Equestria Girls: A New Generation

by Naughty_Ranko

Chapter 9: Off the record

Sunset watched the last few seconds tick down on her watch until the bell announced the end of the period. “Alright, pencils down. Time to turn in your answers,” she told her history class.

Some sighed, some groaned as Hitch collected the answer sheets from his classmates and dropped them off on Sunset’s desk. “Here you go, Ms. Shimmer.”

“Thank you, Hitch,” she said and added: “And Hitch, would you mind staying a moment after class?”

“Uh, sure. Just a second.” She watched him pack up while the rest of the class filed out before coming back up towards her desk. “What is it?”

“Step into my office.”

He looked around in confusion. “Where’s your office?”

Waving her arms around the general area next to the teacher’s desk, she replied: “Let’s say over here.”

“You know, you’re really funny, Ms. Shimmer,” he said with a chuckle, pulling up a chair.

“Hm, it’s a fine line to walk for a teacher between being funny and being a joke. I wanted to ask you something. The other day in German class, you raised your hand when I asked about students being there for the extra credit.”

He scratched his neck. “Yeah, I guess. I wasn’t the only one.”

“No,” she admitted, “but you got good grades. You’re class representative. You’re passing all your classes. So what do you need extra credit for?”

Hitch scrunched up his face. “Saying that it would look good on my college application isn’t gonna fly, is it?”

Sunset dead-panned. “You’re a good student, but you’re not maniacally academic like Posey is. What gives?”

He sighed. “I’ve got some absences that I need to balance out. I’ve missed a couple of afternoon classes so far this semester.”

“Like, how many?”

“Like, a lot?”

“Hitch!” Sunset gasped.

“I’m doing all the assignments and I’m passing the classes,” he said defensively. “But I’m working after school, so sometimes the schedule conflicts.”

“Hitch,” she began, “I’m the first person to give advice along the lines of there’s more to life than just school. But by the same token, there’s more to school than just doing the homework. Working part-time at your age is a good thing, if you ask me. But it shouldn’t come at the expense of your education.”

“Look, Ms. Shimmer. I appreciate you checking in, but this really isn’t your problem.”

She could see him draw back from the conversation from his body language. “No, it technically isn’t,” she admitted, clicking her tongue, “at least as long as you’re not skipping any of my classes. But if I see your grades starting to slip, you better believe I’m gonna make it my problem.”

He nodded. “Fair enough. I better make sure that doesn’t happen then. May I go?”

Sunset nodded quietly.

After getting up, Hitch gestured towards the empty air next to the desk. “You want the door to your office open or closed?”

“Get outta here,” she replied while returning his grin.

Sunset began to pack up her own things, including the history test she’d just conducted, and inevitably her eyes fell on the empty tray next to the blackboard. “Guess it’s time for yet another trip to the supply closet for chalk,” she grumbled to herself.

On her way out the door, she noticed a smudge on the laminated class schedule hanging on the wall next to the door. Pretty certain of who was responsible, she wiped the smudge away with her sleeve, muttering: “Seriously, somebody needs to glue a tennis ball to that girl’s forehead before she hurts herself.” She stared at the printout of the schedule for a bit. “They really could print this in bigger letters, though.”

Moving on, her trip through the halls took her by the entrance to the auditorium, and a soft singing voice grabbed her attention. Intrigued, she took a detour and stood in the door to listen. It didn’t take her long to find the source in the otherwise empty auditorium.

In the center of the stage stood Pipp Petals, her eyes closed and holding a broom like it was a microphone stand. She was singing a heartbreakingly beautiful ballad as if she was the only person in the world right now.

The song swelled into a crescendo, and Pipp’s voice was dancing through the high octaves with such precision and feeling that Sunset couldn’t help but be impressed. Pipp belted out the last few notes as if they carried her very soul around the room, and when all was quiet, Sunset instinctively began to applaud.

Hitherto unaware that she had an audience, Pipp jumped and let the broom clatter to her feet. After seeing Sunset standing in the door with a smile, she blushed and picked up the broom to put it away before making her way over to her teacher.

“Sorry,” she said. “I know I’m not really supposed to be in here.”

Sunset looked around the empty room and shrugged. “As long as you’re not skipping classes and you don’t break anything in here, I don’t see the harm in it.” She added with a smile: “You have a beautiful singing voice.”

“Thanks,” Pipp replied a little embarrassed, “not that I’m gonna get to make much use of it this year.”

“What do you mean?”

She fidgeted around a bit before saying: “Ms. Sunset, do you remember the question you asked us in your first German lesson? About our reasons for taking your class?”

“You mean the question where you lot tore my spirit to shreds with your replies like only teenagers are capable of doing?” Sunset asked as if she hadn’t just discussed the very same thing with Hitch. “Yeah, I remember vaguely.”

“I wanted to apologize for that, for both of us, Rufus and I,” she said. “It’s not like we don’t care. On the contrary, we like your teaching style. Your classes are fun. That’s why you were our fallback. It’s just that we both really wanted to take drama class this year.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“Cause not enough students signed up. Last year’s class was mostly seniors. They’re gone, and no freshmen are interested.”

“What about the drama club?” Sunset asked.

Pipp shrugged. “It’s the same thing. It’s just the two of us. I’m technically the president now, but we don’t even have an advisor. What kind of play are we supposed to put on? Principal Celestia says that, if we don’t get any new members by winter break, she’s going to have to disband the club altogether.”

“I’m sorry,” Sunset said simply.

Pipp shook her head. “It is what it is. I’ve come to terms with it. I just wanted to apologize if we gave you the impression that we weren’t interested in your class.”

Sunset nodded. “I appreciate that, Pipp. Really.” Then she raised an eyebrow and added: “If you’re in an apologetic mood, maybe you ought to apologize for that Tweet of me with the chalk dust.”

Pipp scoffed and gave her teacher an infuriatingly smug grin. “I’m not sorry for that. Have you seen all the likes and replies? #HotForTeacher was trending for days. And don’t get me wrong, I love what you’ve got going on right here,” she said, gesturing at Sunset’s jeans and leather jacket outfit. “But you absolutely rock a pencil skirt, Ms. Sunset. These hips don’t lie. You know what I’m saying?” She traced an hourglass shape in the air with her hands to emphasize her point.

Blushing, Sunset replied: “I know what you’re saying, but do you know what you’re saying?”

“I’m saying, why are you single, Ms. Sunset? Are you on any dating sites? I could help you with your online profile.”

“And this conversation is over,” Sunset declared abruptly while raising her hands and turning around on her heel. “I get enough second hand Tinder exposure from Ms. Harshwhinny in the teachers’ lounge.”

“Ohmygosh, Ms. Harshwhinny is on Tinder?” Pipp asked gleefully. “Do you know what her online handle is?”

“Can’t hear anything cause I’m walking away!” Sunset said and began marching with purpose in the direction of the supply room.

After a couple moments of resolute walking, Sunset finally arrived at her destination and unlocked the supply room. She flicked the light switch and nothing happened. Grumbling, she turned the flashlight function of her phone on and began rummaging around boxes half in the dark, until she found what she was looking for.

“Ms. Shimmer.”

“Waah!” The sudden voice in the half darkness startled her into dropping the pack of chalk. When she turned around, she saw an older man with a long white beard standing in the doorway. “Oh, it’s just you. You scared the heck out of me.”

“I’ve noticed that the chalk in your classroom keeps disappearing and needs to be refilled often,” he said, his features half obscured by the back-lighting.

“Uh, yeah. It’s been a problem.” Picking up the chalk she had dropped, she frowned. “To be honest, I do have a suspect in mind, but I can’t prove it right now.”

He nodded sagely. “Not to worry. I have already taken care of it.”

“You have?” she asked hopefully.

“Yes, indeed. I’ve trimmed back the hedges outside the window. They won’t be able to sneak in at night and take it anymore.”

“Erm, thank you?” Sunset ventured, reasonably convinced that the shrubbery outside the classroom had nothing to do with why the chalk kept disappearing.

The man they called ‘The Phantom in the Halls’ nodded and moved away from the door so quietly that she couldn’t even make out any footsteps. When Sunset stuck her head outside, he was gone without a trace.

“That guy is so weird,” Sunset said to herself. She wasn’t even sure if he was faculty or just a janitor. She’d certainly never seen him teach a class. Nobody knew, apparently not even Celestia. But he’d always just been here, even back when Sunset had been a student. “And why does it always feel like I should know who he is?”

Author's Note:

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Gold Tier:
-Daedalus Aegle

Comments

[Daedalus Aegle]

"I would explain more, but I cannot. For reasons of fate."

[Comickook]

Excellent job, again, on the exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up. Definitely liked Sunset reflecting on some stuff before and after the dialogues (especially the Mythology Gag concerning "gluing a tennis ball to Izzy's forehead") with Hitch and Pipp. And, yeah, Hitch having an after-school job DOES make sense (my hunch is that he is working at an animal shelter [probably a different one than the one Fluttershy works at because otherwise, Fluttershy would have already told Sunset about it] since he's still too young for the police academy). And Pipp's comments about the drama club are also understandable (though I'm pretty sure at least three of the freshmen would be interested in signing up eventually). And, while I admit that my guess is probably wrong, I can't help thinking that the one mysterious guy Sunset encountered at the end was Discord's human world counterpart.

At any rate, very certainly looking forward to more of this.

[Ri2]

11403728
"Yeah, that's what Celestia said whenever I asked her who kept eating the last cake, that's not gonna fly with me either mister."

[Moproblems Moharmoney]

I'm guessing beardy is Starswirl?

Great chapter though

[Stet709]

11403799
11403941
I honestly thought Starswirl at first, but given that the Starswirl Music Festival is a thing, plus I believe he has a statue in a museum in one of the shorts, I'd say he's long gone. Discord is a more likely possibility if paralleling the G5 IDW comics

[Dan]

Discord Starswirl is John Nash.