia turned back to Sunset Shimmer and smiled at the baby in her arms. “Is that one of the children you sit for?” she asked as she leaned in to take a closer look. “He’s a cute one. What’s his name?”
Sunset felt another headache coming on. “I’ll tell you what. You order something, and that will be his name!”
Celestia leaned back and put a finger to her chin. “Then in that case, how about a pound cake?”
Sunset stared at her principal in disbelief. “… You knew his name already, didn’t you?”
“I’ve met the Cakes before. Good people.”
“Then why did you ask me what his name is?”
“Because you need to work on your social skills,” Celestia said with a grin. “Actually, I’m trying to cut back on the junk food. But I suppose Luna will probably like a slice of chocolate cake.”
“Snips! We got any more chocolate cake?!”
“We’re making one now!”
“I’ll be happy to wait,” Celestia said, bringing a sigh from Sunset Shimmer.
“Yay. Lucky me. Alright, whatever. Just move aside for the next customer.”
Celestia moved to the side to allow the next customer, a teenaged-looking boy in a brown biker jacket and with a slicked-back hairstyle, to make his order. Instead, though, the boy simply approached and leaned onto the counter.
“Hey there. I couldn’t help but notice you while I was walking by. Sunset Shimmer, right?”
“Order?” Sunset asked as Pound Cake attempted to climb out of her arms. She adjusted her hold to make it even harder for the baby to escape.
“I know you’re busy right now, but I was thinkin’ maybe you and me could go do something fun when you get off work.”
Sunset ignored Celestia’s giggles and reached for Pound Cake’s pacifier on the counter whilst the baby continued to struggle in her hold. “It’s ‘you and I’, and no offence, but I’d rather spend the day taking care of this little monster.”
“So you like kids then?” the boy asked, not picking up on the disgusted tone as she referred to the baby. “Yeah, kids are cool. I love ‘em, too. Isn’t that crazy? It’s like it was meant to be.”
Celestia’s giggling grew louder whilst Sunset’s patience grew less. As she placed the pacifier in Pound Cake’s mouth, an idea came to her mind and she turned to the boy with a grin. “Oh, you like kids? Then perhaps you could be a dear and do me a favour.”
“Sure, whatever you need.”
“Could you change Pound’s diaper?” Sunset asked, holding the baby out to the boy. “I think he drank some bad milk, ‘cause let me tell you, it does not smell nice.”
The boy gulped and slowly backed away. “E-Er, that’s… I-I just remembered I got somewhere to be, bye!” The boy turned tail and fled quickly, knocking a couple of children over on his way out of the store.
Meanwhile, Celestia’s giggles continued to grow. “What a waste. I think the two of you would have looked cute together.”
“With that loser?” Sunset scoffed. “I think not. You saw how useless he was when I asked a simply request of him. If a boy wants to date me, they had better be prepared to follow me, even into Tartarus.”
“Tar-what now?” Celestia asked.
“Oh, it’s what you Americans would call ‘Hell’,” Sunset explained. “In any case, I’m not the least bit interested in dates.”
“But you’re at that age,” Celestia said. “And you always look so lonely whenever you attend our school’s parties. You might like the company of a nice boyfriend around.”
“Instead of worrying about my love life, why don’t you focus on your own?” Sunset smirked as she leaned onto the counter. “Made any progress with him yet?”
Celestia’s smile faded and a drop of sweat fell down her forehead. “I… have no idea what you’re referring to.”
“You know, Mr. Explosive Maniac himself, Discord?” Sunset chuckled at the twitching of Celestia’s eye. “You two certainly seem to hit it off great.”
“That mad man?!” Celestia shouted, bringing the café into complete silence for a moment before the buzzing of students talking started back up again. “I told you already, there’s nothing between us, and there never will be!”
“Mhm? And is that why he’s the only one who can make you flip your top like this?”
“That’s because he’s irrational, he’s a menace, he’s a terrible teacher, and he gives me nothing but nonsense answers and smart-aleck remarks!”
“Then fire him,” Sunset said. “He’s certainly destroyed enough school property for you to do that. Or could it be that there’s something holding you back? Like, hidden feelings for him?”
Celestia blushed and took a step back, her lips firmly closed together and her eyes trembling as her sweat increased. “A-Anyway, I believe I’ve collected enough information here. I’m a very busy woman, so if you’ll excuse me…”
Celestia walked quickly towards the café’s exit, leaving Sunset alone at the counter with no more customers to serve and a very satisfied look on her face. “Well, that certainly made up for wasting my time here.”
“Where’d the principal go?” Snips asked as he arrived at Sunset’s side with a plate containing a slice of hot chocolate cake.
“She ran away,” Sunset said with a victorious smile. “I used her weakness against her.”
“Her weakness?” Snips asked. “What’s that?”
“Never you mind. You just focus on serving our customers. I’m going to take a break.”
“What?! But-”
“I’m sorry, did I stutter?” Sunset asked. Snips quickly straightened his stance and shook his head. “Good. Then get back to work, and don’t get the orders mixed up.”
As Sunset rounded the corner of the counter and made her way towards a vacant seat by the window with Pound still in her arms, three little girls quickly intercepted her, halting Sunset in her path. “Hey, did we hear right?!” the middle girl asked.
Sunset recognised the three little monsters. To her right was Sweetie Belle, a cute young freshman with a beautiful voice, but unfortunately hindered by stagefright. She is also Rarity’s younger sister.
In the middle of the trio was Apple Bloom, a cheery young bundle of energy, also a freshman, who loved DIY projects and was at the top of all of her Design and Technology classes. She is also Applejack’s younger sister.
And finally, to Sunset’s left was Scootaloo, also a freshman, and an athlete in the Soccer Club. She had multiple bandages down her body, most likely from scooter-related accidents. She was fast and very agile, but her grades were abysmal. She is also Rainbow Dash’s ‘younger sister’.
“What do you three want now? If it’s about your stupid little club, I already approved it!”
“It’s not that,” Scootaloo said.
“We overheard you talking to Celestia about her and Discord being an item,” Sweetie Belle asked. “Is that true?”
Sunset rolled her eyes and walked past the three, sitting down at the vacant seat and setting Pound Cake down on the table in front of her. “That’s not quite the case. She just has the hots for him but is in denial about it.”
“What about Discord?” Apple Bloom asked.
Sunset shrugged. “Who knows? I can’t understand that guy at all. But from how much he intentionally tries to wind her up, I’d say it’s likely.”
The three girls exchanged excited looks and nodded. That was never a good sign. “Alright, then it’s settled!” Apple Bloom said. “We’ll help those two get together and become the next big heroes of our school!”
“But what about our current job for Diamond Tiara?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“Forget it! The school’s newspaper is doomed to fail anyway,” Scootaloo said. “Nothing interesting ever happens around here. Or when it does, it’s when we don’t have a camera…”
“Right, so we’re in agreement then?” Apple Bloom asked.
All together, the three girls shouted, “Canterlot Mercenary Club, move out!”
Sunset watched as the three girls bolted out of the café, almost knocking over many customers in the process. “… Whether they’re babies or preteens, kids will always be the bane of my sanity,” Sunset sighed as lay back in her seat, with Pound Cake cheering and clapping at her misfortune.
The structure of a nucleus was something that Sunset Shimmer had down when she was still making paper mâché art in elementary school. Covalent and ionic bonding was a concept she understood through one flick of a text book during recess, and she had already dedicated the names and uses of over a hundred isotopes within her first year at Celestia’s School.
So the idea of having to draw ‘X’s on twenty different circles to show she understood electron configuration was not even a challenge for her, nor was it the least bit entertaining. It was simply tedious, and a waste of her time that could be better spent on more important work.
To make matters worse, she couldn’t simply doze off in class for the remainder of the hour. Not because her teacher was strict, but because he was loud, and, for lack of a better term, a ‘nutjob’.
His fashion sense alone made that perfectly clear; his ‘suit’ seemed to be half of a business suit and half of a blown costume sewn together, his shoes consisted of one trainer on his left foot and one hiking boot on his right, and his gloves were mismatched as well, his right one being bright yellow and rubbery and his left one being black and made of leather.
His long white beard gave him the appearance of a wise old sage from storybooks, whilst the tinfoil hat on his head, sticking up in the shape of antlers, just made him look like a conspiracy theory lunatic. And that was just his appearance. His actions solidified the fact that judging this book by its cover was the right thing to do.
Everybody knew that Discord was missing more than just a few screws in his head, and that’s what they loved about the crazy teacher… most of the time. Sunset, however, just found him to be another loud voice drilling into her head in this crazy world.
“What’s wrong, Miss Shimmer?” Discord asked as he towered over the bored-looking student, a frown on his face. “I do try to make my lessons fun, but you don’t seem to be enjoying them!”
“That’s because you keep giving us this kid stuff,” Sunset replied. “There’s not really much fun to be had sitting quietly whilst everybody else struggles to keep up.” Sunset could plainly see the frowns and scowls on her classmates’ faces, but she couldn’t care less.
“Oh my! I hadn’t thought about that,” Discord said as he put a hand to his chin, rubbing his beard. “Ah! I’ve got it!” Discord ran back towards his desk and pulled out a soft, spongy yellow ball from inside his drawer. “Let’s play a little catch whilst we wait for everybody else to finish! Then you won’t be sitting around with nothing to do.” Discord threw the ball at Sunset Shimmer, who was caught off guard by the sudden invitation and just barely managed to catch the ball.
“W- I’m not interested in catch,” Sunset said with a scowl.
“Then how about operation?” Discord asked, suddenly at Sunset Shimmer’s desk with a number of board games at his disposal. “I personally have never failed once in my life, so you’ve certainly got a challenge there.”
“Mr. Discord! Can I play too?” a student asked from the other side of the room.
“Once you’ve answered all questions correctly, and raise your hand when you wish to speak! This is a classroom, not a playground!”
“You know that Celestia will dock you pay again if she finds you trying to play games in class,” Sunset said.
Discord laughed and walked back to his desk with his games. “Oh noooo! The big, bad principal is going to dock my pay. Whatever shall I dooooo?” Discord reached into his desk and pulled out a pink cake with seven candles on it. “If that’s the price I have to pay to spread a little fun around here, then so be it!”
“Um, you know that Celestia has a strict policy against sweets in class,” Fluttershy reminded her teacher as he scooped up a chunk of cake in his leather gloved-hand and took a bite out of it.
After swallowing, Discord simply shrugged. “That old stick in the mud needs to liven up! The classroom should be a place of fun and freedom, not a place to be shackled to her overweight ankles.”
“Is that so?” Discord, and almost every student in the class, froze in place at the sound of their principal’s voice at the classroom’s door. Slowly, Discord turned his head to see a calm-looking Celestia before him, though if one looked closely, it would appear that a wall of fire was raging behind the principal. “‘Overweight’, huh? Coming from the one stuffing his face with sweets just an hour before lunch.”
“This is my lunch,” Discord pointed out. “I’m just feeling a little peckish, so I decided to start early. Anyway, I was just pointing out that your figure is just a little-”
Discord was silence by a stack of papers being smacked into his face. “I want this report redone, not in crayon, and with the word count actually met.”
“You said ten thousand words!”
“And you gave me ten pictures.”
Discord sighed and shook his head. “Oh, but dear Celly, don’t you know? ‘A picture is worth a thousand words’.”
Celestia once again smacked the stack of papers into Discords face and then slammed them onto his desk. “No pictures.”
“Tch, fiiiine.” As Celestia turned to leave, Discord blew a raspberry. He stopped as she momentarily turned around, and then continued as she once again made to leave the classroom.
After she had rounded the corner, Discord picked up the papers on his desk and stared at them for a couple of second. He then turned to the class and asked, “Who here wants to earn some extra credit?”
Nobody responded. Instead, every student in the classroom, save for Sunset Shimmer, kept their heads down and worked silently on their work. Discord stared in bewilderment before donning a proud smile. ‘Man, I’m a good teacher.’
After her Chemistry lesson, Sunset decided to pay the library a visit to check out some books on mirrors. She figured that, even if it was a long shot, she might find something in them about magic.
As she proceeded down the hallway, she couldn’t help but notice the large scaffold that some workers were using earlier to work on the ceiling. However, the ones at the top were most certainly not workers. They were…
“What are you three doing up there?” Sunset asked the three ‘Mercenaries’ at the top.
“Ssh!” Apple Bloom replied. “Get out of the way! They’ll be here soon!”
Sunset raised an eyebrow. “Who?”
Sweetie Belle signalled for Sunset to climb up to them. With some reluctance, she grabbed the ladder and slowly made her way up. “Hey, you know it’s dangerous up here, right?”
“We’re not dumb,” Scootaloo said, pointing to the bright yellow hardhat on her head. The other two girls were also wearing similar hats, and Sweetie Belle offered one to Sunset Shimmer, who put it on.
“We set up a trap for ‘em,” Apple Bloom said. “We got Celestia and Discord to both agree to comin’ here at the same time.”
“They’re so gonna fall in love when they meet each other here,” Sweetie Belle said with a giggle.
“You think that’s all it will take?” Sunset asked. “If eye contact was all it took to fall in love, those two would have been a couple long ago.”
“It’s not the eye contact that’ll do it,” Apple Bloom said. “It’s this.”
Sunset grew concerned at the bucket of water in Apple Bloom’s hands. “What’s that?”
“A bucket of water.”
“I know that! I mean, what are you going to use it for?!”
“We’re gonna dump it on Celestia’s head,” Scootaloo said. “Then yell ‘watch out!’, and Discord will swoop in to save Celestia and the two will fall instantly in love!”
“… That has to be the most stupid thing ever,” Sunset said. “You really think protecting her from some water will do the trick?”
“Who said anythin’ ‘bout just the water?” Apple Bloom asked. “We’re gonna drop the whole thing down!”
Sunset’s eyes grew wide suddenly. “You idiots! That’s too dangerous!”
“We already said we’d alert them,” Sweetie Belle said.
“And what if they don’t react in time?! Or if Discord doesn’t manage to get Celestia out of the way quickly enough?! And even if he does, Discord would still end up in harm’s-” Sunset stopped to consider whether that would truly be such a bad thing. “A-Anyway, it’s too dangerous! Someone could get hurt, or worse.”
The three girls looked down with saddened looks on their faces. “Yeah, ah guess ye’re right…”
“We just wanted so bad to do a job right for once,” Sweetie Belle said.
A thought crossed Sunset’s mind. “Well then, how about the three of you give me a hand with my research?”
Scootaloo gagged. “You want us to study outside of class?”
“Not like ya study in class,” Apple Bloom said, causing Sweetie Belle to giggle and Scootaloo to scowl.
“I’m not saying it will involve studying,” Sunset clarified. “I just need somebody to help me find the books I want and to do some jobs for me so that I have more time to study.”
“What about Snips and Snails?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“The last time I asked those two to bring me some books, half of them were too torn up to be read.”
“Maybe we should try this,” Apple Bloom suggested. “Think about it: if Sunset Shimmer becomes a doctor or a professor and makes some great invention, we’ll be the ones who helped her do it!”
“And then we’ll be famous!” Scootaloo gasped.
“And rich!” Apple Bloom added.
“We’ll have all the boys coming after us!” Sweetie Belle shouted excitedly. She received a blank look from Apple Bloom and a disgusted look from Scootaloo. “You know, so we can make them compete for our attentions by doing things for us.”
“Well, we’d better hurry,” Sunset said. “Our lunch break will end soon enough, and I’m sure you wouldn’t want to stay behind helping me out after school.”
Apple Bloom nodded and placed her bucket down. “Canterlot Mercenary Club, let’s move out!”
“Canterlot Mercenary Club, ah’m exhausted,” Apple Bloom sighed as she rested her head against a bookcase, her hands shaking under the pile of books that she was carrying. “Since when was our library this big?”
“It’s always been big,” Scootaloo said. “There’s like, three floors and over a hundred sections.”
“How do you know that?” Sweetie Belle asked as she pushed a ladder along a bookcase.
“The comics used to be on the top floor, but they moved towards the back of the bottom floor last month,” Scootaloo explained. “This place is like a maze if you don’t know your way around! Does anyone even use most of these books?”
“Mah granny said this place used ta be a university back when she was our age. She said it was ‘downsized’ or somethin’ ‘cause of some ‘unepical research’.”
“You mean ‘unethical’?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“Ah dunno. Ah don’t even know what ‘downsizing’ is. All ah know is that Granny says this place became a high school, but a lot of the facilities stayed. Ah guess the library is one of ‘em.”
“Come to think of it,” Sweetie Belle started, “Isn’t the library open outside of school hours to the public? I think I remember my dad coming here a few times while I was on my way home.”
“Okay, I think that’s… half of them,” Scootaloo said as she added one more book to her ever-growing stack. “GAH! Why does she want so many books?!”
“Well, ah officially can’t carry anymore!” Apple Bloom said as she slowly lifted a foot off the floor in order to turn around. “Let’s jus’ take these back ta Sunset and demand our pay!”
“We weren’t charging her, though,” Sweetie Belle said. “Come to think of it, we never charge any of our clients. Perhaps we should start doing that.”
“Well I’m with Apple Bloom,” Scootaloo agreed. “I mean, I could carry like, twenty more of these things, no problem! But, er, you two look like you really need a break…” Scootaloo’s eyes shifted left-and-right as she slowly turned around to face the same direction as Apple Bloom.
“Then let’s get back ta Sunset Shimmer!” Apple Bloom declared. “… Uh, which way did we come from, again?”
“Here!” Apple Bloom shouted as she dumped her stack of books onto Sunset Shimmer’s table, startling the girl who was in deep concentration towards whatever book she had been reading.
“It’s way too much,” Sweetie Belle complained. “There’s no way we could carry all of the books you asked for!”
“Plus they’re hard to find,” Scootaloo added. “It took us forever just to find these ones!”
Sunset raised an eyebrow and turned to the clock behind her. “Oh. You have been gone a while, haven’t you? Lunch is almost over.”
“Maybe ya should’ve given us a smaller list,” Apple Bloom suggested.
“Well I never said that you had to find all of them at once,” Sunset argued. “I assumed that you would have known to only bring what you can carry. And as for finding them, we have an electronic search system installed on all of the library’s computers.”
The three Mercenaries exchanged glances before turning back to Sunset Shimmer. “We do?” Scootaloo asked in a surprised tone.
“We only use those fer checkin’ our blogs an’ uploadin’ videos,” Apple Bloom said. “Then Miss Cheerilee kicks us out fer causin’ a ruckus.”
With a sigh, Sunset Shimmer rose to her feet and marked a page in the book she had been reading. Closing it up, she gathered it and five other books from the pile that the girls had given her. “Well, it’s too late to make use of these now. I’ll just take these five and read the others later.”
“After all the work we went through, ye’re only takin’ five?!” Apple Bloom shouted.
“I can only carry five, and you might want to keep your voice down. This is a library.”
Scootaloo groaned and kicked the floor. “I’m not putting those back!”
“You don’t have to,” Sunset said. “The librarian will likely do it whilst we’re in class, which you three should be going to before the bell rings.
“An’ what about you?” Apple Bloom asked. “There’s no way ye’re fittin’ those in yer bag. Are ya jus’ gonna carry them around with ya all day?”
“I’m going to retire to the rooftop and read through all five of these before the day’s end,” Sunset told them.
“Hey, no fair!” Scootaloo protested, her two friends nodding in agreement. “Why should we go to class if you don’t go?!”
“Because I’m the Student Council President,” Sunset answered. “I make the rules, and you follow them! Besides, I don’t need to go to class. Everything this school’s curriculum has to teach me I mastered a long time ago, whereas these books might actually contain something new for me to learn. When you think about it that way, it’s really the more logical choice.”
“Your next teacher is Mr. Doodle though, right?” Sweetie Belle asked. “He won’t be very happy if he catches you skipping his class.”
“You think I haven’t prepared for that?” Sunset asked. “As we speak, a perfect alibi is being crafted for me right now.”
“Sick?” Cranky Doodle Donkey asked Cheerilee as he walked alongside his fellow teacher down the school’s long hallway. “Sunset Shimmer is sick? That’s rare. It’s not a family-based holiday today, is it?”
Cheerilee shook her head. “Everybody gets sick, Mr. Doo- Er, Cranky.”
“Not her. I swear, the girl has some magical enchantment on her that keeps her strong and energetic at all times.”
“Well, maybe ‘sick’ isn’t the right term… The nurse thinks it might be food poisoning.”
Cranky scoffed. “Well, whatever. I suppose I’ll let it slide this one time, since it can’t really be helped. And how is Miss Shimmer?”
“She’s resting in the infirmary,” Cheerilee said. “Her guardian can’t pick her up until after school hours, so she’ll be resting there for the rest of the day.”
“Maybe I’ll drop by and pay her a visit after my next class, then. Since I’ll have an hour to spare, after all.”
Cheerilee bit her lip and quickly shook her head. “Not a good idea. She was throwing up an awful lot and the nurse said that nobody should bother her while she’s in this state.”
Cranky stopped and gave the teacher a sceptical look. Cheerilee simply smiled innocently in response, a squee coming from her mouth as her toothy grin grew larger. With a sigh, Cranky decided to accept the story and continue on down the hallway.
Cheerilee, however, rounded the next corner and parted ways from Cranky. As she passed by an empty classroom, Cheerilee looked both ways in order to confirm that the hallway was empty, and then stepped inside.
“Well?” Cheerilee asked as she closed the door. “Did the nurse agree to help us out?”
“Eeyup,” Big Macintosh said as pushed up from the wall he was leaning against and approached his teacher. “All ah have ta do is fix up a swingset for her kids this weekend, an’ she’ll cobberate our story.”
“‘Corroborate’, Big Mac,” Cheerilee corrected with a waggle of her finger, before giggling and leaning in to kiss him. The two parted moments later, both blushing, and both feeling their hearts racing as they turned back towards the classroom door. “Classes will be starting up soon. You had best be going now. It won’t do to have you be late and get detention.”
“Eenope,” Big Mac agreed. “Not unless it’s a detention with you.”
“Oh, you,” Cheerilee laughed as she stepped aside to let her student pass. As the door closed behind Big Macintosh, Cheerilee released a sigh and walked towards the empty desk, sitting down at it and resting her head on her hands. ‘Honestly, though, that Sunset Shimmer is something else. She didn’t seem to think much of it when she caught us, but then two months later she uses it to force a favour from us!
‘… I wonder what she needs this alibi for, anyway?’
“Hey, maybe we can skip class with you!” Scootaloo suggested. “We can, like, help you study and stuff!”
“We’ll do a much better job this time for sure,” Sweetie Belle said.
“No,” Sunset said simply. “You three need to go to class, especially Scootaloo. I’ve seen your grades, and they’re nothing to be proud of.”
Scootaloo fumed whilst Apple Bloom glared. Sweetie Belle, however, concocted a mischievous grin as she approached Sunset Shimmer. “Well, I suppose we could go to class,” she said. “But of course, then there would be nothing to stop us from being witnesses to your crime when Mr. Doodle decides to investigate.”
Sunset’s eyes widened in shock. “A-Are you threatening me?”
“On the other hand,” Sweetie Belle continued, “If we were accomplices to your crime, then there would be no way we would tell the truth to anybody. Right, girls?”
Apple Bloom and Scootaloo adopted the same grins as their friend and nodded their heads. “Riiiiight,” Apple Bloom said. “Only way ta guarantee our silence is ta let us tag along.”
Sunset regarded the three girls with a look of surprise and aggravation. Finally, she sighed. “Alright, fine,” she grumbled as she passed the three. “You girls can come along, but only for today!”
“YAY! Canterlot Mercenary Club Class Skippers!” the three girls shouted in unison, almost deafening Sunset Shimmer and causing a glass of water on her table to shatter.
As the four walked through the library towards its exit, Sunset gave Sweetie Belle a momentary glance of intrigue. “Hey.”
“Yeah?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“… You’re good,” Sunset said.
Sweetie Belle simply giggled and blushed. “I get it from my sister.”
Sunset sighed as she closed the book she was reading and placed her fingers to the bridge of her nose. “Nothing in here, either…” Looking up to the three girls playing around on their separate laptops, Sunset knew that it was going to be a long shot, but she asked anyway. “You girls find anything?”
“Huh?” Scootaloo asked. “Oh! Uh, nope! Not ye- HEY!”
Sunset narrowed her eyes at the three girls. “You’re just playing games, aren’t you?”
The three stopped and looked at each other. “… Maybe,” Apple Bloom said finally.
“Well… I can’t say I didn’t suspect that sooner,” Sunset admitted as she turned to her final book. “Maybe I’m expecting too much from a high school library…”
“Well, ‘magic mirrors’ doesn’t exactly sound like something you’d find information on just lying around,” Sweetie Belle said. “I mean, we did look it up for you, but most of what we got was just RPG gaming stuff, and the rest was just mythology that you dismissed right away.”
“I’ve already looked at all of this world’s mythoses,” Sunset said. “I’ve done extended reading into them and can safely conclude that not a single one related to magic mirrors is factual. It can all be explained scientifically.”
“Why are ya so interested in this stuff, anyway?” Apple Bloom asked. “D’ya really miss yer home that much?”
Sunset waved a hand. “Not at all. It’s not that I miss it. It’s just that I have unfinished business there, that’s all.”
“Like what?” Scootaloo asked. “Last time, you tried to go back there as a demon, right? What kind of ‘unfinished business’ do you have there?”
“It’s… complicated,” Sunset said.
“Well, we’re mighty interested in hearin’ yer story,” Apple Bloom said.
Sunset turned to the three girls to find them all paying her their fullest of attentions, eager looks on each of their faces. With a sigh, she continued. “My former mentor there… she abandoned me, because she feared my power. My potential.”
Sweetie Belle titled her head. “You’re that strong?”
Sunset shook her head. “Not yet, but I could have been a princess by now, if only my mentor hadn’t feared what power I possessed. From the moment I looked into that mirror, I knew that I was destined for greatness. But there was something else in my reflection that I couldn’t comprehend, and I still can’t, to this day. I think it was the key to my success.”
“Did ya ask yer mentor what it meant?” Apple Bloom asked.
Suddenly, Sunset’s hand curled into a fist and her expression darkened. “Yes… and that was the beginning of it all. No matter how many times I asked, my mentor, she simply refused to tell me anything, stating that all will become clear when I am ready.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“It means that she was keeping something from me,” Sunset said. “She knew what that image was but wouldn’t tell me, hiding behind the excuse that I wasn’t ready, when I was already performing magic at a postgraduate level!”
Sunset slammed her fist onto the hard stone floor beneath her and gritted her teeth together. “I couldn’t sleep at night. Every time I closed my eyes, that image in the mirror was all that I could see. Since my mentor refused to tell me anything, I decided that I would resort to the one thing that had never let me down: books.
“The only books that would give me my answer, though, were forbidden by Royal Decree. Of course, I had always had access to whatever reading material I had wanted before, and my mentor would always offer me her help whenever I wanted to find specific information. But this time… this time, she would not allow it, and she exiled me as her student, forever.”
“That’s so sad,” Apple Bloom said, a frown on her face.
“I think I know why she did it, though,” Sunset said. “She had never been afraid to offer me her help up until that point, so why then? What made her suddenly punish me without any mercy, not even offering me the chance to appeal or show that my newfound knowledge could help our kingdom? The answer is simple, when you think about it: she fears me. She fears that I may surpass her one day, and so she put a tight leash around my neck to ensure that day would never come.
“But I escaped. I fled from her prison and made my way here, and I schemed… I schemed of the day that I would return, and I would show her that I have surpassed her training, surpassed all of her expectations, and become more powerful than she could ever hope to be!”
The three girls simply stared with wide eyes as Sunset Shimmer took heavy breaths before them, the cold wind blowing through their hairs as silence reigned for a full minute.
“Why d’ya have ta do that, though?” Apple Bloom asked. Sunset turned to her with a questioning look on her face. “Ah mean, if ya don’t really care ‘bout what’s in yer other world, why go through the trouble of showin’ up jus’ one person? Why not jus’ let it slide an’ live yer life here, happy?”
Sunset huffed and turned her head away. “A child wouldn’t understand. My entire life was devoted to serving her, to showing her what I could do. But she betrayed me. She shattered my entire reason for living with just one action… and so all that I have left now, is showing her that I have surpassed her tutelage.”
“But you have friends here,” Sweetie Belle said.
“They’re not my friends,” Sunset argued. “I don’t have friends. I don’t need friends. Friendship only slows you down and hinders your judgement at a critical moment. What I have are allies and assets to help me achieve my goal. Nothing more, nothing less.”
Apple Bloom put a finger to her chin. “But, ya always work so hard on school events an’ makin’ sure everyone follows the school rules. Why’s that?”
Sunset was silent for a moment. “J-Just a simple pastime, that’s all.”
“I don’t think so,” Scootaloo said. “When Rainbow Dash was hurt by those Shadowbolt guys, you were the one most fired-up about beating them.”
“Ah!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed. “I know! You were the Student Council President at your old school, weren’t you?”
Sunset shook her head. “Wasn’t allowed to be. Never had the time, what with all the training I had to go through.”
“Then… you’re trying to make up for the chance you missed?”
With a groan, Sunset shook her head again. “Look, I just like being in a position of leadership, okay? I don’t know, maybe it’s because my chance at being a princess was robbed from me.”
“Applejack says it’s ‘cause ye’re really nice under that thick skin,” Apple Bloom said, startling Sunset Shimmer. “She said it’s ‘cause ya genuinely want everyone at this school ta be happy an’ enjoy themselves, but ya jus’ have a hard time showin’ it.”
Sunset laughed. “That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard! Your sister isn’t exactly the greatest source of information, you know?”
“Oh! I’ve got it!” Scootaloo shouted. “It’s ‘cause this is your new home!”
Sunset flinched as she turned to Scootaloo. “W-What?”
“Well, you said you don’t care about your other world, right? Maybe that’s because you don’t wanna live there anymore and instead want to stay here!”
“But she’s tryin’ so hard ta get back,” Apple Bloom said.
“Only for revenge! I think that she likes this world a lot better!”
“You’re wrong!” Sunset shouted, rising to her feet and glaring down at the three girls before her. “If you must know, it’s simply because I owe this school, and its owner, a debt of gratitude!”
The three girls leaned in with curious expressions on their faces at that. “You do?” Sweetie Belle asked. “What happened?”
Sunset remained silent as she turned her head away.
“What’s your name?”
“…”
“You look hungry, and your clothes are soaking. Do you live nearby? I can take you home, if you wish.”
“I can never go home.”
…
“Come with me. I’ll get you something to eat and draw you a warm bath.”
“Sorry, but that’s all you need to know,” Sunset said. “I had never been in debt to anyone before, but ironically, my life was saved by her. I wasn’t about to let that go unsettled.”
“‘Her’?” Apple Bloom asked. She turned to her two friends, who simply shrugged in response.
‘There’s one that I must defeat, and one I must repay… Sometimes I feel like I’m just fate’s plaything.’ Sunset turned back to the three girls to find that they were expecting her to go on. She knew that they would only continue to bug her until she told them what they wanted to hear… unless she could somehow attract their attention towards something else.
“Hey, why don’t you tell me about that new music video of yours?” Sunset asked. ‘Anything to change the topic from this…’
“You really wanna hear about it?!” Sweetie Belle asked suddenly, stars in her eyes. “The lyrics were all done by me, of course. You see, it all started when I was playing in my room and I heard a noise outside, so I-”
“And that’s how the Canterlot Mercenary Club was born!” Apple Bloom finished as she and her two friends walked alongside Sunset Shimmer towards the school’s gates. “Since there’s a limit on how many clubs ya can join, we jus’ made a club where we can do a bit of everythin’!”
“Sweetie Belle wanted to call it the ‘Quest Acquisition Programme’,” Scootaloo said, directing a smirk towards a pouting Sweetie Belle.
“Oh look!” Sunset shouted suddenly, stopping and pointing towards three girls at the school’s gates. “There are you sisters! Well, I guess this is where we say goodbye!” ‘Thank goodness! I was this close to making a Nightmare Pact with the Mare in the Moon!’
“Sweetie Belle?” Rarity called out as the three girls turned towards the Mercenaries and Sunset Shimmer.
“Heya Apple Bloom,” Applejack said as the three approached the group. “What’s goin’ on? Why’re y’all hangin’ out with Sunset Shimmer?”
“We were telling stories!” Sweetie Belle declared.
“And helping her study!” Apple Bloom added.
“And completing our contract!” Scootaloo finished, hold her right hand to her left arm as she spun it around.
Applejack looked up to Sunset with a sly grin, which caused the latter student to flinch. “W-What?”
“Ah knew ya had a soft spot fer kids, after all,” Applejack said, causing Sunset to blush as Rainbow Dash began to snicker. “Why, if ah had known sooner, ah would’ve asked ya ta sit for Apple Bloom sooner!”
“I do not have a soft spot for kids!” Sunset insisted. “They-” She stopped. She didn’t want to make it known that she was blackmailed by three freshmen. That would be even worse than the ‘soft spot for kids’ thing… probably. “Anyway, they’re your problems now! I’m out of here!”
“Wait!” Rarity shouted, stopping Sunset in her tracks. “My parents are going to the theatre this weekend and I’ve made plans with a friend. I don’t suppose you could watch Sweetie for me, could you?” Sunset fumed and her hair began to rise up like a burning fire. “Um, if not, then I’m sure that Fluttershy wouldn’t mind,” Rarity added, slowly backing away from the flaming Sunset Shimmer.
“I’m going home now! Goodbye!” Sunset turned around to leave, but was stopped when she heard three familiar voices behind her.
“See ya tomorrow, Sunset Shimmer!”
“It was fun talking with you!”
“Tell us more cool stories next time!”
Sunset simply swallowed the lump in her throat and continued forward. ‘Stupid kids. Don’t go forcing me to reveal my past like that…’ Taking a deep breath, Sunset turned head and shouted, “Just make sure to do your job right next time!”
“Hey Apple Bloom,” Scootaloo asked as she stepped onto the bus, “You feel like we’re forgetting something?”
Apple Bloom nodded her head. “Ah do, but ah can’t place mah finger on what.”
“I’m not moving until you do,” Discord said as he stared at Celestia with his arms folded, the two of them standing at the base of a large scaffold.
“Then it seems we are at a stalemate,” Celestia declared, standing in much the same pose with her eyes equally focused on Discord. ‘He really thinks I’ll fall for another one of his tricks? As soon as I let my guard down and turn around, he’ll spring his trap on me! Well, I won’t give him the satisfaction!’
‘She really thinks I’ll fall for whatever stupid revenge scheme she has planned?’ Discord thought to himself. ‘I must admit, when Luna said her sister was getting fed up, she wasn’t kidding. Never thought Celestia would have the patience for something like this, but… I’m sure I can wait it out longer than her.’
‘I think my show is starting soon,’ Celestia thought to herself, beginning to sweat. ‘… I’ll just have to catch it on the Netflix.’
‘Drat, I was supposed to go trolling losers on Omegle today,’ Discord thought to himself. ‘… I’ll just have to spare them for today…’
‘… For the love of god, MOVE!’ the two thought in unison as the epic standoff continued to rage on into the late afternoon.
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3787457
Well Chrysalis has already made an appearence. Discord, funny you should ask, made his first appereance in the chapter I just uploaded today. Nightmare Moon... I have my own plan to work her in that you may be aware of if you read Chasing Shadows. As for Sombra, I'm still not sure with him.
OH MY GOSH! This whole chapter was just PRICELESS!! XD
I was cracking up the entire time, and the relationship between Celestia and Discord... Hilarious!!!
CMC: Cutest Merc-team ever!
--Spade
Woah, hold on. Cheerliee is with Big Mac who is student? That is highly unethical behavior.
Snicker Snicker... poor Celestia and Discord, getting held up in a zero-sum game...
... is it terrible that I'd trigger that game if I had the chance? For my own amusement?
3861020
Cheerilee: Yes, that is very true, but may I present an argument in my defense? DAT BODY!
3861020 I like to think that Big Mac is almost done with school and Cheerilee is still pretty young. Like maybe 20 or something.
Or Big Mac was held back a few years. Can't really study much when you're taking care of your family and farm, y'know.
Okay, that was... pretty awesome. You made me sympathize a bit with Sunset. *Slow applause* Not too shabby. And yes, loved her blackmailing Cheerilee and Big Mac like that.
And you do have a soft spot for kids, Sunset.
Excellent chapter! It reads like an episode if Equestria Girls was its own show... except for the Cheerimac part. Though I'd like to agree with 3864798. Hopefully Big Mac is a senior and Cheerilee is just a young teacher. It wouldn't make it too bad.
“But you’re at that age,” Celestia said. “And you always look so lonely whenever you attend our school’s parties. You might like the company of a nice boyfriend around.”
Wasn't she going out with Flash Sentry before the events of Equestria Girls?
fc09.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2014/015/3/4/sunset_helper__4_by_uotapo-d72dgi4.jpg
Yes, Sunset Shimmer is best babysitter.
3860380 Sombra could be a number of things depending on which story you want to put him in because the interactions he would have with Human Sunset storyline would be different from Pony Sunset storyline. In one of them he could be involved at the shcool in some way, like a very strict superintendant, or teacher or something. In the other storyline, he could be some sort of international mobster that deals with crystal meth, or blood diamonds. See, it all depends on which story will feature Sombra, because the narratives and going ons of each storylines are VERY different from each other in nature.
Best chapter yet!
"Canterlot Mercenary Club."
Brilliant!
That is the first explanation I have seen for why a HIGH SCHOOL has such a friggin gorgeous library. I mean seriously, forget all the other plotholes in the movie, that bugged me the most.
Was that supposed to be a clown costume?
Does she think the real magic mirror can't? If not, why is she doing science on it?
4976449 I'm pretty sure she means they can be explained by mundane science, like the things magic shows are made of.
This was fun. I'm not a massive fan of DiLestia, but I think it was handled in an amusing way here, which is always good! And the CMC were, as always, completely and utterly adorable!
I see the first hints as to how Principal Celestia and Sunset met in this chapter. Hopefully we get more goodness in the future between those two. They make such a cute family, what with the way they each seem to know just the right way to press one another's buttons. The whole byplay between Sunset and the CMC was pretty neat as well, though I'm a little astounded at just how nonchalantly they seem to accept that Sunset was a magical pony from another world. Sure, there was the whole Fall Formal (and Scoots flying with Rainbow Dash was one of the cutest parts of the film), but even then they seem way too believing. Sunset could probably lie about so many things to them, they seem that gullible (then again, they're pre-teens or early teens).
Since I expect Sunset to at least know about Equestria's Discord, I suppose she must wonder if Princess Celestia and Equestria Discord were ever a thing. Perhaps she should set up this Discord and Celestia before she finally returns to Equestria
That whole alibi side-scene was pretty damn funny. Cheerilee needs to be reaaaaally young, maybe even an intern instead of a full four-year graduate or something. Big Mac doesn't have any trouble attracting older women, though!