Principal Cinch sat in her oversized revolving chair, haunched over as she scribbled her signature to petitions and requests with her fountain pen. Her aching hand, the sounds of the pen scratching on the paper, and the velvety texture of her chair did very little to drive her mind away from the real troubles brewing in her mind. Crystal Prep's reputation was nearly shot. Those students at Canterlot High used magic as an unfair advantage to win over her students. That monstrous brat, Twilight Sparkle became a she-demon who opened rifts to another dimension inhabited by ponies, of all creatures! And just when she would expose Principal Celestia and her school for using magic, creating a major disturbance, and giving Twilight's dog the ability to speak, her own students and her loyal dean, Cadence turns on her! They taunted her for trying to tell the whole school board about what happened, and they challenged her to try; they would never believe her.
"Those stupid fools! They think they can make a mockery out of me, the principal of the most prestigious prep school in all the state!" Cinch grumbled as wrote down her signature to another form without looking. "I have never been so humiliated in all of my life! Not only has Crystal Prep failed to win this year's games, but that Celestia had to declare both of our schools winners! If those fools think they can win because they had to use their magic, then they have another thing coming to them! The Shadowbolts will win the games next year, one way or another!"
A soft rap on her door pulled her away from her monologuing. "Come in," she said, not looking up to see who was coming into her office.
"Principal Cinch? May I have a word with you for a moment?"
Cinch looked up from her work when she heard the soft words of her dean, Cadenza speak to her, seeing the young, slim figure of the pink-skinned woman looking back at her with a mix of sadness and remorse. "Oh, Dean Cadence, of course you can," she said with a heaved sigh as she placed her pen back into her inkwell, adjusted her glasses and placed both hands on top of each other. "What is it that you need to speak to me about?"
Cadence looked away for a moment with dejection. "Well, it's a couple of things I wanted to talk to you about. First off, I'm here to talk about Twilight's transfer to another school."
That brought Cinch to her attention. "Ah, yes. Given what's happened at Canterlot High School with Miss Sparkle's... oh, how should we put it? Behavior?... she will not be allowed to attend the Everton Independent Study Program anytime soon." Cinch reached for her file cabinet, pulled it open and took out Twilight Sparkle's file, her permanent record cleared of dust from its recent use as she read over a recent addition.
"In fact, I have written here that she had deliberately tried to sabotage the Friendship Games for both schools, put the lives of students in danger, and caused thousands of dollars in property damage," Cinch read, trailing her dainty finger. "Crystal Prep will be quite fortunate that I will be using these facts to present to the school board meeting next week as a cover story for what really happened."
"That's not what I meant," Cadence said, her tone becoming direct and stern from the given facts. "I came here to tell you that Twilight has already transferred to another school. Canterlot High."
Cinch's eyes widened. She placed the file on the desk and looked at her dean with as little anger as she could muster. "What did you say?"
Cadence cleared her throat. "I talked to Twilight before we came back. She said she had a lot to learn about friendship, and she would learn it better if she stayed at the school with her friends." She pulled out a folded piece of paper out of her pocket and handed it to the principal to swipe it away from her grip. "This is her school transference letter. I already filled out the blanks and signed my name so it could be finalized."
Like Cadence had expected, Cinch swiped the letter away, unfolded it, and read over the contents. As she trailed her lavender eyes down the paper, her hands tightened on the sheet, crumpling it under her grip from her newfound anger. With that anger, she looked back up to Cadence and slammed the letter down hard on her desk. "This is an outrage! No one is allowed to transfer from Crystal Prep to that accursed school without MY permission, least of all, you! You are the dean of this school! You cannot sign a letter of transference without the proper signature from a parent or a legal guardian!"
"No, it doesn't have to be from the principal for the decision to be approved," Cadence said with a stoic face, "and if you've read that file over like you've done so many times, then you would've remembered that I am also Twilight Sparkle's legal guardian. I have as much right as a parent to have my child transferred to another school with our permission, especially from a 'prestigious' school where she never fit in with anyone here!"
Cinch growled, gritting her teeth so hard they threatened to shatter. "How dare you, you disloyal ingrate! I'll have you fired for going behind my back like that!"
"And that's another thing I came to talk to you about, Principal Cinch," Cadence said, suddenly standing up. "You're not going to fire me..."
She took another folded piece of paper, unfolded it, and slammed it harder on Cinch's desk.
"Because I quit!"
Cinch recoiled with surprise not from how sudden her dean moved, how she raised her tone at her, nor from how she slammed on her mahogany desk. What made her eyes widen and gasp was what was written on the paper when Cadence moved her hand from it. It was an immediate notice resignation letter, from the dean to the principal, written and signed in unchangeable ink.
Cinch haunched over the paper with her arms supporting her weight, a little drop of sweat trickling down the side of her cheek. Her mouth was agape, her eyelids were opened at full capacity, and her breath was caught in her lungs. Her hands curled into fists as she jerked her head up to face her soon-to-be former dean. "What is the meaning of this, Mi Amore Cadenza!?"
"You know full well what the meaning of this is, Abacus Cinch!" Cadence shot back, getting close into the principal's face. "You tried to destroy Twilight, and even after what's been done already, you're still trying to destroy her!"
Cinch stood up to face Cadence. "What do you mean?" she hissed.
"You've put Twilight into an uncomfortable situation when she was feeling at her lowest, you and the students pressured her into releasing that magic with her amulet just so Crystal Prep could win the games, and you have the absolute nerve to call her a monster when it was you who turned her into one before running off like a coward! If that wasn't enough, you now tell me that Twilight was unfit to go to any school in the state because of that incident that you helped instigate! Twilight would've been killed in that incident if it wasn't for that student from Canterlot High saving her life, and if she was, then all of the blame would've been pointed at you and the school for the most part!"
Tears began to brim on the bottom of Cadence's eyes. "You know, if Twilight died, I would've done nothing more than report you to the authorities for conspiracy of murder! But now that Twilight is back to normal and staying at another school, this is the most I can do now. I've stood by while you've put other vulnerable students in the same situation, threatening to take their dreams away if they didn't do what you wanted them to. And you say you've done all of that just so you can maintain this school's reputation when it was all just a guilt trip so you could maintain yours? What kind of principal would put the needs of themselves before their schools and the students you promised you would help educate?"
Cadence stood up straight, crossing her arms and glaring at her intimidated boss. "Well, do you want to know the answer to that question?" she asked, dropping into a whisper. "It's the same kind of principal that nearly let the world be destroyed by using a frightened student, who happens to be my little sister-in-law!"
A prolonged silence lingered in the air as Cinch was completely taken aback, shocked by the accusation that struck her chest like an arrow. Cadence looked down on the principal before she closed her eyes, humphed, and turned to walk out the door.
"Cadence, wait! You don't know what you're doing!" Principal Cinch called out, standing up and holding her hand out in desperation. "You are the only person here that's good enough to keep this school in line! If you leave know, then who's going to help run this school better!?"
"Why don't you ask custodian Discord for some help?" Cadence answered with venom. "After all, he's the only person in this school who can get away with telling a joke in Crystal Prep, and I'm sure that he'll make this place seem likable than it is now."
"You cannot be serious!"
"She's as serious as she needs to be, Principal Cinch," a masculine voice came from the opening of the door. Cinch looked to the door and saw a member of the alumni standing at the opening, giving her a half-asleep, serious look that she overlooked from desperation.
"Shining Armor! Thank goodness you are here!" Cinch cried out. "Tell me you can change Cadence's mind about all of this! Tell me she can't quit like this!"
"Actually, Principal Cinch, she can," Shining Armor replied flatly, "because I'm resigning my membership in the alumni list."
That statement rubbed lemon juice in Cinch's proverbial scars as it was Shining Armor's turn to pour out his accusations. "When I graduated from Crystal Prep with a valedictorian and a place in the alumni, it was a real honor. I actually felt that Crystal Prep was one of the most important milestones I've ever stepped on because it helped me get my dream career as a police lieutenant at the Canterlot City Police Department. That was where I felt I would help bring order and justice to the city where I grew up in and where I vowed to protect. Where I would be closer to my family.
"But when I hear from Cadence that the people from Crystal Prep turned my little sister into a demon, I felt crushed. I couldn't imagine that that the principal of my former prep school, the same person who taught me everything there is about how to excel my life, was the ringleader who flipped the weight of the entire school onto Twilight's back and made her snap under all that pressure. Now when I look back at the last meeting you called me in for, I should've seen how vulnerable Twily was when you made her that damn deal. You knew how she felt, Cinch, and took advantage of her feelings by bribing her with a transfer to Everton if she participated in an event where her own teammates shot her down for every mistake she's made. I should have been there to keep her away from the games... to keep her away from the likes of you. You manipulated my sister, you called her a monster, and now I've lost all respect for you completely."
Cadence walked over to Shining Armor, who pulled her closer with his arm on her shoulder. "The other reason I am here is that I'm helping Twily pack her things. She's staying at our apartment complex located a few blocks away from Canterlot High. She said she found a science laboratory that needed any additions to help the students learn about college-level science and the teacher allowed her to move her machines and her chemistry set there. I'm going to help Twilight pack the rest of her stuff, and then, I am never coming back here again."
Shining Armor pulled away from Cadence, approached the desk, pulled out his resignation letter from his jacket pocket, and placed it on the desk for Cinch to see. "Consider this the last time we meet each other, Cinch. Goodbye."
The couple turned their backs on the stunned principal. As they walked into the hallway, Principal Cinch ran after them, falling to her knees and begging. "Cadence! Shining Armor! Please reconsider! This school will fail without their two former prized students! I can change everything that I've done wrong in the past! I'll take off everything that I've written in Twilight's permanent record! I'll even give up my seat as principal and give Cadence my position if I have to! But without you two, this school will be nothing! Please, you have to believe I can change for the better! You have to forgive me for what I've done to Twilight! You have to give me another chance! Please, don't go! Don't go!"
But the couple turned their gaze away from the pitiful sight. "I'm sorry, Cinch, but we've already made this decision before we even came here," Cadence said. "You are a selfish, cold-hearted, cowardly witch who takes advantage of the students' weaknesses and tries to run them into the ground. Whenever the students need someone like you to help them out of a dire situation, you run away with your tail tucked between your legs. That's not how a principal is supposed to run their own school. A principal has to lead their school forward and make sure that their students get the best education they can get before they can graduate. From what I've seen from you, however, you stand as the opposite of everything that I expected."
Principal Cinch's eyes watered. "No..."
"I've talked to Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna about my resignation as well. They've given me a new job at Canterlot High as an advisor and a student councilor. Apparently, they needed someone to listen to some of the student's problems and see how someone can help them succeed in school and in life. Right now, my first job is to help Twilight succeed with her new life at Canterlot High and help her get along with the students there."
"But..." the broken principal sobbed.
"Let me ask you this: Do you want me back because it's for the good of the students, or do you want me back because it's for your own good? When have you ever put the students first and yourself last, Cinch? When was the last time you've shown how much you've cared for this school and everyone in it? When was the last time you've stopped caring about your reputation for one moment to turn your attention to the wellbeing of your students?"
"Please..."
"Goodbye, Cinch. Don't ever try and reach to me or my friends again."
Shining Armor and Cadence walked away, leaving the middle-aged puppeteer to fall as a pile of pity in the middle of her hall, crying from the weight of her sins placed on her heart. The students present in the hall watched with surprise as they saw their principal blubber in front of them, a few taking a photo or a video with their phones, others walking away from the scene. As the echoes of Cinch's cries became dull, Shining Armor and Cadence turned to another hallway and saw Twilight carrying a box of her machine parts in her hands, having already taken three more boxes of her chemistry kits, computers, and personal belongings into her brother's car with the help from her five Crystal Prep friends.
Twilight stopped for a moment to listen to the cries echoing from her principal, then turned to the couple walking up to her. "I take it that she didn't take the news very well."
Cadence shook her head. "No, she didn't."
Twilight sighed. "It's not really that fair. Just when I was about to know how wonderful it felt to have friends, I have to say goodbye to them, and I've never spent that much time with them since the games ended."
Shining Armor placed a gentle hand on his sister's shoulder. "Don't worry, Twily, you'll find a way to spend some time with them. Somehow."
The lavender girl let her head drop. "Yeah, but what about your place in the alumni, Shiny? What about your job as the dean, Cadence? You were two of the best students who's ever attended this school before, and I feel bad that you have to give that all up just because of me."
"Hey, you're my little sister, and I won't put anything else before you first" Shining Armor reassured, placing another hand on her shoulder and looking directly into her eyes. "Besides, I failed you once when I shut you away from mine and Cadence's engagement party, and I won't let that happen again."
Cadence gently placed her fingers underneath Twilight's chin and lifted her saddened face to meet hers. "Listen to me, Twilight. We're not doing this because we have to, we're doing this because we love you, and we only want what's best for you. You've been through so much already that Shining and I felt that it was time for you to make a big change in your life. We don't care about our titles or our positions in Crystal Prep. We care about you, because you're the most important member in our family."
Twilight smiled at her brother and sister-in-law. She placed her box down on the floor, opened her arms, and gave them both a big hug, propping her foot up with joy. "Thank you so much, you guys. I couldn't have gone through this without you two there beside me."
"It's not just us, Twily," Cadence assured. "You should also be thanking your new friends from Canterlot High, too. They're the ones who really showed you how powerful friendship can be."
"I know. That's why I'm planning on meeting them at Sugar Cube Corner this afternoon after they get out from school."
Shining Armor chuckled, keeping his hand on Twilight's shoulder as he and Cadence walked to the side exit of the building. "Twily, you've really grown out of your shell these past few days. I'm proud of you, kid."
Again, Twilight smiled.
"Thanks, BBBFF."