//------------------------------// // February 2022: "Bureaucracy" (secondary entry) // Story: Eileen's Exhilarating Collection of Extremely Short Fiction // by EileenSaysHi //------------------------------// Let's Just Keep This Quiet Officer Glim Thistlebrush had gotten unsettlingly used to these sorts of calls out of Canterlot High School over the past year. A "sudden wall collapse" during the Fall Formal, some sort of "light show incident" at the Battle of the Bands… and now there were reports of chaos at the Friendship Games. And each time, Principal Celestia, rumored to have scandal-fearing royal relations, had reached into her deep pockets to keep the paperwork clean. Glim walked onto the campus. The iconic Wondercolt statue was in ruins, but everything seemed physically sound otherwise. No one seriously injured. The students had mostly left, barring a few stragglers. Should be fairly easy to write up as a mere competition-related prank gone wrong -- with the right enticement, anyway. He found Celestia. "Evenin', Lest." Celestia sighed. "Evening, Glimmy. Noise complaint?" He nodded. "Noise complaint."