Apple Bloom found herself to be in the middle of the CHS hallways again, nearly dark and dull. She felt the same cold and sinister atmosphere all around her and there wasn't a single soul in the area. Apple Bloom shivered once she registered where she was and her expression was filled with dread.
"Oh no, not again!" she muttered to herself.
Just then, she heard the same awful sound which have hunted her for so long.
"Heheheheheheh!"
....
....
....
"Ha ha ha ha ha ha!"
Scared for her life, Apple Bloom made a beeline towards one of the opened hallway and ran from the voice as far as she can. But no matter how far Apple Bloom ran, the voice was getting louder and louder by the second as if it was getting closer to her. What really didn't help was that the hallway continued to stretched out as if it goes on for the eternity, not a single exit in sight.
"Leave me alone!" Apple Bloom cried over her shoulder, as she kept running.
The voice chuckled wickedly. "You can run Apple Bloom, but you can't hide!"
Apple Bloom continued to run like there's no tomorrow until she spotted her friends, who were just standing in the middle of the hallway with their backs turned to her.
Apple Bloom reached out to them. "Girls! HELP ME! The She-Demon is after me!"
No matter how loud and desperate her cries were, her friends doesn't appeared to be hearing her. What frighten Apple Bloom further was that despite that her friends were just standing there, they appeared to be moving further and further away, even though Apple Bloom was running towards them.
"Oh Apple Bloom!"
Apple Bloom turned her head and recoiled in terror as the familiar She-Demon figure was flying after her. What was even more horrifying was that the She-Demon was getting closer to her at a very fact pace. Despite the shadow mostly covering it's features, the only thing that was visible to the creature was its glowing eyes and sharp fangs as it gave Apple Bloom its sinister smile.
"Apple Bloom!" It called wickedly.
"Apple Bloom!"
"Apple Bloom!"
"Apple Bloom!"
"APPLE BLOOM!"
From the combination of a loud smack from her desk and from her teacher's shouting, Apple Bloom jolted herself awake from her nightmare. She barely had time to yawn when her eyes widened at the sight of her angry teacher, leering over her with his palm rested on top of her desk.
"You're only in here to learn, not to take a nap!" He scolded.
Apple Bloom blushed in embarrassment as her classmates hollered in laughter at her due to her misfortune.
"Sorry Mr. Cranky Doodle," Apple Bloom mumbled. "Ah... was feelin' a little tired today."
Cranky Doodle scoffed. "Well maybe you should be in bed at a decent time instead of staying up late little Missy! Now try to stay awake or you else you can spend your time napping in detention!"
Apple Bloom gulped. "Yes sir... won't happen again!"
Cranky Doodle let out of humph and then walked back to the chalkboard while muttering, "Kids today, I swear!"
As he resumed his lesson, Apple Bloom leaned on her desk with a tired sigh.
Stupid Shimmer... haunting mah life and mah dreams! She thought with an annoyed expression.
Apple Bloom had lost count, but ever since the night before she succeed on getting the Rainbooms to leave Shimmer, she kept having nightmares since. Each nightmare was different from the last; sometimes she was being chased, other times she had seen some new students turned into a zombie-like trance. What all her nightmares have in common however, was the fact that the same certain She-Demon was there every single time, just to mock her. While her face was blocked from darkness, it didn't take a genius to figure out who that She-Demon was!
And it was ticking her off!
Because of her lack of sleep, Apple Bloom was now more determined than ever to take down Shimmer until she disappeared from her life and never have to see her again. She had Scootaloo to keep posting more secrets to the site to discriminate Sunset further, and so far it worked as she watched many students treated Sunset badly from the sidelines. Admittedly she also felt another type emotion deep from her heart, but she chose to ignore it for the sake of the mission.
Today however, Apple Bloom noticed the announcement on Anon-a-Miss page that she "no longer receiving any more requests" from this morning, most likely from Scootaloo. Apple Bloom tried to text or call Scootaloo earlier just to know what was she thinking with making that announcement, but Scootaloo never responded. She even tried contacting Sweetie Belle to see if she knew anything about Scootaloo despite not on speaking terms, but even Sweetie Belle didn't respond. The fact that both her friends are ignoring her made Apple Bloom feel frustrated. She'll have to confront them during lunch later in order to get to the bottom of things.
Suddenly, Apple Bloom felt a vibration and a jingle from her phone, letting her know that someone had send her a text message. Usually Cranky Doodle takes away phones from anyone who would use them for texting or games in the middle of class, but luckily he didn't hear her phone that time. Curious about the message, she waited for her teacher's back to turn, so that he won't notice her, before she silently took out her phone and opened up the text. It was a message from Sweetie Belle from the CMC's group chat. What her message said caught her attention.
StarSong112: Girls... we need to talk!
StarSong112: Meet me at the back of the playground by the basketball court after school!
Apple Bloom raised her eyebrow. She was about to respond but then she quickly put her phone away as her teacher turned around to face the class again. Even though she appeared to be watching Mr. Cranky Doodle, Apple Bloom no longer paid attention to his lesson as her mind wondered about Sweetie's message. What does Sweetie Belle wanted to talk to her and Scootaloo about outside of school? She had a feeling what the topic may be about, but she she does not like it.
Nor was she looking forward to it.
The school bell rang for the final time today, signaling everyone that school was over for the day. Everyone walked outside through the school's entrance with angry and miserable attitudes due to the events, while Apple Bloom came out along with them while wearing her green winter coat and dark green scarf. She didn't paid any attention to the students or how dark and gloomy the cloudy sky was as she made her way to the back of the school towards the playground. Apple Bloom didn't see both Sweetie and Scootaloo all day, not even during lunch time. She never went through the whole day of school without seeing her friends before. Granted, there were times when one or rarely both of them didn't come to school when they're sick, but this was the first time ever that she never saw them around, even after knowing for the fact that they are in school today.
It was almost as if they were trying to avoid her!
The thought of that alone hurt and annoyed her. She didn't know why they were avoiding her today until now and what was the big deal. Whatever it was, Apple Bloom will get her answers from them once and for all.
Apple Bloom finally made it to the back of the school where the playground was. Instead of seeing the usual playground blacktop, Apple Bloom saw the entire area was filed with white snow. If it wasn't for the two tall basketball hoops sticking out from the snow, no one would know where the ball court was. Underneath one of the hoops was Sweetie Bell, standing there with a maroon winter coat, purple scarf and a nervous look on her face.
With a serious expression, Apple Bloom made her way over to Sweetie Belle, causing the latter to look up at her. Neither greeted or spoke a single word. The two of them just stared at each other in an awkward silence. Finally, it was Apple Bloom who breaks the silence.
"So... what do ya want to talk about?" said Apple Bloom.
Sweetie Belle shifted her eyes away nervously, not wanting to meet Apple Bloom's gaze. "I... rather wait until Scootaloo arrived... if she shows up."
Apple Bloom narrowed her eyes in annoyance after hearing Sweetie's excuse to buy herself some time, but decided to let that go for now. "Have you seen Scootaloo today?"
Sweetie shook her head. "No. I haven't seen her since yesterday during lunch. It's... almost as if she's avoiding us."
"Like how you avoided me today?" Apple Bloom asked bluntly.
Sweetie flinched somewhat, confirming Apple Bloom's suspicion. Before she could berate Sweetie, the sounds of footsteps from the snow interrupted them. They turned to see Scootaloo walking towards them with her black winter coat, light blue scarf and a miserable look on her face until she eventually reached them.
"Um... hey girls," Scootaloo greeted halfheartedly. She then turned to Apple Bloom with an expressionless look. "So... what are we going to talk about?"
"Well why don't you ask her!" Apple Bloom huffed as she pointed at Sweetie Belle. "She's the one who summoned us!"
Sweetie Belle cringed from Apple Bloom's icy tone. She then grew more nervous as her two friends gave her their full attention with Scootaloo's curious and concerned expression while Apple Bloom had a look of impatience.
"...well?" Apple Bloom snapped.
Realizing that she shouldn't delay this any longer, Sweetie Belle began to speak her mind.
"Listen girls," she sighed before she looked at them with her serous expression. "I think we should stop."
Apple Bloom blinked. "Stop... what?"
Sweetie swallowed. "Stop with the whole... Anon-a-Miss business."
Both Apple Bloom and Scootaloo's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates.
"WAT!? What do ya mean Sweetie Belle?" Apple Bloom exclaimed angrily.
"You know exactly what I mean!" Sweetie cried. "This whole thing is beyond out of control! We hurt all the people with their secrets we exposed, everyone is miserable and they're all openly fighting and accusing each other like it was a war-zone! It's our fault that we caused all of this! What we've done made us bullies. No... worse than bullies!"
Apple Bloom scoffed. "Us!? Bullies!? How can we be bullies!?"
Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes. "Oh I don't know, how about posting everyone's secrets without their consent while coming off in such a nasty way!"
Apple Bloom shook her head. "Look, while we may have embarrassed them, but those were just harmless jokes! They can get over them!"
Sweetie Belle stared at Apple Bloom in disbelief. "Are you serious Apple Bloom!?" she shouted. "Wake up and take a good look around the school! Does it look like everyone was laughing!? I mean sure, they laughed at first when they saw someone else gets embarrassed, but when they get a turn, it wasn't funny anymore! And those so-called "jokes" upsets a lot of people! Heck, I've seen this poor girl crying her eyes out yesterday after she was antagonized by others... all because of her eyes! Those weren't funny jokes, those were personal attacks! We can't keep continuing like this!"
"...she's right."
Both Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom turned towards Scootaloo, who was looking down towards the ground as if it was more interesting to look at.
"W-what?" Apple Bloom uttered.
"I said... Sweetie Belle is right," Scootaloo said softly. She slowly looked up towards them who had a guilt expression on her face. "She was right about everything! We shouldn't have started all of this! The things we did brought nothing but harm! Not just Sunset Shimmer... but everyone as well!"
Sweetie Belle just stood there in shock. When she arranged the meeting, she thought she'll be outnumbered again with Scootaloo siding with Apple Bloom just like those other times. But she was not expecting Scootaloo to suddenly be on her side for once. While Sweetie was still upset with Scootaloo, she was actually felt more confused then anything.
"What brought this on Scootaloo?" Sweetie Belle asked.
For a moment, Scootaloo said nothing like she was in deep thought. She eventually let out a heavy sigh and then looked at Sweetie Belle with a deep frown. "Things were... worse since our sisters ditched Sunset," Scootaloo began. "Our followers sent me more secrets and requests to post more than ever! They were funny at first and help discriminate Sunset more. But then... the stuff they kept sending me were worse and worse. There's was even this one follower... who had a thing against that girl with those misaligned eyes."
Sweetie Belle growled and pointed at Scootaloo. "I knew it! You were the one who did that to her!"
Scootaloo flinched from Sweetie's accusation and then looked down in shame. "Y-yeah... I'm not very proud of it. But–"
"How could you do that to her?" Sweetie continued angrily. "Or anyone else for that matter? You know how sensitive she is when it comes to her eyes!"
"You think I don't know that!?" Scootaloo snapped. "I don't want to do that to her, but because of that follower's 'promise', I had no choice!"
Sweetie's anger was quickly replaced with confusion. "Promise!? What do you mean!?"
Scootaloo turned away slightly, not responding to Sweetie's question.
"Scoots... what did this person say!?" Sweetie Belle said with nervousness.
Scootaloo sighed before looking at Sweetie again. "He told me– no... threatened me, that if I don't do exactly as this person requested, they'll... 'hunt me down'."
"WHAT!?" Sweetie Belle screeched. "This person knows you're Anon-a-Miss?"
Scootaloo shook her head. "No no. They didn't know it was me!"
Scootaloo's answer only made Sweetie Belle confused again. "I don't understand. Then how–"
"This person who threaten me thinks I'm Sunset!"
Sweetie Belle's eyes widened in horror, realizing the gravity of the situation. If what Scootaloo said was true, then the people who were affected by Anon-a-Miss will come after Sunset as revenge for something she didn't do, just like what Curly Winds was gonna do the other day!
"...oh no," Sweetie Belle whispered, afraid for Sunset. "Is this person... really coming after Sunset?"
"Yeah– I mean... I don't know, I..." Scootaloo struggled, both scared and frustrated with the situation. "The way this person said in his message and what they'll do to Sunset... scares me! While I wanted to get back at Sunset for everything and keep her away from Rainbow Dash... but I never wanted her to get hurt because of me. So... I gave in and posted that secret about that girl. I still hated myself for doing it... but at least no one was hurt."
Sweetie opened her mouth to rebuttal.
"Physically I mean!" Scootaloo added quickly. "But even before that... I felt more and more terrible for everything I've done... including to Sunset. I wanted to stop this... I really do... but I'm scared of how our followers reacted... and Apple Bloom told me to keep going–"
"Wait... Apple Bloom knew!?" Sweetie Belle shrieked before she turned to glare at the farmer girl. "You knew about this!?"
Apple Bloom raised her hands up in defense with a peeved expression. "Hey hey hey! While Scootaloo told me about how uncomfortable she was about postin' these messages, but this is the first I heard about the threats too!"
"Why do you care!" Scootaloo snapped. "Didn't you tell me to just 'do it', despite what I told you the other day?"
"Don't you pin this all on me Scoots!" Apple Bloom shouted angrily. "Let's not forget, you also went along with it from the start!"
Scootaloo growled. "That's because I thought we can take the bully down ourselves and get justice Sunset truly deserves... but I was wrong! Everything we do is worse than any bully could've done!"
Apple Bloom's eyes narrowed. "Even so, it was your dumb idea to encourage everyone to send you other people's secrets! And now, you've got so many people all over you and you have no choice but to do exactly what they said without making them angry!"
"Well I'm afraid we're too late for that!" Scootaloo snapped.
Apple Bloom stared at Scootaloo in confusion while Sweetie Belle had a nervous expression.
"What do you mean?" Sweetie Belle uttered.
Scootaloo once again had an ashamed expression and let out a huge sigh. "Yesterday as I was... reflecting on my actions, I saw Sunset being held up by Garble."
Both Sweetie and Apple Bloom eyes widened in shock.
"Garble!? THE Garble!? The biggest and meanest bully in school after Shimmer stepped down!?" Apple Bloom exclaimed.
Scootaloo nodded. "The very same," she confirmed. "It was bad... really bad! He trapped her by her own locker and was about to attack her while everyone else watched and cheered for him to 'teach her a lesson'!"
Sweetie Belle covered her mouth as she loudly gasped. "Oh my goodness! Did he hurt her!?"
Scootaloo shook her head. "No. I managed to stop him, only I made him even more angry and was about to attack me first. Thankfully, Vice Principal Luna showed up on time and put that jerk and everyone else in place before things get worse." She then looked down with a guilt expression. "Still... Sunset still got hurt somewhat and... I felt terrible! I never wanted to go this far! It got even worse when that same jerk who messaged me to post about that eye girl again... but involving Dinky this time!"
"Dinky!?" Sweetie gasped with frightened eyes. "Oh no no no, please tell me you didn't do it!"
"No, I didn't go through with it," Scootaloo assured. "In fact, that was the final straw for me, which... I may have... made a mistake."
"Mistake!? What mistake?" Apple Bloom demanded.
Scootaloo immediately turned away from them, not wanting to meet their gaze. Scootaloo's silence only made Sweetie Belle feel scared and Apple Bloom's aggravation with anticipation.
"Scoots... what. Did. YOU. DO?" Apple Bloom demanded.
Scootaloo shut her eyes tightly. "I... told that person off... and then I announced we're not taking requests anymore... only I get hundreds of angry emails... including that same guy... saying they'll come after Sunset!"
"WHAT!?" The two crusaders exploded.
The following after Scootaloo's bombshell, both Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle angrily berated her for making that "wise" decision.
"SCOOTS! WHY DID YOU DO THAT!?"
"WHAT THE HAY SCOOTS!? AH THOUGHT AH TOLD YOU NOT TO SAY "NO" TO THEM!"
"DID YOU STOP TO THINK ABOUT THAT NOT ONLY PROVOKING THAT PERSON WAS A BAD IDEA, BUT ALSO PROVOKING EVERYONE ELSE TOO!?"
"AND DO YOU REALIZE THAT BY DOING THIS, YOU PRACTICALLY SAID THOSE THINGS WHILE EVERYONE THINKS IT WAS SUNSET WHO POSTED! JUST WHAT WERE YA THINKIN'!?"
"OF ALL THE DUMB THINGS YOU'VE DONE SCOOTS, THIS IS BY FAR THE MOST STUPIDEST THING YOU'VE EVER–"
"I SCREWED UP, OKAY!?" Scootaloo screamed as her tears began to flow from her eyes. She then turned to face Sweetie Belle. "What do you want me to say Sweetie Belle? That you're right!? That I'm an idiot!? That I'm a Dodo head!? If you want to say 'I told you so', then say it! I know now that it was stupid to encouraged all our followers to send everyone's secrets! I know now that this actually hurt Sunset a lot more than we realized! And after seeing that jerk Garble nearly punched the daylights out of her, I wanted to end it, but I ended up making things worse! And now, Sunset is in even more danger than ever and I hate myself for it! I'm sorry that I followed along with this! I'm sorry that I hurt Sunset! I'm sorry that I drove you away! I'm so... SOOORRR-HA-HA-HA-RRRIIIEEEEEEEEE!"
Scootaloo collapsed into the snowy ground, sobbing heavily into her hands.
"Scootaloo..." Sweetie whispered. She was stunned as she watched her friend crying her eyes out in shame. She have seen Scootaloo upset before, but not like this. While she was angry at Scootaloo for being responsible for all those terrible posts and stupidity made things worse, but she couldn't help but to feel sorry for her for carrying all that burden and feeling scared about the situation. She wanted to run up to her and gave her a hug, but a part of her still felt conflicted about comforting her after the way Scootaloo was treating her. She really did not know what to do with the situation. Before she could do anything, Apple Bloom suddenly spoke up.
"Don't worry Scoots... we can fix it!"
Shocked from Apple Bloom's words, Sweetie quickly turned towards her.
"What the heck do you mean!?" Sweetie shouted. "You heard what Scoots said! Everyone's gonna come after Sunset now!"
"That ain't gonna happen!" Apple Bloom insisted. "We'll update the page and lettin' everyone know that we'll be taking requests again and then go back to the way things–"
"NO!"
The two girls turned towards Scootaloo who was still on the snowy cold ground. She looked up at Apple Bloom with a glare despite there was still tears in her eyes.
"No... I don't want to do that again! You think this will make things better!? Do you have any idea of what kind of messages I got from our so-called followers everyday? I rather break my own leg than to post any of these requests again! I don't want to hurt everyone again, including Rainbow Dash!"
"For once, I agree with Scootaloo!" said Sweetie Belle. "This has to stop! I don't want anyone including Sunset to get hurt anymore than it is and make things worse for Sunset!"
Apple Bloom huffed. "Look girls, Ah know you don't want to hurt anyone, but it's the only way to take her down!"
"We don't want to take her down! We want to stop using Anon-a-Miss!" Sweetie shouted.
"And we originally wanted to separate Sunset from our sisters, not to make her into a punching bag for the other students!" Scootaloo added as she stood up.
"We won't and it won't be forever! We just have to keep making Sunset look bad a little longer!" Apple Bloom insisted.
"Until when?" Scootaloo screamed. "When Sunset ended up in the hospital one day after she got hurt from other students!? This is not what I signed up for!"
"Dat won't happen!" Apple Bloom argued. "We have to keep up so that Shimmer will realize that she have no place here and then she'll return back to where she came from!"
Sweetie stared at Apple Bloom in disbelief. She couldn't believe that Apple Bloom would be this stubborn to listen to reason and would rather continue using Anon-a-Miss, all just to bring down one person who doesn't deserve the torment to begin with.
"Have you been listening to yourself!?" Sweetie shouted while giving Apple Bloom her disapproved glare. "You're willing to keep up this stupid and pointless act and risk Sunset's life than to stop this!? What's wrong with you Apple Bloom? Ever since your sister told you that she's having a slumber party at Pinkie's with Sunset... you've changed. And than after the Rainbooms ditched Sunset, you've become much worse despite knowing how wrong this is! Just... why? Why are you insisting on keep torturing Sunset!? Why can't you see that your actions are damaging the school!? Why are you willing to continue this madness!?"
Apple Bloom just glared back at Sweetie while narrowing her eyes. "I don't know what nonsense you were talkin' about with me changin', but if the things I've done to keep that She-Demon away from mah sister... then Ah will do whatever it takes! And Ah won't let you or anyone else to stand in mah way!"
Both Sweetie and Scootaloo stared in shock from Apple Bloom's cold response. Apple Bloom never spoke to them like that before. In fact, they felt like they were talking to a different person. What's worse was that Apple Bloom doesn't seem to care about the damage they caused and the potential danger they put Sunset through. This of course only made Sweetie Belle upset and angry at Apple Bloom's behavior. Heck, she was more angry at Apple Bloom than she was with Scootaloo. It was at that moment, Sweetie doesn't want to just stand by anymore.
"I had enough of this!" Sweetie shouted as she dug into her coat pocket.
"Sweetie Belle! What are you doing?" Scootaloo spoke up.
"Something I should've done a long time ago!" Sweetie responded angrily as she fished her phone out. "I'm going to take this site down and then I'll confess everything I've done to both my family and Principal Celestia!"
Scootaloo eyes widened. "But Sweetie Belle... you'll get in major trouble once you confessed!"
"I don't care Scootaloo!" Sweetie snapped as she opened up her phone. "I'd rather face my consequences than to continue this terrible deed with a so called friend!
Before she could go to MyStable, she felt something slapped on the back her hand really hard, causing her phone to launched off into the air and landed into the snow. Ignoring the pain from her hand, Sweetie looked up in shock to see Apple Bloom's outstretched hand with a hard expression.
"Apple Bloom... why!?" Sweetie Belle squeaked feeling hurt and betrayed from her friend's actions.
"Ah told you why!" Apple Bloom snapped, sounding harsher this time. "I'll do anything to keep that She-Demon away from my sister, even if it means to stop you from ruining mah plans!"
"Well you've failed anyway Apple Bloom!"
Apple Bloom suddenly turned towards Scootaloo who brought her own phone out from her pocket.
"Because you forgot all about me!" Scootaloo declared before she logged herself into the Anon-a-Miss account. Her victory was short lived when Scootaloo suddenly stared at the screen in confusion after the website loaded up. Instead of looking at the Anon-a-Miss' account, she was actually back at the sign-in screen but with bold red letters on the top of the screen.
ACCESS DENIED
"I... I can't get in!" Scootaloo exclaimed in shock. "How is this possible? Wha–"
DING!~
After hearing that loud phone notification, Scootaloo turned towards the source. It was then that she noticed Apple Bloom had her other arm stashed into her coat pocket this whole time. Apple Bloom slowly lifted her arm out of her pocket, revealing her phone with Anon-a-Miss webpage on her screen. There was even some kind of message on Apple Bloom's phone that Scootaloo couldn't quite make out.
"Apple Bloom... what did you do!?" Scootaloo demanded.
"...ah changed the password," Apple Bloom answered emotionlessly as she put away her phone, letting her red bangs covered her eyes in the process. "For now on, Ah'm in charge with Anon-a-Miss' site!"
Both Sweetie and Scootaloo eyes widened in shock as the sound of the thunder boomed from the background. They now realized that Apple Bloom knew what they wanted to do so she was trying to change the password to Anon-a-Miss MyStable account from right under their noses this entire time so they won't get in again. This made Sweetie Belle more upset while Scootaloo was enraged at Apple Bloom.
"Apple Bloom, how could you!" Scootaloo yelled. "You never wanted to stop this from the start!"
"You can't keep doing this Apple Bloom!" Sweetie added desperately. "Stop this right now! I told you over and over that this was a horrible idea! I don't want to stand by and watch you continue going down this dark path that you won't get out from!"
"Like yer the one to talk!"
Sweetie Belle suddenly felt shocked and angry from Apple Bloom's accusation. "What's that supposed to mean!?"
Apple Bloom slowly looked up towards Sweetie with an angry frown. "As Scootaloo said earlier, yer not innocent with this either, especially when you posted Shimmer's pictures from your sister's slumber party!"
Sweetie Belle was about to open her mouth to respond.
"And don't you say, 'Ah made you do it'!" Apple Bloom quickly added before Sweetie could speak. "Ah asked ya to do it the first time and you refused, which Ah'll respect you if ya didn't. Yet you decided to sneak into your sister's room and stole Sunset's pictures, which Ah didn't suggest you to do. Ah'll admit that after you stole 'em, Ah told you to post them since yer the one who stole them. Of course, even with mah suggestion, you don't even have to post them and not humiliate your sister in the process. And yet, ya did anyway! Even afterwords, you could've ratted us out too, but you still let it happen!"
"I didn't say a word because you both are my best friends and I don't want you to get in trouble," Sweetie insisted before looking down. "But now... I'm not so sure anymore! And besides... I never wanted to hurt Sunset from the start!"
"But you are willing to hurt your sister?"
Sweetie's eyes widen and her face went pale, confirming Apple Bloom's claim, while Scootaloo watched on in shock from the revelation. When Sweetie didn't respond, Apple Bloom spoke again.
"Ah'm right, aren't I?" she pressed. "Unlike us, you didn't use your sister to get to Sunset, you used Sunset to get to your sister!"
"Stop it!" Sweetie croaked but Apple Bloom continued.
"Ah even seen you in the hallways yesterday when those students mocked Rarity in front of you! And yet, you just stood there, not comfortin' your sister while they just kept ridiculing her! While you felt guilty for what you've done, but deep down... you wanted her to continue go through that torture!"
"Please stop!" Sweetie begged, as tears leaked from her eyes.
"Apple Bloom stop! You're upsetting her!" Scootaloo cried, but Apple Bloom ignored her.
"You just let her continue goin' through all that pain... all because she never paid attention to you!"
"Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!" Sweetie screamed before breaking into a sob.
Apple Bloom just shook her head with a scoff. "This is just rich! A moment ago you lectured me for hurting mah sister for no reason while you hurt your sister deliberately! Ah wonder what your sister and your parents will think of ya once you confess what you did?"
"At least I have parents!" Sweetie snapped.
Apple Bloom suddenly had a blank look on her face while Scootaloo felt slightly nervious that Sweetie may have entered Apple Bloom's most sensitive topic.
"Whoa Sweetie Belle!" Scootaloo spoke up with a frighten look. "I think you shouldn't–"
"You know what?" Sweetie continued slowly with a harsh glare despite her tears still flowing down. "Maybe it's for the best that your parents aren't around! At least they won't be disappointed– no, disgusted after they see their own daughter becoming such a cold, heartless, rotten, despicable, manipulating b–"
Before anyone could react, Apple Bloom suddenly shoved Sweetie very aggressively, causing Sweetie to fall down and landed on the ground hard where the basketball court was. After her rough landing with a loud thud, Sweetie burst in tears as she grasp her left arm in pain.
"SWEETIE BELLE!" Scootaloo cried out in concern as she ran over to Sweetie Belle to check on her.
The thunder boomed again from the background and then it began to rain. Not caring about the cold or getting wet, she gently lifted up the crying girl to a seating position and pulled down the left sleeve of Sweetie's winter coat bruise to see the damage. When she saw Sweetie's injury, the sight of it made Scootaloo cringe. There was a long red bruise on Sweetie's arm with some cuts in some areas due to the gravel from the basketball court. Scootaloo then gently pressed around Sweetie's arm to check for any broken bones. Thankfully, there were none, but the damage on the skin alone would still hurt such a sensitive person like Sweetie Belle.
While still holding Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo turned her head at Apple Bloom with an angry look. "What the hay Apple Bloom! That was way over the line!"
"Ah'm over the line!?" Apple Bloom yelled before pointing at the crying girl. "She just insulted me!"
"And yet you pushed her!" Scootaloo shot back. "And now she's hurt!"
Scootaloo then gently took Sweetie's uninjured hand over her shoulder and then she slowly stood up with her. "C'mon Sweetie, let's get you outta here!"
As she slowly walked away with Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom shouted at them.
"HEY! Where you going!?"
Scootaloo looked back at her with a glare. "I'm taking Sweetie home and have someone take care of that wound, which is what you caused!"
Apple Bloom eyes narrowed. "So that's it then? You're siding with her now!?"
"It's not about taking sides Apple Bloom, I'm helping her like a friend should! After this, we will confess to our Principals that we're Anon-a-Miss and ending this whither you like it or not!" Scootaloo shouted before she began walking with Sweetie again.
"You know, I could've easily told our Principals what you did when you broke into the teams lockers and dug up their personal secrets!"
Scootaloo immediately stopped walking and turned her head at Apple Bloom. Apple Bloom's hair was now soaked from the rain and her eyes were fierce, but despite that, she continued to speak.
"Ah imagine what kind of punishments they'll gave ya! Heck, Ah'm sure even Rainbow Dash won't ever wanted to have anything to do with you again when she found out!"
Scootaloo's eyes narrowed. "Did you just... actually threatened me to turn me in or else you'll rat me out?"
"...maybe," Apple Bloom said simply. "What Ah'll do next... is up to you!"
"...unbelievable," Scootaloo spat. "You're a real piece of work Apple Bloom!"
While she was infuriated with Apple Bloom, her words were actually working as she imaged the disappointing and angry face from her sister figure. She imaged that Rainbow Dash will hate her and disowned her as her sister like she did with Sunset. She didn't want to let Apple Bloom continue to use Anon-a-Miss, but at the same time... she didn't want to lose Rainbow Dash and be alone because of her own stupid actions. After a minute of silence, Scootaloo huffed indignantly.
"Alright... you win Apple Bloom!" she growled bitterly. "We're not gonna mention this to anyone, but we don't want to be part of your Anon-a-Miss scheme anymore! And we will help Sunset from the shadows whenever we can so that no one will hurt her!" Scootaloo then glared daggers at Apple Bloom. "If you rather continue to go on and act like this... then considered our friendship over!"
Apple Bloom growled angrily with a huge scowl on her face. "FINE!" she shouted. "Then go! Both of you! Ah don't need you two! Go and help that monster until she took away your sisters again!"
Scootaloo just scoffed at her and then turned to leave with Sweetie Belle. But before she could make a single step, Sweetie Belle stopped her and spoke up.
"...no Apple Bloom," Sweetie Belle said softly with a sniff as she briefly turned towards Apple Bloom with tears flowing down her cheeks. "You're the monster!"
With that, both Scootaloo and Sweetie slowly left the scene without looking back, leaving Apple Bloom behind. Apple Bloom just stood there, not bothering to chase after them. She doesn't care that she was now all alone. She doesn't care that her body was getting soaked from the pouring rain.
And she doesn't care that her face was also getting soaked from her own tears.
Apple Bloom has not only destroyed the fellowship of the Rainbooms and the whole school, but the Crusaders as well. And yet she's still determined to continue with Anon-A-Miss. I fear it's gonna take some one being seriously injured in a fight(and AB witnessing it with her own eyes) to snap her to her senses.
"Conviction, if taken to the extreme, is as sure a poison as ever existed; not a poison of the body, but rather of the soul."
-Geralt of Rivia, The Last Wish.
"Whether real or perceived, when you deal with monsters take great care in your actions; if you don't, you might just find a worse one staring back at you the next time you look into a mirror."
-Unknown.
Wow apple bitch just wow.
OK. I now have one major question I need to ask right now:
WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH THE REAL APPLE BLOOM?!?!?!
You push the parent button Sweetie Belle!
Sweetie Belle's right Applebloom! Your the monster, not Sunset Shimmer!!!!
No words can describe of the emotions.
honestly seems like a 'first to the line' situation, just tell apple bloom you won't and do it anyway, after you've come forward about it she'll just be shooting herself in the foot. there is no real way any of the CMC can be considered redeemable at this point so might as well pull the pin and end the farce.
You ARE a monster Apple Bloom! You don't deserve forgiveness from anyone!!! She's just throwing everything out the window for a stupid profile that was created for a petty reason and she's pushing it over the edge TOO MANY times! Sure the other two are equally to blame for it beginning but they've pulled back and realized their error and are trying to help Sunset from the shadows. Good on them, but they will get punished in one way or another.
Even though Sweetie's mentioning of Apple Bloom's parents was over the top I don't blame her, this HAS to end. Continue this story I want to see this little "Bloom" get what's coming to her one way or another.
Well, AB's stubbornness is really working against her.
Good mood music for the first bit.
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Macbeth, Act III, Scene IV, lines 144-9.
AB, I'd argue, feels she is in Macbeth's position. So much has already been spilled that pulling back would be as hard as just going on. And if that's the case, she might as well continue.
Man I don't think I've ever seen that much contradiction and hypocrisy in one scene, ever!
Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo are so deep in the hole that there's no way they're coming out unscathed. Don't they realize that at this point doing nothing is the same as continuing willingly.
Applebloom isn't going to stop until Sunset gets hurt which at this point appears to be exactly what she wants.
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Well that's just further proof of how far things have really fallen.
Once you start down the dark path...forever will it dominate your destiny...consume you, it will
All it takes is one bad day...
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That it does. As the fellow below the comment puts it, inaction is not the solution.
I anticipate the next few chapters will get extremely bloody.
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Unfortunately that seems to be the most plausible scenario.
Now this could go in two ways in my opinion. One, Sunset gets hurt and the CMC confess. Two, Sunset gets hurt and Applebloom deletes her MyStable account and pretends nothing happened.
I don't think Sunset will get out of this unscathed.
That said. Good job in making me feel disappointment and rage towards the CMC. Now if you can make me feel sorry for them, that would mark you as a good writer.
Keep writing.
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The opening of the story seems to suggest the first scenario.
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You and me both.
I always thought detention would be awful. Then I got sent to detention and learned it was actually better than class.
Oh right, the fanfic. Stories like this never work so the fact that it’s not awful is nice.
Oh boy, looks like ABs deeds are coming to haunt her in her sleep!
Cranky if you had found out what Apple Bloom and her friends had done, you'd be giving her a lot more then detention. THen again, that's the Principles decision so....
Well, it's no less than you deserve, you stabber heartless prideful little Rotten Apple!!!
This is fate giving you the start of your punishment for what you've done Apple Bloom...and it'll only get worse from here.
Aaaaah...so now you're starting to feel guilt?
And something tells me that things between them will go south, very fast....
Neither am I...somewhat!
And I just know AB won't like them!!!
Probably still thinking about the full gravity of her situation.
OH SHUT UP!!! IT'S NOT LIKE YOU DON'T DESERVE IT!!!
Exactly, this has gone on for too long, and it needs to end before something really bad happens to Sunset!!!
You know exactly what she means!!!
...
...
...
...
...
HOW CAN YOU NOT BE BULLIES?!?!?!?! YOU HAD CREATED AN ACCOUNT TO SABOTAGE SOMEONE WHO YOU STILL THINK IS THE PERSON THAT SHE WAS BACK IN THE FIRST MOVIE, AND PULLING OUT EVERYONE'S SECRETS OUT IN THE OPEN, ESPECIALLY YOU'RE SISTER'S!!! YOU'RE WORSE THAN BULLIES!!! Of course, that does include Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, but at least they realized the error of their ways, UNLIKE YOU, YOU ROTTEN APPLE BITCH!!!
Harmless jokes?! HAREMLESS BUCKING JOKES?!?!?! THOSE ARE NOT JUST HARMLESS JOKES APPLE BLOOM!!! THOSE ARE PERSONAL PIRVATE SECRETS; WHAT PART OF THAT DOES YOUR STUBBORN MIND NOT UNDERSTAND?!?!?!?!
Sweetie Belle's just said exactly what I was thinking; and the more you keeping going like this, the more things will keep escalating until all of CHS is torn apart!!! You guys need to end this NOW!!!
You heard Scootaloo!!!
Well....
Why should you be?! You just hurt one of the sweetest most innocent characters in EG!!! NOPONY MAKES DERPY CRY AND GETS AWAY WITH IT!!!
The promise to come after Sunset!!!
More specifically, hunt Sunset down!!!
Eeyup.
!!!
Yeah Apple Bloom didn't you?
Indeed it was...even worse than DT.
Garble??? Who is...oooooooooooooh. Him.
No, because Luna saved the day!!!
I swear Scootaloo, if you went along with whatever was said about Dinky!!!
Officially sealed Sunset's fate.
You really bucked up this time Scootaloo.
I'm still kind of wondering that myself.
And yet she still did.
Apparently not...as usual.
She was not thinking at all!!!
-DID IN YOUR ENTIRE LIFE!!!
It's too late to apologize Scootaloo...it's too late.
Torn between wanting to be there for a friend...and wanting them to pay for the deed they did.
Apple Bloom, have you NOT BEEN LISTENING!!!
Now before things get worse!!!
Apple Bloom will you just-!!!
Until when? Until you're prideful stubborn self has finally had enough of your petty revenge?!?!?!
Apple Bloom...!!!
Because that stubborn pride of hers refuses to let her acknowledge what she's doing is wrong...then again, I'm pretty sure she already does know, but doesn't want to give anyone the satisfaction of it...typical Apple.
I think you meant didn't.
Finally...this madness will end.
...For some reason, I think that's a call back form the Ed Edd and Eddy Movie when DD was fighting with Eddy after he and Ed had ticked Double D into thinking they had died in quicksand.
Oh yeah, SAYS WHO?!?!?!
Oh no....
You LITTLE HEARTLESS BITCH!!!
As if she wanted to to begin with.
Well Sweets...you got her hurt anyway.
Oh no....
As much as I really hate to admit it...it's true.
...
...
...
...
...
Oh no...Sweetie, you did not just go there!!!
Too far Sweetie Belle, too far!!!
OUCH!!!
Sweetie may have went too far, but so have YOU!!!
Away from you're heartless self!!!
Go Scootaloo, put an end to this once and for all...then you and Sweetie Belle can begin the path of redemption.
Oh crap, forgot about that!!!
Eeyup, she sure did.
A real piece of rotten apple work.
And thus, the EG CMC have officially parted ways.
No...she's the redheaded devil.
After all that's happened, you don't deserve to cry.
I think I get it. The reason the She-Demon in Applebloom's dreams is obscured in shadows is because it's going to be revealed in a future chapter to not be a Demon Sunset. . . .
. . .
. . .
. . .
. . . but a Demon Applebloom
Dude what
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First of all, thank you for pointing out my grammar mistakes and typos, I fixed them afterwards.
Second, while I don't mind your criticisms of my story, there is one main thing I should clear this up.
English is my main language!
I'm not a professional writer. I'm not as great as Pen Stroke or some other writers on this site who are way better than me. I'm just some person who likes to write stories for the fun of it. I know I'm not perfect, but I tried to improve myself by continuing to write other stories and I'm open for any suggestions to improve myself further.
Whether you like this story or not, I appreciate that you gave it chance.
Oh my, this is dark. Great story so far.
Wow, I am just shocked at what Applebloom did.
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So the only reason I know you replied is because I wanted to check to see if you did since it seems like you generally respond to comments. I know Fimfic is sometimes stupid about not giving notifications, and sure enough, I didn't get a notification for this response. Maybe one day it will always work...
Anyhow, I'm glad you appreciate criticism because I'm about to go into a lot of detail on why I thought you weren't a native speaker. And since you are a native speaker, perhaps the issue is that you don't read over what you've written? I'm not sure.
A good first example of what I'm talking about is in your comment, actually.
Read that out loud. Does it sound wrong when you read "this"? It should. "this" should not be in that sentence. "I should clear this up" is in fact a real phrase, and that might be where the confusion is, but given the existence of the rest of the sentence, the word "this" is already accounted for ("one main thing"). I wouldn't be surprised if this sort of thing tripped up a non-native speaker, and that's why I was convinced you weren't one.
So let's take an in-depth look at the Prologue to better illustrate what I mean now that you have an idea. I'll also include other assorted mistakes for the sake of being thorough.
First, you've got enough in here for three complete sentences, and you've jammed it all into one sentence. You can easily remove "It was very cloudy and" from the sentence and not lose anything not already communicated. It's snowing, so there have to be clouds. The remaining sentence no longer feels like such a run-on.
Second, you forgot your apostrophe to make "students" possessive. *students'
Third, you don't need to include the article in this case. People don't say "The school was canceled today." They say "School was canceled today." So it should be "not enough to cancel school"
...You know, I think I'm just gonna throw the rest into a Google Doc because there's a lot to go over and say. I'd rather not ruin somebody's scroll wheel for this. And now that I've finished, man, that was a lot to go through.
Here's a link to the Prologue with a lot of notes and corrections.
Here are a couple important things to keep in mind as you go through it:
- Every single suggestion also has a comment to go with it. As the saying goes, the goal here is to teach a man to fish, not just give him a fish. So make sure you check them out (147 suggestions and 4 regular comments, if you were curious).
- This is by no means the end of the improvement process. The idea here is to make the chapter more or less functional. After this pass is complete and the changes made, if I were your editor here, I'd make another pass and try to make things a little prettier. It's hard to make things pretty when all the corrections to make things functional are still there.
I hope this helped, and more importantly, I hope you learned from it. This story has the potential to be pretty neat, and your pacing has generally been solid. It's just your mechanics leave quite a bit to be desired, so if you can get them straightened out, you're pretty much good to go.
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I forgot to mention this, but don't hesitate to ask any questions you might have. I'm more than happy to answer them.
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Yep, I'm worried that if Apple Bloom doesn't change her ways soon, it's gonna lead to some real big problems down the road.
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Same here .
papyrus.greenville.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/chrisprattfunnyface-copy.jpg
Real nice foreshadowing here.