With the school bell having rung, many of the students of Canterlot High had taken to leaving their classrooms. They'd do the usual teen stuff at this point like getting together with their friends, talk about their plans for the weekend, all that good stuff. But among these youngsters there was one who was eyeing many of them. Sunset Shimmer, a girl that most had taken to giving a wide berth to. The undisputed Queen of the school, and she was sure to keep that title for herself. She watched and waited until all of her "fellow humans" were far enough away from her to see, then darted behind a corner. It was one of her favourite places, nice and dark, where she had the freedom to grin wickedly when nobody could see her. She rubbed her hands together, eagerly thinking of the plan now forming in her mind.

"Alright, everything's working out great. I've got those two dimwits getting everything ready for sabotaging Twilight's chances, and before long everyone in this school will hate her."

She chuckled.

"No chance in Tartarus will she be crowned at the Fall Formal. I will win, as always, and then, the crown will be mine!"

Her laugh was a bit louder this time, but not so loud that she couldn't hear the sound of somebody clearing their throat behind her. Immediately she spun around, half-terrified that she'd been discovered by some regular student. To her relief, as well as slight annoyance, she discovered that it was only Kevin, who looked to her with about as much irritation as she had right now.

"Oh, Kevin, it's just you."

Kevin folded his arms, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, it's me, your one capable assistant!"

Sunset smirked, shrugging her shoulders.

"Hey, Snips and Snails may not have much in the way of brains, but at least they do what I tell them."

Her eyes narrowed.

"Speaking of which, aren't you supposed to be helping them right now? I seem to recall telling you to go and give an assist in ruining Twilight's Fall Formal campaign."

Kevin still looked annoyed.

"Yeah, about that, I've actually been doing a lot of life-reflection right now, and I can't help but wonder about my situation at the moment."

He sighed wistfully, looking up to the ceiling.

"You know who I've worked for in my life? World-conquering tyrants. Evil overlords. People and monsters of great power and intimidation."

Slowly, he looked down to Sunset, looking, of all things, incredulous.

"And now, it seems my career has taken a bit of a nosedive, because now I'm working for an angry teenage girl who does what she does because of spite towards her teacher."

He rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"I'll be totally honest here, Sunset, you don't even strike me as that bad of a bad guy."

"Bad girl," Sunset corrected.

Kevin shrugged.

"Whatever. Either way, you just seem more like...I dunno...someone who's just in a bad place right now?"

Sunset, putting her hands upon her hips, looked to her assistant with a look that made it clear that she was feeling insulted right now.

"I didn't hire you to stand there and talk about how bad a villain you think I am! I need you to help me in my plans!"

Kevin rolled his eyes.

"Oh yeah, your big plans to try and mess up a school dance so you can keep your little title."

In spite of the fact that she was having her plan directly insulted to her face, Sunset nevertheless gave her assistant a smirk.

"Oh, I assure you, once this plan succeeds I will have access to one of the most powerful magical artefacts in Equestria. You say you're unhappy serving a teenage girl? Well, wait until you get a load of me when I have power to back me up!"

Kevin, who was probably used to a lot of villain boasting in his career, looked to her with complete disinterest.

"Well, you've got the confidence at least. And hey, at least you're not losing your mind like my last employer."

He sighed.

"Alright, if you really wanna go ahead with this...here."

He reached behind himself and pulled out, to Sunset's utter shock, the crown. The Element of Magic, right there before her. She couldn't believe it, yet she was not so bewildered as to not snap herself out of it, and so immediately stretched out her hands and took the offered crown from Kevin. She stared at it, and her reflection in the shine of its crystal, before looking back to Kevin with confusion.

"But...how did you...?"

Kevin again looked to her with incredulity.

"What? You thought getting that thing would be difficult? It was locked away in the Principal's office, and that's it! All I had to do was wait for her to leave the room, then I just snuck in, broke the lock and took it."

This time, it was his turn to smirk.

"Surprised the 'straight-A student' didn't think of that, to be honest."

Sunset, in spite of her elation at having her desired prize, still afforded him a frown.

"Don't push your luck, Kevin. Especially now that I've got this."

She sighed as she looked back to it.

"Still...it would have been nice to have won the Formal one last time before getting it."

As had happened so many times in his life, Kevin rolled his eyes.

"I'm sure your ego can take not winning it if it means you have a bigger win in your playbook now."

Sunset, considering that, gained a confident grin.

"You're right. I need to keep my eyes on the prize here."

She turned, stuffing the crown in her jacket before walking past him.

"I need to find Snips and Snails. Can't very well become Queen of Equestria without my faithful stooges after all."

Pausing, she considered her plans.

"Hmmm, maybe when I get back home, I'll smash the mirror and trap Twilight here behind me."

Kevin, even in the face of his earlier annoyance, allowed himself to laugh briefly.

"Trapping your enemies in a whole other world? Nice. I like it."

Sunset too laughed.

"Glad I could do something to meet your approval."

She took a few further steps away, then paused again, looking back to him.

"So...aren't you coming too?"

Kevin stared at the ceiling, then waved her off.

"You go ahead, I'll catch up. There's something I need to do first."

Sunset shrugged, heading off towards the direction of her two lackeys. Meanwhile, Kevin stared with growing irritation at the still-out light-bulb above him, watching as it occasionally flickered to life, adding to the ever-present creepiness of this one part of Canterlot High.

"Okay, that's it. I'm going to maintenance. That can't be up to code!"

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