But here's what really happened...
In the dark halls of the Crystal Empire’s castle, Twilight Sparkle chased after a cloaked thief. With a burst of magic, she teleported in front of the interloper. “Stop!” she exclaimed.
To her shock, the thief herself teleported, sending the cloak flying into her face. She pulled it off and turned to see her opponent. As she ran off with a smirk, she felt a far stronger shock go through her body. Her mind was filled with just one thing.
Oh no, Twilight thought. She’s hot.
She shook her head and forced her feelings back, running after her. Hot or not, she needed to be stopped.
Twilight quickly caught up and first bit at then tackled her, but this proved to be a fatal mistake.
She’s so soft she’s so soft she smells so good.
Her senses consumed by the mysterious mare, Twilight could do nothing as the crown flew into a mirror, and the mare soon after. More than feeling the absence of the crown, her Element of Magic, she felt cold. Nothing she touched felt like it mattered, after having touched that mare’s fur.
“Who was that?” asked Fluttershy.
And does she have a marefriend? Twilight mentally added.
Twilight went to sleep dreaming of that mare, and the next morning, the princesses all met with them in the throne room.
“Sunset Shimmer,” Princess Celestia explained. “A former student of mine. She began her studies with me not long before Twilight.”
Twilight’s hoof shot up.
“Yes, Twilight?”
The purple mare’s eyes sparkled. “Does that mean she’s my senpai?”
Celestia slowly nodded and Twilight giggled. She continued her explanation, but Twilight was concerned with more important matters.
“Sunset-senpai, hmm… Sun-senpai, Sun-senpai, Sun-senpai,” she said to herself, twirling her mane with her hoof.
They were soon brought before the mirror again. Twilight didn’t really catch what was happening, but she was ready to go. There was one thing to do first, though. She leapt to Rarity and practically pranced in place. “Rarity! Rarity! Exception! Exception! Please!”
Her marefriend giggled and touched Twilight’s shoulder. “I caught a glimpse of Sunset myself last night, and I see why you’re so excited. Very well, exception granted. Just be sure to bring her back here so we can share. Alright, darling?”
Twilight vigorously nodded and then dashed through the mirror.
Spike stood in place, confused. “Uh, what do you mean by exception?”
Rarity brushed his spines. “It’s grown-up talk. Don’t worry your silly head about it.”
“Can I be your exception?”
Rarity frowned. “No.”
Traveling in the strange world alone, it was a struggle for Twilight to figure out how her new body worked. However, she was driven forward by the familiar scent of her senpai, and stalked the hallways on all fours sniffing the air. The creatures there looked at her oddly, but that didn’t matter.
To her surprise, she heard a familiarly sweet and quiet voice around the corner. “Oh, I'm really sorry.”
The princess peeked her head around and saw a creature that she swore somewhat resembled Fluttershy… but more importantly, there was the girl she was talking to. Twilight hadn’t figured out what counted as attractive for these creatures, but there was no question that her body knew. Just seeing her from behind made her body overflow and she quietly and instinctively exhaled, nearly falling over. Even transformed, Twilight recognized her senpai.
But what was Sun-senpai doing?
Sunset slammed the lockers and Twilight realized. Sun-senpai was bullying!
Senpai or not, she couldn’t stand for this! Twilight reared up in anger, and in the process realized that she was more stable like this and that’s probably why everyone else stood on two legs. She took some two legged steps, nodding to herself after she got a handle on it, and then approached Sunset. “How dare you speak to her that way!”
Both girls turned to look at the princess. Sunset glowered. “What did you say?”
Twilight and Sunset stomped toward each other. The princess said, “You have no right to bully her like that.” Their faces came close together.
“You must be new here,” responded Sunset. “I can bully anyone I want.”
“If that’s the case, I want you to bully me instead!”
Sunset scoffed. “My! So self sacrificing! How about I just bully both of you, instead?”
“That’s fine! Just, please! Insult me the same way you did to her! Pin me against the wall!”
Sunset’s composure broke and she backed away a bit. “Uh…”
Twilight breathed heavily and her face turned red. “Bully me, Sun-senpai! Please bully me!”
Sunset backed away more. “Sun-senpai? What?” Realization struck her face. “Wait, you’re… gotta go!”
Sunset sprinted past Twilight, but the princess wasn’t giving up here. She daintily ran after her with an arm reaching out. “Senpai! Wait!”
Despite her calls, Sunset disappeared around the corner and Twilight sank to her knees, panting.
After a moment, the other girl walked up to Twilight and said, “I can't believe you did that!”
Twilight got up. “I couldn't just stand there.”
“No, I mean…” She took a breath and frowned. “It’s been weeks since Sunset last noticed me, and now she finally did, and you had to ruin it! How dare you!”
Twilight narrowed her eyes. A rival.
Sunset met with her associates, Snips and Snails, in the hallway. “I want you to follow this Twilight Sparkle girl. Bully her until she leaves the school for good.”
Snips said, “You got it, Sunset Shimmer. But, uh, why don’t you bully her yourself?”
Sunset groaned. “I would, but she wants to be bullied.”
The boys nodded. “Yeah, that’s been happening with you a lot,” said Snails.
They left, and when Sunset was finally alone, she sighed and sank to the ground. “I just wish… someone was out there who could bully me instead…”
By the next day, Twilight had gathered a small group of human friends. They resembled her pony friends in both look and sound, but the smell was wrong, and they weren’t Sunset, so she didn’t pay much attention to them. She never learned their names, but thankfully they didn’t protest when she accidentally addressed them by the names of her pony friends.
She sulked on the dessert shop’s sofa, and the girl she chose to refer to as Rarity patted her shoulder. “Oh dear, are you still upset about that footage Snips and Snails made of you?”
Twilight sighed. “No, it’s not that. Not really. It’s more that those two boys are bullying me, and you say they work with Sunset, but that means Sunset isn’t the one bullying me. What happened to the sacred bullying bond of senpai and kohai?”
“That used to be how the school worked,” said Fluttershy, who Twilight realized had too suffered under Sunset’s lack of bullying. “But then Sunset appeared and broke up the grade system. Now people of all ages go to whatever class they want with no guidance of who should be where.”
Pinkie Pie added, “We’ve been at the school for more than five years! No one knows who’s a senior, so no one knows who’s supposed to graduate!”
“Sunset set herself up as the queen bee,” said Applejack, “but it made the whole school system fall apart!”
“It’s those horrible boys!” Twilight exclaimed, pouting. “They must be corrupting her! They’re bad kohais that didn’t want any senpais.”
Rainbow Dash scoffed. “Yeah, I really don’t think Snips and Snails are corrupting anyone.”
Twilight lifted her head. “There’s only one thing to do. We need to save Sun-senpai!”
Rarity nodded. “I admit I’m not quite sure what that means, but if we’re taking Sunset down a peg, then I’m in. She’s sure to show up at the Fall Formal, so we need to get ready!”
The Fall Formal came, and they waited for Sunset to appear as the girls all danced. Soon, a woman that looked like Celestia came on stage.
“And now, without further ado, I'd like to announce the winner of this year's Fall Formal crown. The Princess of this year's Fall Formal is... Twilight Sparkle!”
The students cheered, and Twilight looked around confused. “Huh? How did I win?”
“Well,” said Applejack, “I’m guessing it’s the fact that usually no one other than Sunset Shimmer participates, and that video that Snips and Snails made got your name out, so the people that don’t like being bullied by Sunset all voted for you.”
Twilight frowned. “I don’t think I want support from people like that.” Begrudgingly, she went onto the stage and saw that the woman who looked kind of like Luna was carrying something. “Oh hey, that’s my Element of Magic. I forgot I was looking for that!”
Before it could be placed on her head, however, Snips and Snails snatched it away and ran out the door. Twilight fumed. “I refuse to put up with your weak bullying! I’ll catch you and make you take me to senpai!”
Twilight gave chase, accompanied by her friends. They soon found themselves outside, where they were face to face with—
“Senpai!” Twilight exclaimed, putting her hands together. If she had a tail still, she’d be wagging it.
Sunset dropped the hammer she was holding, and clearly had expected to have a use for, and took the Element of Magic from Snips. “Finally! It’s all mine! You want to do anything to stop me?” She grinned, then spat out, “Princess?”
Twilight smiled with her eyes closed and put her hands to her chest. “No, you can have it, Sun-senpai. Just bully me extra hard, OK.” She then winked.
Sunset sweated and one of her eyes twitched. “Sure.”
She put on the crown and it crackled with evil magic. Sunset was encased in a dark aura that shot into the air, and when it faded, she had the form of a winged demon and she cackled.
Twilight frowned. She wasn’t a fan of this look. What really made her angry, however, was Sunset’s first action: turning Snips and Snails into demons and sending them off to bully people!
“I’ve had it!” the alicorn exclaimed. “You keep passing off your bullying to other people and avoiding me! You’re no senpai of mine!”
“Senpai! Senpai!” the demon said mockingly. “Shut up! I was everypony’s senpai back in Magic School, but that wasn’t enough for me! Princess Celestia tried to stop me from becoming a princess myself, but with this new form, I am your princess now, and you will be loyal... to me!”
Twilight and the other girls gathered together and a blast of rainbow magic erupted from them. Before Sunset could do anything but scream, it struck her and the world turned white.
Once the flash faded away, Sunset found herself at the bottom of a smoking crater.
Twilight walked to the edge and looked down with a frown. “You will never be my senpai. Any power you may have had in this world is gone. Tonight, you've shown everyone who you really are. You've shown them what is in your heart. You, Sunset, are a kohai.”
With tears in her eyes, Sunset looked up. “I’m so sorry! When I was Princess Celestia’s student I tried to be the bully, but in my heart, I knew that I really wanted to be the one bullied. So please!” She crawled to the top of the crater and put her hands together. “Keep bullying me, Princess Twilight!”
Twilight grimaced.
“Keep bullying me, Twilight-senpai?” Sunset suggested.
Twilight smiled and reached down to pull her up. More than that, with unexpected strength, she brought Sunset into a princess carry. “I will, kohai. Normally, I’d leave you here so you can make up for what you’ve done, but I have a promise to keep with my marefriend.”
Sunset’s eyes widened. “You have a marefriend?”
Twilight shook her head. “Don’t worry, we already agreed on you being an exception.”
Without paying any regard to the humans that suddenly had Equestrian body parts, nor the principals left to restructure the school system in Sunset’s absence, Twilight Sparkle walked through the portal with her new kohai.
Flash Sentry groaned. “Well, I guess I never had a chance with her.”
Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. “Sorry, who are you?”
