//------------------------------// // Suppression // Story: Revolution in Blue! // by AppleJTZ //------------------------------// Sitting in front of her desk Indigo wondered how Cinch could work in her office. It was so dark ninety percent of the floor and furniture was hidden in shadows. The girl in the blue clothes had a hard time imagining how anyone could do paperwork in this light, making her wonder if Cinch actually had night-sight. The only things she could see clearly from her position on the chair were the desk in front of her, the trophy shelf on the wall to her right and the two women on the other side of the table. One of them, pink-skinned with a green blazer and skirt was standing quietly at the almost dark window, holding a clipboard in her hands. The other one was walking up and down behind the desk, hands folded behind her back. Each enraged step she took caused her high-heels to clap soundly. “This is one of the biggest violations of the school codex a single student is can conduct!” Cinch harangued at Indigo, glaring down at her. “You know very well, Miss Zap, it is mandatory for all students to wear the Crystal Prep school uniforms during class! Never before anyone has dared to go against this rule! Detention would be a punishment far too mild for this.” The woman in the background cleared her throat. “Please, let us not jump to conclusions” the dean tried to calm the principal, taking a step forward. “Let’s hear what Indi- I mean Miss Zap has to say about this. Maybe there is a reason she is not attending school in her uniform today?” Behind the principal’s back she winked at Indigo. With a huff Cinch sat down at her desk. “Fine” she mumbled. Folding her hands in front of her face she interlaced her fingers, staring over them at Indigo. “Is there a good reason why are you walking through the dignified halls of our school in this… manner?” Having sit slumped in her chair Indigo straightened herself. “You bet there is!” she said boldly, smirking at the principal and dean. “It’s because I’m a rebel, and I’m gonna start a revolution!” Cinch looked irritated at the student, while Cadence silently slapped her hand against her face. “What nonsense are you babbling?!” the principal snapped at her, angrily gesticulating with her hands. “Oh you know what I’m talking about!” Indigo returned, words of confidence flowing out of her mouth like a waterfall. “I’m talking about the injustice and suppression that is brought down on the students of Crystal Prep Academy! We’ve been taking it quietly for years, but now is the time to rise up and tear down the wall between us AND TRUUUE LIIBEERTYY!!” As she shouted this with a big grin on her face she jumped up to her feet, spreading out her legs and holding both her fists towards the ceiling. With a lifted eyebrow Cinch glanced first at her, then at the dean. Cadence threw her arms into the air, looking a little lost as she shrugged. “It seems they are currently covering the revolution in history” she guessed, forcing out a nervous laugh. Cinch took off her glasses. “Maybe I should revise the expansion of the history curriculum…” While the principal rubbed her temple Cadence turned towards the passionate rebel. “Look, I know this is probably very important and exciting to you, but please try to calm down and explain us why exactly you think the school uniforms repress your freedom” she told her. “Try to convince me and the principal with arguments of your ideas, not with pep speeches. It would be for the sake of your cause.” Holding a hand at the side of her mouth she whispered with a pleading look in her eyes: “And for your own!” Indigo looked at Dean Cadence, as if she was irritated she didn’t immediately take side for her. After a moment of silence she dropped her arms and sighed. “Every day, every single student at this school is forced to wear these school uniforms” she began to explain in a more composed manner. “It’s nice to have school spirit and clothes that represent that, but if people have to wear them… there isn’t really a point to it. I think people should be free to wear what they want, even if it means not everybody is going to wear the uniforms. Cause if they don’t, these clothes are like chains put on us – chains that symbolize the repression of our individual spirit and…” “I think that’s enough” Cadence quickly cut her off as her voice got louder again. Cinch had quietly listened. She was looking at Indigo with a bland, almost bored expression, one that still radiated strictness in each contour however. With her long thin fingers she grabbed the edge of her desk, pushing her chair back as she stood up. “Miss Zap” she began, turning her back to the Shadowbolt as she walked over to the window. Despite the shutters being nearly closed she kept her gaze fixed on it as she spoke. “Crystal Prep Academy was founded with the goal of creating an institution where young women and men could be educated in the most dignified manner as possible, in order to sharpen all of their skills to a degree of perfection that would ensure those who managed to graduate a position at the top of society.” Her voice was void of anger or any other emotion as she spoke, except for a certain ring of intellectual superiority that resonated in each word. “Uniforms have been a symbol of this since the very first days of our beloved school. During all the decades students have been taught in these halls they have all been wearing those symbols of dignity and perfection.” She turned around to Indigo, putting a hand on her chest. “I have been wearing them when I attended this school” she stated, walking back towards the desk while waving her hand over to the dean. “Dean Cadence has been wearing them while she was a student here, and you, Miss Zap” she said sternly as she leaned over the desk, pointing her sharp fingernail at Indigo. “You will also wear them until the day you graduate from Crystal Prep Academy!” Standing up straight she mumbled more to herself: “Or have to leave it for some other reason…” Indigo could feel her anger boiling up inside her. Scowling at the principal she crossed her arms. “Well just because something is old doesn’t mean it’s good!” she told her, leaning a little closer. “And maybe it’s about time something changed at this school!” “The uniforms represent the spirit of excellence and academic discipline of Crystal Prep Academy” Cinch stated, also leaning slightly forward. “They are the cages that suppress our individuality!” Indigo yelled, slamming her hands against the desk and bending over it. “Do not dare to speak so lowly of them!” Cinch shouted, her face hovering in front of Indigo’s. “If the school uniforms are so great” Indigo said with a cocky grin “then why do you have to force the students to wear them?” Snorting with rage the principal grit her teeth. “You little…!” The two of them stared intensely into each other’s eyes. A cough then cut into the stare-off, both of them turning their heads to the dean and her appeasing smile. “Excuse me, Principal Cinch, but maybe we should consider Miss Zap’s point” she remarked. The principal stared at Cadence, raising her eyebrows so wide her glasses nearly slid off her nose. “Miss Cadenzia, are you seriously suggesting we should abandon the school uniforms?” she asked, clearly having trouble to keep her composure as she adjusted her glasses. From the background the dean walked to the side of the desk, to a position between Cinch and Indigo. “I don’t mean to abandon the uniforms, or completely abolish the mandatory to wear them” she clarified. “However, there are schools that allow their students to wear casual attire on Fridays. That way they don’t have to go home and change clothes, but can directly start into the weekend. Also, perhaps it would really improve the morale of the students if they could pick their own outfits at least once a week, and-” “What kind of foul deal is this?!” Indigo suddenly chimed in, leading the two adults to look at her in bewilderment. “One day a week? That’s like feeding us with a dry bone!” She stomped on the ground. “I say freedom every day, and I’m not gonna take one step down from it!“ “You are in no position to make any demands, Miss Zap!” Cinch made clear, before turning to her dean. “And as for you, the dressing codex is one of Crystal Prep Academy’s most vital foundations. I don’t intend to loosen it by one-” “FREEDOM!” Indigo screamed the principal into the sentence, then began to sing the national anthem so loud people could hear her outside of the office. “WILL YOU BE QUIET!” Cinch shouted. But Indigo continued to sing, growing louder and prouder. Her fury increasing by the second Cinch kept telling her to quiet down. Watching the scene the dean’s hand again made its way to her face, her other arm tightly pressing her clipboard against her chest as she let out a sigh. When she was about to repeat the first verse again Cinch placed her hand over the girl’s mouth. “Don’t forget the position you are in” Cinch told her calmly, but her tone made clear she was dead serious. Taking her hand off Indigo’s mouth she sat back down, sternly staring up the student standing in front of her desk. “You are here because you broke the dressing codex of this school. For this clear violation of the rules, I will have to punish you.” Indigo was about to object, but before she had the chance to speak Cadence quickly stepped in front of her. “M-maybe a punishment would be a little exaggerated” she hastily said, smiling rather forced. “She didn’t do it in bad faith, but because she believed it was for the better of the school. Also, this is the first time she has done something like that.” “But definitely not the last time!” Indigo grinned. Cadence pushed her elbow into her side, telling her with a glance to stay quiet. “Let’s be lenient and just give her a formal warning” the dean suggested. A little more slyly she added: “After all, as the soccer captain, she shouldn’t be distracted from preparing the school’s team for the big game next week.” Having been rather disinterested before that last argument seemed to make the principal ponder. “Fine” she eventually stated, albeit reluctantly. “I will put mercy before justice and let it slip this one time.” The indifferent look on her face hardened again as she looked over Indigo’s clothes. “However, I will not allow you to continue walking through the halls of Crystal Prep Academy in this attire.” To this Indigo just snickered. “Well what can you do?” she asked, confidently looking down on the principal. “My uniform is at home! Shall I skip school just to go back and get changed? Or do you want me to leave my clothes here and walk out without them?” she asked, winking at Cinch. Cadence was about to interject they had spare uniforms at the school. The beep sound of the intercom however cut her off as Cinch put her finger on it. “What is it, Principal Cinch?” a female voice spoke from the speaker. The principal looked up at Indigo again. Although her face seemed rather calm and composed the student noticed an intense rage burning in her eyes. “Bring me the boxes with the costumes of the theatre group.” Shortly afterwards a woman entered the office of the principal, carrying several boxes in her arms. A few minutes later the door opened once more and the woman with the boxes left again, keeping the door open. The silhouette of a girl was standing in it, her appearance shadowed by the darkness in the office. The shoulders of the figure were slumped and her head hanging low, as if a heavy weight was hanging around her neck. Only very slowly she took as step forward, setting one foot out of the office. The very moment the over-sized brown shoe was on the crystal floor everybody in the hallway turned their eyes towards the silhouette as she walked out. Matching her comically large shoes she was wearing a white clown suit that covered her from neck to foot. Colourful bobbles were swaying on the front of the costume, positioned like a row of buttons. The fabric billowed at her arms and legs, sporting big frills at the end of the sleeves. The goggles on the girl’s head were standing in such a stark contrast to the rest of her outfit, it looked almost more ridiculous as if she had worn a clown’s wig or hat. The students threw rather weird glances at the girl leaving the principal’s office. Almost simultaneously they suddenly broke out into loud mocking laughter. Indigo’s yellow cheeks burned bright red. Staring at the ground in shame she slowly walked through the hallway towards her next class. Behind her the principal stepped out of her office as well, looking after the rebel. She didn’t move a muscle as she watched every other student laughing and pointing their fingers at her. “And do not forget” she called after her “Now that you’ve been warned, don’t expect me to be so considerate the next time you do such a foolish thing.” Indigo didn’t reply, but hung her head even lower. Like a zombie she slurped through the school, dragging her over-sized shoes over the shining floor. She didn’t even seem to notice a group of four girls who were not laughing as she passed them, but staring at her in shock and pity. “Indigo” Sunny whispered, but the girl in the clown costume held up a hand. “Just leave me alone” she mumbled, her voice heavy from apathy and defeat. Sunny, Sour, Sugarcoat and Lemon watched her go by, almost looking as miserable as her. Coming out of the office Dean Cadence walked to the principal’s side. “Isn’t this actually an even greater violation of the dressing codex?” she asked, sadly staring after the crestfallen Indigo. “Now don’t be so nit-picky, Miss Cadenzia” the principal remarked casually, turning around and walking back into her office. Cadence was about to reply something when the door to the office was closed in front, causing the dean to frown.