Refusal

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

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Being called to the principals office was... Novel.

Yes, Novel was a good word for it.

She'd never been in trouble before, and most of the interactions involving Abacus Cinch had been performed by her parents.

And one lawyer from a disabilities group her mother had contacted.

Apparently Abacus Cinch was allergic to dogs and had used a variety of reasons to try and keep her, Twilight, from being allowed a service animal.

Sombra, the previous dean, hadn't cared one way or the other so long as the appropriate paperwork was on his desk.

Paperwork Cadence, the current dean, had seemingly never seen it. Or her bureaucratic backlog was immense.

Either way, it wasn't particularly pertinent.

No, opening the door in front of her was.

She hesitated, her hand nearly on the handle. She nervously opened the door and stepped in, glancing around the room.

Cadence was on her right and nodded reassuringly.

It didn't help.

She crept forward into the room. Dimly lit, half-filled bookshelves lining the walls.

This room, it felt like it belonged to a predator.

Twilight seated herself on the stool before the principals desk, twisting in it when she heard the door creaking shut.

"Shining Armor?" He'd graduated a year before she'd joined Crystal Prep Academy. "Why are you here?"

And wearing his old Crystal Prep sweater?

"Principal Cinch thought he might add some unique perspective." Cadence answered for him.

"Perspective on what?" Neither Cadence nor Shining Armor answered, too busy sending furtive glances at each other.

"Why the Friendship Games, of course." Twilight's head snapped back, looking at Principal Cinch, sitting on a throne behind her desk. "You competed in the games did you not, Shining Armor?"

He blinked and cleared his throat upon being addressed.

"I did."

Twilight knew what this was.

They were posturing. Acting. Reiterating known facts in a subversive manner.

"And you won, didn't you?" Cinch stood up and leaned forward on her desk.

"We won, Crystal Prep did. We always win." Shining Armor was trying his hand at modesty.

Twilight could only guess at his motives.

Cadence seemed to want something, too.

Twilight shrunk in on herself, rubbing her arm nervously as three people, only one a friend, isolated her and focused on her.

"Yes. We always win." Cinch walked out from behind her desk, pausing in front of a display case full of trophies.

"...Why did you ask to see me?" Twilight was already guessing.

Theories flew to the front of her mind, most discarded without a second thought. She ended up missing almost half of Cinch's speech about reputation and expectations.

She flinched when Cinch knelt down in front of her, looking her directly in the eye before standing back up, continuing her speech about her own reputation.

"-You've done quite a lot, haven't you?"

"I don't know. I guess?" Twilight had caught the way her principal had spoken. Somehow twisting Twilight's own accomplishments to... Improving the principal's reputation?

She didn't quite get it.

But the longer Cinch spoke, even with Shining Armor 'Interrupting', the picture painted itself.

They wanted to pull her out of her lab, force her to mingle with people who'd gone out of their way to avoid looking twice at her, and then parade her around in front of an audience to improve the standing of an institution that felt threatened by the growing success of another.

And they were dangling her old application to an independent study program over her head like a carrot.

Intimidation, threats, betrayal...

All over a sporting event!

"I... Understand you want me to compete, but I really can't! My work here it-" Cinch gently tapped a folder on her desk, silencing Twilight.

"Dean Cadance, Shining Armor, if we could be left alone for a minute?" Cinch's tone and grin were both patently plastic. Dangerous. "Yes... Your work. Twilight, are you aware of the pull of reputation? In return for... Using your agile mind to help us win the games, I'll use my reputation to... See your Everton Application to the right people. Do we have a deal?"

"Though I suppose I could also... Deny it. It's all up to you, of course." She was treating the folder in her hands like a dog treat, trying to tempt Twilight into looking at it and eating out of her proverbial hand.

Twilight, in contrast, was twisting her hands, looking everywhere in the room except at Cinch. She didn't want to be here. She didn't want to be here with Cinch.

She didn't want to be here!

"S-sure... I-I'll be there." She stood up to leave.

Principal Cinch stood up and held out her hand.

Twilight stared for just a moment before the rules clicked into place.

Social Etiquette. Hand Shake. Friendly greeting or the sealing of a deal.

Twilight lightly grasped the principal's hand. Cold. And her hand was pumped once before the Principal let go.

"Here are the details. Be here early tomorrow so we can appropriately size your uniform." Principal Cinch lost her smile, her tone was all business as she handed Twilight the folder she'd been toying with for half the meeting.

"Sure." Twilight focused on the folder in her hand, rushing out of the room as politely as she could without running.

Her mind was fully occupied as she left the room, ignoring her brother completely when he greeted her as five different thoughts struggled for priority at the forefront of her mind.

She didn't like sports. She wasn't good at sports. She didn't want to do sports!

She'd been manipulated. Easily. Intimidated by ambiance and vague threats, her brother a familiar element to throw her off guard. Then isolation to increase nervousness and make her more pliable.

She needed to get Spike.

She needed to talk to Spike.

She... Felt wrong. Angry, depressed, upset, frustrated, threatened and so many other, less than positive things.

Anxious especially.

She...

She needed Spike. Now. Either of them!