See What Precipitates
Facets is one of those places that seems immune to change. I hadn’t been in the place in decades, but it still looked like someone had decided to build a bar in a smoking room that had somehow lost its old boys’ club. Same dark wood interior, same gloomy lighting, same thick-built furniture. When I walked up to the bar, I spotted a slight discoloration, relatively fresh varnish over a bit of graffiti I’d scratched into the countertop the last time I was here just to see if it would be waiting for me if I ever returned. A question to the bartender confirmed that he was Sparkling Wine Junior, the previous one’s son.
Once I was satisfied that some people just can’t stand excitement in their lives, I ordered a shotglass of something brown and moved to the booth in the far corner. There she sat, looking into a half-empty glass as though the meaning of life were looking back. Save for the wrinkles and the gray hairs, it could've been a scene from forty years ago. Of course, back then, I wouldn't be going bald, and my jacket would've still had most of the original material.
I put on a winning smile. “Hello, Abacus.”
She looked up and sighed. “Of course.”
Not what I’d expected, but I could run with it. I sat on the opposite side of the booth. “I hadn’t even asked yet, but thank you.”
Abacus rolled her eyes. “Not that. I was just thinking, ’The one good thing that came from all of this was that I was able to avoid Discord.’ Then you appeared, as if by…” She sneered. “By magic. Don't tell me you were involved in that embarassment yesterday.”
I chuckled and shook my head. “No, I’ve just always had an incredible sense of timing.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Incredible. Yes, that’s certainly one way to put it.” She looked at my glass. “I thought you didn’t drink.”
“I don’t. The universe is far more interesting when sober. This is just a prop so Junior over there doesn’t give the stinkeye.” I grinned. “I’m not even sure what it is. I just picked a bottle at random.”
Abacus glared at me, clearly unamused. “What are you doing here?”
She wasn’t trying to chase me out of the booth. It was already going better than I’d expected. “Because I think you could use some help.”
Abacus scoffed. She'd always been excellent at it. “As though you ever cared about anyone but yourself.”
I felt myself frown at that, the mask slipping. “I really did love you once. I like to think you reciprocated.”
She took a deep breath. Her eyes darted to her glass. She emptied it, then said, “Yes, I think I’m drunk enough for this conversation now.” She looked back at me. “We were both young and foolish, John.” I admit, I got a little thrill from her using my first name for the first time in far too long. “Now we’re both older, and I have learned.”
I smiled, matching her thin smirk. “There’s the woman I married.”
Her smirk wilted into a bitter scowl. “And the one you divorced.”
I sighed. “No, that’s the one I divorced. Important distinction. And really, we divorced one another. It was a mutual act of mercy.”
Abacus leaned back, her arms crossed. “Is this your idea of helping me?”
“No, this is my idea of trying to break the ice. Now we can get to the help. And you really do need it.”
“I need no such thing, especially not from you.” She looked away. Still, she wasn't leaving.
“You’re sulking, Abacus. It’s just like when we were in college. You go to Facets, sit in this booth, stare at the wall behind me, and drink. If someone had been sitting here beforehand, you glared at them until they felt awkward enough to leave.”
She couldn’t meet my eyes. “It was vacant.”
“Lucky for them, then. But whenever you get like this, you’re always totally convinced that you’re doomed until I can show you the possibilities you hadn’t considered." I sighed. "I just hope you’ve found someone else to do that since we broke up.”
Now she could make eye contact, and she threw in her worst scowl yet to boot. “I am doomed, John. Or did you not notice yesterday’s debacle?”
“Well, you know me. I’ve always been allergic to school spirit. I’m just there to teach, not to get involved in Celestia’s daycare regimen. Even when the students started making a habit of violating physics, I couldn’t bring myself to go to something with a name like the Friendship Games.” I gagged.
She smiled in spite of herself. “The name predates us both, though it does come from Canterlot High. Principal Platinum in the forties, if I’m not mistaken.”
Just like her to research the history of a high school-level intermural event. Of course, I didn’t say that. “In any case, it really isn’t as bad as you’re making it out to be.”
“Isn’t it? Cadence told me what happened after I managed to leave with some dignity intact." Abacus snarled. "That girl is lucky I didn't fire her on the spot, but if I'm going to give the school any hope of a future, I'll need her to take my place."
I frowned. "I think you're getting ahead of yourself. What happened at the Games?"
"They declared the two schools both winners. Putting aside the utter pablum of the statement, Crystal Prep has now gone on record as being the equals of Canterlot High." Abacus threw her hands into the air. "Do you know how disastrous that is?”
“No, but I get the feeling I’m about to find out.”
All of the energy seemed to drain out of Abacus. She rested her elbows on the table and her head in her palms, something I'd never seen her do before. “Crystal Prep is founded on a logical fallacy.”
“I find the best things in life are.” I managed keep the “Apparently, so is your school” to myself.
“We have the best facilities, the best faculty, the best of everything. We can afford them because we also have the highest tuition of any private school in the state, and because we receive incredibly generous donations from alumni." She looked up at me. "Do you see the problem?”
I nodded. “You have the best because you are the best, and you are the best because you have the best. Other than me.”
She let my aside go without comment. “My foolish actions yesterday broke that circular logic. The alumni will be furious. Parents are sure to question why they’re paying so much if their students will benefit just as much from a public school where, if rumors are to be believed, the admissions process consists of walking through the front doors.”
I chuckled. “We do seem to get more than a few extradimensional beings that way.”
“Twilight Sparkle will be far from the last transfer, I’m sure.” Abacus shook her head. “I have lived in fear of this day for my entire tenure as principal. Every day I built up Crystal Prep’s reputation, I knew that it would crush me one day. The school is going to be reduced to a shell of its former self, and I will forever be remembered as the one who let it happen, which is no less than what I deserve. This is all my fault and there's nothing I can do about it. And if you don't stop playing the world's smallest violin, I will not be responsible for my actions!”
I reluctantly separated thumb and forefinger. “Sorry, I thought that needed the proper ambiance. Really, though, when you tell a girl to unleash a fifth fundamental force on an unsuspecting universe, you should expect some blowback.”
She glared at me. “Aren’t you supposed to be helping me?”
I shrugged. “I need you to want to be helped. I can offer all the advice in the world, but it won’t mean anything if you’ll refuse it because it’s me giving it.”
“Can you blame me? For all I know, you’re here as Celestia’s catspaw, trying to convince me to accept the gospel of friendship and some ludicrous happily-ever-after where the two lovers reconcile.”
I laughed at that, only managing to stop myself after a good ten seconds. I held up a hand and said, “I’m sorry. The very idea!” I shook my head. “No, no, this is reality, magical teenagers notwithstanding. I’m not here to instigate any kind of fairy tale ending, and I'm certainly not here at Celestia’s behest. I’d be surprised if she knew I was even in the city. I’m not here as an ex-husband or a Canterlot High teacher. What I'm trying to be is your friend, because you could really use one right now.”
“Oh. Really?" Abacus dragged out the question so much, it almost sounded slurred. "And how will a friend help save my school from my foolish acts?”
“The same way I always have, by offering a perspective you never considered. Are you willing to listen?”
She rolled her eyes. “If it will get you to leave, then yes.”
I shrugged. “I suppose I’ll have to take it. Your problem, Abacus, is that you have never been able to appreciate how a weakness can be a strength.”
“My problem, John, is that Crystal Prep’s reputation is both.”
I held up a finger. “That is a case of a strength being a weakness. That’s not what I’m talking about. I mean turning a worsening situation to your advantage, You tried to do that with Miss Sparkle and her magic, but that was just attempting to use a strength you didn’t understand. Here, your weakness can easily be leveraged in your favor, if you just swallow a little pride.”
Abacus physically recoiled at that, eyes wide and head back. “My pride is all I have left!”
“On the contrary. You have a lot to lose, and therefore you have a lot.” She didn’t seem wowed by this impeccable logic, but I pressed on. “It’s all a matter of spin. Crystal Prep isn’t getting worse, Canterlot High is getting better. The Friendship Games have gone from a quadrennial spanking to a genuine rivalry. This is a good thing! You can talk of the need for additional support, the continuing struggle for dominance. It’s classic Cold War rhetoric!”
"I'll look pathetic," said Abacus. "The alumni only stopped comparing me to Sombra a few years ago, and then only because the ones who still remember him are mostly too senile to complain. I have standards, John, something you never seemed to understand. I expect nothing but the best from myself and my students. No amount of clever phrasing will hide the fact that I failed to deliver our best when it was expected of us. As I said, I deserve what's coming to me. I'm not going to try to dodge it."
I shook my head. "And sitting in here and letting the donors and parents come to their own conclusions is your best? The Abacus Cinch I knew would never give up without a fight."
"She would when she knew there was no point in fighting." Abacus focused on a corner of the table.
I tilted my head. "Is... Is that guilt?"
"Twilight reminds me of myself at that age. Brilliant, focused, driven. Even more so than I was, if I'm honest with myself. She was my star pupil, and I chased her out because I fixated on her, because I had no faith in my other students to succeed. Not against winged mutants and whatever other magical tomfoolery your school had waiting for us." Abacus took a deep breath. "I feel like the woman I've become betrayed the girl I was. I look back on my life, and I start seeing mistakes where once I found pride. All I wanted was to make children live up to their fullest potential, to be the guiding hand at the rudder in the stormy seas of puberty. How did this happen? How did so much time go by so quickly and so poorly?"
"How much," I said slowly, "have you had to drink tonight?"
She laughed at that, a throaty chuckle I'd heard far too infrequently even when we were close. "Enough to have an overdue mid-life crisis, it would seem." She brought her gaze back to me. "You really think that bunch of hogwash will actually work?"
I gave her a warm grin. "It will definitely work better than your current methods."
"I suppose it will." Abacus slid out of the booth. "Thank you, John. This was... surprisingly not unpleasant."
"You aren't unwelcome," I said as I got out myself. "Best of luck."
"You know I've never believed in luck."
"And I've always believed we make our own."
And the two of us left the bar, just happening to walk side by side.
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Before reading, I have to ask the question: which of them is the major villain here?
Is Discord even a villain in the Humanoidverse? Or is Cinch the villain?
Actually, her motivations in Friendship Games just reek of "someone else's patsy." She knows just enough to get into some major trouble, but not enough to grasp why she shouldn't.
What I'm not sure of is this -- just who would be Cinch's analogue in the Ponyverse?
Pffft, you just uploaded this story because my rapid uploading was making you look bad!
...
>Goes to read story immediately
reactiongifs.us/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/upvote_tyrion.gif
Seriously, I loved it. Concise yet well warped. We need more stories about antagonist being more than mere obstacles for the heroes to overcome.
This brought a very realistic and interesting dimension to Cinch's character, both in terms of her having past relationships, and in terms of her having doubts about her own actions. While in the movie she comes across as certain of her own actions, regardless of how misguided they seem, here we see an interpretation of Cinch as conflicted, driven by the same suffocating pathology as her students.
Very well done.
Nice story, bro. You know, I didn't realize earlier it was you who wrote it. Figures you'd make me feel sympathetic towards Cinch of all people.
Impressive fan, a worthy opponent you are.
6823759 None so far. Though the obvious answer would be a dickish administrator at Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns or some rival school
6825813
I have a good handle on two of the three subversive conspiracies against the Realm fomented by the NIght Shadows and Random Flag.
There's Windvane's Rebellion, for the Pegasi.
There's the Leveller Uprising, for the Earth Ponies.
That leaves the Unicorns. They need a vile noble conspiracy.
I'm thinking Cinch is part of it.
This is one of those stories that leave me with really nothing to comment on. There's nothing that's badly done about it, but at the same time, it feels like there is nothing to really say about it, either. Two people meet, they talk and then they part again. Except for the context it's set in, it feels like one of those things people are always doing for creative writing classes.
You're really trying to get a-hold of the "Favourite Author" spot, aren't you?
6823759
The best (and only) presentation of pony Cinch I've seen is Baal Bunny's This Side of the Mirror, where she was Sombra's second-in-command, nearly as feared as he was.
Cinch herself is definitely a villain in Disney tradition. She's a thin Ursula with no need for magic in her deals with poor, unfortunate souls; a secular Frollo looking after a cute purple Quasimodo. Midnight Sparkle may be the threat, but Cinch is the one who pushed Twilight to unleash the magic.
As for Cinch's motivations, they were one of my gripes with Friendship Games. After two movies where the fates of worlds hung in the balance, a scenario where the antagonist's victory would only perpetuate the status quo felt like something of a letdown. I went into the movie hoping that there would be some darker reason why Cinch insisted on maintaining the winning streak, whether it was some compact with dark forces or simply a deal with the mob. But no, there doesn't seem to be anyone behind her. She's just really obsessed with reputation.
But I could work with that. If there was no external pressure forcing Cinch to obsess over winning, perhaps the internal pressure was enough. What would happen, I asked myself, if she did fail? What does she fear? What could she lose? That's when I hit upon the circular logic keeping Crystal Prep afloat. Any institution with an incredible winning streak suffers from the same problem as Batman: They have to win every time, while their opponents have to win only once. A tie is close enough in Cinch's mind.
As for knowing just enough to doom herself, that's hardly unusual. For quite some time, only one person in the entire human world knew anything concrete about magic, and only because she hailed from another, more magical universe. All Cinch saw were the winged students and trained attack plants. All she knew was that she was working at a disadvantage and she needed to win to keep Crystal Prep from collapsing under the weight of its own reputation for another four years. So she told Twilight to open the spectrocapacitor, hoping that it will somehow help. She didn't think she had any other choice.
At least, that's how I see it.
6823706
Yes.
6823933
Agreed. Actual people are always preferable to mustache twirlers. Especially when they're women.
6825112
Pretty sure no one else has tried to. It's the cute factor. People leap to the sirens' defense, but no one gives any thought to the hatchet-faced woman.
6826329
Fair enough. The story was mostly meant to explore an area of character space largely overlooked by the fandom thus far. The narrative itself kind of took a backseat to that.
I guess this story isn't really meant to change something, just a peek on Cinch's aftermath of Friendship Games. Though I didn't expect Discord, this is a good read.
This is exactly the kind of fic I was hoping to see. Much as people love the Dazzlings, I can honestly say that Cinch has always interested me more, because I was always asking these kinds of questions about her with regards to motivation. She just does so much more to fire up the imagination for me, and new interpretations of her like this are fascinating to me because of that.
I know I was joking when I said in that blog of yours that you should only write about Cinch from now on, but for real, we need more stories about this character, both from you, and from this site in general. Cinch is best human. Because Sunset is a pony.
6826424 well if they are, they have got my vote for this piece alone.
6823759 Probably a stuck up Magic Teacher who bashes even on Celstia behind her back.
Almost makes you understand why she did what she did. Almost.
I find that hard to believe, all things considered.
That's the tricky part in the "opposites attract" motife. You need to make certain that both parties understand, appreciate, and if possible, benefit from the differences between them.
6826461
I have a moderately successful story where I kinda tried to get into her head, but apparently people were even more irritated with Cinch in the story than in the movie
Although the reception has been mostly positive. (It's my only story here, but I'm in the process of doing a sequel).
Haven't read yours yet since it's way too late over here right now, but I'll do it as soon as I can (probably tomorrow at work
) because I love Cinch's character. Maybe you could check out mine sometime as well? It's short.
I wonder what was the nature of Discord's chaoticness.
*first thinks of-*
i.ytimg.com/vi/cn-Drd_iFhI/maxresdefault.jpg
I like this. I would've never thought of giving these two a history together but now I love hte idea.
For the record, I had also decided that Human Discord's full name should be John Q. Discord. I'll probably never use him in an EG fic, but for awhile I toyed with the idea.
What subject does he teach? I'm thinking literature, with a focus on poetry. I'd love to hear his interpretations of classic authors.
This is good. I can imagine the kind of pressure someone with this job would have, and what kind of terrible reputation hit would occur when a public school equals (or outperforms) the private school.
It's not like she still didn't make a mistake or anything, pushing Twilight like that, encouraging terrible things to happen, with coercion and bribery, but it does put what she did in a lot of perspective.
A lovely character piece, this. Great work in making Cinch sympathetic. It's nice to see a least one good showing for her amist the endless inexplicably reformed siren fics.
Hm. . . Discord and Cinch. Not a very common pair, but I'm glad you chose to write about them.
This actually works surprisingly well. I've never hated Cinch, but I didn't like her either; in this universe, at least, I can now understand her. Discord really adds to this story, and doesn't seem to break character despite the fact that I never would have imagined him in such a setting before. Maybe I'm being too nice to this story because I liked it, but hey, I liked it!
Why isn't this tagged as "drama". Doesn't it essentially contain some?
6828051
In all honesty, I can't really figure out what that tag is supposed to be for in the first place. Every story would need to be tagged Drama by that logic, because they all do that to a degree. Every play is a drama literally by definition.
6828188 Well drama to me is when there is moralist bs, lamentation like this and when you litteraly write a drama.
6826762
Who's to say Cinch wasn't shy and afraid of others when she was young? Maybe what reminds her the most of herself about Sci-Twi are Sci-Twi's flaws.
6826424
Only in the sense of trying to provide good stories.
6826667
) Still, if I get more ideas for Cinch stories, I'll be sure to explore them.
I can't promise a great deal more. My inspiration has a tendency to drift (even if it does gravitate towards certain ponies.
6826762
A serious, dedicated student who'd rather focus on academics than surround herself with idiots? From Cinch's perspective, it's like looking into her own memories. Though Twilight's greater pliability proved useful as well.
6827082
Sometimes the most unexpected thing you can do is a random act of kindness. Especially when that act benefits someone who never even expected to see you again, much less be glad they did.
6827515
My usual headcanon has him teaching physics. He started studying it in the hopes of finding loopholes and came to appreciate the beauty and surprising ludicrousness of the world around him. He may be the only person on the planet who intuitively understands quantum physics.
6827913
Yeah, I still remain unconvinced that the sirens are psychologically capable of shame. But Cinch, loathsome as she is at times, is human, with all of the emotional complexity that that entails. Someone needed to be her advocate, at least for one story.
6827995
In my experience, Discord is best when you aren't expecting him.
6828051
The same reason it doesn't have a Comedy tag; the drama isn't the main focus of the story and the atmosphere isn't designed to promote the dramatic beyond the bounds of what would normally be expected in this sort of situation. Plus, it doesn't last all that long.
6828531
6828628
All I'm saying is that I think if Cinch really saw herself in Twilight, she wouldn't have threatened her future the way she did. Personally, I generally prefer stories where she learns her lesson and changes her ways, such as in Jay-the-Brony's Of Wondercolts and Shadowbolts (although part of that may have been because she was one of the character's mother). Of course, I also enjoyed the karmic kick in the teeth Darth Link gave her in Aftermath of the Games. I'm only human.
John Q. Discord is such a perfect name.
6828793 *names future child that, regardless of gender*
John Q. Discord. I love it.
6826461 EXCUSE ME PRINCESS! I happen to LIKE mustache twirling villainy. I've got my card and everything. As a proper villain knows you don't need actual motivations. You just make the heroes think you have them so you can abuse their sympathies to further your plans. There is absolutely no chance that my mustache twirling antics are a cover for anything.
Is his last name what I think it is?
Edit: Oh, I guess he's still named Discord; right. I half-expected it to be a nickname and his real one to actually be De Lancie.
This. I like this.
I wondered how Sunset and the Dazzlings pulled that off without any paperwork to speak of.
I like that this leaves open whether they were calling her "as bad as Sombra" or "not as great as Sombra". I mean, for all we know this universe's version is a beloved ex-principal with maybe a bit too much fondness for stairs.
Okay, reading this through, it's both amusing and pleasant how much we agree on Cinch about. Some of the same ideas here that I had: Sombra as the previous principal, the possibility of Cadence replacing Cinch to save the school (which was an ending I've considered for my story but chose to drop), Cinch having a certain amount of respect for Twilight despite treating her like she did, and feeling guilt about it (which is just something I'm looking to touch upon in a sequel, but it's definitely there in my mind). Heck, Cinch's entire reasoning for the "...->reputation stays spotless->school stays the best->..." cycle is pretty much exactly what I imagined, though much more eloquently put through her words that I ever could.
All in all, I think this does a much better service to Cinch's character than I managed with my attempt, and in much fewer words, too. I'm definitely glad that this story exists and that I read it!
First time I've seen anything approaching a good reason for Cinch's villainy. Good job.
This was a great little read. Definitely worth a like and favorite.
I think you nailed both human Discord and Cinch quite well here. Also I have to agree with you on Disclrd's name, it not fitting in is it fitting in. That and John Q Discord also gave he a really great laugh to boot.
6828722
"You foolish girl, you don't understand what you're doing! I've been there, I know what you think and how you feel. But I have forty years of experience and wisdom that you lack. I'm not going to let you sabotage yourself, even if that means I need to threaten you!"
Rationalization is a powerful, powerful force.
I've gotta stop reading fanfiction when I'm tired.
When I first saw the name "John", rather than wondering who this person is, my mind immediately pulled a Pinky (of the Pinky and the Brain kind) and started wondering, in how many parallel universes is Tirek's full name "John Tirek" and how many of them are jaunty wrecks?
6833119 Delancey. John Delancey, look him up.
6835377
It's "de Lancie" and I'm well aware who he is. (And, if I weren't, it'd be pretty damn obvious when I got to the end and saw "John Q. Discord" in the author's note)
I was just commenting on how strange my brain gets when sleep-deprived.
6835384 Alright, sorry. Didn't mean to offend.
6835395
Actually, I should be apologizing. Usually, I'm pretty good about compensating for the lack of vocal cues in online communications but, lately, I've been so addled that I've been coming across as snippy when I don't mean to.
(Ugh. And I'm really getting tired of how, for the last few months, I've had to log out and log back in before every comment if I want them to post successfully. Nothing else on the site is broken this way.)
683550 I still should apologize, my comment was incredibly snide.
Wow. This was really good! And I was in just the right mental mood to read it; I could hear their voices and everything (a trick that only works for me once in a while, and probably has something to do with your excellent writing). Very nice job, and great work making the villain sympathetic. =) It's nice to get a different perspective sometimes, and to remember that even the "bad guys" have a soul down there somewhere.