> A Completely Normal School Board Meeting
>  by Mouse-Deer
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Settling In
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fancy Pants stumbled his way into the first restroom he could find and strolled up to the sink, splashing a bit of cold water on his face. He let out a sigh and squeezed his eyes shut, trying to prevent the growing migraine that had appeared in his head an hour ago from getting any worse. He leaned forward and rested his weight on the basin in an attempt to trick his tired brain into believing it had gotten some rest.

It had been a long week for the Canterlot High School Board of Education.

Board meetings were supposed to be once every month—every second Wednesday, specifically—but this was the fifth day of damage control, public outrage, and construction noises that may as well have been drilling directly into his head. Ever since last Friday, the patience of the Board was being tested to its breaking point.

Fancy Pants held a special place in his heart for Canterlot High, having attended himself since childhood, and thought that running for the Board would be enough to show his respect and participate in the community. He was aware the job would not always be easy, but some part of him believed any struggle would be worth it to help better the school. He had even moved up to Vice President, and was quite proud of that fact.

Then he got a call last Friday night—the night of the Fall Formal. 

He took an early vacation for the week in order to handle the fallout of the chaotic event, as did the rest of the Board members from their side jobs. And what a vacation it had been; all the days he had been saving up for the tropics might as well have exploded right alongside Canterlot High’s front entrance.

He smoothed back his hair and straightened out his bowtie. There would be no point in trying to groom himself any more than he already had; the bags under his eyes were not going to disappear anytime soon, and there was only one item left on the agenda to get through anyway.

The bathroom door swung open behind him and a similarly disheveled man staggered in. Blueblood approached the sink next to Fancy Pants and wet his hands, running them through a slick of his long comb over.

"Rubbish," he muttered aloud to himself, "What a completely rubbish hearing." He scowled and turned to Fancy Pants, seemingly recognizing the man's existence in the room for the first time. "You look rough.”

"I could say the same about you,” responded Fancy, unfazed by Blueblood’s insult.

Blueblood grabbed the faucet handle and twisted it shut. "This girl blasts a hole in the front of the school and, when we give her the chance to speak, won’t even tell us how she did it. Much less why. No, instead we had to hear her prattle on about magic and forgiveness and other deflective, sappy garbage. Why, if I was allowed to speak in there, I would have given her quite the piece of my mind."

Fancy Pants placed his fingers over his eyelids and rubbed them gently. “Emotional pleas are always the last attempt to paint oneself in a positive light. It might have worked if she wasn't speaking nonsense the whole time.”

"I'd say nonsense is an understatement!" Blueblood exclaimed. "I've attended my fair share of expulsion trials before. Nobody has ever claimed they were literally possessed by a demon. Or whatever she was trying to say with that." He brushed off his coat and reached up to fiddle with his tie, but his shaky hands made the task troublesome to complete.

“The witnesses Celestia brought in backed up her case,” said Fancy Pants, becoming slightly wary at the other man's demeanor.

Blueblood gave up on fixing his tie and turned to face Fancy directly. “What, those two dull boys, Scissors and Slugs? They’re clearly traumatized. If you ask me, she's probably beat them down enough times that they can't speak for themselves—whatever she says goes. Celestia should have known better to bring them in; the whole school was there, so there must have been someone willing to tell the truth. Her story's impossible, no matter how many students can back it up. Pigs don't fly, the cow has not jumped over the moon, and this girl was not defeated by magical pony powers," he spat. 

“I agree wholeheartedly, Blueblood," said Fancy Pants gently, "but Celestia didn’t have a choice in the matter regarding this case. The district administrator deferred the whole case to her. He didn't want to waste his time dealing with a tale of magic and laser beams."

Blueblood snorted and splashed some water on his face. "Can you blame him for thinking we're insane? I just got off a call with the municipal prosecutor for the city. Every single witness statement the police collected corroborated the same story—the most ridiculous story possible! She so nicely explained to me that 'the justice system stopped persecuting witches four hundred years ago.'"

"So Sunset won't face any legal repercussions?" Fancy Pants asked, slightly astounded. "I mean, how it happened aside, she still blew a hole in the building."

"She said we could try and press charges, but if no witness could offer a logical case, then we would be laughed out of court. We would have to get everyone to tell the truth, but obviously some massive coverup has gone on." He straightened himself out and headed toward the door. "You know, maybe there's something to that. Are we sure Sunset was the only one in on this event? Could it have been a student-planned firework explosion gone wrong, or something?"

"I don't believe so," said Fancy, following behind Blueblood. "Celestia said she was there, remember? In fact, she has not denied any witness statements either." 

"Ah, forget it," Blueblood groaned. "Let's just expel her and get it over with."

The two men stepped out of the bathroom into the hallway. Immediately they were hit with a freezing wind that whipped and tore its way through the school corridors. "Oh dear, it is dreadful out." Fancy Pants wrapped his arms around himself, gently rubbing up and down to stave off the chill.

"She couldn't have blown up the front entrance during a warm season, couldn't she have?" Blueblood remarked.

"What did you say? I can't hear you over the construction," Fancy Pants yelled.

"Ah, just forget it!" Blueblood, a man somewhat notorious for his short temper, was perhaps the most displeased about Canterlot High's situation. Were one to have seen the President of the Board a mere few days prior to the incident, they would have met a contented, albeit arrogant, fellow. This was no longer the case. To the casual observer, Blueblood looked almost as torn up as the entrance to Canterlot High School.

"Let's get in, talk for five minutes, vote, and go home," he grumbled. "Hey, maybe if we vote immediately we can even skip the discussion."

Fancy Pants nodded in agreement. "It's been a long enough week. Hopefully the others feel the same."

"I have to wonder what possessed Celestia to choose six different people for this trial," said Blueblood. "The largest I've seen before was three. Now she's got twice that, and two of them are not even on the Board? This is an open-and-shut case."

"It is a bit odd," said Fancy. "From what she told me, it was originally going to be just you, me, and Rich, but Mrs. Smith decided she wanted to stay for the trial when all the other Board members went home."

Blueblood nodded. "So that's four members of the Board. And what about that cop? Gleaming something-or-other?" 

"Oh, Mister Shining Armor!" A twinkle appeared in Fancy Pants eye at the mention of the man. "It is always a joy to see youths with such a bright future. He is the youngest police officer in the force. Celestia thought he would add a unique perspective to this discussion, being both connected to the law and not that far past being a student himself." They approached the main office and entered inside. “Or, that’s what she told me.”

"I think we've got enough perspective already," grunted Blueblood. "What about that last man? The one in that colorful coat?"

Fancy furrowed his brow. "Oh, I thought you knew him."

As they neared the conference room their voices lowered to a whisper. "I wouldn't even associate with someone that looked like that. Don't you know everyone in town?" asked Blueblood. "I was so startled by his attire that I just assumed he was supposed to be here."

"I'm sure we can formally meet him right now," said Fancy Pants nervously as they reached the conference room door. "After you?"

"Of course," said Blueblood, opening the door and stepping inside.

Because the expulsion trial was not a public session, and the normal meeting spot for the Board would be unbearably loud next to construction, Celestia had offered them an old meeting room across from her office. The cramped space was lit only by the light of the afternoon sun, which bounced off of the room's silver filing cabinets and yellowed walls directly into Fancy Pants eyes no matter his position. In the center of the room stood a dark wooden table just one size too big, accompanied by several wooden chairs that appeared as comfortable to sit on as the floor. Near the head of the table, Filthy Rich, Granny Smith, and Shining Armor all stood engaged in avid conversation. A quick glance to the foot of the table showed the man in the patchwork coat sitting in one of the creaky chairs, a window slightly cracked open behind him. He spun an old wooden pipe in his left hand and stroked his goatee with the right, watching the room with a blank expression on his face.

Fancy Pants looked the strange man over. As another gust of wind blew in from the window, he thought the man's dreamcoat might not be the worst garment to wear at the moment. The man in the chair had one pupil significantly larger than the other, and if the light was not tricking Fancy's eyes, they were tinted red. He pulled his gaze away and focused back on the group at the front of the table, choosing to ignore the odd, unsettling feeling in his stomach.

Filthy Rich was the first to notice their presence. "Gentlemen!" he exclaimed, a smile forming on his face. "Why, it's been about three minutes since we last saw one another."

"That joke hasn't gotten old since Monday, Filthy," Blueblood snorted sarcastically.

"I'm sure it hasn't, and you know I go by Rich,  please," Filthy said, taking a step back to allow the two men into the circle.

Fancy frowned slightly at Blueblood's insistence on calling Filthy Rich by his first name. No matter how many times he had pestered Blueblood to show respect to Rich, Blueblood would seemingly forget the next time they met. Losing Filthy Rich because of Blueblood's ego would be detrimental to the Board, so Fancy had to walk a tightrope to appease both of them. 

Rich, ever the shrewd businessman, assumed all roles as Treasurer of the Board without hesitation when his daughter began enrolling in the Canterlot School System. Between spending his time expanding business and working with the Board, Fancy wondered if Rich had any time for family or a social life. Of course, the businessman hid any of his social issues behind the curtain of a generic friendly demeanor, which in itself was a guise for his colder, analytical outlook that only surfaced occasionally. Fancy believed that underneath all of Rich's layers, there had to be some small fire of empathy inside of him; after all, he had joined the Board for his daughter's sake.

"It appears we have more folks here than initially intended," remarked Fancy Pants, hoping to turn the conversation away from Filthy’s name. He glanced at Granny Smith and Shining Armor.

"I'm mighty sorry for imposing," said Granny Smith as she turned to Blueblood and Fancy Pants, "but my grandkids kept badgering me about seeing what this was all about. If I'm being honest, I wanted to see it for myself." Fancy Pants swore Granny Smith had not aged a day since he was a child—she had always been the grandmother as old as her orchard, and if one was willing to get past her eccentricities, she was as wise as the hills that she grew her trees on. Her gait had noticeably slowed down ever since her hip surgery a few years prior, but her ability to endure the hardships of her twilight years still amazed him. Granny participated in about every aspect of the school's life: sometimes board member, sometimes lunch lady, sometimes substitute teacher, she welcomed anyone and treated them as if they were family. Then again, with a family as large as the Apples, perhaps everyone was connected to her somehow.

Blueblood, his bad mood slightly dispelled, waved his hand away. "No worries, Mrs. Smith. Although, I bet you've got more questions than answers after the display we just witnessed."

Granny let out a chuckle, the wrinkles around her eyes increasing when she smiled. "Ain't that the truth. Why, the next time I burn an apple pie I'll just blame it on the evil apple demons, or something.”

Fancy Pants joined her in laughter. "It certainly has been something. Now, why don't we introduce Blueblood to our new guest here?" he said, turning to Shining Armor.

Shining Armor flashed a grin as he turned to Blueblood, extending out his hand. "It's good to meet you." In sharp contrast to the aging grandmother next to him, Shining Armor held a youthful vigor that could only be carried by a young person in their prime. Although he was out of uniform in a simple dress suit, his strong stature and friendly demeanor immediately relayed why he was considered a growing paragon of a community member. Most simply, it was impossible not to like him. 

Blueblood reached out and shook his hand. "Charmed," he said. "How'd somebody like you manage to find your way into the force? You look barely out of high school."

"I'm a Crystal Prep graduate," Shining said. "I graduated four years ago. I already had a good portion of my following education completed during my senior year, so I got a head start."

"The kid's a genius," Filthy Rich butted in, "Didn't you say you graduated at sixteen?"

"Yeah," Shining nodded, bashfully rubbing the back of his head, "I wouldn't say I'm a genius, though. You haven't met my sister. I just worked hard and was given the opportunity to get the most out of school. I got lucky, too.”

"How interesting," Blueblood remarked, "It's always great to see a student from any school following through with a bright future. It's certainly a contrast to someone else we saw today." He paused. "I mean no offense by this, but you're still quite new to the force. I would think Principal Celestia would want to bring in someone with a little more experience, or someone more focused on juvenile issues."

Shining shrugged, a small grin appearing on his face. "Don't say it too loud, but I think this is a test—or maybe a punishment. Somehow she figured out I'm trying to date her niece."

"Oh, how very interesting!" exclaimed Blueblood, a small smirk flashing across his face. "Auntie does enjoy her secret tests so much."

Shining Armor's grin froze a little. "Auntie?"

"Indeed." Blueblood nodded. "I'm her nephew. You didn't know? Well, I'm sure she meant nothing by not telling you this."

Shining, caught like a deer in the headlights, sputtered out a quick response. "Well, um, thank you for letting me know, Mister Blueblood." The sudden change in Shining's demeanor caused the surrounding members of the group to launch into a fit of laughter, including Blueblood. As the group's chuckles died down, Shining brushed it off and took on a more serious look. "There's actually another reason I'm the only officer here. Every time an officer has tried to come near the school, they've somehow been blocked from getting inside. The folks at the station are actually starting to believe that this is cursed ground."

"Really?" said Fancy Pants. "I hadn't heard anything about that."

"We're trying to keep it down low, because, well, it makes us seem incompetent," he explained. "We can't figure out whether it's all coincidences or not, but two of our squad cars have broken down, and one guy we sent down here on foot just kept walking right back to the police station, with no memory of ever leaving in the first place. It's made collecting witness statements quite tricky, and everyone is getting tired of dealing with this case."

"How'd you make it over here, then?" asked Filthy Rich. "Have you got some magic power, or something?" The group indulged in a round of chuckles after his comment.

"I just walked in.” He shrugged. "Maybe because I didn't come in uniform? I think it really was just a bunch of coincidences. After all, why would I of all people be allowed in? There's no logic or reason behind it. At least, none I can see."

As Shining Armor and the others continued to question the supposed curse, Fancy Pants' eyes drifted once again toward the strange man at the back of the room. Perfectly content to not join in with the conversation up front, he continued to fiddle with his small pipe. Abruptly, the man looked up at Fancy Pants, meeting his gaze for the first time. His lips twitched upward slightly, but he made no motions of recognition beyond that. Despite the sinking feeling in his gut when looking at him, Fancy decided it was now or never to start a conversation. He broke off from the group up front and approached the man.

"Excuse me, sir," he said meekly, "That's a splendidly crafted pipe you have there. You are aware that smoking isn't allowed on the premises, though?"

The man stared at him, his gaze unfaltering. Fancy Pants gulped.

"Sir?"

He slowly raised his pipe to his mouth, a deviant twinkle appearing in his eye. Fancy Pants furrowed his brow in a mix of confusion and tension.

"I'm sorry—are you aware of what I am saying?"

The man continued to intentionally ignore Fancy and placed the pipe up to this lips, gently cupping it with his hand. Fancy Pants instinctively took a step backward, a sudden jolt of inexplicable fear rushing through his body. However, Instead of drawing in a breath from the pipe like Fancy expected, the man puffed out his cheeks like a trumpeter and blew with comical intensity.

Three bubbles appeared out of the top and floated up to the ceiling. Pop, pop, pop.

"W-what?" gawked Fancy Pants. "You . . . "

The man snickered silently to himself, his lips expanding outward into a broad grin.

Before Fancy Pants could form a coherent response, the door behind them opened, and Principal Celestia stepped in. "Good evening, everyone," she announced. "Thank you all for being here. I know it has been a long day, so now that we are all here, there is no need to waste any more time."

Fancy Pants glanced back at the other members in the room and saw none of them had noticed his exchange with the mysterious man. Deciding to let it go for now, he headed toward his seat at the table.

Blueblood sat at the head of the table, with Fancy Pants to his right and Filthy Rich to his left. To the left of Filthy Rich sat Shining Armor, and across from Shining sat Granny Smith. The strange man had already taken his seat at the foot of the table.

Celestia smiled. "Once again, thank you all for being here. A special thank you to Shining Armor, a police officer and growing community member here in town. I am very thankful for his participation and believe he will add a unique viewpoint to add to your discussion."

"Thanks, glad to be here," Shining said.

"And also a thank you to Mister Cord for attending the trial and this meeting as well. Mister Cord is a behavioral psychologist and I thought that this situation warranted his expertise."

Mister Cord responded with only another toothy grin.

"Alright," said Celestia, "Let's get started. It has come to our attention that Sunset Shimmer has spent the past few years bullying, blackmailing, and gaslighting the student body for, among many things, her own personal gain. This bullying reached its peak at the Fall Formal dance where, upon losing the bid for Fall Formal Princess, she destroyed a significant portion of the school and threatened the lives of several students. According to School Board 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.  

"If such a case warrants expulsion, the student is entitled to a hearing. We gave Sunset and her parents a notice Friday night after the Formal, so she received adequate time to prepare. You all just attended Sunset's hearing in which she argued her case. Sunset's parents were notified of the hearing, however they did not respond to our contact and, as you saw, did not show up for the hearing. Sunset claims they are out of town on a month-long business trip. Take that information as you will.

"Due to the nature of this case, I ask that you all come to unanimous agreement on what Sunset's punishment should be. The maximum punishment is expulsion until the age of 21—essentially, permanent expulsion. The minimum punishment is the refusal to expel, and to let her continue her enrollment at Canterlot High. Miss Shimmer's actions caused damage to school property, and endangered the lives of many students. This is a hearing with the sole intention of expulsion, so alternative punishments are not allowed. You can, however, argue the amount of time she may be expelled, and if she is allowed to continue enrollment, other forms of punishment can be decided on a later date. Remember that the Board will have to explain their actions to both students and teachers in the next public meeting, so make sure you all agree wholeheartedly."

She smiled, glancing at each member at the table. "I know you will all come to the right decision. I will be outside in my office if you need me or any files that pertain to Miss Shimmer and this case." She turned around and strolled out the door, shutting it gently behind her.

The members were seated in their chairs in silence. Fancy Pants glanced around, careful not to make eye contact with anyone for too long—especially Mister Cord. After a pregnant pause, Blueblood sighed.

"As the President of the Board, I believe it is my duty to begin the deliberations," he said. "Before we begin, we should hold a preliminary vote to see where we all stand on this issue. Does anyone object?"

"No, we should vote," said Fancy Pants.

"Sounds good," said Filthy Rich.

"Fine by me," said Shining Armor.

"No better way to do it, I reckon," said Granny Smith.

Mister Cord just nodded.

"Okay," said Blueblood. "Ultimately, destruction of property on such a scale has no place in this school, ever. Combining that with the significant amount of harm Sunset has been causing to our students over the past several years, as well as the abysmal attempt at defending herself we all just witnessed, I cannot in good conscience allow her to continue enrollment at this school. All in favor of permanent expulsion, please raise your hand."

To start off, Blueblood himself raised his hand.

Fancy Pants raised his hand.

Filthy Rich raised his hand.

Shining Armor raised his hand.

Granny Smith raised her hand.

But Mister Cord simply took his bubble pipe and once more brought it to his lips, blowing out a few bubbles. The others watched in confusion as the mysterious, and suddenly rebellious, character at the end of the room refused to raise his hand.

Despite the chilled temperature of the room, a bead of sweat rolled down Blueblood's cheek. "Lower your hands."

The group did as told. Looking closely, Fancy Pants saw Mister Cord's eyes light up, as if he was holding back his grin from earlier.

Blueblood cleared his throat. "Anyone in favor of . . . anything else?"

Snap.

The sound boomed throughout the room, causing the five members to throw their hands over their ears. Once it died down and the ringing stopped, they noticed something odd about the chair at the end of the table. Where once sat an odd man in a gaudy coat with a bubble pipe stood a hulking dragon-like creature. His antler and horn almost poked holes through the ceiling, and his tail coiled around the back of his chair. Most would have run away immediately, but all the members in the room could still see a mischievous glint in this creature's eye, and a teasing smile under his snaggletooth that led to a shocking realization: this was the same man from before, only he was a monster.

Discord raised his claw.
> Cordiality
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The creature looked down upon the Canterlot High School Board of Education and let out a sinister laugh. “Good evening, humans; you can call me Discord. I’m delighted to break your acquaintance—I mean, make your acquaintance.” He lowered his raised claw and twirled around slightly, examining each member of the group with a predatory eye.

Were the construction noise not so loud, perhaps someone may have heard the Board’s collective scream of terror.

In an instant, all five members flooded to the door at the front of the room in an attempt to escape. Blueblood reached the door first and yanked on the handle, however it broke off in his hand. The president hastily attempted to reattach the handle until, with a bright flash, it turned into a giant squirming snail in his hands. The appearance of said snail elicited a whole second round of screams from the group as Blueblood flung it onto the floor.

“Hey, you all need to slow down!” Discord exclaimed as the snail started to inch across the carpeted floor. He snapped his fingers and transformed the snail into a small line of ants which, in marching tempo, weaved their way through the feet of the members and climbed back up to where the handle of the door once was, circling around it repeatedly. “Don’t get so antsy.” 

Fancy Pants kept swapping focus between helping Blueblood ram down the door and trying to make sense of the monster across the room. His gut instinct had been correct; whatever this thing was, it should never have been let in the room at all. Anytime he looked back at the creature—Discord, he thought to himself—it almost appeared to be making itself intentionally docile: it was making no movement beyond the snapping of its fingers, and simply floated above them with a smug grin on its face. Fancy hesitated slightly, but the rapid cries of the other members started him back onto ramming into the door.

Discord sighed in frustration. “Let’s all get back to our chairs and have an honest conversation, like the good friends we are.” The ants simply skittered around the area of the handle, never reforming into what would be the only chance for escape. Blueblood threw his whole body weight against the door, but it didn’t give under the pressure. “Oh, give up already!” Discord shouted.

The person farthest from the door was Shining Armor, who planted himself in front of the group and stretched out his arms in a last-ditch effort to protect them. “I don’t know what you are, but you’re not going to hurt us.” 

“Well, we’ve got a little hero over here,” Discord snickered. “Don’t worry kid, I’m not going to hurt you. Tussle you up a little bit, sure, but you’ll all be safe and sound—I promise.” He snapped his fingers and a cupcake shot out from the sky and landed directly onto his eyeball. 

Filthy Rich turned away from the door and, behind Shining’s human blockade, dug through his coat to find his wallet. “What do you want from us? Is it money? Information? I’ll give you anything if you let us go.” Filthy eventually found his wallet, but when he pulled out a few bills to hand over he was met with the face of the same draconequus wearing a fluffy wig directly on his dollar. The bill winked at Filthy, and he dropped his whole wallet to the ground in shock.

“The only thing I want from you all is to have a quick chat,” said the Discord dollar. “I promise it’s worth your time.”

“Get me out of here!” Blueblood screamed, still banging his fists against the door. 

“You can all take a seat any day now,” Discord merely replied, becoming bored with the group’s resistance. “I’m not going anywhere, and no one’s leaving until we talk.” He sat down on the chair and crossed his legs, settling in comfortably. After a pause, he puffed out his cheeks and started to whistle a series of unnerving notes.

“Let me try that door, sonny,” said Granny Smith to Blueblood. She walked over to the door and, mustering up more strength than one would expect a woman her age to have, kicked directly where the door handle once was. Despite the large crack they all heard, and a few squashed ants, the door didn’t budge an inch.

Discord kept whistling, but the notes became even more scattered and uncomfortable. He snapped his fingers and began projecting his discordant tune across the school intercom. “I can stop anytime. All you have to do is take a seat.”

Granny Smith stepped away from the door and heaved in a breath. “Oh, all right then. No use wastin’ more energy.” She hobbled over to her seat and, despite being placed directly to the left of Discord, sat down and faced him head on. “That kick hurt my hip. I’d’ve had to sit down soon anyway.” She glared at the creature. “Now will you shut up?”

Discord stopped whistling and a frown crossed his face. “I’ll have you know that little concert there gets me quite the booking at the Canterlot Free Jazz Festival.”

“What do you want from us?” growled Shining Armor, still in a protective stance.

Discord crossed his arms. “As I have said, I just want to engage in some lovely conversation. Would the rest of you like to join, or should I go grab my Chaos Weekly? I’m bored.” He lifted up his paw and pointed to a loudly-ticking watch. After a few more seconds, a small bird popped out, releasing a few cuckoos.

Shining Armor eased out of his stance and, still keeping his eyes on Discord, approached the seat to Discord’s right. He slid into his seat, never letting up his hostile gaze.

“Thank you, good sir,” Discord said poshly. “Your kindness is much appreciated.”

Fancy Pants and Filthy Rich shared a nervous glance before returning to their seats. Blueblood, however, continued to pound at the door, hoping for anyone to call.

“Oh, enough of that,” Discord grumbled. He snapped his fingers, and Blueblood appeared wide-eyed in his seat at the table. “Now then,” he said, “let’s begin.”

Blueblood immediately jumped back out of his chair and ran to the door, continuing his calls for help. Discord sighed and snapped his fingers again, teleporting Blueblood back to his chair once more. This time, he magically wrapped a rope around Blueblood and put a piece of tape over his mouth.

“Alright,” Discord repeated. “I’m here to argue a different case.”

All five members glared at the draconequus, briefly sharing nervous glances between one another. Blueblood attempted to scream, but it only came out as a muffled gurgle.

Discord threw up his hands. “Well? Anybody?”

Fancy Pants nervously raised his hand. “Well . . . I feel like we’ve skipped a step. What are you, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Those’re some sharp fangs you’ve got there, mister,” added Granny.

The draconequus sighed and rubbed his forehead. “Alright, we’ve clearly started off on the wrong hoof—I mean foot. Change of ideas!” Discord jumped up from his seat and snapped his fingers. 

In the center of the table appeared five glasses of a bright, fruity drink. “The only way for this whole ‘discussion’ thing to work is if we’re all cordial with one another. Fortunately, ‘cord’ is in my name. We’re already halfway there.”

“Doesn’t the Dis in front of cord negate your point completely?” asked Shining Armor.

“Whatever, kid,” Discord replied. The draconequus popped a sixth drink into his hand and held it out to the table. “This is simple enough: we’re going to break the ice by sharing a little drink. I’ve got here in my hand a fruit cordial,” he showed off the glass which looked like the normal fruity drink, except the front of the glass had Discord’s arms and face on it, smiling and waving at its surroundings with a delighted squeal. “And on the table in front of you are fruit discordials.” The glasses on the table sprouted similar features, except the Discords on the drinks wore frowns and shied away from the members’ gazes.

“You see, I’ve got a fruit cordial because I want to be cordial with all of you. How do you turn a fruit discordial into a normal cordial? Easy! Just pick it up and drink, and promise to join in with this discussion seriously,” he finished, sitting down with a smirk. The glares each member held at the table had quickly turned into confused glances.

“You’re a mighty bit strange,” said Granny Smith. “Still,” she shrugged, “I’m not one to pass up a drink. It’s been a long day, after all.” She reached for a drink and grasped it in her hands. The grumpy Discord on the front let out a small squeal when she brought it up to her lips, and upon drinking it, it’s frown lifted into a happy smile.

“See?” Discord said to the others. “Not so bad at all! Thank you, Mrs. Smith, for setting such a good example.”

Granny set down the drink, smacking her lips. “Hm. It could use some more apples. And less . . . personality.”

Fancy Pants reached for the drink, slightly less worried now that Granny had proved there was nothing wrong with it. Although he was certainly terrified of playing along in the monster’s game, no other option was presenting itself. He glanced at Filthy Rich and saw that the businessman was doing the same, which reaffirmed his belief that there was no other way. He raised the glass to his lips and was met with the taste of raspberries. The others around their table downed their drinks quickly. The only person not to touch the drink was Blueblood, still bound up in the chair.

“Blueblood, would you like a drink?” asked Discord, seemingly getting a kick out of the president’s current dilemma. “As a gesture of goodwill?”

Blueblood let out a muffled groan.

“Oh, alright, I’ll release you.” Discord snapped his fingers and unbound the rope around Blueblood. He ripped the tape off of his face.

“Just what are you? And what are you going to do to us?” Blueblood cried. He jumped out of his chair and made a few steps toward the door, but upon remembering what occurred last time, gently took a step back and sat down.

“Oh, I give up on you,” Discord murmured as he snapped away all the drinks from the table. “Now, then. I believe that there is a better option for the punishment of Sunset Shimmer.”

Blueblood completely ignored Discord’s previous statement. “How did you get here? And why are you here?”

“Well, one, I’m a being of chaos, and two, I’m a being of chaos.” The draconequus snickered to himself. “The smaller details aren’t important. As far as you all need to know or care, I am here on behalf of Miss Shimmer.”

“Are you her guardian?” asked Filthy Rich.

Discord snorted. “No, no, just a representative. May I be allowed to say my piece?”

“As long as you don’t try anything,” Shining growled. 

Discord raised himself out of the chair. “No, I will not. In fact, I encourage all of you to respond to me once I finish. Ahem,” he cleared his throat. “I’m sure we’re all aware of the situation Miss Shimmer has found herself in. I am asking that, due to the strange nature of this case, Sunset Shimmer be allowed to continue her enrollment at Canterlot High.”

Discord crossed his arms and nodded to himself in agreement. The Board glanced around at one another, slightly confused.

“What?” Blueblood exclaimed. “That’s all you’re here for?” He let out an exasperated laugh. “This is absurd. No. I’m not going to let that bully stay in school no matter if she has whatever you are on her side.”

Discord frowned. “I just believe that Sunset is better suited as a member of this school than wasting away at home.”

“It’s just not possible from a policy standpoint,” Filthy Rich interjected. “It goes against our own rulings to be so lenient, as many kids have been expelled for less.”

Discord nodded, pulling out a towel to wipe some sweat off of his brow. “I suppose they have.”

“That’s the truth,” Granny Smith said. “I’ve been working at this school for years, and I know when a student needs to go. I ain’t saying I’d like to send her off, but that girl tore a lot of families apart for her own gain.”

“I suppose she certainly did do that,” Discord began frantically wiping the sweat off of his face.

Fancy Pants nodded in agreement. “I know nearly everyone in the city, and my phone has exploded with notifications over the past week. Everyone has a story to tell about Sunset, and none of them are good. Frankly, she should have been taken out of this school long ago. Helping this girl would put far too much heat onto us, especially since we will have to explain ourselves in the next public meeting.”

“That it would,” Discord said nervously as he pulled out a water bucket to wring out the sweat from his soaked towel. He turned his head into a literal fountain, creating a small pool for his nervous sweat to fall into and get shot back out from the top.

“I’ve seen plenty of kids like Sunset at Crystal Prep,” said Shining Armor, slightly unnerved by Discord’s appearance. “None ever pushed their obsession with control as far as this girl, but I always thought that they could use some tough love to get them back on track. Not punishing Sunset would be a disservice to her. She might actually sort herself out if we take her sense of power away.”

“She probably would.” The floor around the draconequus was covered in a puddle of sweat and he pulled out a towel to place over top of it. He sat himself down on the towel and began to stroke his goatee in thought. After silently murmuring to himself for half a minute, he gazed at each member of the table, almost drinking in their features. Eventually, a lightbulb lit up above his head, and a broad smirk crossed his face.

“Aha!” he exclaimed. “Everything you said may not be entirely incorrect, but you don’t know the full story. I do.”

Before the group could even form a comment on Discord’s previous outburst, the meeting room door flew open and Principal Celestia came storming in. “What’s going on in here! I heard banging but when I tried to open the door it was locked—” Discord twirled his finger and the principal was flung out of the room without a second glance, the door locked behind her.

“I can’t escape her, I swear,” he sighed.

Blueblood jumped from his seat in anger upon seeing what happened to his aunt. “What sort of thing are you? A demon, who gets his kicks off of messing with people for fun?”

Discord scowled at Blueblood’s accusation. “I’m no demon,” he growled, the area around the table darkening. Fancy Pants felt his bones begin to tremble. “I’m the Lord of Chaos!” His admission sent a wave of fear around the table. “That’s far, far worse than some lowly demon! I can turn you all into breadcrumbs with the snap of my finger. I can turn breadcrumbs into you with the snap of my finger!”

The group stared on in shock as Discord’s form grew larger and his eyes grew darker, soaking up all the space in the room.  “I’m going to die today, aren’t I,” muttered Fancy Pants.

“At least I just got my will redone,” said Filthy Rich.

Discord snapped, the thunder and darkness disappearing from view to leave just the overbearing draconequus on the table. “I’m getting carried away again, aren’t I?” he said with a frown. “I’m still new to this whole ‘friendliness’ thing, and the jury’s still out on whether I like it or not. But for now, I . . .” he held himself back from vomiting, “I apologize,” he hissed.

“Not accepted,” Blueblood said immediately.

“I’ll accept it,” said Granny Smith. Discord briefly smiled at her. “So you’re a lord of chaos, huh? Didn’t Celestia say you were a psychologist?” asked Granny Smith.

“I am The lord of chaos,” Discord responded, “but I also hold several degrees from the University of Canterlot.” He snapped his fingers and put on a graduation cap and gown, dropping several diplomas onto the table one by one. “Physics, psychology, Chineighse, economics, food science—you’d be surprised at how much you can pick up when trapped in a statue.”

“So what’s your goal for being here, then, if you’re so smart?” asked Shining Armor. “What’s in it for you?”

Discord removed his graduation outfit. “Well, academically-speaking, I get to conduct lots of research. Unstable parallel worlds, human development, attachment theory; so much potential for things to go wrong! I’m giddy.”

“So are we nothing more than guinea pigs, then?” Shining rebutted. “This is just some whim of yours?”

“No, no, no,” Discord tutted. “The research is a fun plus of being with all of you gentlefolks, but I am genuinely here to argue the case for Miss Shimmer. And I believe that I can do so, even if you all present strong arguments.”

“Well I will not allow you to do so,” declared Blueblood, puffing up his chest to feign confidence. “As President of the Board, I demand you leave this room for the safety of this meeting and the well-being of our members.”

“Must I?” Discord said with a pout. He sat down in the chair across from Blueblood at the other end of the table, locking eyes with him.

“I will not entertain any more comments from a being who willingly declares themself the lord of chaos! Why, that’s like opening the door for a bull into a china shop.” Although he was clearly frightened, he continued to push forward in his semblance of a last stand. “I-if the only person willing to argue for this girl is you, then why are we even . . . here . . .” he trailed off as he noticed Discord seated across from was lulling himself into a sleep, and the other members sat awkwardly around the table, not meeting Blueblood's eyes.

Discord jumped out of his dream and rubbed his eyes. “Oh! I’m terribly sorry, I just get so very lethargic anytime someone tries to enforce regulations upon me.”

“Do you even care about this? Or do you just want to harm us?” asked Blueblood.

“I will not do anything to harm you,” the draconequus said softly, “And I care just as much as you do. All I want to do is talk. Will you let me?”

Blueblood swallowed roughly, his throat full of saliva. “I . . .” He glanced around the table and found the other members watching him concernedly—and defeatedly, too.

“What choice do we have?” said Shining. “We can’t fight him.”

“I’m getting too old to resist,” added Granny.

“It could be worse. He could be after something of value. Our lives, even,” said Filthy Rich.

“Relax, Blueblood,” said Fancy Pants. “Even in public meetings everyone is given the chance to speak. We just have to trust his word.”

Blueblood wiped the sweat off of his forehead and sighed. “ . . . Okay. Say your piece.” He sat back down and loosened his tie taking in a deep breath.

Discord smiled. “Good!” He jumped up back out of the seat and floated in the air, returning to his former gusto. “Now, the events on Friday, the night of the Fall Formal, were only given to you as half the story. Sunset Shimmer did not intend to blow up that portion of the school. She only wanted to steal the Element of Harmony, a magical artifact embedded within the crown of another girl at the scene. She did obtain the element, but upon placing it on her head, it corrupted her. The being that destroyed the school was one created from Sunset’s darkest emotions and feelings that overtook her body, not the girl herself.

“I understand this is hard to believe, considering you only know Sunset from this side of the world,” he continued. “The truth is that there is a whole other half of Sunset’s life in a world parallel to this one. If you were all shown that side of her history, you would see that Sunset’s bullying and eventual destruction were formed not out of evil intentions, but out of insecurity, loneliness, and anxiety. Thus, the punishment of expulsion will only serve to harm Sunset’s mental wellbeing. The logical solution is to allow her to continue school and make friends, albeit while under monitoring and constant therapeutic visits.”

Discord finished and took a bow, accompanied by the sound of applause which seemed to be projected out of the walls, table, and chairs. The people sitting in the chairs, however, only watched him silently.

He glanced back up at them, a small smile on his face. “Well? How’s that for some unbeatable logic?”

Granny Smith snorted. “I think we’re still wrapping our head around the whole ‘magic’ thing.” 

“Oh come on,” Discord groaned. “Am I not proof enough of magic?” He flashed a tophat onto his head and, upon removing it, pulled a rabbit out from inside. The rabbit angrily raised a fist at Discord before jumping back into the hat. “See? Could someone do that without magic?”

“You could be an illusion,” Blueblood said. “I’m probably passed out on the floor of exhaustion right now. It’s been a long week, after all.”

“Humor me, then,” said Discord. “If this is all a dream, it shouldn’t matter at all what we decide.”

“Very well then,” said Fancy Pants. “I’ll humor you. Supposing that this magic is real, I still do not believe that your argument is enough to absolve Sunset of punishment. She still caused a significant amount of property damage and, as far as my understanding reaches, she of all people was especially aware of the dangers that using this ‘magic’ could bring.”

“Yeah,” said Shining, “And she didn’t try to defend herself in the trial at all. She had no witnesses to support her, and basically claimed full responsibility. Why should we trust you over her? It seemed like she wanted to be expelled.”

“Magic or not, she still violated school policy,” added Filthy Rich. “We keep the policy broad for a reason. Magic is no excuse here.”

“That’s just how it is,'' said Granny Smith. “Unless you can show us proof she had a bad past, then as far as we’re concerned, she’s been lyin’ and cheatin’ her whole life.”

Discord smirked. “Why, I can actually do just that.”

“Oh, sure,” Blueblood said dryly. “I’m calling your bluff. What, are you going to teleport in her diary or something?”

Discord smirked. “I can do better than that. We’re going to take a little trip.” He snapped his fingers and placed a seatbelt on the chair of each member, tightening it snugly up against their waists. “Buckle up—I’ve been told that this is quite the bumpy ride.”

And with a snap of his fingers, the world washed away.
> The Alternate Land
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fancy Pants felt himself lurching through space while simultaneously never leaving his chair. The world was nothing but a dark void, a dizzying expanse that twisted, stretched him around and around until he was uncertain whether his head and his arms were separate appendages. He could hear screams, some distant, some seemingly from his own mouth. Despite flailing out his arms in every direction, he felt nothing to grasp onto; he felt no whooshing of air around him, just an endless plummet through and below himself. The Canterlot Board of Education was hurtling through nothing, and it was the strangest and worst feeling in—or really, outside of—existence.

And then it was over. He landed back in his chair with a thud.

Fancy glanced at his surroundings. The Board was still surrounding their old wooden table, however they were no longer in the meeting room; they were squeezed together in a windowless, musty storage closet. He glanced down at his body, making sure he had not left it behind in freefall.

Hands? Check.

Legs? Also check.

The walls of the room were lined with boxes upon boxes of files, enclosing the table around to the point where one could really only stand up and sit down. Discord lazily floated above their table, relaxing with a pair of sunglasses on. 

“Smooth ride, yes? I tried to get a loan of bits for an amusement park a few years back, but it turns out most ponies won’t lend money to a god of chaos. Then I turned the bank teller into a frog, and then they called in the military, and it was just a big mess all around. Ah well—their loss!” He lifted up the shades and scanned the members of the Board, a frown flashing across his face. “Hm. I didn’t think you would all still look human after crossing through. I knew I should have added more stretchy-wetchy to the portal—I might have overdone it on the wibbly-wobbly.”

Fancy glanced over at Blueblood, whose face had turned significantly green. “Does anyone have a bucket . . .?” 

Discord snapped his fingers and a trash can appeared in front of Blueblood’s face. He could barely mumble out a thank you before using it.

The other members were not faring much better. Shining Armor was one step behind Blueblood, clutching his stomach while groaning in his chair. Filthy Rich had gripped the arms of his chair so tightly his knuckles were ghostly white.

Granny Smith was relatively unfazed, actually. “I’ve taken a few tumbles out in the forest, but whoowee! That was better than the time that Spin-O-Matic went haywire at the county fair.”

Shining managed to pull himself together and lean against the table. “Where are we . . .?”

Discord smiled. “I have taken you . . . to another world!”

Filthy loosened his grip on his chair handles and did a double take of the room. “This appears to be a storage closet.”

“Oh, and alternate worlds can’t have storage closets?” Discord retorted. “I’ll have you know this isn’t just any storage closet. This is a closet deep within the Canterlot Archives, the greatest library institution of Equestria.”

“I’m sorry, did you say Equestria?” asked Fancy Pants.

“Yes, that is where we are,” Discord said. “I’m quite fond of the place. The locals have . . . grown on me, we’ll say.”

Granny Smith rubbed her chin. “You’re tellin’ me that you brought us to . . . horse land?”

The draconequus grinned devilishly. “Pony land, actually.” He snapped his fingers and, with a whoosh, a dark brown earth pony was pulled into the room. Discord floated him up into the air and placed him above the center of the table, slowly rotating him in a circle like a display piece. “I hope you don’t mind us interrupting your shift, mister janitor,” Discord said.

The pony only looked at him with utter terror in his eyes.

“What is that thing?” asked Blueblood. “Why, it’s barely like any horse I’ve seen!”

Discord donned a circus outfit and a straw hat. “Come one and all, to see the miraculous, outrageous, and preposterous Equestrian! The lands of Equestria are inhabited by none other than these creatures, the dominant species of their land. Ponies hold a similar level of intelligence to humans—they’re smart enough to be the dominant society, yet still quite dumb—but they have slightly different societal norms. Vegetarianism is commonplace among ponies, and they are far more focused on friendship and rehabilitation instead of war and mistrust.” 

“Excuse me,” said Fancy Pants, “are you suggesting these . . . ponies are part of a developed, intelligent society? Like that they are humans in a horse body?”

Discord chuckled. “Yes indeed! But that’s not all! The Equestrian pony is separated into three distinct races: first, as you can see here, the Earth Pony!” He spun the dark brown pony around in the center once more. “No horn, no wings, but these hooves were made for walkin’! And trust me, these ponies know their way around the land. There’s no greener hoof than that of an earth pony!”

He snapped his fingers, and a pair of wings sprouted out of the pony’s back. He let out a yelp somewhere between terrified and excited and attempted to flap the wings. “Up next is the pegasus! While the earth pony controls the land, the pegasus is the master of the sky! If you’re looking to travel fast or modify the weather, a pegasus is the go-to!”

The wings shrunk back into nothing, but a horn appeared atop the pony’s head. “The final standard race is the unicorn! The horn at the top of their heads allows them to practice magic! Yes, the same magic that you witnessed Sunset use just not too long ago! However, there are many uses for magic. Unicorns run the government and are the inventors and scholars of this world, so without them, progress would slow to a halt!”

Discord pulled off his uniform, but kept the pony floating above the table. “And finally, there is one more race.” He snapped his fingers, giving the pony both wings and a horn. “If one meets a set of certain criteria, they can be elevated to the status of alicorn. Only four ponies in Equestria hold this title, and they are royalty. Alicorns rule the country of Equestria as the heads of government. So, are we up to speed?” He snapped his fingers and removed the extra appendages from the pony, sending him flying out of the room.

Shining Armor raised his hand. “I have several questions.”

Discord huffed. “Too bad, you’ll figure it out. I’m not sure how stable it was to have brought you all through at once, and, although I would love to see how much chaos it could cause to keep you all here longer than I should, I’m currently barred from doing such a thing. So, we have to make our visit short.”

“Why are we here? You’re saying that we’re in a whole new world, yet you stick us in a closet?” questioned Blueblood.

“Well, there’s an old file case in here that I want to dig out. Let’s see,” he began magically flinging files off their stacks and throwing them across the room, the group shielding their faces and ducking away from his chaotic search. After a minute, he paused. “Here!” A cardboard box flew out from the bottom of the pile and landed at the center of their table with a thunk. Fancy Pants got a good look at the name on the front of the worn-down file holder.

S. Shimmer.

Discord opened up the top. “All the physical evidence of a girl named Sunset Shimmer existing in Equestria remains in this one box. Here, a birth certificate.” He began pulling out various forms and files, spreading them around to each member. “Physical characteristics. Proof of admission to the School for Gifted Unicorns. Letter of expulsion from the School of Gifted Unicorns too. Huh, I didn’t think they would have actually written that out. Bureaucracy, am I right?”

The members crowded around the files on the table and began sorting through them. “Her birth description lists amber fur, with red and gold hair . . .” muttered Shining. “So did she look similar to how she looks now in this world?”

Discord grinned. “I’m glad you asked.” He pulled out a faded photo and placed it on the table, each member pausing to take a look at it.

It was a throne room in celebration. Despite the awe-inspiring size of the chamber, with its shiny marble floors and towering ornate pillars, the place was packed from front to back with ponies. Sunlight shined in through the stained glass windows, each holding a unique design and casting a rainbow of colors amidst the room. At the far back of the picture, near the throne room’s dais—which certainly commanded attention, doubling as a miniature fountain each step up—stood a small amber filly whose beaming smile could be seen from across the hall. However, the attention of each member’s eyes were drawn to the pony she was conversing with: a white alicorn who held a stature twice the size as those around her, even when leaning down to whisper in the filly’s ear.

“Do you see Sunset in the back there?” asked Discord. “Ah, when the world was young,” he said wistfully. “I attended that party. And by attend, I mean I heard it from outside in the garden. I wasn’t technically invited.”

Blueblood, now recovered from the tumultuous trip, walked over to Discord and snatched the picture out of his hands. He held the picture up close to his face and squinted his eyes. “That horse next to her . . .”

Discord smirked devilishly. “Yes, the big one—the alicorn? Does she look familiar to you, Blueblood?”

Blueblood tossed the picture back onto the table and glared at the draconequus. “Now I know for certain that this is fake. You’re making a mockery of us.”

The other members crowded around the picture and examined the alicorn closely. “What is it, Blueblood?” asked Filthy Rich. “What do you see?”

Discord snickered. “Yes, Blueblood, please tell us,” he pulled out a magnifying glass and hovered it over the alicorn. “Who does this Princess look like, to you?”

Blueblood’s eye twitched. “My aunt,” he growled. “It looks like you took my aunt and turned her into a horse.”

“Hey, I see it,” said Shining. “She’s got that look like she knows something you don’t. It’s uncanny.”

Discord couldn’t hold back his snickering and opened up into a full laugh. “Oh, alright, alright, I’ll explain. Do you remember when I mentioned this was a parallel world? Well, it’s parallel in every sense. Including its inhabitants. In this world, your aunt, the principal of Canterlot High School, is Princess Celestia, ruler of the Kingdom of Equestria. Or, Princessdom of Equestria. This picture here is in her throne room at the capital city of Canterlot. We’re only a few blocks away, actually.”

Blueblood sat back down in his chair and sneered. “I’ve had enough of this. You disrupt our meeting, insult us, play with us like we’re creatures in a dollhouse, and then have the audacity to make a mockery of my family’s name because I’m the only one willing to call you out on your insanity. Why, it’s ridiculous!” He threw his arms up in the air in exasperation.

“But, Blueblood,” Discord said sadly, sidling up to the president, “This is a compliment, if anything. You know, if she’s a Princess, you’re royalty by relation.” He snapped his fingers and a crown appeared on Blueblood’s head. However, the man grabbed it and threw it off to the side, letting it clatter onto the floor.

“I’m not playing into your game anymore, Discord. Leave me alone—I need to think.” Blueblood turned his head away from Discord, and moved his chair over to the corner of the room. He slouched over in his chair and closed his eyes, seemingly losing himself in thought.

“Oh dear,” said Discord. “It looks like I’ve finally broken him. Well, nothing we can do about it now.” He turned back to the other members. “Questions?”

“I’ve got one,” said Fancy Pants. “What’s the celebration in this photo?”

“Princess Celestia is not only ruler of the country, she also is a headmare of the School for Gifted Unicorns. Some even just call it Celestia’s School, or Magic School. This is celebrating her acceptance of a new personal student.”

Granny Smith furrowed her brow. “So you’re telling me that in this world, Miss Celestia is a pony who runs the whole country and a whole school?”

“She’s immortal, too,” Discord added.

“I think I’ll go join Blueblood over there,” said Filthy Rich.

Discord frowned. “Hold on, I promise I can explain. The Princess is mainly focused on running Equestria, and is really only a part of Magic School in name. However, she does occasionally take on a promising new student to train advanced magic techniques to, which is what this picture is showing.”

Filthy Rich sighed. “Alright, I can see that. Somehow.”

“So she’s taken Sunset as her student, right?” said Shining. “That’s why the princess is chatting with a small girl—er, filly.”

“Right on, Mr. Armor!” exclaimed Discord. “Sunset Shimmer’s story on this side of the mirror features quite the rise and fall.” He flew back over to the files and began throwing picture after picture onto the table. “Accepted into Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns at a young age, she immediately stood out by completing coursework several grades ahead of her. It was inevitable that she would attract the attention of Princess Celestia.

“Soon enough,” he continued, “she was the Princess’s personal student, studying away and learning new depths to magic that few ever received the chance to. However, some issues quickly arose. She absorbed herself in the work, refusing to make friends—all her time spent at social gatherings with the noble elite had sharpened her interpersonal manipulation skills, but had hindered her ability to emotionally connect with anypony.

“Of course, Celestia saw how lonely Sunset was becoming, and tried to get her to stop and make friends. But this only increased the pressure Sunset felt to succeed, believing that she was failing the Princess. They became colder and more distant, so Sunset continued to push for more and more magical advancement while shunning any personal development until her fears had become true. Celestia told her to change, or to stop being her student. I think you can guess which she chose.”

“And how’d she get to our world, then?” asked Shining.

“A dangerous leap through a magical portal, motivated by an inability to face the consequences of her actions. Combine that with a poorly thought out plan for world domination, and you can see how we got off easy with just a small crater in the front of the high school. Here, take a look at some of the pictures from the file. It can explain her story better than I.”

Shining, Filthy, and Fancy all crowded over the table and started picking up various pictures, looking to see gradual signs of distance between Sunset and Princess Celestia. They found themselves first sorting through all of the pictures and trying to place them in chronological order. A few minutes into their work, Granny Smith hobbled over to Discord, pulling him to the side.

“I’ve got a question for you, mister,” said Granny. Discord floated down to her and met her at eye level.

“Why, I’m all ears, Mrs. Smith,” he sprouted a few ears from his head for good measure.

Granny took a seat at the chair farthest from the other members. “It’s about this whole ‘parallel world’ business. Can’t say I understand it, but . . . does everyone have a copy like Celestia here?”

“Indeed, Granny,” he said. “Can I call you Granny? I feel like we’re beyond formality now.”

“Sure,” Granny snorted. “So, I’ve got a copy of myself somewhere, then?”

“Yes,” said Discord. “And there are copies of Blueblood, Filthy, Shining, and Fancy out there as well.”

“How similar are we? ‘Cause, if Miss Celestia is a principal in one life and a princess in another, well, that seems like they’ve lived completely different lives.” A slight frown crossed the older woman’s face.

“Celestia is an . . . odd case,” Discord responded. “Most people live very similar lives on both sides of the mirror.”

Granny sighed, her brow furrowed in thought. “What am I like?” she asked hesitantly. “If you know, o’ course.”

Discord pointed at her chest and smirked. “Well, you’re like you. An old farmpony that helps out around town. I think it sounds like quite a drab life, but to each their own.”

Granny hesitated again. “And . . . my family?”

“Nothing different, as far as I’m aware.”

“Oh,” she muttered silently. “It’s just, I had thought that, maybe . . . if Celestia can be a princess, then my family can be something different, too.”

“How do you mean?” he asked. “Forgive me if this is ignorant, but farming culture appears to be about the same to me in both worlds.”

Granny met Discord’s gaze, and for once it looked as if she was finally starting to show the wear of age. “I don’t mean it in a farmin’ sense. I’m thinking personally.” Discord caught a slight tremble of her lip crack through her straight face. “Did this Granny Smith learn the same values I did? Did she make the same decisions?” She sighed quietly. “Did she lose the same folks?”

Discord’s eyes widened a touch before he settled back to his normal smile. “Miss Smith,” he said quietly, “There are some events that are nearly impossible to avoid. In any universe. Often, the beginning of a pony’s life . . . and the end are always the same.” He placed his paw on her shoulder. “For what it’s worth . . . you have my condolences.”

Granny smiled slightly, the wrinkles across her face masking any signs of vulnerability she had shown. “No, it’s okay, I know you didn’t mean nothing by it. It’s . . . a load off my mind, if anything. If it all happened over here too, than maybe it means there was nothin’ I could’ve done.”

“You’re far stronger than you’ve been given credit for, Granny,” said Discord. He glanced around the room. Filthy, Shining, and Fancy were engaged in conversation over another picture, and Blueblood was still sitting in his chair, lost in thought. “I’ll go see what they’re looking at now,” said Discord, patting her on the shoulder. “Let me know if you have any more questions.” Granny nodded silently, focusing her attention back to some of the files scattered on the table.

Discord slinked over to the men mid-conversation. “ . . . I’m not sure I get it,” said Filthy Rich.

“What do you mean? It’s adorable!” Shining exclaimed, pointing at the photo.

Fancy hemmed. “I don’t know if I would go as far as to describe it like that, but I am glad you enjoy it.”

Discord teleported behind them, the three jumping in surprise. “Gentlemen!” he exclaimed. “What’s so interesting about this photo here?”

The two men glanced warily at one another. “Take a look.” Filthy brought it up to Discord’s snout.

The photo was taken several years after Sunset’s appointment as student, a far more secluded moment taken in Celestia’s study. Celestia and Sunset were resting on the floor in a study session, the alicorn watching Sunset with a proud smile as the filly practically dug her muzzle into an old textbook. Gone was the look of bug-eyed admiration for her mentor, replaced with a hunger for knowledge that few would ever hold at that age. It was obvious to all three men that this was one of the happier memories between teacher and student.

“I was just telling them that Sunset’s got the exact same look on her face my sister gets anytime she gets wrapped up in a textbook,” Shining said. “Like the rest of the world doesn’t exist until she absorbs that knowledge.”

“Ah, yes,” Discord said, “I can fathom a few reasons why that is, but we’ll get to that later. Have you all gotten a good look at the photos?”

“I saw one that interested me,” Fancy Pants said, picking up one from the pile.

A few years into the future, Sunset now beyond a filly, but not a mare. The castle was once again hosting an event, with Sunset and Celestia greeting every attendee in a long line. The picture was taken at just the point where, when Celestia was focused on conversing with a noble, Sunset gave a disappointed glance to her side.

“What event is this?” Fancy asked.

“Ah, the Grand Galloping Gala,” Discord said with disdain. “What a bore. Why, I think it could use a little chaos next year.” He snapped his fingers and a bright orange tuxedo and top hat appeared on his form. “Be honest with me: does this suit make me look orderly?”

“It needs to be tailored to you a little more,” said Filthy.

“Oh, I know,” the draconequus said with a chuckle.

“Why does Sunset look so miffed in this pic?” asked Shining, bringing attention back to the picture.

“This is one of the few galas Celestia attends each year. The princess ends up spending nearly the whole night greeting guests. My bet is that Sunset wanted some time alone with her, but that was an impossible outcome. How sad,” he said, “but stupid of her to think otherwise. This was when things started to fall apart.”

Filthy picked up a different picture from the table. “It looks like things got worse very quickly,” he said, showing the group another picture—the last in the file.

Sunset and Celestia stood next together in the throne room, but gone was any emotion from either’s muzzles. Both had a blank smile on, and were spaced apart just enough to suggest that they were on friendly terms, but not much more beyond that.

“It doesn’t look that much worse than the last picture,” said Shining. “I don’t see what’s wrong.”

Filthy chuckled slightly. “You’d have to be in business to understand. In a business setting—or, a royalty setting, for this case—etiquette is the most important thing. Even when people are angry, they will still be formal with one another as to not give the impression something is wrong. One time my daughter and I got into an argument right before I had a house party, and she acted like Sunset is here. Sunset is being formal to the point of extremity. She appears friendly to an outsider, but Celestia can tell that something is very wrong.”

Granny Smith stepped out of her chair and hobbled over, glancing at the picture. “I’ll second that,” she said. “Look at Celestia’s eyes. The wrinkles on the edges are turned down slightly. She’s worried. I’d bet it’s not long before one of them gives in and admits there’s a problem.”

“Right again, Granny,” said Discord. “This was taken a month before Sunset’s expulsion from the School for Gifted Unicorns. Hopefully you all can see that, although Sunset has made many mistakes, her actions at Canterlot High were closer to that of a petty child than an intentional delinquent. She’s a bright kid, and deserves a second chance.”

The other members glanced at him blankly.

“Oh, come on,” he groaned.

Suddenly, Blueblood jumped out of his seat. “I’ve got it!” he yelled. “You’re a tricky fellow, but I know what you did!” He jabbed a finger at the draconequus.

Discord held up his arms. “Well excuse me! I’d like to know what I did before you start poking people!”

Blueblood’s mouth turned up into a broad grin. “When we walked in, you were smoking out of a pipe by the window. I bet that you stuffed that with hallucinogens, and let it cloud up the room. You’re not affected because you breathed clean air out of that crack. We’re not in Equestria right now, or whatever you said. You’re not real. We’re in our chairs, tripping our minds off, while you run around telling us to spare this girl.” He poked Discord’s chest again. “Well bud, I’ve got news for you: it’s not going to happen. Ever.”

The other members looked on in shock after Blueblood ended his outburst with another poke. Discord grabbed the president’s arm with his claw, holding him in place. He met Blueblood’s manic grin with one twice the size. “Not real?” he growled. “I’m not many things: not normal, not human, not kind to twerps like you—but I am one thing. I am very much real.”

Blueblood felt the grip around his arm tighten. “Let go of me!”

Discord leaned down, his teeth bared directly in Blueblood’s face. “Why don’t I show you how real this is?” Discord said. And with a snap, he launched them through the building into the air above.

Blueblood screamed at the top of his lungs as they flew higher and higher into the atmosphere. His legs flailed wildly about, and he grasped onto Discord’s arms with his free hand, praying for life. The force exerted on his face from flying up so fast tussled up his hair and made it hard to breathe. He choked in a breath before he could barely find the strength to push out another scream. Unlike the sensation of falling inward on Blueblood’s way to Equestria, this genuinely felt like he was dangling in the air.

Discord stopped at the point where the sky had lost its bright blue and was entering the black open space. “Look down,” Discord said. Blueblood opened his mouth, “Don’t speak. There’s not enough air up here for you to breathe long anyway.”

Blueblood gently turned his head down, and saw a grand planet spinning beneath him. The continents were of different shape from earth, the oceans chasms never seen before in his mind. He turned back to Discord, the tears in the corners of his eyes finally dripping off into space below.

“That landmass down there is Equestria,” Discord hissed. “And your aunt, whether you like it or not, rules over it completely.”

Blueblood choked out a cry, feeling himself getting more and more lightheaded. 

“And do you know what else she does? Every morning, she lights her horn and raises the Sun. This world is geocentric, you see. The ponies rely on her to get up each day and bring about life, growth, and activity.”

He turned Blueblood toward the Sun, letting the rays wash over them. Basking in it’s glow felt so familiar to him, yet completely different to how it felt on Earth.

Discord smirked. “And can you guess what she does to the Sun at the end of each day, when it’s time for ponies to go to bed?”

Blueblood choked out a cry for help.

“She drops it.” Discord released his claw from Blueblood’s arm, letting him plummet to the ground below. No matter how loud the president screamed, he could still hear Discord’s maddening cackles. Despite how high up he was, he felt the ground was approaching faster, as if someone was pushing him down, accelerating him toward a brutal demise. He let out one final cry and squinted his eyes shut, bracing for impact.

He landed back in his seat with a soft pomph.

Discord flew down and landed on the table. “Hahaha!” he giggled. “You should have seen the look on your face!”

Blueblood hopped out of his seat and laid down on the floor, panting as he clutched the ground. He glanced up at the other members, who were looking at him confusedly. “He—he’s evil!” he exclaimed. “We need to run!”

The others only watched in worry as Discord continued to laugh.

“He just tried to kill me!” Blueblood said. “I just fell from the sky!” Discord settled down, a slight grin appearing on his face.

“Um, sonny,” said Granny. “You fell asleep. In that chair there.”

Blueblood turned back to Discord, eyes wide. “W-what? When?”

Discord calmed himself down. “Right after you said you were hallucinating. I figured, ‘well, if he wants things to not be real so badly, then I’ll give him a fun dream!’ and here we are.”

The president stood up and dusted himself off, the vertigo of falling and fear already flown out of his body. “Th-that wasn’t funny! It was terrifying!”

“Oh yes, what a nightmare,” said Discord, eliciting another fit of giggles. He calmed down and turned to face the president. “I am sorry, Blueblood. It was wrong of me to do such a thing, or so I have been told. But,” he said before Blueblood could interject, “We need to get on the same page somehow.” Discord pulled out a book and opened up to a page in the center. At the top of the page was: Discord and Blueblood Reconciliation! Yay!

“I’ll promise to be completely truthful, and not harm you in any way, if you actively listen to my arguments,” said Discord. “I have one goal here, and that is to help Sunset. Really.”

Blueblood walked over to the book and stared at the title. “. . . fine,” he grumbled. “I will believe your intentions. I will even believe that you’re not tricking us, mainly because I don’t want to go through that again. But that doesn’t mean I have to follow your rules.” He slammed the book shut. “If you want to win us over, then you need logic and reason, not hyperactive insanity.”

Discord frowned. “Ah, well. I suppose that’s fair enough.” He snapped his fingers, the book vanishing into thin air. “We have to go back now. My portal is starting to unwind.”

They scrambled back to their chairs and buckled their seatbelts. With the snap of his fingers, the group was catapulted through the void. Knowing what to expect this time, they all were prepared for the lurch. It was slightly less turbulent than last time; Discord must have improved his composition slightly.

They landed in the Canterlot High School meeting room with a thud. Fancy unbuckled his seatbelt, followed by the rest of the members. The evening sun had nearly set completely, only a small sliver of light left over the horizon. Discord had left the window open, and the room was far colder than the damp Canterlot Archives. Filthy Rich jumped up and shut it quickly.

Discord looked at the table, which was still scattered with files and photos. He placed his claw on his forehead. “Oh, I forgot to put the files back! There I go, stealing from the government again!”

The Board simply sat in their chairs, watching him with judgmental gazes.

“Well?” Discord asked. “Would anyone like to admit that I had something good to say? Maybe Sunset should be allowed in school after all? I know Blueblood’s out, but anybody?”

They all glanced around the table at one another, but found no one willing to speak up.

Discord deflated, landing back in his chair. “Alright, then,” he said. “It seems I can’t do this as well as I thought.”

“No, you can’t,” said Blueblood coldly. “You don’t have us convinced.”

Discord hopped back up. “Let’s hold a vote,” he said.

“Sure,” the president responded. “All in favor—”

“Wait!” the draconequus exclaimed, reaching out to stop them from raising their hands. “I would like to speak first.”

Blueblood leaned back in his chair. “Go ahead.”

“It seems apparent that you’re all tough nuts to crack. I will abstain from this vote. If every one of you votes to expel Sunset, I will not object. You can deliver your verdict, and this will be over. But if one of you, just one, votes that she should stay, then we will continue. Is everyone clear?”

Everyone around the table nodded.

“Just one thing, though. I want this to be an anonymous vote.” He snapped his finger, and a pen and paper appeared in front of each member. On the slip of paper were two words: EXPEL and ENROLL. “If you wish to still expel Sunset, circle EXPEL. If not, circle ENROLL. Don’t look at one another’s papers, okay?”

“Hold on,” said Blueblood, “how do we know you haven’t rigged this? You could swap the notes around, or something.”

Discord sighed. “I want you to trust me. But, I will let you read off the slips, President Blueblood. You can check for anything you would like.”

“Fine,” said Blueblood. “Let’s do this quickly.”

The group turned to focus on the slips. In what seemed like no time at all, all the slips had been folded and handed to Blueblood.

“Okay,” he said. “I’ll get started.”

He unfolded the first. “Expel.”

Second. “Expel.”

Third. “Expel.”

Fourth. “Expel.”

And with one left, he unfolded the piece of paper. “. . . Enroll?!” Blueblood choked.

“Boo-yah!” Discord exclaimed. “I knew I got one!”

The President of the Board jumped out of his seat, a malicious glare crossing his features. “Alright, who was it?” growled Blueblood. “You better have a good explanation for this.”

The members glanced around the table at one another, none willing to open their mouths and admit they were responsible.

“It was certainly not me," said Fancy.

“I know better than to write that," said Filthy.

“I'm still unconvinced," added Shining.

All eyes turned to the last member of the table. She smiled.

“It was me.”
> Family
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Granny Smith raised her hand. “It was me. I voted to let Sunset stay.” She eased herself up out of her chair and, leaning against it for support, faced the fellow members of the Canterlot High School Board of Education.

A chorus of noises spread throughout the room as each member tried to overcome their exasperation and find the right thing to say. Discord leaned back in his chair, placing his arms behind his head. Somewhere, someone might have heard a ding! sound. “There’s one,” he chuckled to himself. He sidled his way over to Granny and patted her on the shoulder. “Thank you,” he whispered to her quietly.

“But—why?” Blueblood sputtered. “What’s made you change your mind?”

“Well, I reckon that we don’t have the full picture here. Discord showed us that, and although ah don’t exactly agree with his methods,” she turned to glance at him, which he met with a careful smile, “I still think we should talk a little longer. Ah honestly don’t know if I fully believe the girl should be allowed to stay, but I want to make sure we all know the whole picture.”

“That’s it?” asked an increasingly irate Blueblood. “You just want to extend the conversation? Look, Mrs. Smith, we all admire the time and effort you’ve put into this district over the years, but this is really not the time to do this—”

“And when’ll be a good time, Blueblood?” Granny cut off. “From what Mister Discord has shown us here, this girl has been pushed around by people—er, ponies—her whole life. It’s no wonder she’s been led down the wrong path; nobody’s wanted anything to do with her, at least when they have nothing to gain from it. I’m just sayin’ that with this new information, I can’t so easily boot out a remorseful girl with a troubled past like a stray mutt.”

Filthy Rich cleared his throat. “Miss Smith, you know I have much respect for you, but I think you’re letting some emotional bias seep into your argument here. Sunset is not some ‘remorseful girl’ and her ‘troubled past’ includes a massive bullying operation that played out right underneath our noses—which was successful, might I add.”

Shining Armor nodded in agreement. “I understand feeling sorry for the kid, but I can promise you she wouldn’t be acting so remorseful if she hadn’t been caught. Expelling her will do her some good.”

Granny Smith shook her head. “Throwing her out on the street won’t do anything to help her. What this girl needs is a family. At least a group of friends to keep her under control, and adults to help her understand the consequences of her actions instead of just dropping her.”

“Is it really fair to give her that luxury, after everything she’s done?” said Fancy Pants. “Sunset is responsible for quite a bit of strife within other families—including your own, if Applejack’s account of Sunset’s actions is to be believed. Does she really deserve a new family, when she’s destroyed so many with her actions?”

“What do you mean, destroyed?” retorted Granny. “If ya ask me, if a high school girl was able to ruin a friendship or family beyond repair, and they still haven’t made up after her actions were revealed, then they were doomed in the first place. Real family forgives one another, or it just wasn’t meant to be. Ah jus’ think everyone deserves the chance for a family, even—no, especially—folks like Sunset.”

“Well I don’t,” Blueblood growled, shooting out of his chair. “And I can’t believe this, Mrs. Smith. Can’t you see what you’ve done, now?”

“What, exactly, have ah done, President?” Granny’s gaze hardened at Blueblood.

Blueblood jabbed a finger at Discord, who threw up his hands in mock obedience. “You’ve legitimized him! By taking him seriously, you’ve let him wedge his way into our debate, and now we’re stuck.”

Discord snickered. “Why, how could you say such a thing, Blueblood? I’ll have you know that I have always been completely legitimate!” Upon saying that, Discord’s figure started to fade away, as if he was turning into a ghost. “Oh no! I’m delegitimizing! Help me . . . !” His wail died out as he faded away from the room.

A pause. “. . . what?” Blueblood uttered.

“Sorry, just a silly joke,” a voice whispered in his ear. Blueblood jumped out of his skin and turned around to see the fully formed draconequus right up in his face. “Gah!” he screamed.

“Oh, you’re just too easy, Blueblood!” cackled the draconequus. “At least put up a little fight!”

Blueblood’s face reddened in anger. “I’m so tired of this insolence! I’m going to the restroom. Come get me when some common sense returns to this room.” He stormed out, slamming the door behind him.

The rest of the Board sat in silence for a few seconds, all watching the door. After a few beats, Discord sighed. “He’s one odd fellow, isn’t he?”

Granny placed a hand over her heart and sat back down in her seat. “Ah, Blueblood’s always had a hot temper. You really need to go easy on ‘im, though.”

Discord stroked his goatee mischeviously. “Perhaps he needs to cool down a bit . . .” 

“What is that supposed to mean?” asked Shining Armor suspiciously.

“Oh, nothing, nothing,” Discord responded. “So where were we?”

“Well,” Filthy Rich said, “We appreciate the emotional appeal Miss Smith, but I think it is clear the rest of us are steadfast in our opinions. I’ll remind you that we’ve expelled other students for smaller transgressions. Ultimately, school policy still dictates that her actions are grounds for expulsion.”

“As far as I’m concerned, this situation might be a bit beyond school policy,” Granny retorted.

“It won’t be to the parents and community who we have to respond to, unless we plan on revealing the nature of this other world to them as well.”

“Fair enough,” Granny said, leaning back into her chair. “But ah still think she deserves at least some more time for discussion.”

“Don’t forget,” said Fancy Pants, “there wasn’t a single witness who could explain how Sunset’s plan was actually intended to unfold. Unless we can prove that the hole in the school is not directly Sunset’s fault, she’s an open-and-shut expulsion.”

Granny Smith nodded. “That’s true. But what if—”

A yell echoed out from the hallway.

“What in tarnation . . .” Granny muttered before the door swung itself back open with a loud bang.

Blueblood stood in the doorway, his whole body soaked in water, fist clenched white. “Discord.”

Discord, currently reclined in his chair and taking a draw from his pipe, turned to face Blueblood. “Yes . . . ? Oh my, Blueblood! You look horrible! Whatever happened to you, you poor thing?”

“Well, just the funniest thing,” Blueblood said. “I turned on the faucet to wash my hands, and it started shooting out water like a fountain. How could that have happened, I wonder?”

Discord gasped loudly. “Why, that’s just the worst, Blueblood! Perhaps the sink realized that you left the room with quite a hot temper, and needed to cool down.”

Blueblood’s eyes lit up in fury. “You’ve gone too far, Discord. I’m not putting up with this anymore.”

“Oh?” the Draconequus challenged. “And what are you going to do about that?”

“I’ll be right back.” Blueblood turned around and stormed back into the hallway.

“Where’s he going?” asked Shining Armor.

Discord shrugged, a lazy smile crossing his face. “To have another cry, maybe?”

“No, that’s not it,” said Fancy Pants. 

“Well, what is he doing then?” asked Shining.

“The first thing Blueblood does when he can’t solve a problem by himself. He gets his Auntie to solve it for him.”

Blueblood strolled back into the room, and took a seat back at the front of the table, a smug grin on his face. Upon seeing who was behind him, Discord’s expression literally fell off of his face, and his complexion turned as blue as ice.

In the doorway stood Principal Celestia, a steely glare aimed at the draconequus. “We need to have some words, Discord.” She turned briefly to other members of the board, and her expression softened. “Why don’t you all take a quick break? Blueblood, go dry yourself off.”

The rest of the members quickly shuffled out of the room as Celestia advanced on Discord, her expression growing darker by the second. The draconequus let out a terrified “Meep!” as the door slammed shut behind them.

The members of the Board stood in confusion from the other end of the door, wondering if they’d start to hear a shouting match. However, even with Blueblood placing his ear directly on the wooden door, he couldn’t make out a word they were saying.

“Oh, whatever,” he grumbled, turning away and heading down the hallway. “I’m going to dry off.”

Fancy Pants eyed the door apprehensively. “Does anyone else think Celestia acted a bit odd in there?”

“I was about to say the same thing,” said Filthy Rich. “I don’t think the normal reaction to seeing that thing is to tower over it like she caught a kid stealing from the cookie jar.”

“That’s because she’s clearly seen him before,” said Shining. “How else would she know to refer to him as Discord?”

Granny rubbed her chin in thought. “She did say she asked ‘im here . . .”

“We need to figure this out,” said Shining Armor, “Because if Celestia’s on his side, then I have a feeling things are not going to get any easier tonight.”

“When this break is over, I say we confront them about it,” said Fancy Pants. “That way we can at least continue the meeting with as much awareness as possible of what’s really going on.”

They all nodded in agreement. Shining took a step away from the door. “I’m going to head to the washroom too, while we have the time.” 

“Don’t poke the bear, if you can help it,” Fancy Pants said.

Shining nodded in thanks and made his way down the hallway to the restroom. Although whatever fountain Discord had turned the sink was fixed, the floor was still drenched in water, and Shining made a note to dry off his shoes before he left. Blueblood stood near the paper towel rack furiously rubbing the legs of his drenched suit in what was probably a futile attempt to dry it off.

At the sound of Shining’s entrance, Blueblood turned to him. “Oh, hello,” he said, swapping to his other leg. “Can you believe what’s going on out there? Or in here, for that matter?”

“I think my eyes still need to recognize it’s reality before my brain can,” Shining responded, choosing to lean against the wall near the door instead of wading in the water any farther. “Hey, I’ve got a question for you.”

Blueblood stopped drying himself and straightened out. “Ask away. Let me guess . . . personal issues? Something to do with Cadance, right?”

Shining chuckled and rubbed the back of his head bashfully. “Ah, well, there’s some relation to it.”

“Well, Cadance and I don’t see each other very often anymore ever since she moved to Crystal Prep, but I do know she’s about as romantic a type as they come. You’re going to have to sweep her off of her feet, literally,” he added.

Shining smiled in response. “Trust me, I know. This is more about Celestia, actually.”

“Ah, still worried about Auntie’s approval? I was just messing with you earlier, you know,” Blueblood said. “The fact that you’re here today, and appear to have a good head on your shoulders, is going to be enough for Auntie.”

“Oh, wow, well . . . thanks for that,” Shining said. A silence settled between the two. “Um . . .”

“Cat got your tongue?” asked Blueblood.

“No, I’m just a little surprised, is all. I thought you’d have been, well, less eager to reassure me.”

Blueblood shrugged. “Cadance was quite bothersome to deal with when she was younger, but she’s gone on to do her own things. I don’t feel the need to fuss over her, so long as she doesn’t try to come back to CHS and interfere with my school,” he added. “And considering that she’s fresh at Crystal Prep, I doubt that’s going to happen anytime soon. So if you know what you’re getting into with her, then I won’t stop you.”

“Well thanks,” Shining responded. “Hey, have you thought about that story Discord gave us about Sunset? And how this alternate Celestia took Sunset under her wing?”

Blueblood’s face darkened immediately at the mention of Discord, and he returned to furiously scrubbing off his coat. “What of it?”

“Well, I’m just asking because you know Celestia better than any of us. Do you think that’s something Celestia would do—just take in some girl and treat her like her own child?”

Blueblood sighed heavily. “I . . . I hate to admit it, unfortunately . . . but I can see it.”

“Really? When has she done that?”

Blueblood glanced up at him. “Come on,” he scoffed. “Do you really think Cadance is actually related to Celestia?”

Shining facepalmed. “Oh, right. Yeah, I should have thought of that one. I just assume they’re related because of how close they seem.”

“Exactly,” he said. “I mean, I’m not even her ‘nephew.’”

“What?” Shining exclaimed. “You’re not related to her either?”

“No, no, don’t get me wrong,” Blueblood hastily added, “I’m related to her, I’m just not her nephew. Celestia’s only sister is Luna, you know. And I sure am not the child of that bundle of joy.”

“Well, why do you call her Auntie then?” asked Shining.

“It rolls off the tongue a lot easier than second cousin once removed,” he explained. “And really, she was just like an aunt to me when I was growing up. That’s just who Celestia is. She gravitates towards the people who need her, whether they’re related to her or not. So, to get back to what you were asking initially, it does seem like Celestia to take this girl under her wing. I just wish she would have followed through with it so we didn’t have to clean up her mess,” he groaned.

Blueblood threw away the paper towels and, resembling a moderate sense of dryness, headed toward the door. “Ready to go see what’s up next in this circus?” he asked Shining.

Shining pushed himself off the wall and joined Blueblood for the door. “I suppose so.” He snagged a couple extra paper towels and, as they stepped out of the restroom, quickly wiped off the bottom of his feet. “I’m sure the janitor’s going to have a fun day tomorrow.”

As the two headed back down the hallway, they approached to the sound of an animated conversation between Filthy, Fancy, and Granny.

“It just seems a bit, predatory, is all,” Granny said warily.

“No, no, Mrs. Smith, there’s nothing predatory about it, it’s business,” Filthy Rich explained. “If anything, I’m investing in the future of Canterlot City. Trust me when I say, this city is going to expand like you won’t believe. Even in the next five years, I can see this place becoming an epicenter for commerce. And it would be foolish of me not to make sure Barnyard Bargains wasn’t right at the heart of that.”

“I completely agree,” added Fancy Pants. “I know lots of folks who are thinking about starting a business downtown. The commercial sector is going to grow quite quickly within the coming years, if I were to bet on it.”

“Ah just don’t think it seems right to just kick all of these businesses out, then, instead of helping them get back on their feet,” Granny responded.

“Well, think of it like this: if their business isn’t doing so great, we buy their building off of them which will be enough for them to relocate or close down shop. And a few years down the road, when a whole lot of new businesses want to come by, who has got the best spot in town? Barnyard Realty.”

“But didn’t you just say the reason these shops are going under is because Barnyard Bargains is driving them out of business?”

Filthy shrugged. “That’s just the nature of the game.”

“Don’t we have more important things to talk about?” Blueblood butted in. “Are they almost done in there?”

Fancy Pants shook his head. “We haven’t heard a peep since you’ve been gone, but the door’s still locked. Rich here was just regaling us with his latest business expansions.”

“I can get into the residential side of it, if you’d like,” Filthy added.

“No, please, ah’ve heard enough,” insisted Granny.

Just at the end of her sentence, the door in front of them creaked open slightly, and Principal Celestia’s head peeked out. She offered them a small smile. “I apologize for that. You can come on in now.”

As the Board entered the room, they were all shocked beyond words to see the draconequus sitting upright in his chair, his goatee and hair slicked into a formal shape, and a three-piece suit buttoned all the way up his slinky form. He stood stock still and stared straight ahead, making no acknowledgement at the entrance of the other members.

Principal Celestia moved to the far left corner of the room, just off to the side of Discord. She placed a spare chair in the corner against a metal filing cabinet and sat down, crossing her legs. “Now, Discord, I believe you have something you’d like to say to the Board, and especially my nephew here.”

“Yes,” Discord said coldly, the mischievous growl gone from his voice. “I would like to offer my sincerest apologies to the Canterlot High School Board of Education, as well as Board President Blueblood. It was not my intention to torment, belittle, or bully the members of the Board into agreeing with my position, but to merely persuade them using my unique set of magical capabilities.” He bowed his head as deep as the table would let him go, before quickly sitting back upright.

“And?” Celestia asked menacingly.

Discord broke character for the first time and let out a slight grumble. “And, ‘if I am to do such a thing to any member of the Board in the future, this meeting is off and Sunset will be expelled, end of story’.”

Celestia smiled and leaned back in her chair. “Good.”

The other members, astonished at the display, had nothing to say. A delighted smile flashed on Blueblood’s face. “Oh, that’s wonderful news! Say, Discord, why don’t you dunk me in some water once more, you monstrous freak—”

Celestia immediately turned to Blueblood and pointed a finger at him with just as much steel as she did Discord. “And you better not get any ideas. Treat each other as equals for the few hours you need to interact with each other. Got it?”

Blueblood threw up his hands and sunk deeper into his seat. “G-got it.”

Filthy Rich turned to Celestia. “Excuse me, Principal, but how do you know Discord?”

Celestia sighed. “I had intended for him to aid this discussion by providing his unique perspective, but it appears I placed too much trust in him. I apologize for that, and I’ll be staying for the rest of the meeting to make sure that nothing else occurs that’s out of order.”

Discord snapped his fingers and his hair puffed back out, his suit disappearing. “Oh, Celly, I just wanted to help in the only way I knew how,” he pouted.

“Then you clearly have a lot more to learn,” she rebutted.

“Hold on,” Shining interrupted, “I can’t just accept this so easily. Why do you know Discord? Like, really?”

“That’s quite a long story,” Celestia responded. “But in short, all you need to know is that our agreement is very particular, and I will keep him in as much control as possible from now on.”

Discord pouted again. “You’re no fun.”

“Enough of this,” said Blueblood, getting himself out of his stupor, “Let’s get back to business. Where were we?”

“Currently four in favor of expulsion, and two against,” Discord said.

“Right,” said Blueblood. “Mrs. Smith, would you care to elaborate—”

“Hold on,” Shining Armor interrupted. “I’d like to address something else, in the hopes that we can lay this whole matter to rest without too much more debate. There’s an important part of this case I haven’t mentioned, but since things have clearly gone off the rails, I say it’s all fair game at this point.”

All eyes turned to Shining. “Well, go ahead,” said Blueblood.

“As you all know, the police conducted several interviews about what happened last Friday,” Shining explained. “All accounts from the students were consistent with one another, but until just a while ago, they were assumed to be impossible. The police don’t take ‘magic’ as an answer, as you’re all aware.

“But there was something that still isn’t possible, even if we accept what we know of ‘magic’. One fatal slipup that, my guess is, was made by Sunset Shimmer to enact her plan. There was a mysterious girl who enrolled in this school just a few days before the Formal, and then miraculously endeared herself to the students enough to ‘win’ the Fall Formal crown, according to all the students we interviewed. I think there’s a scam going on here, and that Sunset may not have been working alone.”

“Well who was this girl?” asked Blueblood.

“Her name is Twilight Sparkle,” Principal Celestia spoke up. “She enrolled just a few days before the Formal and did indeed win the crown. However, I can assure you that she and Sunset were not on friendly terms.”

“Okay, so what’s suspicious about it?” asked Blueblood.

“It’s the name of this girl,” said Shining. “She is not actually ‘Twilight Sparkle’. The real Twilight Sparkle, a student nearby, has a rock-solid alibi for the whole week of the Fall Formal. My guess is, whether or not she was working with or opposed to Sunset, this girl just used that name as cover. She happened to match the rough appearance of Twilight Sparkle, and assumed her name in order to keep herself undercover.”

Discord was leaning back in his chair, a large smile cast upon his face. “Oh, Mister Armor, you smart cookie! Are you sure that it wasn’t Twilight Sparkle at the scene? Because I can promise that it definitely was.”

Shining leaned forward eagerly. “I am dead certain that whoever was at that scene was not Twilight Sparkle.”

Discord leaned forward to match him. “Why?”

“Because Twilight Sparkle is my sister. And I don’t recall her enrolling in CHS last week.”

The other members gawked in shock at the revelation, completely surprised at the sudden development. Discord, however, was unfazed by Shining’s gotcha.

“Oh, you police officers, molding the evidence to fit the story, instead of the other way around. Have you forgotten what we’ve been discussing, Shining? Really, after all that about the alternate world. I figured you would connect the dots.”

Shining furrowed his brow. “What are you getting at?”

“It’s magic!” he exclaimed. “You know that Celestia here has an equal counterpart in Equestria. Why couldn’t this Twilight Sparkle have been from Equestria too?”

Shining scoffed. “No way. Not in million years would Twilight Sparkle be able to win the admiration of a whole school in one week. You’re just making things up now.”

“Oh, I’m being completely honest, and she definitely can,” Discord said mischeviously. He turned to Principal Celestia with manic glee. “Permission to take them on another trip?”

Celestia paused to think it over, but eventually nodded her head with a sigh. “So long as you take me with.”

“No problem at all!” Discord cackled, and with a snap of his fingers, the Canterlot High School Board of Education found themselves hurtling through dimensions once more.
> The Alternate Sister
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It’s safe to assume that interdimensional travel is probably a bumpy ride, especially when your driver is a draconequus who cares very little about your physical well-being. One would not assume, however, that they would be offered complementary snacks for the trip while they felt their insides twisting into, well, outsides.

Discord grabbed another handful of trail mix, ignoring the Canterlot High School Board of Education’s screams and the roar of the interdimensional wind as it whipped past their ears. “You know, if you stop and enjoy the ride a little bit, you might even think it’s fun.”

“Discord,” Celestia screamed, “Put us down!”

“I need the all-clear from traffic control first,” he said nonchalantly.

“I don’t care!”

He shrugged, snapping his claw. “Passengers these days.” With nothing more than a heavy thwump, they found themselves scattered across a rough wooden floor, insides intact and trail mix unfortunately spilt all over.

Upon first glance, they appeared to be in a cozy library, books and sofas lining the walls in a carefully organized pattern. What quickly became apparent, however, was that where the floor was supposed to stop—the intersecting corner between ground and wall—continued up into the wall with a smooth curve. In fact, the floor, walls, and ceiling were all made of the same interconnected wood.

They were inside of a big tree.

Discord floated to the center of the library, above the table which Granny Smith and Principal Celestia had landed. Blueblood, Filthy, and Fancy were propped against a few bookshelves lining the wall—whether it was intentional to place Blueblood under the For Dummies section, we may never know—and Shining had landed on the upper level, flopping down gently onto a sofa.

“Ohh . . . “ groaned Blueblood. “I think I’m going to be sick.”

“Restroom’s on your left,” Discord motioned.

“I’ll be back in a minute,” he groaned hurriedly, closing the door behind him.

“Whew, that was a rough landing,” Discord said. “Can’t win ‘em all, eh?” he gave a little nudge to Celestia.

“That was uncalled for, Discord,” the principal reproached. “You could have softened that landing for us.”

Discord pouted. “It’s not exactly an easy feat, transporting this many people across universes, time, and space, you know,” he explained. “Frankly, the fact that none of you phased into the wall or found a book stuck in your arm is quite impressive. You know, that reminds me of a flight I made to Las Pegasus where this little foal kept screaming—”

“Enough, Discord,” Principal Celestia interrupted. “Remember that you’re on thin ice here. Be gentle next time.”

“Oh alright, I’ll put extra care into making sure no one gets hurt,” he said begrudgingly with a cross of his shoulders.

The members of the Board had taken the time to get themselves up and begin examining the library, skimming through a few books. “I can’t read any of these,” said Filthy Rich. “It’s all gibberish.”

“That’s because they’re in Equestrian. Interestingly, Equestrians don’t seem to have a problem reading English. But, well, maybe that’s the portal’s doing,” Discord pondered.

“This place isn’t just a library,” Shining called from upstairs, “It’s a home, too!”

“Hey, don’t go snooping around in her bedroom, please!” Discord called back. “I’m already in enough trouble as is.”

Shining shrugged and headed downstairs to join the rest of the members, meeting them at the center table.

Fancy Pants picked up another novel and began gently flipping through the pages. “The bindings on these novels are exquisite. I would say that they are in perfect condition, but you can tell there’s some gentle wear to them. Someone has been reading these novels with the utmost care taken to preserve them.”

“Yes, yes,” Discord said, “We’re in a very cozy Equestrian library that keeps itself up to standards that even the princess herself doesn’t understand.”

“What are we here for, then?” asked Granny Smith.

“Well, a story of course,” grinned the draconequus, “But not one you’re going to find on any shelf. We need to hear it first-hoof from the head librarian of this little abode. She probably won’t be happy to see me, but she’ll want to help, I’m sure of it.”

“Well, where is she?” asked Shining Armor. “I assume she lives here, but she’d probably have shown up by now considering the ruckus we’ve made.”

“We should probably find her quickly,” added Fancy Pants. “I do not mind waiting, but this appears to be a public library. The longer we wait around, the greater chance we have of giving an incoming patron the scare of a lifetime.”

Discord raised a claw to his chin. “Yes, I suppose you’re right. I’ll just bring her here.” He raised his claw to snap his fingers, but Celestia cut him off.

“Discord,” said Principal Celestia sternly, “We can always leave and come back. She may be doing something important.”

Discord waved her off. “Eh, it’s Twilight. If she was doing something important, I’d know.”

He snapped his fingers and in the center of the room popped a purple alicorn munching down on a hay sandwich. “Bwuh?” she exclaimed, choking on her food. “What’s going on—” she turned around to see the draconequus looking at her with a grin. “Discord,” she growled, flaring out her wings.

“Hello Twilight,” Discord said calmly. “How have you been today?”

“Do you recall that teleporting a public official without their consent is a serious crime?”

The draconequus snorted. “Twilight, I’m the Lord of Chaos! I don’t follow public order.”

“Touché,” the alicorn admitted. She glanced around and, upon noticing that she was not alone in the library, turned to Discord and hardened her gaze even further. “Why have you brought humans here?”

Discord looked back and forth between the humans and Twilight and slapped a claw on his forehead. “Oh dear me, where are my manners? Introducing her majesty, Princess Twilight Sparkle, Equestria’s very own Princess of Friendship!” Airhorns sounded off in the distance.

“Nice to meet you all,” Twilight said with a little wave. “Um, who are you, exactly?”

Discord facepalmed. “Oh my, I’m just completely off of my game today! Twilight, these are some members of the Canterlot High School Board of Education, plus a few special guests. I’m sure you’re familiar with them. Granny Smith, Fancy Pants, Filthy Rich, Blueblood’s in the bathroom, and Shining Armor.”

The police officer had been standing carefully off to the side, eyeing Twilight closely. “Twily?” he said hesitantly, inching a small step closer toward the pony. “Is that really you?”

Twilight gasped in surprise and flew over to Shining, tackling him in a hug. “Oh my gosh, Shiny! You’re human!” She paused. “Well, that was obvious, but still! You must be my BBBFF from the human world! And that means that I have a counterpart too! I sort of figured that out already, but now that it’s confirmed it means I can conduct a thorough study about the differences between our worlds!” She straightened herself out. “Tell me, Shiny, how similarly do I hold myself to your Twilight? Do we have the same mannerisms? Personality? Ooh, how about old school friends? I need to know!” 

Shining pushed her off and took a step back. “You’re not really similar at all,” he said warily. “Are you really my sister’s counterpart? Because, well, I don’t know if I’m ready to wrap my head around that.”

“Yes, she’s your Twilight’s parallel,” Discord said, “And she’s also the key to understanding what happened at the Fall Formal. Twilight, I know you’d like to catch up—or perhaps I should say compare—with Shining, but my dimensional portals aren’t exactly known for being stable. So, if you’d please, I need you to retell your side of the story about what happened at the Fall Formal.”

“Why should I?” asked the princess. “Why do they need to know?”

“They’ve been chosen to decide Sunset Shimmer’s punishment,” Principal Celestia chimed in. “Or, the lack thereof.”

“Oh, hi Princess Celestia!” Twilight exclaimed, giving a quick bow.

“No, no, Twilight, I’m just the principal.”

“Oh. Right, got it, sorry,” she chuckled nervously. “So which of you are specifically part of the Board, then?” She glanced around the room. “Granny Smith, Fancy Pants, Filthy Rich—”

“Please, just Rich,” he said.

“My apologies. And then Shining, too?” She furrowed her brow.

“Actually, I’m just tagging along with this one as an additional voice.”

“Ah, okay! So that’s the Board. I hope you’re all thinking of giving Sunset another chance.”

Behind them the bathroom door slammed open, revealing a disgruntled Blueblood. “We are most certainly not,” he growled. “The girl blasted a hole in the school and tormented our students for months. No amount of sappy pleading can change my mind, she has got to go.”

“Oh, Blueblood,” Twilight groaned. “Some things stay the same across any universe.” She turned to Discord. “I think I see the issue now. What do you need from me?”

Discord snapped his fingers and all the members found themselves sitting cross-legged on the floor with Twilight positioned on a chair up front, as if it were storytime. The alicorn had a book in her hooves labeled My Little Pony: Equestria Girls. “I just need you to tell your story, is all,” Discord snickered.

Twilight tossed the book out of her hooves and it disappeared in a cloud of smoke. “Fine, but I’m not doing this for you, Discord. I’m doing it for Sunset.”

And so Twilight regaled the events that led to Sunset’s downfall. A trip to an unwelcoming world. Warming herself up to the locals, forming new friendships. A successful bid for the crown, and Sunset’s unsuccessful attempt to stop her, leaving her reduced to a shell of her former self. And then, an outstretched hand and a promise for forgiveness.

“When we used the Elements of Harmony—or at least invoked through the strength of our friendship—to defeat Sunset, we literally blasted all of the evil that had manifested inside of her out. She’s a blank slate when it comes to friendship right now. And those girls are ready to help her.

“I know this is a hard sell for you all. If I were in your situation, I am sure it would not be easy to allow Sunset to stay. But, I am pleading with you, on behalf of all Equestria, that you give her one more chance. If you expel her, I don’t ever know if she’ll be able to get herself back on her feet. She needs guidance, from people who are equal to her—her fellow students. And I know it isn’t going to be easy for her, or for them, but I believe that friendship will prevail. I have to.”

Twilight leaned back, her story finished. The members of the Board glanced at each other, uncertain of what to say. Principal Celestia shared a covert smile with Discord.

“If I may speak, Your Highness,” asked Filthy Rich.

“Please do.”

“Thanks,” he cleared his throat. “I feel as if you misunderstand our position. You’re a princess in this land, yes?”

“I’m still in training, technically, but I am.”

“And considering what Discord has told us, this means you have some sort of administrative power over the country? Laws to enforce?”

“Usually that’s left up to Princess Celestia, but I do technically have the authority,” she admitted.

“So you understand, then, that the reason we cannot allow Sunset to stay in this school is not because of a personal vendetta, or a belief that she can change, but because it just simply isn’t allowed by the laws and policy we abide by? You’ve touched me with Sunset’s side of the story, really. I know you feel as if Sunset deserves another chance, but this is a matter of tough love; Sunset broke the rules, even if she regrets it. She can’t get a free pass on remorse alone.”

Granny Smith sighed in frustration. “You know, Filthy, I recall you had a different opinion when we found out what your daughter was doing to Applebloom.”

Filthy turned to her with a silent glare. “Leave that out of this, Mrs. Smith. You know that situation is different.”

“Yeah, ‘cause it was your kid that time—”

“Mrs. Smith,” Filthy said sternly, “We can discuss this later if you wish, but that’s off-topic.”

Granny shrugged and turned away. “Just seems a bit hypocritical, is all.”

“I also have a question for the princess,” said Fancy Pants. “You’re the Princess of Frienship, yes? Surely that means you have expertise on the matter.”

Twilight smiled sheepishly. “Well, there’s always more to learn, but I suppose I’m the main authority on friendship in Equestria.”

“Then have you fully considered how the rest of Canterlot High School will feel about Sunset staying? Do you really believe that anyone will want to be friends with her? Or even that her presence won’t be a triggering event for some of the students she used to bully? This isn’t just going to be ‘hard’ for some students, it could be like finding out your walking nightmare was given the chance to roam the halls freely.”

Twilight frowned. “You’re right, this is a lot to ask of the students. I entrusted Sunset to five of the friends I made over there, and I know that they will look out for her as best as they can. And I won’t lie to you in saying that at first, Sunset’s presence will be tough on everyone. But I know that Sunset truly wants to change, and eventually the rest of the students will see that. The path Sunset is on is not the easiest one, but it is the right one. She needs to form the social connections that she’s skipped out on her whole life, and she needs to earn the trust back of Canterlot High. If you don’t give her that chance, then I don’t think Sunset will ever recover. She’ll just waste away for the rest of her life.”

“It sounds as if you speak from experience,” said Shining Armor. “Why are you so . . . different, Twilight? Where did your path diverge from the Twilight I know?”

Twilight turned to him, a gentle smile forming on her muzzle. “I take it your Twilight isn’t in the best of positions right now, is she?”

A worried gaze crossed Shining’s face. “Yes, she’s . . . she’s having some trouble in high school. Regarding her friends, specifically. She just can’t seem to connect with anyone.”

“I was the same way,” Twilight responded, her expression darkening. “I spent all my time studying. Friends weren’t that important to me. Of course, I was still lonely, no matter how much I lied to myself and everyone around me. I just studied harder to fill that void.”

“How did you get out of that?” Shining asked, his eyes silently pleading. “Because I’ve tried to help her, but it just seems like I make things worse. I just can’t seem to reconcile how my Twilight is even somehow connected to you. It’s like you’re two completely different people.”

“Well, I got a really good kick in the flank, to be honest,” chuckled Twilight. “For me, it was literally ‘make friends or the world ends’. But then I stuck around, and the friends I had found turned out to be ones that I didn’t want to let go. Just . . . give her some time, and support her in what she wants to do, even if that means she won’t make friends immediately. That being said, perhaps you should try introducing her to some of the kids at Canterlot High. I know there are good people there.”

“And put her in Sunset’s proximity?” sneered Blueblood. “I wouldn’t bring a girl with social issues anywhere near CHS right now if I knew what was going on. That’s a recipe for disaster.”

Twilight shook her head. “You’re wrong, Blueblood. If there’s one thing I know, it’s myself. And I know that the position I was in—that your sister is in, Shiny—is very similar to Sunset’s right now. They both have everything they need, except the support network of friends to help them grow. They both need friendship. I want you all to give Sunset that chance, please. I won’t force you, but I want you to all seriously consider it.” 

“ . . . I just don’t know what to trust anymore,” said Shining quietly. “How can I make a decision after all of this, now?”

“You can trust two things,” Twilight said. She aimed a hoof at her horn, and then down at her chest. “Trust your head and your heart. And don’t let anything pressure you apart from those two. Not Discord, not Celestia, and not even me. Just you.”

Shining paused, but eventually he gave her a wan smile. “Thanks, Twily.”

Twilight offered a brief smile before she stood up and trotted over to Discord, who was floating in the air silently. “Is that all you need, Discord?”

Discord wiped his eye with a tissue, and wiped his tissue with his eye. “Yes, yes, that was magnificent Twilight.” The other members stood back up and made their way to the center of the library. “Now, does anyone else have any questions before we go?”

“Yeah,” Shining said, “Just one more thing. If you’re a princess, does that make me a prince in this world?”

Twilight laughed. “You are a prince, but it’s not because of any relation to me.”

“Oh, well how did that happen, then?” 

“Marriage.”

Shining furrowed his brow. “With whom?”

Twilight grinned mischeviously—something Discord took a small bit of pride in, even if he’d never admit it. “I’ll give you a hint: sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake!” She clapped her hooves together in a familiar pattern.

A furious blush appeared on Shining’s face. “Oh boy.”

“And on that note,” Discord said with a chuckle, “I say we head out. Thank you, Twilight. I’ll stop by for tea sometime.”

“That’s not necessary, but I’ll have an emergency plan ready just in case,” said the princess. “And Shining?”

“Yeah?”

“Make sure you tell Twilight about it before the wedding invitation!”

At that sound, Discord let out a hearty guffaw and snapped his fingers, levitating the humans into the air with a gust of wind. And with a boost of energy, the Canterlot High School Board of Education found themselves rushing headlong back to their home world.
> First Snowfall
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Canterlot High School Board of Education landed back in their seats gently.

“Well that was interesting!” exclaimed Discord. “You know, it’s not every day you get to meet royalty. You should consider yourselves lucky!” 

“Yeah, we feel honored,” drawled Blueblood, meeting Discord’s gaze. “What a waste of time that was! You haven’t shown us anything that helps your case.”

Shining Armor silently stepped out of his chair and walked over to the tiny window at the end of the room, right behind Discord’s chair. He leaned his shoulders against the windowsill and stared out into the empty night. “How much time has passed since we left?”

Discord teleported right next to him, also glancing out the window sill. “Time doesn’t move the same way in Equestria as it does here, so I’d say we’ve jumped forward a couple hours or more.”

“It’s almost midnight,” said Fancy, checking his watch. “How much longer are we going to be here?”

“As long as we need to,” the draconequus responded. “You haven’t actually been at this for six hours. Sorry for messing up your sleep schedule in advance,” he said, “but I don’t know how much sleep you’ll get tonight.”

“Oh don’t worry, I’m technically on vacation until next week, so I can readjust,” said Fancy Pants.

“This isn’t the first all-nighter Ah’ve had to pull before,” added Granny Smith.

Shining turned to face Discord, his face blank. “I’ve done enough night shifts not to worry about it. Hey, Discord? I’d like to speak with you privately.”

Discord grinned slightly at the man and turned around to the rest of the group. “Everyone, let’s take a quick break again. Get some water or something, and let anyone at home know we’re going to be here later than expected.”

The other members made to move out of their seats, but Blueblood held up his hand. “Hold on,” he said, choosing to silently keep an eye on the two at the window. “I can’t think of what you could possibly say to him that we’d need to leave for.” His gaze lowered at Shining. “Unless there's something you're not telling us.”

Celestia crossed her shoulders in annoyance. “Everyone, can you give them some privacy?”

Blueblood huffed and got out of his seat. However, as the rest of members of the Board started up from their seats, Shining sighed. “You know what, no, he’s right. You all can stay. It’s not as if any of you are going to go and spread this around.”

Celestia leaned back and nodded. “Carry on, then.”

Shining turned back around and kept his eyes peeled on the window. “I just wanted to say that I see what you’re doing here, Discord.”

“And what’s that?” asked the Draconequus.

“Don’t play dumb with me. Not a single police officer besides me has been able to even get near Canterlot High. At first I thought it was an odd coincidence, but that clearly isn’t the case, is it?”

“Tell him the truth,” Principal Celestia added.

Discord rolled his eyes and threw up his hands. “Fine, you got me. Yes, I didn’t let any other officer in the school.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m here to make sure Sunset doesn’t get arrested! Do you think I’m going to just let the police stroll on in and cuff her?” he flashed a nervous grin.

“That’s not what I’m asking,” Shining said, meeting the draconequus’s eyes. “Why me? Why am I the only one you allowed in?”

Discord’s smile fell off of his face. “I think you know why.”

“I want to hear you say it. Tell them, too.”

“Oh, I don’t think that’s necessary,” he responded bashfully, “They’re all smart cookies, I’m sure that they can—”

“Do it, Discord,” ordered Celestia.

He sighed, and turned to the rest of the members. “I let Shining Armor in the school and this meeting today because of his connection to Twilight Sparkle.”

“So that’s why I’m here?” he asked. “You chose me because you think that I’m the easiest officer to sway toward your side?”

“No—” At the start of his sentence, Celestia started to stand up out of her chair. “Okay, yes, we did choose you because we wanted to capitalize on your relationship with Twilight. Like I said, you got me right in the act.” He threw his hands up in the air in mock arrest. “Don’t forget to read me my rights, please.”

Shining turned to silently gaze out the window into the night. Although the outside was completely dark, the yellow light from the room bled outside just enough to see small specks of snow flittering toward the cold ground below. “It’s the first snowfall of the year,” Shining commented.

“A winter start-up, some might say.”

Shining continued to gaze silently out the window, his face contorting into several different expressions, somewhere between confusion, anguish, and disbelief. The Board watched on silently, and even Discord wasn’t sure what to say next.

After a significant pause, Shining turned back to Discord. “What I need you to understand is that whoever that Twilight was, she was not my sister.” He glanced back to the window. “But she also was. It’s like what she could have been if she taken a different path.”

Discord climbed himself back up to the window and peered outside. “Even the smallest of changes can cause wildly different effects. That’s one of the many definitions of chaos, you know.”

“Yeah,” he said quietly. “I guess it is.”

Silence, beyond the gentle hum of the overhead light working overdrive to keep the room at a reasonable brightness. Filthy Rich straightened out his tie and cleared his throat quietly. Granny Smith rocked back and forth in her chair, even though it wasn’t built for rocking. Celestia kept a close eye on the two creatures at the window.

“The last time it snowed this early in the fall was several years ago,” Shining said suddenly. “I remember because it was the night I took Twilight to Crystal Prep’s school dance.”

“Did Crystal Prep have Fall Formals too?” asked Discord.

“No, we called it a Fall Festival, and there was a different vibe to it. Some years we didn’t even hold the dance if it lined up too close with Homecoming. But it was essentially the same thing as the Fall Formal. I went every year with my friends.”

“But you took Twilight one year?”

“Yeah,” he said, a smile gracing his face, “It was her first year in high school, and I wanted to show her the ropes.” He chuckled. “She wasn’t very happy about that, thought it was a waste of time. She started to dread it so much that she looked like a walking husk the whole week before. It's always been . . . tough, for her to do things like that. It still is, really.

“But when the day of the dance came, she took the effort to get in a nice dress and do herself up. And when we finally drove over to Crystal Prep she seemed even a little excited. It was nice to see her interested in something other than studying for once.” A flicker of pride crossed his face.

“How’d the dance go?” Discord asked.

He grimaced. “She sat alone in the corner all night. There wasn’t a lack of freshmen at the dance or anything. She just couldn’t find anyone to have fun with.”

Discord placed a paw on his shoulder. “Not everyone’s made for that kind of thing. At least she tried.”

“I should’ve known, though. It was stupid of my mom to force her to go—just to embarrass her all night. Of course, we didn’t actually stay the whole time,” he explained, “After an hour or so she came up to me and told me to look outside. It was snowing, so she wanted to leave early to beat the storm.”

“And you let her?”

“Well, it was the first snowfall of the year. We hadn’t prepared for it at all, and the radar did say that it was going to come down hard.” He knit his brow. “That wasn’t really what she was asking, of course. She was pleading with me to get her out of there, to save any of the dignity she had left. The second that snow started falling, she saw an out and took it. So I said fine, and we headed out to my car. We drove around for a couple hours until it was time to go home, and we told our parents that we had a great time. And from that point on, I didn’t tell my mom about any school dance until the very night of. And Twilight always had something busy with her research to do, so she couldn’t make it.”

“That doesn’t sound like the Twilight Sparkle we just met,” said Principal Celestia quietly.

“No, it doesn’t. Princess Twilight  was someone—or, somepony for that matter—completely different than my sister. But I could still tell that it was her, or at least that she started from the same place.” He stepped away from the window and turned to Discord, meeting his gaze.

Discord smirked. “It’s surprising to see how much one person can change throughout their lives, isn’t it?”

Shining turned back to look out the window silently, a myriad of expressions crossing his face. Eventually, he turned to Celestia. “Principal, I came here because I genuinely wanted to help you with this case.”

“And you have,” she said.

Shining shook his head with a chuckle. “No, no, I’ve haven’t really done much. I . . . don’t feel comfortable voting on this anymore. Now that I know why I’m really here, I can’t trust anything about this case. I feel as if I’m compromising the whole meeting.”

“What will you do, then?” asked Discord. “Leave?”

“No, I won’t leave,” Shining said, “I don’t want to. I still have things I want to say.”

“We won’t hold it against you, Officer,” Celestia said. “You can walk out of here and forget everything. You don’t need to be present any longer if you're not comfortable.”

Shining shook his head. “No, I really want to stay. In fact, I’d like to clarify a few things, if you wouldn’t mind.”

“Go ahead,” said the principal.

“You asked me here to offer council and advice about Sunset’s situation, correct?”

“Yes,” Celestia said, “And any other input that your perspective could bring to this case.”

Shining smiled. “Good. And, if I’m correct, the only people who are required to vote by your policy are members of the Board. And I am not a member of the CHS School Board in any sense of the word.”

“That’s also correct,” said Celestia.

“Then I’m abstaining from voting,” Shining said calmly. “You asked me here for advice and counsel, and I will willingly offer that to all of you, but I can no longer in good conscience vote for either side after our previous trip. It would be unfair to all of you. Just think of it as me voting ‘present’.”

“Present?” Blueblood gasped. “You’re just going to say that you’re here? Don’t you see that this gives Discord an edge? Every vote away from us might as well be one for him!”

“I understand your sentiment,” Shining responded, “but I’m making a decision based on what I judge to be the best for this situation. Princess Twilight told me to trust my head and my heart. And they are both telling me that any vote I cast won’t be a result of any genuine conviction on my end. I’m under no obligation to vote, so I see no reason to force myself to do so.”

“Then why are you still here?” asked Blueblood. “If you don’t want to vote, then go.”

“He has a right to stay, Blueblood,” Celestia warned. “I did ask him here, and although it was assumed he would vote alongside you, he is not a member of the Board and it is not specified in policy.” She turned to Shining and smiled. “Good job, Officer Armor. I’m always impressed when someone chooses to stay true to themselves, even if it means they have to remove themselves from a situation.”

Shining smiled back in response. “Thank you, Principal, that means a lot to me.”

“Hold on!” Blueblood exclaimed. “If you’re not going to vote, and instead offer counsel, then I expect some counsel. So explain to us what you think is best, here.”

Shining rubbed his chin in thought. “Okay, let me get my thoughts in order. I’m saying this as a police officer. I don’t know what you members of the Board have to deal with, and I’m not going to factor it in too much, but, I’ll try my best to give you some sound advice.” He cleared his throat.

“If what Discord says is true, then the criminal case against Sunset Shimmer is going to go nowhere. The file may be left open in case we catch her doing something else illegal, but I doubt she’ll suffer any consequences on the judicial side of things. Unfortunately, all witness testimony that declares Sunset as the culprit in regards to the school’s damage is unreliable, because they all mention ‘magic’. So that’s going to leave Sunset’s discipline up to all of you.

“Now, from what Mister Rich and President Blueblood have stated, the school policy demands Sunset’s immediate expulsion and removal from school. I won’t argue if that’s what you all decide on, but as Discord and Granny Smith have pointed out, there might be other less extreme options to pursue. Are you all familiar with the concept of restorative justice?”

“Yes, very much so,” Principal Celestia said. “I am always striving to implement it more when I can.”

Blueblood scoffed. “That only works with small crimes, like petty thieves and litterers. Sometimes people just earn their punishment, if you ask me. An eye for an eye, you know.”

“Maybe you’re right, Blueblood,” said Shining, “and using this with Sunset may certainly be a hard sell to the community at first, but I think it would be worth looking into. Sunset is remorseful, and that is the only foothold you need in regards to repairing the broken trust in this community. We have a girl here who is willing to take a chance and improve herself and understand the consequences of her actions. That isn’t always the case with juvenile delinquency, so if we can create an example in this school, it may help set a precedent for the future.”

“How will the rest of the students feel, though?” asked Fancy Pants. “Do you think they’ll take it easily, especially since we’ve expelled students for far less in the past?”

“They probably won’t accept it right away, but if Sunset is truly willing to make amends, then we have to insist she try until they come around. And I don’t hold any knowledge of your previous expulsions, but I don’t really think it should affect this case too much. Perhaps right now is the time to employ a new strategy.”

“How do you know she’s remorseful?” asked Filthy Rich. “She could just be putting on a show again.”

“I’m going to trust Princess Twilight’s words on this one. This magic stuff goes right over my head, but all evidence since last Friday points to Sunset wanting to turn over a new leaf. We could at least entertain the thought.”

“So you’re really voting for her to stay, then?” said Blueblood. “After all of that talk about not making a decision, it sounds like you want this girl to stay enrolled after all, huh? Don’t be a coward and just admit it.”

“Hey, now,” said Shining, “I’m not saying I believe she should stay. I’m just saying that there are alternative methods of penalty and discipline out there. Princess Twilight reminded me of that fact. Since two of the voters here today don’t want to expel Sunset, I am trying to describe a possible middleground. That’s all.”

“Middleground? There is no middleground!” Blueblood exclaimed. “It’s all or nothing! Either she stays or she doesn’t. You know, I thought the police officer would be one of the strongest advocates for giving this girl what she deserves.”

“What she deserves? She isn’t a demon, Blueblood. She’s a juvenile delinquent, and she deserves at the very least someone willing to entertain several different forms of discipline.”

“So this is the state of the force nowadays?” growled Blueblood. “Why, maybe if you did your job we wouldn’t have kids doing any of this in the first place!”

Shining jumped out of his seat, glaring daggers at the president. “Now you listen here, Blueblood, I won’t be talked to like that by anyone, much less by an arrogant—”

Filthy Rich jumped up and placed himself between the two, holding Shining back. “Woah, woah, calm down. Blueblood is just an excitable person, is all. He doesn’t mean it.”

Blueblood slid out of his seat and stormed to the door. “I’m going to take another break. Continue without me if you want.” He left, slamming the door behind him.

The other members of the Board glanced at one another. “So, that’s three in favor of expulsion, two against, one abstaining,” said Discord. “We’re almost even.”

Principal Celestia stood up out of her chair. “I say we take another break until Blueblood’s ready again.”

The members of the Board got out of their chairs to stretch. Discord flew over to his chair and sat back down, silently watching the rest of them.

“Well,” Fancy Pants said, “This sure has been interesting. I am surprisingly less tired than when I entered this meeting,” he admitted. “Maybe this is all a dream?”

“I’m starting to wish it,” said Shining Armor. “When do you think we’re getting home tonight?”

Granny Smith shrugged. “I’d say we settle in ‘til morning. At that point, I’m taking a nap whether you all are still fussin’ over this or not.”

Filthy Rich sighed. “I suppose someone should go check on Blueblood. If we want this to go smoothly, we have to make sure he’s in the mood to debate, not hurl insults.”

“Good luck,” Discord murmured from his chair.

Filthy made his way out the room and down the hall, opening up to the bathroom. Inside stood Blueblood at the sink furiously scrubbing his hands together.

“No good, rotten kids these days,” he muttered under his breath. 

Filthy walked up to the sink next to him and peered into the mirror, straightening himself out. “You need to stay logical here, Blueblood. Discord may have the power of the emotional plea on his side, but we still have the cold hard facts. He can get everyone against us, but if the rulebook still says Sunset has to be expelled, then she has to be expelled.”

“I feel like I’m talking to wall,” said Blueblood. “Can’t they see that this girl is the biggest threat to the students we’ve had in years? This is the type of thing the Board is literally made for. It’s our job to protect students from kids like her, not welcome her back with open arms. They’re all a bunch of incompetent fools, I’ll tell you.”

“It’s Discord that’s doing this,” Filthy said. “The others are getting swept up by his novelty. That’s the only way he can win them over, by overloading them with tricks. Alternate planets, horse dimensions, I can’t make any sense of it, but I’m not going to let myself get roped into it. We just hold steady until he runs out of tricks and the shock wears off, and they’ll come back around.”

Blueblood snorted. “I can’t believe it. Ponies! And Princesses! It’s nonsense.”

“It’s quite odd to hear him say that the principal of a small city school is the supreme leader of a different universe, yes,” said Fancy.

“Well Auntie’s not a princess here,” responded Blueblood. “And I certainly didn’t get any of the perks that would come with being the relative of a princess. Auntie wasn’t even a principal when I was in school, just a teacher.”

“So what you’re saying is that you weren’t raised in a castle with maids at your beck and call?” Filthy joked.

“I wish,” said Blueblood curtly. “I wasn’t at the top of the food chain in school, or so to speak. But anytime I got kicked around, I fought back. You know, that’s why I decided to run for the Board in the first place; I consider myself decent at wrangling people to do what I want. Everybody was a bit more thick-skinned back in the day. Whatever we dished out, we could take back. Not anymore, though. It’s all about protecting their feelings.”

“It seems like that’s what is important to kids now. They’ve all toned the fighting down, even the bullies. Well, most of the bullies,” he said, thinking back on the flame-haired girl who caused their mess in the first place.

“I suppose there’s nothing wrong with that,” the President sighed. “It’s our job to make the next generation grow up in a healthier environment than ours.” He let out another sigh and massaged his eyelids. “Fat lot of good we did, though. You work your life out to help them, but some of these kids just can’t help themselves and mess everything up. . .”

A silence settled between the two men, neither feeling like speaking, but also not wanting to return to the chaos back in the main room.

“I think this fiasco has knocked some sense into my girl, at least,” said Filthy. “She doesn’t seem too keen on playground insults anymore. Hopefully she’ll come around and start learning about the business with me in a few years.”

“You thinking about passing it on to her? I thought you wanted to control the Barnyard brand until the day you die.”

“Well, I want to continue on the legacy. She doesn’t seem too interested, but I’m sure she’ll come around for me. That’s why I’m doing so much expansion into the real estate around the city. It’ll set her off on the right foot come twenty or thirty years down the road when she takes charge.”

“That’s smart,” Blueblood responded. “She’ll appreciate it eventually.”

Filthy let out a sigh and walked over to the towel rack, cleaning his hands. “Alright, enough of this. Let’s go face the music.”

“Agreed. I’ve got a trick up my sleeve that might just work, though,” Blueblood rubbed his hands together excitedly.

The two men headed back to the meeting room and opened it up to find all members of the room talking candidly with one another. Discord was floating above the table dressed in what appeared to be a toga, with a glowing halo atop his head. “So I roll this golden apple onto the dance floor at a whole gaggle of ponies, and they just trip all over themselves to try and catch it. So that’s how I invented bowling! Oh, ponies don’t party like they used to anymore.”

Upon seeing their general merriment, Blueblood stormed in. “Hey, what’s going on? Why are we laughing and hooting like a friendly get-together?”

“Oh, hello Blueblood,” said Discord with an impish grin. “I was just sharing some old stories with my friends here. We were just waiting for you to finish.”

“Ugh,” Blueblood growled. “Fine.” He turned to Fancy Pants, who was chuckling along with the rest of them. “And you! Aren’t you on our side? Why are you laughing with them?”

Fancy Pants placed his hands up, taken aback. “I don’t think I need to be rude to them just because I disagree. That’s just basic courtesy, after all.”

Blueblood opened his mouth to continue, but clenched his jaw and silently returned to his seat. “Okay, okay. Let’s get started again.”

After Filthy also took his seat, Discord snapped his fingers and turned back to his normal outfit. “So are we aware of the current standings in regard to everyone’s opinions?”

“It’s three to two, with one abstaining,” said Celestia in the back. “Blueblood, Fancy, and Rich in favor of expulsion, with Mrs. Smith and Discord in favor of admittal.”

“How about this,” said Blueblood with a grin. “It’s already past midnight. Let’s come back tomorrow morning, and since we’re basically split, we’ll bring in a few more Board members to help decide the vote. We could all use some sleep.”

“No siree, Blueblood,” said Granny Smith. “Ya can’t cancel this now that the odds aren’t stacked in your favor. We’re gonna see this through, or die tryin’.”

“Now hold on, I need my sleep!” Blueblood retorted. “It’s not fair to force me to stay up this late!”

“Our trips to Equestria have sped up time, remember?” Discord said. “We’ve really only been at this for a few hours total. You should have plenty of juice left in you.”

“There’s also another reason we have to finish this tonight,” said the principal.

“And what is that, Auntie?”

“It’s Friday night. The school is closed to everyone for construction tomorrow. And I need the verdict on my desk by Monday morning, or we’ll have far bigger issues on our hands.”

“Well then what do we do?” said Blueblood. “We’re at a standstill.”

“You could go over it again,” suggested Shining. “Couldn’t hurt to refresh ourselves.”

“Anyone object?” asked Filthy Rich.

Several noncommital sounds rang throughout the room.

“Okay,” said the businessman. “Feel free to chime in if you think I missed something. Our student, Sunset Shimmer, has been bullying the school and gaslighting its teachers for several years now. Last week, when she did not win Fall Formal Princess, she went into a rampage which led to the destruction of the school grounds and the school’s entrance. Fortunately, no students were hurt, and they even continued the Fall Formal afterward. According to our esteemed guest,” he motioned at Discord, “and his acquaintances, there is some otherworldly magic involved in this story as well. I don’t believe that changes any of the basic facts, however.”

“Way to suck all the fun out of it, man,” said Discord. “You’re pretending everything I’ve been showing you isn’t important.”

“It isn’t, as far as I’m concerned,” Filthy responded. “So, any more tricks up your sleeve?”

Discord frowned and reached up a claw to stroke his goatee. A lightbulb popped over his head and his expression lit up, but it just as quickly fizzled out and his face darkened. “Well, I didn’t want to use this next trick, because somepony isn’t going to like it very much.”

“Discord,” warned Celestia.

He turned to the principal. “Sorry, but if you thought that I would follow all of your orders perfectly, you don’t remember who this draconequus is.” And at that phrase, he snapped his fingers.

With little warning, the Board of Education found themselves hurtling through time and space again. Someone let out a loud scream as they felt themselves twist and turn into soft-serve ice cream. And then they landed on cold marble flooring back in one piece.

This landing was actually quite soft. “I think I’ve got the right balance down, now. You know, I knew this trip would lead me to sharpen my interdimensional navigation skills.” They had landed in a palace hallway in front of two grandiose doors. The walls climbed up to the sky, with windows that seemed to reflect the afternoon sun and light up the whole interior.

“Discord, stop this,” ordered Celestia, approaching him menacingly.

“No can do, Celly! I played by your game and got two of them kinda sorta on my side, but now it’s time for the extreme measures. You should’ve expected this.”

“Auntie, what is the meaning of this?” Blueblood exclaimed. “What’s really going on with Discord? You need to tell us! We have that right.”

Celestia turned away from Blueblood and bit her lip nervously. “. . . Fine, Discord. It’s clear you’ve already made up your mind. But we will be having a conversation about this afterward.”

“Oh, you’ll thank me later,” he said. He flew over to the giant double doors, and with a deep breath he grasped the handle, preparing himself to step inside. “Ladies and gentlemen, it is my esteemed honor to be presenting to you today, the honorable, the guardian of the sun, defeater of Nightmare Moon, and Ruler of Equestria, Princess Celestia!” He threw open the double doors to reveal a vast throne room, which featured a large, fountained dais at its end. However, upon the throne sat no one. Discord deflated. Celestia rolled her eyes.

“Ah, phooey. I really thought she’d be there. Magic, y’know? If I was her, I would’ve just teleported in quickly or something. Well, come on in anyway.” He flew inside, the Board and Celestia following behind him up to the throne.

Most of the members had never been in a room so large, and as they walked down the corridor they stared in awe at the gigantic stained glass murals adorning the walls. The Sun, the Moon, several historic battles, and many important figures appeared before them in gigantic works of masterful artistry.

“Hey, is that one you, Discord?” asked Granny Smith, pointing at a mural of said draconequus with a shocked expression on his muzzle, getting zapped by several ponies at once.

“Ah, yes,” he uttered, “Bad day. Not my proudest moment.”

Shining Armor pointed a little farther down at a newer purple alicorn. “Isn’t that one Twily? Wow,” he breathed.

“Yes indeed!” Discord added. “I’d love to give a tour of the whole castle, but we have important matters to attend to.”

“Well, where’s Princess Celestia, then?” asked Filthy Rich. “Are you going to teleport her here too?”

Discord smirked devilishly. “Oh, there’s no need for that. You see, someone here hasn’t been completely honest with you all.”

Celestia sighed defeatedly. “Just turn me back, Discord.”

“Sure thing!” He snapped his fingers.

Where once stood Principal Celestia, leader of Canterlot High School, towered a beaming white alicorn, the sun flowing through her mane: Princess Celestia, Ruler of Equestria. She lowered her head to gaze upon the Canterlot High School Board of Education and smiled down upon them. 

“Members of the Board, I apologize for deceiving you. I am now glad to make your acquaintance under no false pretenses.”
> Interlude: A Quiet Night at CHS
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was a quiet night at Canterlot High School. That was good for Sunset Shimmer: she could still feel her ears ringing from the blast a week earlier. 

She was doing fine. 

Okay, she wasn’t doing great. Pretty bad, actually.

Oh, who am I kidding? 

Her whole body still ached from plummeting into a crater, her dignity destroyed right along with it. Just looking at the gaping hole in the front of the building set her mind ablaze in embarrassment and loathing.

She had avoided coming to school all week, up until earlier today, where they finally called her in for an expulsion trial.

It went fine.

Sunset may have lost everything, but she still had her wits about her, and after the expulsion trial, she saw the writing was on the wall. There was no chance for her to stay at Canterlot High School any longer. 

So she decided to do the only thing she could think of. The thing she always did when life got too hard to handle. Pack my things and run away before anyone notices in time to catch me.

Caution had to be exercised, of course. Sauntering into CHS in the middle of the night would definitely not help her case with the law, so she needed to get in and out as quick as possible. She scanned all the exterior windows to see if any lights were on—it was one in the morning, so there really shouldn’t have been anyone there—and only saw one small meeting room on the first floor aglow. After creeping up underneath the window and peeking her head over the sill to glance inside, she found it empty. Looks as if the janitor forgot to turn off the light. Knowing that the coast was clear, she sprung into action.

Fortunately, the building was not too hard to enter. The front face of the school that she had destroyed was covered by a measly tarp flap which she snuck through easily. She quickly made her way inside and, with a spring in her step, headed in the direction of her locker.

Returning to Equestria’s not an option. And I’ll be a wanted woman in a couple weeks anyway, once the police investigation picks up. I guess I’ll just have to figure it out as I go.

She reached her locker and quietly spun the dial, opening it up to reveal her school supplies. She really only wanted one thing, that old communication journal. She picked it up and slipped it into her bag. I wonder if Twilight could track me with this? Well, that’s an issue for another day.

The other things she needed were her school records. It was good to keep them on hand, just to save herself the work of procuring all of her info again, and to keep her story straight. She slipped into the dark reception office and gently closed the door behind her with a light click. Down the hall was the principal’s office, and across from it an old storage room turned meeting area. 

A small sliver of light bled underneath the door.

Sunsets breath caught in her throat in a panic, but she caught herself. Right, it’s the window from outside. No one’s in there.

She held herself still, even stopping her breathing, and slowly approached the door. Even though no one was inside, she still felt as if something was waiting in there. It couldn’t hurt to double check. She slowly placed her ear against the door.

The ringing in her ears, combined with the sound of her own heartbeat, made any chance of hearing someone inside futile. The only way she could know for certain is if she opened the door and peeked in.

Well, if there’s someone inside, I just hightail it out of here and start my papers from scratch. With a deep breath, Sunset pushed herself through the door and into the meeting room.

She let out a sigh of relief. It was empty, and the coast was clear. The only thing in the room was a small wooden pipe laid on the center table. She closed the door behind her.

Now that the coast was definitely clear, she turned to the principal’s office. Gently clicking the door open, she pulled out a flashlight and quickly scanned the room. Celestia kept all of the students’ personal files in a small storage closet somewhere in the office. It was all stored in a computer as well, but Principal Celestia was old-fashioned enough to still want physical backups. Lucky me.

She tiptoed over to what she thought was the storage room door, and gently grasped the handle, praying that it was unlocked. A gentle turn of her hand was met with no resistance. Yes!

She pulled open the door and peeked inside. It was the right door; the storage room was crammed with filing cabinets and manilla folders scattered across their tops. There was barely enough room for one person inside of the closet at a time. Sunset almost took a step inside, but something unexplainably unsettling caused her to halt. She paused, holding herself completely still and tried to listen over the ring in her ears.

Hold on . . . is that breathing?

Sunset lowered her flashlight toward the floor of the storage closet.

There was Principal Celestia, fast asleep and leaned against one of the filing cabinets. Her hands were ziptied together, although she appeared so deep in sleep that it held little effect on her. “The beach . . . sure is beautiful today . . .” she mumbled under her breath.

Sunset took a step back and ever-so-gently clicked the storage door shut.

And then promptly ran out of the school as fast as her legs could carry her.

She made it out to the courtyard and stopped, placing her hands on her knees to catch her breath. What’s going on in there? Part of Sunset wanted to wake up Celestia and find out more, but she knew that would only force Sunset to explain what she was doing there in the first place. No, Sunset needed to leave town, paperwork or no paperwork. She sprung back up and began making her way home to collect her final things.

She glanced up at the night sky, feeling the small specks of snowflakes tickle her face as they fell to the ground. First snowfall of the year, huh? I hope it doesn't stick. Sunset preferred the weather on this earth better than in Equestria: everything over there was preplanned, set in stone carefully by the pegasi months in advance. Here, anything could happen; the snow tonight could melt by tomorrow morning as if it were never there in the first place, or it could pile up high and stay frozen until the next spring. Ideally, though, Sunset will have already left town before she can find out the answer.

Bzzt. Bzzt. Something from her bag. Oh, the book! What could that possibly be buzzing for right now?

Opening it up to the most recent page, she found a small note written in the bottom right corner, in a chicken-scratch handwriting that she had never seen before.



Don’t be in such a hurry to leave town! Go home and get some rest. I expect to see you on Monday ~~~



Not believing her eyes, Sunset slowly closed the book and placed it back in her bag. She turned to head home, positively bewildered.

“I need some sleep,” she murmured to herself.

Yes you do, Sunset. Yes you do.
> 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.
> Policy
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Policy 5113 (a):

The Board of Education recognizes its responsibility under federal and state law to identify unaccompanied youth who meet the federal definition of “homeless.” The Board of Education holds responsibility to encourage their enrollment and prevent any stigmitization or segregation on the basis of their status as homeless. The Board will provide homeless children attending the district’s schools access to the same free and appropriate public education as other children. The District shall establish safeguards that protect homeless students from discrimination on the basis of their homelessness.

“N-now hold on,” protested Blueblood, “We don’t know that she’s homeless. She has an address listed on her file, and parental contacts. That should be enough, right?”

“Considering that she traveled here from an alternate world, she had to have been homeless at some point,” Fancy Pants thought aloud. “The school would have been notified of her situation if she was living with foster parents or in a shelter. Something has been covered up.”

“Maybe she was out of that situation by the time she enrolled here. She could have gotten a job, for heaven’s sake. I’m sure there are places here that would hire Sunset, even taking into account her unique status,” he rebutted.

“Even if she has a job, she'll be making pennies,” said Shining. “It might be enough for her stay afloat, but to get adequate housing without a trace of personal capital? Not in this city. And anyway, the type of place that would hire an undocumented girl like Sunset probably doesn’t care for its workers, so I doubt she’s taking home a lot of cash.”

“An’ don’t forget about her work-life balance,” Granny Smith added. “Ah don’t see how she could balance work, school, and a plan of world-domination without tiring herself out to death. I’d bet if she’s working a job—if at all—it’s not enough to pay for rent.”

“It’s still possible that she’s found a method to support herself!” said Blueblood exasperatedly. “Maybe she has an alternative form of income—something off of the books, if you know what I mean.”

“If you’re suggesting that she's resorting to illegal practices, whatever they may be, I suggest you stop now,” retorted Shining. “We’ll have an even bigger mess on our hands if we find that out. It’s best to only act on that if she elects to offer that information.”

“Did she bring anything with her when she came to the city, Celestia?” asked Fancy Pants. “A wallet of money, perhaps? I’m sure there were valuables within your castle that she could have brought and pawned off.”

“I honestly could not say,” said Celestia, still shaken by her realization. She braced herself against her chair for support. “But I would doubt the conversion rate here would take her very far. From what I can fathom, selling Equestrian bits as raw gold may have netted her enough profit to get a foothold, but not enough to sustain an apartment or buy a house—and that’s even if she could get a house in the first place, being undocumented and all.”

“Well maybe she was taken in by a kind, loving family,” said Blueblood.

“They would have been listed as her first contact, wouldn’t they have?” responded Fancy Pants. "Considering her 'parents' haven't shown themselves once, at best we have a case of child neglect on our hands."

“Well . . . it doesn’t matter!” Blueblood exclaimed, throwing up his hands. “What does her being homeless have to do with our case, anyway? Homeless or not, she still blew a hole in the school!”

“Don’t you have any humanity?” growled Granny Smith. “This changes a lot, I reckon. We have a written duty to support any student going through this, and even if y'all don’t want to accept it, she's still a student here!”

“I agree,” said Shining. “Sunset may have been a liar and a bully, but this could be a big deal if she was hiding this. This is the sort of thing you need to know about, and you could have acted earlier to prevent all this from happening if she was given the right support.”

“Well, if we expel her then it won’t be our problem anymore! There’s nothing in the policy that says we have to treat an egregious offense from her any differently than a normal student!”

While Blueblood continued his rant, Filthy Rich had been sitting silently by himself for several minutes, his face pale. The only other member of the room who took notice of Filthy’s change in demeanor was the draconequus at the end of the table, who couldn’t help but flash his toothy grin. “Excuse me,” Discord said, cutting of Blueblood. “But I think Mister Rich has something he would like to say.”

“What is it?” Blueblood snarled, turning toward the man.

Filthy Rich looked up at Blueblood, dread in his eyes. “If Sunset’s truly homeless . . . then you’re wrong.”

“Wrong? Wrong about what?”

“You’re wrong about nothing being in the policy to protect a homeless student from an expellable offense. There are several policies, actually. Could I have the book, please?” Filthy asked, and Granny Smith slid the book across the table to him.

Blueblood furrowed his brow. “You’ve got to be joking.”

“Look at the first paragraph of 5113.”

The District shall establish safeguards that protect homeless students from discrimination on the basis of their homelessness.

Blueblood paused, taken aback. “Well, that doesn’t list anything specific!”

“Right, but it sets up an initiative which was acted upon many years ago. We need to go back to Policy 5140, on Expulsion,” Filthy said. He flipped through the heavy tome before landing on his desired page. “Ah, here it is,” he said, pointing a finger at a small paragraph near the bottom of the page. “I can’t believe I forgot all about this amendment. It just never crossed my mind as important. Here we go: ‘In the event that a student is classified as Homeless . . .”

The District shall not expel a homeless student for conduct that is caused by the student’s homelessness.

Blueblood slid back into his seat, eyes locked on Filthy. “This is a confliction in our policy! 5140 says we have to expel her for breaking the rules, but now we can’t expel her for being homeless? Which one takes precedent?”

“You don’t have to expel her for breaking the rules,” said Discord.

“Oh, don’t start this again,” Blueblood groaned.

“Read 5140 again,” Discord responded. “You may expel the student. That word choice is intentional. Right, Filthy?”

Filthy didn't meet Blueblood's eyes. " . . . Yes," he said quietly, "But up until now Sunset more than surpassed the requirements for total expulsion."

“But now?” asked Celestia.

Filthy bit his lip. “I . . . I’m not sure. I need to make sure I understand this all the way..”

“Now hold on,” said Blueblood, “5113 says that we shall not expel her for conduct that is caused by the student’s homelessness. How does being homeless cause Sunset to blow up our front building?”

“Behavioral issues due to an extreme family situation,” Shining said immediately. “It’s not hard to see how this girl could get so jaded that quickly if she’s really been living on the streets. Her actions at school may have been the only way she could feel control in her life. The recommended solution here would be to attempt at making her home life better and see if that corresponds with an improvement in behavior at school. If this is the case, then the expellable act was a result of her homelessness; if she doesn't improve, then you can expel her for good.”

Granny Smith nodded in agreement. “If ya ask me, had Sunset been welcomed into a loving home and not forced to scrape up an existence, she might have found the family necessary to avoid this whole mess in the first place.”

Discord chuckled. “It doesn’t really matter either way, you know.”

Blueblood turned to the draconequus with a cold stare. “And why do say that?”

“Because the policy is intentionally vague. Someone hastily wrote it some time ago without a second thought, but they weren’t specific enough to truly develop its full meaning. It’s up to interpretation, and we can interpret this in any way we want to. Rich has realized it already, too.”

Blueblood turned to Filthy and saw the man silently staring at the policy book, his face pale and resigned. “There are specific requirements a student has to meet to be considered homeless, and to be expelled. But . . . how much one affects the other is open to our interpretation. If Sunset is really homeless . . . our hands might be tied.”

“So what, we’re just going to go to the community and say ‘Hey! We’ve caught ourselves in a loophole, so we’re letting her walk free!’ Do you really think this’ll go over well?” he pressed.

“I don't think that would go well," said Fancy Pants. "And how would Sunset feel about us outing her as homeless like that? Surely there’s a better way.”

Filthy Rich rubbed his chin in thought, before his eyes widened in surprise. “You’re right, just letting her stay would not do us any good in the community’s eyes. But we established another safeguard,” he said, rapidly flipping through the pages of the policy book. “There’s one more bit of policy that comes into effect when a student is classified as homeless. Go back to Policy 5113.” He flipped back to page and trailed a finger down to a sentence near the bottom. “In the event that a student is classified as Homeless . . .”

The District shall not disclose any information regarding a student or anything relating to a student’s status as homeless without the permission of the student, as well as the student’s guardian(s) or homeless coordinator.

“This clause in 5113 says we don’t have to offer a thorough explanation for why we’re letting Sunset stay in school,” Filthy explained. “Her status as homeless would be confidential, and as such we wouldn’t have to explain ourselves to the public or students. In fact, we wouldn’t be allowed to say anything, to protect Sunset’s privacy. If she meets the criteria as homeless, then . . . we have a loophole to let her stay.”

“But . . . ” said Blueblood, dumbstruck. “Why would we make that a policy in the first place?”

“Maybe because you don’t want to alienate a homeless student from their peers any further than they already have been by revealing their situation to the whole school,” said Shining. “It’s not a good look for the district to out a student like that without their permission.”

Discord’s chuckle turned into a complete guffaw. “You have an out! A loophole! Sure, the rest of the Board and Administration will want to hear your reasoning, but they can’t say a word either and won’t put up much of a fight. Rumors will get around the community that there was more to this story than folks realized, and that will be enough for most people. It’ll be swept under the rug, and in a few years time everyone will chalk this whole situation up to a freak accident caused by a girl who had more issues than you could count. Of course, the only requirement is that you’ll have to acknowledge Sunset as homeless and help her out of that situation, but you really should be doing that anyway. Tsk tsk,” he finished.

A silence settled over the Canterlot Board of Education, none sure of what to say. Could it be that easy? Discord stroked his goatee, eyeing each of the members responses. Granny Smith and Princess Celestia’s initial shock were both turning into a sort of relieved demeanor. Shining Armor was silently shaking his head, as if he was amazed by the development—or maybe disappointed that no one had noticed Sunset's situation until now. Fancy Pants had the blankest look of anyone there, but Discord could sense something twinkling in his eye—one more barrier broken down, perhaps? Filthy Rich had resigned himself silently, and Blueblood fumed.

“Hold on!” Blueblood shouted, jumping out of his seat. “Unless we go and find out where she’s living, we can’t assume she’s homeless. Our documents state that she has a home, so she has a home as far as we are concerned. If we can’t get definite proof, then there’s no point in thinking about this.”

Filthy Rich looked up at Blueblood. “You’re right. We should at least confirm that this is true. I think explaining this situation could even give us a few extra days of deliberation time. Should we put the meeting on hold?”

“Why would we do that?” Discord asked. “I’ll just take you there.”

Blueblood’s smile fell off of his face. “Wait, hold on. It’s the middle of the night. And it’s snowing.”

Discord smiled and snapped his fingers. "That's not stopped me yet."

Surprisingly, nothing seemed to happen after Discord snapped his finger.

“What was that?” asked Blueblood. "Are you taking us or not?"

“Hehe,” Discord snickered, “Give it a second to kick in.”

“Hold on,” Granny Smith said, “I—I’m floatin’!” The grandmother exclaimed as she slowly lifted into the air. Soon enough, the other members followed, each of them rising into air in shock and excitement. Upon closer inspection, each of their bodies had become slightly translucent, as if the light of the room was passing right through them.

“I’ve cast a little spell on us all,” Discord said, “That turns you all into spirits untouchable by the elements and unnoticeable by any other people. Consider it a gift of gratitude so we don't get caught stalking around outside tonight.”

Filthy Rich looked down at—or rather, looked through—his hands in awe. “How long are we going to stay like this?”

Discord shrugged. “As long as we need. Don’t worry, I’ll turn you back,” he said, flashing a grin at a very cross Princess Celestia. “But let’s get a move on. No use floating around.”

“There’s a slight issue with that,” said Shining. “If she’s homeless, how are we going to find her?”

Discord smirked. “Perhaps the listed address in her files is a start. If we’re right about her being homeless, it probably isn’t her exact address. But I’d bet she would want to be nearby.”

Celestia floated over to the table and picked up Sunset’s file, opening it. “It’s listed here that she’s on the corner of tenth avenue and forty-sixth street.”

“That’s near the edge of Canterlot’s commercial sector,” said Filthy. “There might be some housing down there, but I’m not sure if I can recall any off the top of my head.”

“Does she have a PO Box, or somewhere else listed where she gets mail?” asked Fancy Pants. “She’ll probably want to be near that, too.”

“There’s a PO Box listed on here,” said Celestia. “It’s not that far away from her ‘address’ either. I would say she’s definitely in that vicinity.”

“Well, no more wasting time, then,” said Discord, and he snapped his clawed fingers, teleporting the members into the cold nighttime air. They were at a streetcorner—assumedly tenth and forty-sixth—and surrounded by bland buildings lining the streets, two to three stories high.

Granny Smith clutched her shoulders. “Can anyone else feel the wind blowin’ right through them? Woowee,” she muttered.

“Don’t worry,” said Discord, “You’re only cold because your brain is telling you to be.”

Shining Armor looked down at the snowflakes that floated directly through his body. “Oh, that’s weird.”

"Discord, can you put us down?" Celestia said. "I know this is just for dramatic affect."

Discord sighed. "Fine, just don't make any sudden jumps, okay?"

The members floated down back onto the ground, but their bodies still held a somewhat translucent quality to them.

“So which corner should we be looking for?” asked Fancy Pants.

Discord spun in a circle quickly, examining each side of the corner. “I think it’s . . . that one,” he said, pointing at an empty, derelict lot. 

“Nothing’s there,” said Blueblood.

“Yup,” Discord responded. “Nothing but weeds, broken bottles, and a little sign in the corner. What’s that say?”

“It’s real estate,” said Filthy Rich. “This corner lot is for sale.”

“How are you sure?” asked Fancy Pants. “It’s quite dark.”

Filthy Rich snorted and heaved a sigh. “I could recognize that sign anywhere. It’s mine.”

The members gasped in surprise. “What?” asked Granny Smith. “You own that lot?”

Filthy nodded reluctantly. “I told you all earlier, didn’t I? I went on a buying spree around town. I’m hedging my bets on the growth of Canterlot City. This street corner didn’t stick out to me until now, but I probably own a few more spaces down the street, too.”

“Are any of them housing units?” asked Celestia.

“Some, but many are just empty like this corner street.”

“But you have some that still have constructed buildings on them? Buildings that are still standing, just vacated?” Celestia pressed on.

“Sure, but we usually bought them because they were decaying. I went out of my way to look for lots that can be either renovated or demolished, depending on a client’s wishes. I can cover more ground that way.”

“Think about all of the lots you own that are still standing—or even ones you don’t own—that you know are in this area, Rich. Especially between here and the post office,” Celestia said.

“Are you suggesting that Sunset is squatting in one of my lots? I don’t take kindly to what that insinuates about me,” he said coldly.

“It would be an obvious place to stay for someone like Sunset,” said Shining. “Think of any ones you’ve owned for several years.”

Filthy took a step back from the rest of them defensively. “Oh, I don’t know! I can’t remember every single transaction I’ve made! That’s why we keep records. Besides my recent acquisitions, pretty much every lot I’ve bought around here has been either commercial, or sold already, except maybe one or—”

Filthy paused, his face darkening. “Except one. There’s one.”

Discord smirked. “Oh? One what, exactly?”

“One building. One that I haven’t been able to sell yet. If I could go back, I would never have bought the place. It’s more trouble than it’s worth.”

“Where is it?” asked Discord. “I’ll take us there.”

Filthy stepped forward and looked down the street, extending his hand and pointing off in the distance. “It should be in this direction.”

“That’s the same direction as the post office,” said Granny Smith. “It might be a match.”

Discord snapped and teleported them farther down the street. “Do you see it now?”

“Ah, yes, just a few more blocks down. It’s that beige one there, see?”

Discord understood and teleported them over to the building. It was quite an unassuming spot, completely square and covered with small windows, blending right alongside its neighbors. Any passerby would assume it was just another city apartment. On closer inspection, however, there were many signs of decay: some upper windows were broken, trash littered the small alleyways normally out of sight, and some paint was peeling off near the roof.

“So what is this place?” asked Blueblood. “It doesn’t look too bad from the outside. Why won’t anyone buy it?”

“It’s older than I am,” Filthy explained. “More people have their fingers in this property than I can count, and although I own it, I’ve been blocked at every turn to try and do something with it. I can’t even renovate the foundations on this spot, much less sell the whole thing. I wouldn’t want to be standing inside of this during an earthquake, to say the least.”

“But why won’t anyone help you rebuild the lot, then?” asked Shining Armor. “There’s surely been some buyer who sees dollar signs here. If your attitude about Canterlot City is shared by anyone else, then someone must want this place.”

“Because no one wants to be the one to demolish an orphanage,” Filthy said, glancing to the side away from the group. 

Silence settled over the board once more. Filthy walked up to the his real estate sign posted at the side of the building. 

“An orphanage?” asked Granny Smith. “You really bought an orphanage?”

“It was a standard homeless shelter too. Like I said, back when I bought it a few year ago, everything seemed fine. The foundation was faltering, but it was nothing we couldn’t fix. We gave the owners some cash and they let us have it—if only it was that easy. Thing is, this building has been here forever. And there are several people who won’t let this place get demolished without putting up a fight. So we’ve just been letting it sit until someone either buys it off of us or we can take it down when no one is paying attention.”

“You said you bought it from the owners? What about the children inside?”

Filthy paused. “There weren’t many left when we bought it. We didn’t factor that into my end of the deal.”

“That sounds like business-speak for you not knowing and not caring,” said Shining. “That’s despicable.”

“That’s just the nature of the game, right?” Discord added.

Filthy gulped. “I . . . I can’t attend to everything in my business. Sometimes you have to make tough decisions, and that blame should rest only on the sellers, not the buyer.”

“It doesn’t matter,” said Blueblood. “I only care about what Rich gets up to with his money if Sunset is in that building. If she isn’t, then we’re just wasting time.”

Discord nodded. “You’re right. Let’s go in, shall we?” He walked straight through the front door, not even bothering to open it. After a moment of hesitation, the others quickly followed.

The inside was actually quite clean, albeit barren. Remnants of a living area and wide kitchen remained, but everything had been pilfered from it long ago.

“No sign of her,” said Blueblood. 

“There’s an upstairs too,” said Princess Celestia.

“You don’t want to go up there, it’s unstable,” said Filthy. “One wrong jump could send you through the floor.”

“You’re weightless and soundless,” said Discord. “You couldn’t break anything if you wanted to, so get a move on.”

They headed up the stairs and found the several rooms that would have been used to house children. The others started checking each room one by one, but Celestia pushed past and beelined straight down the hall.

“Where are you going?” asked Filthy.

“Sunset is a girl who always has a plan,” Celestia called back. “If she’s really here, she would set herself up in a spot where she could leave easily if she got caught. And look,” she pointed at the large window at the end of hall, “There’s the fire exit.”

The others glanced at each other and, deciding the reasoning was sound, followed Celestia to the end of the hall. As Celestia reach the end, she began gently peeking open the doors one by one. After a few empty rooms, she stopped at one, a pained expression crossing her face. “Oh, Sunset . . .”

The members of the Board quickly arrived next to Celestia and crowded around the door of the small bedroom. Sunset Shimmer had lain herself across the floor, shivering in a heap of blankets on a thin mattress. Her school supplies were strewn across the room, scattered on top of an old desk and small dresser. 

Discord popped into the room and floated up near the ceiling, staring down at the destitute girl. “Well, Filthy, it looks like you’ve got yourself a squatter.” He didn’t bother to give his usual grin, instead staring coldly at the girl below. “Although, judging by how she looks right now, who knows for how long?"

“She’s managed to hide it from the whole school, this whole time,” he said, dumbfounded by the revelation. “On my own property, no less.”

“Well, no need to lose sleep over it,” Discord said nonchalantly. “It’s just business, after all. Hey, I’ll say you’ve even been generous by not kicking her out yet. Give her another year and she could claim squatter’s rights!”

“We have to help her,” said Fancy Pants. “She’s practically freezing to death. How is she gonna make it through the rest of the winter?”

Celestia stepped in the room and leaned over Sunset, gently running a hand through her hair. Due to their current physical status, however, her hand simply passed through Sunset, not connecting. She sighed. “Oh, my Sunset . . . I should have just forced you to stay, or forced you back long ago. We could have worked things out . . . so much for believing in your independence.”

“Discord,” said Fancy Pants again, “Whatever you’ve done to make us invisible to Sunset, you need to undo it. Let’s reveal ourselves to her and get her somewhere warm. We need to help her. Right?” he said, turning to the other members who nodded their heads in agreement.

Discord rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Hmm . . . no.”

“What?” exclaimed Fancy. “She could die out here!”

“Stand back, Celestia,” Discord ordered, and when she did so, he snapped his fingers. All of Sunset’s blankets briefly flew into the air and straightened themselves out before Discord quickly wrapped them all tightly around Sunset, as if he was layering her in a burrito. “There,” he said, wiping off his hands, “That should keep her nice and toasty all night. I even heated the blankets for her,” he added.

“Why won’t you just wake her?” asked Shining Armor. “You know, I can’t just sit by and let this girl suffer. None of us can!”

“Then we’ll go back to the meeting room,” Discord said slowly, “and we’ll vote for her to stay in school. Because if you want to help her, the fastest and easiest way is to do it through the systems already set up in the school district. So come back to the meeting, allow her to stay, and when she comes to school on Monday you can work on appointing her a coordinator and finding adequate housing. She’ll be safe until Monday. Cross my heart and hope to die,” he promised.

“That’s dirty,” spat Blueblood. “You’re trying to force us to vote yes in order to save this girl from harm!”

“Because it will save her from harm,” Discord rebuked, “And it is directly in your power to help her this way.”

“Okay,” said Fancy Pants, nodding his head, “Then I’ll vote to let her stay. We’ll use that loophole, just like you said. The girl stays, gets the help she needs, and we don't need to face too much backlash. It sounds like a good deal.”

“Because it is,” said Discord. “This is your get-out-of-jail free card, but time is running out to take it.”

“Discord,” Celestia said from beside Sunset, “Let’s get back to the meeting room. There’s no more time to waste.”

“Did you need a moment?” he asked gently.

Celestia attempted to run her hands through Sunset’s hair, but this time—snap—her fingers managed to connect. After a brief few seconds, she stood up and smiled at the draconequus. “Thank you,” she whispered.

With a smile and a nod, Discord snapped his fingers and brought the members back to their seats, and back to a fully functioning body.

No one made the effort to stand up.

“So,” Discord drawled, “Let’s take a count. All in favor of allowing Sunset to stay. Of course I am,” he said.

“There ain’t no doubt about it in my mind now,” Granny Smith said.

“I know I’m abstaining, but I think you can guess what my recommendation should be at this point,” said Shining Armor.

“I’m willing to face the brunt of the populace if it means we can help this girl,” said Fancy Pants.

All eyes turned toward the two men at the front of the room. Filthy sat deep in thought, his chin resting on his hand. Blueblood was shooting daggers at Discord.

“This has all been . . . completely twisted!” exclaimed Blueblood. “Don’t any of you believe in justice? In due process? Of ethics, standards, tradition? I’m as sad about it as the next guy, but this is beyond hypocritical! So what if there’s a loophole in the policy! What about everything else?”

“You said we didn’t have to worry about anything else, just the policy,” said Fancy Pants. “Well now we have.”

Blueblood turned to Filthy. “Rich,” he pleaded, “They’re trying to ensare you. Remember what you told me, about your business? How you’re building it now to invest in the future? For your family, and maybe your daughter will take the reins one day? Think about that, Rich. You’ve gotta protect them, and this vagrant is not worth compromising your ideals over.”

Filthy Rich bored a hole in Blueblood’s eyes. “I am thinking about it, Blueblood. Carefully.” He turned to Discord. “All of this, Discord . . . how'd you know?”

Discord started to chuckle. “What do you mean?”

“You wouldn’t have come in here if you didn’t know we had three separate polices that cross-checked one another perfectly. And then to get me here, the owner of one of the places she's living in? You must have swayed things without me realizing, just like you did with Officer Armor.”

Discord smiled. “I had no idea about that, Rich. Haven’t even read the policy, and I don’t really care, if you’d like to know the truth. No, that little loophole is all you. And her being in your building, well . . . just a lucky coincidence.”

Filthy leaned back in his seat with a sigh. “Okay. I’m convinced.” He glanced around at the rest of the Canterlot High School Board of Education. “She can stay.”
> The Alternate Prince
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

5-1.

“It’s five to one,” said Princess Celestia.

“Yes, five to one,” Discord concurred. 

Blueblood turned to Filthy, despair in his eyes. “Why, Filthy? Why now?”

“It’s what I’ve been saying this whole time, Blueblood,” Filthy said quietly. “There was no way around not expelling her, because of the policy. That was my holdup, and that alone. I have no spite toward this girl. If anything, I pity her for making so many mistakes.”

“Mistakes? Aren’t you a businessman? Don’t you have to interact with people who make mistakes all the time? Where’s your pity then?”

His gaze hardened. “I care about my business, but I’m a member of this board because I care about our students, too. And to know that those two have been in opposition this whole time . . .” He heaved a sigh. “Fancy and the rest of them are right: this girl should not have to suffer anymore. Let’s give her a chance.”

Nods of agreement from all around the table, except one.

“So that’s it, then?” Blueblood growled. “Every single one of you. Cowards.”

Discord, Granny Smith, Shining Armor, Fancy Pants, Filthy Rich, and Princess Celestia watched on as Blueblood jumped out of his chair and frantically paced back and forth in the front of the room.

“It takes a lot of willpower and bravery to change one’s position, Blueblood,” Discord said cooly. “Perhaps you could learn something from them.”

“You!” he exclaimed, pointing a finger at the draconequus. “You’re a conman, and nothing more. You just know the perfect thing to show these people, don’t you?” He turned to the rest of them. “What happened to her torturing this school? The property damage? The tough love she needs to get her head back on straight?”

“You said we could throw all of that out,” Discord said, “Remember? You only cared about the policy.”

“And you found a loophole for that, too. Whoop-de-doo,” he said. “Do any of you actually think that’s going to work? That the parents and teachers are going to just accept that this girl is allowed to stay? It’s real easy for you to sit there, shrug it off, and head back to fairyland, but I’m the one that’s going to take the brunt of this.”

“We’re protected by confidentiality,” Filthy Rich said. “We can’t disclose that Sunset is without a home, all we have to say is that her actions that night were a result of extreme circumstances that cannot be discussed due to board policy. Sure, some will connect the dots, but it doesn’t matter. They have to accept it, whether they like it or not.”

“And some will see nothing more than an abuse of power,” Blueblood said, “It’s not what those safeguards were supposed to be used for.”

“Those safeguards exist as a reminder that we need to have some kindness when we deal with students,” Fancy said. “I don’t think this situation is typical, but I say that this is exactly a situation in which those safeguards should apply.”

Blueblood shook his head fervently. “I can’t believe this. All of you are caught up in his trap. Hook, line, and sinker.”

“You’re alone, Blueblood,” Discord said quietly.

Blueblood stopped in his tracks. “It’s my right. I’m the President of this Board. You can’t stop me from speaking.”

“That’s right. We’d like to hear your arguments, then.”

Blueblood grinned maliciously. “Fine then. I’m done playing politics. If you want to twist this meeting into something it isn’t, then I’ll have a go at it too.” He pointed at Granny Smith. “Mrs. Smith, you know I love you like a second mother, but you’re getting too old to know what’s right for you. I know you want everyone to be happy, but sometimes people really deserve what’s coming to them.”

“You better think twice before you keep speakin’, mister,” Granny growled.

“No, not just yet,” said Blueblood coldly. “I’ve been objecting all night and no one has listened to me. Well, now you have to.” He glanced back at the draconequus. “Right, Discord?”

Discord nodded and leaned back in his seat, although he still kept his eyes in a deadlock with Blueblood’s. “The stage is yours.”

Blueblood smiled manically. “You,” he said, pointing to Shining Armor, “Are the clearest example of manipulation. And you know it too! He brought you here because you’re the only cop on the force that could get whittled down by him. Oh, but we need to restore this community, because your little sister has got your heart all wrapped in tangles. Well guess what, Sunset would stomp your sister down every chance she got, and you know it. And when you end up arresting this girl a few years down the line for who knows what, you better hope I’m not there to say I told you so.”

“I had respect for you, Blueblood,” Shining uttered coldly. “I really did.” He silently turned away.

“And you!” he pointed to Fancy Pants. “Vice President . . . What happened? Princess Celestia over there reels you in with this picture-perfect story, and instead of questioning it you just err on the side of kindness? Grow a backbone! You’ve gone soft.”

“No, Blueblood. I think you’ve hardened, and you can’t even see it.”

He turned to Filthy Rich. “And you. Filthy. One of your buildings was being squatted in by a vagrant, so what? I’d kick her out of there myself if you let me. The most generous thing you could do is force this girl to stop living off of your dime. Is this how your business usually operates? Maybe when your daughter takes over she’ll straighten things out, because you clearly don’t have the guts to.”

“It’s Rich,” Filthy said, a quiet fury in his voice.

“I’m not done just yet.” He turned to Princess Celestia. “You! This is all your fault, and you know it. Well, I’m tempted to go and smash that portal to bits myself if it means you stay out of this school! You talk a good game, but at the end of the day, you’ve raised a failure. A girl who’s nothing but dishonesty and hatred in human form. I wonder who she got that from? And you’re still here trying to desperately pick up the pieces she’s left instead of just seeing the writing on the wall and letting her go. Is this how you rule your country? You haven’t given a second thought to anyone in this situation but Sunset—or whatever idealized image of her you have in your head. You don’t know anything about this girl anymore. Oh, and don’t even pretend you’re my Auntie. I’m no fool. You’re a failure of an Auntie.”

Celestia shook her head in disappointment. “Yes, I am a failure of an Auntie.”

“You’re all beyond help,” he growled, turning to Discord. “And then, you. All of this magic you have at your disposal, to use for what? To help one little girl who has the right connections? Because heaven forbid she doesn’t have someone feeding her with a silver spoon every day of her life?”

“Friendship,” Discord uttered. “I’m using it for friendship.”

“Well look at all the friends you’ve made here today! You’re nothing but a clown that’s bullied his way through his whole life.”

Discord frowned. “Perhaps, but I’m working on it. Just like Sunset.”

“Is that what this is about? I remember that stained glass mural in Canterlot Castle. You’re not a good person, are you? Does your heart bleed at the sight of this evil girl finally getting her comeuppance?” Blueblood ranted. “Or maybe you just don’t want to lose your next protégé?”

Blueblood paused to glance around the room and say the rest of the members watching him with dissatisfied eyes. He opened his mouth in realization. “Oh, I get it now. Every one of you in here had it good in school, didn’t you?”

“What do you mean?” asked Discord.

“No one in here got bullied. At least, not bullied bad,” Blueblood explained.

“Hey,” said Fancy Pants, “That’s not a fair thing to say. You don’t know our backgrounds.”

“Well, let me guess,” Blueblood snorted. “Fancy, everyone in this town knows you and wants to be on your good side. Filthy Rich was making business deals in his first year of high school. Shining here graduated early at the top of his class and has already mentioned the large number of friends he had. Granny Smith—did you go to high school?”

“Nah,” she said, “Dropped out to work on the farm.”

“I rest my case. And of course, I’m sure the Lord of Chaos and Princess of Equestria really had a hard time in tenth grade,” he finished sarcastically. “Look, none of you know what it’s like. Sure, you can sympathize, but not one of you understands. We’ve got kids in our school who are going to wake up in the morning and wonder if they should even bother to get dressed and hop on the bus because there’s a chance they’ll encounter their living, walking hell for another day. We’re letting them down, and I care more about them than a single golden child who garnered the fancy of a few powerful people.”

“How do you know what it’s like, Blueblood?” asked Shining Armor. “Because you just bullied and belittled all of us in this room. Do you have any right to say you understand these kids at all?”

“I am not a bully,” Blueblood jabbed a finger in Shining’s direction, “Not at any time, or any where. I may say a few things that come across poorly, but it isn’t to torment anyone. A real bully—the kind you want out of this school—does it continuously. Every day, they prick and prick at you until they’ve beaten you down into nothing. I know people like that. I’ve had people try to do that to me. I’m made of sterner stuff than they expected, though; anybody who targeted Blueblood eventually got what was coming to them. But you best believe I’m not going to let that happen in my school, any longer. I may be abrasive, but it’s for a good cause. Somebody needs to speak the harsh truth to protect this school.”

“So it cancels out, then?” asked Princess Celestia. “The ends justify the means? You’ll get rid of kids like that in this school, even if you have to bully them into submission?”

“Bully them into submission?” Blueblood exclaimed. He motioned to the draconequus at the end of the room. “What do you think he’s been doing all night? He came in here, insulted all of us, tied me up, dropped me from the stratosphere, doused me in water—and that’s not even counting all the little things! But when he does it, everything’s okay? No bullying there, I guess! You’re all hypocrites that just magically think everything is going to work out. It can’t. Not here. Not in this world.”

Celestia sighed. “We just want to give her one more chance—” 

“Oh, why are you always like this?” he interrupted. “Every second of my life you’ve been on my case for showing any sort of emotion, but when one of your little projects goes and makes a fool of themselves in front of the whole wide world, suddenly it’s all, ‘oh, they need more guidance’, and, ‘let’s give them one more chance.’ Where’s that leeway for me, huh? I guess Blueblood just has to figure it out on his own!”

“I didn’t think you needed it,” Celestia said.

“That doesn’t mean I didn’t want it!” He threw up his hands. “You know, if you spent half as much time as you did with me growing up as you did with some of these kids, maybe I’d have softened up enough to let this girl go. But no, you’ve never cast a second glance toward Blueblood unless it’s to tell him to sit down and get back in line.” 

“I’m not the one you need to be discussing this with if you haven’t forgotten,” Princess Celestia responded. “I’m not your Auntie, remember?”

Blueblood paused, caught in his lapse of awareness. “Well maybe your Blueblood would have some choice words for you, too. If you seem to think we’re so similar then I’d guess he’d want to say the same. Oh, but wait, he’s actually way more successful than I am, and I need to live up to him.” He snorted. “Or maybe that ‘ideal’ he lives up to is being perfectly subservient to your every whim. Well, not me! I owe you nothing!”

Discord scratched his chin. “You know, Blueblood, I’ve been thinking . . .”

“Oh, here we go again,” Blueblood groaned. “Are you gonna douse me in water again? Throw me off of a cliff but catch me at the last second? Or something else absolutely asinine so you can avoid actually confronting me?” Blueblood stormed up the draconequus. “Well, go on ahead! Try and surprise me now!”

“I’m sorry,” Discord said quietly.

Blueblood paused. “W-what?”

“You brought up a good point, Blueblood. It is hypocritical of me to call you a bully but absolve myself of it at the same time, especially considering what I’ve been doing to you all night.”

“Wow, finally,” he said. “That’s one thing we can agree on.”

“And truthfully, much of what you just said is right. If Sunset Shimmer stays, some kids are going to be have a rough time in school. Celestia and I can’t really comprehend that—we’re both just a little too old, too distanced from that grounded part of reality. We get to wipe our hands—okay, our hooves and claws—clean after this meeting and leave you all to deal with the consequences. And, although I can’t say I know how you and your Celestia’s relationship has gone, I don’t not believe your grievances, considering my Celestia’s—ahem—troubled past.”

Blueblood sunk down into his chair. “Then why won’t you just go? Just leave us alone.”

Discord slinked over to the man and leaned in close. “Because I’m not just here for Sunset anymore. I’m here for you, too. To show you who you can be.”

“Ugh, really?” Blueblood groaned. “If you’re going to try and compare me to the prince again, I just don’t care. Celestia already tried that backwards insult, and it won’t work so easily on me. I don’t care what Prince Blueblood or whoever is doing. I’m me.”

“I don’t mean it like Celestia means it.” A grin snuck its way up the draconequus’s face. “Let me show you something, just you and me. If you come along, we’ll end the meeting right after we get back.”

Blueblood paused. “ . . . Really? What are we doing?”

“We’ll take one more trip, just to observe. No one will be able to see us or hear us,” he explained. “That is, if the princess allows?”

Celestia shrugged, not able to meet Blueblood or Discord’s eyes. “Do as you would like, Discord.”

Discord’s grin reappeared on his face, wider than ever before. “There are few things I like to hear more than that,” he said excitedly. “Would you like to go, Blueblood? I promise it will be worth your time.”

Blueblood lowered his gaze at the creature. “Why should I trust you now, of all times?”

The draconqecuus stepped over to the President of the Board. “You can’t, Blueblood. You can never trust me, not now, not ever. You can only believe that I will do as I say, and I will do as I say this time. I have something to show you, that I believe will help you understand our perspective. But to see that, to really take it in, you have to open yourself up to things you may not understand. You must have faith that, somewhere within my chaos, order will appear.” He extended out his paw. “Will you come with me?”

Blueblood eyed the paw carefully. “I . . .”

“Five seconds,” Discord said with a grin.

“Oh, okay, fine!” Blueblood yelled, grabbing Discord’s paw.

He felt his body hurtle through the air as he flew between dimensions. He landed on solid marble flooring, but something cushioned his fall to only a light pomf. They were back in Canterlot Castle. A different hallway than their previous visit, but still clearly the same ornate carvings and gold trims along the wall surrounded them.

Blueblood got to his feet and glanced around for Discord, only to find him floating up above the hallway, all passersby not noticing him. “Why are we here again?” he asked the draconequus. “What could I possibly need to see now?”

Discord floated down to Blueblood and landed in front of him, lowering his muzzle down to the president’s level. “We’re here to give you a chance at something that very few creatures will ever have.”

“And what’s that?”

The Lord of Chaos grinned. “Self-reflection in its purest form.” He aimed a claw down to the left end of the hallway, where a pair of old wooden doors sat. “In a minute or so from now, Prince Blueblood of Equestria is going to step through those doors.”

“Prince Blueblood?” exclaimed the president. “I already said, I don’t care.”

“You keep feigning disinterest, but you really do want to know, at least just a little bit?” asked Discord. “What he’s like. How he looks, how he talks. And maybe, if he’s actually just a bit better than you.”

“Nonsense,” Blueblood stated. “I don’t need to see him.”

“Okay, then let’s head back,” said Discord, raising a claw to snap it. “But the meeting continues.”

“W-wait!” Blueblood cried out. “Let’s just . . . hold on, okay?”

Discord lowered his arm and looked toward the hallway. “So maybe we’ll just take a quick peek, then? Once you get a good look at him, there’s no going back. If you really don’t need to see him, then you can leave and have whatever opinion you imagine of him in your head be true. But when he walks through those doors, you’re going to see him—see Blueblood—clearer than ever before.”

Blueblood rubbed his chin in thought. “We’re here already,” he decided. “Considering everyone else’s counterparts, I think I’ll take my chances.”

“Okay,” Discord said, “Here he comes.”

The pairs of double doors swung outward, and an alabaster unicorn burst through, strolling down the walkway with his head held high, sun gleaming off of his golden hair. Dressed in formalwear suitable for the most prestigious of occasions, his modest frame and demeanor commanded the attention of all eyes in the room.

“Wow,” President Blueblood breathed. “I didn’t think he’d be so . . . assertive.”

“That’s Prince Blueblood for ya,” said Discord. “Always the center of attention. And with that comes quite a bit of power.”

“What’s that symbol on his coat?” asked the president, pointing to the compass adorned on Blueblood’s flank. “I saw Princess Twilight and Princess Celestia both had them too.”

“That’s a cutie mark,” explained Discord, “A unique symbol emblazoned on each pony’s flank which represents their special talent or greatest virtue. Blueblood’s cutie mark is a compass rose, which, if you couldn’t have guessed, represents impeccable direction. He knows what to do and how to do it, and he always gets what he wants. Not a bad quality to have as a ‘VIP’ of the country, is it?”

“No,” muttered the president with an upward twitch of his mouth, “not at all.”

Prince Blueblood marched down the walkway, all ponies giving him a wide berth as he kept his head held high.

“Well, that’s . . . something,” President Blueblood admitted. “When you said self-reflection I thought you meant something bad. But this is actually okay! To know that this is what Prince Blueblood is like makes me even more confident that I am doing the right thing, and ready to meet the rest of them head-on.” He met the draconequus’s gaze with a smug grin. “I think I’m ready to head back now. Meeting adjourned.”

A low rumble of laughter burst out of Discord’s maw. “We’re not heading back just yet.”

Blueblood’s grin fell off of his face. “I want to head back. I’m done here.”

“Too bad,” the draconequus grinned. “Look down the hallway, where Blueblood’s headed. You’ve still got one more thing to see.” 

The president peered down the hallway in the direction Prince Blueblood strode down. Although most ponies made way for the royal member, one unfortunate young maid sweeping the floor had not turned around in time. And Blueblood, ever caught up in his arrogance, didn’t bother to lower his snout down low enough to see her in his way.

The two ponies bumped into one another, sending the young servant sprawling onto the floor.

“Oh, you ruffian!” yelled the prince at the poor mare. “Just who dares to obstruct the path of royalty?”

President Blueblood turned to Discord in horror. “What is he doing?”

Discord’s blank smile expanded into a devilish grin. “Take a good long look at yourself, Blueblood.”

The embarrassed maid quickly attempted to stutter out an apology, but Blueblood cut her off. “Oh, you couldn’t see where you were going? Have you not a pair of eyes?” he snorted. “Or did you bump into me on purpose?” He quickly began feeling through all of his pockets, checking for stolen goods. “No, you’re just genuinely that stupid. I almost wished you would have tried to steal something, so I could bring you down to the dungeons and lock you up myself.”

The maid continued to try and apologize, tears beginning to well up in her eyes, but the prince kept cutting her off. President Blueblood watched on in horror, unable to make any sense of the scene.

“No, no, I don’t want your petty excuses. If you truly feel sorry, go turn in your uniform until you learn to master such a basic concept as stepping out of the way.” The mare got on her knees to plead with him, but he quickly shooed her away. “Go on. Get out of my sight, I’m done here.” With a harrumph, he turned away and continued down the hallway, sticking his snout back up as if nothing had happened.

The young servant dipped her head down and turned the opposite direction, sniffling along the way. As the pair of doors at the other end of the hallway closed shut, and most of the ponies passing through had stopped looking and made their way out of the room, President Blueblood sunk to the floor. “What . . .”

“There’s the real Prince Blueblood,” Discord said coldly. “A pretentious bully. Nothing more, nothing less. Anypony who knows him will tell you the same thing, so long as he isn’t nearby.”

With a snap of his fingers, Discord sent the two of them back home. Without any fanfare, the landed back in their chairs in the meeting room. The other members of the Board were quietly relaxed in their chairs, and upon the return of the two, jumped back up to begin discussing again.

“How did it go?” asked Princess Celestia.

“He met the royal prince,” said Discord. “How long have we been gone?”

“It’s six in the morning,” Celestia said, pointing to the window. A sliver of sunrise was peeking through the light snowfall. “I hope you made some progress.”

Blueblood jumped out of his chair. “Now hold on just a minute,” he said. “This Prince Blueblood . . . why would he do such a cruel thing? Who raised him to be that way? Was it you, Celestia?”

Princess Celestia sighed. “Despite my best attempts, my nephew believes that the world owes him everything, and that he is superior to all because of it. He lies, betrays, and harasses our staff constantly, but my hooves are tied with him. The public at large still views him with a good image, but that has gone to his head—he only cares for himself.”

Blueblood paused, glancing at the other members of the Board. “That’s . . . this isn’t fair!” He stormed up to Discord and grabbed onto the draconequus’s shoulders. “Why does everyone else here have such a better counterpart? Why is mine the only one who’s worse?”

“Prince Blueblood isn’t worse,” Discord exclaimed. “He has money, fame, power, and influence. Don’t you want all those things?”

Blueblood turned to the other members. “I—no, not if I’m insufferable!”

Granny snorted. “Too late for that one.”

“Oh shut up!” he yelled, running to the front of the room. “Let me be clear: I am not that Blueblood! I don’t care if we look the same, act the same, or whatever, I’m not him! I’ve worked my life out to get where I am today, and I am not a bully!”

The other members watched on in silence.

“I-I don’t bully people! And I’m not selfish!”

“I don’t know,” said Discord nonchalantly, “Sunset did a lot of bad things yesterday, but it seems like you’ve zoned in only on the bits that affect you.”

“Not true!” retorted Blueblood. “Her actions against the students are the worst part of all of this!”

“Sure,” snorted Discord, “That’s why you’ve been so focused on the property damage this whole time. The mental damage to the students has always been an afterthought for you, hasn’t it? Nothing more than extra padding for your argument? Remember what Princess Twilight told us? The beam Sunset blasted at the school was aimed at her and her friends. But you haven’t seemed to care about that one bit, have you? At least Rich over there had the gall to admit he was numb to anything that didn’t affect him. If you were just a member of the community, would you really be as adamant about this girl as you are now?”

“I was elected willingly to this position,” Blueblood fumed, “Precisely because I am the one designated to care about matters like this. Forgive me for not spreading my outrage evenly, but right now we need to focus on rebuilding the school and not getting hit with a massive lawsuit, and that means we get this girl out. She’s unlucky, but it’s not like it isn’t deserved.”

“And how do you know that what you’re saying right now isn’t similar to what Prince Blueblood would say when confronted with his own misdeeds? Forgive him for taking out his frustrations on that custodian, it was really more of a protest of the castle staff altogether. It’s unlucky that she faced the brunt of his wrath, but it’s not like she didn’t deserve it,” quipped the draconequus.

“I . . . I don’t know what he would say, because I’m not him!” shouted Blueblood hoarsely. “I have no idea how that Blueblood would react. We only saw a glance of him! Maybe he was having a bad day. You even said that the rest of the public views him positively. Knowing you, that was a cherrypicked example to mess with me!”

“I’m afraid not,” Discord said. “And the public views you positively too. But what do people think when they see a quick glance of you on a bad day?” rebutted the draconequus. “And it sounds you’ve been having a string of bad days quite often.”

“That’s because of this girl!” he yelled. “People don’t think of me like that! Right?” He glanced around the room. “Right, everyone?”

No one could meet Blueblood’s eyes.

The President ran up to Discord again and clawed at his chest, pulling him in desperately close. “Prince Blueblood is completely different than me! All that power has driven him mad! Putting that crown on his head has changed him into a completely different person. You can’t judge me for his mistakes. I’m better than that, honestly! I am!”

He turned back to the other members, only to be met with stares of disbelief, disappointment, and disgust.

“No, no!” he cried out, dropping onto his knees to plead. “I’m not like him! You didn’t see it, he was like a demon!”

“A demon, you say?” asked Discord.

“Yes, a demon! He’s a worse version of me, completely! But that doesn’t mean he is me. You can’t pretend we’re the same people.” 

“You’re still parallels,” the draconequus said. “What you just saw in Prince Blueblood is what people see when they look at you, whether you like it or not. All of that talk about being a bit rude in the name of a good cause doesn’t ring true so much now, does it?”

“But it is true, I swear!” He pleaded. “You can’t strip me down to nothing more than an unforgiving bully just because of this one thing! I’m more than that, and I always have been! And if none of you believe me, then let me prove it to you! I would never treat someone like he did! I can distance myself from that bully, no matter what it takes!”

“Just like Sunset Shimmer wants to?”

“Yes! Exactly like she—”








. . .








. . .








. . .








. . .








. . .








“Blueblood,” Discord whispered, “You’re better than the prince. Let the girl live.”

Blueblood sunk down to the floor, resting his head on the carpet. He wiped off the water streaming down his face and ran his hands through his hair.

“She can stay,” he croaked. “She can stay.”

Through his cloudly vision, he saw a claw reach down and extend itself out to him. Discord was looking down at him with a warm smile. Silently, Blueblood reached up, took his hand, and let Discord lead him back to his seat at the front of the table. He promptly collapsed once more.

Princess Celestia stood up. “Okay. Everyone is now in favor of allowing Sunset Shimmer back to school. I’ll have the decision on the Principal’s desk and sent out to the rest of the Board by Monday morning. Oh, and Discord?”

“Yes?”

“Don’t take too long, please. We’re making our dimensions unstable enough as it is.” She walked out the door and headed to the main office.

“No need to thank me,” he muttered quietly.

Granny Smith pushed herself out of her chair. “Well, I’d best be getting home. I’m sure the kids are worried sick by now,” she said.

Shining Armor jumped up to help her out of her chair. “Oh, yes, I should be going home soon too. I’ve got a shift later. And I’ve got a sister to hug, too.”

Filthy Rich also stood up. “Oh, couldn’t I treat you both to breakfast first? It’s been a long night, after all.”

As Granny and Shining seemed to accept the proposition, Fancy Pants also got up. “Do you mind if I tag along, Rich? I’d love to discuss some plans with you involving charity.”

“Oh, of course, of course,” said Rich. “Perhaps we could start a fund for the school itself?”

“Oh, not a bad idea, at all!” Fancy exclaimed.

The four members collected their coats and made their way out the door, leaving only the ancient draconequus and the broken president in the room.

Discord snapped his fingers, and Blueblood found his coat already wrapped around him, his shoes tied extra tightly, and his hair combed into a sensible shape once more. He looked up at the draconequus emptily.

However, in Discord’s place was that figure from the start. Gone was the monster, that hulking creature of horns and devilish intentions. In his stead stood a man in that patchwork coat that was a bit rough on the eyes but worn with such confidence that you couldn’t see him wearing anything else. He blew a puff of bubbles out of his pipe. “Ready to go?” he asked.

“No,” Blueblood whispered. “Go on ahead without me. I need some time.”

“Blueblood, would you mind if I told you something?” the draconequus-in-disguise asked.

Blueblood threw up his hands and sighed. “I guess so.”

“Celestia talked about how all the members should look up to their pony counterparts. But, truthfully, I think they should look up to you.” He turned and headed out to the door.

Blueblood raised his head toward him. “Discord?”

“Yes?”

“Why’d you do all of this?”

Discord paused and turned toward Blueblood, walked up next to him. “I told you, I got a good deal out of it from the Princess—”

“But why did you really do it?”

Discord’s grin softened. “I did all of this to get the same thing Sunset wants. The same thing you might want from your Board members in the next few days.”

“And what’s that?”

The God of Chaos smiled upon him. “Forgiveness.”

He gently laid his pipe on the table next to the broken man, and turned to head out the door just as the sun rose on a new morning.

The snow had already melted.
> Epilogue: Altered Destiny
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunset Shimmer snuck into school on Monday morning with her bags already packed by her side. In and out, she thought. Maybe Principal Celestia will be nice enough to just give me my files if I ask nicely. It’s not like she couldn’t make a copy of them for me, at least.

That is, if she still isn’t tied up like Friday night. She shivered at the thought.

There were more important things to attend to than that, so she shook it off and silently continued her way into school. It was a quarter to seven, so only a few students had arrived, the janitor unlocking the door for them just a few minutes prior. She quickly made her way to the principal’s office, hoping that it might be unlocked and she would not have to deal with Principal Celestia at all.

“Wishful thinking,” a scratchy voice called from behind her. 

Sunset paused and turned. A man in a patchwork coat with a toothy grin across his face stood against the wall, stroking his goatee. He eyed the girl with a look of peculiar interest.

“. . . I’m sorry?” asked Sunset, glancing to see if anyone else was around. “Were you speaking to me?”

“Yes,” the man said. “I have a penchant for speaking when no one asks it of me.”

The girl nodded warily. “Okay,” she said. “ . . . Is there something you need?”

He snorted. “Oh, if only you knew the half of it. No, no, I probably shouldn’t. I probably shouldn’t have even said anything to you at all, but silly ol’ me just can’t himself.” The man furrowed his brow before his mouth turned upward into a mischievous grin. “Well, I would like to extend you my thanks.”

“. . . For what?”

“For making sure that over a millennium stuck in stone wasn’t completely peaceful,” he snickered. “Your daily feuds were some prime entertainment—they helped stir me awake, somewhat. And I'm glad for it; it would have been a shame to miss these past few months stuck in a lousy old garden.”

Sunset’s eyes widened in realization. “You’re . . . “

Discord pushed himself off the wall and took a step closer. His eyes lowered into small slivers, and Sunset swore she saw a burning power hiding beneath them. “You have a lot more in store for you, pony.”

Sunset took a step back in trepidation. “What do you want from me?”

The man’s gaze softened and he took a step back, chuckling. “Nothing, really—Celly wouldn’t let me lay a claw on you if I wanted to. Although, if I had to suggest something  . . . whatever you do, don’t make it boring.”

He turned around and, waving a hand goodbye, silently strolled out of the building into the courtyard. A snap rang out, and he disappeared.

Okay Sunset, calm down. There's no need to panic over it. Choosing to ignore everything that happened as best she could and get back to the task at hand, Sunset made her way down the school hallway and quickly reached the principal’s office.

As she approached, she saw Principal Celestia leaning against the wall next to her door as if waiting for her. “Sunset Shimmer,” the woman said calmly.

Sunset frowned as she approached the principal. “Hi Principal, listen, is there any chance before you send me away that—”

“Hold on, Sunset,” Celestia interrupted. “You’re not getting sent away.”

“Huh?” Sunset sputtered. 

“The School Board ruled in your favor. They’re letting you stay. We’re going to have a lot of work to do, especially involving your home situation, but we’ll discuss everything later this morning.”

Sunset stood in shock, her mouth gaping wide open. “I’m . . . going to stay? After everything I did?”

Principal Celestia smiled. “It isn’t going to be easy for you, but if you’re willing to tough it out, then yes. You didn’t think we’d give up on you so easily, did you?”

“I . . . I-I just . . .” Sunset barely could choke out a sentence before Celestia wrapped her arms around the girl in a tight hug.

“Use this chance,” she whispered in Sunset’s ear, “and live a good life. I can't help you anymore, but I have a feeling you're not going to need it.”

She unwrapped herself around Sunset and stood back. “Well, I have some important business to attend to. I’ll see you later today, Sunset.”

“O-okay . . .” Sunset managed to croak out, but Celestia was already walking down the hall in the direction Sunset had just come.

Sunset’s stomach twisted into knots and she leaned against the wall next to the principal’s office. Too many emotions were flowing through her brain: relief, excitement, confusion, fear, and shame all battled to take control, leaving her a helpless mess. She took a few breaths and stood back up, recollecting herself. It was all a little too much at once.

Part of her was terrified. Sure, she wanted to stay, but that was going to be a lot harder than dropping everything and running away. She knew how to run away—she was quite good at it actually—but swallowing her pride was quite foreign to her. How was she going to make amends? Would the students reject her immediately, making her the pariah that no one dared even speak to? They weren't just going to let her off the hook, even if she wanted it to be so. I suppose I’ll have to break the news to the girls. I wonder if they’ll be happy or sad that they’re stuck with me?

Suddenly, the door to the Principal’s office opened up and out stepped a tall, alabaster man with a thick mop of golden hair on his head. He closed the door behind him and, seemingly not noticing the girl outside, let out a sigh. Upon turning back around he noticed her looking at him awkwardly and his expression immediately darkened. “Oh. Hello, Sunset Shimmer.”

“. . . Hi President Blueblood,” Sunset said quietly.

The man silently looked her up and down. “I was just speaking with Principal Celestia about you.”

“You were?” Sunset said, glancing back down the hallway. “Because she just went down there. . .” She trailed off as the only thing she could see in the direction Celestia left was an empty hallway.

Blueblood furrowed his brow, but upon seeing her glance down the hallway, rolled his eyes in realization. “Oh, right. Of course, they just can’t leave me alone,” he muttered under his breath. “Never mind that last bit. I take it you’ve been informed of your current status as a student here at CHS?”

Sunset turned back to him. “Yes, Celestia told me, I . . . I’d like to thank—”

“No, don’t,” he interrupted with a raised palm, “I don’t want your thanks. Thank the police department for dropping your case yesterday. Or the members of our board that started a renovation fund and already managed to find a donor willing to pay for the whole school with upgrades.” He shook his head incredulously. “You’re a very lucky girl. Don’t mess this chance up, because it’s the last one you’re getting. We’ll talk more when the bell rings. And I expect complete transparency from this point onward.”

Sunset nodded. “Yes, I promise. Just . . . I have one question,” she muttered.

“Yes?”

“It’s great that I’m not expelled, but . . . How?”

Blueblood stopped, frozen at the question. His left eye twitched slightly, but he made no other sign of movement. Sunset instinctively stepped back and cringed, worried that she had just set off the man's notoriously short temper.

A small snort escaped his lips.

Despite placing a hand over his mouth in an attempt to stop the oncoming convulsions, Blueblood's chest rumbled with a low chuckle. Soon the endeavor to keep his composure failed completely, and he leaned onto his knees and gave in to a fit of hearty guffaws.

"Well, Sunset," he got out between breaths, wiping away tears from his eyes, "I haven't the faintest idea!" He immediately fell back into another fit of laughter. Gone was the dark expression gracing his features, replaced with a foreign mirth that even he wasn't fully sure how to handle. 

Snapping out of her shock from Blueblood's sudden shift in mood, Sunset couldn't help but join in with a giggle of her own.

It felt good. It felt like something she could get used to, even if it meant she was going to have to change, make amends, and fight through her shame. And even though staying at CHS wasn't the easiest option for her to take, she didn't want to run away. She truly wanted to stay—she hadn't felt that way in a long time. If ever!

For the first time since the Fall Formal, a smile trembled its way onto Sunset Shimmer’s face.