//------------------------------// // Luna Confronts Scribe About What?! // Story: The NLAC Has To Deal With What?! // by Odeinoichus //------------------------------// Chapter 17 Monday morning, Scarlet Scribe was at CHS, dreading the week that was to come. He had no idea how he was going to make it five more days until Di was finally off his case with her stupid idea. And now Lily was being dragged into it; he didn’t quite recall how he remembered that, but Di seemed to think they’d discussed it at some point yesterday. It rang a few bells. And speaking of yesterday. Scribe shifted his feet nervously as he recalled the trip to the spa. A trip which had resulted in a rather unexpected development... Scribe sat in the back of the lavish looking Blossom Twins Spa with nothing but a towel on. His mother was getting a full treatment in one of the larger rooms. He was currently sitting in one of the private rooms just for special customers. You were supposed to feel relaxed and taking your clothes off at a spa was expected. Ironically enough, he didn’t feel the least bit relaxed at all. His mother’s hair stylist was late and he just wanted to get this whole trimming thing over and done with. The morning visit with Lily had been very welcome and very enjoyable, even if she was still a bit unsure of his sudden lifestyle change. But she hadn’t shunned him or anything like that once she understood exactly what it meant. The door suddenly flew open and a very winded looking girl walked in. Scribe studied her closely, wondering who she was; she appeared to be his age and was wearing a white uniform. Her skin was a brilliant shade of gamboge with a few freckles peppered on her cheeks. Her amaranth coloured hair was styled in a tomboyish bob cut. She wore a single earring in the shape of a tiny pair of silver scissors hanging from her left ear. “Sorry, pal! I just got here a few minutes ago and my bosses told me they were slightly overbooked. I’m gonna be the one trimmin’ your hair today. Capisce?” She asked in a pleasant, if heavy Manehattan accent. Scribe’s cheeks suddenly burned as he realized what this meant. “Er— um, I could just wait until the stylist is free. I’m not in a hurry…” The girl quirked her brow briefly and crossed her arms over her chest. “Look, I know I ain’t the one who youse were expectin’. Ya know, with me bein’ an intern and all. But ya shouldn’t look down on me just because o’ dat. I’m a pro wit stylin’, honest!” “I don’t doubt your skills.” Scribe flinched at the bite in her tone, “You see, what I wanted trimmed is rather—look, I would really prefer to have the actual stylist do it.” “Whatever. I’m doin’ this, bub! Just sit back, shut up, and lemme work my magic on dat pretty little head o’ yours!” she snapped marching over to the styling implements in the process. Scribe nervously gripped his towel. “Oh, well—haaa—the head on my shoulders isn’t the one you should be focusing on...” The girl blinked a few times as she processed what he’d just said. Then she smirked and circled around behind him. “I’ve worked here long enough ta know the ropes! Although, you’re the first guy who’s ever asked for a Brazilian.” Chuckling at her little joke, she yanked off Scribe’s towel. “Trust me, I’ll be as gentle as a mornin’ breeze.” Staring for what felt like way too long, the girl sighed and shook her head. “Where do I even start? It looks like a damn jungle down there!” she demanded. “Hey! I thought that… guys didn’t normally need to do that?” Scribe shot back defensively. “Most guys who come in here at least trim a little. They’re usually the athletic types.” She blew a strand of hair out of her eye and snorted. “I’m guessin’ that ain’t the case with you, pal.” Scribe sighed briefly. “My mom insisted that if I was going to live as a naturist, I’d need to look well groomed.” “My cousin mentioned somethin’ about dat over the phone recently. Pretty small world.” The intern sighed. “Well, I guess we betta get started. The first time is always the hardest. Don’t worry, after just a couple o’ treatments, it’ll start ta feel normal.” Reaching over, she bypassed the waxing implements and grabbed a bowl, a bottle of lather and a brush. Scribe flinched back from her reflexively. “I just wanted a trim!” Scribe would deny to his dying day that his voice cracked as if he were hitting puberty again. Shaking her head with a chuckle she started to whip up the lather with the brush. “Nope, can’t do that. When it grows back in, then we can give youse a proper trim. It’s too tangled up right now to actually be styled, so I gotta wax it all off. After it’s started to grow back in, ya gotta come in regularly so it can be maintained properly.” “And w-what if I don’t want to maintain it properly?!” Scribe was mere moments away from bolting out of the room. Towel or no towel. The intern grinned. “Trust me; you’ll feel as free as the wind once all o’ those nasty pubes are gone!” “How do you know?” “Because I get mine waxed too, ya doofus! I ain’t about ta just let youse walk out of here like some chicken who can’t take it. Athletes go through this all the time. Mostly swimmers and runners, but they still do it. It’s about body image, and bein’ considerate ta the people who have ta look at your junk when you’re walkin’ around in your birthday suit. Plus, ya won’t get all o' dat hair caught in your zipper anymore.” Scribe blushed briefly and leaned back in his seat more comfortably. “I guess you do know more about this than I do.” he admitted. “I am takin’ courses for it. Why do ya think I’m internin’ here?” After stirring the mixture, she began to lather it onto Scribe’s crotch. “Eeeeeeuuughh!” Scribe shouted in a deep and totally manly voice. “What?” She glanced up, suddenly concerned. “It’s so freakin' cold!” Scribe glanced down with a nervous smile. “I—uh—wasn’t expecting that.” “Dat’s because it’s a special blend,” she said with another smirk. “Once I start shavin’ it off, ya won’t be quite as sensitive ta it. We believe in everythin’ here at the Blossom Spa, customer comfort and all dat crap.” Scribe flinched. “You aren’t exactly instilling me with much confidence.” “I ain’t here to be the frou-frou pamperin’ type. I’m here ta learn how ta deal with hair stylin’ of all sorts. Now shut up and lemme do my thing!” she snapped. “Could I at least ask who is going to be doing this work if I have to come in regularly?” Scribe tried to smile, but the sudden slap of the brush and the cooling tingle of the cream made him cringe slightly. “Your lovely hair stylist for this afternoon is Babs Seed. If ya wanna complain ta the management, then this is gonna take longer ta get done,” she warned in an almost threatening tone. The menace didn’t quite reach her eyes as she suddenly appeared to be bit more nervous. “Well, your very green customer is Scarlet Scribe, and I wouldn’t dream of complaining about anyone who currently has sharp implements near my genitals.” Scribe offered a nervous smile and a brief chuckle tying to remain lighthearted. “Relax, pal. It ain’t like I haven’t handled these beauties before. I’ve worked on loads of guys by now. Well ok, maybe only a handful but enough of the Wondercolt sports teams have been here before. Heh, Soarin’ was nowhere as near as nervous as you are.” She shot Scribe a wink and then reached for a very old looking razor blade. Scribe almost kicked out in sudden nervous apprehension. “Why a-are you using that?!” “It’s part o’ the spa’s health package. Now stop squirmin’ so much and just relax!” she snapped as she grabbed the hilt of the razor in one hand and reached down to run her fingers through his pubes. “Unless… you’d rather be screamin’ like a little bitch when I start usin’ wax to just rip it all out.” She shot him a knowing smirk. Scribe came back to the present with a sigh. He’d somehow managed to calm down enough to get the treatment over with, but it had not been his idea of a good time. Now, every time he moved, it felt incredibly breezy in his boxers because his crotch was now as smooth as a baby’s behind. Trying his best to ignore the strange, new sensation, he opened his locker and sighed. “Mister Scribe.” Scribe leapt backwards so fast that he slammed his head against the top of his locker. Wincing slightly, he spun around to face Vice-Principal Luna. “Ma’am!” “Would you please accompany me?” Luna spun on her heels and started marching back to the office without another word. “It’s too early for this shit.” Scribe quickly grabbed his things, slammed the door shut, and rushed off to follow Luna. Lily sighed as she rolled up to the front of the building. Today was her first day back. She fingered her pendant briefly and closed her eyes as she centered herself. Everything was going to be fine. The magic in the pendant was designed to be unleashed by her emotions, and she had far more control of them now that she knew what to concentrate on. Plus, Grandpa Discord said that Sunset and her friends’ presence on Campus would help to suppress the magic somewhat. She had no idea how he knew that or why, but she didn’t care. Breaking into a warm smile, she pushed the controls forward and rolled up the ramp leading into the side-entrance. Principal Celestia had been arguing with the Board for months to get an access ramp installed for the front of the school so her students didn’t need to pass through the kitchen every morning and disrupt Granny’s work. Spoiled Rich and her supporters were adamant that it simply wasn’t in the budget. Grandpa Discord kept bringing up these little things, as if he expected her to take his place someday. If anything Screwball was better suited for that. Lily sighed and rolled through the kitchen. “I’m going to have to pretend to play along with Di’s little plan.” “Mornin’ Miss Breeze!” Granny greeted cheerfully. “Been a while since ya were at school. Is everythin’ alright?” “Everything’s fine now, Granny. Grandpa Discord just wanted to make sure that I was ok after the Friendship Games.” Lily smiled at the elder Apple and headed for the exit into the cafeteria. “Dang fool oughta know better,” Granny complained under her breath. “Bein’ cooped up at home fer a few weeks ain’t no way ta raise a youngin’.” With a shake of her head, she rolled out of hearing range, and made her way towards her locker. It was time to face her first day back at school and, hopefully, she was ready for that exam too. Luna indicated the seat in front of her desk when Scribe entered the office. She was not happy; her eyes were narrowed and her arms remained crossed as she stood behind the desk tapping one foot. “Lu-“ “Mister Scribe! I cannot believe you ever thought it would be a good idea to attempt to fool Miss Tiara with such a reckless and dangerous scheme!” Luna glared down at Scribe with half-lidded eyes, doing nothing to keep the fire within them at bay. “You’re an intelligent young man. I’m sure that you’re aware of the ramifications already implied by the mere existence of a certain club. I needn’t remind you that taking photographs of any members who belong to aforementioned certain club is wholly inappropriate and ILLEGAL!” Scribe flinched and recoiled into his seat. “O-Of course, Vice-Principal Luna.” “You will spend the next week with me in detention.” “What?” Scribe shot up reflexively. “Remain seated!” Luna brought her hand down onto the top of her desk with a forceful slap, it really must have stung, but her face remained a cold and harsh mask. Scribe reluctantly returned to his seat. Luna’s eyes flickered briefly with regret and disappointment. She shook her head and circled the desk. “Mister Scribe, I can understand how you are feeling. Diamond Tiara seems to be quite obsessed with exposing the NLAC to the point where I fear her single track mind is blinding her to the inherent dangers of such an act. Not only for those involved, but for the rest of the faculty as well.” Turning she paced over to the window and lowered one of the blinds so she could watch the students as they arrived for the day. “As you know, I am a practicing naturist. Therefore, I saw no harm in utilizing the student union room for the NLAC's functions. It remained isolated from the rest of the school in order to allow club members to socialize, while nude, within a controlled environment. I enjoy enriching the minds of my students just as my sister does, but even I understand that for this sort of thing to work: a proper set of guidelines must be adhered to.” Scribe blinked in surprise. “Why are you telling me all of this?” Luna smiled as she turned around. “Diamond Tiara still trusts you. I have been attempting to make her understand that obtaining power for its own sake is not worth the effort. The school is not like the outside world. It does not operate the way she believes it to. Especially here at Canterlot High. The magic has seen to that. But she refuses to see the light, and I cannot allow her delusion to continue. “I see much of myself in Diamond Tiara. Our parents expected us to excel. We too were part of the Canterlot Elite, my sister and I. In my youth, my ambitions led me down a rather… dark path.” Luna laughed mirthlessly and stared out the window. “I chose this profession in order to help young students avoid the terrible mistakes I made when I tried to control everything. Diamond Tiara’s mind is… entirely too rigid right now. I had hoped that she would eventually listen to others and broaden her perspective.” Scribe chuckled dully at the comment. “Yeah, Di is definitely stuck on her goals.” “Perhaps to the detriment of her potential.” Luna paused briefly with a sad smile. “And perhaps as you yourself once were,” she said bringing emphasis to her words. Scribe’s cheeks flushed. “Ok, so maybe after Friday night and the entire mess of Saturday I’m a little bit more open to certain things. But I’m still only one student, and Di already has a plan.” “Yes.” Luna frowned. “That is why I must insist upon giving you detention. I too have a plan. One that will ensure Diamond Tiara’s attempt to slip that camera into the party this Friday secreted on Miss Breeze’s wheelchair will not succeed. But I need to go over a few things with you, and Miss Breeze. I’m afraid I can’t give her detention, but you…” Luna trailed off with a knowing smile. Scribe let out a sigh, forgetting for the moment that Luna shouldn’t know about Lily’s involvement yet. “If it’s for a good cause, then I guess I can take detention for a week.” Luna nodded. “It is settled then. Report to my office after your final class.” Scribe got up and retrieved his backpack. “Oh yes, and I expect that SD card to be returned devoid of any imagery that would compromise yourself or your Crystal Prep friends,” Luna stated with a wink. Scribe sighed. “I was always going to return it. I just needed to get those pictures off on a secure harddrive.” His cheeks flushed. “I—kind of—maybe… wanted to keep them?” Luna’s eyes narrowed. “I swear! I wasn’t going to jerk off to them!” Scribe quickly explained. “I just wanted something to remember the first time we all agreed on something, so to speak. They’ve never really done much that I’ve wanted to do. Ugh, it’s hard to explain!” “That’s alright, Mister Scribe. You needn’t elaborate your reasons for my benefit,” Luna stated as she approached and gently squeezed the young man’s shoulder. “I’ve often wished my sister wasn’t so… close-minded towards my lifestyle.” Scribe blinked away the turmoil on his face and shook his head. “I’d better get to class.” Luna waved him off. “Go. I don’t want to have to speak with you about being tardy because we were discussing private business that can’t be explained to Mister Doodle.” Scribe nodded and quickly left her office. Luna sighed when she glanced down at the picture of herself and her sister on the desk. The smile was forced and there was obvious animosity between the pair of them. After taking a deep breath, she locked the door and verified that all the blinds were shut tight. Once she was certain that no one was going to disturb her, she slowly began to remove her clothing. It promised to be a long day and she needed a few hours of comfort before she had to face the rest of the faculty for the day. “Ms. Raven, please inform my sister that I do not wish to be disturbed for the next two hours,” she instructed over the intercom. “Yes, Ms. Luna.” Letting out a contented sigh, she slid down into her chair, enjoying the soft velvety texture as it pressed against her bare skin. She leaned back and briefly closed her eyes. A few moments later, she removed a small pair of reading glasses from the desk drawer along with the budget reports from the school facilities. It was time to ensure that everything was balanced before the next School Board meeting. Perhaps, with a bit of luck, she’d be able to show that they had not overspent this fiscal year and ensure that the repairs to the statue could be added to next year’s budget. Lily Breeze smiled and waved at Silver Spoon as she rolled up behind her desk in the second class of the day. So far, everything was going fine. Nobody was being influenced by her strange pendant. The power angle was still new to her. Apparently, her mother and father had special talents, but Grandpa Discord hadn’t bothered to explain just what those were or why Scribe had been glowing with that odd dark energy. All she’d been told was that it had something to do with Equestria’s distant history. Starswirl had sent this power into this world because it wasn’t as dangerous. Lily shook her head. World History class was about to start, which was probably why she was thinking about historical stuff. Removing her supplies from her backpack, she felt her heart nearly jump out of her chest when Diamond Tiara slammed her fist onto her desk. “Stay away from Silver Spoon!” Lily glared at Di. “You don’t own me, Di! I can talk to whoever I want!” Diamond glared angrily at Lily. “Miss Tiara!” Ms. Harshwinny snapped from the front of the room. “Take your seat.” Diamond flinched, but she complied with the teacher’s request. “Your exam will be on the Thursday next week,” Ms. Harshwinny began her lesson. “I expect many of you to do your best. However, I know that some of you may not be up to achieving a passing grade.” She raked her gaze across the class as she spoke and paused briefly to eye the suddenly nervous looking Snips and Snails. “Summer class schedules will be provided to those of you who might require them as soon as the examinations are complete.” Lily raised her hand. “Yes, Miss Breeze?” “What can we expect to be the focus on this exam?” Ms. Harshwinny smiled. “An excellent question. That is what I was about to get to. Everyone please turn your text books to page two seventy-three…” Scribe groaned as he slid into his spot at the usual table for lunch. Snips nodded in agreement at his unsaid sentiment. “Everyone’s going over what to expect for the exams all day!” “We’d better pass most of our classes,” Snails stated. “Yeah, if we fail too many we’ll be stuck in summer classes forever!” “And we’ll miss Camp Everfree,” Snails added with a nod. Scribe shook his head. “I’ve told you two you can’t just copy off of me for everything,” he reminded. “Sunset used to tutor us. She said she wanted competent minions.” Snips sighed and eyed the Mystery Meat on his tray with an uncertain expression. “You mean you two used to be good in school?” “Hey!” Snips complained. “Sorry, took me by surprise.” Scribe chuckled briefly under his breath. “Where’s Di?” “She didn’t want to eat with us today. Something about needing to oversee the next issue’s stories.” Snails shrugged. “Pass the salt, maybe it’ll make this taste better.” “Mystery Meat Mondays, something I totally didn’t miss,” Lily announced her presence, though the sound of her chair’s motor whirring would have done that for her if she hadn’t bothered saying anything. Scribe smiled and made some room for her. “Featherweight, I want my camera back,” she told the quiet, scrawny looking boy sitting next to Snails. “It’s in the office,” he said. “You better not have messed it up.” Scribe sighed contentedly as he dug into his lunch. Nothing to worry about but the typical end of school problems, no Diamond Tiara to ruin his appetite. Today was starting out pretty good. Detention after school for trying to keep nude photos of his classmates notwithstanding. “I still don’t get why this world history stuff has to be so hard!” Snips broke into the minor argument Featherweight and Lily had gotten into. “We worked forever on that make-up project and we’re still going to fail!” “I know.” Snails sighed. Then his gaze fell on Scribe and he perked up. “So, what was the party like on Friday?” Taken by surprise Scribe spat his partially chewed bite of mystery meat onto his tray. “Gross!” Lily blurted. Choking a little Scribe fought down the need to throw-up. “P-P-Party?” “Yeah!” Snips leaned closer with an eager gleam in his eyes. “Di told us you were crashing it for her last week. Was it as awesome as the rumours say they are?” “Didja get ta dance with all the girls?” Snails asked excitedly. “And is there really a chocolate ice cream fountain in the middle of the student union center with free toppings?!” Snips threw in, bouncing up and down in his seat. Scribe blinked once and slowly shook his head to clear away the tension. “I can safely say that there is no chocolate ice cream fountain.” “Awwwww.” Both boys said dejectedly. Across the crowded room at their usual table Pinkie seemed to perk up. She grabbed a notebook from her bag and jotted something down. Then she turned, caught Scribe’s eye and winked. Scribe did his level best to ignore it. “But what about the dancing?” Snails returned to his interest and cut into Scribe’s thoughts. Scribe felt his cheeks grow slightly hotter. “Ummm, there was definitely dancing, but I’m not much of a dancer.” Lily giggled behind her hand at Scribe’s obvious discomfort. “Just tell them.” Scribe shook his head. “Nope, can’t. Di would kill me!” Lily folded her arms across her chest and shot him a glare. “Well, she can’t touch me. It’s in the restraining order Grandpa Discord insisted her father sign and agree to.” Scribe recoiled in shock. “Wait, you have a restraining order… against Di?” Lily nodded. “It’s only for non-school hours and stuff, but the wording is pretty clear. Grandpa Discord insisted on it.” “Then why did you let her talk to you that way on Sunday?” Scribe speared his mystery meat with the fork as he again thought of what happened on Sunday… or at least what he thought had happened. It was all still so hazy. “Forget that!” Snips interrupted. “Tell us about the club, ya just gotta!” he pleaded desperately. “Lily.” Scribe wanted to stop her. Lily rolled her eyes, leaned forward and whispered in Snips’ ear. Snips’ eyes widened in surprise, and then his face seemed to fall. “Is that all it is?” “What? What is it?” Snails blurted. “You know that one time Sunset had us bring something to her cabin?” Snips asked. “Yeah.” “Remember what she was doing?” Snails blinked slowly as his mind processed thoughts from a year or so back. “Oooooooh.” “What the hell?!” Scribe flinched at the level of his voice as he felt a ton of eyes on him. “You’re not the least bit surprised about this club?” he hissed in a softer tone of voice. “Pft, why should we get excited about that?” Snips asked with a dismissive wave of his hand. “We hung out with Sunset all the time. She even let us go swimming whenever we wanted to.” “But… Wha… Huh?” Scribe stared at both boys seated across the table in utter confusion. Snips chuckled. “We may not get the best grades in class, but we aren’t totally clueless.” Snails nodded. “Sunset never told us why she did what she did, but we kind of figured it out for ourselves when she kept answering the door wearing only a robe. After a while, she just stopped caring and started walking around naked.” “If that’s all their stupid club is then Di could have just asked us. But she still doesn’t think we’re good at our jobs.” Snips rolled his eyes and finished the last of his school provided lunch. Snails shrugged and lowered his voice to keep it between them. “If they want to parade around without clothes on why should we care?” Snips silently agreed with his buddy, demonstrating this by reaching out and slapping his palm with Snails’ free hand in a high-five. Lily burst into a fit of giggles. “I think you two finally broke him,” she said rocking in her seat with her laughter. “Unbelievable!” Scribe tossed his arms high in sheer disbelief. Snails shook his head. “Meh, my dad’s a bouncer at a gentlemen’s club. Why should we get excited about seeing naked girls when we can sneak in to see naked women?” “Yeah.” Snips chuckled briefly and high-fived his buddy a second time. “You two!” Scribe pushed the rest of his lunch aside and got to his feet. Snips smirked slightly. Snails rolled his eyes and took a bite out of his bread roll. “Does that mean if Di had asked, you’d have helped her expose the club?” Scribe wondered leaning down to glare at both of them with a shrewd expression. “No way, man!” Snips said. “Sunset is part of that club. Di might be scary, but Sunset was a powerful she-demon. Do you honestly think we’d screw with someone who had magic like that?” “I don’t know? I kinda wish I could have wings again…” Snails lamented as he glanced absently at the space directly behind him where a pair of wings might be. Scribe shook his head and left without another word. Lily frowned and moved to follow after her friend. She was finished anyway. Featherweight’s face was beet red as he stared at the other two boys still sitting at the table. “There’s really a club where everybody’s… naked?” Snips and Snails shared a look before bursting into laughter. The rest of the school day plodded along at a slow pace. By the time he had to report to Vice-Principal Luna for his detention, Scarlet Scribe was not only tense, but extremely stuffy. He couldn’t wait to get home so he could relax and get out of his clothes. He wondered how Sweetie and the others managed to make it through the day at school trapped indoors and wearing every layer. At least in theory he could take off his shirt if he wanted, though socially that was probably unwise. Luna’s door was locked when he arrived for his detention. Frowning slightly, he knocked politely. The sounds of her chair moving behind the desk and then something he couldn’t quite make out filtered through the closed door. “Is that you, Mister Scribe?” Scribe nodded out of habit. “Yes, Vice-Principal Luna.” The click of the lock was heard and the door opened briefly. “Please come in, and you may simply address me as Luna if you’d prefer.” Scribe shook his head as he stepped into the shadow-filled room. “I don’t think that would be appropriate, ma’am.” Scribe’s eyes widened when he saw Luna dressed in a long robe of midnight blue instead of her typical suit. “What-“ “Please do not speak so loudly!” Luna quickly closed and re-locked the door. “You’re the vice-principal, shouldn’t you be setting a better example?” Scribe asked nervously. “Ordinarily, I wouldn’t dream of relaxing at school. However, I find these days to be most stressful. Also, I may have been feeling a bit rebellious; Principal Celestia has been a bit stricter these days. Perhaps because she suspects Spoiled is plotting something.” Luna sighed. “I had to spend my entire weekend listening to her gripe about that woman and her political ambitions.” Scribe sighed and slumped into the seat across the desk from her. “I’m just going to pretend this is normal. What did you want to explain to me?” Scribe decided in his mind that he’d just ignore the very odd turn his life had taken, and the fact that it seemed every time he was getting alone with someone of the opposite sex, it involved getting undressed for whatever reason. Except Lily of course. Luna pursed her lips briefly and leaned forward on the desk. This caused her robe to flare out slightly, which gave the young man who happened to be sitting in front of her an unobstructed view of her breasts. “If I understand what Cheerilee said to me, Diamond Tiara wants to sneak a camera into the school this Friday evening to expose the activities of the club. And another source elaborated that her plan involved using Lily Breeze’s wheelchair to get the camera in.” Scribe swallowed a lump in his throat and did his best not to openly gawk at Luna’s exposed and decidedly perky nipples. If he didn’t know any better, he’d think someone was doing this on purpose to get a reaction out of him. Nodding along with her words, he leaned back. “That sounds about right. I take it Mister Discord revealed the means of how she was planning on doing it?” Luna smirked. “He is an old friend of the family and Diamond Tiara just blurted it out in his home after all.” Scribe nodded. “Does this mean you’re going to have someone search and confiscate the camera from the wheelchair when we arrive?” Shaking her head, Luna leaned back and her robe readjusted itself back to some semblance of modesty. “That would go against school and club rules concerning students in Lily’s situation. Diamond Tiara would realize what we had done.” Luna slid a small folder across the desk. “This is everything I have so far on Diamond Tiara’s actions since becoming editor of the School Paper.” “Should I be looking at this?” Scribe slowly turned the folder around so he could read it properly. Luna chuckled. “I removed all of the sensitive and private information. This is merely a shortened list concerning the activities I have noted and possess concrete proof of.” Scribe nodded slowly. “So this will tell me how she got the first two strikes.” Luna frowned and brought her hands together so she could tap the tips of her index fingers against her lips. “Indeed.” Scribe examined the list and was surprised when he got to the points about the strikes. “It looks like she tried to reactivate the Anon-Y-Mous account on MyStable. I wondered what she was so giddy about that week. I guess she wanted to spread more vicious gossip.” “Yes.” Luna sighed. “She should have known that we would be monitoring any and all activity concerning that account after last year’s fiasco.” Scribe shook his head. “It would have been a golden opportunity to get Sweetie Belle and the others in trouble again.” Luna scowled briefly. “You are remarkably mature for a boy of your age,” she noted. Scribe’s cheeks flushed and he glanced up with a sheepish smile. “Runs in the family.” “I see.” Scribe returned to examining the list of grievances against Diamond Tiara. Some of them were fairly mild and tame, aside from the MyStable thing, but he started to notice a distinctive pattern that began sometime after the Battle of the Bands. Closing his eyes briefly he ran those events back in his mind. Di seemed her regular charming self until the Battle. The pain in his jaw from his wisdom teeth had gotten so bad though he couldn’t stick around. He was forced to leave school for the operation. And when he came back he started to really notice little things about Di that didn’t quite add up. Sure, she’d always been ambitious and ruthless in her pursuit of what she wanted out of life, but he couldn’t recall her going to such lengths just to humiliate and destroy Sweetie Belle. Something must have changed her somehow, but that didn’t make much sense. The rest of the student body had returned to normal after the siren’s spell had been broken. Then he came to the second strike that threatened the paper and his eyes widened in complete surprise. “She didn’t!” Luna nodded. Scribe turned away so he didn’t let his temper show and he glared at the wall of pictures and awards Luna kept in her office. He couldn’t believe it. Diamond Tiara had tried to steal money from the school to put advertisements in the school paper from local businesses. How the hell did she think she could get away with something that stupid? Why did she think it was a good idea in the first place? Her family was incredibly wealthy. They could pay to get advertisements themselves out of their allowances. What possible reason could she have for trying to swindle cash out of the school through some screwy bake sale deal? Hell! Advertisers usually paid to have their ads printed, not the other way around. Something stank about the whole thing, and Scribe couldn’t put his finger on what it was. But it didn’t make any sense. There was part of the picture he was missing here. Luna was standing behind him suddenly with a hand resting on his shoulder. “I understand your feelings, Mister Scribe. You truly care about the school paper, and about Diamond Tiara.” “We were friends a long time. I thought I’d found someone who wouldn’t go away, who could understand what it meant to have to live up to their parent’s reputations. This isn’t Diamond Tiara. She might be vindictive, ego-centric, and—ok so she isn’t exactly one of the better representatives of human decency, but she isn’t a damn thief. And neither are her parents. There’s something odd going on here.” “She’s always been a sweet, young woman.” Luna slowly turned his seat around. “Which is why this is so concerning to us. My sister and I couldn’t believe it when I realized what was happening. Are you certain you haven’t seen anything unusual of late?” “What? You mean like hanging around with some creep or something like that?” Luna nodded. “Not a thing. Nothing that would explain that strike.” Luna sighed. “Perhaps we can ascertain more after we solve the current crisis then. Now, the best solution to this problem is one I fear you may not enjoy.” Scribe swallowed nervously. “What was your idea?” Luna clapped her hands together and reached for a different piece of paper. “It’s really quite simple: I will attend this Friday’s party. I want you to convince Diamond Tiara to come with you and Lily. We can stop her at the door, expose her plot, and remove her as editor of the school paper.” “Diamond Tiara? Attending the party too?” Scribe started to laugh. “Fat chance of getting her to do that.” “Mister Scribe!” Scribe instantly sobered up. “I’m terribly sorry, Vice-Principal Luna. I forgot who I was talking to for a moment.” “Understandable.” Luna’s expression softened and she passed the paper to him. Scribe read it and his eyes widened for what felt like the millionth time in the past hour. “You want me…” He tried to recompose himself when his voice cracked slightly. “You want me to assume the duties of editor in Diamond Tiara’s place?” Luna nodded. “It would be unfair to remove the paper from everyone’s course club credit at such a late juncture. This third strike would still be within the rules, and as we could prove that Diamond Tiara herself was orchestrating the plot to infiltrate a camera into a naturist club on campus. We could take the power away from her.” Luna sighed and returned to her seat. “This would mean explaining to my sister about the club, and Spoiled Rich, as they would want to know why Diamond was being punished so excessively. That being said: I am confident that everything will align in our favor.” “Your favor. Officially, I’m not involved with the NLAC,” Scribe pointed out. “Wouldn’t you enjoy attending further parties in the summer?” Scribe shook his head. “I think I’ll stick with my own backyard. A lot less stress that way. Still… if you can figure out a good way for me to convince Diamond to be there on Friday, I can get behind this. But only if you have a foolproof method of getting her there.” Luna smiled. “I’m certain I can discern a plausible method of engineering this confrontation. Now, for the rest of your detention I suggest you get some studying done.” Scribe nodded and moved from the desk to the table across the room. Pulling out his text books he moved to sit down and then paused. “Vice-Principal Luna.” “Yes?” “Would it be alright if I just took my shirt off?” Luna smiled faintly and indicated he may with a nod of her head. Scribe broke into a wide smile and took off his shirt. “It’s not ideal, but at least I can be a little comfortable while I work.” “And now you know why I have the robe in my office,” Luna said with a chuckle.