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// Heart of Sunstone 
// Story: Dueling Keyboards 
// by FanOfMostEverything 
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Abacus Cinch considered the girl before her. A fascinating specimen, really. Crystal Prep had a more flexible uniform policy these days than when she attended, but leather jackets certainly weren’t a common sight, to say nothing of a fourteen-year-old looking her in the eye with such a furious expression. It highlighted the impetuousness that had gotten the girl as far as Abacus’s office.

That far, and no further.

Abacus intertwined her fingers in front of her mouth and let the girl stew for a few more moments, just to see if that glare might wane. Once satisfied that it wouldn’t, she said, “So, Miss Shimmer, why do you want to enroll in Crystal Prep?”

Sunset straightened up in her seat, puffing out in her chest. “You’re the best. So am I.”

The jacket may have been new, but Abacus had seen prospective students wearing this kind of ego as armor many times before. “So you claim.”

“I can prove it,” said Sunset, narrowing her eyes.

“Perhaps you can,” Abacus said with a shrug. She turned her attention to the paltry pile of paperwork before her. “However, you came to us with no academic transcript, letters of recommendation, or even any information about your legal guardians, if any. All you have is a birth certificate provided by…” She made a point of peering over her glasses to scrutinize the document. “Pharynx on the corner of 4th and Secretariat, if I am any judge.”

Sunset blanched. “How… could you say such a thing?”

“Admirable save, Miss Shimmer, if futile. He never has been able to get the watermark quite right.” Abacus leaned back in her chair. “I do not know who you really are, nor do I particularly care. But I trust you see why I cannot allow you to enroll.”

The girl’s reaction was fascinating. There was less rage than Abacus expected, more shock and confusion. Sunset had come into her office with expectations for how the exchange would go and now they had gone off her script. “Without asking me a single academic question?” the girl asked, presumably the next part of the scene.

Abacus shook her head. “While I do appreciate a young woman who understands the importance of reputation, you must bear in mind that we maintain that reputation by not making exceptions. Even for the exceptional.”

Sunset ducked under her side of the desk. The sound of a zipper told of her rooting around in her backpack. For a brief moment, Abacus thought the girl might have snuck a firearm past Cadence’s all-too-trusting good nature, but she soon came back up with something even more unexpected. The crystal was the size of the girl’s fist, and the thunk it made as she placed it against the desk couldn’t have come from paste or plastic. “I don’t suppose there’s any… other way I can convince you?” said Sunset, sliding it towards Abacus.

She slid the ruby back without a blink. “There is not.” Abacus raised an eyebrow. “And really, Miss Shimmer, if this were merely a daycare for the brats of the elite where anyone could bribe their way in, would you even want to attend?”

The girl’s silent, fuming frown admitted she couldn’t refute the point more than any words could.

The click of a pen got her to look up from her sulk to see Abacus writing on a piece of stationery. “However, while my hands are tied, I am not completely heartless.” Abacus allowed herself a small grin. “You remind me of myself at your age: ambitious, focused, frustrated by the ancient fools so enamored with their rules and regulations.”

Sunset hazarded a shaky smile of her own. “So I can at least take an entrance exam?” 

“No.” The girl’s only lesson at Crystal Prep would be a valuable one. She really did need to learn to adapt to the world not conforming to her expectations. “As I have grown older and wiser, I have learned why those rules and regulations were put in place. But I can do my part to make sure such a promising young woman won’t end up on the streets.” Abacus dashed off her signature, folded the letter into a self-sealing envelope, and wrote out an address on the back. “This is the address to Canterlot High School, a thoroughly… adequate institution, and one with a far less stringent entrance process.” She slid the envelope to Sunset.

The girl wrinkled her nose at it. “Adequate?”

Abacus gave a brief huff of laughter at that. “Given this school district? Adequate is high praise. I could refer you to Griffonstone or, stars help us all, Bloodstone. No, Canterlot is a perfectly respectable school, and a letter from me should get your foot in the door with few to no other issues.”

She glared at Sunset, who had until that point made the mistake of relaxing a fraction. “That being said, its principal is kind because she can afford to be, but she has her limits. You will be in her school at her pleasure, and she will have cause to expel you given the slightest excuse.” Abacus let the statement hang in the air for a moment before quirking one corner of her mouth in a smirk. “So, one firebrand to another, don’t get caught.”

Sunset nodded in understanding, taking the envelope and getting to her feet. “I see. Thank you, Principal Cinch.”

Abacus waved her off. “No need for that. It’s my job to see young minds reach their full potential, even if I can’t do it personally.” She pinned the girl with one last hard stare. “Just don’t do anything to make me regret this.”