Principal Abacus Cinch is preparing to deal with the aftermath of the Friendship Games as she receives an invitation to Equestria from someone very familiar.
The Friendship Games are over. Crystal Prep has failed to trounce CHS, Cinch's manipulation of her best student is out in the open, as is the fact that the principal's actions nearly led to the fabric of the universe being torn apart.
Before Cinch can begin dealing with the aftermath, a certain someone invites her for a visit into a land of magic and friendship.
Special thanks to Vikonaut for his incredible patience and thoroughness in his proofreading, and to 7th Outpost for the initial criticism that opened my eyes to the fact that the story required heavy revising.
Principal Abacus Cinch sat in her kitchen, her hands gripping a hot cup of tea, nursing a bit of a headache. The window curtain flapped against the cold air seeping into her apartment. The air helped a bit.
Countless thoughts swirled inside Principal Cinch’s head, and she sorely missed her normal well-practiced collectedness. She stared dumbly at the table, the dulled reflection of the grey sky weakly stared back.
The phone rang. Cinch looked at the display. Cadenza.
Cadenza was supposed to still be at CHS, overseeing the final ceremonies in Cinch’s place. If she called so soon, it must’ve been something important. Cinch composed herself, picked up the phone and uttered a greeting in a tone as calm as she could muster.
“Principal Cinch, I just had a talk with Twilight,” Cadenza said right away.
Ah, yes, Cinch’s best student. The same one who was transformed into a frightening power-crazy monster and began tearing the fabric of reality apart. Cinch wondered what the normally meek Twilight had to say after all that.
“She wants to transfer to Canterlot High instead of applying to Everton. I already went over this with Principal Celestia.”
“That is fine,” Cinch replied, “far be it from me to dictate where Twilight should go. Even if CHS would be a waste of her intelligence. We’ll finalize the paperwork come Monday. Was there anything else?”
“No, that was all… Alright, I’ll have the paperwork ready tomorrow.”
A bit of an awkward silence hung between them.
“Good bye, Miss Cadance.”
Cinch put the phone back into the charger and took a sip of her tea, staring out her apartment window into the overcast Sunday morning outside. At least it wasn’t a sunny day, as though the weather sympathized with her grim situation. Or her headache.
In hindsight it was obvious how gravely she had misjudged the odds the day before. Her options were either to lose the Friendship Games—and the final event was too based on luck and gave too much of a home ground advantage to CHS—or hope that magic would help them as it had their rivals. She chose the option with the higher risk and higher reward.
Cinch saw the looks that everyone gave her after it had all been resolved. Her students surrounded her—shoulder to shoulder with Canterlot High's—to relish in her "defeat", having found the one person they could blame for everything that had gone wrong that day. Happy with how her reputation was going to go down the drain. Smug with their moral superiority.
Nevermind that Crystal Prep would sink with her.
Nevermind that they would too.
Not that Cinch was vindictive enough to punish others for her own mistakes. But Crystal Prep’s reputation and hers were tied together closer than anybody ever seemed to realize. And if Cinch’s got dragged through the metaphorical mud, the metaphorical stains would appear on Crystal Prep’s metaphorical coat.
Cinch got up and walked to the window. Outside, in the distance, stood Crystal Prep. The place that most of her life revolved around. The place that she had singlehandedly rescued.
A long time ago, when Cinch was a professor, Crystal Prep had an entirely different reputation. Everyone but her happily accepted “monetary donations” from the wealthy students whose generosity greatly helped their grades. The headmaster had his hand firmly in everyone’s pocket. It was a school for rich kids to relax and buy their diplomas.
Cinch made it into a school for rich kids to receive proper education, discipline and training for the lives ahead of them. All she had to do was stay out of the headmaster’s sight and quietly gather evidence of the corruption running rampant. After the evidence had been gathered and put to good use, Cinch became the principal. The rest was history.
However, as everyone knows, people judge you not by your life’s worth of deeds, but by the very last thing you have done. Doubly so if the last thing just happened to be a terrible, costly mistake.
Cinch looked at the proud and prestigious Crystal Prep and could not shake the image of her school standing there empty, windows shattered, graffiti over the walls, pieces of its architecture fallen off.
That was probably a tad over-dramatic of her, Cinch thought. Perhaps she was genuinely worried. Perhaps.
Principal Cinch finished her tea. She needed to think. A drive around town sometimes helped to clear her head and organize her thoughts. She hoped it would work this time.
Strong, chilly winds threw dry leaves, crumpled paper and plastic wrappings all around, and the clouds across the sky were marred with darkened spots. They seemed ready to burst. Principal Cinch rolled the car windows down and sighed as the cold air rushed into her car and enveloped her head. It almost eased her headache. One of the few things Cinch could admit she enjoyed in life was the sensation of wind. She would trade her current car for a convertible, if it wouldn’t sully her image. That was more important than personal gratification.
She wanted to think about the fact that magic apparently existed, but this wasn’t the time for that. Cinch needed to assess the situation and figure out what had to be done. What could be done, even.
Canterlot High had kept the existence of magic a secret. They knew how to handle it, meaning they had encountered it before and managed to control it. Yet there was not a shred of evidence out there. Nothing online, nothing in the news. It made sense, if word got out CHS would’ve been drowned in governmental investigations.
Actually, now that she thought about it, several recent news items concerning CHS had been obvious cover-ups. An extremely localized thunderstorm? A hyper-realistic light show made using some of the students’ experimental new equipment? Yes, definitely plausible.
Either way, CHS was not a danger to her in this particular case. Celestia and Luna were not vindictive. Heck, they would probably seek to speak with Cinch about all of this soon enough. The students were not in the position to be a threat.
Cinch’s car trip was taking her into the richer part of town. Nice, expensive, tastefully built and decorated houses stood on both sides of the road, shielded from it by long rows of well-maintained healthy trees. Anybody who took a look at this place could tell right away that this was where people whose opinions mattered in the world could be found.
Including a good percentage of Cinch’s students and their families. Families who could have learned of the principal’s actions towards the school’s best student. Students who could end up leaving CPA en masse.
Driving through this nice neighbourhood was rather depressing.
Cinch had to admit to herself that she could do pretty much nothing at the moment. Her whole Sunday would have to be spent guessing and brooding. Only on Monday could she start performing some sort of damage control. And she had no idea what she was going to do. This situation was quite exceptional, after all.
Perhaps Cadenza could assist her. The dean had always been liked by the students and remained useful throughout her employment at Crystal Prep.
Cinch turned her car around and headed home.
Monday morning came, and Principal Cinch’s headache had not subsided.
She arrived to Crystal Prep before it was open to the students, navigated the halls and staircases and went straight for the teapot upon arriving to her office. She thought of flicking the light switch but decided against it, as usual. The light coming in through the windows behind her was enough.
Cadenza would soon arrive with the documents pertaining to Twilight’s transfer to CHS. Twilight had always been a valuable asset to their school. The displays full of trophies branded with her name could attest to that.
But there would be others. Principal Cinch foresaw not getting to keep her after the games either way. Twilight would either be on her way into Everton or resent Cinch too much to even consider rendering her any assistance ever again.
Right now, Principal Cinch could do nothing but wait for Dean Cadenza (and roll her pencil across the desk). She could use the young woman to help her gauge the mood of her students as she had done before. Cadenza was quite adept at judging issues like that. Probably had to do with how empathetic the dean was.
Cinch almost envied her, but in this line of work empathy could prove detrimental. She was the unfeeling, calculating head of the school, responsible for maintaining its image and status. She could leave being good people to others.
Right on time, after several quick knocks, Cadenza appeared in the doorway.
“Principal Cinch, do you have time? I have some things I need to talk to you about,” asked Cadenza after approaching the desk.
“I do. Take a seat,” answered Cinch in her most polite tone. Sometimes acting as if nothing bad had happened could serve to make others forget it, even if only briefly. Provided they were not dead set on antagonizing you, of course, but Cadenza was not that type of person.
“Thank you. First things first, here’s the paperwork for Twilight’s transfer. All that’s missing is your signature.”
Cinch slid the paper across the table to sign it, without saying a word.
“There is another—” Cadenza took the finished document back “—issue I wanted to talk to you about. Well, not myself per se, but… er…”
“What is it, Cadance?” Cinch wasn’t used to seeing the dean without her usual warm and dignified confidence.
“Well, you see… It’s kind of about Saturday evening…”
Ah. So she finally gathered up the nerve to bring that up. Cinch decided to let Cadenza speak her mind before saying anything on the matter. She indicated this by raising an eyebrow.
“I’m… Sure that you remember what was happening. Those holes opening up, you could see glimpses of a strange place through them. Different places, actually.”
“Cadance, you’ll have to excuse me, but I did not find the moment appropriate for studying the phenomena,” Cinch said.
“I spoke to some of the students back at CHS later that evening, to inquire about this whole magic ordeal, you see. I was concerned for Twilight’s safety… Well, it turns out that one of their students is quite knowledgeable on the matter. It’s the girl who saved Twilight.”
“Yes, it was quite obvious that the girl knew what she was doing,” Cinch agreed. “What did you find out?”
“Apparently those places in those holes… They are from a whole other world. The world that Sunset Shimmer—that’s the girl’s name—is actually from.”
“And you believed that?” Principal Cinch took off her glasses. “Do you expect me to believe it as well?”
Cadenza closed her eyes and shook her head. “I know how strange it all sounds, Principal Cinch. But you would have said the same about magic before. Besides, on Sunday they had proof.”
“Do you, by any chance, have that proof with you, Cadance? I would like to come to my own conclusions,” Cinch said, putting her glasses back on and locking her hands together.
Cadenza walked to the door, opened it slightly and motioned for someone waiting outside to come in.
Principal Cinch expected Sunset Shimmer to be there. Or maybe someone else. Who she did not expect was Twilight.
Twilight had been quick to ditch the uniform, Cinch noted. She also let her hair down, and replaced her glasses with contacts. She really did want to distance herself from Crystal Prep immediately, it seemed. Perhaps to appear more sociable to her new peers at Canterlot High.
“Hello. You must be Principal Cinch,” Twilight said as she approached.
Cinch was a bit lost. Maybe this was not Twilight after all. She opted for the safest answer. A raised eyebrow and a quick “Correct.”
“My name is Twilight Sparkle. You might’ve guessed already that I’m not the same Twilight Sparkle that you knew. I’m her counterpart from the other world.”
“Marvelous. What do you want?” Counterpart? Cinch was not sure she understood, but she was also not sure she really cared.
‘Twilight Sparkle’ furrowed her brow slightly. “Mrs Cinch. I want to talk to you.”
Cinch turned to Cadenza, who still stood a little further away. “Was there anything else you wanted to discuss, Cadance?”
“Well, yes, but only after Twilight talks to you. I’ll wait outside.” Cadenza turned around and left the office.
“Take a seat, Miss Sparkle. I do not have much time, but I’m listening.”
“Principal Cinch. I was told about what you had done, particularly on Saturday evening. But Dean Cadance also told me why you did it.”
“Miss Sparkle, if you came here with the intent of moralizing, you can save your time and leave right now. I am well aware of what I did, and the mistake I made.”
“Mistake?” asked Sparkle, emphasizing the singular form of the word, “Do you not count blackmailing your student a mistake as well?”
“Dear Sparkle. The world does not conform to your idealistic views on right and wrong. The world is not black and white. We were about to lose the Friendship Games. I had to take extra measures to ensure our victory. Twilight was going to help our school and leave with a guaranteed entry into the Everton independent research program. If you think it was ever going to come to me actually denying her the application, you are naive.”
Sparkle cocked her head to the side. “Why threaten her at all, then?”
“Why, for absolute certainty. It was better to have one person question my morality than to give Canterlot High a chance to win the games. In the end, everyone was going to emerge having gained something they wanted.” Cinch put down the pencil that she had not even noticed picking up.
“But it did not go that way, Principal.” Sparkle’s expression verged on accusatory. “And besides, why is winning the games so important?”
Cinch leaned in just a bit.
“Did Cadance not explain this to you, Miss Sparkle? Our school has a spotless reputation of being the best of the best, infallible, undefeatable. We can not count on support from the important people if we can not guarantee our merit. A loss at the Friendship Games might not seem like a big deal to you, or even to many of my students.” Cinch pointed the pencil that had once again found its way into her hand at Sparkle. “But a crack in our image is enough to bring it all crumbling down. If I let this type of thing happen, we would be just another school.”
“I see. Let me ask you this, Principal Cinch,” Sparkle said. “Are you open to new things? Can I make a case for something you probably disagree with and count on your attention?”
“You can certainly try, miss Sparkle.” Pencil down, hands locked. An open challenge.
“Thank you. I will try to not take too much of your time. You see, like the Twilight from your world, I value knowledge. Not above all things, but more than your average pony.”
“Pony?..”
“Oh, right. Where I’m from, we’re ponies, not humans. The transition to this world changes our shape.”
Raised eyebrow.
This was starting to sound like one of those fairy tales Cinch remembered reading as a child but did not remember ever enjoying.
“Well, this doesn’t matter. Anyway, I very much understand you. If Dean Cadance was correct, you were responsible for this school raising from the ashes, so to speak?”
“Yes, I was.” A tad over-dramatic, but an acknowledgment of her work all the same.
“I understand that you had good intentions. You wanted to restore a place where people would share and receive knowledge, a place that would prepare people to be the best they could be, to reach success in life. You wanted to make this school the best,” Sparkle said, “but I think that you may have lost sight of what was really important.”
A different eyebrow this time.
“Success should not come at the expense of others. Competition is good only when it drives all competitors to better themselves, not when it makes one step on another.”
“Miss Sparkle, are you intending to preach to me the values of friendship?” Cinch asked. “I did hear what that Shimmer girl said. She is from your world, is she not? These views might work in your world, and they might work with your magic, but I assure you, miss Sparkle, you’re making it evident that you do NOT understand how THIS world works.”
“And what could be different about this world that meant friendship was not something to strive for?” Sparkle challenged Cinch. Oh, to be so naive. Cinch almost wanted to know what life looked like from such a simplified perspective. Just for amusement’s sake.
“Miss Sparkle. Things are not that simple. Frankly, I’m surprised at myself for spending time teaching you this, but since I am, let me explain.” Cinch lightly sighed and continued, “People are vicious. People do not hesitate to ignore others’ needs and problems while making choices that affect their own lives. People will look at the single mistake you make and decide you’re not worth their time. If you hope to get anywhere, you can either be the best or forever be the backup option. If you become too friendly with those who benefit from your failures, you are setting yourself up for a fall.” To illustrate her point, Cinch toppled the pencil that she, conveniently enough, had kept upright with her own finger for one reason or another.
“But they do not have to benefit from your failures! The whole point of friendship is to help each other and become better for it!” Sparkle’s arms looked like they wanted to shoot up.
“Miss Sparkle! Do you have anything to say to me that I haven’t heard many times from others before? From Cadance, for example?” Cinch glanced at the door. “If not, I kindly ask you to stop wasting my time and yours. In case you forgot, I have other problems to solve here besides becoming a better person.”
“Yes, yes I do. You see, what you described fits my world as much as yours. However, some of us have proven time and time again that friendship benefits everyone involved. We’ve achieved things that would have been completely unthinkable without friendship. Look again at Canterlot High.” Sparkle made a vague motion with her hand to point at where she probably thought CHS was. “You wanted to find out the secret behind their success? I can easily tell you, because I was there to make it happen. It was not the fact that six of its students could grow pony ears, and two of them wings. It was friendship!” The girl looked much too excited about the word. “By embracing it, they got on the path to becoming a better school. They do not have to trample anyone else. They do not have to be the best. Do you think that people would stop coming to your school if you were second best? Do you think that nobody else is capable of giving people a good education? Crystal Prep may be the best school, but it’s not the only good one.” Sparkle paused to shake her head. “Besides, do you think that if you keep doing what you’ve been doing nobody will ever notice or object? Your own students were about to ruin your reputation had Dean Cadance and Sunset Shimmer not talked to them on Sunday before they left.”
And there it was. The key part. The one truth in all the idealistic nonsense this girl was spouting. Cinch didn’t have time to think of what to say as Sparkle’s tirade quickly resumed.
“Principal Cinch, I completely respect your devotion to this school, I completely understand why you go to such lengths to ensure its reputation remains perfect.” Sparkle made another pause, looking thoughtful. “But your methods have become wrong. I’m only here because I wanted to help you, because I think I know how to help you and your school.”
“If your help amounts to giving me lectures as you would little children—”
“No. I want to offer something to you. I only do this because you are aware of magic and our world.” Sparkle’s tone rapidly shifted back to calm and diplomatic.
“I would not have been aware of your world had Cadance not told me of its existence some ten minutes ago, Miss Sparkle,” noted Cinch.
“Well, what matters is that now you are. As I said, your students are questioning things now. Your actions have shaken their respect for you. They want true friendship back in their lives after getting a glimpse of it first hand at Canterlot High. How do you expect to fix this?” It was Sparkle’s turn to raise her eyebrow. Suffice to say it did not have the intended impact on Cinch.
“It matters little to me what they want in their lives. Here, in this school, they are my students and they are here to receive education. I shall simply have to let them know that undermining my reputation will have an adverse effect on the school’s image and, by extension, on the education they receive.”
“Do you think it would work? Do you think they will listen to you?”
For the first time in their exchange, Cinch felt unsure. She took her hands from under her chin, where they had found themselves sometime during Sparkle’s rambling, and reached for the pencil again.
“Some might, but some won’t. It will only take one student going against you to start a chain reaction.” Sparkle tried to gesticulate a ‘chain reaction’ but failed miserably. ”Right now, Principal Cinch, whether you like it or not, your students have a say over you. You need to listen to them instead of making them listen to you.”
Cinch sighed and closed her eyes for a few seconds. “And would you happen to have a suggestion then, Miss Sparkle?”
“Yes, in fact, this is what I am here for, Principal Cinch.” Sparkle nodded. ”As I was saying, because you already know of magic and of our world, we are willing to extend an offer to you. I’ve talked to Dean Cadance and others about it, and they all support this proposition.”
Cinch couldn’t remember which eyebrow she raised last, so she settled for the left one this time.
“As you might’ve gathered from my existance, our worlds’ inhabitants have counterparts in one another. In my world, there’s a Cadance, a Celestia, a Luna, and I’ve recognized many of the students in your school as well… But it isn’t just limited to ponies.”
“People,” Cinch corrected.
“People and ponies. But no, it’s not just them. Various locations seem to have counterparts as well. We have a Canterlot… And we have a Crystal Empire.”
“Crystal… Empire, you say?” Cinch began to absent-mindedly tap the pencil on the desk. Eraser side down, of course.
“Yes. My offer is as follows. We would like for you to make a visit—for however long you think would be best—to our world. Crystal Empire is a great example of friendship and unity working wonders for everyone involved. Meanwhile, Dean Cadance will run damage control here at Crystal Prep. Your students are starting to lose their belief in your methods and ideology, Principal Cinch. I know you do not like it, but from what we gathered… Well, mainly Dean Cadance. From what she gathered, they want change. Some change.” Sparkle hesitated. “And please forgive me for saying this, but this change needs to be handled carefully by someone who is better at… Well, who is more… Um, that is to say…” Sparkle looked delightfully uncomfortable, but much as Cinch would’ve liked to watch her writhe, she had to hurry things along.
“Do not bother, Miss Sparkle. I believe I can make a reasonable guess as to what you are trying to say.”
“Sorry. But would you agree that Dean Cadance is a good choice to handle the current matter? You might issue an apology, and your students might not take it seriously. You might try to force them into behaving like you want them to, but they might rebel. Of course, this is your school, and you can enforce your rules, but the students are not obligated to continue attending a school if they feel it isn’t good for them.”
Cinch interlocked her fingers in a gesture signifying the final stretch of their little dialogue. One way or another, it had to end.
“I would be lying if I were to say I didn’t see your point, Miss Sparkle. In fact, I was planning on asking for Cadance’s assistance in this matter.” Cinch paused and shook her head. “But I shall remain here to supervise her actions.”
“Don’t you trust her? Has she ever let you down? She has the school’s best interests in mind too, you know.”
“Dean Cadance has a very different idea of what our school should be like, Miss Sparkle. Crystal Prep will not be made into a second Canterlot High, full of students with no respect for discipline or the school’s mission—education, that is.”
“Dean Cadance told me some words you had once said to her, Principal Cinch. The school’s purpose is to prepare young people for their entire lives as adults. This is not limited to education.”
“Indeed, proper discipline must also be taught.”
“Contrary to what you think, Principal Cinch, Canterlot High does teach discipline. Just enough of it. But it also teaches its students how to be good to each other. You might not think it important, for reasons I can’t claim to understand, but friendship makes people happy, friendship helps people achieve great things. Friendship makes people better.”
Cinch barely held back an exasperated sigh. Sparkle, despite her grating naivete, must have picked up on it.
“But I know what your opinion on this is. It’s precisely why I am offering to show you our world. We can demonstrate firsthoof… um, sorry, first… firsthand how friendship endures and empowers. Don’t think us childish or idealistic, Principal Cinch. The difference between our worlds’ histories is that we had a very important event happen to us in the distant past, when newfound friendship between former enemies literally saved our entire kind. If I may say so, you and your school could benefit from the lessons we learned just as we do to this day.”
“Miss Sparkle, surely you might realize how absurd a teenage girl looks trying to teach me a lesson,” Cinch replied when Sparkle stopped her speech and gave her an expectant look.
The nerve of this girl! Of course, Principal Cinch did not claim to be the best person there ever was, but she had no interest in such claims. She was efficient at her job. That’s what mattered in the end. And prior to the introduction of this unexpected element into her life—magic—she achieved everything she had ever set out to achieve.
Of course, it was not like this new element would simply fade back into obscurity. Things would not return to their pre-Friendship Games state. Changes would have to happen, Cinch had to admit to herself.
“Principal Cinch, with all due respect… I never enjoy flaunting my achievements, but if there is anything I pride myself on knowing a thing or two about, it’s friendship. Well, also magic, and history… and physics… ahem.” Sparkle shook her head frantically. “Sorry. What I mean is, they say it’s never too late to learn. Why wouldn’t you want to learn something that might help you run your school better? You can always dismiss it if you find it unsuitable. And obviously, nopony is going to keep you in our world. You can even communicate with Dean Cadance instantly—we have magic for that—and return at a moment’s notice.”
Clever girl. Sparkle was careful to not imply any obligations and leave her with all the options, Cinch noticed. Even to her, declining now seemed like a shortsighted and boneheaded thing to do. She could return at any point, and she had an open line to Cadenza if she needed it. Looking into this Crystal Empire could help Cinch’s chances to successfully handle the imminent changes in Crystal Prep, before she steered it back on track. Perhaps she could also stand to learn some more about this whole magic nonsense—if only to find a way to discover and utilize it back home in more educated ways than her admittedly careless actions at the Friendship Games.
“Very well, Miss Sparkle. It appears you have indeed made your case. I shall talk to Cadance and afterwards we can have this little... tour.”
Sparkle smiled widely and brightly. Principal Cinch was not used to people giving such genuine smiles. It only served to remind Cinch that she was dealing with a teenager lecturing her on being nice. A teenager from another world.
What a ridiculous situation she found herself in. She hoped the residents of the parallel world knew magic spells to cure searing headaches.
“Surely you jest! There was a magical portal right under your hideous horse statue?” exclaimed Principal Cinch as Sparkle pushed her arm through the surface of the pedestal where the Wondercolt statue had once stood. Her headache was back after waning a bit while they made the journey to CHS. Principal Cinch had left her car some distance away so that it would not be too conspicuous (lest the students of her rival school key it or do something else of that nature) and they walked the rest of the way. “Well, it’s fitting, I suppose.”
Ignoring the comment, Sparkle replied, “I will go first, Mrs. Cinch. Wait for a bit before following so I can get out of the way… And be prepared to stand on four legs, of course!”
Principal Cinch took note of that advice. She hadn’t even considered the transition process, assuming, perhaps, that the portal would spit her out in whatever position was appropriate for her altered form. She prepared to fall on all fours as soon as she crossed the portal—crawling into it like that in front of Canterlot High was so out of the question that it was almost amusing.
The process took a couple of seconds, to Principal Cinch’s mild surprise. She had expected it to be instantaneous, seeing as how Sparkle’s limbs had immediately changed beyond the wavy surface of the portal, but that turned out to be a mere visual aid. Being distorted into a spiral and swirled around in the kaleidoscope subspace was wholly unpleasant, but Cinch managed to keep her cool until emerging on the other side.
The first thing Principal Cinch noticed after landing on her belly—it seems guesswork had not been sufficient in providing her with the correct movement plan after all—was the sheer shininess and smoothness of her surroundings. She put that thought on hold and looked at herself, only to see that she did in fact have hooves on the ends of her legs… All four of them, teal blue in color. She had to quickly convince herself that standing on all fours was only undignified for normal people—not for the equines.
After standing up and looking around she noticed another equine. It was unmistakably Sparkle, although at the same time barely recognizable as well. How peculiar.
“So, are we in the…Crystal Empire, Miss Sparkle?” asked Principal Cinch.
“No, Mrs. Cinch, this is just my castle in Ponyville. We’ll take a train to the Crystal Empire, it’s in the north,” replied Sparkle. “Speaking of, I have to organize a bunch of things pertaining to your visit…”
“Excuse me, but… Your castle?” Cinch tried to incredulously adjust her glasses, which turned out to be a challenge without hands.
“Oh, right, I’m sorry. I should have explained. You see, while our worlds share a lot of similarities, many things are vastly different, and I’m not just talking about our forms and our magic. I’ve been crowned a princess some time ago, and eventually got this castle. It’s a long story, but I can tell you on the train!”
Truth be told, Principal Cinch was almost intrigued by this development. Twilight Sparkle, a princess? Had she married a prince? If royalty still existed in this world, it would make sense that it was a real possibility, unlike in the real world. Maybe this Twilight Sparkle was actually interested in other people that way, who knew.
The purple equine, meanwhile, resumed her previous speech.
“So as I was saying, I need to organize some things. I barely warned anypony about this, since we only just decided it with Dean Cadance yesterday… This will take some time, and I have to disassemble the portal as well.“
The mention of a portal prompted Principal Cinch to look behind her to see what exactly she had come out of in this world. It was an ornate mirror surrounded by a rather complex piece of what looked like old-fashioned machinery.
Noticing that Cinch spent an uncharacteristically long time staring at the contraption, Sparkle spoke up again.
“The mirror is the portal. Normally it opens only once every thirty moons, but I had to find a way to keep it open whenever I needed…” Fortunately, Sparkle thought better of going into further detail. “Anyway, that book on top of it is connected to another one that’s currently in the human world, and it uses this connection as a sort of tether… Well, in laypony’s terms. We’ll use that book to communicate with Dean Cadance so that she can inform you immediately should something important happen.”
“And why exactly do you need to disassemble this… Thing?” asked Cinch.
“Oh, well, we’re going to take the portal with us on the train, so that you can leave at any point…”
“You seem to be willing to go to great lengths just to have me visit your world, Miss Sparkle. This is quite a complex looking contraption.” Cinch thought that the machine looked like something Twilight would build if she had access only to anachronistic parts and materials.
Sparkle blushed slightly at the perceived praise. “Oh, well, it’s really no problem. I just heard about Crystal Prep and what a great school it was and I really wanted to help! Besides, I can take this apart easily with my magic!” With that, she concentrated on what appeared to be a levitation spell, and parts of the machine started coming off, enveloped in a purple glow of magic. First among them was the book she had mentioned moments before.
Cinch was astounded at the display, even if she didn’t show it. The magic was much more controllable in this world, it seemed. If humans could do something like that, a lot of money could be saved… And a lot of people could lose their jobs. Still, it would be perfectly handy to have access to such a tool. It would more than justify this trip to a strange, different world if Cinch could get her hands on personally usable magic.
With the Friendship Games fresh on her mind, Cinch imagined secretly assisting her students at physical competitions: subtly guiding arrows to their targets, pushing motorbikes ahead just a bit… Whichever athletic events the next Friendship Games were going to have, Principal Cinch was certain that with magic she could easily secure victories in all of them, and nobody would be the wiser.
Of course, magic would also make it much more convenient to perform personal day-to-day tasks, but she didn’t use to complain about those anyway.
And with all that, the million dollar question came up. Well, rather, a few questions leading up to it. It would be foolish to ask this too directly.
“So, Miss Sparkle, can anyone perform magic in your world?”
“Well, yes and no… All ponies have magic in them, but only unicorns can directly control it in such a way. Alicorns too, like me, since we possess traits of all three pony tribes.” Sparkle’s eyes lingered on Cinch’s torso. “You, actually… seem to be a pegasus. Huh. To be honest, I was expecting you to be turned into a unicorn, Mrs. Cinch.”
Cinch looked at herself once again, this time more thoroughly. Her form was covered with a coat of a same teal blue color as her hooves (which didn’t seem right...), and she could in fact see two wings sitting on her back. Her tail shared the natural colors of her hair (without the artificial glossiness, of course), those being several shades of purple. On her hip she had some sort of picture—three vertically elongated cyan-colored diamonds in a straight horizontal row.
She turned back to Sparkle and raised her eyebrow. “And why exactly did you expect me to be a... unicorn, pray tell?” It was unfortunate that she had not become a unicorn, it seemed they had it best around here.
“Well… The three pony tribes have some typical psychological differences… That is not to say that a pegasus, unicorn or earth pony must be expected to conform to any stereotype, as they often don’t, but some differences have been noted in psychology studies… In unicorns, an increased interest in knowledge is common, and, if I may, often a certain level of overestimation of the importance of social status… The pegasi tend to be normally more into physical activities...”
This would have probably been really awkward had Principal Cinch been a native of this world. It seemed that Sparkle didn’t have enough social experience to subconsciously wrap potentially controversial statistics in placating blankets of half-truths and gentle reassurances, as real people had learned to do long ago.
“I see. Well, Miss Sparkle, it doesn’t matter. So, I take it, as a… pegasus... I can’t perform magic like you?” That was a bit careless of Cinch to ask, but it seemed that she had nothing to lose, what with her chance of possessing magical abilities rapidly thinning to nothingness.
“No, you can’t. However, pegasi can control weather, and, of course, fly! Would you be interested in learning how to fly?” Sparkle asked excitedly. Did she expect Cinch to be enthusiastic about this?
“Is that going to be necessary to get where we need to go around here?”
“Well, no, but—”
“Then it’s a waste of time,” Cinch stated. “Now then, Miss Sparkle, I believe you were saying that you needed to tend to some matters?”
Sparkle’s mouth opened for a second before actually making a sound. “Ah, yes, yes. Well, as I said, I need to organize some stuff for your trip. Plus, the train for Crystal Empire isn’t leaving in a while. So, if you don’t mind, a friend of mine will come here so she can show you around Ponyville while I take care of things. I’ll rejoin you as soon as I’m able.”
“Would this... friend be able to answer my questions?” To be completely frank, Cinch had absolutely no interest in exploring this “Ponyville”. Her headache did not help her irritation with this childish world, and the only thing she was interested in was learning potentially useful information, such as how to use magic, even though that possibility had flown out the window.
“Yes she would! Rarity is a well-educated pony and a unicorn as well, so she should be able to tell you more about pony history, or some basics about magic if you still want to learn.” Sparkle glanced at Cinch’s hip picture. “Come to think of it, her cutie mark looks a lot like yours!”
Cutie mark? If there ever was a time for a raised eyebrow, it was now.
Sparkle shook her head. “Right, you wouldn’t know what it is. It’s the symbol on your flank. It appears when a young pony understands their calling in life, their talent, what they’re meant to do. They can get quite symbolic sometimes and even difficult to interpret. Do you have any idea what yours might mean about you?”
“Can’t say that I do, Miss Sparkle.” Cinch was really not interested in deciphering the image that this world’s bizarre magical forces had assigned to her and saw fit to draw on her body. ”But you make it sound like you equines have it rather easy. A magical symbol to confirm what you can expect to be good at, what you are going to succeed at in life? How do you have any problems with such divine guidance?”
“Oh, it’s not that easy, Mrs. Cinch. Ponies can sometimes get a cutie mark without fully understanding it. Cutie marks are often unrelated to our jobs as well. Take Rarity, for example. Her cutie mark is three diamonds, similar to yours, but she is a fashion designer. She got it because she discovered her gem-finding spell, which led her to a gem deposit.”
Unbeknownst to Cinch, one of her ears perked up.
“She ended up using them on some costumes she was making, which, according to her, was what finally made them beautiful. When she saw ponies liking her work, the cutie mark appeared. It depicts gemstones, but she understands it as being about bringing out beauty in everything.”
A gem-finding spell. That could have been very useful indeed. Though maybe not for Principal Cinch herself, actually—getting rich was not her ambition, after all. And she doubted the spell could be twisted to find “hidden gems” among people—the most promising students, for example—unless magic was somehow operated with spoken language alone. Which evidently was not the case, as Sparkle hadn’t had to say any sort of incantation to levitate things.
“Anyway, I sent her a note yesterday, in advance,” Sparkle continued. “She said she would be free to come today. I think you’ll get along fine, even if you’re not looking to make friends with anypony.”
Principal Abacus Cinch getting along with a magical equine. That would be the day.
She also did not fail to notice that Sparkle had apparently been so sure she could get Cinch to agree to this visit that she had asked her friend to assist before even meeting with the principal herself.
“Now, I took the liberty of telling Rarity that you’re from the other world. She knows about it as well. This way you can freely ask her the most basic questions and it won’t be strange.” Sparkle looked to the side. “I also told her that you’re not staying for very long at all and, well... As I said, that you’re not looking to make friends.” She looked back at Cinch. ”She should be here fairly soon.”
“Very well, Miss Sparkle,” Cinch replied. “I believe I’ll be able to find the exit on my own. Please be so kind as to start your preparations so that we can get to this Crystal Empire as soon as possible and I can return home.”
“I’ll do just that. Oh, and Mrs. Cinch? I just want to say something.” Sparkle paused as though to collect her thoughts. “Nopony here knows anything about you as a person, you have no reputation to uphold, no image to keep. You will stay here for a short time and then probably never see anypony again, and the impression you make in this short time is perfectly inconsequential.” Sparkle’s expression became almost pleading. “Please, consider opening up to them a bit. Everypony here is friendly and good-natured, what could you lose if you treat them warmly in return? Maybe you’ll find yourself enjoying it, who knows?”
“I’ll keep that in mind, Miss Sparkle.”
Principal Cinch carefully descended a hard, smooth stone staircase as she contemplated her situation.
This Twilight Sparkle seemed oddly concerned with ‘helping’. It was not even her own world’s affairs, and yet she was willing to spend her presumably valuable time on this endeavor. Perhaps she was doing it as a favor or obligation to someone in the real world?
Then again, earlier in Cinch’s office, Sparkle seemed passionate about her ideals of people holding hands and getting along. Maybe she truly believed she was saving Crystal Prep from certain doom by introducing its nasty, cold-hearted principal to the concept of being nice.
The staircase finally ended. Cinch looked down the corridor to find the exit. She saw a window, and through the window she saw that this was still not the ground floor.
The whole place reminded Cinch of Crystal Prep, just a bit over-decorated and painted into darker tones. Actually, she did not mind the darker tones.
Back to the matter at hand, though.
Even more puzzling than Sparkle’s eagerness to “help” was the fact that Cinch had decided to go along with it. She didn’t really believe most of what Sparkle preached. Why did she now find herself in this fairy-tale world, wasting her time on things that would never be relevant? The only scenario in which they could was Cinch becoming a children’s book author.
Perhaps she did not have a good reason to decline, given how a tool for instant communication and a quick way back were provided to her. Cinch did not want to admit it, but this trip might have been a way to distract herself from the immediate problem back home.
Oh well. Cinch did want to question Sparkle directly, just to get straight to the information she could’ve used, but the purple equine princess needed to get her affairs in order. Disturbing her would only prolong Cinch’s stay and delay their trip to the Crystal Empire. Hopefully this Rarity would be able to provide some insight.
Actually, Cinch just hoped that Rarity’s company would at least be tolerable. On one hand, Sparkle had requested this friend specifically, so it would stand to reason that she picked one that would least annoy Cinch. On the other hand, it was done before meeting Cinch in person, so Sparkle had to rely on whatever account she had gotten of Cinch’s personality from others.
Principal Cinch knew that few bothered to understand why she acted like she did. Most simply assumed she was a selfish and unpleasant person. Then again, among those talking to Sparkle had been Cadenza, and the dean knew her well enough to offer more adequate judgement.
Another flight of stairs ended and Cinch spotted what looked undeniably like a front door.
The outside looked nothing like she had expected. Truthfully, Cinch hadn’t spent any considerable time contemplating what this world would look like outside the castle. A small rustic town, just a step above a village, was rather low on her list of possibilities. At least it was clean and well-cared for.
Unfortunately, but perhaps unsurprisingly, the day on this side of the portal was bright and sunny, the air hot and disgustingly still.
Principal Cinch looked around for anyone approaching and then turned to the castle.
Her expectations of this world lowered quickly and dramatically. How was she supposed to take anything around here seriously when there was a princess living in a backwater town whose crystal castle was half crystal tree? It looked completely ridiculous.
“Quite a sight, isn’t it?”
Given the flexibility of the phrase, it could indeed be applied to this gaudy monstrosity.
Cinch tore her gaze off the castle and looked to the source of the voice. It turned out to be a unicorn of a more reasonable white coloration, albeit with quite an extravagant mane. The unicorn wore a simple dress that looked rather silly on her. Before Cinch could form a polite reply, the stranger spoke again.
“Pardon me, but would you happen to be Abacus Cinch?” asked the unicorn.
“Correct. I suppose you are Rarity, then.”
“Indeed, that’s moi. Marvelous to make your acquaintance Mrs. Cinch!” exclaimed Rarity. “Shall we go?”
“Where will we be going, exactly?” Cinch said as she turned the rest of herself towards the newcomer. It was only polite.
“Why, the one and only place anypony new should visit as soon as possible! The Ponyville Spa, of course!”
Well, that was awfully forward of this creature. Then again, despite her wearing a dress, no other equine around them had any element of clothing on, which probably meant that visiting a sauna with a stranger could be considered acceptable in this culture. Still, Principal Cinch felt the need to protest.
“A spa hardly seems like an important place to visit during a BRIEF tour of a town.”
“Oh pish-posh, a spa visit puts a pony in the perfect condition to appreciate what our little town has to offer! Besides, I sense that you are less interested in sightseeing than knowledge, Mrs. Cinch, and I can answer any questions you might have just fine as we enjoy the treatment!”
“Very well then, Miss Rarity. Lead the way.” Cinch did not know what effect spas had on headaches, but she would rather find out than argue with a unicorn in a dress. Even though it was the very antithesis of a cool breeze.
Agreeing to this spa session might have been the best decision Cinch would make on this one-day vacation in another world. It was, all in all, rather relaxing, washing away her swarming thoughts. Even her headache was going away. This would undoubtedly make her visit that much more tolerable.
“...And so, all three pony tribes reached the land that is now Equestria, and, naturally, it didn’t take them too long to discover each other again.”
Just this once, Cinch allowed herself to be mildly curious about something equine-related. Cinch had inquired about a certain bit of their history that Sparkle had mentioned. Rarity was all too happy to oblige.
“Tensions rose immediately,” she narrated. “And, as you can imagine, the windigos had followed, so the weather started getting colder once more. This reignited the same conflict between the leaders, naturally.”
“There is one thing, Miss Rarity, that I do not comprehend. How were the unicorns dull enough to assume the pegasi had been at fault again, despite the fact that the pegasi had been driven out of their home just like everyone else? Surely it would have been obvious at that point that the weather was changing for other reasons.”
“Yes, it would seem so now,” Rarity nodded. “In hindsight a lot of our problems and questions have obvious answers. I’m sure that at the time things were simply too heated for the politicians to think rationally.”
Rarity was unaware how close to home her hindsight comment had struck. Indeed, Cinch knew too well how easily bad choices were made under pressure.
“They had all the time in the world to think rationally BETWEEN their meetings, I assume,” said Cinch while raising an eyebrow.
“Yes, well… I admit, every tribe’s pride also played a role.” Rarity looked a bit uncomfortable. “The unicorn royalty was too concerned with its reputation to admit their mistakes. The earth ponies were just… stubborn.”
Cinch already knew that this “great tale of old” would amount to someone finding an obvious solution to their embarrassingly simple problem. Perhaps something about the unicorns getting over their “petty concerns about reputation”, the others swallowing their pride and everyone getting along, again. This world seemed to be juvenile enough for an event like that to have played a big role in their history. It would not surprise Cinch if the equines had shared some eclairs and made peace just like that. Wanting to confirm her assumptions, she motioned for Rarity to continue.
“Either way, things were going nowhere,” Rarity obliged. “But luckily, the leaders’ assistants did not share the same hatred for each other that their so-called betters had. They became friends over the council meetings where they always got a chance to see each other. At the same time, Clover investigated the weather anomalies. Eventually she discovered the windigos.
“Naturally, she was quick to report her findings to Princess Platinum, but the princess was so deep in her disdain for the pegasi that she refused them the benefit of the doubt. Clover did not know who to turn to, and so she brought it up with her friends at the next council meeting. Smart Cookie told Puddinghead about it, and Pansy told Hurricane. What they hadn’t expected was this information made the situation worse.
“Puddinghead was convinced that the windigos were concocted by the pegasi in an effort to shift the blame to some imaginary monster. Hurricane was furious with Princess Platinum for refusing to recant her accusations. Platinum herself was quite cross with Clover for meddling in their affairs like that.
“A fight broke out like nothing the three cross-tribe friends had ever seen. It was far beyond the simple rudeness and passive-aggressive remarks—it became a shouting match, things were thrown, you can probably imagine. And the windigos were right there, getting so powerful that the entire building began to freeze over.
“The disaster brought Clover, Cookie and Pansy closer, though, and then, at the very last moment, from their friendship in the face of hopelessness a spell was born. Clover, powered by their friendship, used her magic to weaken and drive away the windigos.
“Nopony knows what happened to the beasts, whether they were destroyed or not, but their influence on the weather stopped. The land thawed out and the leaders were forced to face their mistakes and own up to them. From there the earth ponies, unicorns and pegasi started living in unity, and Equestria was formed as the shared land of all three tribes.”
Having finished her long-winded tale, Rarity looked expectantly at Cinch, only to find her companion thoroughly unimpressed.
“So permit me to clarify, Miss Rarity. Everything was solved with magic, magic that was somehow ‘powered by friendship’?” Cinch said with a deliberate, slow pace.
“Well, it used to be a mystery to us as well, Mrs. Cinch, but it was better understood after Twilight’s ascension. You see, friendship between ponies creates harmony, and harmony strengthens the magic…” Rarity tapped her chin with her hoof. “You’ll have to excuse me, I’m not up to date on the latest research on this matter—you are much better off asking Twilight for details, I’m afraid.”
“That won’t be necessary, Miss Rarity. I believe I understand enough.” Cinch paused for a moment. “Now, how much longer is this session going to last?”
“Oh! Well, actually, we can leave right now, it’s ended. We could have left earlier, in fact, but I was telling the—” Cinch climbed out of the bath and headed for the towels without saying a word “—story.”
The equine and the woman walked down a Ponyville street, headed toward a place Rarity had suggested to get a refreshment. The name had something to do with sugar.
Truth be told, it was not the first place Rarity had suggested, but Cinch refused to eat anything that she would not eat as a human. Apparently, only one place in town served anything other than grass or flower products. Instead it sold sugary pastries, as she was led to believe. That was good, sugar could help her stay awake through more of these stories.
Stories that she was still determined to listen to because it was the only remotely productive thing she could be doing in this horse land. She would’ve left immediately after realizing how tiresome her trip was going to be, but something useful could still be learned at the so called Crystal Empire. If it was a counterpart of Crystal Prep and really as much of a utopia as Sparkle had described it during their car ride, maybe she could at least apply some of their methods to her school.
Although after Rarity’s ‘brief’ history lesson a suspicion began creeping into Cinch’s mind, a suspicion she did not like but pushed away for the sake of her continued collectedness.
A building that looked like a gingerbread house came into view. All of a sudden, Rarity’s eyes widened and she froze in place. Cinch stopped as well, unsure of what might have caused such a change in her guide’s disposition.
“Er, Mrs. Cinch… This is Sugarcube Corner. And I am terribly sorry, but I must ask that you wait right here for a second…” Rarity glanced between Cinch and the building. “I have to run ahead and… well… take care… of something! Wait-right-here-I’ll-be-right-back!”
The white unicorn rushed inside the childish-looking store, leaving Cinch confused and irritated. What was it now?
Many long and annoying seconds passed after Rarity disappeared through the doors. Cinch noticed that her headache had returned in full force from all the bright colors around her. Mercifully, the unicorn soon emerged, looking much calmer, and beckoned Cinch inside.
The inside of the shop was thankfully not as garish as the outside, and the smell of freshly baked sweets was actually pleasant. There were not too many customers which promised quiet. Some of them glanced strangely at Cinch as she entered with Rarity. Behind the counter stood an equine so painfully pink that Cinch felt like turning away immediately so as not to worsen her headache. The pink creature seemed on edge, but had a smile plastered on her face anyway.
“Hi! My name is Pinkie Pie and—” Rarity shot her a subtle but meaningful look “—and what would you like to order?” The equine then started shaking very slightly, fidgeting in place as Cinch slowly lowered her gaze from her to the selection of baked goods on offer.
All the pastries looked about as headache-inducing as the equine selling them, but Cinch managed to pick out one with the least frosting and the most subdued color scheme.
“I will have this thing, please,” she said, her tone colder than ice, and went for the farthest table from the counter. She heard Rarity make her order and soon the unicorn joined her at the table.
“You’ll have to bear with Pinkie Pie, I’m afraid,” Rarity said. “She is very… energetic about meeting new ponies, and believe me”—she leaned forward a little to give Cinch a pointed look—“she knows you’re new. Fortunately I managed to dissuade her from throwing you a party on the spot by informing her that you are visiting Ponyville very briefly and have important business elsewhere later today. She’s trying her best to hold it in, but she really wants to try making friends with you, like she has with everyone else who ever set hoof in Ponyville.”
“I appreciate the thoughtfulness, Miss Rarity,” Cinch said in a not at all appreciative tone. “I’m not looking for any… friends here during my visit.”
“Aw, why not? Friends are great! You can never have enough!” Both heads turned to Pinkie Pie as she approached the table with their order. Apparently she thought nothing of butting into others’ conversations.
“That may be true for other people, Miss Pie, but not for me, I can assure you. Now can you please leave us to our food?”
“Silly, friends are for everypony! What could anyone possibly have against having friends? There’s only good things about it! You know what I think?” Cinch wanted to interrupt. “I think that if you don’t think so, you just haven’t met your friends yet! But everypony should have friends!”
Pinkie spoke much too fast to get a word in, so Cinch had to settle with a less satisfying option of simply replying.
“Yes, thank you very much for your input, but I must repeat my request.”
Rarity shot Pie another look. Pie frowned slightly, but put the platter on their table and left with a quiet “Okay”. Her mane looked a tad limp.
The meal passed in blissful silence.
After the pair left the bakery, Cinch insisted that Rarity lead her back to Princess Sparkle’s castle. Rarity was unhappy to have to cut her tour short, but seemed to understand anyway. She reluctantly agreed and now they walked through Ponyville again. Cinch made a point of staying in the shade as much as the surrounding buildings and trees allowed.
From time to time Rarity spoke up to point out one place of interest or another, but Cinch barely paid any attention to her. She did not say anything or even acknowledge anything Rarity said. Unfortunately, they were not allowed a calm trip to their destination.
“Woah! Your wings are a mess!”
Upon hearing these words from above, Rarity groaned and lowered her head to the ground. Cinch looked at the rude flying equine with a raised eyebrow. This one was light blue with possibly the most garish tail and mane Cinch could have imagined on one of these creatures.
“I mean, do you ever preen them? How do you fly with your wings like that?”
Cinch did not manage to find appropriate words to reply to this before Rarity stepped in.
“Rainbow Dash, this is Abacus Cinch, she’s Twilight’s guest here in Ponyville for a very short time, and I would appreciate it if you stopped being so unbelievably rude to her.”
“What? I’m only saying the truth! This is no way for a pegasus to keep her wings!”
Irritated enough so that the words came to her, Cinch coughed to get this Rainbow’s attention.
“As a matter of fact, I am not using these wings. And I shall not even have them for much longer. So would you perhaps consider leaving us alone and letting us be on our way?”
Rainbow’s face went from confused to horrified to confused again.
“What do you mean you won’t have your wings?!”
Rarity sighed and motioned for Rainbow to fly closer to her.
“Rainbow, Twilight brought Mrs. Cinch from Sunset Shimmer’s world, her pegasus form is only temporary!” she whispered to the pegasus rather loudly.
“Oooh, so you’re from the high school world? Weird that the portal would give you wings that look like they haven’t been used in years!” Rainbow looked incredulously at the unicorn. “Rares, did you not take her to the spa or something?”
“How did you… Nevermind, I suppose that would be expected of me,” Rarity conceded. “Yes, I did in fact take Mrs. Cinch to the spa, but she refused most of their services, including preening.”
“Jeez, I know some of the stuff they do there is weird, but why wouldn’t you want to try flying? From what Twilight told us, you guys all look like fleshy monkeys and have no magic or wings, and flying is awesome! Everyone who can should totally experience it!”
What was it with these equines and their insufferable need to insist that strangers do things that they don’t want to do? Was their society so homogenous that they assumed everyone liked the same things as they?
“Miss… Dash, getting my wings in an appropriate condition and then learning to fly just to experience it briefly, once, is an incredible waste of my time.” Cinch furrowed her brow. “In fact, even if I could fly right now, I would not, because it would still be wasting my time. Miss Sparkle still has to take me to the Crystal Empire and then I can go home, and never visit your world again for the rest of my life.”
“Whatever, your loss. Suit yourself.” Shrugging with a slightly irritated look on her own face, the pegasus turned around and flew away. Seems like Cinch’s message, carried across subtly with her carefully measured tone of voice and choice of words, was received loud and clear.
Cinch’s headache was getting stronger than ever, and she remembered Sparkle’s words about the impression she would leave on these creatures being completely inconsequential.
That was absolutely true, wasn’t it?
“Another one of your ‘friends’, Miss Rarity? I can certainly see why you would want the company of such a delightful and considerate creature. Why, she definitely seems like someone worth your time.”
“Now Mrs. Cinch," Rarity said with a furrowed brow, "I can understand your irritation, but I shall not have you make such sarcastic remarks about her. You are right: Rainbow Dash, for all her abrasiveness and lack of tact, is a dear friend and simply the most loyal pony I’ve ever known!”
Cinch responded by rolling her eyes and making an exasperated sigh. She could see Princess Sparkle’s castle from here, so she did not need to put up with these equines anymore—she could reach her destination and deter any other unwanted interruptions well enough on her own. With that thought, Cinch turned her head forward and resumed walking. Rarity followed several paces behind, unhappy but still obliged to accompany her to the castle.
Soon this would all be over and done with. Cinch only had to suffer through visiting this Crystal Empire, then she could head home with a clear conscience and deal with her real problems.
“And so Rainbow Dash flew back out holding the other end of the bridge. We quickly tied it up and were able to finally get across. Afterwards she told me that apparently Nightmare Moon had manifested a mirage of an elite flying team trying to lure her away from helping us, but she, and I quote, ‘never leaves her friends hanging’. So, anyway, we crossed the ravine…”
As Cinch entered Sparkle’s castle, she noticed that Rarity hadn’t followed her inside. She was more than fine with that. Sparkle did not have to know how poorly the “tour” had ended up, and with any luck Cinch could pretend to be interested enough to fool the equine into proceeding with her plan and taking her to the Crystal Empire. That was the only place in this entire world that Cinch thought could be relevant, if anything about it truly parallelled Crystal Prep.
“...the Elements shot forward a spell, defeating Nightmare Moon and returning Princess Luna to us as her normal self, after a thousand years...”
It turned out that Sparkle was just finishing her affairs, so they immediately headed to the train station to check the schedule. In an unprecedented display of good fortune, the wait for the next train to the Crystal Empire was rather short. As soon as it arrived, Sparkle spoke with the conductor equine, gave him some coins, and used her magic to lift all the crates she had brought along and load them into one of the baggage cars. Finally, they both entered the nearest passenger car and took their seats.
“...So none of our attempts to get through to the dragon succeeded.”
Soon enough the train departed.
“But then, Fluttershy saved us all! Seeing us, her friends, in actual danger gave her the courage she needed to stand up to the dragon.”
Much like the bakery, the train’s interior didn’t match its tasteless exterior, so Cinch could almost imagine travelling by normal human transport. There wasn’t much through the window either, apart from generic wilderness. It all looked sensible enough to maintain the illusion.
“...Pinkie played all those instruments she had gathered, and the parasprites, enchanted by her music, followed her out of town.”
The illusion only lasted until her companion decided that silence was too pleasant for them and started talking incessantly about all the times that friendship allegedly saved the day.
“If we had been better friends and helped her find all the instruments, the damage the parasprites dealt to the town might’ve been avoided. We all learned from this mistake, though.”
Initially, Cinch’s intention was to ignore her. Telling her to shut up was not an option since, loath as she was to admit it, she did require Sparkle’s cooperation during her visit to the Crystal Empire. The equine certainly wouldn’t hold her hostage in the horse world, but she might be hesitant to part with extra details of the workings of the place if she gave up on Cinch’s case. The charade would have to be kept up for a while longer, it seemed.
“...Seeing her friend plummeting to her doom drove Rainbow Dash past what she believed were her limits, and she dove down at amazing speed, catching the Wonderbolts, Rarity, and, of course, performing the Sonic Rainboom.”
However, Cinch’s brain never was good at filtering excess information. She could not help but absorb the useless, irritating knowledge flowing out of the equine’s mouth. Including the likely explanation of why that Rainbow equine was so dear to Rarity. It made more sense now. Saving one’s life does tend to bring people closer, more often than not.
“So, my spirits were completely shattered, and I was just about ready to give up on my friends and my new home and leave. But when I came to my room, I found that Spike had been receiving dozens of scrolls from Princess Celestia.”
However, the little piece of information that she really wished she could have missed had been sprung on her relatively early in the lecture. Apparently, the principal and vice-principal of Canterlot High School were supreme rulers of this land, more than a thousand years old each. Well, it was their counterparts, to be exact, but that did not help Cinch’s disposition.
“With all of my friends back to their normal selves, we could once again wield the Elements of Harmony and turn Discord to stone, as well as restore the land to its natural state.”
The fact that those two unambitious, arguably downright incompetent women had their equine versions hold such high positions, probably the highest possible, and yet an Abacus Cinch was nowhere to be found hurt Cinch’s pride just a bit. Then again, this world did seem to reward completely different virtues than the real world did. She did not allow herself to dwell on this; it would have led her nowhere if she did.
“This finally got Fluttershy to overcome her fear and join the tornado. Her contribution ended up being exactly what was missing, and the pegasi successfully raised the water to the weather factory.”
As the landscape outside gradually changed to a colder one, eventually gaining a thick snow layer, Cinch put her forehead to the now cool glass. It helped her headache somewhat.
“I’ll skip telling you about the Crystal Empire, I think. It will be more engaging if you hear it while actually seeing the place where the events happened.”
Of course, these neverending stories of Sparkle’s friend group’s ridiculous escapades created a perfect balance with the pleasantly cold window. The pain didn’t go away but neither did it grow. Cinch would have to settle for that.
“And right at that moment I understood how the spell was supposed to go and what it meant. So we went back to the library, I wrote it down, and, well...”
Tragically, all of Sparkle’s babbling registered in Cinch’s mind, and she could not help but notice a certain trend throughout most of these scenarios, the more prominent the bigger the problem had been. Sparkle herself did not seem to see it though, otherwise she would’ve known that her plan had been hopeless from the start.
“...So I fought Tirek using all the magic that had been stored in me.”
Cinch finally realized that she did not consider this Sparkle deserving of her name and likeness, a thought that only added to her dislike of the equine. The real Twilight Sparkle was much more intelligent, even if she was also weak-willed and unsociable. Hopefully CHS would not turn Twilight into the sort of person Sparkle was.
“That turned out to be the final key, as I had expected. So, thanks to our new and old friendships, we were able to open the chest and retrieve the magical power hidden within, and using it we defeated Tirek!”
Unfortunately, like all good things, the snowy weather did not last. The train left the limits of its influence, crossing a staggeringly clear border between eternal winter and eternal summer.
“And here we are, right on time! Follow me, Mrs. Cinch, we’re in the Crystal Empire!”
The Crystal Empire almost fit its name. Almost.
It certainly was made of crystal. However, it was nothing more than a small town, and definitely not anything close to an entire empire. Although, Cinch hadn’t expected the counterpart of her prestigious—albeit territorially limited—school to be a whole country. Instead she assumed these equines always tried to pretend that their world was bigger than it really was.
Still, Cinch failed to see any parallels between this place and her school. Perhaps locations were even more loosely matched between worlds than people. That theory was supported by the fact that their Canterlot was a capital city built on a mountainside, housed a royal palace and looked absolutely nothing like CHS, even from afar.
However Abacus Cinch was nothing if not determined. She did not let go of the smallest chance that this “Crystal Empire” could offer something useful. If nothing else, the town was aesthetically striking.
The most impressive structure was the spire in the middle of it all. It stood on four legs and stretched high into the clear blue sky. As it shimmered in the sunlight, Cinch could not help but feel a pang of appreciation for the scene. It was too extravagant—not to mention bright—for her to wish Crystal Prep had looked like this, but it was certainly pleasing.
Cinch turned to Sparkle, who was carrying several large crates with the portal parts and the mirror itself in them.
“This looks like quite the utopia indeed, Miss Sparkle.”
Sparkle glanced back at Cinch with a smile and then turned back towards the city, taking in the scenery as if it was her first time seeing it.
“It really does. After everything they went through, it makes me happy that the Empire is enjoying a calm and peaceful life these days.”
“I’m certainly curious just how this was achieved,” Cinch probed.
“Well, there’s a certain somepony I want you to meet, and they’d be better than me at answering that question!” Sparkle grinned enthusiastically. “And while you two are busy, I’ll quickly put the portal together.”
“Very well,” Cinch said. The thought of leaving this fairytale world lifted her spirits just a bit. Enough that perhaps she would have an easier time pretending to be nice for this new equine.
As the pair made their way along what seemed to be a main road, Cinch’s eyes danced all over the surroundings. Gawking was beneath her, obviously, but she did appreciate the visuals. The buildings were all irregular, shaped with apparent randomness, but it still possessed a certain orderly style with elegant decorative elements. It certainly was more worth looking at than the fairly typical old town that was Ponyville. Not to mention the rather drab architecture back in the real world.
Cinch’s irritation at the whole situation slowly melted away. Did the beauty of the town really have such a profound effect on her? Or perhaps she was slipping and got too optimistic about learning something useful?
Cinch took note of the resident equines. All of them seemed to be the regular kind, neither pegasus nor unicorn. However, they had a certain shine to them, as if they collectively took a bath in Cinch’s hair products. As she observed the equines, some of them gave her strange looks of their own. Maybe it was because she was casually walking alongside royalty. Or maybe it was her apparently disastrous wings.
Eventually Cinch noticed that Sparkle had taken her towards the magnificent central tower. The entrances were on the inner sides of its legs. In the middle there was what appeared to be a heart-shaped piece of crystal, floating in between two spikes and spinning lazily. The object looked important and required further investigation.
“Oh, it’s called the Crystal Heart," Sparkle said when Cinch inquired about the object. "My sister-in-law can explain it all, the Crystal Heart is her cutie mark, after all.”
“I see. I shall ask her further then,” replied Cinch.
“Yep, and we’re nearly there. She’s in the castle, and if I’m correct, the court will be closing really soon. If we take a more roundabout route to the throne room, we will be able to catch her as she leaves.”
“Court? Throne room? Miss Sparkle, is your sister-in-law yet another ruling figure?”
“Well yes, she is a princess too. Formerly the Princess of Love, and now, with the Crystal Empire back, the co-ruler of this place alongside her husband. She had also ascended, just like myself, but much earlier. That’s a whole other story, though.”
“And I am certain I do not need to hear it.” Cinch said dismissively as she looked past Sparkle.
Sparkle rolled her eyes. “Alright, Mrs. Cinch, I can see that it would be irrelevant to your interests. I won’t bore you.”
A little too late for that, Cinch thought. No, in fact, much too late for that.
Cinch turned yet another corner and saw a big and impressive set of doors at the end of the hallway. Two guard equines were stationed at its sides. This had to be the throne room entrance. About time, too: they had gone around the palace in such a big circle that they had even managed to find the room to house the soon-to-be-rebuilt portal, and Sparkle had deposited her cargo of crates there.
As the pair neared the doors, Sparkle approached one of the guards to ask if the court had ended. When the guard silently nodded in response, she turned back to Cinch with a smile. “Alright, Mrs. Cinch, it looks like we’re just on time. Let’s go in!” She enveloped the door handles with her magic and forced them open.
Cinch was not quite ready for what waited on the other side. Of course, thanks to her decades of practice, her face reflected none of her surprise upon seeing the comparatively gigantic white equine with a mane that looked almost exactly like Principal Celestia’s hair, waving as though caught in an invisible water current. Next to her stood a smaller one, dark blue in color, who Cinch could deduce was probably supposed to be Vice-Principal Luna, even though she did not really look that much like her. These two stood with their backs to the entrance, talking to a third one. A smaller pink equine, possessing both wings and a horn like the other two. She looked the most familiar of the three.
Cadenza? Cadenza was running the Crystal Empire?
Well, actually, it was almost expected, if Cinch was to be fair. As she had noted before, with this world working so differently from her own, it would only make sense for the same people to have achieved different levels of success in the two worlds. Cadenza’s outlook on life suited this place better. Although, honestly, she was still too mature and professional for this collection of shameful parodies. Vastly overqualified, in fact.
At least, the real Cadenza was. Judging by the difference between Twilight and Sparkle, this equine Cadenza could easily turn out an utter dullard.
Sparkle entered after Cinch. Upon seeing the two CHS equines and shooting Cinch a nervous glance (was she expecting her to react violently to their presence?) she galloped towards them, clearly elated. Hearing her, the two large hybrids turned around, first noticing Sparkle herself and returning her greetings (in which the Cadenza equine joined them), and then landing their gazes on Cinch.
Their eyes widened, and Cinch was almost certain she could see Celestia quietly mouth a word that could have been “Abacus”. Sparkle was looking confusedly between the larger hybrids and Cinch. Cadenza, for her part, did not really react in any way. As a result, she was the first to break the sudden silence.
“Oh, and you must be Mrs. Cinch, right? Twilight told me she’d be bringing a guest today.”
“Correct,” answered Cinch.
Cinch’s voice snapped the white and dark blue equines out of their stupor, and Celestia ushered Twilight out of the room, presumably intent on questioning her about the situation. Another great example of incompetence on Sparkle’s part, Cinch realized. Not letting the two supreme rulers of the entire land know about a guest from a different world? Sounded about right for Sparkle’s intelligence.
Luna followed her and Celestia as well, leaving Cadance and Cinch alone in the large hall.
“Well, while they’re busy… Twilight told me in her note that you would probably want to know about the Crystal Empire. I’m assuming she was right?”
It was even more unusual to hear Cadenza’s voice coming from a horse than it was Twilight’s. Mostly because the dean’s counterpart talked and carried herself almost exactly like the original. Sparkle’s demeanor was different to the point of being unrecognizable.
This did, however, help Cinch feel a bit more at ease with the pink hybrid. A strong sense of familiarity invaded the part of her brain that tirelessly worked on keeping the real world and the fairy-tale world apart.
“Indeed. Miss Sparkle told me that you would be the one to shed some light on the way your Crystal Empire works. I’ll be honest, since I am in charge of this place’s counterpart in my world, I am mostly interested in something that I could perhaps apply there. However, it is a school and not a town, so I do not expect anything substantial at this point.”
Cadenza approached one of the tall windows and looked across the panorama of her town stretching beneath. Cinch joined her, but did not care to partake in the view. Her attention was fully on the pink equine.
“Well, Mrs. Cinch, there is really no big secret. This place is isolated from Equestria, in more ways than one. It’s so far to the north, away from any other settlements, and it has been gone for a thousand years, so everypony is adjusting to a new world.”
“What exactly do you mean?” inquired Cinch.
“This place is ancient, Mrs. Cinch. More than a thousand years ago it was ruled by an evil unicorn named Sombra. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna defeated him, but he managed to use all of his remaining strength to place a final spell upon the empire, a spell that caused it to simply vanish for a thousand years. It only reappeared recently, and Sombra with it. We were able to defeat him for good, though.”
“I see.” Sombra, an evil tyrant? Of course. This world knew no subtleties.
“So as I was saying, we’re an isolated community. Not too big, not too difficult to keep tabs on. Shining Armor and myself have tried really hard to help the crystal ponies adapt, to keep their spirits up. Luckily, there was already a good way to do that: the Crystal Faire. It’s an annual event that celebrates everything that the Empire can be proud of, its traditions and customs. The Faire keeps the whole population of the empire together in friendship by bringing the sense of love and unity to everypony.”
This again. Was there no escape?
“We’re fitting in rather well, especially since my cutie mark depicts the Crystal Heart, so the ponies have taken to my presence very well. Shining and I are friendly with them and try to never make ourselves appear above the others. For example, Shining has been personally training our sports teams. I tend to just take walks and talk to the ponies, look at what they do.”
“What DO they do here, Mrs. Cadenza?”
“Please, call me Cadance,” Cadenza said with a placating smile.
“Very well, Cadance. What do they do? Do your subjects just wallow in euphoria every day or are they actually achieving something?”
“They… they just live, Mrs. Cinch. They lead happy, pleasant lives. What more could a pony ask for? Some go out and travel around Equestria. We’ve got our share of artists, we produce our own food and so on.” Cadanza tore her gaze off the town and turned to face Cinch once more. “You sound rather dismissive of such a life, may I ask why?”
“I’ll tell you why, Cadance.” Cinch looked into the distance, furrowing her brow. “In the real world you have to put in a lot of hard work and excel if you want to live a good life. Many people settle for the meaningless existence you can achieve if you have no ambition, but I find it unacceptable.” She turned back to the princess. ”My school provides people with what they need to have a chance at success. In your world, it seems, everything is given to you on a silver platter! Of course I am dismissive! It is simply a mockery of reality!”
Cadenza looked confused. “Is your world really such a different place? From what Twilight told us of her visits, it seemed not unlike ours, in the things that matter at least…”
“Well, let me give you an example then, Cadance,” Cinch said, levelling her gaze. “Just remember something you mentioned a minute ago. Those marks on your hips. You refer to yours quite casually, yet in the real world we do not get a magical confirmation of our destiny. Most people spend their entire lives not knowing what they could be good at or what they could enjoy in life. There is no societal pressure to figure these things out, unlike here, where you are apparently an anomaly if you don’t have an understanding of your destiny by puberty!”
“But Mrs. Cinch, the portal gave you a cutie mark when you crossed over,”—Cadenza glanced at Cinch’s hip—“surely that must mean that you HAVE figured out what you’re good at and what you enjoy!”
“I do know what I am good at, yes,” Cinch replied coldly. “Especially since the fruits of my work are obvious. But that is because I do actually work hard. Most people in my world act as though they live in yours, but, thankfully, it does not tend to work out for them.”
This conversation was getting out of hand. Cinch had to remind herself that this was not the real Cadenza, Cinch had nothing to prove to her and no reason to convince her of anything. Though she found the pink equine to be a much better match for the real person than Sparkle had been, and the years of working alongside Dean Cadenza took their toll, making Cinch a bit more open to the, technically, total stranger that this Cadenza was to her. Thankfully, Cinch was able to catch herself.
“Well, anyway, Mrs. Cinch, did you at least get the answer you wanted?” Cadenza didn’t seem to be put off by the hint of malice in Cinch’s last sentiment.
“I believe I did. I understand the gist of your methods. You get down to their level and make your subjects feel comfortable so that they trust you.” Cinch nodded. “You also keep their spirits high by evoking a certain pride they feel for their town, undeserved as it may be.”
Cadenza frowned a bit. Cinch looked over the town outside and continued.
“I highly doubt this could work for my establishment, but it’s something to keep in mind I suppose. Perhaps I’ll let your counterpart have a bit more free rein for a while. She did always want to act towards my students the way you do towards your subjects. It could smooth things over until I can safely take back full control. And if you can do this for an entire town, she must be capable of the same feat on the scale of my school.”
There she went again, telling Cadenza more than she needed to know. The equine’s smile returned at Cinch’s words.
Cinch turned to look at Cadenza once more. “I have just one last question, though. That Crystal Heart, as Sparkle called it. What does it do?”
“Oh, well, it’s a magical artifact, as you might’ve guessed. The crystal ponies power it up with their emotions during the Crystal Faire, and its magic spreads those emotions not only across the Crystal Empire, but across the entire Equestria.”
…
“Mrs. Cinch, are you alright?”
No, Mrs. Cinch was not alright.
Magic. Of course it was magic. It was always magic, was it not? Even her emotions were not her own, Cinch realized. The hints of happiness she had felt before were just magical equine mind control. The same magical equine mind control that was the key to this place’s state. Not discipline, not the rulers’ competency, not the social engagement, not the evoking of pride. No, it was the enchanted artifact that forced the feelings of “love and unity” into everyone’s minds, making them content and complacent. What Cinch had thought was a working method of keeping the right mood and morale was merely a ritual to turn on the magical mind control device.
Sparkle was an idiot to think this whole interdimensional trip could benefit Cinch in any way. And Cinch was feeling more eager than ever to let her know that.
Cadenza did not even have time to say anything else as Cinch stormed out of the throne room.
Cinch’s brain had registered the path to the room where the portal was to be rebuilt just as well as it had registered all of Sparkle’s stories and their running theme. She walked with a purpose, paying her surroundings no mind. The beauty no longer interested her. Even as she passed the two princesses, Celestia and Luna, who looked like they wanted a word with her, she did not slow down.
Finally she reached her destination.
“Miss Sparkle, I am going home.” Cinch’s brow was furrowed.
Sparkle’s eyes widened. “What? So soon? Did you talk to Cadance?”
“Yes I did, and that is precisely why I want to leave immediately. There’s nothing for me here but a waste of time, and Cadenza only confirmed it.”
“What do you mean? I thought you wanted to learn why the Crystal Empire was such a nice place?..”
“Yes I did want that. And make no mistake, I did learn. But what do you know? I’m not sure what I expected, but the secret behind everything is the same here as it is everywhere else in your world.”
Sparkle lifted her foreleg and tentatively asked, “Friendship?”
“NO! No, Miss Sparkle, it is not friendship, and frankly I am appalled that you, having lived here your whole life, still have less of a clue about your world than a total stranger. The secret behind everything is MAGIC!”
“But friendship is—“
“Quiet!” Cinch all but barked. ”I don’t need to hear any more preaching from you, especially now that I know that you do not understand anything you’re talking about! How are you so blind?”
“What do you—”
“Recall all your stories, Miss Sparkle! All, positively ALL of your world’s problems are solved with some sort of magic that just happens to need friendship to work!” Did Sparkle really not see this? “This is such an absurd world that you equines being friends with each other powers up your weapons which destroy everything that wrongs you! How would your nation prosper so without those magical artifacts? You would crumple under the first mildest danger like the pathetic creatures you are! I could understand diplomacy, a heightened sense of professional or political ethics, anything, but you just convert niceness into power! Of course you would think that being friends solves all problems! In your world, it magically does just that! But the real world has NO magic, we do NOT get to make all our troubles go away on their own by holding hands! In fact, I would LOVE to see you come over and go visit the sites of any of our currently ongoing wars, just so you can get blown to BITS while trying to convince the opposing sides to just BE NICE TO EACH OTHER!”
Sparkle was speechless. Her mouth hung open. Her eyes, wider than should have been possible, began to water, although that might have been wishful thinking on Cinch’s part. As much as the sight pleased Cinch after having to endure so much and waste so much time due to this equine’s stupidity, and as much as she wanted to lay into Sparkle even more, she could not afford to indulge herself since it meant having to stay in this world even longer.
Cinch sneered anyway.
“So I’m sorry to say it, but the personal project you seem to have made me into is not going to work out, Miss Sparkle! You did nothing but waste my time and yours. Congratulations, princess.”
And with that, Cinch approached the portal, awkwardly stood up on two legs and stepped forward...
WHAM!
...Only to find the surface of the mirror as solid as any ordinary mirror’s would be, the portal not having been reactivated yet. Smacking into the glass knocked Cinch on her back. She scrambled back onto all four, whipped around to glare at Sparkle with pure rage roaring in her eyes, and practically screamed, “LET. ME. OUT!”.
Wordlessly, Sparkle levitated a book into the slot above the mirror. The machine whirred to life and the mirror shimmered.
Cinch’s exit from the statue base in front of Canterlot High was less than graceful, but it was late enough in the day that there was nobody in or in front of the school to witness it. Truthfully, even the rival school’s building was a sight for sore eyes after these several hours.
Getting back her human body reflexes and muscle memory, Cinch stood, slightly swaying from side to side. She straightened out her coat, gave a sigh and gently rubbed her forehead.
Cinch noticed that her glasses weren’t in her hand to be put back on afterwards. She looked around and spotted them in the grass near where she had fallen out of the portal. Picking them up, she recalled where her car was supposed to be parked and took off in that direction.
Arms behind her back, Cinch slowly walked through the neighbourhood that was home to the rival school. Since it was already evening, not too many people were out and about, and the ones that were didn’t seem to care too much about Cinch being there. Not that she would’ve been in any danger from the residents, but it still made her more comfortable. All the energy left her after the impassioned speech she had delivered to Sparkle so it was nice to not have to hurry.
The familiarity of the real world calmed Cinch down. Most of her anger had evaporated, replaced by a sense of bitter regret for a day wasted so foolishly.
Then again, no disasters seemed to have happened while Cinch was out. Cadenza hadn’t contacted her using that magic book. Cinch took out her phone and checked for messages or missed calls. None, as usual.
To be honest, she was not sure she even knew how the notifications for those things looked. She always had the phone on her to answer calls right away, and it was not like hordes of people were dying to talk to her all the time anyway. Thank goodness for that.
As soon as the car started up, Cinch fully lowered both front windows. The sensation of the cold evening air coursing through the salon was like the wind, and the wind was the one thing Cinch genuinely enjoyed. It was doubly appreciated after the still and oppressive heat of the horse world. As she drove, the breeze chilled her head and her headache slowly faded away. Thankfully, Cinch had never gotten a cold from doing this, and she really needed this after the day she had had.
The sun began to set, painting the dispersing clouds in orange tones. Cinch felt a new appreciation for the simple sight of the darkening city. Soon the street lights would come on, and windows all around would light up one by one. It was familiar, it made sense, and it was right.
Fortunately, Cinch did not need to stop by Crystal Prep. She had given Cadenza instructions for the entire day. Tomorrow her mind would be clear and she would tackle the situation, whatever that might be, after Cadenza’s day in power. Maybe, if everything was well, Cinch would have the dean help some more with returning everything to normal.
It would also not hurt to see how Cadenza handled herself in such a situation. Just in case Cinch had to leave again. Perhaps she could afford a vacation sometime (one week tops) if she made sure Cadenza was responsible and would not turn Crystal Prep into Canterlot High as soon as she had the capability to.
Soon after leaving the suburban neighbourhood and entering the city proper, Cinch’s car stopped at a red light. She felt a pleasantly sweet aroma seep through the open window. Cinch glanced outside and spotted a cafe on the street corner. On a whim Cinch parked her car on the sidewalk.
She had never noticed it before, the enticing smell of freshly baked pastries, but she could recall hearing people gush about it. It was something everyone felt the need to point out, which was normally tedious, but right now she felt like she understood those people.
As she entered the cafe, Cinch immediately felt several pairs of eyes on herself. She did not look around, though, and went straight for the counter and the pudgy blue lady behind it. The lady's smile was warm and welcoming, surprisingly genuine for a worker of the service industry. Perhaps it was not so surprising for this particular position, though.
Some of the baked goods looked nice. Cinch picked one that had a wrapper—she was definitely not going to sit down and eat her treat here, especially since she could hear several distantly familiar voices among the patrons she had ignored. A high-pitched bubbly voice, a raspy boyish one, and one with a fake posh accent among others.
Some of them even sounded like her own students, their voices still fresh in her mind after the Games. Cinch felt the need to squash what could’ve turned out to be the first symptoms of a friendly relationship between them and the students from CHS, but she simply could not find it in herself to care.
Cinch paid for the pastry and went back to her car.
The water was running. Cinch knew she had nearly fifteen minutes before her bath was fully drawn, so she decided to stand on her balcony and eat the sweet treat she had bought. She never used to do this. Neither the hot bath nor the pastry. This evening, however, she felt like it for one reason or another. Perhaps she thought she deserved it after suffering through the useless trip to the horse land, which was already like a distant memory.
And perhaps this bath would finish off her headache for good. She did learn that such a thing helped, after all. Relaxing in hot water calmed her restless thoughts, and the throbbing pain with them.
Cinch looked over the buildings and at the spires of Crystal Prep that could be seen above the roofs not too far away. The sun sank behind the city’s skyline and a gentle breeze caressed her face.
Abacus Cinch sighed.
“Perhaps I should have flown, after all.”
Cinch felt a slight discomfort on her back. She reached into her sweater with her free arm and pulled out a teal blue feather. Perhaps it came off shortly before Cinch’s escape through the portal and did not get erased in the transformation, no longer truly being a part of her body.
Suddenly Cinch understood why the portal had given her wings in a state of complete neglect in the first place.
She looked at the feather, spinning it around between her fingers for a bit, then quietly let go. As the feather drifted down and away through the evening air, Cinch sighed once more, finished her pastry and left the balcony.
