Prologue: The Orientation
Principal Celestia worked in deep concentration as her pen scribbled against some paperwork. Sure, the school had computers ready to be used, but other than an obligation to finish that game of minesweeper and solitaire, the woman hardly had anything to do. She had already sent out the emails to all the teachers already concerning an upcoming meeting and the sports and after-school clubs had no sudden change in plan. Even if there was an update, her phone would let her know before she could reach a computer. What she was working on currently was not too important. She quickly pushed her reading glasses up on her nose, and blinked the weariness from her eyes. She had been working a little overtime now and again, but nothing more than an extra hour. She was thankful that her sister took up the Vice Principal position once more. Celestia could play the disciplinarian, but she didn't need to. She would rather be the warmth of the sun, giving hope and inspiration to the students while her sister could very easily pull off the fear striking unfogiving night, keeping both teachers and students within reason.
"Ms. Celestia," a muffled voice began as the door of Celestia's office opened. "Your four o' clock appointment is here."
"Thank-you," she replied without looking up. That's right, she did have something else to do. A new student was transferring to Equestria High, and today was orientation. "Send them in."
The door shut, and si;lence reigned over the office. Celestia set aside the papers, and reached into a file cabinet within her desk. Her fingers walked across the manilla folders within before finding the correct ones. She obtained some forms when a sudden thought occured to her. By this time, she would be shaking someone's hand or greeting a parent/guardian. She did tell the secretary to send someone in, right? She looked up to see a teenage girl brooding in a chair in front of her desk. She wore a dark navy blue hooded-sweatshirt. Currently, the hood was up seemingly framing the look of angst on the teen's face. Herhair was an unnatural black and cut short, or what Celestia could see. Her skin was pale, as if she hadn't seen the sun in a long time. this made her make-up all the more prominent. Dark circles were drawn under her eyes with matching lipstick. If Celestia could see her nails, which were residing in the sweatshirt's pockets, she would have guessed that they were black too. Her eye color was an opaque black, matching the rest of her very well. The only other bit of color was a silver piercing on her brow.
"Oh, I 'm sorry," Celestia began while deftly hiding her shock. "How did I not hear her?" She thought to herself. "I didn't hear you come in. You must be Rebecca." The teen's eye twitched upon hearing the name. Celstia looked either side of where Rebecca sat, and a small hint of worry entered her features.
"Um... Where are your parents?" the principal asked with a welcoming tone. Years of being on the School Board had taught hr well to hide her true emotions.
"... My dad's working..." she mumbled with an irrtated tone.
"Oh..." Celestia faltered, but quickly resumed her facade. "Will he be joining us later?"
The teen stared coldly at the woman while silence answered. Celestia began to quickly acknowledge the fact that she did not want to be here at all. That was the case sometimes with transfer students. Some didn't approve of being moved from a place where friends and memories were made. If that were the case, the best thing would be to be as welcoming as possible.
"Well... We can get started without him then..." Celestia waved of while beginning to fill out the forms before her. "Now, I'm going to nee-" The principal was interrupted as a rough looking manilla folder was pushed into view. Celestia looked up to the girl who answered with that same cold look from before. She then opened it up to find that all the required information within the folder. With a sigh, Celestia began to work on the forms herself, grabbing information where it was needed.
She couldn't help but feel bad for Rebecca. Being torn from a a familiar place and forced into a new one was hard enough, but coupled with her own speculation about the girl's home life made her feel especially horrible. Before she was a principal, she was a guidance counselor. She would hear students who have been in traumatic situations such as death to real bullying, not the kind that kids made up to try and abuse the system. Hell, she even knew of students who never left the learning environment. She often thought about taking a student under her wing, tutoring them and teaching them of friendship and the magic it holds. Her heart went out to the teen, and as she finished, the principal removed her glasses and looked Rebecca in the eye.
"Now that the registration is taken care of," she began in a chipper tone. "We're going to do things a little differently than normal orientation."
The being of angst rolled her eyes and remained quiet.
""Here at Equestria High, we recently acquired a certain standard," Celestia continued, ignoring the reaction. "The school is a special place where anyone, no matter what they've been through, can find friendship. How did we acquire these standards? It was caused by the actions of one girl who, like you, had just transferred. Her name was Twilight Sparkle, and while her time was brief, the ideal is still carried by all of our students." Celestia paused to let the mini-speech sink in and slide over a few sheets of paper. "We have many courses and extra-curricular activities here that can offer you amazing opportunites to find friends, so please take your time in choosing your classes."
The teen wrinkled her nose in partial disgust before taking up a pen and filling out the forms and sliding them back over to Celestia.
"Hmm..." Celstia hummed while looking over the classes picked. "I see that you've chosen chemistry, and from your previous school record I can tell that you intend to finish the year with it." The teen seemed to no longer paying attention and had resorted to the ultimate source of distraction: a pocket sized computer that has the uncanny ability to call a phone.
"I must state that we also have a strict policy about cell-phones..." the principal stated firmly. The teen looked up to meet the principals gaze. After a moment, she slowly pocketed the hand-held device. Celestia noticed that she was right: black fingernails.
"Well... other than the core classes..." the principal mumbled. "Everthing is checked out. Now, because I didn't explain in detail, you might want to read the handbook." The principal retrieved a copy and placed it before the new student who was currently on her way out the door.
"If you have any questions, feel free to ask!" she called out a little too frantically.
The teen paused a moment in the doorway before asking, "How many days of school am I allowed to miss?"
"If you read the hand-" The teen shut the door a little forcefully, leaving the principal holding the student handbook.