Shade spends the night tuning her electric motorcycle. With all the testing and screening done with the various governments agencies and the patents in her name, she is more than ready to take the bike out on the road. Since the school allows motorcycles all she needs to do is get the parking permit from the school, an easy hundred and seventy-five bits Shade will pay out of pocket.

When everything meets Shade’s expectations she spends three hours buffing and shining the white bike along with white helmet and suit. A suit that is fire resistant, abrasion resistant, bullet resistant, stab resistant, shock resistant, and has built in airbags. The bulk of the suit makes Shade appear more masculine something she has no problem with.

Around four in the morning, Shade tends to her greenhouse plants. The building contains enough toxic plants to kill the entire population of Manehatten and Fillydelphia—twice over. She takes in all the scents of the flowers in bloom. Mid-autumn means about twenty percent of her flowers are in bloom and the rest are ready for dividing. A sad smile hides behind her mask at the thought of having to cull a few of her plants in the coming year. Since ninety-percent of her plants are highly-regulated she can not give them away.

August Firestorm enters the greenhouse, the butler Tech entrust to watch over Shade. The dark red and burnt orange hair, and light red skin middle aged man in a black suit stands in the greenhouse decontamination room. Once the sequence ends and the doors open, he catches a knife in front of his face, a mere centimeter away from his nose.

“Perhaps one of these days, Miss Shade.” He says in a casual tone. He throws the knife back to the teen who deftly catches the blade. “Master Smith wishes to have breakfast with you.”

Shade gets to her feet and wipes the black dirt on her blue jeans. She nods and follows the man.

“I shall prepare your bath and clothes.” August Firestorm informs Shade when they step out into the crisp morning air. With a nod of approval and wave of a hand August takes his leave.

Shade and Tech sit around a medium size circle table by a window that overlooks the topiary garden. Tech smiles at Shade. Shade positions the face mask to cover half her face which allows her to eat.

“Tell me about Sunset.”

A fork with three triangles of pancake hover from the open maw of Shade. She eats the bite of food. She pushes a button on her left wrist which turns on the Signotron 1000 gloves. “She was my first friend,” the gloves say in her voice, “I wanted us to become sisters. She helped me when she had no reason to and showed me the compassion she wished to be treated with. She saw the world as a scary place and still had the strength to go out into it. She kept to herself and was mostly reserved unless you got her to talk about her favorite bands. She loved sunflowers. She tried to see the good in everyone.” Shade looks up at Tech, a sullen expression on her face. “The world is a worse place without her.”

“I can see that.” Tech takes a sip of his coffee as a thought flashes in his eyes. “I will start donating more money and equipment to all the Youth Foundations!”

Shade nods. She continues to eat her breakfast.

“You nervous about school?”

“I have fought the armies of Hell, the armies of thousands of nations, and numerous gods,” the gloves say, “School should be nervous about me.”

“Love your confidence!” Tech grins as he wolfs down a pancake.

“May I be excused?” Shade asks and puts her mask on correctly.

Tech scans the empty plates and glass. “Good girl. Go on.”

Shade nods and takes her leave.

The pictures do not give the school justice. Shade whistles in awe at the size of the building and the grounds. Tech tears his eyes away from the laptop to look out the window.

“It’s a nice school. I hear its focus is on sports and arts not that their academics is slacking. The numbers speak for themselves as well as the dozens of professional athlete alumni and major heads in the fashion industry.” Tech states.

“Where did you go to school?”

“I went to the Equestrian School for the Gifted and Talented. I wanted to send you there but I know you’re doing an investigation.”

“What is the Equestrian School for the Gifted and Talented like?”

“It... was more like a facility where those who show truly great potential in STEM or arts go to be groomed to be the absolute best.”

“Did you enjoy it?”

“Nope!” Tech returns to tapping away on the laptop.

Shade huffs. “So why were you going to send me there?”

Tech slowly peeks over the laptop with a sly grin on his face. “So you could put those smug bastards in their place!”

Shade shakes her head and grabs her backpack since the limousine pulls up to the curb of the school. Tech’s door opens and he steps out. Shade’s door opens and she steps out, signing ‘thanks’ to Tech holding the door open for her. The two walk side by side as the walk up to the door.

After the receptionist bumbles about how great Tech is and getting an autograph she clear the two in to talk with the Principal.

A woman with hair like a gradient, quaternary color, rainbow sits behind a tall, wide, oak desk. A golden name plate with blacks letters informs all who sees it the owner of the room: Principal Celestia. Her light pink face wears a warm, inviting smile. She stands up to greet her guests, with Tech having to tilt his head back to look into the eyes of this Amazonian of a woman.

“Welcome. My name is--”

“Tall!” Tech blurts out.

Shade ignores his antics and stares at the wall behind the woman. The wall holds three pictures of the same girl: Sunset Shimmer. The first picture shows the Summer Shade had met those two years ago, looking as innocent and sweet. The next picture shows an older, mischievous looking Sunset. When she sees the last photo, the one with Sunset laughing maniacally, Shade definitely feels that she is dealing with a different Sunset. Maybe the same thing that had happened with her happened with Sunset? If so, how did the pony version of Sunset arrive to this world?

Principal Celestia blinks away the shock of the sudden outburst and laughs. “Why thank you, Mister Smith.” She holds out her hand, “I am Principal Celestia. Welcome to my humble school.”

A nudge from Shade knocks the stupor out of Tech. He shakes the offering hand and rubs his left ribs with his other hand. “Hello! Thank you for seeing us, Principal Celestia.”

Principal Celestia sits down and motions for her guests to do the same. “I must say, with Miss Toxin’s scores--”

“My ‘daughter’s scores’,” Tech corrects the woman.

Another smile graces the woman’s face. “With your daughter’s scores, I must say with a heavy heart that she will not be able to receive a proper education here. While I know my staff strive to do their best, there are schools with trained staff that handle students with as great an intelligence as hers.”

Tech chuckles. “Oh, I know! I don’t expect anyone to teach her anything new! No, I want my daughter to experience school life and being a teenager. You know: make friends, make memories, and,” he turns his attention to the teenager sitting to his left, “not find a boyfriend or girlfriend until she is eighteen years old.”

Shade begins to sign, “Following that logic, the ‘friends’ and ‘memories’ you want me to have will stop when I turn eighteen.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Do I?”

“You do.” Tech says with a stern tone.

Shade nods. “I do.”

The two return their attention to the Principal who smiles warmly. “Very well. I am sure your daughter will find and make plenty of friends here at Canterlot High.” With a few taps on a keyboard and the sound of a printing machine, Principal Celestia hands two papers to the teen. “A map of the school and a class schedule.”

“Thank you,” Shade’s gloves says.

“I will be sure to send an email right away to all the staff regarding your condition and cultural reasons for the mask so that no complications arise.” Principal Celestia says.

“I wish to purchase a parking permit.”

“My sister, Vice Principal Luna, handles the parking permits. I shall leave a note for her to expect you after school.”

Shade nods. “Acceptable.”

Principal Celestia stands and walks the two out of her office. “Enjoy the rest of your day.”

Shade begins to walk away.

“Wait!” Tech calls out to her.

Shade stops and turns to him.

“Behave and try to make some friends.”

“No promises.”

Tech chuckles. “I’ll be here to pick you up after school.”

Shade nods and waves.

Tech sighs and hangs his hand down limply. “Good luck.”