Sunset was unimpressed.
Sure, the school looked a bit larger than the buildings in Canterlot and was certainly bigger than some Town Halls she's visited alongside Princess Celestia in the past, but growing up in a literal castle, as well as being a student at the most proficient school in Equestria meant she already saw the largest buildings in the country, so this was fairly unimpressive to her.
Though she must admit, the interior looked a lot blander. Since unicorns can just magically hold their books, there was no need for lockers and more space for interior decorations. In CSGU, there were potted plants and nice little decorations on the walls, alongside lavish murals and nice trinkets from the castle, while here there were just...lockers. There were some motivational posters here or there, and a bit of school pride decoration, but other than that it was bland rows of lockers. *My magic kindergarten had more decor.*
Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and her were some of the last people to enter the building since they were one of the last people to be dropped off at school. As they followed the stream of adolescent teenagers, the three of them kept gushing about the year they had ahead. In the waning hours of summer, she had learned a lot about the pecking order of the grade, so she had some inputs about the popular kids in the school. The beauty of Rarity, the charm of Flash...
The mystique around Tia.
It seems, fortunate for Tia's case, being friends with the most connected girl in the grade, as well as the supposed cousin of the principals themselves earns quite a reputation in the grade. From what she can hear in the teenagers ahead of them, there were already rumors about this supposed 'mystery' girl in the grade who moved from overseas. *If by overseas you mean across dimensions.*
Of course, that wasn't the only rumors running circles around the halls, as it seemed her own up-and-coming story has gained some traction. An amnesiac, who somehow became friends with one of the hottest girls in the grade, as well as the team captain herself? Fate decided to give her a good hand once in her life it seemed.
The three of them passed through a large set of double oak doors, into a newly furnished auditorium. The place looked like it came out of an Art Deco magazine, with smooth lampshades, and clear-cut patterns across the walls that acted as placeholders for smooth, white lamps. The chairs were much smoother and plush than the chairs in the classrooms, though they weren't as soft as the ones in Canterlot Castle. They almost reminded Sunset of ergonomic chairs that she's seen in the administrative buildings. As they made their way down into the third section, Sunset saw a flash of white and rainbow hair in her peripheral vision. She looked back just in time to see Tia and Rarity, and for a minute the two of them made eye contact before she was dragged away by Rainbow Dash into the row.
Sunset and Rainbow didn't care much for the speech. It was a standard introduction speech for newcomers, and she and Rainbow have already heard it moving from the lower schools into the higher ones. As Principal Celestia began, the two of them just kept talking about the other cliques in the school. *If I'm going to live here for the next two years, I may as well get acquainted with all of the people here.*
"...And behind us is Micro Chips and his friends," Rainbow said, throwing a thumb over her shoulder and pointing to three boys, all reading the Physics textbook, "They're basically the nerds, though they prefer the term 'Youth Researchers'. "
"So, basically nerds who excel in English class?" Sunset joked, poking her head out again to see Micro Chips still reading the textbook, though he seemed to notice her and gave her a sideways glance.
"Yeah, basically." Then, as Rainbow pointed to another group, they saw that students began standing up and making their way to the front of the auditorium. "Hey Shy," Rainbow said, poking her pink-haired friend in the shoulder, "What's going on?"
"O-Oh," Fluttershy stuttered, "They're calling up kids now for their schedules. They just called kids with the last name A-E."
"Oh, that's me!" Rainbow called out, before jumping over Fluttershy's legs and sprinting down the staircase. When they heard Rainbow yelp when she ran into another student, Fluttershy and Sunset giggled.
"So, I don't suppose you know anyone else in the grade, do you?" Sunset asked, leaning towards Fluttershy.
"I mean, no, not really, why?" Fluttershy tilted her head. With Rainbow Dash being called up, the two of them could converse more clearly now.
"Well, I want to try and make friends with everyone before they search up who I am," Sunset admitted, "Easier to explain it to a friend instead of to a stranger."
"Oh, that's understandable." Fluttershy said, peering over to look at the rest of the auditorium, "Unfortunately, I don't usually hang out with other people, it's always been just me and Rainbow together."
"Well then," Sunset said, "Let's try and fix that this year. You need new friends, I need new friends, it's a win-win!"
"Well, I guess I can't argue with tha-"
"Now calling up last names M-S!" Vice-Principal Luna called, cutting off Fluttershy. The both of them shrugged, before going up and getting their schedules. The both of them made their way to Miss Cheerilee.
"Sunset Shimmer, I presume?" Miss Cheerilee said, raising an eyebrow.
"Um, yeah, that's me," Sunset said, a bit unnerved by the tone of the teacher.
"Yeah, I heard about you. An amnesiac, correct?" Cheerilee said, writing something on a paper, before handing Sunset her packet.
"Yep. that's about it." Sunset replied.
"Look, the school system over at Fillydephia gave us your transcript. I understand you may have lost your memory, but if you pull any of that stuff you did in the past, I will not hesitate to reprimand you." Cheerilee said with some disdain.
"Oh! Are you suggesting that I may try and go back to my delinquent ways?" Sunset said in a mock shocked voice.
"Just...don't pull any of that stuff you did and we'll have no quarrels here, understand?"
"Crystal, ma'am."
"Alright, will Fluttershy Rose come to the table now?" Miss Cheerilee said, waving off Sunset and calling Fluttershy to the table.
As Sunset made her way to her row, she saw Rainbow Dash with a look of annoyance on her face, "What's the matter, Rainbow?" She asked.
"It's my mom," Rainbow grumbled, handing her schedule to Sunset, "She signed me up for a bunch of high-level classes, like Chemistry II and Advancing Physics. She wants me to 'branch out more', and not stay at the bottom of the grade."
"Huh, take it you're not a fan of studying?' Sunset said, looking over Rainbows classes.
"Yeah. I plan on graduating out of here with a soccer or baseball scholarship, but if I flunk these classes, I may not get it."
"Well, it seems you and I have some of the same classes here," Sunset noticed, showing Rainbow her schedule, and finding all of the high-level classes lined up with hers. "I can help you study for them if you need."
"I appreciate the help Sunset," Rainbow Dash smiled.
When Fluttershy sat down with her schedule, the three of them compared classes to find they all had some classes together and began gossiping about the other students. Before they could continue their conversation, an explosion occurred on the other side of the auditorium.
*Fweet!*
A party horn sounded off on the other side, and the three of them, alongside the rest of the grade looked up to find Tia near the explosion site. She had a party hat on, with a small cake placed down in front of her. She and Rarity, as well as some of their friends, had confetti inside their hair. A bright banner was hung behind Tia, with the words 'Welcome to CHS!' written in a bright font. It also had Tia's cutie mark emblazoned on the ends of the banner.
Silence dominated the air surrounding the girls before Rarity spoke up.
"Pinkie Pie! That was uncalled for!"
"Sorry!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, "I was just walking down the stairs when I saw the new girl and since it was a new girl I didn't know her and because I didn't know her I had to throw a welcome party so I went into the office found her file and began trying to find everything I needed about her then I went into the kitchen and spent a few minutes baking a cake while heading into the art room and making this HHUUGGEE banner then I finished took the cake set it all up only to realize that there was another newbie here and since I needed to throw a party for them I had to go all the way back into the office and find the new-new girls file to read it found what she liked and did everything AGAIN but while I was setting up the new-new girls party I tripped and set off the new girl's party by accident!" She smiled with a large toothy grin, somehow unfazed by that long rant she did, and yes, without a single breath or pause in between.
It took a while for everyone to process what Pinkie said, before Tia had a twinkle in her eyes, and spoke to Pinkie, "Miss Pinkie, it seems you forgot the celebration for the other new student!" She said in a mock voice.
"Oh yeah! I forgot!" Pinkie exclaimed, and before Sunset could do anything or call her out...
*Fweet!*
Quick question. I know that the thoughts here are italicized with asterisks between them, but the ones I saw in this chapter didn't have periods at the end. Was this intentional? 😕
10712289
No, that was not. Thank you for reminding me
10712316
Thank you!
Still Intriguing, please continue! To the haters: If you don't like it, do it yourself! This author is at least trying to emulate another good authors work and giving the original author all due credit! Is it the best? Not yet, but I do see improvement already and after all Moth didn't start off as good as he was. He improved with time and effort!
10712340
Thank you for the encouragement and the help!
Are you planning on finishing any of MythrilMoth's other stories such as Persona EG? (hint hint)
I'll wait to see what you come up with before passing jugement. But you have my attention.
10712365
Short answer: Eh, maybe
Long answer: I have a rule of working on a maximum of 3 stories at any given moment. To Forgive Or Forget is one, Cheer Princess Reborn is two, and The real Twilight is three. I suppose I could try and squeeze a fourth or fifth in the summertime, but that might be stretching it, and I would probably use the space on stories of my own creation.
But barring all of that, I don't have the skill or reputation to go ahead and finish all Mythril's works. I may have already jumped the gun with Cheer Princess, and if you look at the comment section of last chapter, it's a pretty big divide on whether or not this small-time writer can finish one of the best writers' stories.
Also, I haven't read Persona EG (Though it has been on my radar for while due to how many people that I've talked about Mythril say they like it) so I'd have to read all of that to even make sense of if I should finish it.
10712377
Totally understandable, thank you!
Well looks like school is in session for Sunset. Good luck with the rest of this.
10712412
Thank you for the encouragement!
i will say you might want to slow down the pacing just a tad. things are going by teal fast, and while that works... alright, right now (ecpecally in pinkies scene), i feel like that will be a problem in the future. we had a lot less internal dialogue from Sunset here, which was a major factor in the original.
next i feel Sunset was rather harsh to the teacher, rather then try and assuage those fears, she rebuked her for that, and while i can see sunset in a year or two feeling secure enough to do that, right now this isn't even her first day. remember sunset actually dispises her earth self for being such a delinquent, if anything she is likely to be adamant that she will NEVER be like that, with a force that takes Cheerily back, and perhaps even wins her over (just a tad).
beyond that, it was a fine chapter, loved Rainbow complaining about her classes (which explains why she would be in the same class as sunset in the show.) and her explanation on her plans for her future (that her mom just endangered, albeit in an understandable way, those scholarships are not something you want to risk it all on). and from that we have a path for sunset to gain even more friends and clout.
well now that we have pinkie i wonder when Apple Jack will make her appearance. personally i like the idea of her either being a mutual friend to both groups, or disliking both Sunset and Tia due to their duplicitous nature. plus it would mean that the crusaders would be evenly split. pro sunset, pro tia, and applebloom as the neutral.
10713536
Alright, thanks for the clarification
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10713329
1. i still feel like she would try to way lay that suspision since this wouldn't be the first time some one has made a similar comment about her past.
2. oh shit i forgot Rarity had befriended sunset. well Apple Jack is all about honesty and hard work, so if she is going to be Tia's friend it would have to come from that. it might also help if she remains humble as well unlike Sunset who applejack would see as stuck up. that said she is also the most likely to call out Tia if she starts pulling similar shit to become popular. AJ comes off to me as some one who really doesn't care for the political intrigue of highschool and would dislike being pulled into it. oh sure she will act to do what's right, and will be more motivated if personally fucked with as we saw in the first movie, but i get the feeling that when not motivated to act against some one, she is more then willing to avoid these games entirely.
so AJ and Pinkie probably control the unwashed masses of the school, the ones that don't fit into a click nicly, AJ is dependable and honest thus a lot of people would like and trust her, meanwhile Pinkie is popular with them and the party kids due to her friendly demeanor, welcoming attitude, and the wicked parties she throws... actually she should have connections to the upper echelons of the school for that , after all any one who is any one wants a pinkie made party, infact the only people who would dislike her are people like rarity who don't enjoy her more bombastic ways... which is part of why every one else likes her.
any way this leaves Sunset with the jocks, eco kids, and maybe the fashonestas if she can eventually get Fluttershy to model (tipping the balance in her favor). this just leaves the geeks, and the rockers unaccounted for i think, i can't find a youtube clip of the scene rn.
10714515
Yeah. That was my understanding as well. Though, with Applejack needing a personal reason to go against Shimmer or Tia...either I'd have to write Tia to be incredibly stupid, or I'd have to write Sunset to be incredibly stupid, and I can't write both.
Although, that would make sense for the cliques. Tia would earn over the adoration of all the unwashed masses, the people who don't necessarily fit into a clique (Like Lyra and Bon-Bon) because her friends are like the connected people of High School like Pinkie's parties or Applejack and her Apple nature, while Sunset has friends in the close knit places, those that already have a designated clique, like the jocks (Rainbow), econ's (Fluttershy), but the Fashionistas would think of Sunset as too informal to join her. It would make more sense for them to join Tia because she'd appeal to their formal nature.
10714525
ah but you forget, Tia actually hated the formal balls, thinking them to borring. while she can pull it off she would still hate it, and without being blinded by a thousand years of worship, the kids might well pick up on how uncomfortable she is in it.
10714545
Well, formality is relative. If you remember, the original dialogue for Cheer Princess had her talk in a more formal tone than what a teenager can hold, much like how Rarity talks. Being formal doesn't necessarily have to be all balls and dresses, it can just be with more courtesy, like how Rarity acts in the movies and show.
10714549
a fair point. i suppose they might well be split. on one hand she has the personality down pat, but when they hold their own parties and get togethers its clear that she holds a distaste for the events, a field sunset would excel at.
and thats the divide for them, Tia is clearly a formal thru and thru, but works best in a casual atmosphere with them, Sunset is far more casual but will excel at the events and gatherings. this i feel will give sunset the edge in the long run, as she will be better at making connections and networking. Tia might pull out ahead early on, but i feel her distaste for the grander events the formal kids throw, as well as her close relationship with Pinkie will ultimately hurt her relations with them. not enough to break them of course, between rarity and being related to the principal (as well as her looks) she will always have allies amongst them, but i don't see her gaining their allegiance fully, much like rarity i see them split between the two queens of the school.
10714562
It's like a two sided coin on Rarity and the fashionistas. On one hand, Tia would excel in casual bantering and hang-outs with them, but in events that she'd be invited to, she'd have to either put on a formal face or lag behind. Sunset, with her entire mindset of 'I have to be better than Tia' would probably try and excel in the large events, but she can't hold that formality forever, so she'd lag behind if it was just casual.
The consensus I see is both of them have to try and act in a different manner than how they would usually, because the other one excels in the area they cannot. They either have to step up their acts, or risk the other gaining a foothold.
But, I digress, that all is supposed to come in book three. Book two is solely a refresher for both of them to get accustomed to high school, like how some teachers have some leeway because it's a new grade. Though I should refer to this conversation when we begin to get into the popularity grabbing aspect later on.
10714562
Also, we can say the same thing for Pinkie can we not? While yes the fashionistas are a good clique to work with, you'd be disfranchising an entire base of students if you don't count Pinkie and her parties, because while Rarity and her high-society class would corroborate with the fashionistas, Pinkie and her fast-paced parties would probably fit with the other cliques that don't enjoy high society, like the jocks.
So while Tia would lose her high-society friends if she can't act in their events, she could work with the other cliques that don't require her to act so formal, which would end up giving her the same advantage as Sunset, because in the end, this isn't a fight on a society level, it's a fight on a high school level.
Sure, maybe the high class life would help Sunset with networking, but Tia and her 'literally everyone else' group could achieve the same thing if people hear of how much they talk about her. One side is a fast networking, the other is word of mouth. Both would still give them the same level of power in high school though, as outside forces like Filthy Rich or the Apple Family can't help in a high school setting.