The Friendship Games are over. Crystal Prep has failed to trounce CHS, Cinch's manipulation of her best student is out in the open, as is the fact that the principal's actions nearly led to the fabric of the universe being torn apart.
Before Cinch can begin dealing with the aftermath, a certain someone invites her for a visit into a land of magic and friendship.
Special thanks to Vikonaut for his incredible patience and thoroughness in his proofreading, and to 7th Outpost for the initial criticism that opened my eyes to the fact that the story required heavy revising.
13.11.2015: Second day straight! Thanks everyone!
Chapters (3)
Be funny if Cinch's form was a alicorn
6617052 I can tell you right away she isn't gonna be an alicorn, sorry. That would've been an interesting scenario but I wanted to keep the story simple. Also thanks for the fav!
Penis.
6617102 Indeed.
6617121
Wow, K, rood. I bet u like poosy, huh?
SO far so good. I bet that she's going to be an earth pony.
6617164 Can't get enough of it!
6617171 Thanks! You'll see soon if you guessed right
A Principal Cinch fic? And it's not just de-humanizing her? Thank you!
I hate it when writers don't take the time to, you know, make their characters human. {It's the sort of thing that annoys me with most people who write Suri Polomare.} So I commend you for this. I'm favoriting because I really want to see what happens and her views on magic and such. It's going to be fascinating seeing her work with it and I just can't wait for more. This is rather well written and a splendid start.
6617264 Thank you! (And for the fav too).
But I completely understand what you mean. The show doesn't often bother to, but it's fun to try and see things from the "bad people's" perspectives.
When I watched the movie I immediately thought that Cinch was secretly not irredeemably evil and actually kind of relatable, but also thought that everyone was gonna demonize the hell out of her because of how much the movie insisted on making her look evil. I just really wanted to get my view of Cinch out there, and so I practically had to write something like this.
Btw, technically Suri isn't a human
And if it seems well written it's mostly thanks to my editor guy, especially on this first chapter, you don't wanna know how bloated and boring it was initially
He really opened my eyes.
huh. okay, THIS story is one i didn't expect to see, and so far i VERY much like where this is going. i can't wait to see what comes of this idea!
*mimes removing an eye, putting it nearby* ill leave this riiiiight here.
6617345 I'm glad you're interested in this story
I'll try not to step on that eye... too much.
You know I can already imagine what Cinch's cutie mark would be when she steps through: A female dog wearing a tiara.
6617572 That's quite subtle of you
6617641 But accurate nonetheless.
Going on my shelf!
I'll bet Cinch's cutie mark is very boring.
Ok, this is an interesting premise. I think I'll have fun seeing where this will go.
Nice. I'm tracking and favoriting it! Also, Imma guess she becomes a unicorn. Idk why, she just looks like she'd be a good unicorn
her Cutie Mark will be abacus beads lined up but not connected,
6617572 ....a play off of diamond tiara's mom's name? Spoiled you know XD
6619166 Close, a Royal B
6617777 Ehh, I would defend her character but you aren't wrong if you take the movie's portrayal at face value...
And if you end up having a different opinion of her in this story, it should come purely from the story itself.
6618594 No spoilers but it kind of is in this story.
6619156 Well you aren't alone in thinking that!
(this is not a hint at what she's gonna be, though)
6619163 That actually might be more clever than what I ended up giving her.
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Thanks!
6620161 May I ask where the logic isn't sensible? To be honest I pretty much had an outcome in mind and tried to weasel my way into explaining why Cinch ends up deciding what I needed her to decide in this chapter to kick off the story, but I think I managed to make it sound reasonable enough for anything that could seem like an error of judgement or out of character to be attributed to exceptional circumstances and whatnot.
And about the two worlds, well, let's just say Twi and Cinch have very different views. It's pretty obvious here already, but Twilight doesn't quite realize the extent of the differences between the worlds which make it less plausible for the human world to turn into a near utopia, even if everyone suddenly agreed to chillax and try. I'm not sure how you will feel about where I go with it (maybe it'll not be explored enough, as in the end Cinch is the center here and her personality, not global psychology, or maybe you'll disagree with something), but it's nice to know you're interested! The rest of it is already more or less done and chapters 2 and 3 will be coming out soon.
With a name like 'Abacus Cinch', I imagined her cutiemark would be an actual old time abacus, surrounded by laurel wreath.
6620750 Well, the meaning of a cutie-mark seems more important than fitting the name (how often do cutie-marks even fit the pony names perfectly?). By the way, there's a pretty thinly veiled hint as to what hers means in this chapter. You just gotta remember a rather loosely explained cutie-mark of someone else with related skills. It's not gonna be relevant in chapter 3 so if you want you can take a guess, no spoiler danger.
6620761 Curious to find out how three diamonds relate to her profession as a teacher and principal.
6620773 As I said, the hint is laid pretty bare in that very scene.
6620750 Yeah
6620778
I've probably missed it, but I'm going to take a guess.
That her talent is being sophisticated, and right now she's just a bit rough around the edges?
6620817 Nope!
This is the hint. Her talent in my interpretation is to take the best students and make them best people - in her own understanding, of course: orderly, tough, brilliant. Something like that!
6620854 Of course! Wow, I was way off
Never would've thought of that. Nice
6620872 Thanks!
Your guess was good too, though.
Also, just for completeness' sake, the somewhat related cutie-mark is obviously Cheerilee's, with her "helping students bloom" nonsense. I figured if that was allowed, this was allowed too, and as a bonus it kind of looks like Cinch's buttons/cufflings/whatever, don't remember, but there were definitely diamond shapes somewhere on her outfit in the movie.
6620890 This seems like a great story so far. I am a bit sad that Cinch turned out to be a pegasus though. It would be a neat thing to see in the future perhaps, Discord coming in and having the option to change what type of pony she is. Discord does have the power to do that after all. It's not my place to dictate how a story should go however, that is for the author to decide. I was just suggesting ideas. Hope you see this, keep up the good work!
6621379 Thanks. The pegasus thing is mainly just for some additional insight into my version of her personality. Should come to light near the end, all subtle-like.
The story was always supposed to be very short and rather simple so I didn't want to explore the tangents unnecessary for the very focus of it. Making her a unicorn would've pretty much demanded I go into all the magic stuff and while it could've been fun, it wouldn't have been relevant to the plot at large (believe it or not, these random scenes in this chapter are actually all somewhat relevant).
Anyway, the story's pretty much written at this point. The third chapter is the last one, and should be up in a day or two at most.
Sorry if that's disappointing
Perhaps I could sequel this up if people remain interested by the end, although finding a non-contrived reason for her to return to Equestria could be challenging.
Wait a second... someone cared enough to make me care about a character I didn't particularly care for?... That's pretty impressive.
6621432 ONLY three chapters?! Nuu, I must have more!
6621432
Her design however seemed to point toward crystal pony; same with Sunny Flare.
It's definitely an interesting concept, though I think it could probably do more than just a few chapters worth of a visit.
Only issue I've had so far is that in your mentioning of the formation of Equestria, you say that the building they were all in froze over, when in reality the leaders of the three tribes hid from the cold in a cave which froze over.
6621432 As I said, it's your story, do with it as you wish. Still great so far though. I hope people keep interested because this is a cool concept.
(Not related to this story.)
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As a side note, I am a huge fan of people from the other world going to Equestria. (E.g. The Mane Six.)
It was even better because Discord transported them there instead of going through the portal, so they stayed in their human forms.
6621698
To be honest, I always considered the pageant storytelling as the "sugarcoarted" version of the story. The real conflict between the tribes or the consequences of the Wendigos´winter should have been more dark and grimmier even in Equestria.
I can't wait to see the look on her face when she finds out that Celestia and Luna are thousand year old diarchs of the world's most powerful empire.
Er... read about it anyway.
6621960 Be that as it may, the three tribe leaders cowering in that cavern IS canonical.
6622164 Even if she doesn't find out about that, imagine her shock when she finds out that her Dean Cadence is actually the ruling princess of the Crystal Empire!
I can't stop staring at her chin, look how bulk it is....
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6621960 I would say "simplified" myself. Could have been worse (ponies frozen for so long they actually died, actual war that ended in messy bloody death) or it could have been better (nopony ever even got frozen completely solid in the first place, they stopped it before things got that bad), but it definitely feels simplified.
On another note, my favorite explanation for the whole thing is that it's actually a result of economics: earth ponies were trying to supply food for everyone, while the unicorns were relying too heavily on their control of the sun and moon and not contributing economically in other ways; when Celestia and Luna took control of the sky, it freed up several unicorns who could either help with farmwork directly (like Trixie) or make useful tools, thus solving the problem in the long run.
Well I'm sure she'll get a kick in the flank soon enough. Still I'm surprised she'd be a Pegasus of all ponies.
Nice fic. Just stumbled across it; faved & followed. Good job giving Abacus an actual personality. I'm guessing Sombra was the previous headmaster?
Nice story so far. I can't wait to read more.
To me, your Cinch seems to be a teacher that became jaded and bitter with age. She could have been one of those great, inspiring teachers that bring out the best in her students but something happened to change her methodology (probably something to do with becoming the principal or the events surrounding that).
There was a scene in the first chapter (the one with wishing she had a convertible instead of her current car but still needing to keep up appearances) that I think ties in nicely with the fact that her wings aren't preened and look like they haven't been used in a long time. She's fettering herself. Her redemption here might come by via letting go of her masks and "spreading her wings".
6621471 Thanks! Glad I managed to do it.
6621590 I could see that, and I think I contemplated making her a crystal pony, but I decided that it potentially brought up more questions than I wanted to answer. I'd have to at least partially go into what exactly saperates the crystal ponies from the non-crystal ones, whether it feels any different to be one, where they came from, etc. (Twilight would definitely ask herself such questions if Cinch came out of the mirror as a crystal pony). Plus, they don't seem to have pegasi, so I went down the easier road.
6621821 Thanks! And yeah, I'm partial to that concept as well. Heck, my favorite type of stories tend to be ones where some character who doesn't belong goes to Equestria. Be it crossover or HiE, no matter how much disdain some have for the latter.
6622394
I always chose to interpret it as the pageant being an overly simplified and romanticized telling of the real story. I mean, whole tribes of ponies must have travelled to the new land, not just the leaders alone, right? That would make no sense. And if that was the case, it would make zero sense for the leaders and their servants to be huddled up in some cave, where's everyone else? But the narration of the pageant follows them so it purposefully omits everything else and changes things up. Plus, the flag they set already has Celestia and Luna on it, while they aren't supposed to emerge until later from my understanding. That's also a very good indication that the story might be altered for the play. 
But if it's actually 100% canon that the cave part is a 100% literal retelling of the real events......well, I guess this story is just a little AU then 
6621960
Is the cave thing really stated anywhere but the Hearth's Warming Eve episode?
6622620
I decided to omit mentioning his name because it felt like unnecessary headcanon and added pretty much nothing to the story.
Thanks! And yes, actually, that was the initial idea.
6622711
Not gonna elaborate yet (so as to not give away how the whole thing ends) but you pretty much get exactly what I'm going for with Cinch!
Well I think you're pretty spot on with pretty much everything you said!
6622164
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I'm afraid she might not react as violently as you're probably imagining. She's pretty tired of the whole horse thing and also not the most expressive of people!
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But, as I said, a sequel is always a possibility if people want it and I can actually come up with a good idea for it.
Not in this story, I'm afraid
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(actually when I initially thought this story through, I almost made her a griffon).
Making her a pegasus turned out to be a funny decision because before it was revealed, in the comments to the first chapter people have guessed alicorn, unicorn and earth pony. Basically anything but pegasus