Waiting in Her Office
Firmly pushing the doors open, Abacus Cinch entered Crystal Prep Academy. The click-click-click of her heels hitting the polished stone echoed throughout as she walked briskly down the hall toward her office. Although she was every bit as cold and stony as the school of which was the principal (The Principal as she would think of herself), there was an extra narrowness to her eyes, tightness to her jaw, and tension in her shoulders.
As far as Cinch could tell, she had nothing to worry about. As was thoroughly pointed out to her, the school board was not going to believe any stories about magic. As such, it left her unable to report the events of The Friendship Games, without having to worry about her own reputation. At the same time, however, it also meant that her own actions could not be fully reported either. Additionally, since the games were never finished, it did not count as an actual loss for Crystal Prep. While she could not say they had always won in her years as Principal, she could still claim they had never lost.
However, Abacus Cinch did not become The Principal of the most prestigious school in the state (if not the country) by being passive and letting things work out on their own. She worked hard and made sure everything went her way. If things went differently, she would get ahead of it.
She would get ahead of this. Both she and her school would come out of this just as prestigious and reputable as it has always been.
Opening the door to her office, she found someone waiting for her. She had not been expecting anyone else to be in the school, much less waiting in her office, and it was one of the last people she wanted to see.
Straightening up and taking a deep breath, Principal Abacus Cinch stepped into her office, and shut the door.
"Miss Velvet," she said. "This is a surprise." She stepped forward, hands sliding behind her back. "However, I am quite busy at the moment, so I must ask you to leave."
Twilight Velvet straightened up and looked Principal Cinch with narrowed eyes.
"Yes," she stated. "You must be quite busy to rush here immediately after The Friendship Games." She motioned toward the chair. "Please have a seat. We have something to discuss."
"I'm certain it can wait until another time," Cinch replied. "As I said, I'm quite busy. So I must insist that--"
"I," Twilight Velvet cut in, "insist." She pointed at the seat. "Sit. Down."
Principal Cinch looked at chair, which was on the wrong side of the desk for her to sit in, then back at the woman standing in her office. A fresh sense of anger flared up in her chest. Straightening up more, her lips pressed tighter as she narrowed her gaze. How dare this woman, this writer, come into Cinch's office, into her school, and try to tell her what to do! She would not stand for it.
"Now see here!" Principal Abacus Cinch stated. "Even if you and your husband are both alumni, that gives you no right to speak to me in such a manner!" She moved closer, using her greater height to her advantage. "I expect to be treated with respect and civility at all times. Especially in my office in my academy!"
Twilight Velvet tilted her head to look up at Cinch, blue eyes burning with anger.
"Do not talk to me about civility," Twilight Velvet growled out. "I am being far more civil to you than you would like by not punching you in the face first chance I get. Now, either sit down, or be forced to sit down."
Before Cinch could respond, a weight pressed against her shoulder. Turning to look she found a hand holding onto her, belonging to a man whose dark green skin nearly made him blend in to the shadows. If not for the white shirt and dark red-orange hair, he would be nearly impossible to see.
Curious and suspicious, Cinch turned to look over her other shoulder. There, she found a young woman with lighter green skin and brighter orange hair, dressed in a black suit as well. Stood near the door with her arms, crossed, smirking at Cinch. She held up two fingers, pointing them at Cinch.
"Bang!" the girl whispered, jerking her fingers upwards.
"Please, ma'am," the man said. "It would really be best for all of us if you did as she requested."
Looking from the young woman, to the older woman, to the young man whose hand was on her shoulder. She found herself surrounded in an otherwise empty school, and was certain that at least one of them was capable of physical violence. Clearly they were not interested in listening. As such, her best choice appeared to be doing as they told. To that end, she pulled free of the young man's grip, and sat down.
Reaching into her suit jacket, Twilight Velvet pulled out a smartphone. After a few quick swipes, she turned the screen to face Cinch.
"Do you know what this is?"
Resisting her first reaction, which was to reply with "a phone," Cinch leaned forward, and adjusted her glasses to look at the screen better. On the screen was an image of Twilight Sparkle, hands outstretched in front of her. Twilight's hands and the large arrow in the center of the screen obscured what she was holding, but Cinch could figure out it was her spectrometer easily enough. At the same time, there was a part of her that was skeptical. It could not possibly be what it appears, could it?
"It appears to be a video of your daughter during The Friendship Games," Principal Cinch stated.
"Correct," Twilight Velvet confirmed. "Students have been livestreaming and uploading videos of the games since Principal Celestia's welcoming speech." She leaned forward, eyes narrowing. "This particular video is of my daughter, releasing unstable magic -- at your insistence -- causing her to be transformed into what is best described as a dark angel, and have a massive psychotic break. A break, which led to her tearing numerous holes in reality, almost destroying both, I might add."
She straightened up, putting the phone away.
"You saw during The Tri-Cross Relay how dangerous the magic was. You were given a chance to end things then and there, albeit with a tie. Instead, you not only insisted on continuing the games, knowing the potential danger to your students, you then pressured my daughter -- who did not want to participate in the first place, I remind you -- to release that same dangerous, unpredictable, power that she had somehow absorbed and contained."
Twilight Velvet held up a hand.
"Negligence," she said, ticking off a finger, "conspiracy, blackmail, abuse of authority." She lowered her hand. "Pretty sure that nearly destroying two realities, even only at a school level, would be considered an act of terrorism, with all of the legal dangerous and consequences that implies."
Principal Cinch shifted, straightening up and looking the other woman in the eye.
"Even if that were true," Cinch stated, "you would not pursue such charges. Even if you were able to somehow convince the authorities the truth of what you say and that magic actually does exist, your daughter would face the worst of the charges." Her eyes narrowed and lips pressed thin. "I sincerely doubt you want her to spend the rest of her life in prison."
A second passed in silence. Two. Three.
"Burst," Velvet said.
The young woman smirked and nodded, unfolding her arms. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a phone of her own and pointed it at Cinch like it was a remote control. The woman -- Burst -- then tapped the screen twice with her thumb.
The sound of a firecracker going off suddenly filled the room, coming from right under Cinch and making her jump. As she landed, the chair wobbled, threatening to tilt backwards. Cinch gripped the arm rests and leaned forward, trying to keep the entire thing upright.
Twilight Velvet leaned forward, nose to nose with Cinch.
"As much as I would love to see you locked up in prison until you're wearing diapers and dentures, we are not the police, and this is not a court of law. There are no Miranda Rights, no reasonable doubt, no lawyer, and no jury of your 'peers.' There is only you, and us." Her eyes narrowed. "And nobody knows any of us are here." She then pulled back. "Which means that if something were to happen to you, no one would notice until Monday at the earliest."
Straightening up, Twilight Velvet reached into her suit jacket again. This time, she pulled out a folded set of papers and placed them down on the desk. She rested two fingers on it.
"This," she said, "is your letter of resignation, effective immediately." She tapped it. "You are to sign it. You then have two weeks to leave Canterlot City."
Turning her attention to the papers, Principal Cinch stared at them with the same amount of disgust as she would a pile of human excrement in the same spot. As far a she was concerned, however, the papers were worse. A pile of waste would merely contaminate her desk, forcing her to replace it. Those papers, however, would contaminate her entire future. Her so suddenly and immediately giving up a position she had worked so hard to obtain, and to build into something so influential, would lead to a lot of questions, which in turn would lead to a lot of rumors. Although she could likely come up with an excuse, without any legitimate reason she can prove, it will not stop people from talking and speculating.
"Assuming that I agree and sign those papers," she said, turning to face Velvet once more, "what do you expect me to do afterwards?"
"Go to the tropics and lay on the beach," Velvet suggested. "Head up to Elklaska and work on an oil rig. Buy a cabin in the forests of Maine and write bad romance novels. Move to Neighvada and become a high-class prostitute for all I care! So long as it's not in education, and not in my city, it doesn't matter to me."
Although her exterior remained calm and poised, many thoughts and emotions ran through Cinch's mind quickly. There was irritation and annoyance, wondering who Twilight Velvet thought she was, and what gave her the right to try and run Cinch out of town. There was curiosity, a wondering if Velvet had that power, and was perhaps some sort of mafioso like she was acting. That led to fear, because if Velvet actually had that kind of power, what could she do to Cinch?
Considering what just happened to her chair...
"And if I refuse?" Cinch asked. "Are there more explosives under my chair? If I don't agree, do I get blown up as well?"
Velvet smirked.
"If I were going to have you killed, it would be far less messy and far more subtle." The smirk faded. "But no. As much as Miss Burst would enjoy playing with her little bombs --"
"Tick, tick, tick," Burst called out. "Boom!"
"-- our methods would be far more subtle and socio-political. The correct figure of speech would be 'you will never work in this town again.'" She leaned back, tapping the paper again. "So one way or another, you're losing this job. It's only a question of how publicly disgraceful for you it is."
Picking up the papers, she held them out to Cinch.
"So, what will it be?"
Abacus Cinch stared at the woman and papers. If she signed them, then she would at least be able to try and make it look like it was on her own terms. If Velvet actually could do what she claimed, it would mean getting fired among scandal. She could, in theory, head it off, but that would mean predicting exactly what Miss Velvet would try, and Cinch had not even been expecting this much to happen.
"Very well," she finally said. "I accept."
Twilight Velvet smiled, and pulled out a pen.
"It's for the best."
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Damn. Note to self, don't mess with Twilight Velvet's family.
9562445 Agreed.
She gives a whole new meaning to "Angry Mama Bear" in this.
.
REALLY good work on this one-shot. Yeah, I LOVED seeing Twilight Velvet going Mama Bear on Cinch without throwing a single punch (though she definitely would not have been above throwing said punch if Cinch pushed her too far). Seeing her blackmail Cinch into resigning was appropriately ironic (though seeing Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna seeming to get the blame for something Velvet did [at least as far as Superintendent Sombra is concerned] makes me feel bad).
Anyway, you did a REALLY good job on the exchange, characterizations and future story set-up in this prequel.
That's why I like Velvet, she greatly cares for her daughter, no matter what. Harm one hair of Twilight, you get to know Velvet
Mama bears are extremely protective of their cubs. Poking the cub is a bad idea. Poking the mama bear is a really bad idea. Poking both? That's just suicide.
Great little one shot.
Dang, Twi-mom, you scary!
Twilight Velvet is definitely not someone you wanna piss off.
Velvet is awesome. Just who are those two? What power does she possess?
Oooh! I like that!
I know that reference!
9562859
Well the girl is an EQ version of Firecracker Burst, a character that was created as a recolor figure of Twilight Sparkle, but has been given a penchant for fire magic and explosives due to her name and cutie mark.
The guy is kind of a surprise for when I get around to writing the story connected to this.
If you're asking if Twilight Velvet has any powers, nothing like Twilight Sparkle and friends have. It's more about connections and influence, both in her writing career and in her other job.
I still find it funny that EQG named that Principal after Atticus Finch from To Kill A Mockingbird. Nice touch on their part, Harper Lee wrote a great book that I highly recommend for anyone who hasn't already read it.
I realize that this is somewhat beside the point (since nobody present intends for the courts to actually get involved), but this is a rather implausible argument. I'm surprised Velvet didn't call her on it before getting down to business with the proper threats.
It's hard to imagine a scenario in which the frightened teenager (who clearly had no idea what was going to happen when she activated her device) comes off worse in court than the manipulative adult who blackmailed her into it (and who every single witness holds responsible for what happened).
Is Cinch expecting the authorities to hold Twilight 100% responsible for her actions as Midnight Sparkle? It seems rather unlikely (and would be on shaky legal ground at best).
9562950
'Other job'???
I recommend Maine. The beach is overrated, oil rigs are likely to be a blot on most political careers, and I sincerely doubt she has the charisma to pull off the last one.
9563175
... deer lord.
you know as cool as this is... Twilight Velvet is even worse then Cinch at this point. How many others have not taken what she asks?
Would have been funny if the scandal included a horse's severed head in bed with her as she woke up for the day.
9562950
That's what I meant. Her 'other job.'
9563263
9563551
It will be revealed in hopefully my next multi-chapter story.
9563555
Yay
9563365
What?
DAMN, Velvet does not fuck around! ESPECIALLY when her kids are involved!
9563658
Didn't know that.
9563687
Oh, I misunderstood. When you said "deer lord", I was like: "Oh god, what'd I do wrong?"
My fault
Does this mean Velvet is part of the EQG equivalent of SMILE?
9563842
The director!
Yeah, I don't think I like the idea of Twilight's mom being in the Illuminati/mob, but it's not a bad story.
What Don Velvet wants, Don Velvet gets
9564161
Indeed
9563408
I would not think so, Twilight Velvet is using perfectly legal means to get her revenge on the person who she entrusted her child's wellbeing to, who not only failed miserably, but failed due to her own unwillingness to lose a competition. And while Velvet's methods of obtaining that revenge is morally and ethical levels, it's nowhere near the danger and potential danger Cinch caused by her own closed-mindedness. And I think Velvet knows this. Sure, she may be doing this because her daughter was in the middle of it all, but if this were to happen to any other child, she would still take the similar precautions since Cinch has been proven to be an unreliable caretaker and unworthy of her position.
9564424
Because threatening to either harm someone or even perhaps kill them is so much better?
9564465
No. Ethically, Velvet is acting in no way better than Cinch was during the Games. But on a logical standpoint, she's the most sane person in that room. Let me put it this way, Principal Celestia and Luna had exactly no plans to have Principal Cinch pay for the deeds she's committed. But Twilight Velvet on the other hand is more than willing to end a threat to her daughter and the other students by any means necessary, even if murder is the only way to achieve that goal. And if we think about it, Twilight is simply playing the cards Cinch laid out against herself. But I do see your point.
With a quote like that, it's best if the story is rated T instead of E.
9563555
I cant wait then you very much have my attention
So... I'm very much getting a CIA wetworker vibe from Mrs. Velvet here.
Conveniently ignoring neither Celestia, Luna or Cadence did anything to stop the games after a carnivorous plant tried to eat the participants.
Shouldn't they be forced to resign too?
9565134 Celestia wanted to call off the "Friendship Games" after that. Principal Cinch was the one who insisted on continuing even though she was offered the chance to call it a draw.
Now I'm curious who Velvet works as. Will this be explained in this next long story you mentioned that you are writing?
The mother of heroes is best not trifled with. Best case scenario, her children come after you for vengeance. Worst case, she takes care of you herself.
Not sure how to feel about Velvet wielding threats and blackmail like this, but I'm certainly intrigued. Looking forward to seeing what you're building up to.
9563175
I've always found it a bizarre choice. Cinch is almost nothing like Atticus. He'd probably do everything in his power to see her put away for life after the Friendship Games.
9567835
I agree that it's weird.
Well she DOES have a great body, I bet she would make a LOT of money working as one.
9565134
Yep.
I am scared of no man but that thing scares me
This is beautiful, seeing Twi's mother like this, like a mafia boss is amazing.