Celestia listened for the drive back home. Once Twilight was finished, Celestia smiled. “You friends are lucky to have you, you know. And if your devotion of them is any indication, you’re lucky to have them.”
“I am,” Twilight smiled.
“Then when Monday comes around, you’ll have to get started on that,” Celestia said, pulling into her driveway. “For now, we need to get you up to speed on what you need to know in the curriculum.”
Twilight nodded as she unbuckled her seat belt. They entered the house. It was Spike who greeted them first, jumping into her arms. Luna sat on the sofa in the main room with a book.
“Any luck?” she asked.
Celestia and Twilight explained everything that had happened that day.
“So... that’s a no?”
“So far,” Celestia said. “I’ll try getting a hold of Hope and convincing her to give up the crown, but you know her.”
Luna nodded. “I got in touch with Yearling. The electronic copies of Twilight’s records are almost ready, and she’s getting into the school’s mainframe to register her. I downloaded a copy of the placement test on the computer. She might already be in, but it will help if she knows everything.”
Twilight smiled. “The math and language in this world seem to be the same as my own, at least.” Then she thought a bit. “What were those rumors Rarity was talking about?”
Luna looked at Twilight. “You ran into her?”
Twilight nodded. “She said she was the last one to run against Sunset. What were these rumors I heard spread?”
“You saw the other Rarity? And I missed it?” Spike pouted. Twilight giggled before picking him up and setting him in her lap. “You’ll see her soon enough.”
The two principals winced. “Well, not two days after Rarity announced her campaign, her parents suddenly came marching down to the school. It seemed they had heard a rumor that Rarity... well, that she got intimate with a few members of our soccer team.”
Twilight felt a shiver run down her spine. “You mean...”
Luna nodded. “It went through the PTA and the school board. The parents were demanding the ‘harlot’ be expelled. Her parents nearly sent her to a reform school. We eventually convinced everyone it was just hearsay, but the damage had been done. Rarity was so humiliated she dropped out.”
Twilight felt the tears come again. “And the students? Did they...”
Celestia shook her head. “No, that was the one grace. Everyone suspected it was Sunset, but Rarity’s reputation of flirting with boys didn’t help. Only a few teased her about it, and we dealt with it. We even managed to finally expel a trio of troublemakers that used up their last chance.”
Twilight breathed deeply. “I... I can’t let Sunset get away with all this. I have to stop her. You need to show me what I need to blend in.”
Celestia smiled. “No problem. Let’s get you back on the computer and to work. We’ll start with a math review, just in case, then move on to science...”
Math had worked pretty much the same, to Twilight’s relief. Science was daunting, but she quickly realized she had a lot of the base elements in magic. Chemistry, physics, and even biology all had similar basics. So... why such advanced technology? Was Equestria just so dependent on magic it couldn’t see what could be accomplished without it?
History ended up being the hardest, at it had to be learned completely from scratch. This was one, fortunately, that Celestia said could be faked if absolutely necessary. Aside from some major figures most teenagers were woefully under-informed on this topic.
English turned out to be similar to Equestrian, in an oddly convenient twist. The basic structure of a story was also something Twilight was familiar with.
Lunch that day had been sandwiches brought to them by Luna, but at one point Celestia excused herself. It was her turn to make dinner.
That night turned out to be a large garden salad with gluten-free pasta. After the meal was dished up, Luna spoke.
“How’s it looking? Do you think you can fool everyone?”
Twilight nodded. “There’s no way I’m learning History in time, but I think I can complete the rest of the placement test.”
“That’s good. I also had Yearling write up some medical records. You have asthma now, which should keep you out of gym.”
Twilight hadn’t even considered that. Still she wanted to kiss Luna’s feet for getting her out of it. The “required workouts” at Princess Celestia’s school had nearly killed her.
“Can you tell me what you heard about what happened between the girls?”
“Anything we tell you would likely be false,” Luna said. “They all said something different. Well, except for Fluttershy, she refused to speak at all.”
Celestia shook her head. “Rainbow said that Applejack called her stupid, Applejack said the same about Rarity. Pinkie claimed that Rarity had wrecked her locker, and Rainbow said Pinkie had played a nasty prank on her. And everyone except Rainbow Dash accused Fluttershy of being Rainbow’s ‘little lapdog’.” She placed a hand on her head. “I think I need an aspirin just thinking about it. The incident was over a year ago, so I can’t tell you all the details off the top of my head, but I have my records of the incident in my personal files. I can pull it up after dinner.”
“And no one thought Sunset was behind it? From what you told me, everyone suspects her of everything.”
“This was before she had gathered her reputation. She was a new student,” Celestia said. “At the time, I didn’t think anything of it, but now... well, maybe it was her, but I’m not entirely sure.”
“Why?”
Luna spoke up. “As awful as Sunset is, she doesn’t just attack at random. She selects her targets for a purpose, like when she spread rumors about Rarity. We haven’t been able to pin a motive on her.”
Twilight nodded. “Were the girls popular? Maybe she saw them as competition.”
“From what I remember, Rarity and Rainbow Dash were. I think the other three were only known as their friends,” Celestia said.
“Have you tried bringing Sunset’s involvement up to them?”
“I have, but Sunset ran a deep wedge. It hasn’t been helped by how passive-aggressive they’ve been to each other since then. If I had more time to sit down with them I would, but they’re five students in a big school.”
Twilight paused a moment. She had to remind herself this wasn’t the same Celestia, the ultimate power in Equestria. This was Celestia, the schoolmaster with limited resources and a boss to answer to.
‘Well, I think I want to have a look at your notes,” Twilight said before taking another bite. “If Sunset is behind this, she must have a reason. If I can find it...”
“Well, I’m hopeful,” Luna said. “Sunset’s had her way for too long.”
”Do you see the stars, Sunset?”
Sunset Shimmer looked up from her spot on the Princess’s back, gazing at the glowing lights above.
“It’s very pretty.”
“In my time, there were even more wonders in the sky. However, ponies foolishly ignored them to focus on what was on the surface.”
“The story of the Mare in the Moon? Is it true?”
The Princess looked away from her faithful student. “Even the most fantastical legend has a kernel of truth,” the Princess said. “It is true that ponies didn’t appreciate beauty that was gifted to them.”
“Are you saying NightMare Moon was right to get angry?”
“She had a right to feel upset, but not to do what she did. Understanding is important, and there are times when a good talk and forgiveness are more effective than punishment, but everypony is responsible for their own actions in the end.”
“What if they’re brainwashed?”
Celestia looked at her student. Sunset caught the smile just before Celestia’s magic tickled her side, causing her to shriek. She rolled off her mentor’s back, carefully caught by the magic before being sat on the grass, the magic still tickling her.
“Don’t sass me,” Celestia said, a smile on her face.
The Princess let up on her assault, and Sunset nuzzled against her side. A large wing covered her, making her feel warm.
“Princess... the Mare in the Moon rebelled against her sister. Did her sister still love her?”
“Yes.” Celestia said it quickly. She equally quickly added, “The Princess loved her sister, I’m sure. Love can’t be destroyed so easily.”
“If I did something bad, would you love me?”
Celestia looked at her with a sad smile. “Of course I will, my Sunshine.” She kissed her forehead. “You’re very special to me. Always remember that.”
Sunset law awake in her bed. That conversation played for her nearly every night.
Lies. It had all been lies. Celestia had cared about her, but only as a pawn, something she could mold and use against NightMare Moon. She was easily replaced by another filly, one too stupid to realize she had been shuffled off to a backwater town once her purpose was fulfilled and Celestia had no more use for her.
It had hurt. Celestia had plucked her out of the orphanage and made her a star pupil. She had been the mare who had let her sleep in her bed after nightmares, who congratulated her on every successful attempt and encouraged her at every failure.
It had been a lie. The whole time she had been holding her back. Celestia saw her as too powerful, somepony who needed to be just powerful enough to serve her purpose. She would have never let her take the Trials. Never allowed her to be her equal.
But she’d show her.
Soon, very soon, she’d have the Element of Magic. She’d have what she deserved. Three years of work, fifteen in Equestria, would not go in vain.
She’d take her rightful place, and anyone who stood in her way would pay the price.
Ah, so now we know a little bit more about the rumors, and of Sunset's motivation.
This is sadly true, even today. And yet, as the old saying goes "Those who do not learn from history, are doomed to repeat it."
Hello there. Thanks immensely for getting the next chapter up. I really appreciate you going to the effort. Excellent work, as usual, on the exchanges, emotional content and future chapter set-up in all the right places. And, yeah, this IS going to be pretty darn hard to fix in a week (not impossible; just very difficult). Anyway, I will definitely be looking forward to more of this as soon as time and inspiration will allow.
I'm excited about the next chapter, we're finally going to see the school in this story! I wonder if Twilight will still bump into any familiar faces while she's at CHS like she did in the film, or how she'll react to running into Flash. Now that Twilight knows a little more about what seems to have happened to her friends she might be able to convince them on what really happened. Although this seems more complicated than a few faked emails and text messages so getting around that might be a challenge. Can't wait for next chapter!
'Look at the stars, Simba.'
The Lion King is strong with this one.
Eh, no complaints on length here, since the content is informative enough.
And we see a small bit of Susnset's sympathetic side relatively early. Or at least, the sympathetic side she used to have, but enough to make me hope for her to start to turn herself around once all this falls down.
6970121 Yep.
You caught that one, too, huh?
I'm honestly curious how Sunset will be played out. I'm honestly wondering what is the best way to write a Sunset's past, one that strikes the right balance of enhanced depth, and avoiding giving her Draco brand Leather Pants.
Question though, does Sunset have a breaking/reason you suck speech aimed at Twilight? That last bit makes it seem like she might let one rip.
I'm curious to see what the reason for Sunset breaking up the Humane Five will be in this story. Unless breaking them just served as a useful way to split up the various groups at the school. Sunset probably broke them up before finding out about the Element Bearers (I'm not good at keeping track of the different years). Funny reading about Sunset's dream and her rage at Celestia here when in another of your fics she finally made up with her. With things escalating (like Sunset not working alone), I'm looking forward to how mean Sunset will be when she meets Twilight, even with maybe a sympathetic backstory, or if it'll take the friendship laser to show her the error of her ways as in canon.
After reading this chapter, I feel like Principal Celestia should give herself a little more credit than she did in the previous. A lesser principal would have bulked under the presser and expelled the victimized student, guilty or not. Instead, it sounds like she managed to push through and save an innocent girl from having her life ruined. Well done !
Ooh, which ones would they be? Or are they just nameless plot devices?
Ah, the title? "Preparation." :)
6970537 It occurs to me that when Twilight attempted to go to Sunset's house, the people there identified Twilight as a pony. That means they have accurate information after Sunset arrived. This also suggests that they know the power the Mane Six represent in Equestria. Sunset might be verifiably worried about what would happen if a similar group of friends got within fifty feet of the Element of Magic. Breaking them up would seem the best way to prevent that.
6969989
It's a shame, History can be interesting. If you can, read a book called How to Fight Presidents, it's a gem.
6970129
Yeah, if I'm going to be really showing Sunset's bullying, I need to hint at her sympathetic side as well if her reforming is going to work.
6970381
Just wait. Her interactions with Twilight will be interesting.
6970537
Her reasons are this: the 2013 comic annual is canon for this story. If you haven't read it, the HuMane 5 became friends in complete defiance to the school's social structure, tearing it down. Any group that can go against the norm like that would be a threat to Sunset, so she dealt with it accordingly.
6972032
The Diamond Dogs/Dudes. They likely won't appear.
6973911
Thank you.
6977202 I know that, and I'm a major history buff. It's a real shame more people don't pay attention to history, especially given almost half of the candidates currently running for president. Trump in particular bears striking similarities to a third party candidate from 1968, and a Republican senator who defined the red scare of the late 40's/early 50's.
Sounds like Sunset here is even bigger and worse of a bully here than she was in canon. So I'm guessing that her redemption (if you decide to give her one in this fic) will be a lot harder for her than it was in the movies.
6982120
I hope so. I mean her redemption was kind of shoehorned in, in the movies. But it'll be nice to see her get an honest redemption in this series, and a more logical ascension than "activated EoH, broke magic eating McGuffin, now an Alicorn."