Ever since Trixie made a high-profile spectacle of pushing Sunset Shimmer out during that magic show, Sunset Shimmer—this transfer student who had suddenly arrived at the school—had become thoroughly known to every single student at Canterlot High School.
This was not quite what Sunset Shimmer had originally envisioned. She had only wanted to do some behind-the-scenes work, perhaps earning some extra credit while resolving these troublesome matters.
Now, thanks to Trixie, Sunset Shimmer was greeted by students every day as she walked down the halls. Furthermore, someone had started a rumor that Sunset Shimmer was a math genius and a master of crafts, leading several clubs to try and recruit her.
Even Flash Sentry had invited Sunset Shimmer to join his band, but he had been chased off by Rainbow Dash and Trixie, who flanked her like two sentinels. Rainbow Dash had even declared that if Sunset Shimmer ever intended to join a band, she would prioritize Sonic Rainboom.
Although her situation had nothing to do with what they claimed, Sunset Shimmer found Flash Sentry even more troublesome than them, so she simply accepted it in front of him.
Once she had gotten rid of Flash Sentry, she turned on the two blue figures, shocking them with her sudden change of heart.
After spending some time surfing the internet, Sunset Shimmer had gained a bit of understanding regarding the abstract culture of the Human World and could at least grasp the general meaning.
It was also after this incident that Trixie and the other five girls seemed to latch onto Sunset Shimmer, making it a luxury for her to have any time alone at school.
Moreover, since they knew the school's layout better than she did, no matter where Sunset Shimmer hid, she would always be found by these girls who couldn't bear to let their friend be alone.
They firmly believed that their enthusiasm could touch Sunset Shimmer's heart, which (in their eyes) was riddled with scars.
In fact, they weren't far off.
Having finally opened her heart to friendship, Sunset Shimmer found herself surrounded by a group of girls who cherished their friends after arriving in the unfamiliar Human World, and she received meticulous care from them in every aspect.
Sunset Shimmer could not turn a blind eye to this; she gradually let down her guard and began to grow accustomed to her daily life with them.
Regarding these changes, she could only comfort herself by thinking that since she and they were students in the same school and the same grade, seeing each other every day was normal and unavoidable.
It is worth mentioning that during this time, under the constant urging of the two blue-haired girls, Sunset Shimmer bought a guitar and, through Trixie's introduction, met a guitar teacher and officially began taking lessons.
Although Trixie and Rainbow Dash felt that spending money on a teacher was completely unnecessary—since they could teach Sunset Shimmer everything she needed to know about the guitar—Sunset Shimmer didn't want half of her precious guitar lessons to be spent listening to them bicker.
Instead of that, she would rather spend more money on higher-quality lessons.
After passing some time in this dull yet lively manner, Sunset Shimmer welcomed her first school anniversary event at Canterlot High School, and she finally understood the real reason why Trixie was so persistent about holding magic shows at the school.
When Sunset Shimmer received a ballot from Principal Celestia, she was still a bit confused, but after listening to the principal's explanation, she learned that the school held an event called the "Autumn Formal" at this time every year.
Students could sign up to run for princess, and the other students would vote; the person with the most votes would become the new autumn formal princess.
Incidentally, the previous winner was Rarity.
When she saw that Trixie had the most votes, how could Sunset Shimmer not understand what was going on?
However, even if Trixie had her own selfish motives for holding those magic shows, the results were undoubtedly positive.
Even Sunset Shimmer could feel that the morale of the students at Canterlot High School was much livelier than when she had first enrolled. The students who voted for Trixie genuinely appreciated the emotional value she provided them.
Thinking this, Sunset Shimmer casually cast her own vote for Trixie.
The term "Autumn Formal" was not unfamiliar to Sunset Shimmer; Canterlot Academy in Canterlot also held this annual event. Princess Cadance and Shining Armor had confirmed their relationship at an Autumn Formal one year, a story Twilight Sparkle had told them about before.
Returning to the Autumn Formal here, she was actually somewhat interested in becoming the autumn formal princess. However, she had learned about it too late, and she was just a new student who had recently enrolled; perhaps she would consider participating in the event next year.
Since she couldn't be a princess in Canterlot, surely it would be fine to be a princess at Canterlot High School just for fun, right?
Besides, she heard that Celestia would personally crown the autumn formal princess.
Sunset Shimmer looked toward the doorway, where Principal Celestia was distributing ballots.
This principal was perhaps the only person in this world who made Sunset Shimmer feel a sense of warmth; every time she saw her, it reminded Sunset Shimmer of her teacher back in Equestria.
It seemed she hadn't been in contact with Equestria for nearly two months, and she had no idea how much time had passed there.
Sunset Shimmer had read in books that the flow of time in the two worlds was different, but she didn't know the exact ratio.
Returning home for a visit was impossible for the time being. Not to mention that it wasn't the day for the portal to open, but as far as she could tell, not much time had passed for her personally. Her new life had only just begun to get on track; it wasn't time to go back yet.
Fortunately, Sunset Shimmer had brought the diary that could contact Princess Celestia, specifically for such emergencies.
However, she seemed to have kept it in her locker; after all, it was a magical item, and Sunset Shimmer wasn't sure if it could communicate across worlds.
Just as Sunset Shimmer was staring at Principal Celestia's face in a daze, the principal sensed the gaze and looked back at her.
The moment she was caught, she quickly averted her gaze, used the textbook in her hand to hide her embarrassed expression, and hurriedly fled the scene.
Even if the two Celestias looked alike, the principal was not The Grand Princess; Sunset Shimmer could not be as close to her as she was when facing The Grand Princess.
Yet, this uncontrollable feeling still made Sunset Shimmer feel ashamed.
Principal Celestia watched Sunset Shimmer's retreating figure, her feelings somewhat indescribable.
Having run this school for many years as principal, her experience gave her a keen insight into the psychological state of children of that age.
The principal could sense that Sunset Shimmer often seemed to view her as someone with whom she had a very close relationship, only to immediately and awkwardly deny it, pretending nothing had happened.
Considering that she had come to this town to attend school alone, the principal guessed that she might be homesick, and since she happened to share similarities with one of her family members, Sunset Shimmer had made her into an emotional anchor.
However, the child's excessive pride made her unable to bring herself to actually seek help from anyone.
"Poor child."
Celestia thought with pity.
In truth, she also felt an inexplicable sense of affection when looking at Sunset Shimmer, so much so that when she saw a crossed-out "C" in the guardian column on Sunset Shimmer's school application form, she had accidentally filled in her own name.
By the time Principal Celestia came to her senses and regretted the lack of rigor, Sunset Shimmer's information form, which had originally been riddled with holes, had been completed by her stroke of genius and had even passed approval.
Sigh, she had truly been too careless.
Afterward, an infuriated Vice Principal Luna pointed her finger at her sister, who was feigning ignorance while knowing perfectly well what she had done.
When Luna returned to continue her tenure at Canterlot High School after three years of advanced studies at an educational institution called Moon, she discovered that her sister had become increasingly like an "old hand."
She didn't know what had happened during those thousand-plus days to cause her sister to change so much.
But they were sisters after all; although Vice Principal Luna had her complaints, she couldn't do anything about her increasingly free-spirited sister, so she simply had to let her be.
She could only silently take extra care of Sunset Shimmer, the student who had entered through the "back door."
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