Weeks prior Sunset had been moments away from getting Twilight’s crown of harmony and now she was stuck in this alternative world looking for that freaking thing. She knew where it was of course, she hadn’t spent the last few months on doing nothing, no, she knew that this world's version of Fluttershy had found and brought it to principal Celestia.
“Why a damn mirror world of all places!” Sunset cursed, finding the stress of being around so many of Twilight’s mirror friends to be taxing and confusing. They didn’t know of her past nor of her involvement with that damn A-student prodigy, but that didn’t improve her situation, because Twilight was likely on her way to spoil her plans.
“Can’t wait to see that bastard struggle,” Sunset mumbled.
She had done her best to make Twilight Sparkle's coming mission a royal pain in the behind. Twilight would have to follow the same rules she had been forced to, which meant disguising herself as a student to blend in and locate the Crown of Harmony, just as she had done.
An additional trump card Sunset possessed was that none of Twilight Sparkle’s advantages from back home would accompany her; the mirror versions of her friends weren’t part of the same friend group, and Sunset had made sure that it would stay that way (It wasn’t too hard in all honesty), so she could no longer count on them for a united front.
And that wasn’t even mentioning the fact that Twilight would have to adjust to her new body, and circumvent her sudden lack of wings and magic. Truly, Sunset had laid the foundation for a perfect victory in case that damned A-student arrived before she could get the crown.
Sunset let out a small, awkward laugh. "I might be getting ahead of myself, though," blushing slightly since Twilight hadn't even shown any signs of being in the mirror world yet. Twilight’s own mirror version was here of course, but she acted as oblivious as the rest of the bunch.
She took a deep breath and glanced around the quiet hallway. School hadn't started, she had arrived early, and so had given herself plenty of time to devise a plan.
“A key, a key, a key. I need to find a key!” Sunset Shimmer could be heard mumbling in the hallways of Canterlot High, her fingers drumming against her chin as she tried to come up with a possible solution to the worsening situation she’d landed herself in.
She needed a key for Celestia’s office or else she would have to wait this whole situation out until she became prom queen, and she wasn’t about to waste even more months on playing the popular girl. She had already recruited henchmen like Snips and Snails in case it did come to that, but she would rather stay as far away from these non-ponies as possible.
It was then that she heard it, the sound of boots hitting the hallway floor. Looking up she saw Cheerilee passing by, the teacher a good head taller than herself.
She wore a dress which honestly looked awful in Sunset's opinion; the boots were by far too big and that dress did nothing good for her. It did highlight her eyes she supposed, but while her curves were on display, it reminded Sunset of a countryside farm girl.
For a moment Sunset considered hooking Cheerilee up with Rarity for a shopping trip just to try and help the damn woman with getting her fashion updated because it was so last year… or perhaps decade if the transformed unicorn had to be honest.
‘No, keep focus!’ Sunset cursed herself, this could be her chance, her chance at getting her hooves… no wait, hands on a key for the principal's office, or perhaps that was an incorrect way of putting it, she needed a key for the teacher's private area. An average teacher would not have keys to the principal office itself.
She followed after the older mare— ‘I really have to get back home,’ Sunset almost blurted, increasingly frustrated at all of these new descriptive words.
A mare was now a woman, a stallion a man, and hooves had turned into two damn separate things, hands and feet! And why was Hearth's Warming Eve suddenly called christmas! If she didn’t know better she’d have thought of this place as Luna's dreamworld playground.
It was quite obvious that it wasn’t, the princess of the night had, at least by what Sunset had seen herself, never been much of a christmas pony. The walls were decorated with tons of garlands, decorated trees, wreath’s, fancy snowmen she herself had helped make, and in accordance with the season, well placed mistletoe’s in a few sneaky places.
Her own attire didn’t really match the season as she had decided to keep her black leather jacket, though with longer sleeves, an orange shirt beneath with a fiery sun it, a purple skirt which had been elongated for the season and of course her knee high black boots which were so much more fashionable that whatever Cheerilee wore. All topped off with a nice christmas hat to make herself look more down to Equestria with the locals.
And so Sunset skipped up behind the teacher, and announced herself, “Excuse me Miss Cheerilee but could I chat with you for a moment,” Sunset started, aiming to present her intentions as good natured and without any hidden plan behind her words.
“Well good morning Sunset,” Cheerilee greeted her student. “It’s rare to see you so early at school, I hope it doesn’t have anything to do with your latest stunt?” The teacher gave Sunset a raised eyebrow along with her signature smile.
“Oh please, Button Mash had it coming.” Sunset gave a dismissive wave with her hand, this world and their obsession with clothing wasn’t her fault. In her world clothes were meant for special occasions, not everyday use like in the mirror world.
Cheerilee raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms. “Really now?”
“Yes, he should have been more stealthy and then he wouldn't have gotten caught,” Sunset smirked. “Not my fault teenage boys are such pranksters.
It had admittedly been funny to use one of her new henchmen to drive a wedge between the circle of friends. She didn't really care if he’d gotten caught, not since the nerd had remained loyal and refused to rat her out. She still owed him a pair of panties for that. She had no idea why he wanted them, and she'd rather not think about it.
“A prank?” Cheerilee raised her voice. “It was like something out of an 80’s sitcom, half disrobed teenage girls running around and accusing each other of theft!”
“Well you caught the thief, so what's the big deal?” Sunset rolled her eyes at the non-pony, they were all so dramatic for no reason. “What's the 80’s anyway?”
Cheerilee looked like she was about to explode… but deflated. “Something I wish I wasn't old enough to remember.” The older looking woman sighed.
Sunset had no idea why humans were so obsessed with appearing young, among ponies greying hairs was a sign of wisdom and experience. Maybe this was something she could use? Cheerilee might just be a lowly teacher, but she has access to the teacher's lounge.
Shouldn't be too hard to seduce somepon– someone whose self esteem was this down bad. Cheerilee would make a far more useful henchman than those teenage boys. She had some authority around the school after all.
“Come on,” she said, giving Cheerilee a smoldering smile. “You don't look a day over forty.”
“I'm thirty two,” Cheerily deadpanned.
“I meant twenty!” Sunset hurried to backtrack.
“Nice try.” The teacher was now glaring daggers at her.
Sunset breathed out a sigh of relief, it seemed like the stupid human had believed her. Well, into her next step. She moved closer to the taller woman, making sure to rub up against her and keep the smolder going as she met her eyes.
“Well whatever age you are, I find you very attractive, how about we go somewhere private?”
She felt the woman go stiff in her seductive embrace. Humans were really hard to read, so she wasn't sure if that was a good sign or not.
Probably not, she felt her heart sink as Cheerilee pulled free from her grasp. Anger was pretty universal, even on those flatter faces.
“Young lady, I have half a mind to take you up on that.”
Or not, Sunset beamed. She had been wrong, the other woman was into her. She wasn't angry at all, she was going to be the next willing victim wrapped around her hoof, finger.
“Sure, where are we going?” she purred.
“To detention!” Cheerilee barked.
“Lead the way,” Sunset grinned, offering the older woman her hand. She didn't know what detention was, but was sure it was a place she could get the key from the insecure woman.
“You bet,” the teacher grabbed said hand and pulled her towards their usual classroom, which would be empty at this time of day.
‘Things are going exactly to plan,’ Sunset exaggerated to herself. It wasn't exactly true, but she was making progress.
She wasn't a fan of being led anywhere, she was the one who did the leading, but supposed she could play along for a few minutes, until she could turn the tables on the lowly teacher. Soon their roles would be reversed and she would have earned herself a useful minion.
“What is detention anyway?” she asked as the older woman locked the door.
“Oh you’ll know soon enough young lady,” Cheerilee barked, before confiscating the younger lady's phone, throwing it into a drawer and locking it as well.
Sunset didn’t seem to overtly mind said escalation and instead focused on the key bundle the teacher had used. ‘Finally, my victory will be at hoo–hand within the hour!’
*****
“IT’S BEEN EIGHT BUCKING HOURS!!!!” Sunset screamed, finding detention a worse experience than having to be kicked out of the Canterlot castle after losing her title as Celestia’s apprentice.
“JUST TELL ME THE TRUTH FOR GOODNESS SAKE!” Cheerilee responded, frustrated beyond all as to why this damn student of hers refused to admit to her wrong doings.
Sunset hit her head against the wooden table at which she was sitting. This was frustrating, and by Luna’s moon why wasn’t this damn human submitting to her charms and wits! She had lost a whole day's worth of studying, scheming and even the snowball fight at lunch which she had seen from the detention classrooms window.
It had looked like fun, and she could have really done with getting to rub cold slush into someone's face, heck, after a day like this she wouldn't even have minded doing it to herself.
Her Christmas mood had been ruined and she hadn’t even achieved anything in return, she wished to get out of here but her goal was so close; The keys were on Cheerilee’s desk!
“Can’t I just do you a favour or something and then you let me go?” Sunset begged.
“I want the truth!” Cheerilee answered.
“YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH!” Sunset unapologetically shouted, raising herself from her chair as she stared down the teacher. All she could see however was determination in being a teacher, Sunset didn’t want to, but for once she considered doing as she was told.
“Enough with the pop culture references!” Cheerilee shot back, sighing and sinking back into her chair. “Why don't you just give in so we both can go home?”
“Because…” because Sunset couldn't go home, she didn't have a home to return to, and as frustrating as Cheerilee had been, it was almost nice to have someone spend time with her even if they were just trying to frustrate the other into giving in. Oh buckit.
“Fine,” she growled. “You want the truth?
The teacher nodded, perking up at a chance to finally be rid of this troublesome student.
“Well then…” Sunset grinned. It wasn't like anyone would believe Cheerilee anyway, there was no magic in this world, but it'd be satisfying to see the look on her teacher's face as Sunset revealed just who she was bucking with.
“I'm an interdimensional wizard here to steal back a powerful magic artifact that rightfully belongs to me.” Sunset drank in the surprise on Cheerilee's face, though it wasn't as deep as she had wanted so she continued.
“I'm not even human. I'm a unicorn, and I could have turned this entire building to ash if the portal here hadn't stripped me of my powers!” she shouted. “Instead I'm forced to sneak around and rely on my wit and charm like some stupid talentless bard!
Sunset shivered at that last word, she was a wizard, even a sorcerer, but a bard, ew, she'd rather pick up a sword and fight like an earth pony.
To her surprise, Cheerilee wasn't freaking out, the teacher just nodded. “Okay.”
“Wait, what?!” Sunset bounced out of her chair. “You believe me?!”
“Sure,” Cheerilee shrugged. “Makes more sense than the rest of the things you've told me, besides, I'm a teacher, I'm good at telling when I'm being lied to. Weird as it sounds, you're telling the truth.”
“Well… buck me!” Sunset sat back down, that was her trump card, and now her secret was revealed, to no advantage to herself. Before she could even comprehend the mess she had placed herself into, Cheerilee pulled out a notebook and a pen.
“I’ll make you a deal, my dear student. You get what you want, and I get what I want.”
‘This can’t be happening.’ Sunset eyes bulged. ‘Am I actually being forced into a deal?!’
Realising she was being quiet, Sunset spoke up, “W-what do you mean by deal?”
“Isn’t it obvious, you’re clearly after something considering all of your small schemes here on school property, so tell me what it is and if I can help I will. In return you will give me what I want.” A smile Sunset hadn’t seen since before detention adorned Cheerilee’s face.
“Okaaayyy. I’m not sure I trust you but you seem genuine.” That seemed to cheer up the older woman but Sunset wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad thing.
“So what I’m after is that key right there,” she pointed towards the key set on the teacher's desk. “Specifically the one for the teacher’s private area.”
“The teacher’s private area? Just what sort of prank are you planning?!” Cheerilee demanded to know, hand picking up the keys before putting them into her pocket.
“N-no prank, I swear. I just want to get my hoo-hands in the crown that is mine.”
“You mean the prom queen crown? The plastic thing we’ve got in our lounge?”
“W-well my crown and the prom queen crown look alike.” Cheerilee raised an eyebrow. “Some stupid bitch got them both mixed up and now I can't get to the real one, so please help me get my hands on it so I can go home.”
That explanation seemed to satisfy Cheerilee, though she wasn’t giving up the key, Sunset noted as the teacher picked her pen back up. “I’ll get you the crown, on one condition.”
“And what condition is that?”
“That you stay in our world for a few more months, I’m in charge of the library and love stories, so why don’t you help me make a fantasy story based on your universe?”
“Do I have to…”
“No, but then I don’t have to get you the crown either,” Cheerilee threatened in a teasing manner, taking out the keys again to play with them in her hand. Sunset stared daggers at her, though her shoulders fell as she sighed deeply.
“Fine.”
They shook hands and just as Sunset thought her worries were over, Cheerilee picked her pen up again before giving her student a warm smile. “Now, we’ve got two more hours before school closes for the day, care to tell me about your world?”
“Ugh! Princess Celestia, why did your mirror have to send me here?!”
“Princess Celestia you say, and who may this be?”
FIN