Dear Dean...

by AppleJTZ

Rating: everyone
Tags: Equestria Girls, Dean Cadance, Slice of Life
Length: 12027

When working at a place like Crystal Prep Academy, it is good to have something that warms up your heart once in a while.

Crystal Prep Academy is no school to be known for its gentle atmosphere and friendly people. This goes both for the students learning here as well as for the teachers. In the middle of all the grumpiness and selfishness, Dean Mi Amore Cadanza (or Dean Cadence as she prefers to be addressed) stands as a bonfire of kindness, trying to bring some warmth into the hearts of everyone at the school - a task that can be very exhausting and frustrating from time to time.

Luckily for her, she isn't alone anymore in her attempts to turn Crystal Prep into a friendlier place: Five students have discovered the joy of friendship, and decided to spread it through their school. Whenever they make an experience that teaches them a new lesson about friendship they report it to her - and sometimes, reading about friendship lessons is just what a hard-working dean at a high school needs to refresh a little.

This story is connected to my Shadowbolt stories following up "Let's go, Shadowbolts!" Each chapter includes the friendship report to a story. It will be uploaded one or two days after the corresponding story is finished.

Published 2015-12-03 19:50:01 UTC
Last updated 2017-11-15 20:48:19 UTC

A Stellar Performance

Author's Note

Connected to A Stellar Performance

A Stellar Performance

It was dawning over Crystal Prep Academy. At this early hour only a handful of students were on school property, and even less had already stepped up through the entrance into the elite high school. Nevertheless things were relatively busy, as teachers were hurrying through the corridors towards classrooms. They all seemed to be in a rush, walking through the school with bags full of books and sheets of papers. Aside from being stressed the teachers also all seemed to be in a rather bad mood, grumping and scoffing as they walked through the shining hallways.

While quite a lot of teachers were already on their way to their classes many were also in the teacher’s longue. Out of the door a pink-skinned woman with long, colorful hair was leaving into the hallway. She was wearing a green blazer and skirt, carrying a handbag even fuller than those of the other teachers with her. As she closed the door behind her she sighed, glancing down at the bag hanging over her shoulder. It was brim-full with documents, literally spilling over – she actually had to hold her arm over the bag so they wouldn’t fall out.

Carefully the dean of Crystal Prep Academy moved in direction of her office, her high-heels clapping with every step she made on the hard polished floor. On the way she passed a few students who were already at their lockers, as well as a couple of her colleagues. When passing she showed them a friendly smile, even greeting a few of them. The reception she received however was much colder, both from students and teachers: In the best case they smiled back awkwardly, in most cases she was ignored, and sometime they even turned their heads away with a snobbish snort. Each of those encoutners upset the dean a little further, but she tried nto to let it show as she approached the door to her office. With some effort she pulled out the keys from her pocket without dropping her handbag, and put the right one into the lock. She had already turned the key and was about to open the door, when she stopped as she heard someone call out her name behind her.

“Miss Cadenza?”

A bit startled Cadence turned her head, her bag nearly slipping out of her fingers. “Oh, good morning Principal Cinch” she greeted her superior, putting on a slightly forced smile while she hastily stemmed her knee against her bag to keep it from falling down. "Is something the matter?"

The principal glanced at her bag, before raising her glance to her eyes again. “A pleasant morning to you too” she replied coldly. In her hands she was carrying a rather thick folder, which she then held it out towards the dean. “I have looked over the new time table you have presented to me. One math lesson is missing in the ninth grade.”

Pushing up her handbag Cadence pulled both her arms around it, while staring into the principal’s stern eyes. “I’m sorry, but it wasn’t possible any other way” she explained her. “There were too many subjects overlapping, and not enough teachers available. I’m afraid we have to limit the expansions of the curriculum regarding math and-”

Cinch raised an eye-brow. “Limit mathematics?” she interrupted. She put the folder behind her back, straightening her back as if she wanted to look taller. “Miss Cadenza, math is the basic subject of all natural sciences" she reminded Cadence sternly. "Biology, chemistry, physics, informatics – and of course other subjects as well, engineering and architecture, or statistics in economics, they all require a fundamental understanding of the mathematic principles. Once you go into college, there is basically no way around it. If there is any subject we cannot afford to slack behind in, it is math!”

Cadence pressed her handbag against her chest. “B-but our standards for mathematical education are already among the highest in the whole country!” she argued.

“Among, but number one" Cinch stated, adjusting her glasses. "Also, there are quite a few high schools outside of our noble country with even higher standards.”

At that remark the dean frowned. “We don’t make the schedule for a ranking!” she insisted. “Our interests must always lie with the students-”

A sound like thunder cut her off as the principal stomped with her high-heel o nthe crystal floor. “Miss Cadenza!” she spoke, almost yelling. “Must I remind you my suggestions to expand the time table and curriculum have already been accepted by the school board?” She pulled out the folder from her back, holding it out to her dean once more.

For a moment Cadence and Cinch glared sternly at each other, as if they tried to stare the other woman down. After a while however the dean caste her eyes downwards. “No, you don’t” she sighed. Tightly grabbing her handbag with one arm she took the folder from the principal with her other. “I will get to it as fast as possible.”

A content smile graced the principal’s face. “Good” she said, turning around. She was about to walk off, but then threw a look behind her again. “Also, take a note to cut the theatre group’s budget by half. The critic of their play last night was rather... mediocre.”

The handbag nearly emptied itself on the floor as the dean winced in surprise. “But the newspaper said it was a solid performance, and praised the efforts of the students!” she argued, both desperate and confused.

Cinch waved it off. “Solid is just a more polite term for mediocre. And mediocre is definitely not what this institution is striving for.” With a dignified stance she walked down the hallway. “Oh, and please have the changes to the time table done before lunch” she called out before vanishing behind a corner.

Cadence looked after her, blinking a few times. The corners of her mouth then ascended to a very forced smile. “But of course!” she chirped, trying to sound as confident as possible. “By lunch, why not? It just took me three night shifts to get the first version done…”

Slumping her shoulders she turned towards her office. Since both her arms were occupied it took her a moment before the doorknob finally turned, and she could push open the door with her shoulder. Her eyes gazed upon a sparsely illuminated room, considerably smaller than the principal’s office, but still with a remarkable amount of space. A desk was standing near the middle of the room, shifted a little towards the back.

The first she did after entering was head for the desk, putting her handbag and the folder on it. Once she had relieved herself off the burden she walked over to the windows, and opened the shutters. Dim morning light was streaming into her office, the sun barely having moved over the horizon. For a moment the dean looked out of the window, on the school yard of Crystal Prep Academy. A few solitary students were marching towards the entrance, and down the road she could see the first bus approaching. She would have loved to set her eyes longer on the peaceful scenery. However, behind her she could hear the documents in her handbag and folder silently barking at her.

Taking in a deep breath she turned her back to the rising sun, and moved to her desk. While she sat down on her chair she reached a hand out for the switch of her computer, simultaneously grabbing her handbag with the other. After turning on her computer she embraced her handbag with both hands. Carefully she emptied it on the desk, placing the documents as a more or less neat pile on the side. While her computer was booting she began to look through the various documents. A lot of them were formal requests from her colleagues concerning the changes to the time table, questions about how exactly they should try to transmit all the additional lessons to the students, and what exact chapters from the new college books had become part of the curriculum. A large portion of it wasn’t even in her responsibility as a dean. Knowing how much the actual staff under Principal Cinch had to do these days however, Cadence still put everything on her “to do”-pile.

Mixed into were also quite a handful of applications from the students: Requests to change reservations for club rooms and the sports fields as club meetings had to be put into the late afternoon or evening, several formal inquiries to expand the opening times of the library, even a few complaints which were mostly coming from wealthier students. Cadence roughly sorted everything out, looking steadily more frustrated and tired. She took a glance at the folder with the time table from time to time, everytime letting out a long sigh.

As she had worked down the top of the pile she then noticed her computer had booted. Setting the documents aside she turned her chair towards the screen. After typing in her password and arriving on the desktop the first thing she did was open her e-mail folder. More requests from students and teachers flooded the screen, the number of new emails being overwhelming. The further she scrolled down the deeper Cadence’s eyelids were falling, looking like her head would drop on the desk any desk.

Suddenly her eyes shot wide-open, and she sat up straight. One of the emails had caught her attention: Not only did she know the name in the sender address very well, she was even more excited by the title, "FRIENDSHIP REPORT". Immediately the dean opened the email. A text box appeared on the screen, written in the format of a formal letter. Putting her elbows on her desk Cadence leaned her head against her hands, her eyes slowly moving across the monitor as she began to read.

Dear Dean Cadence,

To be honest, ever since you gave us this task to write you reports about how our friendship develops, and about our attempts to try and spread it among the student body, I’ve been having my doubts. I found the idea rather naïve and childish, even a little silly. Also, for a long time I didn’t even know what I should report to you. In a rather short time however, things have changed quite a lot. Now there is just so much I want to tell you, I don’t even know where to start. But, I doubt you want to read the story in every detail, so I’ll just summarize shortly the lessons the recent experiences with my friends have taught me.

When you work on something by yourself, and you put a lot of effort into it, it’s easy to think of it as something great and fantastic. However, when you approach your work from a more critical perspective, or even better let some of your friends have a look at it, you might find what you thought as great is really just average. In those moments it is important not to feel sore and be offended right away. You have to listen to what your friends are saying, for they usually mean no harm to you, and only want to help you see things as they truly are. In the end, you often find that you benefit more from listening to their honest criticism instead of stubbornly putting your own work on a podium just because you feel it belongs there.

Also, I’ve learned that while comedy isn’t the most dignified form of theatre, it still is a satisfying feeling to see people laugh and just be happy about what you wrote. Even more, laughter seems to be able to spread friendliness in some way - now that I write it’s probably something every little kid knows, but lately, I’ve begin to think here at Crystal Prep we begin to forget a lot of things we learned when we were smaller. More so, a good laught can also help take off the bad vibrations and stress from everyone’s heart. We can’t always be serious and deep, even in theatre – it’s just as important to relax sometimes and goof around a little.

Last, but everything not least, I've learned that while it’s true that friends are always there for you, and you should be able to count on them no matter what, it doesn’t mean you can force them to do everything you want the way you want to. Even if they owe you one, you can’t expect them to do everything for you, or perfectly perform any task you ask them of (especially to play an average theatre play brilliantly). Being a good friend also means to consider what your friends are capable of, keep their interests at heart, and be aware of what they want to do. If you take that into consideration, and plan in the strengths and unique traits of your friends instead of forcing something onto them, the results of your combined work can be a lot more astonishing than anything you could have accomplished on your own.

I hope this is what you had in mind with these reports. I'm positive you will hear more from me an the others very soon, but for now, I have to end it here - my friends are waiting for me.

Your faithful student,

Sunny Flare

PS: I hope “faithful” doesn’t sound too up-high, but I found it a nice touch.

As she read down the screen the dean’s lips were curling up to a smile. Putting her hand on her mouse she made a few clicks, then turned towards her printer as it sprung to life. After a few seconds it threw out a single page, with the contents of the email on it. She reached out her hand for it, but then paused. Smirking she turned towards her handbag. From the bottom she pulled out an issue of the newspaper. Unfolding it she turned the pages, until she found what she searched: In the arts section there was the article about the play from last night. The majority of it was about the act of the theatre group– as Cinch had said, it wasn’t overly enthusiastic, though it did praise the student’s efforts and skills as actors. What caught her interest much more however was a short note about the little prelude before the main act, a “light-hearted and joyful little ride through the various facets of comedy, never too serious or ridiculous with some well-placed moments of self-irony and a hint of self-criticism.”

Cadence placed the page on her desk. She took a pair of scissors, carefully cutting out the whole article. Once she was done she took the page from the printer, also grabbing a paperclip as she got up from her chair. With the newspaper article and Sunny’s report in her hand she walked over to a shelf, filled with boxes containing folders. Her fingers went through the folders of one particular box, the labels reading “Parent-teacher day protocols”, “school trips” and the names of other social events - notably a large amount of the folders were either very thin or completely empty. At one particular at the very end of the box, slightly hidden behind the others her fingers then stopped. She pulled it out of the box, revealing the label on top: “Friendship reports”.

She put the email from Sunny into it, staring at it for a few seconds, a content smile on her face. With the paperclip she attached the article to the email, then closed the folder and put it back into the box. Turning around she returned to her desk, sitting down again. A lot more energetic than before she took the folder from the principal and opened it. The time tables of all grades were squeezed into it, each page filled from side to side with handwritten notes and corrections.

“All right” Cadence said confidently as she took a pen. With her other hand she pulled out the time table for the ninth grade. “Let’s see if we can somehow squeeze another math lesson in there…”

Dungeons & Dorks

Author's Note

Connected to Dungeons & Dorks

Dungeons & Dorks

Monday mornings always had a dry and slow feeling to them, even at a strict elite academy like Crystal Prep. As Dean Cadence walked through the shining hallways of her school she passed the mourning teenagers rolling in for the first lesson. The students weren’t nearly as radiant as the floors and walls of the hallways, many of them grumpily slurping to their lockers and picking up their books. Most were by themselves, but there were a handful of small groups with some more active pupils among them. On the way back to her own office from the one of the principal, carrying a lot of paperwork under her arm, the dean caught snippets of a few conversations going on between the students. Almost all were centered around the weekend, about what they had been doing on Friday and Saturday night. While at other schools these kinds of conversation were usually cheerful and lighthearted however, at Crystal Prep talking about the weekend basically was a competition for who had spent it in the best way.

“I’ve been to that totally exclusive club in downtown!” one girl boasted with her nose held high.

“I’ve gone rollerblading and won a price!” a boy yelled, proudly pointing a thumb at his chest.

“I went to a five star spa where my parents afforded me the most expansive treatment they had!"

“I’ve watched the newest Daring Doo movie before it was released in theatre!”

“I got backstage on a rock concert!”

On and on it went all over school, everybody trying to impress the ones around them with how much better their weekend had been than theirs. The ones who couldn’t match up with those fantastic tales silently stood around, making an even more lethargic impression than the average student on a Monday. Cadence looked around the pupils in the hallway, one half arrogantly boasting about their weekends while the other half slumped their shoulders, feeling left out. By the time she arrived at the door to her office several sighs had made their way out of her mouth. With all the paperwork in her arms it took her some effort to press the knob, but eventually Cadence managed to open the door. As she entered her office and closed it behind her she let out a small yawn. Stretching herself slightly she wondered for a moment what she had done this weekend herself.

A look on the huge staple of documents on her desk she had brought from home reminded her of the answer.

Her high heels clapped on the floor as she dragged herself over to her working place. Setting the batch from Principal Cinch next to her own she sat down on her chair. The first thing she noticed was the light for the answering machine on her telephone was blinking red. On the display next to it she could read the number three. “Two minutes gone and three new calls” she mumbled. Two of them were probably the principal with new tasks, and the last one a call from a teacher, either asking about the curriculum or reporting a problem with a student. Before she checked her calls Cadence gazed at the screen of her computer. She had just booted it when the principal had called her to her office, so she first had to type in her password in order to land at her desktop. To no surprise the icon for new emails greeted her with by blinking hectically. Though she didn’t really feel very motivated Cadence clicked on the symbol.

A window popped up, but it took a moment for the computer to load. As the first emails rolled in it became quickly apparent why, for the sheer mass that had rolled in during the weekend seemed to test the machine’s limits. Cadence set her elbow on her desk and her head on her hand, her eye-lids falling down slightly as she watched email after email flood in. When she caught one named “Friendship report” however she sat up straight, completely awake again. Immediately she grabbed her mouse, moving the cursor as fast as possible towards the email as it was rapidly pushed down by the new ones arriving. Just before it vanished at the bottom of the screen she double-clicked on the name. The cursor turned into an hourglass, her computer needing a few seconds as it still loaded the other emails in the background. Eventually a new window appeared, and after a few more seconds the text popped up. Cadence leaned in to her screen, and began to read it down.

Dear Dean Cadence,

First off we couldn’t decide on who should write the report, so we’ve sent it around and everybody wrote a paragraph.

For a friendship to last, one would think you need similar interests and hobbies. While it is true that a friendship shouldn’t be built on thin air however, we found it is not so important what you do with your friends, just as long as you do it together. When you spend time with your best friends, even the most dull and boring activities can turn out to be quite fun.

It also helped the game we played didn’t turn out to be dull and boring at ALL! I mean it seemed like some dork stuff only absolute nerds can enjoy, but it was almost as fun as soccer or motocross! Okay, maybe not that much fun, but it was really good. So yeah, don’t judge a book by its cover, or a game by how dorky it looks – you might miss out on something really awesome!

You should also be considerate when your friends’ playstyle doesn’t match your own. Some people are stricter with the rules, while others tend to ignore them. But even when you’re absolutely right and your friends are basically cheating, sometimes it’s better to be lenient and just enjoy the game. Of course, the others should also consider no to be too lenient and follow the rules sometimes for the sake of those who actually take them serious.

and its pretty dumb to play sumthin in a group when everyone just plays for themselves^^ weve learned working against each other isnt nearly as fun as working together even though teasing sunny is really fun too ;) but when you use teamwork and stuff you can even beat a really tough beast lik a dragon :)

We didn’t actually beat the dragon.

oh shut it sugar >-<

Hey, this is a friendship report we’ll send to Dean Cadence, so stay serious! And would you be so kind to remove my name from your part and formulate it more generally, Lemon?

yeah nope :P

Then at least stop putting these notes back in after I delete them!

I’m the one who puts them back in, and I won’t stop to do so since it would falsify the report.

You two are the worst!

Okay, back to topic. Since the others were so kind to leave no lesson for me to report on, I guess I’m stuck with writing some sort of ending. All in all, I think we really had a great weekend together, and spend a wonderful time as friends - even though we all nearly ended up putting a scar on each other several times.

What do you mean nearly? I still have a bump on my head because you threw a damn dice at me!

Well considering I got eaten by a mimic on our third try because you pushed me into its mouth I’d say we’re even♥

That was only in-game, and I just tried to get you out of the evil wizard’s range!

If you had calculated in the weights of your characters you would have noticed that this would cause her to fall into the mimic’s mouth.

You stay out of this Pigtails!

yay everybody against gogo!! ;p

STOP USING THE REPORT AS A CHATROOM!!

Okay, okay. So we had a bit of a rough time, learned a lot of important stuff, and no we’re all cookies and sunshine.

Regards,

Sunny Flare, Indigo Zap, Sugarcoat, Lemon Zest and Sour Sweet

After finishing the report Cadence needed to lean back a moment until she could stop laughing. She wiped a small tear from her eye, slowly calming down. Putting a hand on her chin she looked thoughtfully at the email. “Dragons, evil wizards and mimics” she whispered to herself. She gazed at one of the drawers of her desk, one that, unlike the others, was locked. After taking out the key from her pocket she unlocked and opened it. Instead of even more documents and office utensils several personal items (which of course were forbidden to bring to school) were lying in it, photos of family and friends as well as some small items. She searched for a while through it, until pulling out a sheet of paper from the bottom of the drawer.

It was the character sheet of a table top RPG she had played a long time ago, when she was still a student at Crystal Prep herself. The paper was a little smudged due to its age, but she could still read everything. The character depicted on it was a sorceress, a princess from a faraway kingdom in the North that was under the siege of a dark warlock. Nostalgic memories were overcoming her as she remembered how she, Shining Armor and their friends had spent entire weekends fighting terrifying dragons, mischievous wizards and hordes of brutal ogres. The game for this particular character sheet had never been finished, but although the last time she had played was several years ago she had kept it as a reminder of the fun she had in those days, how it had helped her deal with the strict education and stress at Crystal Prep Academy – and certainly not because she secretly hoped Shining Armor would invite her one day for another round.

After dwelling in fond memories for a while she printed out the friendship report, and put it alongside her old character sheet into the corresponding folder. As she returned to her desk she saw her computer was finished loading the emails, 287 new one lying in the folder. “One of those Mondays we are gonna break the 300” she joked, feeling rather upbeat as she scrolled through the mails. She stopped when she stumbled upon one with the name “Friendship report, one more thing”, having been sent a few minutes after the other one. Frowning in confusion the dean clicked on it, a small text window appearing on her screen.

Not related to friendship, but another thing we’ve learnt is that you should really bring along a clock when you play tabletop RPGs in a basement. It’s kind of embarrassing when you are in the middle of fighting an evil dragon and suddenly your mom comes in to tell you it’s time for breakfast…

Quietly the dean nodded at the screen. That, as she knew herself too well, was indeed a very valuable lesson.

Revolution in Blue!

Author's Note

Corresponding to Revolution in Blue!

Revolution in Blue!

Standing at the window of her office Dean Cadence looked out at the sky. It was still rather early, but the sun had just crept up high enough over the horizon to dye the whole sky in a beautiful blue. Through the glass she could feel the warmth radiating on her face, creating a pleasant prickle on her skin. With a smile she lowered her gaze down on the school yard of Crystal Prep Academy, dozens of students marching around on it. Where usually the purple of the school uniform dominated her sight a myriad of colours was unfolding in front of her eyes. Not only colours though, the shapes of the clothes also came in great variation: Instead of having the exact same length the girls were walking around in skirts of varying cuts, from ground-reaching and foot-hiding to barely over the butt (of course those girls wore shorts or legging underneath). There were ruffled skirts, baggy ones, tight ones, frilly ones, pleated ones, those with pattern and those without, even a handful of umbrella-shaped skirts. And of course, there were both girls and boys walking around in tight jeans, baggy trousers, leggings, sweatpants and shorts, some ripped, some with patches, some brand-new and from top designers. The variety of tops was even more astonishing: T-shirts, tank-tops, vests, blouses, sweatshirts, hoodies, jackets, blazers – and of course they came with long or short sleeves, in baggy or tight, and in many, many colours. There were some with small texts on the front- or backside, and as it was usual a lot sported individual symbols representing each student.

The number of students was small compared to the rush hour of the early morning, but Cadence could still spot a remarkable number of different styles just by gazing over the school yard. She saw a boy wearing an azure hoodie bearing the sign of a famous hip hop band, with baggy shorts and expansive sneakers as well as a reversed baseball cap on his head. A girl was wearing a frilly summer dress, with puffed sleeves and a broad skirt in an icy blue shade. Generally blue seemed to the favored colours of the students, although pretty much any other colour was represented as well. Among the boys and girls there were a handful walking around in Crystal Prep uniforms. But even those often had made small adjustments to the mandatory appearance, from different shoes and socks to skirts or jackets – there was even a girl who walked around in the pants of the male uniform. The way everybody looked at each other was still very Crystal Prep, full of smugness and an up-high, self-centered attitude. However, as she watched them Cadence believed to see the slight hints of a smile in some of their faces.

Feeling pretty happy she looked at the rainbow of students, hands behind her back. In one, the dean of Crystal Prep Academy was holding two sheets of paper, the one on the front looking like a letter. After staring out of the window for a bit longer she lifted it up to her face, reading the text on it for the fourth time already.

Dear Dean Cadence,

So yeah, I think you can pretty much guess what I’m gonna tell you about. Won’t bore you with the details, so here’s the short version: Our soccer team trained a bit too long, I got late into bed, took a little nap in history and got woken up by the mother of all paper balls while the teacher told us about the revolution of our county. I was already about to doze off again, but just before I was back in my dreams I realized, and I can’t believe I’m actually writing this, but once in a RARE while history can be kind of cool (at least when you manage to filter out the boring stuff). Between dates and names I have already forgotten we were told about battles, about revolutions, and about heroes fighting injustice – before I knew it I got sucked up into the history of our ancestors.

But you know what was the coolest? Them fighting for freedom, putting everything on the line for their beliefs and the ones they love, and being actually able to change something. I wanted to do something like that too. Be a rebel! Start a revolution! And most importantly, change something – here at Crystal Prep! The sheer thought got me super-excited. I wanted to become a heroine the others looked up to, an inspiration for every student! I wanted them to follow me, wanted them to see me as a rebel commander that would lead them into liberty, and be remembered by the students following us as the one who made Crystal Prep a freer place.

I wish I could say it worked well and that I’m a heroine, but the truth is, I’m not. When you want to change something, it’s stupid to think you can do it on your own with a snap of your fingers. I learned that the hard way. The VERY hard way. After Cinch gave me the boot, I was really down – not so much because of the costume and everybody laughing at me, but because my revolution had ended in such a lame way. I didn’t even go down in a big fight! It felt like I was brushed off with the tip of a finger, and there was nothing I could do against it! For the whole day and up to the next morning, I felt incredibly weak and helpless.

But while I had given up on my revolution, my friends hadn’t. They helped me get on my feet when I was on the ground, even though I didn’t ask me to – they just saw I needed them and acted. It’s kind of funny: I wanted to be the one to inspire the students, but in the end I was the one who had to be inspired. It was really what I needed though, and I felt more ready to take on Cinch than ever before. Knowing to have your friends at your back can give you incredible power and self-confidence – more than you could probably ever muster on your own.

I also learnt that sometimes, the people you would have least expected to rely on will be there for you when it really matters. Even if someone seems mean and snobbish, they can carry a great heart full of gratitude and compassion in them (though I already knew that from Sunny). You just have to take the first step and be nice to them so they can show you they aren’t just jerks. To start the fire of the revolution you don’t really need a bold idea, and a cocky student getting on the principal’s nerves. Sometimes all it takes to make a big change is a small gesture of friendship, just a little bit of kindness and understanding.

So we got our casual Friday – not really the big change I was hoping for, but there are situations where you have to be modest and take what you can get (by the way thanks for teaching me that lesson). And judging from the face Cinch made when we left her office I’m pretty sure she is swallowing MUCH harder on that compromise than I am. Actually, I don’t think I would have been upset even if we had failed. Cause even then, I still would have gotten my friends behind me, and no one can take that away from me. That’s a liberty far better than wearing whatever clothes you want.

Regards,

Indigo

PS: Please don’t tell the others I wrote such a sappy report.

The dean giggled at the last remark. She then took out the sheet behind Indigo’s report. It was a page from the school codex, specifically the dress code. It began by citing how uniforms represented discipline as well as academic excellence, and how important they were for the identity of a school. A detailed description of the uniform for boys and girls followed, strictly defining the boundaries and liberties the students could take in individualizing their clothes. On the bottom of the page, there was a small excerpt stating the exceptions for the dress code – for instance, on especially cold winter days the girls were allowed to wear thick pants instead of skirts. Dean Cadence was looking at the last of those remarks, a very short paragraph she had marked with a yellow highlighter.

For a more efficient transition into the weekend and to improve the morale of the student body, the dressing codex doesn’t apply on Fridays.

Contently Cadence attached the page to the report with a paper clip. She walked over to her file cabinet, and put it to the others into the corresponding folder. Once it was stored safely inside she headed over to her desk, folding her arms on it after she sat down on her chair.

“Alright, look” she said to the student sitting across her desk, smiling a little awkwardly at him. “I know it’s casual Friday and the students are free to wear clothes of their own choice, but even though you don’t need to wear school uniforms we still have to keep certain, um… standards.”

Arms crossed the boy on the chair looked at his dean. He wore a pair of blue jeans-overalls with not T-shirt underneath, the straps being the only thing to cover his scrawny torso. His feet were also bare, and on his messy hair he had put a big straw-hat while holding a piece of straw between his lips. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Sour's on the case!

Author's Note

Epiogue to this story

Sour's on the case!

Dean Cadence stared at the clear morning sky, the sun slowly crawling up the beautiful veil of blue above her head. With a smile she lowered her gaze to the courtyard of Crystal Prep Academy. A handful of students were spending their small recess outside of the building, walking over the grass or sitting on a bench like she was doing, while occasionally a student stepped through the gates on the school property. From her seat the dean watched a girl sitting down on the stairs in front of the school, quietly unwrapping a sandwich. Behind her the doors of Crystal Prep opened, another girl stepping out with a waffle in her hand. Without saying a word she sat down next to the other, both girls exchanging a short, rather reserved glance before they silently began to eat, their faces turned away from each other’s.

Cadence’s gaze wandered away from the two girls, towards her handbag that was lying next to her on the bench. On top of it a letter was lying, looking rather ordinary except for the fact a small plastic bag had been attached to it with a paperclip at the top. Inside the bag was a small blue button, resembling the ones on the students’ uniforms. Cadence picked up the letter, pressing with her thumb on the plastic bag so it wouldn’t bend the paper, and read it once more.

Dear Dean Cadence,

How are you? I hope you are feeling well?

Well I don’t. My stomach feels like it’s gonna explode.

But I don’t want to bore you with my teeny-tiny problems. I just wanted to quickly report what I learned about friendship today.

Although you know already because I told you in your office, but whatever.

When you try to solve a reeeaaaaally difficult problem, it of course can’t hurt to be brilliant. But even more important than having a great mind is having a group of great friends by your side who are there to help and support you.

Even when they refuse to acknowledge your brilliance until you shove it into their faces.

And while it is always good to be confident in your own abilities, it’s not good to boast with them in front of your friends. You should humbly be aware of your own strengths as well as those of your friends, instead of playing their abilities down with your own.

Because if you do, they might pout like little girls and leave you alone.

Also, there is a reason it’s said “you should consider anyone innocent until their guilt is proven” instead of thinking of everyone you as your enemy – because it may turn out everything was just a big funny misunderstand, and you have suspicioned a bunch of poor, innocent students for no reason, and nobody deserves that.

Not even the jerks here at Crystal Prep.

When everyone freaked out this morning, I thought it was silly since it was just pudding in the morning (cream-cherry, but still). But as we’ve seen at lunch today, even something as mundane as pudding can greatly lift the spirits of everybody, and help spread the spirit of friendship.

Although, and this is the last and until the stomach gramps are gone most important lesson I learned today, there is a too much for even the best things.

That is all I wanted to share with you. Hope you have a fun day with some friends♥

Best wishes,

Your student Sour Sweet

PS: I’m in so much pain!

It wasn’t that Cadence didn’t have sympathy for the suffering of her student, yet she couldn’t help but giggle at that last remark. Carefully she put the letter down, laying it horizontally on her skirt before she looked up to her knees. Tucked between them was a small pot, with a spoon sticking inside the mixture of red pudding and white cream it contained. She grabbed the spoon and pulled out some of the pudding with it. Raising the spoon to her face she looked at the red-white gooey mass for a moment, before the spoon slid through her lips into her mouth. Closing her eyes she felt the taste of cherry and cream engulfing her tongue, making her hum in delight.

“Enjoying your meal?”

The dean winced, the spoon falling out of her mouth. She quickly snatched it before it could fall on the letter, looking in surprise up at the woman in front of her. “P-Prinfipal Finf!” she stuttered, spitting some droplet of pudding around. Flustered she swallowed. “You startled me.”

Hands behind her back the principal of Crystal Prep Academy stood in front of the dean, straight and serious. “I’ve just been at your office to talk with you about some adjustments to the curriculum, but found the door was locked” she told Cadence, a subtly scolding ring in her voice. “I’ve been looking for you all over the school, from the teacher’s longue to the cafeteria.”

Cadence blushed. “I’m sorry, principal” she apologized. “But, um, you could have just called me on my phone…”

The eyebrows of the principal furrowed even further. “I tried. You didn’t pick up.”

Confused Cadence pulled out her phone from her pocket, her eyes widening as she stared at a black screen. “I… seem to have forgotten to turn it on this morning” she muttered, quickly activating it. “S-sorry.”

The principal glared disapprovingly at her. Her eyes then wandered to the pot of pudding between her knees. “I don’t remember it being lunch time already” she remarked.

Immediately Cadence placed the pudding next to her on the bench. As the principal glanced with a raised eyebrow at the letter on her lap she hastily put it aside as well, making sure it was lying face-down. “W-well, I didn’t have time for breakfast” she hastily began to explain “So I just grabbed some pudding from the fridge this morning and thought I could eat in school while things aren’t busy, and it was such a nice morning I thought it would be nice to sit outside, and...”

Pushing her glasses up Cinch rubbed the bridge of her nose, letting out a sigh. “Just eat up and get back to work” she instructed her dean, crossing her hands behind her back again. Her face seemed even more grime than before. “Currently I’m not very good to speak on pudding. The students were so worked up because of this ridiculous incident, acting like little children and babies – everything was an utter chaos!”

“You don’t have to tell me” Cadence said, then whispered to herself: “Especially since I was the one you told to deal with it…”

“And then the pudding returns, and all the students celebrate!” Cinch yelled, losing her composure for a moment as she threw her arms up in the air. “Getting so worked up over some dessert – I really wish they would show a little bit of that passion and enthusiasm for their schoolwork.” Again she pushed up her glasses, massaging her temples this time. “I really hope I don’t need to hear about pudding for a very long time” the principal muttered as she turned back towards the school. “If we didn’t have a contract, I’d cancel the Pudding Tuesday right away.”

With a silent sigh Cadence picked up her pot of pudding, putting the spoon back inside it. She was about to take some more, but hesitated. She watched the principal leave for the doors of school, where her gaze met the two girls still sitting on the stairs. Smiles on their previously serious faces they were eating a lot slower, being engulfed in a rather chipper conversation – they were even giggling from time to time. Seeing this Cadence smirked herself, before looking back at the principal’s back as she slowly walked away. Biting her lip Cadence lowered her glance for a moment, before putting on a resolute face.

“Principal Cinch!” Stopping Cinch turned around, staring curiously at the dean. Cadence jumped off the bench, grabbing her bag in the process. In the run she hung it over her shoulder, rummaging through it with her free hand as she approached the principal. When the two women stood in front of each other Cadence pulled out another pot of pudding, causing Cinch to arch her eyebrows. “I… actually grabbed two puddings from the fridge” she admitted. Keeping her head low, but looking the principal directly into her strict eyes Cadence quietly held out the second unopened pot to her, a nervous smile on her face.

There was an uncomfortable silence. Without any emotion on her face the principal slowly raised her arm, and took the pot from the dean’s hand. Through her glasses she looked at it for a moment, her face still completely indifferent, before staring the dean straight into the face again.

“You don’t happen to have a spare spoon as well, do you?

Zest for Life!

Author's Note

Epilogue to this story.

Zest for Life!

“Fourteen years I’ve working here as a teacher now” the middle-aged man shouted, wildly gesticulating with his arms. “And for fourteen years, the students didn’t need to know what and e-integral is up to the 10th class. But then, from one day to the next, I am supposed to teach it to a bunch of 7th graders! Can you believe this? How the heck am I supposed to explain the e-integral to a bunch of kids who barely understand what curve sketching is!?”

Cadence, smiling politely at the man, slowly nodded her head. “I can understand how you feel” she told him.

Her colleague sighed, taking a sip from his coffee. When he put the cup off his lips he seemed to have calmed down, but was still frustrated. “And it’s not just that Cinch moved the lectures from higher into lower classes” he sighed. “For the seniors, she decided it would be necessary to add the cotangent into the lesson plan – the cotangent!” He threw his arms up, Cadence fearing he would spill some of his coffee on his half-bald head. “The only field that requires knowing that is rocket science, and while we are an elite high school, I doubt many of our students aspire a career in it.” He held his cup close to his face, grumbling. “Now I have to spend my evenings refreshing my knowledge about the cotangent – stuff I was all too eager to forget after college – while at the same time, trying to think of a way how to squeeze it into the rest of the study plan. We were in the middle of imaginary numbers when Cinch announced her changes!”

Cadence, smiling politely at the man, slowly nodded her head. “I can understand how you feel” she told him.

He took another sip from his coffee, a long one, before putting his cup down with a sigh. Rubbing his temples he looked like he was about to say something else, but the school bell cut him off. “Well, back to business” he said, not sounding the least bit excited. “Gotta teach a bunch of 6th graders what a polynomial is.” He took in a deep breath, before flashing a smile at the dean. “Thanks for listening to me, Miss Cadenzia.”

Cadence, smiling politely at the man, slowly nodded her head. “I can understand how you… I mean no problem” she quickly said, blushing slightly. “And please, call me Cadence.”

The man nodded, before getting on his way, moving rather fast and hectic. Once he was out of hearing range, Cadence let out a sigh. “My job description said I needed an open ear for the problems students, not the teachers’ as well” she murmured, taking a sip from her own coffee.

For many students, the teacher’s longue was a mystical room, a luxurious palace where the teacher’s resided between classes like kings and queens on golden couches while eating the finest caviar. Though the teacher’s lounge of Crystal Prep Academy probably had more elegance than those of other schools with its shining walls and the crystal columns, Cadence wondered what some of the students would think if they found out how mundane the place really was: A number of desks, shelves containing books and files, a couch in a corner, and a small kitchen niche – that was it. Not quite the luxury some students were dreaming about, but as a place to prepare the next lesson or just relaxed between classes, it did its job.

Currently, Cadence was leaning against the kitchen counter, embracing her mug of coffee with both hands. She took another long, satisfying sip from it, the bitter nectar warming up her throat. Taking it off her lips she took a look inside, seeing there was only a small rest left. Despite the caffeine’s effect she still felt a little worn out, so she took the coffee can from the machine and filled the mug back up to the brim. After taking another small sip to lower the fluid level Cadence headed for the door. On her way she walked past a number of other teachers at their desks, one looking more stressed out than the next. There were biology teachers trying to condense the principles of DNA replication into two lessons, sport teachers reading on training methods to increase the performance of young athletes, and music teachers thinking of ways how to fit 200 years of musical history into a single half-year. One glance at their exhausted faces, Cadence could tell many of them could need someone to lend them an ear for their problems. The staple of work on her desk in mind however she picked up her pace, quickly heading for the door.

Once she had left the teacher’s lounge, the dean was greeted by the sight of a group of students standing in the corridor. As she passed them, she could overhear a conversation how to spend the free lesson – the discussion seemed to be pending between learning for a test or going to the sports field to train for an upcoming marathon. When one of them suggested they should just sit down in the schoolyard, the others laughed.

Laughter. That wasn’t something heard often at this school. Granted, the punch-line was rather cynical, but still, as Cadence looked over her shoulder at the students, she smiled at them.

After reaching her office and closing the door behind her, the first thing she did was check her emails. As she sat down on her office chair, the mug of coffee still in her hand, she gleefully noticed an email titled as “frindship repot” – it only took a quick glance to see it was written on a cellphone. Leaning back Cadence began to read, occasionally taking a sip from her coffee.

dear dean cadence

did ya watch the concert?! totally awesome rite?!! XD

anyway I learned buncha stuff so thought I should tell ya bout it :3

(sry didnt write ealier but weekend u know ^^;

so yeah i started a band but first my friends didn want to join bcause we dndt like the same musc and stuff :(

so i looked for people outside of school & found those 2 cool gals b^.^d

but when we started rehersl they only argued bcause they dint wanna play each others music >_<

(also one tried to eat the others soul 1ce but thats a different story :o)

so it seemed bad but i kept telling them to play & then we started playing & it was good bcause we mixed our fave music & WE ROCKED THE SCHOOL!!!! \m/(-o-)\m/

but bcause they dont go to cpa cinch said we couldnt practise anymore here so we had to quit the band :*(

but next day my friens suprised me by sain they start a new band with me and now weve got a band aftr all :D

so to sum it up when tis bout music or games or many other kind of stuff people are all like “this is the best” or “i only like this” o.0

but in the end tis dont mater just as lng as ya get ur friends & u can party hard!!! >:D

i also learnt things that are very difrnt can actualy go very wll 2gether so u shouldnt juge too fast & just try & mix em:)

probly learnt other stuff too but cant remember rite now and im reachin charcter limit^^

stay fresh! LZ

ps you also told us to report how we spread friendship around cpa & stuff

well thanks to me almost half the students now want to hang around in bands

not bad rite ;)

Despite being rather short, due to the grammar the “letter” took a while to finish. When Cadence was done she put her half-empty mug on her desk. While she printed out the mail she thought for a moment about Lemon’s concert – unfortunately she couldn’t attend, but from what she had heard, it was a big success. And of course, she had heard about all those bands that had started up the day after. Just as she was about to reminisce on her own time in a school band – which consisted of one gig and a lot of tomatoes – a “ping” informed her of a new email. Bearing the same address as the last one, with the same misspelled title, she curiously opened it.

almos forgot hers a record from our first time plain 2gether hope ya like it :)

And indeed, there was a sound file added to the mail. With a smile the dean clicked on it, leaning back in her chair. Maybe, she thought, this could be a memento she wouldn’t have to put away with the letter – whenever the stress of her job got too much, she could just play the song, and relax to the melody created from the bond of her students and the memories of this event that had deepened their friendship. Seeing the file had been downloaded Cadence closed her eyes, waiting for it to auto-play.

After listening to it for ten seconds she shut it off, copied the file on a CD, placed it in a plastic hull and quickly stored it alongside the letter in the friendship folder.

Piece of Cake?

Author's Note

Epilogue to Piece of Cake?

Piece of Cake?

Sitting at the desk in her office, Dean Cadence read a small staple of documents in front of her. A pen in one hand, she occasionally made some remarks on the sides, underlining single words and sentences or scratching small portions. Some parts she had to read two or three times and ponder a moment about them, tipping with the end of her pen against her chin. After working through some of the pages for a while she pushed the documents away from her, letting out an exhausted sigh. “Gosh, this is supposed to be a simple-to-understand contract?” she moaned, leaning back in her chair. “And it’s just about regulating the use of the sports field after school!” Cadence was about to drop her head onto the table and bury her face in her arms. A knock on the door however made her quickly sit up straight. “Come in, please!” she called out friendlily.

The door opened, and a student entered the office. He seemed a little nervous, staying with one foot in the hallway while clenching his hands around the edge of the door. “Um, D-dean Cadence?” he asked, tapping with his fingers on the wood. “H-hi. I, err, am the president of the bakery club... I mean former president... p-president of the former club. The club was closed after our school lost the baking competition in the Friendship Games, b-but you said a few weeks ago you wanted to make sure it was reopened, and I, well, just wanted to ask if you, you made any progress on, on that, or… or…” His voice steadily became quieter as he spoke, until it was just a faint whisper.

Cadence smiled reassuringly at him. “Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten” she told him. “I didn’t have time to talk to Principal Cinch about it yet, but I address the issue as soon as possible. Once I remind her how renowned our school is for the bakery products of the students, I am sure she will undo that hasty decision.”

The boy seemed to relax. “Thank you, Dean Cadence!” he said, his voice a lot more cheerful. He stepped out of her office again, closing the door behind him. Once he was gone Cadence slumped her shoulders, the corners of her mouth dropping slightly. With a tired look on her face she picked the pile of documents back up again, rummaging through them. There was still a good third left to be checked, and then she had to read it all over again at least one more time, probably even twice. Putting them back down again her gaze wandered to the rest of the documents on her “to-do”-staple, which was reaching up to her eye-level. Her gaze wandered to the clock. Still an hour until lunch.

The dean fell back into her chair. Running her hands over her face she let out a long, frustrated sigh into her palms. She stared up at the ceiling for a moment, before closing her eyes. It wasn’t like she didn’t enjoy her job as a dean – helping the students in every way she could still gave her a great feeling. Lately, however, she sometimes thought it had been easier when she was a teenager herself. Crystal Prep had been a harsh place back then too, but outside of school, the only time she had to take responsibility for something was when she had been working as a babysitter, and even that hadn’t really felt like a chore to her. Opening her eyes she gazed towards one of the drawers of her desk. As she opened it various items were greeting her, from photos to small gifts students had given her over the years (most of them were from Twilight though). One of those items, however, stuck out slightly: A pacifier.

Cadence took it out of the drawer, turning it in her hand a few times. Closing her eyes again she leaned back, relaxing slightly. Her mind wandered down the memory lane, back to her days as a babysitter. Memories came flooding in: Of laughing babies and little children, of playing silly games, of little eyes looking up to her, seeing her as a cool teenage friend. She smiled, even more when she was thinking of the days when she had looked after Twilight – sweet little Twilight, she thought. With all the stress lately, she kind of wished she could go back to these days, when everything had been much simpler and easier.

She daydreamed for a few more moments, reminiscing about the past. She wouldn’t have minded to enjoy those fond memories a little longer, but she could feel the paperwork looming beside her. Before she continued with it however she decided to check her emails. Still holding the little memento of her babysitter days in her hand she turned to her black computer screen, and pressed a key on the keyboard. Immediately the screen jumped back to life, displaying her email center. A few new ones were on the top, the majority coming from Principal Cinch. The dean was about to open one, when the one on the top caught her attention. Her face considerably brightened as she saw it was titled “Friendship report”, and she quickly clicked on it.

Dear Dean Cadence,

Here’s what I learned:

First, you shouldn’t take having responsibility too easily. Even seemingly small tasks can give you a large head-ache, especially when the small task turns out to be a giant head-ache.

Second, you can always rely on your friends to help you when you are in trouble or if you took on more than you can handle. And even if they can’t really help you and only end up running around pretending to have a plan, it’s better than being stuck alone with your troubles. Zero plus zero may still equal zero, but at least they are in good company.

Third, babysitting sucks.

That is all.

Regards, Sugarcoat

PS: I would have reported sooner, but I first had to figure out how to get a ten-year old laptop running. Still better than nothing though, I guess.

Candace stared at the short, but to-the-point letter. The few points could give her a rough idea about what Sugarcoat meant and had experienced, but that wasn’t what she thought about. Her eyes were focused entirely on the third lesson. Once more, images of her babysitting days flooded her mind, but vastly different memories from the previous ones.

Memories of changing diapers…

Of chasing after toddlers refusing to go to sleep…

Of dresses ruined by babies barfing on it…

And memories of angry parents yelling at her when they came home and found their house to be a total mess…

With a few clicks, she printed out the letter. Grabbing it from her printer she walked over to the friendship folder, still lost in thoughts. It was only when she rummaged through the folder that she realized she was still holding her pacifier. She looked at the little object for a moment, then went back to her desk. From her drawer she pulled out a roll of tape, and after ripping off a piece, used it to attach the end of the pacifier to the letter. Going back to the friendship folder she put the letter into it, alongside the memento of her babysitting days.

Turning around she walked back to her desk, and sat down. “Maybe being a dean is better than sitting babies after all…”

The Crystal Heart Formal

A bundle of files under her arm, Dean Cadence locked the door of her office behind her. Putting the keys into her pocket she walked down the corridor towards the cafeteria. The hallways of Crystal Prep were filled with students, having just returned or being on their way to lunch. Many of them greeted the dean as she passed by. Gleefully, she noticed a lot of them were going in smaller groups or pairs, with fewer than usual being by themselves. Though the Crystal Heart Formal had been a week ago, it seemed the spirit of friendship from that evening was still influencing the students. But although she was happy about this, she was a little disappointed she didn’t get a report from Sour and her friends yet. After that night, she was sure they would have to share a lesson about friendship.

A yawn tried to make its way out of her mouth. While suppressing it she stretched herself a little, careful not to drop the files. “The nights seem to be getting shorter and shorter” she mumbled, rubbing her neck. She even had to do paperwork during her lunch break. Walking on, she reached a crossing between two corridors. The cafeteria was straight ahead, but familiar voices from the right made her stop and listen. Though the hallway was bustling with background chatter, she was sure to recognize the girls talking with each other – especially since it sounded like they were arguing about something. Curiously, the dean leaned against the wall, and peeked around the corner.

The hallway was leading straight to a staircase. On the stairs to the next floor, five girls were sitting. One of them was holding a smartphone while the others had gathered around her, all staring on the display.

“Oh, how about this?” Indigo asked, pointing at the screen of Sunny’s phone.

The lavender-haired girl scoffed. “Not that one – I look terrible on it!”

“You’ve been saying that about all of them” Sugarcoat remarked.

Flicking her bangs, Sunny harrumphed. “Well sorry nobody got my good side!”

“Oh, I like this one!” Lemon exclaimed as Sunny switched to the next picture.

Leaning over Sunny’s shoulder Indigo looked at it. “That pic’s 90 percent your face, and it’s not even a good resolution.”

“Yeah, but that’s what’s so cool about it!” Lemon grinned.

Moaning Sour got up on her feet. “Girls, try to focus!” she said, stepping up in front of her friends with her fists against her hips. “We all agreed to send a photo with all of us at the Crystal Heart Formal to Dean Cadence – so Sunny, don’t be so picky! And Lemon, take this serious!”

The green-haired punk crossed her arms. “Hey, I am serious! If I were Dean Cadence, I’d want some silly photo that shows how much fun we had!”

“That may go for someone like you” Sunny said with a nasal pronunciation. “I, on the other hand, think we should show her a photo that reflects both the beauty of our friendship as well as the beauty of our… well, the beauty of our beauty.”

“That’s just an excuse for your vanity.”

“Shut it, Sugar.”

Indigo snapped her fingers. “Hey, wasn’t there a photo where we all pose on the dance floor?”

“There is only half of me on it” Sour said.

“Your nice or your grumpy half?” Indigo asked with a smirk.

A sarcastic smile formed on Sour’s face. “Oh haha, very funny, Indigo! Hey, isn’t there this photo where you trip on the dance floor? Maybe Dean Cadence would like that…”

“Oh, oh, maybe we can make a collage with each of us tripping on the dance floor!” Lemon suggested, giggling at her idea.

Sunny raised an eyebrow. “Did we really all trip on the dance floor?”

“And did we all get photos taken of that?” Sugarcoat asked.

With her thumb and index finger, Indigo rubbed her chin. “Lemon’s got a point though: If we can’t agree on a good photo with all of us together, each of us could pick a photo of herself and then we put them together.”

A ponderous look on her face, Sunny slowly nodded her head. “I’d prefer a group photo, but if we can’t decide on one, that might really be the best idea.”

Content, Sour clapped her hands. “Good! Now each of us just has to settle for one photo.”

“I’ll take the close-up on my face!” Lemon yelled, pumping her fist into the air.

“You definitely will not!” Sunny said, glaring at her her.

“I want to take a photo that isn’t too flashy” Sugarcoat stated, dry and with little passion.

Indigo stuck out her tongue. “Meh, that’s boring - let’s all pick photos with action poses!”

Sour slapped her face. “…And of course, that idea doesn’t work either.” She gave each of her friends a boring glare. “Does one of you at least have an idea what we should write in the letter?”

Indigo shrugged. “Something about not making dumb bets with your friends...”

“…not forcing them to anything they don’t want to do, even if you mean well…”

“…not telling your date they have horrible shoes…”

“…and that throwing a party is real rad!”

Arms crossed, Sour looked at each of her friends. “Okay, I think we can work with that – or at least some of it. But, we should also include something about not trying to pretend to be someone you are not.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Indigo asked, standing up with a frown on her face. “You think I was just faking it to be a strong, powerful girl?!”

Sour rolled her eyes. “Please, don’t tell me you learned nothing from that night…”

With a leap Indigo jumped off the stairs, standing right in front of Sour. “Well what I learned was the boys here at school can’t handle a girl with attitude!”

A honey-sweet smile on her face Sour gave her a thumbs-up. “Great, that’s the perfect friendship message for the dean: Indigo learned nothing and blamed everyone else.” Her thumb turned upside down, just like her smile.

“Oh yeah?” Indigo said, leaning closer to Sour. “Then maybe you wanna tell her how you got all sappy?”

“Don’t you dare tell her about that, or I’ll tell you about you got sappy!” Sour snapped back, getting into Indigo’s face.

“Try that and you can pick your teeth up from the ground!”

While Indigo and Sour were yelling at other, the rest of the Shadowbolts were hanging over Sunny’s phone.

“Come on, can’t I just pick the photo I like?” Lemon asked as she tried to grab the phone over Sunny’s shoulder.

“Not if it’s just pixels of your nose!” she shouted, wrapping her arms around her smartphone.

“I’d still like a non-action photo of me doing some regular activity” Sugarcoat said, also trying to get the phone.

Sunny showed her shoulder to the white-haired girl. “I also won’t allow you to choose a boring photo!”

“Yeah, take a close-up of your face!”

“I SAID I WON’T ALLOW THAT EITHER!!”

“For the last time, Sweet, I was a cool, strong woman every boy had her eyes on and if you tell the dean anything else…”

“Oh, is that so? Because I don’t remember any boy’s eyes following you at all at the ball.”

“PARTY!”

On and on, the girls bickered with each other. The dean listened for a while, hardly holding back her laughter. Eventually, she continued down the hallway towards the cafeteria, chuckling all the while.

She might never get a report or souvenir for her files, but she probably wouldn’t forget about this anyway.

Author's Note

And that's the end of the adventures of the Shadowbolts. Thanks to everyone who's been following my stories. I'm not sure if I'll uploading anything else on this site, but maybe we'll meet again somewhere else. Bye :twilightsmile: