The Alternate Principal
Princess Celestia trotted up the throne room’s marble dais and sat down in front of the Canterlot High School Board of Education. “I have not been completely honest with you all,” she said, “and I apologize for deceiving you.”
The Board looked on in shock as where was once the principal of their school now stood a god-like alicorn.
“Ah knew it,” said Granny Smith. “I’ve known our Celestia for many years, and I don’t think she coulda wrangled Discord like you did.”
“Yes,” Celestia admitted, “Discord forced me to come to your world on short notice, so I did not exactly have time to blend in.”
“Wait, if you’re here . . . “ wondered Fancy Pants aloud, “then where’s the real Celestia?”
“W-what did you do to my Auntie?” Blueblood exclaimed, pointing a finger at the princess.
“Your Celestia is safe, Blueblood,” Celestia responded quickly. “I would not bring any harm to her. I can promise you that.”
Discord cringed a little. “Yeah, she’s fine . . .” he muttered off to the side.
“Discord,” Celestia warned, “if you did something bad to the other Celestia, this whole agreement is off.”
The draconequus scratched the back of his head with a claw. “No, no, I didn’t do anything bad to her, really. She’s fast asleep right now, and will wake up feeling like a million bucks. At least, if I remember to untie her, haha . . .” he chuckled nervously.
Celestia turned on him. “Untie her? I recall asking you to send her on a beach getaway.”
“She is at the beach!” Discord defended. “The beach is just . . . in her head. No harm, no foul.”
The princess sighed. “The only limit on your magic is imagination, and you still chose to tie her up?”
“Sometimes the simplest solution is the most chaotic,” he rebuked. Celestia’s expression didn’t lighten up any.
“This alters our agreement, and not in your favor,” Celestia said coldly. “We’re going to have a talk about this later.”
“Oh, fine,” Discord rolled his eyes and snapped his claw. “There, she’s untied and teleported to the finest hotel in Maui. I’ll teleport her back tomorrow morning before she realizes what’s going on.”
“Sorry, just, hold on for a second,” said Shining Armor. “How long have you been pretending to be Celestia?”
“I arrived here with Discord shortly before the start of your meeting, although I have been working throughout the past week on making sure this situation is kept under wraps. I assure you that I never intended to interfere with your deliberations beyond placing Discord in the room. He was not supposed to be quite so . . . imposing, so I unfortunately needed to step in. And once again, I apologize for that.”
“Hey!” said Discord, “I’m putting in a lot of work over here!”
“But not on my terms,” she responded disappointedly, “and that was the most important part of our agreement. I’m going to have to take away a few more of your acres.”
Discord deflated like a balloon. “Oh, that’s not fair!”
“This is what happens, Discord, when your actions have consequences.”
“Phooey.”
Filthy Rich raised a hand. “Sorry, but, you’re taking some of Discord’s what now?”
“Discord and I have an arrangement—” she emphasized the word while staring the draconequus down, “—that I give him several acres of uninhabited Equestrian land for personal use anytime he wishes to help me with some of Equestria’s affairs. Those acres are his reward for helping me today, so long as he is on good behavior.”
“I have my own dimension and all, but it just isn’t as fun to play by my lonesome,” Discord whined.
“Enough of this,” said Blueblood. “What gives you the right to interfere with our business? You should stick to your own world; clearly there’s enough for you to meddle in there.”
“You’re right,” said Celestia, “But I only want what is best for all of my citizens. And that includes Sunset Shimmer, whichever world she finds herself in. I hope you can understand why I felt the need to do this, nephew.”
“Oh, no no no,” Blueblood said quickly, “You can’t call me nephew. Just as you’re not my Auntie. I won’t even entertain that notion.”
“I apologize,” said Celestia. “It’s just a force of habit.”
“So what’s really going on between you and Sunset, Your Highness?” Shining asked. “Was what Discord told us true?”
“Most of it, I’m sure,” although Celestia’s smile stayed eternally serene, her eyes appeared to soften as she thought back on the mare. “Sunset was a former pupil of mine. I had initially trained her with a specific future in mind, but by the time I realized she was not the right mare for the role, Sunset had already let it get to her head. I . . . did not handle Sunset very well. I did not want to admit it at the time, but I failed her.”
“So everything that happened with Sunset is your mess, then?” asked Blueblood. He paused, rubbing his chin in thought, and a small smirk rose onto his face. “Would you be willing to claim responsibility for Sunset’s actions, as her guardian?”
“Are you trying to entrap me?” the princess remarked, her mouth twitching up in a grin. “I claim as much responsibility for creating your issue as I do for ending your issue. I was the one who directed Princess Twilight to stop Sunset from taking her fury any farther, after all.”
“It still sounds like you might owe us for some damages,” Filthy Rich quickly added.
“If you’re worried about paying for the construction, that will not be an issue. But that is a separate topic. For now, I implore you all to give Sunset another chance. Let her stay in Canterlot High so she can learn the things I failed to teach her.”
“And how exactly would our high school be any better at helping her than you were?” asked Fancy Pants. “If what you say is true, then she is clearly beyond our help. And I don’t think I need to go into the specifics on how her presence will, ahem, affect our students.”
“Sunset does not need CHS because it’s going to be easy,” Celestia rebutted, “She needs it to interact with people, socially and emotionally, even if she has a bad reputation. I encouraged her to do these things as her mentor, but she would not listen. I chose to take a stern stance on it, but that was a mistake: it only opened a rift between the two of us. I had hoped that she would eventually sort herself out, with or without my intervention.”
“But she was a stubborn kid, I reckon?” asked Granny.
“Of course. Anytime we had a disagreement, she would double down. I had to intervene eventually, and remove her from my mentorship. That was when she ran to your world, and enacted a plan for revenge. Once again, I am truly sorry for getting all of you and your school wrapped up in my mess, and I understand I am asking you all a lot.” Celestia returned to her throne and sat down upon it. “If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.”
“I have one,” said Filthy. “It’s the same one that I asked Princess Twilight, but she evaded it. How do you expect us to get around the policy, here?”
“I don’t,” she said curtly.
Filthy paused. “I . . . I’m sorry, could you repeat that?”
Celestia chuckled slightly. “I understand that this is going to come across as a bit absurd coming from me, but I ask that you seriously consider it. Even if your policy says you must expel her, I am asking you to forgo following the policy and consider this situation too atypical to apply as a standard case.”
“I’m sorry, your highness, but we cannot do that,” said Filthy Rich, somewhat apologetically. “Unless you plan on revealing yourself and your country to our world, this is not an atypical case in the eyes of the school system and public. We’re operating on different terms, here.”
Blueblood nodded in agreement. “There’s just no way around it, and this board has enough on its plate in regards to regaining respect within the community.” He turned to the other three members, not even bothering to glance at Discord. “Wouldn’t you all agree?”
Granny Smith snorted. “I’ve been helpin’ out at CHS for as long as I can remember, and I can promise you this ain’t the first time we’ve had some leeway on the policy. It doesn’t affect me none to let her stay—she’s practically almost out of the school anyway.”
Shining Armor shrugged. “Like I said before, there are other ways to enforce punishment that don’t require total expulsion.”
Blueblood sighed in disappointment at the two. “You’re lucky we’re in the presence of royalty, because I have only a small sliver of my decorum left.”
“Ah think you’re past that point, Blueblood,” Granny retorted.
Choosing to ignore her, the president turned to Fancy Pants. “And how about you, Vice President?”
Fancy Pants, never the one for confrontation, nodded in agreement. “Yes Blueblood, giving Sunset Shimmer a pass would delegitimize us in the eyes of the school and the community. Unless there’s a valid, legally-explainable reason, we cannot bluff ourselves out of this one.”
“Are you sure?” said Princess Celestia.
Fancy Pants looked up at her and furrowed his brow. “Um . . . yes? Why?”
“Oh, well, it’s just,” Celestia glanced out the window into the afternoon sun, “I figured the counterpart of Fancy Pants held himself to a higher standard of kindness than that.”
“How do you mean?” asked Fancy, the insult seemingly flying over his head.
“Well, the Fancy Pants in our world is one of Equestria’s most influential philanthropists. Has Discord taken the time to tell all of you about your alternate selves here in Equestria?”
“Oh, I briefly skimmed through it,” Discord said nonchalantly. “If you want to tell them, be my guest.”
Celestia smiled. “Is there anypony that would like to hear?”
Fancy Pants turned to the others. “It could be interesting. I’d like to hear it.” Granny, Shining, and Filthy nodded in allowance, and Discord flashed a mischievous grin.
“She’s trying to suck you in, Fancy,” said Blueblood. “Take what she says with a grain of salt.”
“I’m well aware, Blueblood,” responded the gentleman. He turned to the princess. “Please, tell us about ourselves.”
“Very well. Fancy Pants, in Equestria, you’re one of the most influential nobles in the country. Known for your philanthropy and passion for the arts, even most commoners love and respect you.”
“Oh,” Fancy uttered, a blush crossing his face. “That’s nice.”
She turned to Shining Armor. “And you, Shining, as you already know from your visit with Twilight, are a prince of the Crystal Empire due to your marriage with Princess Cadance. You are also the Captain of the Royal Guard, which is quite an esteemed position.”
“That sounds . . . unbelievable,” he said.
“Filthy Rich,” Celestia said, “Although I am not as acquainted with you personally, Barnyard Bargains has quickly expanded across Equestria, which has made you quite wealthy.”
Filthy smirked. “I sure hoped that was the case.”
“And Mrs. Smith,” Celestia turned to her, “The Apple Family is one of the largest clans within the nation, and as a matriarch, you hold a surprising amount of sway within the apple farming market. Of course, you really just want to relax and bake pies all day. They’re absolutely delicious, too. Anytime Twilight and her friends visit, Applejack brings me a few.”
“Sounds like she’s got her head on straight, then,” Granny said.
“And Blueblood—”
“No, no, no, I don’t want to hear it,” he interrupted.
“Are you sure you don’t want to hear about Prince Blueblood?” asked Celestia. “It just seems a bit unlike you, is all.”
“Well, you don’t know me, you’re basing me off of your Prince Blueblood,” the president responded, “and even though I would like to know, I can’t take your word for it.” He turned to the rest of the members. “Can you really trust what she just said? She lied to us about her own identity, but suddenly everything else she says is fine? Be a little bit skeptical for once in your lives!”
Princess Celestia’s smile turned down a twitch. “The only deception I committed was falsely pretending to be your Celestia, which was not a hard task. Everything else I said was completely true. I would not be so indecent as to lie directly to your face about this. You may not believe me, but I am telling the truth, and were we to have more time, I could show you myself.”
Blueblood folded his arms. “Well, understand this: those people you described are not us.”
“Couldn’t they be?” asked the princess.
“What? No.”
“Well, why not?,” Celestia asked, “Why can’t they be you, or at least of equivalent standing in your world? I believe that all of my little ponies are special, and I believe that you all, by extension, can be just as unique and successful as your counterparts. Could I tell you all a quick story?”
The members looked around at one another, and since Blueblood chose to stay quiet and simply glare at the Princess, they nodded.
Celestia smiled. “I hope you don’t mind me singling you out, Fancy Pants,” she said, glancing toward the man, “But this story is about you. Or at least, your counterpart.”
Fancy Pants, slightly taken aback, blushed a little. “Oh, well, if you think it best, then please, go on.”
“Thank you,” she said. “The Fancy Pants of my world was the foal of two prominent nobles. As such, I saw him constantly throughout his foalhood and teenage years. There’s a tradition among the nobles that a pony’s first appearance in my royal court is a sort of ‘rite of passage’ into adulthood. As such, I expected to see Fancy Pants petitioning before me very quickly once he reached adulthood, just like his other noble peers. But Fancy Pants didn’t appear until several years after the usual time I expected to see him.”
Her face lit up as she recalled the memory. “I remember the day quite well. As I went over the agenda for the morning and saw Fancy’s name on my list, I was quite excited to see what his first appearance would be for. But he was presenting in the latter half of court, so I tucked that excitement away for later.
“There was an odd aura in the air that day, however. I could hear a large commotion from outside of this room, and my mind was quite occupied at what was going on in the castle. Anytime a guest opened the doors to this chamber, a crowd of ponies packed around the outside, but that was not unusual for a busy court morning.
“What was odd was that, despite all of the commotion outside, the list of ponies attending court was actually shrinking; ponies were cancelling their appearances left and right. Soon enough, your name appeared next on the list, several hours before you were slated to speak with me.
“I called your name, and as those double doors down the hall opened, in comes a flood of ponies with sleeping bags slung across their backs, carrying tents and lanterns and foldable chairs. You should have seen my face when they started setting themselves down for camp, right there on the marble floor! I don’t get surprised that easily, trust me. And there you were at the front of the group, trotting up to me as if this was an everyday occurrence.
“I of course asked what the meaning of this was, and you were quite happy to explain. It turns out, deep in one of the less affluent districts of Canterlot was a neighborhood of homes that were suffering a great deal of weather damage. The homes were very old, and as such there was a lot of dispute over who owned them. Anypony with the rights to those houses would not touch them in fear of a lawsuit, so it was ultimately cheaper to let them crumble. Despite Fancy’s attempts to help the inhabitants of this block, no authorities in the city were willing to listen. He revealed to me that he had been working for the past several years on rebuilding and renovating various areas of Canterlot, but this one block was seemingly impossible to break through.
“You told me that it was supposed to snow that night, for the first time that season. You said that you could not watch these ponies freeze all night in the snow while you went back to your warm bed. And sure enough, you dropped a sleeping bag right there on the floor and joined them.” She chuckled.
“Of course, no pony actually slept in my throne room that night. We relocated everypony to various spare housing, and began renovating some of the more downtrodden areas of Canterlot. You got exactly what you wanted, and many ponies suspected it as nothing more than a political stunt. But no, once you were satisfied with that you moved on to investing in the arts and fashion, holding parties for budding new performers and paying for public works across the city. It seemed to me that Fancy Pants felt the best usage of his time and money was encouraging others to grow. This is the type of pony you are, Fancy. One who gained influence through supporting others, not by hindering them.” She smiled as the beams of the sun appeared to shine down upon them all. “That’s what I mean when I say you all can be your counterparts. You all have that same level of good within you. It’s just up to you all to decide whether or not you will act upon it.”
Fancy Pants swallowed. “Wow, that’s . . . wow. I don’t know what to say.”
Blueblood walked up to Fancy Pants and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Just remember, Fancy, that wasn’t you. She’s trying to trick you—”
“I am doing nothing of the sort,” Celestia butted in. “I’m only asking you to appeal to your greater sensibilities, Fancy Pants. I may not know you specifically, but I do know that any Fancy Pants would fight for justice and decency, at any cost.”
“You’re just grasping at straws,” spat Blueblood, “you’ve got nothing left up your sleeve. This isn’t even related to us at all!”
Celestia shook her head. “No, that’s not the case either. There’s a second part to this story as well. When we helped all of those desperate ponies you brought into court that day, Fancy, some families were reallocated to the dorms at my School for Gifted Unicorns. Typically, the school is only reserved for the best unicorns in the nation. Well, one filly we had moved there had decided to attend several lectures to stave off her boredom. She had magicked her name onto several class rosters, and impressed her instructors so much that they decided to let her stay, even after realizing she was not supposed to be attending class. Eventually, word came back to me that there was an undocumented prodigy causing a stir at my school. And that’s how I found out about Sunset Shimmer, and later took her under my wing.”
Fancy Pants opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. He was too stricken to form a coherent answer. “I . . . I’m honored, but . . . this all seems like a bit too much.”
“I apolgize if I overwhelmed you,” Princess Celestia said. “I just felt like it was important to say. I know that all of you have goodness in your hearts, and I just wish to remind you of that.” She turned to the other members of the Board. “I implore you all to live up to your name. There will be backlash if you let Sunset stay in your school, but if you do, I promise you Sunset will not let you down. And, if it matters at all, each of you will have my eternal gratitude.”
Several loud bangs echoed from the back of the room, and the Board members flinched, turning all heads to the double doors.
“This is the Royal Guard! Trespassing is prohibited!” exclaimed a voice on the other side.
“Oops!” Discord exclaimed. “Looks like time is up, unless Her Majesty would like to explain to the royal guard who set off the royal alarm.”
Celestia frowned, disappointed that she had been cut off. “No, I’d rather not. Let’s return back the meeting room. There is not anything to be discussed here that will not be suitable in your world.”
“Fine by me,” said Discord, and snapped his fingers, sending the Board back through space. Interdimensional travel had gotten quite dull to them at this point, especially after Discord toned down the antics. “Aw, it’s just not fun anymore,” he murmured to himself.
They landed back in their seats with a thud. Discord flew over to his pipe on the table and placed it over his lips, blowing out a few bubbles. “Welcome back, everyone.”
“How much time has passed since our trip?” asked Shining Armor.
“It’s a little past three in the morning,” Fancy Pants said, glancing at his watch. “I guess we might as well take the rest of the night on this.”
In the corner of the room, Princess Celestia cleared her throat.
“What is it?” Discord asked, turning to the alicorn. “Ah, I see.”
Celestia had not been transformed back into a human, her equine figure wobbling dangerously off of the small wooden chair Discord had placed her on. “Ah, I see. I forgot that only the mirror portal changes species.” He snapped his fingers, and Celestia found herself back in her chair as a normal-sized human.
“I’d like to ask for an ultimatum,” Blueblood said aloud.
“Yes?” Discord asked, blowing a few more bubbles from his pipe, “You have that right.”
“Since we’re clearly going to be here all night, if we have not reached an agreement by seven this morning, we call it off.”
“We can’t, remember,” Celestia said. “The Principal needs your decision by Monday morning.”
“Right,” said Blueblood, “So all of us will go home and get some rest, and then Sunday morning we’ll come back and set things straight, solely among members of the Board. You cannot expect us to go on here forever. And considering you two have been tampering around all week, I think we deserve something to level the playing field.”
“Hmmm . . . " Discord stroked his goatee in thought. “Well, I suppose you’re right. It would be awfully rude of me to keep you all here into the weekend without any sleep.”
“Thank you,” said Blueblood, sitting back down in his chair with a grin.
“Should we hold another vote again, then?” asked Shining. “Just to see where everyone stands.”
“That sounds like a good idea,” said the draconequus. “All not in favor of expulsion, please raise your hand.”
Discord raised his claw.
Granny Smith raised her hand.
And, warily, shakily, half-heartedly, Fancy Pants willed his hand upwards, a troubled expression crossing his face.
“Oh, look what you’ve done to the poor man,” Blueblood exclaimed, “You might as well be threatening him at gunpoint!”
“W-well,” squeaked Fancy, “I’m just a little uncertain yet, is all. I’d like to talk a little more, and develop a better understanding of how I feel about the case.”
“Nothing about how you feel about this case is making you raise your hand. Miss Golden-Voiced Preacher over there waxed poetic about how special you are, and that’s making you feel obligated to let Sunset stay. See through it, Fancy Pants. You can still love your underprivileged brother and also not let a criminal run wild in our hallways.”
Fancy Pants sighed and lowered his hand. “I suppose you’re right.”
“Now hold on,” Princess Celestia replied, “Don’t try and take your feelings out of the equation, Fancy Pants. Blueblood may not want to admit it, but he’s not approaching this from a place devoid of emotion either.”
“Now listen here, Princess,” Blueblood growled, “I’m quite familiar with your tricks. Fancy Pants may have fallen for it hook, line, and sinker, but I’ve been seeing through you for years.”
“Oh, I was under the impression that I’m not like my counterpart, according to you,” said Celestia.
“You know that’s not what I meant. The only thing you’ve got backing you is that you want Sunset to stay. Well, guess what? You’re not a member of the Board, nor the decision-making counsel. You don’t have the right to influence our decisions. Right, Fancy?”
Fancy looked at the two, eyes wide. “Um, uh . . .”
“It’s okay Fancy Pants, there’s no need to answer just yet,” said Princess Celestia. “Blueblood is trying to not let you appeal to your higher senses—”
“Higher senses? Why, that’s rich coming from the pony who’s sent us this bully in the first place!”
“Now, Blueblood, I don’t take kindly to you referring to Sunset as just a bully—”
“What do you want me to call her, your failed lapdog? Cause that sure seems like what you wanted her be—”
“Enough!” Discord boomed, enlarging himself to encompass the whole room and blocking the argument between the two. “I thought I was supposed to be the childish one! You’ve got poor Fancy Pants going back and forth like a tennis ball!” A quick glance at Fancy revealed his eyes had gone wide and he’d leaned back in surprise. “He doesn’t know how to feel yet! Let him reach a decision on his own instead of forcing him to make a choice.” He took a deep breath, and then pulled out a bar of soap and stuck it in his mouth, violently scrubbing back and forth. “Blegh, reason never tastes good on my tongue.”
As the draconequus finished cleaning out his mouth and returned to his pipe, Celestia and Blueblood awkwardly shifted in their seats.
“I agree with Discord on this,” said Filthy Rich. “There’s no need to get rude about things. There are other tasks we can discuss first, and then come back to how Fancy feels later.”
“You are right, Discord,” Celestia said. “And I apologize to all of you, especially you, Blueblood. I am putting myself in the center of what should be a private discussion between the six of you. I’m just looking out for Sunset’s wellbeing, but I understand and will be mindful that this is not my place.”
Blueblood loosened himself up a little. “It’s fine, just . . . stick to observing. I won’t try and stifle your opinion, but you are not deliberating with us. Don’t forget that.”
Discord smiled. “Good enough, for now. Now, does anyone have an actual argument they would like to bring up?”
“I do,” said Filthy, clearing his throat. “Discord, despite you, Mrs. Smith, and Officer Armor’s apt persuasion regarding the personal and social importance of allowing Sunset to stay, none of you still have yet to offer an explanation as for how we are going to explain to the school and community that we are letting her stay.” He turned to Princess Celestia, “And I won’t take ‘we don’t’ for an answer. That is not how this board operates. Unless you all have found a genuine reason within our school policy that prevents Sunset from being expelled, then I see no reason in continuing this conversation.”
“That is completely right,” said Blueblood. “You can throw everything else out of this whole argument we’ve had tonight. Unless you have the policy to back this up, we can’t proceed forward.”
“Excuse me,” said Shining, “I’m not exactly familiar with the School Board’s policy. Could we bring it out or something? Just to refresh ourselves.”
Discord snapped his fingers and with a thump, a large stack of papers appeared on the table.
“You really could have just pulled it up on a computer,” said Filthy Rich dryly. He stood up and began flipping through the pages. “Let’s see, ah, right here. This is Policy 5410. The Board may expel a student if it is in the best interest of the school, and, if the student’s conduct on school grounds results in the damage of property, health, or safety of others. There’s more, but that’s the general gist of it.”
“Let me see,” said Shining Armor, taking a peek at it. “Yeah, I don’t see anything that doesn’t essentially agree with that.”
Each of the members passed the policy around the table, each taking their turn reading it, ending on Granny Smith. “Do y’all mind if I keep takin’ a look at this? Truth be told, Ah’ve never spent much time staring it down. I was always more focused on the students then the policy. Er, no offense, Rich.”
“None taken, it’s important to have people of different strengths on the Board,” he said. “But there we have it. As far as I am concerned, Sunset Shimmer meets the requirements for ‘damage of property, health, or safety of others’ with plenty of room to spare.”
“. . . yeah, I suppose you’re right,” said Shining. “It would be tough to find a way around this.”
“I have to reluctantly agree. We can’t go out and make a fool of ourselves if we don’t have something in the policy that can actually back up allowing Sunset to stay,” added Fancy Pants.
“Exactly,” said Filthy Rich, a smile crossing his face. “I just don’t know why it’s taken you all so long to see this. I say we hold another vote—”
“Sunset’s a bit of a skinny girl, ain’t she?” Granny butted in. She was squinting at the board policy papers, holding a pair of glasses up to her eyes. “Gosh, who wrote the text this small?”
“I-I’m sorry?” choked out Filthy. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“Well, I just saw some policy that made me think of it. You know that she’s one of them vegetarians? Anytime I’d help out at lunch, she’d refuse anything with meat. I tried to give her extra veggies to make up for it, but you can only do so much. Hey, Princess,” she turned to Celestia, “Discord mentioned that most ponies don’t eat meat. Is that true?”
“Yes, in a general sense,” said Celestia. “Even disregarding the ethical concerns, meat isn’t necessary for a pony’s diet. It’s just not something we do.”
“That’s great, but could we get back to the conversation at hand, please?” asked Blueblood.
“Sorry, it’s just, it makes me wonder, you know?” Granny said quietly. “This is a growing young girl who has some very specific dietary requirements. I don’t think she’s getting her adequate amount of nutrients.”
Filthy looked at her. “This really isn’t the time, Mrs. Smith.”
Granny let out a small laugh, her cheeks reddening. “Ah, sorry y’all, but I swear I’m going somewhere here. Apple family values and all that, they make me worry. You see, I want to know how her parents are feeding her. Maybe there’s some trouble at home. You think we can try giving them a call?”
“At three in the morning? They haven’t answered all week, they certainly won’t now,” said Blueblood.
“Well, didn’t Sunset say they were on a business trip?” asked Granny slyly. “Maybe three in the morning is the afternoon for them, or something. You never know.”
“There’s no use,” Celestia jumped in. “You’ll never get an answer. Sunset doesn’t have—” Celestia paused abruptly, her face growing pale. She jumped up out of her seat over to Granny and hunched over her shoulder, eyeing the policy book. “Oh my word,” she uttered, “How did I not even realize . . .”
“Realize what?” asked Filthy Rich. “What is this about?”
Shining Armor leaned over the table and looked at the text, his eyes going wide. “You’re telling me that you’ve been dealing with this girl for years and none of you figured this out?”
“What? What is it?” Blueblood asked.
Granny looked up at them. “You keep on talkin’ about Policy 5140, but that’s only half the picture. We also need to take a closer look at Policy 5113.”
Immediately understanding the gravity of the situation, Filthy Rich draped a hand across his face. “Of course, this girl . . .”
“Forgive me for not knowing the policy numbers by heart,” said Blueblood, “But which one is 5113?”
Filthy Rich turned wearily to Blueblood. “Homeless Students.”
And as a heavy silence settled across the room, Discord leaned back in his chair and blew a few more bubbles out of his pipe, the corner of his mouth turning upward ever-so-gently.
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Ooh, they finally reached the big hook that threatens Blueblood's goal
So by that logic they can do the same thing right?
So why specifically at CHS?
I don’t think they can do that.
She actually kind of is.
I’m starting to think this is a battle between logic and emotion.
Wait a minute, letting sunset in would live up to their counterparts? So what would happen if they didn’t? Does that mean that they aren’t living up to their counterparts? I don’t like how this sounds.
He’s not wrong. That is kind of what she did.
Actually, he has. At least so far.
She kind of is.
Does that matter?
All the more reason for Discord to dislike human Blueblood. Blueblood forced him to be the voice of reason!
Was wondering how you were going to help out Sunset, because he's Blueblood's point about policy was sadly valid as logical. With out any legal reason explosion was the choice to make. When you think about it really the only reason Celestia can't be forced to take Sunset is because in Equestria Sunset is legally an adult. On earth she is not, she's a homeless minor.
11340744
I’m a little confused how.
11340746
She can’t take her if she’s an adult?
11340748
Hm?
11340750
How does it threaten blueblood’s plan to expel sunset?
11340762
Well, from the way everyone froze up when they mentioned the other section on students. Also, they were all going "of course" and "how could I have forgotten" and Granny Smith was being all sly about it
Well, well, well...
That should induce some sympathy.
Throw her out now and she's got nowhere to go (other than maybe Equestria)
Geting more and more interesting.
Now I am just going to flat out say this as it should be obvious. Even should Celly fail to get them to allow Sunset to stay I highly doubt Celly would just let her go. I think she'd appaear to Sunset and say "Come home" aka come home to the castle
y'know, for someone who's claiming vehemently to not be emotional and that their counterparts aren't like them, Blueblood sure is being overly emotional and behaving nigh exactly like his counterpart
11340779
Maybe
11340855
Technically, getting frustrated because of a certain situation isn’t really being emotional to a certain extent.
11340749
Huh no Ponies mature faster so In Equestria she would be considered Adult and have to be on her own. But on Earth she is a legally a minor with out a Guardian, and not allowed to be on her own.
11340944
So she can’t use her princess status to force her?
I apologize in advance for the extreme nitpick, but the current version of the school policy actually allows them to not expel Sunset as-is.
The current version says "The Board may expel" if the conditions are met, but the legal meaning of "may" implies a level of discretion--someone who may do something is allowed to do that thing, but not required to do so.
If you want to tie the board's hands, "The Board shall expel" offers no such discretion.
I know it's an arcane nitpick, but the last two chapters have turned on board policy and even if no-one else noticed it, I can't imagine Discord missing a loophole like that.
Though I may be jumping at shadows a bit here, since I'm also getting the sense that "slavishly following The Rules often leads to the wrong outcomes" is/is about to be a major point in the story. The Board following their (mistaken) impression of what the rules are would fit right in with that, and I could absolutely see Discord and/or Celestia sitting on a technicality like this until the last possible moment.
11341134
Great job on pointing that out, and I've taken a lot of time to seriously look at and find loopholes within the actual school board policies this story bases itself off of. I think the Board understands that there is some level of discretion to their decision already—after all, they are arguing about whether or not to expel her in the first place. If they used "shall" in the policy I imagine there would be no need for an expulsion trial at all, and they could just expel her immediately. Filthy's (and by extension, Blueblood's) argument is implicitly suggesting the "may" becomes a "must" due to the severity of Sunset's actions. Your observation is a valid loophole though; ultimately, the reason this won't be the loophole that saves Sunset is because it's not that narratively satisfying—it's just an extension of Celestia's "don't worry about it" argument from this chapter, which already doesn't have them convinced. I think that what's coming next chapter is both an interesting policy loophole that could seriously happen within a school district, and a narratively satisfying explanation for the plot, arguments, and several characters.
That being said, this is something that Blueblood and Filthy probably need to be reminded of, and they will. What's especially interesting to me is that I'm basing much of the policy off of real policies from various American school districts, so all of this could have come up in real life before. It's fun stuff!
So what if in Discord's imagination, the best option was a happy tied-up Celestia at the beach? That doesn't mean anything! Certainly nothing to think about any deeper, princess!
11340944
We don't know if they mature faster. It might also be a case of society thrusting people into "adult" positions faster, much like how it used to be in much of our world and still is in some parts.
11340855
Um. How? His counterpart's a prissy, flirty ponce. The only parallel so far has been am extreme need for cleanliness.
11340745
Point. Much of Celestia's argument conflates "doing good" with "cleaning up my mistake regarding Sunset without caring for the other students". It's a bit of a selfish view on things, and it's notable she simply refuses to address them; all her points center around Sunset, the other, human students, she doesn't seem to figure into things. I don't think it's callousness on her part, I think she knows she doesn't have a good answer there and hopes the board members won't notice her refusal to give one.
11341321
I feel like it is callousness on her part. She’s over a hundred years old. She’s probably been in this situation multiple times and knows what she’s doing. Honestly, celestia and discord are starting to get frustrating. There’s no winning with them. When the board try to fight with logic they steer away from it and use emotion, but when blueblood got emotional with his argument with celestia discord jumps in and says that he’s being childish and I’m surprised on one called this out.
This definitely changes the situation. Because if they were to expel her they would be in big trouble throwing a homeless girl out in the world. Which is always a mystery how did Sunset live before the film events?
I don’t believe Celestia would lie to them about Fancy History. That sounds like what Fancy would had done and linking that to Sunset is a neat idea. Odd Celestia never thought she was an orphan till now. She probably now understands that Sunset saw her as her mother and it makes the comic for Sunset origin story scenes of them fighting make sense as Mother and Daughter.
I kind of wonder what can they do. Like they probably will have someone be her guardian without her consent since it would be against the law for her to be alone so far. Granny probably won’t mind taking her in or just throw the responsibility to Discord.
Can’t wait to see what happens next. Things are heating up
11341356
I feel like there would be mixed reactions.
11341388
Yea there would be
I appreciate 11341134 pointing out the “may.” I was going to if no one else did.
In any case, Blueblood sure does seem to have an axe to grind here. The demands of policy do not justify this level of emotional investment and reaction, and that’s putting aside Discord’s intimations.
And yeah, Sunset’s lack of guardians is both vital information and a black eye for the board’s credibility. Yes, she’s a consummate liar, but this is still the sort of thing they’re expected to know.
11341426
Even if he does have an axe to grind, his failure to axe the right questions is grinding my gears.
11341426
Perhaps they don't, but Celestia is pretty much emotionally blackmailing the board members by implicitly calling them moral failures if they do go through with Sunset Shimmer's expulsion. To be honest, I'd get angry at that too, especially since Discord and Celestia have no actual constructive ideas how Sunset's continued presence won't turn the school into a powderkeg of resentment, or how to justify it to the parents. Discord can be rampantly stupid when it comes to thinking about consequences since his powers usually shield him from any, and Celestia is the absolute ruler of her country and simply not questioned.
All they have is a grin and a shrug; easy for them, since they're not the ones who have to clean up the mess Celestia's made in the first place. It's rather telling Celestia's answer to the point about how the other students will feel with Sunset still being there is "Sunset will grow from it.".
11341356
Unless, of course... Sunset simply goes back to Equestria.
Because as the board members could rightly point out, Celestia's arguments about Sunset Shimmer connecting with others and getting better in the human world are complete conjecture. If one goes by what actually happened, then her stay in Equestria made her run away, while her stay on Earth turned her into a murderous demon consumed by lust for power and revenge. Now Celestia and Discord are claiming it totally won't happen a second time, promise, but how can they know?
11341340
Callousness doesn't seem fitting for Celestia's character, though. I think she's taking her approach with Twilight Sparkle and applying it to Sunset—there's even the same basic personalities there to form her web of core friendships in the human versions of the Elements. And she's not offering to take Sunset back in because feels like she stifled Luna and then Sunset to the point where they turned evil. Unfortunately, the human world isn't Equestria, and people aren't going to form their minds around what Celestia tells them like they would back in ponyland.
11341695
The community and the government won’t like hearing about a homeless kid being expelled and gone missing. It would be a really terrible case.
11341695
I honestly hope someone makes a sequel exploring this. There are so many things not being taken into account or not being called out.
11341702
Why should they learn of it? As far as they may know, Sunset Shimmer's parents took her out of the school and moved away. The authorities seem not to know about her current family situation anyhow. The school is meant to keep the magic and the full extent of Sunset's crimes under wraps, but her being homeless, that's something that should be made public?
Besides, there's THREE princesses AT LEAST who could take Sunset in back in Equestria. They don't lack for resources and easily trump any living conditions she could have on Earth. Refusing to do so even though Sunset is an Equestrian national is even worse than the school expelling her. If they don't take her back in, and they reveal she's homeless after the board expelled her for attempted murder(!) of other students, wouldn't that be both hypocritical and petty?
11341713
Not sure it's fair to frame it like those points are never mentioned. The story's not over yet, after all!
11341722
True, but with the way the story is going I doubt they’re going to. Each logical point that’s been told is usually pushed to the side and has have discord, twilight, and celestia appeal to the board through their emotions. Whether it be sympathy, guilt, etc. they use these emotions to make the board react a certain way and I doubt that’s gonna stop anytime soon.
11341741
Spoilers below, feel free to ignore if you wish
The basic intention of this story has always been to bridge the gap between Sunset's actions at the formal -> Sunset's allowance to stay in school. The show glosses over this concept, because, ultimately, it is illogical that Sunset does so much damage yet is allowed to stay so easily. This is why I chose Discord as the character to save Sunset in the first place; he's a complete rejection of logic and reason, which makes his attempts at playing by these rules a unique conflict between him and the members of the board—but I think you know who's going to win in the end (hint: not logic). You're right on that Discord and Celestia have commandeered this meeting without fully understanding the consequences of allowing Sunset to stay (much to Blueblood's chagrin) and I do plan on addressing this as we near the end of the story.
I guess I'm just asking you not to set yourself up for disappointment because some things will be left unsaid, and some potential arguments unexplored or not fully resolved. This story is a debate, but it's also a drama wrapped around that debate; the final decisions and reasonings won't please or convince every reader. And that's okay by me, I just want to create a thought-provoking and narratively satisfying story.
11341863
Ohh. So that’s the plan.
To answer the question in the author note, my take is that Celestia would not lie directly in this circumstance. The closest we ever see her come to bending the truth is either as a prank or against deadly enemies, and even then it's more along the lines of silence than stating actual falsehoods.
That said, we don't know if she somehow prompted pony Fancy, either directly or (much more likely) indirectly, to take an interest in the ponies of the slum district. After all, by PrinCeles's own admission, she saw him almost constantly while he was growing up, so she was in a position to have a very heavy influence on his development.
So it's entirely possible that Fancy Pants' philanthropy (philequiny?) is not exactly as ex nihilo as Celestia's story might have one believe...
In any case, I'm curious to see what emotional leverage Princess Celestia thinks she has over President Blueblood.
It must be something she believes either translates over from all Bluebloods, or it's something particular to President Blueblood. My guess is the former, mainly because even hinting at it has President Blueblood immediately flip-flop from "you're not my aunt" to "I've seen through you for years".
11341426
Thinking about it some more, I wonder if it's as simple as Celestia picking favourites... and they're not him, her own family. As of right now, that's the only real thing I can think of that would work in both worlds; if Blueblood has laboured under the prejudice that he got ahead in life because of who he's related to, but said relation tends to pick "strays" to give most of her attention to.
11342403
Emotional Leverage is probably the best way to describe this story. I could never figure out the wording. As for blueblood I feel like she’s gonna take advantage of her aunt status in some way.
Honestly, if either celestias were favoring sunset over blueblood was the case, I’d probably be pissed off too.
11341722
Between the property damage, litigious parents of angry students, and possible loss of Discord's magic shield should Sunset get expelled and disappear, etc--what's next?
Investigations. Lawsuits.
Sunset is the focus, but some of these will be going after the school's potentially criminal negligence. Undocumented may mean a human trafficking, kidnapping, illegal immigrant, or missing persons case. Maybe domestic terrorism if the idea gets out that Sunset built a bomb to blow up the school. Those kinds of charges can be serious enough for law enforcement to be do a through audit of CHS' records and policies, interviews of staff and students alike, etc.
Is the school board really prepared to deal with all that, when "magic" is the true story?
11342767
I’m sure they’re prepared.
11342767
What's stopping any of that from happening now? Other than Discord mindwiping anyone digging too dep into what's going on at the school? Is he going to keep that up if Sunset stays? Is that their leverage? Let her stay and we brainwash anyone problematic for you, expell her and we'll let our mess fall on your heads? Moreover, considering
how in the WORLD are they supposed to justify that to ANYONE? That's arguable even worse than what Sunset actually did, which is, at the very least, attempted murder. Most penal codes don't even have the tools to define what constitutes mass-brainwashing in order to overthrow a foreign government. Letting a terrorist stay at the school with a slap on the wrist, how is that not going to lead to outrage and investigations?
11342702
Emotional leverage is what we suspect Celestia has over Blueblood and definitely has over Fancy. Her approach, however, would better be described as emotional blackmail. She's trying to guilt them into agreeing with her, against their own minds, at least at this point in the story. She holds up their pony counterparts as moral ideals and therefore, if they go against them (keeping in mind Celestia is effectively Equestria's god-princess who pretty much nobody disagrees with on principle), it's not so much a matter of making a different decision for good reasons as them being moral failures.
She's trying to be nice about it, and I'm sure it could be worded nicer than I did, but, well, it's exactly what she's doing. And I think she's doing it because she doesn't have an alternative. She can't simply order them to do it, like she did with Fluttershy and Discord.
11342988
Honestly, when you think about it the school should’ve already been investigated.
I don’t think there is a nicer way to say it. I’ve honestly been feeling that vibe from celestia and discord. Man, if some one makes a sequel or remake of this they need to read the comments. It’s full of gold material.