Paths to Power: not-so-humble beginnings

by FelSpite

Chapter 7

'They surely do take their time' thought Sunset with annoyance. This morning she found a note in her locker which asked her to meet on the roof after the end of classes to talk about some rumors, which supposedly concerned her and their friend Rarity. Friend, heh.

On hindsight, perhaps her plans to interfere with the relationship of those five girls weren't among her best ones. But at the time she was mostly concerned with establishing a certain reputation in the school and Rarity's monologue on the "joys of their friendship" just triggered her at that moment. Now, as her biggest concern was tied to the magic again, her earlier actions seemed petty and perhaps even a bit childish. And rather unsurprisingly, even as she had to drop her follow-up to the "frame them all between each other" scheme, it surely didn't look like they were back together.

'Look - that's what a friendship is like' She wanted to shout in the princess face 'Just an illusion or a lie that breaks under the easiest strain'. But alas, she was grounded on the other side of the mirror and unable to do so, even if she wanted. Real pity, that's for sure.

"So, how long are we going to wait for the losers?" voiced Dust, who stood a few meters to the right of her, leaning against the railing. "I mean, I'm not in a hurry, but there surely is a better stuff to do."

"Five more minutes, I think" Answered Sunset, checking time on her phone. "They fail to show up, it's on them"

"Well, ten tops. If only to avoid Dash making a fuss about it. I mean, I wouldn't mind the fight itself, but hearing all that stupid shit from my parents afterwards would really suck.."

"Do they have to know?"

"With our well-fucking-meaning principal - Heck yeah, they do!" Dust grumbled, visibly annoyed.

"Well, ten minutes it is then" reasoned Sunset. "By the way, while we are still waiting, do we need to buy something today for our training to spare the time tomorrow?"

"Actually, yes. Stuff like knee pads is important and I know just the place..." Dust stopped as a door to the roof opened with a slight creak and two girls stepped through. Applejack and Rainbow Dash. Exactly as expected, then.

"Hey, what are YOU doing here?" questioned Rainbow right as she saw them.

Dust shrugged. "Do I really need a reason to hang out with one of ours? Ask your questions already and stop wasting our time please." Right before the hot-tempered girl could continue, she was interrupted by a hand on her shoulder.
"I know that you are mighty angry now Rainbow, but it ain't about you and Dust right now." Applejack paused, before looking into Sunset's eyes. "It all may be an honest misunderstandin', but there are many rumors 'bout Rarity as your rival for Fall Formall..."

"Yea, and you were doing that school newspaper thing only just before this whole mess started! Kinda suspicious, that you were only seen speaking to Rarity with it, right?" Interrupted Rainbow.

'Well, they are smarter than they look' Thought Sunset. 'It wasn't that hard to see, sure, but still' She could deflect the question one way or another, or even outright deny everything, it's not like they had any proof anyway. But what was the point? It's not like they mattered for her plans anymore... Then she noticed a certain movement on the stairs and the opportunity that came with it. She smirked and simply asked, keeping her voice quiet:

"So, what if it's my doing?"

Both girls just stared at her slack-jawed for a few seconds, before Rainbow started to growl.. "YOU!... YOU LITTLE PIECE OF SHI.."

"NOW WHAT IS GOING ON HERE, YOUNG LADIES?" Vice-Principal Luna herself stood in the doorway glaring at them. "Aren't the rules on fighting in the school clear enough for you?"

Catched at the worst possible moment, Rainbow instantly stuttered. "Weell ... you see..."

"Initially we tried to resolve some things through discussion, like civilized adults" remarked Sunset coolly "Unfortunately, Rainbow here had a different opinion on the matter"

Girl in question turned to face her instantly, but could do little more than just glare in her direction. It even felt rather amusing, to be honest.

Vice-principal sighed. "Your discussion is over then. Sunset Shimmer, principal Celestia waits for you in her office. Rainbow Dash, please stay, as it seems that I have to remind you of the school rules once again. Lightning Dust and Applejack, you may leave. And I would be very disappointed to have you get into another incident today."

'Hmm, I wonder what is this call for meeting about' thought Sunset as she went to the stairs. 'Likely some useless moralizing again'

At least nothing else happened on her route to the Principal's office, so when she entered, fighting her annoyance to the best of her capabilities, she still had hopes to end it all over as quickly as possible.

"Sunset, it's good to see you..."

She didn't really listen to the Principal, as nowadays there was no real reason to. She had more than enough useless moralizing from Celestia's lectures back home, though the Princess at the very least was in a position of power that Sunset could respect. Actually useful parts of the lessons surely helped too, even though Celestia started to swap them more and more in favor of useless in their latest session. Would someone say that she would just sit and pretend paying attention while Her Majesty Princess of the Sun herself would outright waste their time on something so meaningless back in the beginning of her study, she surely would laugh them off. But, sadly it did became her reality in the end.

"Yes. I'm trying my best." she added at the appropriate time.

And Principal's speeches were never that useful to begin with. Sure, they might be effective for 'troubled teenagers', an inconvenienced adult like her it was merely annoying at its best.

"... and while I can't say it about the group as a whole, some of the 'Griffons' are really bad people, Sunset. Merely half a year ago five of them were arrested for a robbery, and with an exception of their ex-leader they were actually sentenced to prison later. Is this how you see your future?..."

At the mention of the 'future' by the woman Sunset really wanted to laugh in her face. Really? Comparing her to some two-bit crooks, that were too stupid to not get caught? As if she could offer something appealing herself, either in terms of the actual education or later job perspectives. Sure, some of this world sciences were more advanced than their equestrian counterpart, but that was more of the university material. Anything that the school could offer to her at this point she either knew already or had no need for. And it's not like she had any desire to become a scientist here to begin with.

In her 'worst case' plans, if everything else failed, and if she had to stay in this world for an undefined period of time, she considered pursuing business career. She was confident enough in her determination, ruthlessness and social skills to eventually succeed. If there was something that could help - it would perhaps a bit of sheer luck, but surely nothing that she could learn from the school course.

She also made a point for herself to ask Dust about those griffon thugs later. It seemed important enough after all.

"... Yes, I do understand your concerns, principal. It was never my intention to ..."

As their mostly pointless "conversation" continued, Sunset mind drifted from the discussed topics again. There were actually important things to think about after all. And even merely 'fun' activities looked more important at this point..

***

Thirty minutes later, when she exited CHS building she felt mostly content. Yes, it was annoying, but she had learned something of value at least. Patience and priorities - and everything would go her way. Eventually.

Dust waited for her, laying in the seat of the car with her eyes closed.

"Finally done?"

"Yes"

Dust sighed, getting her chair back into straight position "You know, I may not care that much for all this trouble in the looser's paradise, but that kinda came as a surprise for me, and unlike certain pink moron I do not like surprises."

The engine grumbled back to life, and the car started to pull off from the parking lot. After a short pause Dust continued "So, is there something else that may concern me or the griffins in general, that you can tell me now?"

"Not really"

"Well, that's good. Still, if you just happen to remember something - I would really like to hear about it first. To avoid unnecessary shit and all that.."

"Sure"

The rest of the road was spent in silence. Excluding some punk-rock music from the radio, of course.

Author's Note:

*After reading the previous chapters by himself a few times*
*Cringe* Well, there's a lot of sloppy writing and quite a lot of various mistakes that even I can see... I really should do a serious rewrite sometime later. Can't do it now, unfortunately.