It was a Thursday afternoon, and I was seated in a chair between Ms. Cadance and Mrs. Velvet. Currently, we were waiting in the administrative offices of Crystal Preparatory Academy for an opportunity to speak with the school's head administrator, Principal Abacus Cinch. She was, as the secretary was so keen to point out upon our arrival, a very busy woman, and thus our unscheduled appearance would have to wait until she was free. As if I wasn't already expecting her to be the type to make us sweat.

When I wasn't playing catch-up in my studies, I did some digging into CPA. It reminded me an awful lot of the Equestrian nobility. A lot of things I read said that it was a school with a history of students vying for social dominance, whilst also building future contacts. It largely catered to the rich, and well-off, although historically has allowed the attendance of disadvantaged youths 'sponsored' by alumni or political backers. I say historically not only because their very public graduation records specifically marked students that'd been sponsored, but also because it hasn't happened in a number of years.

That was the angle we'd be striving for, but I knew that it wouldn't be easy. By all reports, Abacus Cinch was a very shrewd woman, and very politically minded. Her interests first and foremost were furthering her career, and maintaining the good name and legacy of Crystal Prep academy. If something didn't benefit herself or CPA, it would take a lot of work to get her to show the slightest bit of interest in it. Yeah, it was no secret that she was basically a politician in all but name, and had several backers with deep pockets.

Surprisingly, I wasn't all that concerned about the meeting itself. Since the Resplendent was under-crewed, I was used to dealing with the pain-in-the-flank noble we had for an XO when it came to matters of supplies she wanted. If there's something that's annoying, it's an officer who has an overinflated sense of ego because they come from money, especially when they practically buy their rank. Being able to play their games is a big part of making them fuck off and stop wasting your time, especially when they end up with the mistaken belief that you're a member of the peerage. That was actually something Cantata helped me learn.

No, I was more concerned about the way the blouse and skirt, loaned to me by Twilight for my meeting with Cinch, fit. Both were adjusted using safety pins, because I was a size smaller than the girl, and if I shifted just right, I could feel the metal of the back pin against the small of my back. Not only that, but I wasn't exactly used to wearing skirts. The only time I ever wore them was when I had to wear my dress blues in the REN and those were few and far between. Wearing them as a biped was a completely different experience. You didn't have a tail to protect your privacy, and there was this huge taboo of one's undergarments being seen, so you had to watch how you sat—legs together, or crossed. The moment we sat down, Cadance had to remind me, along with a comment of me sitting like a tomboy.

Another point of agitation for me was the fact that I wasn't wearing my goggles around my neck. As much as I'd have liked to keep them on me to hide the scar on my neck, it was agreed that we'd leave them at home in order to project a slightly more professional look. Sure, the school allowed for personalisation of one's uniform, and even accessories so long as they weren't inappropriate, but we wanted most of our cards on the table. At least we found a protective case on a strap for the tablet that granted me my 'voice', so I could carry it like a purse.

The sallow-skinned man at the secretary's desk glanced at something on his computer monitor, and then nodded to the three of us. "Principal Cinch will see you all now," he announced. When he noticed the tablet hanging from my side, however, a frown creased his face and he gave Ms. Cadance—or rather Dean Cadance, as we were at her place of employment—a dark look. In a voice just loud enough to be heard as the door was opened, he quickly added, "Dean Cadance, you know that CPA does not allow for personal electronics on campus outside of lockers or the library. I would have hoped you would have thought to warn this urchin you hope to enrol in this fine institute."

Velvet and Cadance looked particularly outraged, but I just smiled at them, held up one finger and then got to work typing out a response. "I'm terribly sorry, Mister—" I made a show of glancing at the nameplate on his desk before adding his name. "...Willow. I was under the impression that a storied and illustrious institution such as Crystal Preparatory Academy would have special dispensations and allowances for students with disabilities, in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act." I gave him a predatory smile as I tapped the scar across my throat for emphasis. "If this is not the case, I would most certainly not be averse to getting confirmation of such in writing on a school letterhead, dated and signed."

Rule #1 of interacting with stuck-up prigs willing to break the rules if they think they can get away with it: get everything in writing, signed and dated on a letterhead if possible. If they know they're in the wrong, they immediately back the fuck off. If they're ignorant on top of being stupid, then you get to teach them the threat of "Could I get that in writing?"

Both Velvet and Cadance seemed rather surprised by my response, pausing in the doorway to Cinch's office as they watched Mr. Willow for a reaction. When the man blanched, their eyebrows rose. "That won't be necessary, I think," he responded in a shaky voice. "I simply did not realise that it was compensating for a disability."

My predatory smile transitioned back to a friendly one and I nodded, following the two women into the office. There were no chairs for us to sit upon. Only a stern-faced woman with dark fuchsia hair done up in a no-nonsense style, and some rather professional pince-nez glasses perched on her nose. Based on how low those glasses were placed, I imagined she spent a lot of time looking down her nose at people.

The room itself was decorated in a very blunt fashion. There was an entire trophy case containing various trophies that were either regarding the school itself, or—more importantly—Abacus Cinch. The walls were lined with various plaques, framed newspaper clippings, and pictures of the woman with various movers and shakers in the city. Immediately, I was reminded exactly what kind of person she was, and how I would have to handle her.

Cinch didn't acknowledge me immediately, mind you. She was regarding Twilight Velvet and Cadance with a curious look. "If I am being honest with you both, I wasn't sure I wanted to even humour the idea of this meeting," the woman commented, steepling her well-manicured hands in front of her. Sitting by one of her elbows, I noted my placement test. "Make no mistake, Ms. Sparkle alone has influenced the school's average GPA, driving it from 3.3 to 3.8, and I am expecting big things from her. Yet, I cannot help but wonder what could have convinced you both to submit some random girl you found at a—" She glanced down at a note on her desk. "—soup kitchen, who has been living on the streets for who knows how long, to join CPA. This school is, after all, the pinnacle of schools, and the first step towards a successful future."

Cadance looked a bit incensed at that comment, and Velvet bristled. Did neither of them infer the coming 'but'? Though I didn't look the least bit upset, Velvet began to speak up in my defence. "Principal Cinch, that's hardly a—"

The principal held up one hand to silence them, and then shut her eyes. "That being said, that little display just now—coupled with the placement marks in the important fields—has convinced me to give this some serious consideration," she said with a bit of a smile. Pushing her glasses up her nose, she opened her eyes before angling her head in such a way that the light reflected off the lenses. "Ms. Construct, could you, in your own words, explain to me why you should admit you to CPA?"

I smiled and immediately began typing out a response. "Of course, Principal Cinch." It was a shame I couldn't do this blindly, because I would love to gauge her reaction to all of this as I typed out my explanation. "In the short time I have had to prepare for this meeting, I have researched the history of this school, as well as looking into you and your interactions with backers and the school board. I've found that the school historically has allowed students from less affluent means to be sponsored by the family of a present student or alumnus as a form of 'enrichment'.

"That being said, the last publicised graduate noted as a sponsored student was from 2005." I looked up at her and caught a wary look. Almost... Cautious. "That being said, you put in a lot of effort maintaining the school's image as the best of the best, going so far as to quash some recent reports of hazing or bullying. It's pretty much a must when most of the budget for clubs, labs, and the like come from wealthy alumni and political allies. A private school is as much a business as it is an educational institute, meaning that some good press is likely to encourage further investment, no?" I tried my best not to smirk as the woman's jaw all but dropped. "What I propose is that you tell any backers who take issue with a 'crippled orphan'—or however they try to spin me—that I am..." I paused, fumbling for the right phrase. "How do you say... The token sponsored child intended to head off any accusations of discriminating against those with disabilities. After all, this building does not appear to be wheelchair accessible, which would tell me there aren't any chair-bound students attending."

Much to my amusement, the aged woman began to smile. Even as the other two women in the room shared a stunned look, Principal Cinch leaned forward in her seat. "Tell me, what is your ambition, Ms. Construct?" she asked with an almost predatory look of her own. "What motivated you to dig so deeply in preparation for this meeting? How high do you have your sights set?"

That was actually a really good question. Why did I do such a deep dive? Well, first and foremost, I wanted to make sure I'm never taken advantage of or left for dead ever again. I wanted to give myself every possible advantage in this new life. If that meant actually playing the game as the nobles did, then so be it.

I don't think that even I have seen this side of myself before, though. The way Velvet and Cadance were looking at me, you'd swear I was a complete stranger, and not the former pony they Shanghaied—I think that's how you use that phrase?—into being a foster kid. I didn't particularly like it, but I understood why; they were probably wondering if I wasn't just some sort of sociopath manipulating them to get what I want.

Letting out a sigh, I typed out my response. "I just want to help people, Principal Cinch," I said, locking my eyes with hers. "In the short time I've been here, I've seen a city rife with crime. Purse snatchers, drug pushers, even the mafia..." There was a slight wince from the woman as I listed that last one, something I don't think anyone without an attention for detail like a pegasus would notice. "Who only knows what else goes unseen. I want to help the CCPD combat all that. To protect the people of this city I've come to call home, and solve whatever mysteries I might need in order to do so."

She seemed to consider this for a moment before nodding. "Very well. Now before I make my decision, I'd like to see if you've got the right sort of work ethic," Cinch said with a more controlled expression as she held up my test. "I'm going to ask you questions from the portions of this test you did poorly in. Let us see whether you have made any efforts to correct the gaps in your knowledge..."

Fifteen minutes later, we were exiting the administrative offices, and I was wiping a bead of sweat from my forehead. It became pretty clear that Cinch had been trying to trip me up or something. She kept going for what had been the hardest or obscure questions in the packet, but when I rattled them off with only the delay that it took to type them, she was growing frustrated. Then the woman started throwing in questions that hadn't been in the packet. I made sure to point those out, even as I answered.

By the end, she had no real excuse to refuse me. It became a discussion between Cinch and Cadance, in her capacity as the school's dean, as to how to place me. Cinch argued that my lack of grade history precluded me from joining Twilight as a junior, whilst in Cadance's opinion freshman year wouldn't be stimulating enough. So it was decided that I would be joining the school as a sophomore.

The irony that I was now a student at a school whose school teams were called the Shadowbolts was not lost on me. Those bastards from Shadowbolt Squadron left me for dead. Now, if I played my cards right, I might end up a Shadowbolt. Ha, take that!

Rather than going out to the parking lot and getting into Velvet's car, however, our next objective was Dean Cadance's office. The plan was to get me a schedule all set up ahead of my first day of class. With that in mind, she was us through the halls. We were just passing the rather spacious lunch-hall when we crossed paths with a young woman that I kinda recognised—although she was far more clothed, wearing a Crystal Prep uniform, this time. She was clad in a short sleeved dress shirt with an indigo tie, wine-coloured sweater vest, and the school's signature plaid skirt, with her hair done up in a bun. Compared to her cosplay outfit, she actually seems a lot less confident.

"Dean Cadance! How's it going?" Starlight greeted with a wave of her hand. Then she noticed Twilight Velvet, and her expression grew worried. She somehow hadn't noticed me, yet. "Mrs. V? Is something up? Should I go find Twi? I mean, she's probably in her lab, but..."

Wait, I thought Twilight's lab was the family garage.

Velvet just shook her head and gave the girl a smile. "Everything's okay, Starlight," she assured the girl. Without prompting, I stepped out from behind the women and gave a polite nod. "Rather, we were just heading to Cadance's office to get Eventide's schedule populated."

Starlight gave me a curious look. "Oh!" she exclaimed, noticing the tablet hanging at my side. A look of recognition crossed her face and she began to grin. "You're the one Twi had me custom build that text to speech app for!"

My head bobbed as I confirmed it. "It's nice to meet you, Starlight Glimmer. I'm Eventide Construct." With a friendly smile, I remarked, "You seem a lot different when you're wearing more clothes." The purple student's cheeks went dark. Both Cadance and Twilight Velvet turned to stare, blinking owlishly at me. It took a full minute of silence for me to realise that probably didn't come across in the way that I meant it. "That is to say, you project a different aura here than what your Yoko cosplay portrayed."

I'm pretty sure I nearly gave my guardian a heart attack. Eventually, there were some silent 'Oh's' from the two women. Once Starlight returned to a shade less closely resembling her uniform vest, she attempted a redirect, "Aaaanyway... How's the app working out for you?"

I cupped my chin and thought about it for a second. Twilight said the application was supposed to be learning from me, but I wasn't exactly sure if it was doing much of that. "Fairly well, I think," spoke the tablet in the 'British' accent that Twilight picked out for me. That got an odd look from her, but I didn't really know why. I'll admit, it's nowhere near the slight Manehattan accent I kept even after joining the service, but I find it nonetheless pleasant. "Although I might need some explanation on how the predictive algorithm she mentioned works. There may be other features I might have missed out on."

Starlight nodded. "My free period lasts the rest of this hour, so I could always check it out when you're done with the Dean," she said, accompanied by a clap of her hands. "I was just gonna go bug Twilight about her mystery energy conspiracy board, but if you'd like, I could give you a tour of the school too."

I kind of wanted to ask about this 'mystery energy conspiracy board' but before I could probe too far, Dean Cadance spoke up. "That's an excellent idea, Starlight," she said with a bright smile. Turning to me, she added, "Starlight's one of our seniors here at Crystal Prep. In fact, I think she's one of the few students at the school I'd trust not to immediately start with the petty social games." With a glance at the watch on her wrist, she nodded to herself. "Come by my office in about ten minutes, Starlight, and you're more than welcome to give her a tour."

With a playful salute, Starlight left us to go do who knows what. Without any further distractions, we made it to a small, cosy office space. It was decorated to create a friendly atmosphere, and idly I wondered if she didn't also double as the school's guidance counsellor. The room looked relatively sound-proofed, and the furniture was all comfortable.

Cadance welcomed us in, and then sat us down. Over the span of the next ten minutes, we worked out a schedule. Physical education was on the schedule daily just before noon, but the other courses were mixed up over the five days of the school week. Some days I'd have just the sciences—both physical and social—whilst others I'd get maths and an information technology course.

For electives, I took an auto-shop and a cooking class. Cooking was something I'd never been particularly good at; when you spend so much time on a ship or an airship, you get too used to having the galley. Plus, I wanted to be able to help contribute if I was staying with Twilight's family. The auto-shop course, on the other hand, was more to stay connected with my cutie mark. Working on the skiffs on the Resplendent was great and relaxing, and the idea of getting my hands into the guts of a car or motorcycle sounded amazing.

Finally, Cadance pointed out that although the school teams had already completed their try-outs and recruiting, she might be able to pull some strings to get me an opportunity to try-out. She would of course wait until I'd had time to settle in at the school. I wasn't expecting to join any teams, although the archery club sounded sort of neat. From what I read, archery was almost as important to the school as football or soccer, and it reminded me of the ice archery event that was part of the Equestria Games.

I'm gonna have my work cut out for me.

Author's Note

Been a bit distracted the last several days. I may or may not have finally gotten into a game that came out in the past year or so, and it's had me hooked. Just a shame that the IP is linked to a TERF.