“And this is the theatre room,” the principal pointed out to the large steel doors. “I trust our facilities are more than enough to accommodate your daughter, Ms. Wings?”
“Oh, absolutely,” Ebony Wings said as she put on her best smile. Since this morning, she had been touring the city of Canterlot, visiting the most acclaimed schools she could find.
Ebony had started far, going to the ones furthest away from home before working her way backwards. Fortunately, the first ones she went to didn’t quite please her as much. One even told her that it didn’t accept students after the semester began, but this current one she was at looked promising. Very promising. And it wasn’t even the slightest bit far from home.
“Now, before we move on the the actual application, I need to know a number of things about your child.” The principal led Ebony Wings back to her office, ignoring the multitudes of uniformed teenagers who stopped to gawk at the visitor, with more than a few of them pulling out their phones to take a picture. “Don’t stare,” the principal told them sternly. “Return to class.”
“I apologize for my students’ behavior,” she said to Ebony Wings. “It’s not every day that such a famous, talented celebrity graces our school with her presence. They’re not usually so… easily distracted.”
“Oh, it’s no trouble at all.” Ebony smirked behind the principal’s back, relishing in the waves of adoration and thinly veiled envy, a smooth and palpable flavor with a pleasantly bitter aftertaste. “I’m quite used to it, I assure you.”
She joined the principal in her office as the woman shut the door behind her before returning to her seat by the wooden desk. It was poorly lit, Ebony noted with a tiny flicker of amusement. Most likely in an attempt to make the owner of it more intimidating. Just the sort of thing she herself might done half a dozen centuries back, if she’d had access to electrical lighting or maybe a brazier or two. It worked better with braziers, Ebony decided. Scented fires in golden cages made you look intimidating; a single dim lightbulb in the middle of a space like this made you look broke.
“Please, sit,” she offered, motioning to the chair opposite her desk before pulling out a stack of papers from a drawer below. “Let’s start with her age. How old is she now?”
Ebony leaned back in the chair and crossed her right leg over her left. “She’ll be eighteen this year.”
“Has she attended any other schools before?”
“No,” the actress shook her head. “I’ve had her homeschooled for her entire life. Tutors mostly, with myself standing in for certain subjects.”
“Tutors, you say?” The principal leaned forward and pushed her glasses up her nose. “Well, I’m sure they’ve been very thorough, but I can see why you’d want to transfer her here. Our curriculum offers a varied and wide variety of subjects that aren’t always covered by tutors, such as archery, advanced chemistry…”
Underneath Ebony Wings’ smiling and nodding face, Chrysalis inwardly groaned in annoyance as the other woman began to describe every single facet of their program. The principal, like all the others, was obviously trying to impress her. It was at times like these when Chrysalis really despised modern forensics and legal protocols. Two hundred years ago she could have throttled this long-winded nag and quietly slipped out the window, safe in the knowledge that anyone who came to investigate would rule it as some kind of divine intervention.
“...And our students are the best of the best. We’ve always placed first in any kind of competition out there.”
“Yes, I’m sure your school is one of the best in the region,” The lie had the added benefit of adding an extra bite of pride to the air, sticky and laced with superiority as it was. “That’s why made it a point to choose your establishment first.”
“And I promise you, Ms. Wings, you’ve made the right choice.” The principal pushed the paper across the desk. “If you could just fill this out for me, Ms. Wings.”
The document, or contract, as may have been closer to the truth, was just like its owner: long-winded and ultimately of very little use. Checking a few boxes and filling up some questions, all the while resisting the desire to roll it up and forcibly insert it down the principal’s windpipe, Ebony slid it back and resumed her usual smile.
“Thank you,” the principal said with a face that looked like someone had just stepped on her toes but was trying play it down, filing the paper away into a drawer. “I’ll send you the confirmation letter, as well as the fee, within two days. Thank you for choosing Crystal Prep Academy, Ms. Wings.”
The traffic in downtown was absolutely horrid today.
After making a quick trip to the school’s closest bathroom to let out a much-overdue groan (and frightening a mousy purple girl with glasses in the process), Ebony Wings found herself stuck in afternoon traffic after going out to buy five identical uniforms. It would have been faster to just get out of the car and run back to the estate, but that might have aroused some suspicion. After at least another two hours, Ebony finally eased out of the main road, free to drive down the smaller side road towards home. It only took another six minutes, but Ebony finally arrived at her gates, letting out a sigh of relief as she waited for them to open.
Leaving the car on the front drive, Ebony Wings stomped out and pushed her way through the front doors as Silver Platter greeted her before rushing out to move the car for her.
Ebony wandered into the dining room and sat down as a maid carefully brought a cup of coffee in for her.
"Hey, sis," Psithyra greeted from across the room, lying down atop a fifteenth century chaise lounge. "How was your day? Did you find a school for my favourite niece?"
“She’s your only niece,” Ebony Wings grunted between sips of the bitter brown concoction.
"Exactly. So, did you?"
The actress gave her sister a flat stare. “My day was deplorably dull, I’ll have you know. As if I don’t have enough humans trying to kiss up to me in my line of work already, every single principal has tried to impress me with some kind of so-called unique feature of their school which I could easily have replicated back here. Not to mention all the people taking photos of me wherever I go,” she drained the last of her coffee and dropped the cup back onto its saucer hard enough to crack both.
Psithyra sighed; like nearly everything else in the house, the crockery set was an antique. "Okay, but like every conversation, you completely talked around my question. Did you find a school for Moonglade?"
“Silver Rose, sister,” Chrysalis reminded. They had specially planned a new persona for her daughter to assume for school, while Moonglade would remain the public face.
“Fine. Silver Rose. Did you find a school for her?”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if I was in the papers tomorrow. I’ll certainly be all over the internet, with rumors and speculations abounding,” Ebony Wings gazed at the frieze that was painted onto the ceiling. “Not worth the trouble of all this. I don’t know how I let you talk me into this, Thyra.”
"Cause it's a good idea. Allowing Moon- Silver Rose to explore the outside world gives her the experience you and I had all those years ago. And... Before you forget... Did you find a school yet?"
“I know why I’m doing it,” Ebony Wings snapped. “And the least ridiculous school I visited today was run by some long-winded, utterly incompetent crackpot who seems to be unable to even keep her own office lit. Do you know how tiresome it is, having to put up with someone who just talks and talks about irrelevant things like that for any amount of time?”
Psithyra carefully avoided eye contact with her sister. “I can only imagine how trying that must have been for you,” she said with a roll of the eyes. “But were any of them satisfactory?”
“No.”
“Then when do you plan on looking for one that does measure up to your standards?”
“Never.” Psithyra sat up and caught the school brochure that was thrown her way. “No school out there can possibly measure up to my expectations, and I refuse to do a repeat of today’s fiasco. I’ve decided on that last place, Diamond Prep Academy.”
Psithyra raised an eyebrow, and then the brochure with one finger pointing to the front. “That would be Crystal Prep, your majesty,” she corrected, trying very hard not to laugh at the scathing look her sister was giving her.
“Whatever.”