Lemon and Twilight reached Radiant Hope's office, the latter on the verge of bursting into tears. Hope stood up from her desk, concern on her face. "What on earth ha-" Before she could get another syllable out, Twilight Sparkle ran to her and started bawling into her chest. Lemon stood in the doorway, heaving a sigh of relief. Hope gave Lemon a look of concern.

"Promise me what we're about to tell you won't leave this office." Lemon said as she shut Hope's door.

Hope blinked, then said. "In all honesty, it depends on the severity of the situation, Lemon Zest."

Lemon frowned. "Crap. Why did I know you'd say something like that?"

"Because it's part of my job." said Hope.

"Yeah...I should have known." said Lemon.

Twilight had finally calmed down and took a seat next to Lemon.

Hope sat back down at her desk. "So..." she said, looking intently at the pair. "What happened?"

Lemon and Twilight looked at each other, with tense expressions. They nodded to each other, and told Hope all that had transpired, starting from Lemon's falling out with Sour Sweet to the present moment. As they told her their tale, Hope had to give them a box of tissues. Many tears were shed between the two friends, and there had to be a few breaks in telling the story so either one of them could regain their composure. Once they finished, Radiant Hope simply stared at them with an unreadable expression. Twilight and Lemon were visibly tensed up, afraid of the consequences.

"I'm going to be frank with the both of you..." Hope said.

Lemon sighed. "Yeah, that's what we're afraid of."

"We deserve the worst punishment possible..." whimpered Twilight.

"Twilight Sparkle. While what you did for Lemon was admirable, touching even...you know better than snooping around peoples' private lives." said Hope.

"I...I know." said Twilight, tears still in her eyes. "Can't you tell how bad I feel about it?"

"Lemon Zest. The fact that you harassed a fellow student over something that was meant to be confidential is shocking to me. I understand you've been having a rough time here at Crystal Prep lately, but what you did was uncalled for, to say the least." said Hope.

Lemon lowered her head. "I know. But surely you've been pushed to a point where you wanted to push back, right?"

"That doesn't justify what you did." said Hope.

Lemon sighed. "Yeah. I know."

"Wait." said Twilight. "You're a guidance counselor. I thought your job wasn't to judge students."

"I may be a guidance counselor, Twilight Sparkle...but I'm also a staff member." she said, her eyes narrowed.

Twilight gulped.

Hope took a deep breath and exhaled. "Both of you. Go to detention."

Twilight blanched. "D-D-D-Detention?!"

Lemon blinked. "That's awfully lenient for what we just did."

Twilight was in a panic. "I-I-I've never been to detention. I have a spotless record!"

Hope sighed. "You should have thought of that before you went digging around. Now go, before I change my mind and give you a harsher punishment!"

Twilight and Lemon left her office, walking slowly and closing the office door.

Now that her door was fully closed, Radiant Hope turned on an outside noise-cancelling fan. She then sat down and sighed deeply. I can't believe I just did that. she thought as she put her hand to her forehead. If this were any other school, I would have lost my job by now! She picked up her desk phone and dialed a number.

"Hello?" said a voice.

"Dean Cadence...I have something to tell you, and you're not going to like it." Said Hope. She told the Dean what happened between her, Twilight and Lemon. She heard Cadence gasp at least once, if not twice as she was speaking to her.

"That's...I don't know how to react to that." said Cadence. "We need to move faster, Radiant Hope. I fear the stress of the oppressive atmosphere here will cause a riot."

Hope sighed. "You and me both. As long as Principal Cinch is in power, though, there's little to nothing we can do about it."

"Just remember the plan between the three of us." said Cadence.

"I know, I know." said Hope. "Twilight was so upset throughout this whole ordeal. I couldn't help but feel bad for her. The poor girl was shaken to her core."

"Don't worry, Radiant Hope. I'll have a talk with her later." said Cadence. "Are you going to contact their parents?"

Hope was silent for a moment. "No." she said. "Those two have already been through enough and they're genuinely remorseful for their actions."

"I understand." said Cadence. "It's always hard to see the few good students fall from grace. That's why we need to speed things up. Who knows how much worse things could get here?"

"I agree." said Hope. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to call our Third."

"Okay. Tell me if anything comes up. Goodbye." Cadence hung up.

Radiant Hope took a deep breath and exhaled. This place can be a real hellhole sometimes... She took out her smart phone and dialed a number.

"Hello?" said a voice.

"It's me...Radiant Hope." said the counselor.

"Do you have any update on Cinch's activities?" asked the Third.

"No." said Hope. "But with the Friendship Games around the corner, that may very well change."

"I believe the Friendship Games will be an important turning point for Crystal Prep Academy, given all of the...'activity' at Canterlot High as of late." said the Third.

"Before you go on any further, there's something you should know..." said Hope. She told the Third about what Twilight and Lemon had done, as well as her discussion with Dean Cadence.

"I...see..." said the Third. "It would seem the situation is deteriorating faster than I thought."

"Cadence wants us to speed up the process." said Hope.

"I would agree with her under normal circumstances, but as the Friendship Games are within a couple of days, I say we should wait. If the Friendship Games change nothing at Crystal Prep, then we'll speed things up." said the Third.

"Understood. Thank you, Third." said Hope.

"Hope...you're on your smart phone. It's okay to call me by my name." said the Third.

"I understand...and thanks again, Vice-Principal Luna." said Hope, and hung up.