Renewal

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

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A quartet of individuals were... Not quite enjoying themselves at a small cafe. A business meeting amongst individuals who were certainly not on friendly terms.

"Alright, those are his test papers. I made copies for both of you, as well as his final score." White hands held a single sheet while dark blue rifled through a packet. Light cyan was slowly flipping through the pages, the score sheet abandoned next to cooling coffee.

"His handwriting is atrocious. Beaming Wings, with these grades I'm not sure there's anything we could do for him. He failed most of the core subject." Principal Celestia said as she put the paper down. "English, social studies, history and geography are all well below failing."

"I know Celestia, but we need to do something for him. And legally-" Beaming Wings didn't have these sorts of meetings very often, she always left them feeling somewhat inferior.

"Celestia-"

"I'll take him." Principal Cinch said, though she didn't look up from the papers in hand. Vice Principal Luna huffed, irked at being interrupted.

"Really Cinch? I know you hate having to hold your students hands just to get them through algebra." This was why Beaming Wings didn't enjoy trying to sell a student to the local schools. Both principals would turn it into some kind of game to deride the other while simultaneously one-upping them.

"You're right, I do. But as an educator, it is our job to do our best to pull out the potential of each and every child that we oversee." Celestia raised an eyebrow and motioned for Luna to hand over the boy's test papers.

"Perhaps." Celestia allowed as she tried to make sense of the scribbles all over the sheet. "But that's more intended for us to teach a child to learn, not pull teeth."

"Um, ladies?"

"And sometimes old growth needs to be pulled before what's intended to be there can properly grow. I'm certain you understand as much?" Cinch was flipping between pages, comparing something.

"Sister-"

"But without fertile soil, it's just as well to let weeds be weeds." Celestia put the packet down, blank side up and took a sip of her milky, sugared tea.

"If that's your opinion, I suppose you intend to leave this one to me?" Principal Cinch finally looked up, a frosty glare settled behind her glasses.

"Well, you did volunteer. And with the recent legislature that's passed I can't really afford to bring this-" Celestia waved the test sheet in front of her. "-up to a passing grade. It'd likely be kinder to send him back to middleschool."

"Well, if that's settled then-"

"I suppose after last years debacle you really can't afford to put in this kind of effort then. It's been... nice seeing you, Celestia. Do have a good day, Luna." The vice principal stood up, accepting the dismissal as her sister did the same.

They'd been doing this for years and she still didn't know whatever caused the bad blood between the two. Competitiveness only went so far...

"And you as well Cinch. Good luck." Celestia followed her sister, leaving behind her trash. An empty cup, a dirty spoon. Luna, it seemed, had grabbed the papers.

"Do we have to do this every time?" Beaming asked Cinch, who continued to rifle through the test papers.

"I am sorry about that, Miss Wings. Riling up a sore loser can be very hard to resist. Now, this young man, Spike? No surname?" Principal Cinch sat back in her chair, bringing her coffee with her.

"Unfortunately not. We're not sure he had one to begin with. He mentioned being taught to read and then being thrown into the job of being someones personal assistant not long after." Principal Cinch looked between the social worker and the papers in hand.

"That's a comforting thought. How old is he? Thirteen? Fourteen? There's no sane person who would have had him working, not legally." Again she flipped between two pages in the pamphlet. "Still, he seems adaptable enough. He struggled a lot here before his handwriting shifted slightly, probably the paper actually, and correctly solved the problem."

"Well, isn't that what he's supposed to do?"

"Oh, yes, it is. But it's how it was done that caught my attention. The formula to solve this problem is actually shown here on the next page. The slant of his handwriting also matches up from this page to where he continued working on that problem."

"Oh... Is that good?"

"It's very good, Miss Wings. It means he can be taught."

"In math, maybe. But what about his other grades? He scraped through math and only did slightly above average in science."

"It's not exactly difficult to assign a tutor. We've got a sophomore who's been chomping at the bit for extra credit to put on her transcript. If I put these two together, he should be matching his peer group before the year is out." She set the papers down, pleased with her plan.

"Well, if you're sure..."

"Miss Wings, at Crystal Preparatory Academy we pride ourselves not just on our ability to achieve, but on our willingness to do so. If need be, we'll drag him up to par, willing or no." Principal Cinch picked up her cold coffee and drained it before standing up. "Be sure to have Spike at the school come Monday morning."

Beaming Wings stood up, noticing three Styrofoam cups sitting at the table, her own included, and began to clean up.

This. This was why she hated having these meetings.

Well, this and the tension between the opposing Principals.

At least Luna seemed a lot nicer after the 'Work Retreat' she'd gone to last year.