Celestia Does Stuff in Ponyville While Other Things Happen Elsewhere

by Billblok

Canterlot High 01: Zero Tolerance

Celestia stared, slack jawed at her student and the five ponies that had went through the portal with her. It wasn’t that the six of them had somehow come back with clothing that fit their pony bodies nearly perfectly—she’d have to give Rarity (The one of two actually wearing a dress presently) credit for that—, neither was it that they also had “backpacks” on them either.

No, each of them had one- or more bandages or gauze applied to various portions of their bodies. It wasn’t like the lot of them went through Tartarus and back, no Sunset had told her right as they stepped through that the lot of them got into a bit of a fight.

Celestia was finding it difficult to fully grasp that statement.

“You got into a what??”

_{“A-a fight,”} other Fluttershy said in an extraordinarily soft voice.

Celestia paused for a moment, “sorry, what?” She didn’t actually hear her the first time, which was why she asked again.

_{“A fight,”} other Fluttershy attempted with a little more clarity. This volume seemed to actually reach the princess’ ears, so she made an effort to maintain it. _{“When I t-told the girls about the problem o-of her having no magic, we— we decided that— um— we had—”}

“Flutters it’s okay,” other Rainbow Interrupted, “don’t hurt yourself.” Gently patting her friend’s shoulder was more than enough to settle the yellow unicorn down from her panicked attempt at an explanation. “Basically, when Sunset showed up at our school, she was being led along by Fluttershy after she’d promised to behave herself.”

“An’ whadaya know, she kept to her promise too,” Other applejack added, “Not even a single moment did she really raise her voice, make any sort of threat or even push anyone around! Shucks, she even had the nerve to complement Rarity on her dress that day!”

If the pearl white earth pony even noticed the blush on Sunset’s face, she paid no mind to it in any way. “Granted Applejack, it was more of a back-handed complement, but at least we have progress with her, don’t we your highness?”

“Call me Tia,” Celestia corrected quickly, subtly hinting for the girls to get on with it.

“Right, my apologies,” other Rarity continued, “Anyway, it was a surprising amount of progress for all of five hours since you first dropped her off… that is, until we figured out why she was keeping herself on her best behavior with us.”

During the brief, tense lull in the conversation, Celestia observed how Sunset’s ears fell flat against her skull. Surely, Celestia wasn’t going to like the reason they gave her. Nevertheless despite her heart having dropped into her stomach, she pressed the issue. “Girls… what happened?”

Other Pinkie answered the question, dropping the bombshell that proved a major problem in Celestia’s confidence in a new, better Sunset. “Princess I don’t know what it’s like in your world but generally speaking when a person realizes that someone they don’t like is suddenly vulnerable to whatever they want to do to them, they like to be big poopy-heads and make them miserable because of a grudge. An ex-friend of Dash’s found out about Sunset’s non magical state and managed to get word out to everyone in school, so we had to form a tight circle around her to get her from class to class and then she decided that wasn’t enough so she tried to ambush Sunset and then one thing led to another and we had to stop her from getting put into a hospital or something—”

“Are you telling me that this ex-friend of your Rainbow Dash tried to inflict GRIEVOUS INJURY on my student?!”

The outburst was nothing that any present party was expecting from Celestia— not even Celestia herself could comprehend why she raised her voice so loudly, to the point that the whole village could hear her. Nevertheless, if she ever doubted that she cared for Sunset Shimmer, bellowing in outrage over the threat to her safety using the royal Canterlot voice surely cleared all of that completely. To her credit, Other Pinkie recovered very quickly from being floored by raw volume. Pulling herself out from behind her pink wings, she offered: “Emphasis on ‘tried’, your majesty… she couldn’t even throw her first punch before Fluttershy was on her like a vicious animal.” Celestia took a deep breath, trying to focus on smothering the sudden hot fury that surged up from within her. She was not going to go full daybreaker again if she could help it.

But she was still upset. “That doesn’t help anything Other Pinkie, some-creature made an attempt on my student’s life, and that problem must be accounted for. I’m going in to have a little talk.” As she walked over and around the mirror-ponies, Not-pinkie furiously flapped her wings to jump back in front of her.

“Wait!” she cried, “you really shouldn’t go in there right now!”

Celestia stopped in front of pega-pinkie, looking at her with some confusion. “And why shouldn’t I go in?”

“The problem has been dealt with, ma’am! She’s not gonna hurt her, honest!”

“You cannot possibly be sure of that—”

“We hurt her so bad she’s kinda in the hospital right now like she had threatened to do to Sunset and we got sorta in trouble for it and it really wouldn’t help to make a scene with the teachers so pretty please don’t go in there!!”

This once again completely astonished the poor royal princess, trapping her once again in the same slack-jawed state… but not nearly as long. “You got in trouble?”

Apparently Pega-pinkie realized she said something she really didn’t want to, because she dropped out of the air, pointing her little muzzle to the floor. “Yes,” she mumbled.

“For defending your fellow student?” she asked.

Two words also mumbled, “Suspension, princess.”

“…For how long?”

“Just a week…” she said, “not too long right?”

“You’re really not helping your case here Pinkie.”

“Please don’t go,” she whimpered. For a moment, Celestia considered the request. She had a sort of sad, desperate look to her when she asked that almost made her reconsider her decision… it might have been a bad idea to cause trouble by walking out onto the school grounds, big and pretty and meaning business, and on the off chance that she runs into her mirror counterpart…

She considered, and then she made her decision. “I’m going.”

“NOOOOOOO!” they collectively called out in protest, trying to stop her. Not-pinkie pressed her body against Celestia’s chest, digging her hooves into the tile floor. The rest grabbed onto her legs, wings and tail.

“Please don’t go; you’re just going to make the problem worse!” Other Pinkie made every attempt to appeal to Celestia’s better sensibilities. “It’s really not gonna make any of us look good if you come in there yelling about how your sweet princess did nothing wrong!”

“What she said,” Sunset replied, “I’m a total brat!”

“That is not the issue, Sunset!” Celestia returned, still stepping ever closer, “In any other circumstance I wouldn’t mind if the school were to tan your hide for all I care, but the fact that you and your fellow students were suspended for defending yourselves is completely unjust!”

“But we totally beat her face in!” Wingless-Rainbow objected, “She’s gonna be in the hospital for a month! You can’t just waltz in and demand more, it’s just not cool!”

“I am one hundred and ten percent ‘Cool’, Miss Rainbow!” Celestia snapped, “I’m just going to talk to the faculty about what happened!”

“Would talking involve intimidating the principal just like you did with me??” Sunset mewled.

“No, it involves sitting down with a cup of tea and getting the full story, now LET. ME. GO!”

In a last bid to stop her, Not-Fluttershy attempted crying. “Pleeeeease don’t do it! I don’t want anyone else getting hurr-hurr-hur-hurrt!”

A commendable effort, but now that Celestia had determination to do a task and an at least mostly sound emotional state, there was no group of six ponies— much less one— that could effectively stop her.

“GIRLS, YOU HAD BETTER LET GO, OR YOU’RE COMING RIGHT ALONG WITH ME; YOUR CHOICE!”

They didn’t. She breached the surface of the mirror and stepped through the space between worlds, dragging the lot with her.

---

Inter-dimensional travel never seemed to account for relative motions of the different planes of existence perfectly, so it was a flip of the coin whether arrival would be at an acceptable speed, or one that could twist an ankle or ankle equivalent should they attempt to regain footing too hastily.

Seven ponies now turned colorful bipedal creatures tumbled head-over-heels out of the base of the statue dutifully placed in front of Canterlot high. They continued to do so with a couple bounces thrown in for good measure until the steps to the school doors ever-so-gracefully stopped their uncontrolled tumble completely. Celestia, taller than any local female in the area, clothed in a golden gown and still sporting her signature mane flowing in a non-existent wind managed to recover; standing up on only slightly wobbly legs and retrieving a tiara that had fell off her head sometime during the tumble. But the group that had attempted to stop her did not recover, struggling to stand up despite their poor, abused injuries from the fall.

It was hardly like Celestia was cruel enough to leave them there though—having entered the world through the mirror with plenty of magic carried along with her in reserve, she could keep up her own innate magical ability for hours. It took a moment, but she figured out how to use her magic and lift five of the girls up off the ground. Then she carried her own student in her arms. Well intentioned adversaries straightened out, Celestia promptly marched herself into the concrete colossus in the interest of finding the principal’s office. Inside, the hallways were silent—classes were probably in session at the moment. All that the group could hear was the buzz of the fluorescent lighting, the twinkling of magic suspending the wounded girls in the air and the click of Celestia’s shoes on the tile floors.

“Owwie…” Pinkie whimpered.

“Don’t you go complaining to me,” Celestia scolded softly, as if to preserve the current silence of the hallway, “You had plenty of time to let go of me, so that’s all on you.”

“I know,” she whined, “but I didn’t want you to hurt anyone…”

“Not happening,” Celestia grumbled, “I just want to have a talk.”

“You promise??” Sunset begged.

“Sunset, I’m not going to beat up your principal!” she assured her, “I am a far better mare than that. Beside the point, in all the time we knew each other when have I resorted to violence at the first petty slight against me?”

“I dunno; you chased me around the garden when I ate that last piece of cake I didn’t know you were saving!”

Celestia rolled her eyes. “I was going to tickle you until you turned purple.”

“Not comforting!”

“Please sunset, just trust me? And for pony’s sake, stop whining!” Naturally, neither Sunset nor the rest of the girls complied as she continued onward, determined to reach her destination despite the incredibly uncomfortable pair of high-heels currently on her feet. Thankfully the design of the hallways in the school were not so foreign to her own school’s that she couldn’t navigate to the office lobby which was just a straight shot down the hallway and a left turn. Then at last she stopped, set her charges down and contemplated the door. “…Now what?” she asked.

Sunset non-committally shrugged. “I dunno... You were the one who wanted to do this.”

“Yes thank you, but I’ve never been on the other side of the headmistress’ desk. Do I just knock?”

“Walk in, ask to speak to the principal, and then work from there,” Sunset droned, “it’s the same way any pony visits a corporate office, and no-pony’s going to refuse princess Celestia.”

Rainbow shot her head up, glaring at Sunset. “Wait, we’re cooperating with her now?”

“It’s too late anyway. She’s gonna talk with the faculty, so we might as well see where this whole disaster takes us.”

Rainbow whimpered, “We’re so screwed.”

Sunset shrugged, more than prepared to half-heartedly argue how they weren’t “screwed”. But however the conversation continued on with the girls out in the hall mattered little to Celestia as she gripped the knob with her hand, opened the door to the lobby and stepped into that place that only naughty children, concerned students and angry parents dared enter. The door closed, and Celestia was met with a different silence. Yet she wasn’t alone, a spectacled woman of white skin with her brown hair tied into a neat bun was operating some machine, pressing buttons with her digits at a rapid pace—perhaps some sort of advanced typewriter? It didn’t matter; typewriter or not, she recognized the woman’s role anywhere. After all, Celestia had a pony by the name of Raven who looked very much like her, and filled the very same role.

“Excuse me,” Celestia asked, “are you the aide of this school’s faculty?”

The woman turned her attention from the device. “Secretary actually, how may I help—?” The woman stopped, stared, adjusted her glasses and allowed her jaw to hang slack for a moment. “…Celestia?”

Celestia’s jaw fell slack too. How did this person know her name? “…Yes, that’s me.”

The woman smiled nervously. “That’s a nice dress ma’am… but how did you have the time to change into it?”

“‘Change’?” Celestia asked, “I didn’t change into anything. I went into the school like this.”

“…Really? Oh.” The woman acted like her memory which she trusted to be reliable was being questioned. “Well, it’s a very nice dress anyway.”

Celestia rolled her eyes. She has the same mannerisms too… “Honestly I didn’t have the time to pick something comfortable… Anyway I’m here to see the principal. It’s about the recent suspension of six students?”

For some reason… this made the secretary’s eyes narrow, a look of complete befuddlement on her face. “But… Celestia, you’re the principal. You suspended Sunset and her friends.”

Celestia’s eyes narrowed in turn. “I’m… pretty sure I did not.”

“Yes, you did.”

“Didn’t,” she countered.

“Did,” the secretary reiterated.

“Didn’t.”

“Did.”

“I wasn’t here to do that,” Celestia argued.

“I just heard you complaining thirty minutes ago about doing it.”

“Did not.”

“Raven, who’s that you’re talking with out there?” a voice that perfectly matched Celesta’s asked from one of the doors further in.

Celestia’s eyes went as wide as dinner plates. So did the secretary’s. This was a new and interesting turn of events. It also complicated matters. The secretary—Raven looked at the principal’s office, then back at Celestia… then back at the office and once more back at celestia. Conveniently, she had a cup of still warm coffee that she was sipping at while doing her normal work, and a big gulp was enough to at least somewhat placate the need for settled nerves. “Wh… who should I tell her wants to see her miss?” she whispered conspiratorially.

Celestia tore her eyes away from the door. “Tell her that Sunset’s legal guardian wants to discuss her recent suspension from all school activities.”

Raven-who-wasn’t-her-Raven stood up, drained the cup and set it down roughly at her desk. “One moment please… this might take more than a couple seconds.” She left promptly to the door to the principal’s office, closing it shut tight. Celestia for her part stood and waited.

While she was busy waiting, she pondered the dress she was wearing. Sure it was “nice”, but then again that was something all ponies said whenever she decided to play dress up… or participate in a formal party which required playing dress up. Honestly speaking, gold with white trim? …Gloves covering her arms all the way up to her elbows? …These annoying purple high-heels? It completely lacked creativity. Poor Star Swirl obviously had never understood the art of dressmaking—not that he really needed to of course, being a stallion and all.

Speaking of high-heels… Celestia lifted her right leg up, examining the foot that was entrapped within the dreadful thing. She knew and felt that abomination some ponies might call a shoe doing horrible things to the strange new appendage on her leg—and she was sure it would cause some manner of damage that would reflect over to whatever equivalent her pony self had—most undoubtedly making her struggle to walk for the next week should she do nothing about it. So with her hand, she grasped the buckle holding it on and pulled.

Nothing happened. Celestia tried again… still nothing. The strap refused to budge. She tried bracing her foot on one of the seats meant for waiting visitors so she could use both arms. And still, it failed her; the hands were too new, too clumsy like a baby’s hands.

She snorted through her nose. Magic was not a good choice for such a mundane task as removing a shoe—she only had a finite amount of it in this plane of existence after all, so she’d have to resort to using her mouth. It wasn’t very big on dignity, but she was not above doing anything the earth-pony way if absolutely necessary.

She bit at the buckle to hold it still so that she could manipulate the strap with her tongue. It took some effort to figure out how to use a tongue only a fraction the relative size it should have been, had her form still been that of a pony, but finally it slipped loose and the shoe came off cleanly. Success! She pulled the whole thing away from her foot, about to toss it aside before starting on the left one.

The door to the principal’s office opened slightly with a click. Celestia shot her head up. A purple eye peeked through the crack in the door, its owner most likely wondering what she was seeing. The shoe fell from Celestia’s mouth, hitting the ground with a soft plop. …Not very big on dignity. Celestia smiled her patient smile, waving one hand in the air. This seemed to have the opposite effect of assuring the look-alike of no harm. When the eye’s owner yelped and the door slammed shut again, Celestia carefully sat herself down in one of the chairs, feet not touching the floor like any proper pony would and tried to remain inconspicuous while ignoring that she now only had one high-heel on and the other was probably covered in pony-spit. Yes, she could get rid of the other shoe, but she didn’t want anyone else catching her in what was apparently a social faux pas in this world.

When the door to the principal’s office opened again, the secretary stepped out, smiling an apologetic smile which one only used when they could barely conceal a cold clammy anxiety. “Um… I’m sorry Miss Celestia, the principal would be more than happy to see you, but she’s absolutely swamped with paperwork. The fall formal’s coming soon you see, and there’s just so much to do around here… could you perhaps schedule an appointment for next week?”

Celestia leaned her head on her knee. “Oh, that’s a shame. I suppose I could, but do you mind if I ask a question or two?”

“Not at all miss,” Raven lied.

“The principal… does she share my name?”

“As far as I understand, yes,” her smile got wider; uncomfortably so.

“And is there some alternate exit to Principal Celestia’s office?”

“Yes, yes there is; it’s another door right out to the hall, it’s normally locked during classes.” The woman’s hands started shaking.

“Did she use it?”

Poor thing was visibly sweating. “H-how did you know?”

“Because that’s exactly what I’d do if I didn’t want to talk with some-pony.” She got up. “Thank you for your time, but I must get going.” she said with a polite bow, “oh, and Raven?”

“Y-y-yes?” the secretary squeaked.

“You might want to get a glass of water and sit somewhere quiet.”

“Th-thank you ma’am! H-have a good day!” Celestia walked herself to the door out into the school hall and stepped out to six gobsmacked kids.

“Tia, what in tarnation did y’all do??” AJ asked.

“Spooked the principal, I think,” Celestia replied quickly, leaning against the door to lift her still high-heeled leg up.

Hurt, Fluttershy cried out, “I thought you were just going to talk!”

“I wash,” Celestia defended with a shoe-buckle in her mouth, “but it sheemed that my counterpart wash dishintereshted.” She wrenched the high-heel off with an expert turn of her head and tossed the thing away. “By the way Sunset, when were you going to tell me that the principal was for all intents and purposes me?”

“I wasn’t,” Sunset said.

Celestia scowled. “I’ll think about a personal punishment for you later; but right now I need to catch her.”

Rarity flicked her messed up hair away from her face. “Darling, do you really think that running after her is going to de-escalate the situation?”

“No, which is why I’m going to use magic;” Celestia’s hands glowed. “Now which way did she go?” Collectively the girls sighed, pointing fingers in the general direction of the School’s football field. “Alright I’ll be back as soon as I can. Don’t go anywhere.” A flash of golden light, and she was gone from in front of them.

Painstakingly, Sunset stood up, reaching out to one of the other girls to help her too. “Where are you going?” Fluttershy asked.

Sunset stretched then carefully helped Applejack up. “Did you honestly believe we should stay here? I’m gonna follow her; you can come along. Or leave, I don’t care.”

“Well okay, but you ain’t gonna stop her,” Applejack reminded her, “She’s harder to handle than a tractor at full throttle… if th’ tractor had a racecar engine.”

“Quite,” Rarity agreed.

“I know, I’m just gonna provide moral support.”

Pinkie shot up as if she had no injuries to speak of; “To Tia?”

“No to the principal, Sunbutt can handle herself.”

“Oh-kaaaaaay….” Pinkie remarked, not quite trusting what Sunset was saying. Nevertheless, all the girls were up and able to hobble out to the field with Sunset; and not a moment too soon, one of the hall monitors came by, swearing he’d seen the terror of Canterlot high walking the school grounds despite being suspended. By the time he turned the corner, there was no trace of them. He concluded that paranoia and poor sleep last night due to playing video games put the image in his head.

---

Moments earlier, Celestia re-appeared in the middle of the soccer field in a flash of light, brushing off her dress of residual magic. Her spell-work was sloppy, but clearly couldn’t spare the few milliseconds it took to cast a clean teleport because there her quarry was, madly sprinting to the other end, clearly intending to vault the chain-link fence along the border and run through private property, a little act that most others wouldn’t follow.

Unfortunately for her Celestia was not like most others. The bar holding the links up seemed like a perfect means of cutting the principal off, so she teleported again so that she’d appear right in front of her, sitting on top of it. “Hello,” she began, “I’m sorry for taking up your valuable time, but could I have a moment to talk to you about-?”

“GET AWAY FROM ME!” the… surprisingly smaller principal cried out, turning around roughly to charge back the way she came from. This was not as easy as Celestia had initially thought. That and Celestia might end up getting grass stains on her skirt just like her counterpart was with her pants if she wasn’t careful. She hopped off the fence, noting that their difference in size would make her able to outpace her if she had to. Plus the woman was gasping for breath… clearly they weren’t as similar as one might imagine.

Celestia teleported again, this time close enough to catch her. “Please stop running; I just want to talk- Oof!” Her counterpart fought dirty, grabbing Celestia’s hair and driving a knee into her gut. “Nice kick,” Celestia wheezed at the once again retreating principal. Several deep breaths allowed her to stand up fully before trying something different. She cast another teleportation spell, this time not for herself, but for her counterpart, changing her trajectory from away to toward.

The woman stopped short, gasped, did an about-face and started running again. “No no no no-!” Flash, she was turned around again. She corrected her path once more, running off to the left of Celestia instead. Flash, third verse same as the first. “Leave me alone!!” Flash. “What did I do to you?!” Flash. “STOP IT!” Flash. “LET. ME. GO!!”

Flash. This time Celestia put her right next to her and grasped her shoulders. “It’s okay,” Celestia plead, “I’m not going to hurt you, please stop running!” That was the moment when she realized that her counterpart knew at least a little bit about unarmed combat with her sort of body… and Celestia knew jack squat. Once again a knee was driven into her gut; she doubled over, and that made her vulnerable to something blunt against her nose… like the principal’s forehead. Celestia fell on her butt, more shocked than hurt. She winced at the tender injury, watching as the principal and her silly purple pants got away from her. Maybe it was a good idea to throw in the towel, “schedule an appointment for next week” and simply deal with the problem by directly teaching her personal student whatever she needed to know. But before she could commit to giving up, the principal found herself caught in an additional roadblock. Sunset and the other girls popped out of the door leading in from the field and quickly surrounded her.

Celestia frowned, “I thought I told you to not go anywhere!?”

“So what?” Sunset called back, “Since when has anyone ever listened to that kind of order?!”

“Sunset!” Celestia scolded.

“Doesn’t matter! We got her! Just don’t fry her too badly!”

“FRY?!” The principal, now surrounded by her beloved students with which she would surely risk being blacklisted from her position if she dared lay a hand on them, whipped her head around, desperately trying to find an opening. “Girls, let me go, I don’t want to be fried!”

“Joking!” Sunset replied. Not that it did anything to comfort the principal, Celestia was walking back over to her and there was nowhere to run this time.

Celestia watched as an adult leader of a school broke down. The principal desperately turned to Sunset for mercy, “Sunset I had to do it; you know I did!”

“I know,” Sunset agreed, “we tried to stop her.”

“Sunset, please! We had to use the zero-tolerance policy—it was the only way to get the angry parents off our backs!”

“She seems to disagree. Maybe you can talk about it?”

Celestia was about twenty feet away now. “She doesn’t know! She has no idea how much of a monster you were, we had to do something! Something to keep the kids here!”

“Oh she knows exactly how much of a monster I am—she just wants to know why my ‘friends’ had to share the same punishment.”

Fifteen feet away; “I can’t play favorites! That’s how that policy works! You were involved, your classmates were involved, you all had to be suspended; that’s how it works!”

“I know,” Sunset insisted, “but it would be better to stop running.”

“Would it help if we stayed like this Grandma?” Fluttershy asked; “this nice protective circle between you and her?”

Ten feet away now; the principal wasn’t convinced. She grabbed Sunset’s jacket. “Call her off! Make her go away, something!”

“Sunset, she’s having a panic attack,” Fluttershy pointed out. Sunset put a hand up; motioning for Celestia to not come any closer. For now the source of the principal’s fear was put at bay, but she wasn’t out of the woods yet. “It’s okay… we’ll get through this;” She laid hands on the principal’s shoulders, “take deep breaths…”

“I can’t!” she whimpered, “I can’t, she’s getting closer—Sunset I’ll revoke your suspension, I’ll clear your record, I’ll make sure you get passing marks for every class, just make her leave me alone!”

“Okay, you’re really blowing this out of proportion,” Sunset mumbled.

Applejack slugged her on the shoulder. “Stop makin’ it worse than it already is! We should be givin’ her room anyway!”

“NO!” Principal Celestia dropped to her knees, unintentionally making Sunset fall with her. She whipped her head around to the princess, then back to Sunset. “Don’t—just stay—don’t let her hurt me, I’ll give you whatever you want; just don’t let her kill me!”

Princess Celestia let out an indignant cry, “I AM NOT GOING TO KILL YOU!”

“YOU’D BETTER PINKIE PROMISE ON THAT!” Pinkie returned.

“WOULD YOU ALL BE QUIET?!”

With how quickly everyone listened to her, one might imagine that Sunset Shimmer owned the school. And they wouldn’t be wrong; she had de-facto power over every single student and faculty member in the building and on the property. A reputation as The Terror of Canterlot High tended to do that, and it wasn’t one soon forgotten. The principal sat in the grass shaking. Applejack held her hat to her head like it might fall off. Fluttershy hid behind her mane. Rarity sat in the grass shaking. Rainbow dash had her arms held up defensively.

Celestia couldn’t help but admit that she was proud of Sunset using her power for good for once. “I’m sorry… I got a little too into the moment.”

Sunset looked past and around the girls. “It’s fine Princess, this was a mess we all got ourselves into. Now how do you think we should fix this? She’s a carbon copy of you just about, so you know how to get her out of her funk, right?”

She looked at the principal, curled up in a fetal position. “I don’t know; she doesn’t seem like she could talk anymore… I’ve never really been terrified of much anything.”

“Oh please, there has to be something…”

Celestia wracked her brain, trying to find a moment or thing where irrational fear had gotten the better of all higher thought. Was it the star-spider migration? No, that always fascinated her… thunderstorms? No, that was hard to be scared of when one was capable of making them… the dark? No, in those early days Princess Luna was always more than happy to show her what pretty and cute things lived in the dark, so she wasn’t ever scared of that… the dread of knowing that eventually she would be unable to control the sun and it would burn up all life on her planet save for her who’d only be spared because of her mark and biological immortality? No, that was kept safely locked up in the back of her mind… and she could find another star.

Then something clicked. There was one particular thing that she didn’t want to and flat out refused to try helping out Applejack with on her farm—something that gave her an involuntary shudder just looking at it. It walked on two legs, had a pair of wings that barely let it fly and the males liked to scream loudly at the rising of her sun. “…I was scared of chickens when I was a filly.”

Sunset snorted. “Chickens? Really? Of all the things to be scared of, it’s chickens??”

“Don’t pick on me, it was a result of childhood trauma;”(*) Celestia scolded.

“Okay okay, fine; what did little bitty Celestia do when a chicken got a little too close?”

Celestia blushed, “Ran back home to crawl into bed or get a big hug from mom…”

Sunset smirked, laughed a little and then rolled her eyes. “Are you still scared of chickens?”

“SUNSET.”

“Alright, fine! Sorry…” Sunset nodded. “So if she’s anything like you we’ll help her do just that, without the mom thing…”

“Great!” Celestia started to close the distance, but was stopped again by sunset’s hand. “…What is it?”

“No running, no teleporting, no grabbing, clear?”

Celestia’s lips drew to a thin line; “as crystal.” Sunset made the girls step aside. The principal didn’t even notice that her protective circle was gone and there was nothing between her and her counterpart. This was going to take a delicate touch. Slowly, steadily, she approached the woman, every step made with as little sound as possible before she kneeled down, hands and feet neatly tucked together. And with all the gentleness of a snowflake falling to the ground she lay her hand down on her shoulder.

The principal flinched and brought her head up, frightfully wondering whoever might have touched her. Her eyes widened when she saw Celestia, smiling back at her. She jumped up to a sitting position, scooting herself back against Sunset and pointing a shaky finger at her. Celestia remained exactly where she sat. “Y-y-you! Stay away!”

Celestia leaned back. “I’m sorry I scared you. Are you okay?”

“Okay??” She shook her head, “no I’m not okay, you chased— I was chased around the soccer field and caught by your little brat and you expect me to be okay?”

“I just wanted to talk.”

“You just want me to die!!” The principal’s chest heaved, “F-for punishing Sunset! I-I-I suspended her, and she came crying to you and now you’ve come to exact your revenge! I know how rich families in fantasies work!”

“Well then, allow me to disappoint and tell you that chasing you around was a mistake, and I promise I won’t hurt you.” She held her arms out, “pinkie promise.”

Principal Celestia stared at Princess Celestia, still suspicious and scared. “…girls??”

Fluttershy nodded to her principal-- and grandmother. “Yes?”

“I know I’ve been seriously unprofessional, and I can’t un-suspend you without causing more trouble than I did now… but is she telling the truth??”

“Ah don’t know,” Applejack quirked an eyebrow. “Are you, Tia?”

Celestia pouted, “I said I wasn’t going to three or four times!”

Applejack folded her arms over her chest. “Words ain’t everything sugar, y’all are gonna have ta back up them up with action. None of us were sure you were actually a mare of your word when ya got here.”

She shrugged helplessly, “What do I do then?”

“Prove it!” Principal Celestia snapped.

Celestia was taken aback. “…What?”

“Just prove it!” she glared, “if you’re not some… some vengeful goddess here to beat me up, prove it! My life would be so much better if Sunset had someone actually keeping her in check! Do it!” Celestia looked up at the six students, asking for permission to do something, not even sure what it was she would do. They looked at each other, shrugged and smiled uncertainly. It was not exactly permission… but it’d have to do. Celestia thought for a moment about what might send a clear message and took action. Getting up, she walked closer to the frightened woman. She leaned down.

“What… what’re you doing?? No, don’t come any closer, No no no no—EEEEK!” Celestia found it not difficult at all to pick her counterpart up despite her being larger than Sunset—her size evidently came with superior strength as well. The poor woman tried fighting to get out of her grip; having no idea that Celestia wasn’t doing this to be mean. It took a similarly minimal effort to shift her into her arms properly, half cradling her, half hugging her. Her screams were cut short and the woman froze up completely when Celestia rubbed her cheek against her in a loving pony-like nuzzle. “…I’m so confused.”

“Yeah, that’ll do it,” Sunset said. Some of the girls sighed in relief, Pinkie giggled.

“You… you’re really not going to hurt me?” The principal asked. Celestia smiled brightly. “Oh… thank you.”

“It’s my absolute pleasure,” Celestia offered, “and I’d be happy to prove my benevolence again whenever you like”

The principal giggled in relief. “I’ll hold you to that…” She leaned into Celestia’s touch. “I’m glad Sunset’s in good hands.”

Excited cheers rang across the field. The problem they had all unintentionally started was subsequently solved, and aches and pains aside, they couldn’t be happier.

Principal Celestia cleared her throat, sternly regarding the six students. “Girls, you’d better get going home; you’re still suspended. I’ll see you next week.”

“Yes ma’am!” The group collectively left the premises.

---

“So, a princess reigning over an entire country huh…? I can’t imagine just how much responsibility that must place upon one person.”

Two Celestias, one princess and the other principal, were leaning against Canterlot High’s front statue for a last-minute talk. The students had already gone their separate ways, and so had Sunset left through the portal back to her native world. “It is actually less work now than one might expect,” Princess Celestia replied, “My sister only recently returned from a very long absence, and the workload has been considerably lightened through the years because of my careful delegation of duties. In fact, I’m supposed to be on a vacation right now.”

Intrigued, Principal Celestia stood up straighter. “Oh really…? I didn’t think a princess could have a vacation. Where are you taking a vacation at?”

“It’s just a little town called Ponyville; one of my old students, Twilight Sparkle, lives there.”

“What’s it like?”

Princess Celestia pondered the question. “The air is clean, with the smell of earth, farmland and grassy fields in the air. There’s not much to do, but so much time to do it, and the sun shines so brightly on a cloudless day, even I might need a pair of shades every once in a while.”

“That sounds wonderful,” the principal sighed.

“Of course,” the princess added with a sideways smirk, “nopony ever tells you about the monsters that regularly come out of the neighboring forest…”

“Monsters??”

“Mm-hm…but it’s a wonderful change of pace from the many hours listening to ponies drone on and on about problems they should be able to solve for themselves.”

“Oh, I know what you mean… I have school board meetings about scheduling school board meetings! How does anyone get anything done?” The two shared a good-natured laugh. The principal sighed, smiling sadly. “You know… I envy you Tia.”

“How so?”

“It’s just… you’ve got power. You can tell most anyone to jump and they’ll ask ‘how high?’. They all love you… I can’t even use any discretion about when I discipline my students without that same school board breathing down my neck.” She shrugged, “I barely even own my house, let alone an entire country.”

“The last thing I would say about my position is it’s enviable, principal.” Princess Celestia put a hand on the smaller Woman’s shoulder. “No matter how easy it might seem to rule my country, it is still a monumental responsibility to carry, which risks calamity upon my people if I ever make a bad enough call. And if you think everyone loves me… well I have made numerous enemies just by existing.”

“…So that’s it then? I should be content with only risking losing my job if I’m a bad principal?”

Princess Celestia shook her head. “No not at all. If you’re anything like me, it would be like asking you to stop eating cake.”

The principal spluttered, “How did you know I like cake??”

“That proves my point,” she smiled. “Look, I’m just offering a word of warning… not that it would stop you, I imagine.”

“No… but that doesn’t help me.”

“Oh I think it helps you more than you can possibly imagine,” Princess Celestia assured her, “You and I… we’re ambitious; we’re always looking for opportunities to better ourselves as people, even if we fall into funks from time to time. But if you were any other woman, you’d probably have been content to be a teacher for the rest of your life, and you weren’t. I think if you lived as long as I did, you would rule a country too.”

“Thanks…” Principal Celestia frowned. “But I can’t live that long, and I’m sure I won’t.”

“Maybe you won’t,” she conceded, “not yet anyway; but maybe you won’t have to.”

“Huh?”

“Let me give you a little bit of information about my and your world…” Princess Celestia drew her counterpart closer and put an arm around her shoulder. “Long ago my old master Starswirl the Bearded made a habit of taking threats found in my world and pushing them somewhere else… That somewhere else is an otherwise uninteresting mirror which acts as a gateway to another world; your world.”

“…Really?”

“I remember him telling me personally. He told me that as far as he was concerned, the problems were no longer in his world, and therefore no longer his business.”

She winced. “That’s awful. But… what does it have to do with me?”

“Simply put,” Princess Celestia said, removing her tiara from her head, “I think you’re trying to look for power in all the wrong places.” She examined the thing, looking for a weakness in the setting of the gem in the middle of it. “Principal Celestia doesn’t need better influence on the school board, or to climb further up the ranks into the role of superintendant, burying herself further in paperwork and red tape…” She bit down on the gem, twisting to remove it from its socket then spat it onto her hand. “…She only needs a little bit of magic, and a proper understanding of how it works.”

Principal Celestia snorted in amusement. “What is it with you and using your mouth?”

“Oh hush, I’ve got no training on the hands thing.” She rubbed the gem on her skirt until it shined then handed it off to the principal. “Here, a little parting gift.”

Principal Celestia held the amethyst up in her hand. “What? Why’re you giving me this Tia?”

“That right there is pure magic,” she tapped the gemstone, and then the base of the statue, “It doesn’t exist in my world; it was created when I traveled through the portal from my world into yours and yet it looks, smells and tastes exactly like an amethyst.”

She examined the gemstone more closely. “…I wouldn’t believe it if I hadn’t seen you teleporting around the place,” she mused. “What do you want me to do with it?”

Principal Celestia winked. “That’s completely up to you. You could sell it for some money, or you could study it yourself. You’re smart I’m sure—find some other smart people to help you learn what exactly makes it tick!”

“I do know that Crystal Prep tends to have the most academically smart students…”

“Great! And who knows; maybe you’ll find out that this place has its own magic too.” She tossed her tiara into the portal, not expecting it to come out the other side. “Anyway, I think I’ve outstayed my welcome… Sunset’s bound to be getting impatient.” She took a step into the portal.

“Wait!”

Princess Celestia stopped, brought her attention back to her counterpart and was quite literally pounced on. Two arms wrapped around her neck and she stumbled back a couple feet before she properly regained balance. The principal was hugging her! How nice.

“Thank you…” She mumbled into her shoulder, “You’ve given me a lot to think about.”

Princess Celestia returned the gesture, nuzzling in reply. “Good luck, headmistress.” The two parted ways, and she stepped through the surface of the statue. It shimmered and rippled, and before she knew it, it was as if the alien princess—her newfound friend—wasn’t even there anymore.

The principal… headmistress Celestia turned the amethyst in her hand, marveling at how flawless it appeared. “Well, back to work,” she said to no one in particular; “maybe I have a couple strings to pull somewhere that I may be able to find someone by the name of Twilight Sparkle…”

(*) Historical texts say that she might have got too close to one with a wooden practice spear and subsequently called the wrath of all the chickens within her village upon herself.

Author's Note:

Beware, I live.

Been two years Folks. I was dragging my feet for a long time, and then I cranked it all out over the course of two days. Hope the next gap isn't as long!

Comments

[redsopine]

So sunbutt found out the hard way you dont beep with the chickens

[Eris Dis Harmonia]

And here. We. Go.

[Captain Absolution]

Welp, see you all in two years!~

Great chapter though.

[Billblok]

10144612
Yeah, terribly sorry about that. I'm going to endeavor to not let that be the case for the next chapter. :P