This chapter takes place the next day after Sunset has dealt with Trixie the one after this one takes place one hour after Principal Celestia meets with the school board.

Principal Celestia briskly entered the Educational Services Center, scowling and impatiently checking her watch.

“It’s seven in the morning on a Thursday. I should be at work, not here defending myself over this whole Anon-a-Miss mess,” Celestia thought to herself.

Luna walked up behind her, placing a gentle hand on Celestia’s shoulder, saying softly, “Hey, don’t worry, Tia. I am sure everything will be alright. You're a good educator, and I am sure the board will take that into account when they talk with us.”

Giving Luna a tough sigh, Celestia said, “I really hope the chair isn't in a bad mood today.”

“I am sure she'll be fine. You have known Ms. Pen for nearly all of your teaching years. Has she ever been a grouch towards you?”

“Well, no, but still, after all, that's happened, I'm sure she’ll have a few harsh words for me.”

“Well, let’s not focus on that right now. Instead, try to focus on the good that you have done. Yes, you screwed up with the whole Anon-a-Miss thing, but--”

A door opened down the hallway, and a stately woman stepped out into the hallway wearing a grayish-mulberry coat and a light, white turtleneck sweater. Instantly recognizing Feather Pen, Celestia said warmly to her, “Feather! It is good to--”

“We are ready, Ms. Soleil.” Seeing that Luna was about to enter the boardroom, Ms. Pen said quietly to her, “Between you and me, Ms. Evenstar, I wouldn't hold out hope for your sister's career.”

Bristling but not wanting to start a fight, Luna gave a slight nod of acknowledgment and took a seat in the public area of the boardroom. Giving her sister one last look as she was led down to the board members at the front of the room, Celestia couldn’t help but feel very nervous about her fate. Looking around, Celestia noticed right away that all of the board members were giving her disapproving glares, which did little to assuage her nervousness. To make matters worse, she noticed many of her students' parents in the audience, including, unsurprisingly, Mr. and Mrs. Cake. The parents, too, seemed very unhappy to see her.

“Now, let's begin, shall we?” Ms. Pen said coldly, taking her seat.

“Er, yes, let's begin,” Celestia said timidly.

Ms. Pen banged her gavel, and Celestia took her seat in front of a long, oak table, behind which was seated each member of the board. Sitting at a small table off to the side was the superintendent Double Diamond and his two aides.

At Ms. Pen's signal, Double Diamond got up, straightened his blazer, and said, “Ms. Soleil, you have been teaching in Canterlot for nearly twenty years now. You've managed to maintain stellar marks for your classes; not a single student failed any course you taught. Your intellect, interpersonal skills, and problem-solving skills have served you well as both a teacher and the principal of Canterlot High School. Simply put, your record has been spotless." Double Diamond narrowed his eyes. "Until now.”

“I know I made some mistakes through this whole ordeal, but if you’ll let me--”

“Made some mistakes!” Double Diamond yelled, his eyes widening in anger and shock. “A student under your care died because of your 'mistakes'! 'Mistakes' doesn't even begin to cover it!”

“Mr. Diamond, calm down. This is a professional meeting, and I expect everyone involved to behave appropriately,” Ms. Pen said with authority. “You've said your piece. Now be seated and allow Ms. Soleil her opportunity to defend herself.”

“Y-Yes, Madame Chair.” Glaring back at Celestia, who gave a slightly raised eyebrow in return, he continued as he sat back down, “I apologize for my outburst, Ms. Soleil.”

“Apology accepted," Celestia said crisply. "Now, as I was saying, I know there were many things I could've done early to prevent this from getting so out of hand, but hindsight is always twenty-twenty. I had no idea how bad things would get, and I most definitely didn’t know a student would die because of it.”

“Be that as it may,” Ms. Pen began sternly, “the student did die, we have records of bullying, vandalism, and extreme violence in your very halls, and you and your sister have been forced to expel fourteen students over the past two months, three of whom were directly involved with this whole incident. Is that not true, Ms. Soleil?”

Celestia cringed. “Yes, that is true, but I expelled those three not only for what they've done but also to keep them safe. If they stayed in school, I knew it would only be a matter of time before I got a call from one of their parents saying that their children were in the hospital because another student decided to get revenge for what they did.”

“I see,” Ms. Pen said impassively.

Double Diamond injected, “Tell us, Ms. Soleil: Do you think that you have handled this situation correctly?”

“All I know is that I should've acted sooner. I just wanted my students to look into themselves to find the good that I saw in them and use that to end the mess that those girls created.”

“And did they end it, or did things get worse?” Diamond sneered bitterly. “Despite your clean record, I think you have been on a slippery slope long before this whole affair got started.”

“What do you mean?” Celestia asked, surprised.

“I mean when the incident with Miss Dash came to light. Did you step in and take care of that, or did you just slide it under the rug?”

“I allowed my sister to deal with that, and she was instructed by the feds not to discuss it with anyone, including myself.”

Taking a moment to collect her thoughts, Celestia was about to say something, when Ms. Pen cut her off, “Perhaps you would care to learn who it was that actually submitted the post that caused your sister to bring in and expel almost your entire Wondercolts team?”

Ms. Pen signaled to a security guard next to a nearby door. The guard opened it and gestured for someone outside to enter. Celestia’s eyes widened slightly as she took in the sight of Storming Dusk as the young woman entered the room, glaring at Celestia as she took her seat.

“Now, Miss Dusk, why don’t you tell us why you felt the need to post what you did?” Ms. Pen said.

“Sure thing, Ms. Pen. It's pretty simple, actually: I wanted Celestia to know how I felt when I was booted from school. Now, to be fair," Storming Dusk looked sickened at the idea of being fair to Celestia, "I knew the other girls were using performance-enhancing drugs, and I know I should have come forward, but I wanted to win just as badly as they did, so I didn't say anything. I never touched the stuff myself, though. At least, not deliberately. And it wasn't long before I started wondering exactly how they were smuggling them into the school, but I could never figure it out. Not until the day that I drank that water, anyway.”

“And what happened afterwards?” Double Diamond asked. “Did you get expelled from school, or did someone try to talk to you about it first?”

“I was immediately expelled from school. Celestia read me the letter that she had typed up stating the reasons--something about zero-tolerance policies and stuff--and had me escorted off school grounds after I cleaned out my locker. I never even got the chance to explain myself to her or to anyone. Thanks to her, I lost my scholarships to a good university, none of the faculty at my new school trust me, and my parents and grandparents are always stressed and fighting because of this whole mess. Life has been awful these past few months.”

“Wait, I don’t understand something,” Celestia began. “How did you know about the investigation when Rainbow wouldn’t have said anything about it to anyone?”

“My father worked with Winter Skies, and he brought the case file home to work on it. While he was in the bathroom, I snuck into his study and read through the file. To say I'm mad that Rainbow wasn’t being expelled or punished in any way is an understatement. And about how I learned about Anon-a-Miss, well, you can’t expect something like that to stay just on school grounds, now can you?” Storming Dusk finished smugly.

Looking down as anger and shame came across her face, Celestia snarled, “No, I guess you can’t.”

“Thank you, Miss Dusk. Now, let's get to the heart of this matter, shall we,” Double Diamond said. “We understand that you transferred the three students who began this mess to other schools. Is that correct?”

“Yes, that is correct. We don’t have the resources to protect them from everyone, and once they came forward and told everyone what they had done, they became targets for any student wanting to get back at them for this. It is unwise to expect the faculty to protect these three at all times while we have over a thousand students at CHS.”

“And did you clear this transfer with or notify anyone other than your sister, or did you just simply act alone in what you hoped would be the best interest of your students?”

“Of course I notified people," Celestia said, insulted. "I cleared it with the principals and heads of the three schools, as I was supposed to do. As for notifying my own faculty, I informed the various teachers that I would be pulling those three from their classes, but you and I both know I don't need to seek their approval for this sort of thing.”

“I see,” Double Diamond said, though Celestia could swear he said under his breath, "At least you did one thing right." Sighing, he turned to Ms. Pen and continued, “Be that as it may, though, I don't think it is wise to employ an educator who refuses to act and dispense discipline when something of this magnitude occurs. While it pains me to say it, this cannot simply be ignored just because it is Ms. Soleil's first offense. And so, with a heavy heart, I recommend dismissing Ms. Soleil from her position as principal of Canterlot High School.”

“Madame Chair, I move for an executive session," a board member by the name of Silver Star said. "There are some things I feel we need to discuss in private."

"Second," said another member named Snowy Fog.

"Very well. We'll put it to a vote," Ms. Pen said. The vote was in favor of the motion, and Ms. Pen said, "Motion carries. We will move to a private room to discuss what we've heard here."

One by one, the board members rose and moved to a single room behind the head table. Ten agonizing minutes passed by, and the whole time, Celestia tried to keep herself from fidgeting and fought the urge to throw up.

Finally, the door opened, and the board members returned to their seats. "Ms. Soleil," Ms. Pen said, "do you have any final words to say before we vote on Mr. Diamond's recommendation?"

Celestia sighed nervously and stood. “Yes. I just want to state that in my twenty-plus years of education, I have never had to deal with bullying of this scope. I know I'm not perfect, but I...I did the best I could.” Celestia was hesitant and very quiet as she finished, the flimsiness of the excuse ringing hollow in her head.

“Your words are noted, Ms. Soleil,” Ms. Pen said grimly. "Now, if there are no further words, we will now vote on whether or not Ms. Soleil will be relieved of her position as principal of Canterlot High School. Let us begin."

Celestia walked alongside Luna in a daze, simply staring ahead, not registering anything on her journey to Luna's car. Luna tried a few times to get Celestia's attention but soon gave up after getting no results.

The two women got into Luna's car, and only then did Luna think she saw something slowly change in Celestia's eyes.

"Celestia?" Luna asked hesitantly, putting a tentative hand on her sister's shoulder. "How are you holding up?"

Celestia's blank expression soon screwed up, and tears began to run down her cheeks as she broke down crying in the relative privacy of Luna's car.

Unsure of what to do, Luna simply placed the key into the ignition and solemnly began to drive towards CHS. The only sound during the entire trip was the sound of Celestia's soft sobs.