A few weeks have gone by since Turquoise began her hormone therapy and by this point her real hair grew slightly longer than usual close to a pixie cut and her chest grew a little. It might not be much now, but it was a good start. She got dressed in her uniform and went downstairs where her parents were waiting.

“Not bad for just a few weeks,” Ruby said.

“You sure?” Turquoise asked.

“Hey, its progress, all good things take time, your great grandfather started from humble beginnings before he started Silver Corp,” Bullet said.

“I know but I still look like my male self in a girl’s uniform,” Turquoise said.

“Let me show you something,” Ruby said before pulling her phone out. She looked up images of popular models and showed Turquoise one with the same short hairstyle she had now. “It’s called a pixie cut and it’s popular among some women, so if they can rock it, so can you.

“I guess you are right, but how long do you think it will be before I have boobs again?” Turquoise asked.

“Give it time, the girls don’t usually come in until around 13 or 14 for biological girls but in your case it might be a couple months at the earliest before they become noticeable,” Ruby said.

“Guess that’s fair,” Turquoise said.

“Anyway, be careful out there,” Bullet said before Turquoise left for the garage and drove off. Sometime later she arrived at school safely. As soon as she entered a lot of the students were a bit surprised to see Turquoise without her long hair.

“Are you even trying anymore?” One of the girl students said.

“Yeah, you look like a boy in drag, oh wait that’s what you are,” Another student said. The hurtful comments kept coming and Turquoise was already feeling hurt by them due to the mood swings brought on by the hormones.

“Shut up all of you, I’m trying my best and all your hate and negativity is not helping,” Turquoise shouted before retreating to the girl’s bathroom to cry.

“Geez, what's her problem?” One of the students said not caring about what they all just did. Suddenly Haruka arrived and saw the students all speaking amongst themselves.

“Did I miss something?” Haruka said before Fleur showed up.

“These jerks decided to gang up on Turquoise because she lacked her usual feminine charm and had a bit of a breakdown,” Fleur said.

“I knew this might happen, one of the side effects of hormone therapy is mood swings,” Haruka said.

“We should go find her before she tries to hurt herself or worse,” Fleur said.

“Leave Turquoise to me, Fleur you go inform Cadence of the situation, I trust she knows what’s needed now,” Haruka said.

“She is in the girl’s bathroom,” Fleur said before going. Haruka entered and found Turquoise curled in the corner crying.

“Don’t listen to them, you look fine,” Haruka said.

“You don’t have to lie, without my boobs and long hair, I'm nothing,” Turquoise said.

“Listen, you need to be patient, you will get back to where you were before, just give it time,” Haruka said.

“How long? I'm not sure how long I can take the verbal abuse, “Turquoise said.

“I can assure you principal Cadence will end that soon,” Haruka said.

“How so?” Turquoise asked as she stopped crying which ruined her makeup.

“Fleur should be informing her of the situation, and I have a feeling Principal Cadence is at her breaking point over this whole mess which means we may be in for a mandatory assembly,” Haruka said.

“But won’t this cause everyone to gun for me faster?” Turquoise asked.

“How so?” Haruka asked.

“Because even if she does not mention names, it’s still a hundred percent obvious who she will be referring to,” Turquoise said.

“Let them try,” Haruka said while pounding her fists together.

Meanwhile with Fleur she was in Cadence's office informing her of the incident in the halls and how Turquoise took it. The look on her face showed that she was completely fed up with it.

“Ok I had enough of this, Time to put an end to this whole mess,” cadence said before turning her PA System on. “Attention all students, mandatory assembly in the auditorium in ten minutes. Fleur took this as her cue to leave but not before cadence spoke to her. “Thank you for bringing this to my attention, now go check on Turquoise, she needs her friends more than ever. Fleur left and Cadence looked at the picture of Cinch she had in her office. “All of this is your fault Abacus, now I'm cleaning up your mess for good.

A few minutes later everyone was gathered in the Auditorium and talking amongst themselves.

“Why do you think the principal called all of us here?” One of the boys asked his classmate who was next to him.

“My guess this is going to be another Ein Deduction Spectacular,” The student said.

“Or maybe she is announcing a fundraiser,” A girl said.

“No if that was the case her tone would have sounded more pleasant, my guess we are all here because someone did something messed up and all of us will be punished for it,” One of the boys said.

“What makes you think that?” Another student asked.

“Think about it, what is the biggest issue among the students?” He asked.

“Would it be her over there?” One of the girls said pointing to Turquoise who was conveniently in the row in front of her.

“Exactly, three students have been expelled because of her existence in our school,” The boy said.

“You know I can hear you right?” Turquoise asked.

“Oh, shut it whore, our lives would be a lot better if Cadence just got rid of you already,” one of the girls said.

“She has been nothing less than supportive of me, why can’t all of you be the same?” Turquoise asked.

“Because we think freaks like you should be either locked up or dead,” The girl said. That comment really hurt and Turquoise felt close to crying until Haruka comforted her.

“I think all of you deserve to be locked up instead, my friend here has done nothing wrong and all of you keep attacking her,” Haruka said. Suddenly Cadence walked onto the stage and took the mic.

“Ok everyone it’s time we had a very serious discussion about respect,” Cadence said which got everyone’s attention. “Now the reason for this assembly is to discuss the recent events over the past month, so far three students have been expelled, several have been suspended and over half have been thrown in detention, and why? Because they keep hazing one student in particular. You all know him as Silver Chance, but she prefers going by her girl's name Turquoise Dusk, Speaking of Turquoise would you mind coming up here for me. Turquoise came on stage and stood before all of the students who were looking at her with anger and hate. “When I took over as Principal I made it my mission to make Crystal Prep a much better school, not just for academics or sports, but for students like Turquoise who are different, I know undoing years of what abacus cinch taught all of you is not easy and I tried being patient with all of you but now I’m putting my foot down before things escalate to the point where someone could get hurt physically. Turquoise, I want you to share your story with everyone. Turquoise took the mic and looked quite nervous in front of everyone.

“Come on Love you got this,” Haruka shouted which gave Turquoise the boost she needed.

“I’m going to skip the introductions since you all already know my name and don’t care to use it, but what all of you don’t know is my backstory, I transferred here from Cloudsdale High because students like you were constantly bullying me and some even took advantage of me because I come from a wealthy family while a huge majority of them came from middle class or broken families. And you know what the worst part of all that was? I was just Silverton Von Chance and not the girl I'm trying to be now. I know I am weak, I know I am not indestructible, I know I’m no anime protagonist with crazy strong stats or skills, But a good friend showed me I don’t need to be those things and was even kind enough to show me the path to something better, something where I’m safe and don’t need to feel ashamed for my lack of masculinity,” Turquoise said before one of the students interrupted her.

“We don’t give a damn about your stupid sob story whore,” One of the students shouted.

“Yeah freaks like you don’t belong in our school,” A girl in the crowd said. Suddenly Cadence took the mic.

“Ok that will be enough of that, the next person who speaks ill of Turquoise shall be expelled on the spot, I tried being patient, I tried being magnanimous, but it seems I need to be more forceful if I want this whole issue to end,” Cadence said.

“We will stop when this freak gets the boot,” One of the students said only to be apprehended by one of the administrators.

“Anyone else have something to say or do you need more examples of what punishment awaits you all the next time you hurt Turquoise?” Cadence asked. The students all clammed up before Cadence gave the mic back to Turquoise.

“As I was saying, I Don’t know why all of you hate me so much, I did nothing wrong, yet you keep blaming me for your own misfortune, and unless all of you stop attacking me, you’re going to lose the kind and caring Principal who was kind enough to take the helm,” Turquoise said.

“What exactly are you implying?” One of the students asked before covering their mouth. Luckily the administrators were willing to let it slide since it was not a hurtful slur.

“What I'm saying is Principal Cadence is almost at the point where she turns into a tyrant all because of me, is that what all of you want to hear? The truth is it's because of most of you, all you had to do was leave me alone but that was too much for you to comprehend so if you want me to go then fine, I will leave,” Turquoise said before some of the students in the crowd spoke.

“Please don’t go, we want you here, “Lemon shouted.

“And so do I,” Fleur said.

“I sacrificed a lot to find you, I don’t want to lose you again,” Haruka said.

“Speak for yourselves I say we let the whore go, good riddance,” one of the students said before the majority backed them up. Suddenly Cadence began to feel her rage build up which suddenly caused her pink skin to turn red.

“SILENCE ALL OF YOU, IT’S CLEAR TO ME NOW THAT I’M NEVER GOING TO GET THROUGH TO EVERYONE SO I’M ADDING A NEW RULE EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY,” Cadence shouted which caused her voice to echo throughout the auditorium. “ANYONE WHO SAIDS ANYTHING NEGITIVE ABOUT THE LGBTQ COMMUNITY OR PSYCICALLY HARMS THEM SHALL BE EXPELLED ON THE SPOT, AND TO MAKE SURE IT STICKS ALL TEACHERS AND FACULTY WILL BE MONITORING THE HALLS AND ANY OTHER PLACE STUDENTS GATHER, I WISH IT DID NOT HAVE TO COME TO THIS BUT ALL OF YOU FORCED MY HAND.

“No need to go that far, I will leave Crystal Prep. I'm clearly not welcome here, but in exchange, Principal Cadence I want you to retract that rule. I really do appreciate all you have done for me, but acceptance is not worth the price of everyone’s freedom,” Turquoise said.

“Think about what you are doing Turquoise, if you go, we may never see you again,” Sunny said.

“No, it’s ok, I will leave if it means returning peace to Crystal Prep. It's just a real shame I won't be part of it anymore,” Turquoise said. Her friends kept trying to stop her from leaving but Turquoise’s mine was made up. The assembly ended and all the students returned to their classes except for Turquoise who went to Cadence back to her office to wait for her parents to discuss what to do next. Sometime later Ruby and Bullet arrived and took their seats by Turquoise.

“Did Turquoise do something wrong?” Bullet asked.

“Turquoise did nothing wrong, in fact what she did was quite brave,” Cadence said.

“What exactly did she do?” Ruby asked.

“This whole mess centered around her got so out of control I had to call for an assembly to address it, I even had Turquoise come up and share her story but as you can imagine that failed to accomplish anything,” Cadence said.

“Ok but what does that have to do with Turquoise being brave?” Ruby asked.

“When that failed, I lost my temper and was about to implement a new rule that would have destroyed Crystal Prep until Turquoise agreed to sacrifice her enrollment here to restore peace,” Cadence said.

“Turquoise dear, you don’t have to do that, Principal Cadence isn’t there another way?” Ruby asked.

“I told Turquoise that, but she feels this is the only way even though she also mentioned her sacrifice would amount to nothing,” Cadence said.

“Tell me Turquoise, do you really feel this is the only way?” Bullet asked.

“Most of the students are unwilling to accept me and leaving is the only way to restore peace,” Turquoise said.

“What about your friends? Don’t you care about them?” Ruby asked.

“I do but I can’t be with them in a toxic environment where I am not welcome,” Turquoise said.

“Listen Turquoise even if you do leave, another student like you will enroll and this whole mess will begin again and this time the students will lose their freedom,” Cadence said.

“Well, what else can I do? If I stay here everyone gets expelled and their destroyed futures will be on my head,” Turquoise said.

“Why don’t you take the rest of the week off, I want you to think very carefully on this, I will just tell the students you left,” Cadence said.

“Ok but unless they want me here, I cannot stay,” Turquoise said.

“Let’s go Turquoise,” Bullet said as the three of them left. two days later Turquoise was in her room thinking about everything that happened. As she was thinking, Haruka, Fleur and the rest of her friends came in.

“Girls? What are you doing here?” Turquoise asked.

“We came to check on you,” Fleur said.

“If you are going to ask if I'm ok, I am far from it,” Turquoise said.

“What came over you to make you leave Crystal Prep?” Lemon asked.

“Cadence was going to take away everyone’s freedom and I needed to do something, so leaving was the only option,” Turquoise said.

“Dummy, you did not have to go that far,” Sour said.

“At least the students will stop whining and complaining about me now,” Turquoise said.

“About that, it seems your sudden departure has left an impact,” Haruka said.

“How so, I thought no one would care?” Turquoise asked.

“Look outside your window, I think you are going to be quite surprised,” Indigo said. Turquoise looked outside her window and saw about 300 of the 500 students from Crystal Prep standing outside with a huge banner that said We miss you Turquoise, please come back.

“I don’t understand?” Turquoise said.

“When Cadence was about to implement that rule and you offered to sacrifice yourself to stop it, you showed them what was in your heart which won them over, so please come back to Crystal Prep,” Haruka said.

“What about the other 187 students who hate me?” Turquoise asked.

“Not going to be an issue,” Sunny said. “When the parents of those students got wind of what was going on a good majority of them withdrew them from Crystal Prep in order to take their punishments into their own hands.

“I counted, the number of students withdrawn was 157 so that brings the number of haters down to just thirty,” Sugarcoat said.

“This can’t all be true,” Turquoise said.

“See for yourself,” Fleur said before bringing up the news on her phone.

“In other news Crystal Prep has set an all-time record for number of students withdrawn within the first few months of the first semester. Our sources say the reason has to do with one student in particular,” the news anchor said as Turquoise’s picture appeared.

“Wait a sec I thought something like this would not be worth the news,” Turquoise said.

“Well, someone was secretly recording all the abuse you were taking and sharing it with the news,” Haruka said.

“And Cadence?” Turquoise asked.

“Don’t worry, the school board did not fire her, in fact she was commended for all her efforts in trying to turn Crystal Prep around, so we still have a kind and caring principal at the helm,” Lemon said.

“Ok you convinced me, tell her I’m coming back,” Turquoise said.

“Great, and we promise things will be different this time,” Sunny said. Everyone left and Turquoise decided to call it a night.

Author's Note

I know this is not how cadence would usually act. but sometimes even the nicest of Principals can lose their tempers when pushed too far. As for why I would go this route. it's because great sacrifice can win almost anyone over and sometimes leads towards change.