Chapter 9 - Paths Cross, part 2
Chapter 9 - Paths Cross, part 2
Sunset Shimmer could tell that she was going to have a long day. Any residual good feelings she had from the weekend and lunch on Monday instantly evaporated once she made it school.
Something felt fishy. The usual hostility she received from the students suddenly had an added layer of smugness to it. Sunset decided she hated it.
She scowled at every student that past by as she stomped to her homeroom class. As she rounded a corner, someone called out to her.
“Hey, she-demon!” Sunset spun around with fire in her eyes- a fire that, for once, did not affect Micro Chips, who only smirked back. “You should watch yourself. I don’t think Twilight will give you another chance if you try to pull anything else.”
‘Twilight?’
He walked away with the same annoying confidence that the rest of CHS had adopted in regards to Sunset, leaving the girl angry but confused. ‘What the hell is he talking about,’ she wondered angrily. ‘Princess Sparkle Butt is gone for the next three moons.’
Sunset brushed off the encounter as an empty threat as she continued to her homeroom, but an uneasiness had already started to creep up the back of her neck.
The bell rang just as Sunset sat down in her homeroom. Ms. Harshwhinny gave her a glare- she technically wasn’t late, but she was cutting it close- as she got up to address the class.
“Settle down, now, class.” Ms. Harshwhinny’s dour voice cut through the chatter, silencing the excited teens quickly. “I know you must all be quite excited about Ms. Sparkle’s arrival, but-”
“WHAT?” Sunset leapt to her feet. Her heart was racing. All eyes turned to her with varying degrees of smug and satisfied expressions, but she hardly noticed.
Ms. Harshwhinny glowered at the redhead. “If you would please refrain from interrupting, Ms. Shimmer…”
‘It’s not possible.’
Several snickers ran through the class, but, again, Sunset did not notice. She could feel the blood pumping in her ears as she clenched her jaw. It was as though her world had come to a screeching halt.
“Ms. Shimmer, sit down.”
More laughs. More delighted faces and gleeful smirks as Sunset stiffly returned to her seat. The disgruntled teacher continued talking, but all Sunset could hear was her own racing thoughts. ‘No, she can’t… It’s impossible, the portal is closed!’
The rest of homeroom passed in a whirl of anger and confusion for her as she tried to figure out exactly what in Tartarus was going on. Before she knew it, the bell had rung once again and Sunset was robotically pulling herself up and moving to her first period.
The first half of the day flew past Sunset in a blur. Luckily for her, she didn’t see Twilight in any of her classes.
Her third period study hall was far more stressful than it normally was. She usually spent her time in the library productively; either reading, doing homework, or helping Ms. Cheerilee put books away.
The rumours of Twilight’s arrival left her distracted and angry- well, angrier than usual. It was bad enough that she had a few shared classes with those insufferable Elements of Harmony, but now that their little sextuplet was once again complete…
‘I don’t stand a chance against them.’ Sunset’s hands clenched into fists. Her history homework sat untouched in front of her. ‘I just don’t understand,’ she thought bitterly. ‘How? And why?’
Not really paying any attention, Sunset tore the nearly blank sheet of lined paper out of her binder; she was supposed to be writing an essay on the Byzantine Empire, but hadn’t gotten any farther than putting her name on the paper.
‘I mean, who does she think she is?’ The paper ripped between her fingers, straight down the middle, with a satisfying sound.
‘She barges in here, she destroys everything I’ve worked towards… Then she finally leaves, and has the audacity to break the laws of reality and come back?!’
A small pile of shredded paper had started to form beneath Sunset’s hands. Several pairs of eyes turned to Sunset as she slammed a fist into the table, jostling the tiny strips of angry confetti she had created.
‘Hasn’t she ruined my life enough already?’
Tears of frustration stung at the corners of Sunset’s eyes, which only angered her further. She was close to screaming in fury when the shrill sound of the bell interrupted her rumination.
It was time for lunch.
Lunch, where the whole of the senior class would be.
Where Twilight would be.
Sunset stood, her eyes blazing with a flame that was all too similar to what she wielded on the night of the Fall Formal. She shoved her history binder into her bag and swept the bits of paper into her hand, depositing them into the recycling on her way out of the library. She moved like she was on a mission.
‘I’m going to get some answers,’ she thought. ‘One way or another.’
***
The bell rang, dismissing Twilight from the Home Economics class she shared with Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy.
Pinkie Pie was chatting happily as the four exited the classroom. “I’m so glad you got to join our group! I mean it makes sense because we were the only group missing a fourth member, but still!”
Twilight smiled. “Thank you,” she signed. Rainbow and Fluttershy had shown the group some of the more basic signs during homeroom, so they could at least pick up on some of the things Twilight signed without translation.
“Ah’m glad too,” Applejack added. “We’re all mighty happy to have you as a friend, Twi.”
Twilight blushed. She was surprised to find that she was happy, too; if not a little bit exhausted from all the interaction. The day was only half-way over, but Twilight already felt as though her internal batteries were close to empty. She simply wasn’t used to this much attention being on her.
The four fell into step together; the Apple/Pie cousins lead the way side-by-side, leaving Twilight and Fluttershy paired behind them. They navigated through the crowded halls together, swiftly making their way to the lunchroom.
As expected, the cafeteria was jam-packed. Twilight winced as a wall of sound hit her upon their entrance. Thankfully, Fluttershy picked up on her discomfort and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder, steering them through the lunch line.
After they got their lunches, two voices shouted over the noise.
“Hello, girls-”
“Hey, nerds!”
Twilight heard Fluttershy giggle from beside her as Rarity swatted at Rainbow, who had launched herself over the table- and, subsequently, knocked Rarity’s salad over- to beckon them closer.
Applejack snickered as she and Pinkie sat down, leaving Twilight and Fluttershy to sit across from them. “Nice goin’, Dash,” the farmer joked.
“Oh, uh, sorry ‘Rares,” Rainbow said as she noticed the small disorder she had caused.
Rarity huffed, brushing lettuce from her skirt and mumbling something about how undignified Rainbow was, and the group shared a laugh- a laugh that Twilight actually joined in on.
Smoothing out her shirt and making sure there were no more stray bits of food on her clothing, Rarity turned to Twilight. “So,” she said. “How has your first day as a Wondercolt been so far, Twilight?”
Twilight smiled. “It’s been… overwhelming. But not as bad as I thought.” Her hands, finally, were not shaking when she signed her response. “Although, I’m still confused as to why everybody knows my name already.” She glanced around, making eye contact with each of her new friends.
There was a moment of silence after Fluttershy translated what Twilight had said. Twilight wasn’t great at reading social cues, but even she could tell that everyone seemed to not know how to respond.
Finally, Applejack cleared her throat. “Erm, well… Ya see, sugarcube-”
“You!”
A shout rang out across the cafeteria, interrupting Applejack and silencing the entire room.
Twilight’s new friends froze. She turned her head to the source of the noise, only to find that the owner of the voice- and most of the cafeteria- was staring directly at her.
Twilight gulped as the girl strode towards their table. She had flaming red and gold hair that cascaded over her shoulders in waves. In contrast to her yellow-orange skin tone, her eyes were a shockingly cold teal; but they blazed fiercely when they met Twilight’s own gaze.
Her heart skipped a beat in a way that was all too familiar; this time, not from anxiety, but from something Twilight feared much more.
‘Crap,’ she lamented as the visibly fuming girl approached. ‘Just what I need; yet another really pretty girl who hates me.’
“Ah, dammit,” Rainbow Dash muttered, breaking Twilight from her thoughts. She and Applejack stood from their seats and moved to put some space between the fiery stranger and Twilight herself.
The girl came to a halt in front of the table. Her eyes never left Twilight- something that both delighted and terrified the quiet girl.
“Um, howdy there Sun-”
She didn’t let Applejack finish. “What on Gaia’s green earth is she doing here?!” She jabbed a finger in Twilight’s direction.
Rainbow pushed the girl back by the shoulders. “Back off, Sunset Shimmer. She doesn’t need you all up in her business.”
The girl- ‘Sunset Shimmer’- clenched her jaw as Rainbow shoved her. She brought a closed fist back and Twilight’s eyes widened, but Rarity jumped in before she could strike.
“Now, now,” the fashionista said in a placating tone. She put a hand on Rainbow’s shoulder and pulled her back towards the table, sending her a look that said ‘drop it’. “Why don’t we all just calm down and talk about this like civilised adults?”
Sunset dropped her still-clenched fist and laughed hollowly. “Calm? You expect me to be calm? How am I supposed to be calm when the freaking Princess of Friendship is somehow back when it should be impossible!?”
“...Princess…?”
Twilight’s voice was soft, but it still somehow brought the conversation to a screeching halt. She almost wilted as everyone looked to her, but her curiosity spurred her forward. “Wh-what do yo-ou mean?” She forced herself to lock eyes with Sunset. ‘This girl… She’s involved with all this- whatever the heck this is.’
There was silence as the two stared at each other. Twilight blushed as those cyan eyes seemed to really look at her for the first time since she entered the cafeteria. They roamed from the quiet girl’s glasses, to her striped shirt, to the messy bun her hair was in- almost curious, but never losing the intensity they held.
Finally, Sunset turned her attention away from Twilight, and the bookworm let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding.
Sunset looked to Applejack. “Cowgirl. Explain,” she demanded. “Now.”
Applejack sighed. “We’ll tell ya everything we know,” she pacified. “Let’s just go somewhere with less of an- ahem- audience.”
With all of the calamity happening around her, Twilight had failed to notice that the entire cafeteria was watching. She sank lower into her seat, graciously accepting a comforting hand from Fluttershy and a sympathetic look from Pinkie.
Sunset narrowed her eyes. “Fine. I know just the place.” Without another word, Sunset spun around and strode toward the cafeteria’s fire exit doors.
The group shared a cautious look, but ultimately got up as a whole and moved to follow Sunset, leaving the cafeteria to slowly return to normalcy.
To say that Twilight was confused was an understatement. There was so much happening, and the only person who didn’t seem to have all the pieces was Twilight herself.
‘Well,’ she thought. ‘At least I’m finally about to get some answers.’
***
Sunset stomped out of the school and towards the edge of the woods, not bothering to check if the Princess and her pests were following.
‘Except that isn’t the Princess, is it?’
No, this girl was much different. She didn’t hold herself with the same obnoxious confidence as Princess Twilight Sparkle. And not to mention that stutter! When Sunset actually took a good look at her, it was clear that this was a different person, despite their similarities.
‘There had better be a different explanation for this than what I’m thinking of,’ Sunset thought bitterly. ‘If I have to deal with two fucking Twilights I think I’m going to scream.’
Soon enough, Sunset pushed through the rapidly lessening foliage and marched through Wallflower’s garden.
“Oh, hey Suns-”
“Hi, Wallflower. We’ve got company today.”
Ignoring the confused look Wallflower gave her, Sunset stalked over to their usual bench and plopped herself down with a huff. Moments after, the Elements and their new friend entered into the clearing.
Wallflower raised an eyebrow. “Huh,” she said in a tone that was almost teasing. “I didn’t know you guys were friends.
“We’re not friends!”
“We aren’t friends!”
The gardener snickered as Rainbow and Sunset spoke in unison. “Sure, whatever,” she said with faux-innocence.
Rainbow stopped glowering at Sunset for a second and turned to Wallflower, seemingly noticing her for the first time. “Wait, who the hell are you?”
“Anyways,” Wallflower said, blatantly ignoring Rainbow. “Why are you guys all- holy shit, Princess Twilight?!”
Sunset groaned as Wallflower noticed the newcomer. “Yeah, something like that.” She gave a pointed look to the Elements, who were all standing awkwardly around the clearing. “Start explaining before I go absolutely berserk.”
She tried to ignore the snort of laughter Wallflower let out as, to her surprise, Fluttershy stepped forward.
“Sunset,” she began in a gentle, but firm voice. “There’s no need to be so rude.”
Sunset blinked. Being completely honest, she didn’t think Fluttershy had the guts to talk to her like that. Or to talk to anyone at all, for that matter. ‘Must have gained some courage from hanging around Rain-bitch for so long,’ she thought. Still, she gave credit where credit was due and chose to overlook Fluttershy’s unexpected boldness. Instead, she stayed silent and let the girl continue.
“This is Twilight Sparkle,” Fluttershy said, putting a hand on Twilight’s shoulder. “She’s a new student that just transferred in from Crystal Prep Academy. She isn’t the Princess, so please don’t hold anything against her; she doesn’t even know you.”
There was a tense beat of silence as Sunset absorbed the information.
So she was right; there were now two Twilight Sparkles.
And of course, she was less than thrilled.
“Gods above-” she stood abruptly. Rainbow and Applejack moved to shield Twilight should the redhead attack, but Sunset instead turned and flung her fist into a nearby tree.
“rrRRRAGH!”
“Godammit Sunset, we talked about this!”
Ignoring Wallflower’s words and the fresh pain in her hand, Sunset stomped back to the bench and sat down.
“Of course, of course there’s two of them now,” she grumbled, tossing her uninjured hand into the air. “Just kick me while I’m down, why don’t you?”
She saw Wallflower roll her eyes in her periphery. “Cool it, Saddle Rager,” the green girl quipped. “You might actually break your hand if you keep this up.”
Sunset was about to tell Wallflower exactly how she could go fuck herself when that unsteady voice spoke up again.
“Um, w-will someone please tell me wh-what’s go-ing on?”
Twilight looked scared, much to Sunset’s delight, but she pushed past Applejack and Rainbow, looking to the red-head for answers.
“Don’t look at me Princess,” Sunset spat bitterly. “Ask your new friends.”
“I-I’ve tried!”
The Elements at least had the decency to look a little guilty.
Applejack sighed deeply. “We’re mighty sorry for not talking about this sooner, Twi. There hasn’t really been a good time.”
“Until now,” Sunset jabbed.
The cowgirl winced. “Until now,” she repeated.
“Well, might as well get comfy.” Applejack brushed away some fallen leaves and sat down on the dirt. She gestured for her friends to do the same. “Yer’ in for a long ride.”
***
It took most of the lunch period to explain everything.
Sunset’s rule over the school and theft of the crown, Twilight’s arrival and quick befriending of the Elements; her subsequent win of the crown, Sunset dog-napping Spike and her threat to smash the portal.
The transformation. The blast. The end.
Applejack gave most of the summary, with the others- sans Wallflower and Sunset- chiming in with details here and there. In fact, Sunset had stayed surprisingly silent through the explanation, merely alternating from glaring daggers at Twilight to huffily inspecting the ground.
By the time the story came to an end, Twilight’s head was spinning.
‘Princesses? Ponies? Magic?!’ She shook her head in disbelief. The scientific part of her brain was at war with her instinctive need to fill in the blanks around her. ‘There’s… There’s no way. These people are crazy, they have to be!’
‘But this would explain that big energy spike,” she countered herself. “A surge of magic like the rainbow blast they described would certainly have been picked up by my machine!’
A scoff brought Twilight out of her thoughts. She looked up. Sunset was looking at her with an unreadable expression.
“She doesn’t believe you yet. Show her the video.”
The Elements immediately cringed, but Rarity pulled out her phone nonetheless.
The video was short and appeared to just be a poor smear campaign, but to Twilight it was earth shattering; no amount of photoshop or video editing could create a minute-long video of Twilight Sparkle herself when there were pretty much zero videos of her online at all. And how would anyone at Canterlot High know who she was in the first place? Crystal Prep was in the city, she had never met a Wondercolt before today! And not to mention the fact that she didn’t own clothes that looked anything like that, nor had she worn her hair down since third grade.
Any way she looked at it, the video only served to reinforce what they had told her.
‘They really weren’t lying,’ Twilight marveled. ‘Which means…’
“Magic is real!?”
The inner scientist in Twilight was both dismayed and absolutely ecstatic. On one hand, magic defied any and all laws of science and nature; but on the other hand, there was so much research to do! So many things to test, so many experiments to run…
But it didn’t make sense. None of it made sense. All of this new information went against everything Twilight had learned, undid years upon years of devotion to science and reasoning and uprooted every belief that Twilight held dear.
Rainbow Dash’s nervous chuckle somewhat brought her mind back from the clouds. “Guys, I think we broke her.”
Twilight almost didn’t hear her. She merely nodded, hoping that was enough of an answer for the time being.
“Oh, poor dear,” Rarity said from her spot next to Applejack and Pinkie Pie. Not wanting to get her dress dirty, she was happily sat on Applejack’s worn flannel shirt. “We know this is a lot to absorb,” she said kindly. “But we’re here for you.”
“Yeah,” Pinkie spoke up. “We can’t promise everything’ll make sense, but nothing fun ever does!”
Twilight smiled weakly. The faces of her new friends- her new, magic friends- smiled back warmly.
Just then, the bell rang, causing Twilight to jump slightly.
Sunset Shimmer got up from the bench and stretched lazily. “Well, I’d say this has been fun,” she said with a faux-blaisé tone. “But it really hasn’t. Let’s never do this again.”
“Now there’s something we can agree on,” came Rainbow’s caustic response.
The rest of the group started getting up from their respective spots, shouldering their bags and fixing their clothes as needed.
Twilight took an offered hand from Fluttershy. ‘Oh boy,’ she thought as she and the Elements started walking back to the school. ‘I really need time to process all of this.’
***
The rest of the day was a living hell for Sunset. As it turned out, she had not one, not two, but three whole classes with Twilight Sparkle.
“I guess the second half of my day is totally ruined forever, now,” Sunset thought bitterly, glaring daggers at Twilight as she exited their shared seventh period. “Classes with Sparkle, then detention. Can’t get much worse than that.”
With a snarl and a glare at anyone who crossed her path, Sunset navigated the halls swiftly. Usually, she wasn’t in any rush to see Celestia, but today she had a bone to pick.
Sunset didn’t bother knocking when she reached Celestia’s office.
“Principal Celestia!”
Celestia blinked as Sunset burst into the room and loomed over her desk, anger coming off her in waves.
“Um, come on in, Sunset. What can I help you with?”
It took a lot of self control for Sunset to not flip over the desk between her and her not-really-former-teacher. “You know exactly what you can ‘help me’ with, Celestia.” Sunset almost growled the older woman’s name. “Why in the name of the gods is Twilight in so many of my classes?! There’s no way in hell this is going to end well and you know it!”
The Principal narrowed her eyes with a frown. “I’m going to choose to overlook the way you just addressed me,” she said in a warning tone. “And instead focus on your glaring disrespect for your classmates. I tried to keep Twilight away from you for as much of the day as possible, but unfortunately there is only so much I can do.”
Sunset felt her anger in her stomach coming to a rolling boil. There was no way in hell she was spending this much quality time with the Princess’ doppelganger. “You have to move her,” she insisted.
“The classes Twilight is taking make her schedule inflexible,” Celestia said, keeping her voice even. “Certain teachers only have certain classes in certain periods, especially with advanced courses; that is something that cannot be changed. You should remember having the same problem when you signed up for your classes this year.”
“Then make her take a different class!”
“Twilight has as much of a right to be there as you do.”
“But-!”
“Sunset Shimmer!” Celestia abruptly pushed herself into a standing position, slamming her palms on the desk and cutting Sunset off. “If you are going to continue acting like a child, I’m going to have to treat you like one. I’ve had enough of this attitude. Do I make myself clear?”
That shut Sunset up rather quickly. Celestia had never talked to her like this; at least, not this version of Celestia.
The principal sighed heavily. She sat back down, lacing her fingers together atop her desk.
“Twilight Sparkle will not be moved, and you absolutely will not harass her, nor myself, over it. End of discussion.”
Rather tongue-tied, Sunset just stood there, quietly staring at Celestia with wide eyes. She was still mad, but all the fire had been let out of her like a rapidly deflating balloon. She felt like a filly again, being scolded by the Equestrian Celestia for one reason or another, leaving her uncharacteristically sober and reflexively silent.
After the silence had stretched for a bit too long, Celestia spoke up once again. Her tone was much more gentle, but lacked the condescending nature that Sunset expected.
“I’m sure today has been very stressful for you,” she said softly. “Why don’t you go on home, Sunset? Detention can wait.”
It sounded to Sunset like there was some true compassion behind Celestia’s voice, much more than there had ever been with her former mentor.
She nodded, not trusting herself to speak, and left without another word.
Well, well, well, look who's updated on time! 
Hope this chapter lives up to the hype! There's a few parts I'm a bit dissatisfied with, but overall I'm rather proud of how things have turned out.
As usual, Sunset doesn't handle her anger very well. At all. I promise that's going somewhere important 
Oh, and since I think things through WAY too much, I'll be posting Sunset and Twilight's respective schedules in a blog post. Just in case anyone actually cares.
Hope y'all are having a great evening!
~Bitty Bug
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That… went about as well as could be expected. Oh boy, Sunny's mad, Twi's having an existential crisis, and the school's probably going to be even bigger pricks now that they think they've got Twilight to hide behind and stop Sunset if she retaliates.
Good stuff chief.
Welp, I'm positive that's not Twilight wanted to meet Sunset
Sci-Twi is going to have...interesting times to be sure.
I'd actually rather not be taking Sunset's side here, since she's being an ass, but when it comes to her interaction with Celestia, she's actually in the right.
She goes about it the wrong way, and therefore can be dismissed with a tone argument (If you are going to continue acting like a child, I’m going to have to treat you like one) but if you don't know they're both protagonists, and those in the story don't, putting Twilight in the same classes as Sunset is an incredibly bad idea for both of them from a mental health and well-being standpoint. I misread the part about how many classes they had together, so it's not as bad as I thought, but it's still pretty bad.
This assumes, by the way, that both of them will be on their best behavior (they won't) to the point of being perfect little angels. You don't have to try, and certainly don't have to break any rules, for your presence to be damaging. They shouldn't be near each other, especially not for so long.
Switching schools is a major disruption regardless of what your schedule is, which means that shuffling Twilight doesn't make things any worse. That's why Sunset is supposed to get precedence. You fit Twilight's schedule around Sunset's because then you're not making things any worse than they already are. Twilight doesn't actually have as much right to be there as Sunset. If Sunset moved out of Canterlot, and thus no longer lived in the school district, she'd still have more right to be in those classes through the end of the school year.
(Once the school year ended she'd have to enroll in whatever district she now lived in for the next year unless she was homeless in such a way that her residence in the other district could be considered a temporary arrangement. Even then things get dicey. I have been looking up the rights of homeless students for my own works.)
Now, "She doesn't have quite as much right to be there as you" doesn't translate to "She doesn't have enough right to be there", so if the schedule really does make it impossible for Twilight to be in fewer than three classes with Sunset, and the academic loss of her not being there is seen to outweigh the mental health concerns (for both of them) involved in her being there, then they still end up in classes together. (They still shouldn't, but sometimes the only options are ones that you shouldn't do. When there are no good options, you pick the least bad one.)
So, none of this means that there's anything wrong with them having the classes together, but apart from how Sunset brought it up, her position is actually fairly reasonable. She is right to think they shouldn't be in classes together. She is right to think that Twilight should be the one kept out instead of her being the one to be kicked out. Where she's wrong is in thinking that "should" is possible.
My high school, for example, had one AP Calc A class, one AP Calc B class, one AP stats class, and . . . one other AP math class, I think, where everyone taking it that year was stuck in the same class. That was just on the math side of things.
Shifting gears to the one part of the confrontation I haven't touched yet, this:
is simultaneously something that's never supposed to happen and something that's very realistic. Having just come from my sister's farm where I was dealing with two toddlers and a six year old, I'm tempted to just point out that she's acting like a child, but that's actually nowhere near the point.
In technical terms, Celestia is making a "threat display". They're used to avoid conflict by implicitly threatening it. You show someone that you mean business, they back down. Think Fluttershy at the end of Dragonshy.
The dragon too, actually. It comes out, fists shattering rocky ground, shows that it can immolate the other five (assuming it can shoot fire as easily as smoke) with ease, and stands above them looking scary, but it doesn't actually try to hurt them. This even though Rainbow Dash attacked it after Rarity tried to con it out its treasure. The message is, "I can hurt you; stand down, or I will." Fluttershy responds by flying so she's above it, speaks in a strong superior tone, lands on its snout so that she literally has it under her heels, comes absurdly close to headbutting its eye, and yells in its face.
Or, short version, the dragon bluffed by trying too look scary. It was expecting them to cut their losses and leave. Fluttershy called it's bluff, which might have been enough to stop it in itself, but then she was even scarier. To the scariest go the spoils.
How this all comes back around to Celestia and Sunset is that what Celestia's doing (probably unconsciously) is a threat display, and (while those might be good when trying to make the ponies who are bothering you go away, or trying to make the dragon threatening you friends back down) they are not something a school administrator should ever be doing to a student. There are about a eleventy billion different reasons why not, but here are a couple key ones.
You don't know a student's home life. Some students will assume that you're actually about to hit them when you do stuff like that. Any given one? Probably not. Over the course of a career? Several. At least.
As the adult in the room, it's your job to keep things from escalating. Physical violence, even toward the furniture, doesn't help with that. It raises things up a level. Well, more like a landing. It raises things up to that point halfway between levels where the staircase is flat for a bit, before going back up and toward the doors. Percussive sound effects may not seem like much, but it inches things closer to going out of control.
It draws attention to the wrong things. Threat displays are to demonstrate to others that you have power (the dragon demonstrates physical force and weaponized breath, Fluttershy demonstrates anger and a willingness to get up in someone's face) or remind them that you have power (we can look to the dragon again, because the ponies already knew he was big and scary.) The type of power Celestia is supposed to have over Sunset, which is also the type of power she does have over Sunset, has nothing to do with the physical. Taking physical steps distracts from that power and shifts the focus on the type of power she's not supposed to have over Sunset. (If Sunset is afraid, it's supposed to be of expulsion, suspension, or detention, not . . . we've already covered that.)
One of the many reasons I decided not to pursue teaching is that I'd do shit just like what Celestia did, because I can't keep my cool in situations like that.
The VP at my high school, by the way, internalized none of what I just said. My experience with high school administration was . . . entirely composed of, "That's never supposed to happen." He interrogated me to the point I was sobbing, called me scum, and planned to expel me without even checking to see if I was guilty. (As soon as he did check, which he had to be forced to do by my parents, he discovered I was innocent.)
[This post has been brought to you by: "when I'm off my ADD med, sometimes I can't stop typing," "that time when I was thinking of being a teacher and took classes for teachers in training," and "this is the sort of thing I do when I have insomnia."]
Hey, who totally forgot to say that she's enjoying the story? Me!
I'm enjoying the story. Also, since I missed the previous chapter when it was fresh and therefore didn't say it there: it's good to have you back.
This story is so well done I love it. it's people like you and jwolfsilver that help me want to become a better writer. you guys do it so well.
When you work with that much fertilizer, you can't help but be a bit of a shit-stirrer.
Next period, after further contemplation...
"Parallel universes are real!?"
"Yes, Miss Sparkle, your existence demonstrates that quite nicely. Thank you for not disrupting class with these revelations."
"Sorr-ry."
Correction: It didn't make sense yet. Magic being real would be a Holy Grail of science. The only thing more exciting than proving a theory is disproving it, because that means we can find a better one, one that more accurately models reality. Discovering an entire additional fundamental force would open up jaw-dropping vistas of possibility.
Of course, I can hardly blame Twilight for needing time to process this revelation. Once she gets over the shock of magic being a thing, this may be one of the best days in her life.
As for Sunset... Yeah, she definitely could've approached this better. If nothing else, she might have been able to get her own schedule rearranged if she'd approached the issue more calmly... though given the scheduling difficulties Celestia mentioned, Baconhorse and Bookape may well be stuck with each other for the foreseeable future. Hopefully familiarity won't breed too much contempt. Wallflower's outside perspective may be instrumental in ensuring that it doesn't.
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Thank you guys so much for the support
I'm glad you're enjoying the story!
My enjoyment of this story has been growing exponentially as I continue reading the chapters. The first chapter, I thought it was a pretty good fic, nothing too special. The second chapter I liked a lot, roughly twice as much as the first, then the third twice as much as the second...
Point is, if you continue on the current trajectory, you’re probably going to start hitting me with dopamine overdoses around chapter twelve, and I am okay with that. Keep writing. Please. I can feel the passion and heart behind it.
Honestly, I had initially expected this to go way worse than it did. Not that I'm not happy with this, I'm glad Sunset didn't blow up or anything.
Oooooooooooooh
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Reasonably certain that hatred is the opposite of support or allegiance.
This isnt dead is it? I hope not I really enjoyed reading it.
Forgot how much I liked this story. Hope to see more some day.