• Published 4th Aug 2015
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Sunset's Little Twilight - PoisonClaw



An accident with the Mirror Portal ends up with Twilight stuck as a small pony in the Equestra Girls' world. Her friends can't get over how cute she is.

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The Search Begins

Sunset sighed as she strolled into True Brew, walking straight up to the counter and slapping a five-dollar bill on the counter. “Medium coffee and a blueberry muffin, please.”

“Coming up,” the cashier, a man in his late thirties with light-brown hair and a beard to match, replied and went about fulfilling Sunset’s order.

Tapping her foot impatiently, Sunset glanced up at the clock on the wall. 10:27. Nearly three hours of searching and still no luck. She’d gotten up bright and early that morning, wasting little time in scarfing down a quick breakfast before running out to search for Twilight.

Her first stop had been all their usual hangouts like the Sweet Shoppe and the Library, places she would have expected to find Twilight. When those had ultimately turned up empty, she had resorted to scouring the city block-by-block, searching high and low for even the smallest hint of the miniature pony.

“Here you are, miss.” The cashier’s voice snapped Sunset from her thoughts as he set her order on the counter alongside her change.

“Thanks,” she muttered as she snatched up the muffin and took a bite.

“Say…” The cashier took a second to look her over, noticing something off about her. “Shouldn’t you be in school right now?”

Swallowing, Sunset replied with a rehearsed, “I dropped out,” before taking a swig of her coffee.

He seemed dubious of her claims at first, before eventually shrugging his shoulders. “Eh, no skin off my neck either way. Not my fault if you can’t find a job lacking a high-school diploma.”

Sunset paid him no mind as she retreated to a nearby booth, taking another bite out of her muffin as she sat down. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out her phone and set it down on the table in front of her. Her fingers hovered over the screen as she debated on whether she should update the others on her progress or not.

I only promised I’d let them know after I found her, texting them now would only get their hopes up. I can’t imagine how they can even focus in class with Twilight missing like this...

Leaning forward, she placed her elbows on the table and interlocked her fingers, resting her chin against her hands as she peered out the coffee shop window. Oh, Twilight… where are you?

***

“Oi!”

Across town, several patrons of a local sidewalk cafe—at least those who had already had their morning coffee—looked over as another patron leapt out of his seat, nearly knocking over his coffee in the process.

“Who took my bagel!?”

***

Twilight hummed to herself as she rested in the meager shade of the dumpster, happily munching on the fresh bagel held aloft in her magic.

Despite being a little sore from her night spent huddled in a cardboard box, Twilight was in bright spirits this morning. With her hunger now sated, she could better focus on the task at hoof: getting to the school and reuniting with her friends.

With any luck, she thought, Spike will have gotten the portal fixed by now and I can go back home. Honestly, after the craziness of this weekend, I’d welcome a week of paperwork! Chuckling, Twilight stuffed the rest of the bagel into her mouth and swallowed before fishing a city map that she had previously plucked off a newsstand out of her costume.

“Let’s see…” Unfurling it onto the ground, Twilight scanned the map in order to determine her current location. “The school’s there,” she said, pointing her hoof at the marked location before trailing diagonally across the map to the other end of the city. “Which means that I started around here somewhere. Adding in the block or so I traveled last night, that should put me somewhere around… here!”

Jabbing her hoof into the map, Twilight glanced over the listed street names, noticing one that appeared the closest to her current location. “‘Emerald Boulevard’, that seems to be the best place to get my bearings. If I go straight down this street, then take a left, it should be the next street on my right. If not, then at least I’ll still have a better idea of where I am in relation to the school.”

With her course set, she neatly folded the map up with her magic and tucked it back into her costume. Standing up, she arched her back as she stretched, extending her wings and giving them a brief flap. Sparing a moment to poke her head out from behind the dumpster to make sure the coast was clear, she took off down the sidewalk, her hooves thumping against the pavement.

Hold on girls, I’m on my way!

***

“… By reviewing literature of the era, one can get a better understanding of the ideas and issues prevalent at the time, such as those present in the following verse…”

Rarity’s focus faded in and out as Mrs. Harshwhinny droned on, tapping a pen against her desk as she stared out the window. On any other day she would have been diligently taking notes, but today she couldn’t bring herself to care. What good does debating the meanings of a book written hundreds of year ago do me when Twilight is still out there somewhere?

A slight hum from her bag caught her attention. Glancing around to make sure the teacher wasn’t looking her way, she quietly unzipped her bag and pulled out her phone. A quick tap on the screen revealed an alert for a group text from Rainbow.

[RD: Hey, any of U guys heard from Sunset yet?]

[AJ: Nothing yet, sorry.]

[PP: That’s a big NOPE.]

[R: Sadly, I haven’t heard anything from her either.]

[RD: I’m going CRAZY here! Why hasn’t she texted us yet!?]

[FS: It must mean she hasn’t found her yet.]

[AJ; Yeah, ‘Shy’s right. Settle down RD, she’ll let us know when she has news.]

[R: Correct. All we can do right now is trust in Sunset.]

[FS: I just hope Twilight’s ok…]

“Rarity!”

Rarity’s head shot up from her phone to find Mrs. Harshwhinny glaring at her, as well as most of the class staring her way.

Mrs. Harshwhinny stared daggers at Rarity, a scowl firmly etched across her face. “Would you be so kind as to explain to the class what is obviously so much more important than learning about sixteenth-century literature?”

“No…I … I just…” Hanging her head in shame, Rarity folded her hands in her lap as a blush spread across her cheeks. “… Sorry.”

Hushed laughter rippled through the room.

“You kids today…” Mrs. Harshwhinny droned on as she shook her head disappointingly. “All it takes is one long weekend and suddenly you forget even the most basic of manners. It’s my job to teach you all something, not babysit a bunch of teenagers!”

Rarity weakly nodded her head, muttering, “Yes, Mrs. Harshwhinny…”

The crackle of the PA system saved Rarity from any further scolding as Principal Celestia’s voice came through. “Mrs. Harshwhinny?”

Walking over, Harshwhinny pressed the call button. “Yes, Principal Celestia?”

“Please excuse Rarity from class. There’s a matter I’d like to discuss with her in my office.”

“Right away, Principal.”

Thank you.”

Stepping away, Harshwhinny peered over her shoulder at Rarity. “You heard her, Rarity. Best not to keep the Principal waiting.”

“R-right…” Ignoring the judging eyes of her peers, Rarity quickly gathered up her things and walked out of the room, heading straight for Celestia’s office.

It was a well-known fact that nobody liked being called down to the Principal’s office, no matter the reason. Rarity could already sense her classmates discussing possible reasons why she had been called out in the middle of class; none of them were good. Truth be told, Rarity already had a sinking suspicion at to why she had been called down so suddenly.

This has something to do with Sunset I bet. But out of all of us, why call me?

She didn’t have long to consider this before she arrived at Celestia’s office. Briefly hesitating, Rarity knocked against the frosted glass. “Principal Celestia?”

“Come in, Rarity,” came Celestia’s soothing voice from behind the door.

Doing as she was told, Rarity grasped the doorknob and pushed the door open, stepping into the room.

Principal Celestia was seated behind her desk with her hands folded in front of her, her eyes following Rarity as she stepped through the door. She was dressed in her usual yellow jacket today, a small sun clip pinned to her lapel. As opposed to her more casual outlook yesterday, Celestia’s posture was still inviting, yet the little things like how her shoulders were set square against her chair carried with them an undeniable aura of authority.

“You wanted to see me, Principal?” Rarity said, carefully shutting the door behind her.

Celestia smiled up at her, nodding as she gestured to the chair set up directly opposite her desk. “Please, take a seat.”

Rarity was quick to do so, placing her hands in her lap nervously as she glanced across Celestia’s desk. The desk was far less cluttered than Rarity had imagined, with the few items atop it including the placard displaying Celestia’s name, the microphone for the PA system, a bog standard office phone, and a few carefully placed framed photos.

Celestia leaned back in her chair, having expected Rarity’s apprehensive posture. “I guess I should begin by saying you’re not in trouble.”

With that, Rarity noticeably relaxed; her shoulders sagged slightly and her hands shifted into a more comfortable position. “I suppose I should have suspected that, but I couldn’t help myself.”

Celestia chuckled, leaning forward to rest her hands against her desk once more. “Yes, I find myself needing to start with that more often than not. Sadly, you aren’t the first student who’s marched into my office like a death row inmate. Comes with the job, I suppose.”

Rarity chuckled slightly, absentmindedly playing with a lock of her hair. “I guess I should inquire as to why I was excused from class then.”

“Two reasons, actually. First off, I wanted to make sure you were alright.” Celestia’s eyes seemed to lose some of their luster as she gazed into Rarity’s. “When I saw your name on this morning’s attendance, I was honestly surprised. As this school’s Principal, it is my duty to ensure both the safety and wellbeing of all who walk through these halls. Unfortunately, the sheer size of the student body means that tending to each student personally is next to impossible, so I can’t follow through with that responsibility as much as I’d like.

“However… when I personally witness one of my students suffering, I refuse to sit by and do nothing. Which is why I called you down here, to see for myself that you weren’t still hurt by yesterday’s events.”

Rarity was silent for a moment as she considered Celestia’s words. “While I appreciate the concern, I can honestly say that I’m doing much better than I was yesterday,” she replied with a smile. “While I did spend far too long wallowing in self-pity, I’m lucky enough to have friends who were there to help me through it in their own special way.”

“That’s good to hear,” Celestia replied. “I suppose you told your parents what happened as well?”

“Oh, good heavens no!” Rarity exclaimed with a fierce shake of her head. “You don’t know the lengths Father will go to keep his precious daughters safe. Had I told him that I was mugged at the mall, I don’t doubt I would be confined to my room at this very moment while he went about changing all the locks in the house.” Chuckling, she added, “I adore Mother and Father deeply, but I do admit that they can be a bit overprotective at times.”

“I’d say that’s a sign of how much they care about their daughters,” Celestia replied before leaning back in her chair with a sigh. “While I cannot force you to tell your parents, I would advise against keeping it from them for much longer. Inevitably they will learn about what happened somehow, and it may be preferable if they were to hear the events from you personally than having to hear about it later.”

Rarity nodded, seeing the logic in Celestia’s reasoning. “I’ll think about it.”

“That’s all I ask,” Celestia said with a smile. “If I may, I was curious if there have been any news from the police regarding those three hoodlums.”

“As a matter of fact…” Rarity’s smile noticeably widened. “A pair of officers came to my house yesterday to tell me that they’d caught the three and to return my bag with my wallet and everything still inside.”

“I’m happy to hear that! I’m sure Sparkle must have been excited too.”

In a flash, the smile slipped from Rarity’s face. “Actually… Sparkle was the only thing they weren’t able to get back to me.”

Celestia gasped. “Oh, Rarity, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have—”

“No, it’s fine. At least I can say they didn’t get away as clean as they might have thought.”

Celestia blinked in confusion, raising an eyebrow. “I don’t follow.”

“Well,” Rarity said, her smile returning and shifting into a sly smirk, “The reason the police didn’t find her on them is when they opened the bag, she leapt out and showed them just what she thought of their type. After that, she ran off somewhere into the city.”

“Oh…” Celestia muttered, chuckling as well at the image of the trio of hoodlums undone by an angry cat. “I suppose that’s a small silver lining in all of this. However, I believe that brings me to the second reason I called you down here…” In the blink of an eye, Celestia’s entire demeanour shifted, the warmth in her eyes dulling slightly as the smile slipped from her face. The authoritative aura Rarity had felt before flared up much like a dwindling flame supplied with fuel anew.

“Tell me, Rarity: do you know where Sunset Shimmer is right now?”

Rarity gulped, her breath catching in her throat for a moment. “W…what?”

Instead of answering, Celestia reached down and pulled open the bottom drawer of her desk, rifling through it for a few seconds before pulling out a manila folder and dropping it onto the centre of her desk.

Sunset’s name was clearly written on the label.

“I’ll admit, Miss Shimmer hasn’t been the most punctual student at Canterlot High, “ Celestia remarked dryly as she slammed the drawer shut with her foot. Glancing down at the folder, she flipped it open and withdrew one of the sheets from within. “This isn’t her first unexplained absence since she’s attended this school, but I was never able to get a solid reason behind any of them. Plus, her grades remained at the top of her class regardless, so I couldn’t say it was affecting her schoolwork in the long term.”

Rarity listened intently, clutching her hands tightly in her lap.

“Previously, I would have simply chalked this up as another unexplained absence. However…” Placing the sheet back down, Celestia’s eyes bore into Rarity. “Given her recent change of heart following the events of the Fall Formal, in addition to her valiant efforts in atoning for her previous misdeeds, I can’t help but notice how out of place this particular absence is. This isn’t the action of someone skipping school for the thrill of it, no. I get the distinct feeling that there’s a much more… personal reason behind all this.”

Folding her arms across her chest, Celestia leaned back in her chair as she met Rarity’s eye. “With all that being said, I will ask you again: Do you know where Sunset Shimmer is, Rarity?”

Rarity grasped for anything to say in her defense, her mouth feeling drier than sandpaper. As much as she wanted to lie, one look at Celestia’s face told her that it would be pointless to even try. Sighing in defeat, she finally managed to mutter, “She… she’s out looking for Sparkle.”

“I thought so.” Spinning her seat to face the wall, Celestia stood up and walked over to the window. Pulling back one of the blinds, she gazed out onto the field, where the soccer team were currently practicing. Silence hovered in the air like a thick blanket of fog as several moments passed without a word spoken between them.

“This puts me in a difficult position, unfortunately,” Celestia finally said, snapping the blind back before folding her hands behind her back. “As a school administrator, I can’t in good conscience condone skipping school for any reason outside of an emergency. Including all of her prior absences, I have more than enough grounds to bar her from participating in school-wide events, enact an in-school suspension for an undetermined amount of time or, should this behaviour continue, expel her from Canterlot High all together.”

“Expel?!” Rarity leapt to her feet, staring horrified at Celestia. “But… but you can’t—”

“However!” Celestia loudly interjected, cutting Rarity off. “As a fellow pet owner, I sympathize with her commitment to helping a friend return a beloved pet back home.” Turning away from the window, Celestia plucked one of the photo frames off her desk, smiling at the photo of herself alongside a bird with a fiery plumage of orange and red perched lovingly on her arm. “I doubt there are any lengths I wouldn’t go to if I ever lost my dear Philomena.”

Setting the photo back down, she turned her chair back around and sat back down. “In addition to all this, I would be remiss not to factor in the services you and your friends have done for this school, services that all of you have refused reward for.”

“Anyone would have done the same thing if put in our place,” Rarity admitted.

“Be that as it may, it doesn’t change the fact that both I and this school owe you girls a debt of gratitude. With that in mind, I have a proposal you might be interested in.”

Steeling her resolve, Rarity sat back down and met Celestia’s gaze with her own. “I’m listening.”

I will overlook Sunset Shimmer’s absence this time, as well as holding off on following through with any disciplinary actions. By doing so, I expect you to strongly inform Miss Sunset that I will not be granting her this courtesy a second time. While I am sympathetic to your plight in finding your cat, should Sunset Shimmer be mysteriously missing from school tomorrow or at any other time in the future without a doctor’s note or other valid proof of an acceptable explanation, I will have no choice but to carry through with enacting disciplinary measures against her.”

Folding her hands together on her desk, Celestia leaned forward slightly and looked directly into Rarity’s eyes. “Do I make myself clear?”

Rarity tried her best to not buckle under Celestia’s gaze, a slight tremor shooting up her legs. “Crystal.”

The loud buzzing of the school bell, signalling the start of lunch period, dispelled the tense atmosphere in the room. Celestia glanced up at the clock on the wall, the intimidating aura surrounding her dwindling greatly in size. “Lunch time already? Well, I guess that means I’ve taken up enough of your time.” As she picked up the manila folder to return it to the drawer, she said warmly, “You should get going, Rarity, before the cafeteria runs out of all the good food.”

Nodding, Rarity stood up from her seat. “Farewell then, Principal Celestia. It was… nice talking to you.” Turning away, she made for the office door.

“Oh, and Rarity?”

Pausing with her hand on the doorknob, Rarity glanced over her shoulder to see Celestia staring up at her with a concerned look on her face.

“For what it’s worth, I do hope you find her soon.”

“Me too, Principal Celestia,” Rarity replied with a sigh. “Me too…”

***

Darting out from beneath a parked car, Twilight bolted across the street once the rows of cars had all slowed to a stop at the red light. Scrambling onto the sidewalk on the other side, she quickly ducked beneath a bench as a stream of people walked by.

Once the coast was clear, she dashed behind a nearby newsstand, then behind a garbage can, before finally diving beneath another car parked on the side of the road. Taking a moment to catch her breath, she spotted another alleyway not far from her. Waiting for another group of people to walk past, Twilight took off like her tail was on fire, skidding to a stop only once she’d crossed into the alley.

Leaning against the wall, Twilight wiped a bead of sweat from her brow with her wing. “I need to thank Pinkie Pie for convincing me to play all those games of Hide and Seek.” Pulling the map out from her costume, she laid it out to check her progress. She was pleasantly surprised by how much ground she had managed to cover in just a few short hours, having covered roughly two-thirds of the distance to the school.

At this rate, I should be able to reach the school before nightfall. From there, I can either try and figure out the way to Rarity’s house, or sneak into the school and wait until tomorrow. If I can just—

Gotcha!”

Twilight had but a split second to react before something passed over her, her world upended as she was suddenly lifted up. As she stared down at the map still lying on the ground, she discovered, to her horror, that she had been scooped up in a massive net.

“No!” Twilight struggled against the confines of the net, only succeeding in getting her horn and wings further trapped between the holes of the net.

“Well now, never seen a breed like you before…”

Twilight strained her neck in the direction of the noise, coming face to face with her captor, an older man with light green skin and orange hair. He raised the net to get a better look at her, squinting at her through the mesh net.

“Hmm… must be a rare breed.” He remarked as he slung the net over his shoulder and began to walk away. “Probably imported by someone with more money than brains and no idea how to care for her…”

Twilight continued to struggle, trying desperately to wiggle free. Her eyes widened as the man approached a large white van, but it wasn’t the vehicle itself that made Twilight’s heart skip a beat. No, it was what he kept inside.

Cages. Rows and rows of cages both big and small, several of which already contained multiple cats, dogs and what appeared to be a raccoon. Twilight could just barely make out a logo on one of the back doors: Canterlot City Animal Control.

No… No! I can’t let him put me in one of those cages! If he does, I’ll never see my friends again! As she struggled even harder to escape the net, her magic reacted to her fear and instinctively channelled a large surge of magic into her horn.

“Hmm?” A light at the corner of his vision prompted the man to glance over his shoulder, nearly dropping the net in shock from the massive ball of violet light swirling around inside. “What in the world!?”

Let me go!”

POP!

“Waah!” he cried out as the orb of light burst with a deafening pop, a bright flash of light forcing him to shield his eyes with his other arm lest he go blind. After a moment, he lowered his arm as the spots began to fade from his vision. “What was th—huh?”

With wide eyes, he stared in disbelief at his now empty net. Grabbing it in his hand, he examined it for any sign of a tear or rip the animal could have escaped through, only to come up empty. Whipping his head around, he scanned the area for anywhere it could have hidden, only to find nothing.

“Where the hell did she go?”