//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 - Decisions & Consequences // Story: Dawn // by Anachronon //------------------------------// The Rainbooms sat quietly in the room where they would have usually their band practice, waiting and stewing in guilt. Princess Twilight Sparkle walked up and down in front of the group with crossed arms and an unreadable expression on her face after her anger induced outburst in the foyer. She had came to the human world as fast as she could after Discord showed her what this whole Anon-a-Miss business entailed. The youngest alicorn stopped every now and then and started to open her mouth to say something, just to close it and continued instead with giving the girls the silent treatment. Spike glared holes into them. The Bearer of Magic recalled her memories again, what Sunset wrote to her in the magic journal over the last few days and how the messages were progressively written with more tears upon the pages and less and less hope. For Celestia's sake! She could literally feel how shattered her friend was when writing the last one: Dear Princess Twilight, I tried everything I could, I really did. I failed. Hopefully I can find my true calling somewhere else, but not here. Goodbye. Forever your friend, Sunset Shimmer Twilight never felt never so much... fury in her life before. It wasn't even that bad when her pony friends from Ponyville didn't believe her when Chrysalis took Cadence's form, because she could understand their behaviour a little better after the real wedding. From an outside perspective and the point of view of ponies who never met the real Cadence in their life, it must truly have looked like she was just very overprotective and possessive of her BBBFF, not because the imposter was a terrible actor and didn't behave like her former foalsitter. And they realized fastly their mistakes anyway, so all was forgiven. A small part of Twilight had the strong desire to hit the girls in front of her or to do ANYTHING in general to get rid of these poisonous emotions in her mind. But she knew that violence wouldn't solve anything, it wouldn't unmake the past. No, it would only be personal revenge. She sighed in frustration and shook her head. "I just... there are no words in any language that could express how disappointed and angry I am. I-I trusted you! Sunset trusted you! I asked you to help her after the Fall Formal, to show and prove to her that the Magic of Friendship exists everywhere. That forgiveness and redemption could always be achieved if somepony truly desired..." "Somepony?" Rainbow muttered to herself. "...and what did you do?! You abandoned her! Did you even think about the consequences of your actions?!" Rarity tried meekly to get a word in, "Well, we just thought-" "Then you thought WRONG!" Twilight interrupted loudly. "This entire mess around Anon-a-Miss didn't only drive an innocent mare to the edge, but created so much hatred and other negative emotions at Canterlot High that Windigos of all beings came to this city!" Her anger faded for a few seconds, fear taking root in the princess’ heart. Spike noticed it immediately, "Calm down Twilight. I'm sure Discord and Princess Celestia are trying their best to contain them." "Discord? Windigos? Wait! You mean these creepy ghosts?!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed in shock. The Alicorn smiled gratefully at her number one assistant, "Thank you Spike." She glared at Pinkie after her inner fire returned with a vengeance. "Yes, those 'creepy ghosts' as you call them, are a very touchy subject for us ponies and let's leave it at that. Please." "Such uncouth monstrosities exist?!" Rarity asked aghastly. Wait, didn't she just say that these things were a touchy subject for ‘ponies’? The fashionista felt unnerved. Just how many evil beings did they banish to their world?! Was Earth some kind of dumping ground for threats they didn't want to take care of themselves in Equestria? Twilight continued, not knowing about the girl's inner monologue, "Yes, sadly they do. When I stepped through the portal I could feel that the magic level in this world was somehow much higher since the last time I came here and such conditions, like those that can be found here at CHS, create the perfect hunting ground for them." She looked back at Pinkie, "And to answer your other question, Discord is the one who brought you here when the Windigos attacked you. I asked him to save you when I learned where you were through his help." The Princess of Friendship was still shocked how helpful Discord was in all of this. Maybe Fluttershy was right? Perhaps he truly turned for the better this time after what happened with Tirek. "Wow, thanks Twilight. We mighty appreciate it that y'all saved our hides, but how come this Discord fella can use magic? Ah thought when y'all come over here as humans it wouldn't be possible to use them fancy powers?" Applejack inquired, scratching her head. "O-or Princess Celestia. She w-was very scary," Fluttershy added, her skin was turning paler from only thinking about what transpired between them earlier. Twilight glanced over the group of friends in a neutral manner, but spoke in a hostile tone, "What? Do you think I would just sit back and let you die? I would never think or even dream about distributing the death sentence or let others die when it can be prevented. Of course I helped you. But don't misunderstand me, I'm very angry at you for what you did to Sunset. I’m not sure how long it’ll take, but I won't be able to forgive you for some time. As the Princess of Friendship I always believe in second chances, as I was taught since my foalhood, and that violence should never be the solution when not absolutely necessary." Applejack held her healthy cheek and sighed relieved in her mind. The Rainbooms thought their potential ex-friend was finished, but her stare told otherwise. "But what you did, what this entire school did, is really pushing it. We ponies are not always innocent either. Or welcoming when I remember Zecora. And we have our own fair share of mistakes, but most of us would never overstep certain lines. Lines many students of CHS don't seem to have or which they quickly choose to ignore if it suits them. I count you as the second kind." Pinkie, Rarity and Fluttershy cried slightly and the other two didn't feel much better, only able to stare at the ground in greatest shame and self-loathing. They could have handled it much better when Twilight just shouted her lungs out at them, but this bottomless amount of disappointment in her eyes, the controlled fury in her voice... this combination was far worse. "We blamed Sunset just like that. We were so darn dumb!" Applejack said in annoyance and squeezed her hat. The purple girl shook her head, "Girls. I know that you all did that, because it was the easy way. Not only that, but because Sunset did a lot of horrible things during her time since she came to this world. She bullied, blackmailed, ridiculed and did Celestia knows what. You saw it as justified to suspect Sunset because of her past. It was a logical conclusion for you that she could have gone back to her old ways of manipulating others. But you know what?" The girls could only stare at her in suspense. "The Elements of Harmony can never be deceived. They are magical artifacts of good and would never have granted Sunset magic of her own if she just acted the part. If she hadn’t been completely honest in her intentions, decided to stay loyal to her friends, didn't choose the need of the many above her own, shared her laughter with you and let kindness into her heart, she wouldn't have grown ears and tails like us. The Elements deemed her worthy of their power, so who were you to doubt their judgement? After everything she did for you?" Twilight felt her own eyes were moistening. "We are so, so sorry..." Rarity whispered sadly, her mascara was running down her eyes. The transformed alicorn's eyes softened an ounce, "I'm afraid a simple sorry won't do it this time, you were unspeakably cruel and never saw it in your hearts to stand up for Sunset, no matter how much she begged you or swore that she was innocent. I don't want anything to do with you for the time being. Maybe I can forgive you at one point, but it won't happen soon. I trusted you, because I was so sure that I could count on you. That, if there was any group of friends who could handle the task of aiding Sunset on her path, it would be you. I was wrong... and Sunset paid the price for that mistake." Twilight noticed just now the cowgirl’s swollen cheek and raised an eyebrow, "Applejack, what happened to your face?" This last statement broke the girls' hearts, they didn't expect that their actions would have such drastic consequences for them. The five friends swore themselves to seek redemption for their actions, somehow. That they would try to rebuild the bridges they had burned. Applejack acknowledged the question with a somber tone. "What? Oh, err, Princess Celestia slapped me with the back of her hand and sent me flyin'. Ah deserve it for what Ah've done... and more." The teenager pulled her hat over her eyes. Twilight's brain came to a sudden standstill. Did she hear that right? Her former mentor and the most benevolent pony of all of Equestria, except maybe Fluttershy, who was ALWAYS seeking to solve problems peacefully, HIT somepony?! Preposterous! She NEVER heard of such a thing! Panic made itself known in the youngest princess. Had Princess Celestia taken what happened with Sunset personally and Applejack was solely the beginning? Was an attack on Sunset as Celestia's daughter an offense to the crown? Had Equestria declared war on the humans?! There were no friendship lessons that would help her in such a horrible situation! She would be... be... unprepared. These and more horror scenarios invaded the normally purple pony's mind in high speed. Everyone else could only assume what she thought, because the only visible reaction was a twitching right eye. "Wow, you girls totally bucked up," Spike commented, chuckling in amusement. That brought his big sister back to reality, "Spike! Language!" Twilight cleared her throat. "Back to your questions. Discord is a... special case and has his own way of crossing dimensions, he doesn't need the mirror to come here. And just ignores important laws of magic! Princess Celestia can overpower the enchantments on the portal on her own and is able to keep her power intact after crossing the mirror, because she studied the mirror for centuries. As an older alicorn, she has the raw power to perform such a feat." In hindsight it was maybe not the most unexpected action that the princess had hit Applejack. Seriously, she could understand her former mentor very well, what the farmer did was very out of line. It was certainly not the most... peaceful course of action, Twilight had to admit. But when what the other princesses said to her was true, and she didn't doubt it, then Princess Celestia was probably living out many years of suppressed motherly affection for Sunset and seeing that your own daughter was treated in such a way wasn't really helping. Mothers were scary like that when their foals were threatened, she would know from experience. Twilight didn't know until this day that a unicorn mare was able to buck with such force. Besides, Applejack would live, that was something, right? "I know we messed up majorly and there is nothing that could make the situation better, but please! Give us a chance to prove ourselves! I said very hurtful things to Sunset, because I felt so betrayed and in the very end it was me who behaved like a fuc-" Rarity cleared her throat, "-idiot, not her!" Rainbow Dash pleaded with wet eyes. Twilight only shook coolly her head. "I'm sorry Rainbow, I said my part. You didn't think about your actions, but jumped at the first real opportunity to blame Sunset like the other students. And why was that, hm? You wronged Sunset Shimmer the most and you will have to talk with her, it's her decision alone if she wants you back in her life or not." She raised a finger warningly, "BUT... you will accept her final decision. If she doesn't want anything to do with you anymore then you will accept that, do I make myself clear?" The girls nodded unwillingly, but they would respect Sunset's final decision. They owed her at least that much. "I won't force her to talk with you if she doesn't want to, I can only advise her. And don't misunderstand me, I'm absolutely for talking it out with your friends, but a lot of damage was done by your actions and you will have to live with the consequences. Now, if you would excuse me, I have to find a certain Anon-a-Miss." Twilight spoke out the name like it was pure poison and had barely reached the door when another of her former friends, at least for now, called out. "Wait! How do we even get the chance to apologize to Sunset? Princess Celestia already made it very clear to us that she would be brought back to Equestria after she was found. And I REALLY have to explain to her how sorry I am! Pretty please!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed in despair, her hair completely flat. Twilight sighed, "I will try to talk with the princess about it. You-" "What is that?!" Spike interrupted and pointed out of the window. All turned around and saw a humongous golden two-layered magic circle in the distance on the sky. It was sublime sight, despite the strong blizzard rampaging outside. "Eep!" Fluttershy shouted in awe and fear. "T-that's Princess Celestia!" Twilight replied in shock, she would always recognize her former mentor's magic. But what was the princess doing?! And why? Suddenly a concentrated beam of sunlight, or so it looked like for the girls, shot out of the inner circle and Tartarus was unleashed upon the target of the spell. Giant flames shot up to the sky immediately and an inferno could be seen in the distance from their position. Whatever was there, not even ashes would remain once the fires were gone. "Isn't Canterlot Park in that direction?" Rainbow asked in a terrified voice. "Darling, I fear you mean was," Rarity added equally stunned. To think that they were there not long ago... "W-why would the princess do something like that!?" Twilight shouted in denial. This spell was powerful enough to destroy nearly all of Ponyville! The door opened behind them. "Girls! Here you are! I have great news!" Principal Celestia announced urgently and with a happy undertone. Her voice was enough to push the Rainbooms over the edge. They screamed bloody murder in fear. Spike winced and held his ears. The tall woman was absolutely unprepared for such a reaction and could only blink in sheer confusion, "Was it something I said?" The three friends never felt this nervous and scared before. Vice-Principal Luna brought them into her office and ordered them to stay there until further notice. "W-what do you think will happen to us now?" Sweetie Belle asked fearfully. Scootaloo snapped in panic, "What do you think?! We are doomed! We all saw how the students behaved around Sunset and how they were at each other's throats for the leaked secrets! When they know about us we are goners!" Apple Bloom trembled, "If we don't get outright expelled." On a second thought the trio would maybe even prefer such a punishment. The other students of CHS wouldn't reach them in this case. Sweetie Belle squeaked in terror, a dark realization kicking in now after an until now constant state of panic, "Oh my gosh, Rarity! She will be so mad at me!" Her friends didn't feel better after hearing this statement. They were so caught up with thinking about the possible forms of punishment they could receive that the aftermath concerning their siblings, or big sister figure in Scootalo's case, was no topic in their mind. "Applejack'll have ma' hide," Apple Bloom whispered with wide eyes. Scootaloo felt the worst. At least her two friends had real siblings! Yes, Rarity and Applejack would be furious, no doubt, but they were still family! But Rainbow Dash? The freshman was distraught. The door opened and Vice-Principal Luna entered her office. She looked completely emotionless at the trio, but on the inside she could barely contain herself from shouting again. These three girls were Anon-a-Miss, responsible for everything that happened at CHS since this all started, for the suffering of Sunset Shimmer and the trouble her big sister had to go through. But why? What kind of justification could they have to do something like this in the first place? Well, despite the fact that there wasn't any for committing such acts to begin with. "Come with me, I will bring you to Principal Celestia's office. She needed a moment to clear her schedule and now has time for you." Luna was proud of herself that there was no hostility or disgust in her voice. The girls stood up from their chairs and followed their vice-principal with sagging shoulders and lowered heads. It felt like the woman was there to enforce a verdict and was leading them to their final destination. There was a tiny hope that Principal Celestia would be forgiving in her judgement, but the three friends knew in the back of their minds that reality would be much worse. The office of Principal Celestia was filled by a deathly silence. After being very confused why the Rainbooms were scared and terrified of her, Princess Twilight explained the woman that it was just a misunderstanding and what events had transpired since the five friends left Sunset alone. As well as what happened between them at Sugarcube Corner. Though she didn't understand how Professor Discord, one of her oldest acquaintances who taught the newly introduced subject 'Chaos Theory' at Canterlot University, could have a part in this. Or knew about everything that happened there for that matter. "I see..." Principal Celestia replied neutrally. "I must say I'm very disappointed by your actions. I believed firmly that at least you would continue to stay at Sunset's side and see through this scheme." She sighed in exhaustion, leaning her forehead against her palm. "A-are you alright?" Fluttershy asked in concern. Tears were still on her cheeks. They were more than shocked after hearing from Twilight what happened with Sunset after they abandoned her and how the sent messages between the duo via the magic journal became more and more desperate. They felt like scum. Celestia laughed dryly, though it never reached her eyes. "I would be lying if I said yes. Since Anon-a-Miss started to spread secrets I had more than enough angry parents to handle, some with influence, who pressured me to do something about it. Not only them, but the school board as well. And I received this morning the eleventh request for a change of school. Such a thing had never happened before since the founding of Canterlot High School." "This Anon-a-Miss went much too far, endangering others education like that," Twilight said disgustedly in a quiet tone so that only her number one assistant heard what she said. Spike could only roll his eyes at her priorities. "Suffice to say I never had so much work to do since I began the job as CHS' principal. I was practically trapped in my office." The multicolor-haired woman shook her head in resignation. "The problem was that I couldn't achieve anything legally in regards to learning something important about the person behind this account. Worse, I swore myself to be there for every of my students in their times of need, no matter the circumstances. But in the end I failed Sunset. I should have been there for her, reassuring Ms. Shimmer that I never believed it was her. Maybe it would have helped." She glanced sadly at Twilight. "You must be heavily disappointed by us, princess. I wish to apologize deeply for that." The girl in question smiled sadly, "I'm sure Sunset will understand as well as I do. I can't fault you or Vice-Principal Luna for things beyond your control. It was most likely one of the students who made this account and many others behaved in such a despicable manner towards her on their own volition. And as you already mentioned, you had more than enough problems to manage." "However that may be, I will ask Sunset for names the next time I see her at school. I won't tolerate such behaviour and everybody responsible will be punished severely," the principal promised faithfully. "Ah fear that might be impossible," Applejack commented with a downcast look. The cowgirl, after being granted permission by Twilight to tell the principal about her counterpart's presence, told the unaware trio about their meeting with Princess Celestia, how they tried to catch up with Fluttershy after the girl tried to follow the princess into Canterlot Park and about their brief encounter with the Windigos. Twilight explained to her shortly what the wraiths were and that they were responsible for the suddenly appearing blizzard. The last bit of information was new to the girls, but it made sense. The strong drop of temperature outside happened shortly before the Windigos attacked them. "A she-demon, alien princesses, sirens, an angry sun goddess, who is my immortal pony counterpart to boot and now cruel ice spirits. I definitely don't get paid enough for this..." Celestia thought in dark humor. The princess in the room gave Rainbow Dash an unforgiving glare in the meantime as if she just committed the highest form of blasphemy. The property damage part went unheard, Twilight Sparkle had much more important things to worry about. "You talked back to Princess Celestia?! Are you crazy?! She was already angry enough and you tried to scold her?!" Nopony scolded the princess! That was NOT how life worked! Spike could only roll his eyes again at the purple girl. Well, at least she didn't faint from shock like the last time someone spoke to the princess like this. That was awkward. The athlete tried to escape the situation she was in with an attempt of changing the subject and focused on the principal instead, "So, why were you trying to find us anyway? Why didn't you use the intercom to call us?" The woman's eyes softened significantly. She had pity in her eyes, much to everyone's confusion. "Vice-Principal Luna called me and said that you five should be found and brought into my office without raising suspicion and I concurred after she explained to me why. I'm sure you will be very happy to hear that we found out who Anon-a-Miss is and that the ones responsible are being brought here in this very moment we speak. They should be here soon in a few minutes." "Awesome!" Rainbow cracked her knuckles in anticipation. "It's time to put... them down?" The last sentence caused bafflement. Did she just said 'they'? As in plural? Applejack eyes turned into pinpricks, remembering Sunset's idea who else could very well be responsible, except herself. "No! She can't be right!" the teenager screamed panically in her mind. But she couldn't deny it any longer. Nobody knew about her nickname from her childhood except the girls from the sleepover and... her family. The door opened and a tall man wearing the strangest ensemble of clothes walked into the room. Rarity nearly fainted from the atrocious sight. "D-Discord?! What are you wearing? No, much more important, what are you doing here in the first place!?" Principal Celestia exclaimed in sheer surprise and annoyance. The 'man' in question laughed openly. "No matter what you look like, your reactions are always priceless, Tia!" The woman's cheeks burned, "Don't call me that! You know I hate that nickname!" And what did he mean with 'look like'? "It seems my counterpart knows how to push your buttons as well." He shed fountains of tears, literally. The display creeped the humans out. "I'm so proud!" "Discord?!" Twilight shouted, extremely nervous. "What are you doing here?! Where is the Princess?! The Windigos?!" The draconequus in human form looked at her and no longer was his face graced by his typical juvenile smile, but sincere sadness. That couldn't be good in the purple girl's book, at all. His voice took a very somber tone and he put a hand on her shoulder in a comforting manner, "Twilight, there is no way to sugarcoat it. I returned shortly to Equestria and came back immediately to warn you." "What is it?! Did something happened?! Are my friends and Ponyville OK?!" Twilight was in full panic mode by now. Discord sighed fatefully, "Your and Sunbutt's absence was noticed. The changeling queen invaded Equestria again, Tirek escaped anew from Tartarus and attacked Ponyville and Sombra took over the Crystal Empire. He somehow managed to survive the Crystal Heart the last time it hit him, but-" Twilight fainted, and Fluttershy kneeled instantly at her side to make sure that she was fine. The Spirit of Chaos snorted in mock-indignation and held up his head to emphasize his point. "How rude! She fainted before I could even bring the punchline. This pony has no sense of humour." Spike faced Discord with his best sheep impression, "That wasn't funny at all. And you know that Twilight takes something like that much too seriously. What did you expect?" "Did that dog just talk?" Celestia asked in shock. Her question though was ignored. The God of Chaos scoffed at the excuse, "Oh, please, we’re talking about the Princess of Books. The incarnation of the word 'bibliophile'. Did she never learn the meaning of the word 'sarcasm'?" The dog's expression and monotone tone remained unchanged, "Nope." Discord groaned and with a snap of his fingers a bucket of water appeared above the girl's head. Another snap upended it, and the water woke her successfully. "SAVE THE BOOKS! HISTORY AND MAGICAL THEORY FIRST!" Twilight screamed in great terror. "Called it," the Spirit of Chaos added smugly. The door opened again and this time Vice-Principal Luna stepped into the room, eyeing the scene in front of her like a person who wasn't sure if someone put drugs into her drink, "Should I come back later?" Principal Celestia responded in her patented monk-like patience, "No, it's fine, please bring them in, we were waiting for you. And it seems we have two," Spike barked, "-three special guests with us." She looked at the 'dog' with a raised eyebrow. "These disgusting... ruffians behind Anon-a-Miss are out there?" Rarity inquired in a mix of curiosity and cold fury. "You caught the ones responsible? Good. You see, there is someone with a burning desire to meet them." Discord grinned wickedly. With another snap of his fingers another woman appeared in the middle of the room. She wore golden armor, had a very dangerous looking lance in her hand and absolutely no idea where she was. "Princess Celestia!" Twilight hugged her mentor happily, completely ignoring the cold armor, "I'm so glad you are alright!" The Rainbooms took a few steps back, still a little shaken up from their past experience with the alicorn-turned-human. After a few more moments of confusion the ruler of Equestria recognized who hugged her and returned the gesture shortly before they parted. "Twilight? What Am I doing here? I was just on my way to the statue to make sure that Sunset is doing well." "SUNSET?! YOU SAW HER?! IS SHE ALRIGHT?!" Fluttershy screamed in an unusually aggressive voice, completely forgetting with whom she spoke. Twilight growled quietly. The Princess of the Sun furrowed her forehead and glanced briefly at the nervous looking humans in front of her. She answered the girl's questions in a very diplomatic way, this time, "I managed to save her from the Windigos, if that's what you are worried about. I can assure you that she will make a full recovery, but won't wake up for the time being, as her body is still very weak." Pinkie had an idea where their, hopefully still, friend was, but needed her suspicion confirmed, "W-where is she now? Y-your highness." Princess Celestia gave the pink party planner a neutral stare, "I brought Sunset back to Equestria where she is safe from further harm. As promised." That didn't fill the quintet of friends with much hope. The midnight blue woman at the door finished processing everything and analyzed the situation accordingly, like a younger sibling should. "Oh great. Now there are two of you," Vice-Principal Luna said dryly. "Luna, wh-" only for a very well-known voice, at least to her, cleared its throat loudly and Celestia turned around, facing her human counterpart. Her eye nearly twitched. "Welcome, Your Highness." The principal bowed a little. The Princess of the Sun looked to her right and knew who was responsible immediately. She shook slightly her head, "Discord. I should have known. You are the only one besides me who can use such magic in this dimension." She looked at his stomach where the Windigo king hit his mark. "Are you alright? I saw from my position how Balthanel wounded you with one of his weapons. They were cursed creations of darkness, and a magical infection is nothing to be underestimated." "Your worries are appreciated, but unnecessary. I just used my Chaos Magic after I returned to Equestria and pulled the poisoning darkness out of me in time. And well, you know me, always there where it's most interesting, following my own nonexistent rules. Same old, same old, my dear." Discord created a monocle on his left eye and said the last part in a fake Canterlot accent to sound snobbish, causing a few chuckles. "Princess, what happened to the Windigos?" Twilight wanted to know, scared after hearing her former mentor mentioning the name of the Frozen King. A part of her always hoped he wouldn't be real. The disguised pony in question sighed, "I fear there is not much we can do about them in the moment. If a Windigo doesn't show itself on its own it is nearly impossible to find them. As wraiths they are able to switch between the mortal plane and the plane of the dead. And we have no access to the later. There is nothing we can do about them as long as they remain and move in the realm of souls. But I can say for certain that the storm grew weaker, which speaks for the theory that most of them went into hiding after their king was defeated." "What is with Discord?" Spike focused on the disguised draconequus. "Can't you do something about them?" The tall standing man shook his head, much to Spike’s surprise. He responded in a serious voice, "There are things in creation even I wouldn't touch anymore, especially with such a special brand of magic like mine. Trying to break into the world of the dead or trying to pull something out of it are such things, closely behind manipulating time. Nothing good comes out of such meddling. Believe me, I tried it in my younger years. Let's just say the Badlands weren't always that uninhabitable and leave it at that." "Oh," the dragon-turned-dog fell silent. Luna's jaw was on vacation in the meantime after hearing the supposed to be canine talking. Twilight gulped, feeling ill. She didn't need to ask for more details to know what her former mentor meant with 'defeated'. The devastating spell was answer enough. Concerning that... "What happens now? Windigos are still on the lose and potentially hurt innocent people as we speak! And your spell kind of destroyed an entire park from what I gathered. Not that I would criticize you for attracting attention of course! In fact I'm happy that that monster is gone. What I read about him was nightmare fuel for weeks!." OK, maybe it didn't help that she had sneaked into the Royal Library as a filly and read the related book in the age-restricted section. Discord yawned in boredom, "What do you think, Purple Smart? The Windigos will run out of food sooner or later, I hope, and have to move on at some point. There is only so much hatred they could consume. They can't magically make mortals hostile, that has to happen without a helpful push from them. When they leave the city the magic level should lose enough of its intensity so that they can't keep their visible forms stable in this world any longer. But Celestia is right for a change of pace." That statement earned him glares and a mental thumbs up from Luna. "There is nothing we can do as long as they remain on the other side." "But what about the humans?! There have to be hundreds of witnesses!" the Princess of Friendship countered. "Oh, please! Most humans don't believe in 'supernatural' things. The same can be said with events they can't explain themselves with science or their own form of l-log-you know, the evil word with 'L'. I'm sure they, when they were clever enough, hid from the storm in their own four walls or sought shelter elsewhere. There was nothing to see because of the amount of snow and hail anyway," he replied without missing a blink. "And what about this golden... whatever it was at the sky? I think more than enough saw it and the resulting attack, despite the storm," Principal Celestia argued. She saw this thing when a bright light suddenly illuminated her office, followed by her witnessing the princess' ability in all its glory from the window. The God of Chaos smiled mischievously, "Come on, Tia. Most humans won't believe their eyes without any undeniable proof. A dragon could attack them and eight out of ten would admire the 'special effects' until it's too late. And even if that should be the case, how would they find anything important? It's not like some human who never witnessed magic before could just create a device in this world that would react to magic from an another dimension like Equestria or the portal itself, collect it somehow in said device and threaten this very world in the process. And all that solely for something feeble like curiosity? Don't be ridiculous. Only a brilliant and much too inquisitive genius without any friends or social life would attempt such madness." Spike snorted, "That sounds like you Twilight. Well, before you moved to Ponyville." The bookworm rolled her eyes humorously, "Don't be ridiculous Spike. I learned my lessons and I'm sure that not even my former self would have done something this crazy, irresponsible and egotistical just to satisfy my own curiosity." Princess Celestia avoided eye contact. Then she remembered her first question, "Now, could someone please tell me why I'm here?" As if on cue, Vice-Principal Luna heard someone knock on the door, reminding her who waited beyond it. "O-of course Your Highness. I swear, having to address another Celestia like this feels so strange. We found out the identity of Anon-a-Miss and the students responsible for this farce. They are waiting outside." Everybody in the room could have sworn that the the air became suddenly hot and dry for a few moments. The Alicorn of the Sun nodded regally, "Bring them in." Twilight felt like she was in Day Court on a very bad day, but she wanted to know who was behind all of this as well. Luna came back and following behind her were three well-known freshmen, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom. The trio gasped in horror, they didn't expect their siblings to be here. Applejack fell to her knees, bewildered. "Please, tell me Ah'm dreamin'. Sunset was right all along!" And she even hit the poor girl. She felt nothing else than self-loathing for herself and an unhealthy amount of anger for her sister by blood. Rarity was devastated and could only shake her head in abnegation. Twilight, Spike and the rest of the Rainbooms had similar reactions, but not Rainbow Dash. "WHAT?! YOU?! HOW COULD YOU DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT?!" She took a few deep breaths to process this level of betrayal. "Scootaloo! Why?!" The daredevil of the three freshmen couldn't take this much fury and disgust from her honorary big sister and began to cry. "I-I'm so sorry Rainbow Dash! We never planned for this to go this far! I swear!" "You have to believe us! We only wanted to spend more time with our sisters! We couldn't accept it anymore that you would spend all of your free time with Sunset Shimmer instead of us!" Sweetie Belle added pleadingly in the direction of a shaking Rarity. "Yeah! Applejack, ya ditched me four times in the last three weeks! Always because ya had suddenly some 'new plans' involvin' Sunset Shimmer! Since the Battle of the Bands ya spent more and more of yer time with a gal who only bullied y'all instead of me! That's not fair! Ah'm yer little sister for Pete's sake!" Apple Bloom finished the justification. Before any of the three older girls could respond somepony else shared her own opinion. "ARE YOU BUCKING KIDDING ME!?" Principal's Celestia's proud collection of empty cups of coffee, from all the extra hours because of Anon-a-Miss, trembled immensely. Twilight's Royal Canterlot Voice came with force and unexpectedly. "You really want to tell me that you destroyed Sunset's life, because you were JEALOUS?! I can't believe you three! Do you have any idea how much suffering you caused for everyone?! How many friendships you destroyed?!" Twilight couldn't help herself in any other way and remembered what their counterparts did in Equestria. How the fillies spread false gossip and exposed, at least much more harmless, secrets under the name 'Gabby Gums' in the school newspaper of the Foal Free Press. But these three children? They were around an unthinkable degree worse! Many times over! "D-destroyed?" Sweetie Belle asked, frightened by the hostility in the young ruler's voice. Wasn't that the same girl who helped them with Sunset and the sirens? She even called herself 'princess' at one point. Right, Twilight Spark, or something like that. They witnessed how people acted colder to each other and that Sunset Shimmer wasn't in school today. Was there more? "Girls, come here." The trio faced the very disappointing and slightly angry looking Principal Celestia and to her right stood... another Celestia?! "Whoa! Who are you!? You look like our principal, but what's with the armor?" Scootaloo inquired in awe. "I am Princess Celestia of Equestria, but it is not a pleasure to meet you three. In fact, I'm disturbed that such young girls like you are behind Anon-a-Miss. And I can't feel anything else but contempt for what you did to my daughter." The princess' eyes were glowing like golden smoldering pits when she said the last sentence. The bit with the daughter certainly surprised the trio and the two principals. Her voice was neutral to the point that Apple Bloom and her friends didn't know if they should feel scared or relieved that the second princess spoke in such a controlled and regal tone for the most part. However, for a few moments it felt like they were judged and declared guilty, as if she looked into their very souls when Princess Celestia spoke the last sentence with finality. The alicorn in disguise couldn't believe that they were responsible for all of this. Children nonetheless. In the moment she saw the young girls her rage on Anon-a-Miss dropped to some extent in regard of her personal desire for punishment. Not that the princess was any less furious because of the cause of the suffering her daughter had to endure, but she would NEVER harm children. And they were jealous of Sunset, because they convinced themselves that their older siblings neglected them for her. Princess Celestia could only shake her head, the similarities to her own little sister were frightening. But these humans had to learn that actions had consequences, all of them, no matter how tormenting it might be for their conscious. They needed to hear the truth, "You caused a lot of trouble and pain, not only for Sunset. I let the principal explain the rest concerning the school, but your deeds summoned beings known as Windigos to the city. And no matter if you wanted to do that or not, the fact that they are here because of you can't simply be overlooked." "Windiwhat?" Scootaloo asked in confusion. What was this woman talking about? "Windigos are embodiments of hatred. They are corrupted souls who died a violent death, succumbing to their own desire for revenge on the ones who wronged them, ending up completely mad in the end. These unholy beings take the forms of wraiths later on and feed off of strong negative emotions, mostly hatred, anger, greed and envy. Nobody knows why they bring the cold of winter with them when they appear, but most scholars think that this is a side effect of the Dark Magic infusing them," Princess Celestia explained patiently. "B-but what has that to do with us?!" Apple Bloom inquired with irritation, still not understanding it. "Accumulated amounts of strong negative emotions at one place are like a bonfire for them. It was your creation of Anon-a-Miss what started all of this. You spread the secrets of your fellow students without remorse and caused a great wave of negative feelings to go through the school. I fear many humans let themselves be consumed by their darker thoughts as a result and lived them out. Sunset was the receiver of variant forms of violence, didn't you know?" The Alicorn of the Sun had to stop herself from lashing out again. Were they truly this ignorant to the consequences they caused all this time? The freshmen felt violently ill, was it really their fault? They were responsible for the appearance of these... things? Their guardians were terrified and didn't take the news much better. To think that their own little sisters were the reason that they nearly died a gruesome death... it was a horrible thought. "What?!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed palely, what was astonishing considering her skin color, "We just wanted Sunset to be gone so that we have our sisters back! Not that she suffered any injuries!" That wasn't part of their plan! Rarity had enough, even a lady couldn't stay quiet for too long in situations like that, "Why didn't you come to us?! Why didn't you say anything Sweetie Belle?! I probably lost one of my best friends, because I fell foolishly for YOUR exposures! I can promise you young lady that our parents will know about this!" "B-but it wasn't only our fault! The other students sent us many of the secrets! We only posted them!" Scootaloo tried bravely to defend herself. "WHAT?!" nearly everybody, except the accused themsevles, in the room shouted in fury, disbelief and shock. Princess Celestia had a feeling that these three alone couldn't have been solely responsible and had some help. Just how many students of this school had a part in this? She had to be sure. "These are dangerous claims and accusations. Do you have any proof?" "Y-Yes Princi-Princess Celestia." Scootaloo took her cellphone out of her pocket. "I made copies of everything and have a list of who posted us which secret, and what secrets we still haven't posted yet. Here! See?" The pony-turned-human had no idea what to do with this strange device and gave it her counterpart. The woman took the cellphone and scrolled through the names, a vein appeared on her neck. "Those little... nearly three-quarters of the student body is listed here." She groaned in pure disbelief and put the phone on her desk. Rainbow Dash grasped it and took a look for herself. "THOSE DIRTY HYPOCRITES! They blamed Sunset, but it was them who sent these secrets to the girls all along! I will-" "Don't act like you are innocent Rainbow Dash!" Twilight interrupted harshly. "All of you abandoned, blamed and insulted her, too! So don't you dare play the concerned loyal friend now when you weren't able to stay at her side when Sunset needed you the most!" This brutal truth shattered the chromatic teenager's attitude swiftly. "I will take this evidence, Miss Dash," Luna said, took the phone out of her hand and looked at her big sister. "I think we should call every student to the auditorium and confront them with these lists as soon as possible." Celestia supported the idea. "See?! It wasn't only us! It were the other students who sent us the secrets! Without them we wouldn't have had many of them in the first place!" Sweetie Belle reasoned hopefully. Discord laughed loudly with a mocking tone, "Oh how wonderfully naive you are! Do you really think pointing fingers at others will make your own situation a better one? That your own faults are suddenly forgotten?" Principal Celestia glared at the trio, silencing them before they tried to search for more excuses. "I think you underestimate direly the scope of what you did. It doesn't matter that the others posted you the secrets, because it was YOU who published them on MyStable, not them. You are very lucky that you are not old enough yet to land in juvenile prison. You are guilty of cyberbullying, framing someone innocent for your actions, slander, abuse of government property... shall I go on? The first thing you will do is apologize to the students of CHS and admit that you are behind the account, clearing Sunset's name." "We can't do that! They will be after us like a fox after a wounded chicken!" Apple Bloom shouted in fear. The woman behind the desk looked at her counterpart for guidance. "Princess, our state is quite friendly when it comes to first time offenders, especially when the teenagers in question are under 14 years old. How would your kind handle such a situation?" "Their guardians will punish them how they see fit, the same goes for the responsible teacher. Everything else will be discussed without their involvement," Twilight responded instead. "That is all?" Vice-Principal Luna inquired with a disbelieving eyebrow. "What can I say? I'm pretty sure that anything like that never happened before in our nation's history. Equestria is quite peaceful and I never read anything about evil foals," Twilight replied, shrugging. "Princess Twilight is right. Our laws don't contain any punishments concerning foals, because such actions have never had to be taken," Princess Celestia added with a practiced smile. The principal sighed in disappointment, "I see. I'm sorry girls, but I can't and won't let you get off easy. Independent from the existence of these Windigos, which I still find quite hard to believe to be honest, you three not only destroyed a lot of relationships between students, but there is much more." "More?" Scootaloo asked meekly. Celestia nodded. "Let's see, six of our school clubs have to be closed now, because their members quit or refused to work with each other any longer. And then I received eleven applications for a school change, because some reputations were ruined irreversibly at Canterlot High. The only option they have left now is to get a clean slate somewhere else to escape the damage caused by you. Sunset Shimmer suffered the most from what you did to her and it happened because of the absolutely most ridiculous reasons I ever heard in my career. But the princess has to decide as her mother if she wants to involve herself any further. Then there is the problem that a lot of parents and guardians are more than furious quite frankly and demand to know the identity of Anon-a-Miss, which I won't keep from them. They have a right to know who caused their children so much anguish. Maybe it will lessen the blow if they are informed about the lists and which student gave you what secret, but I wouldn't get my hopes up in your position. Be aware that they can press charges against your families if they so desire, depending on the psychological damage you caused and many other factors." This warning made Rarity and Applejack everything but happy, but they remained quiet. "Lastly there is the local police. They can't punish you severely, but they want to talk with you, or more, they wanted to talk with the one behind Anon-a-Miss. Officer Shining Armor said that they can force you to attend special classes in case the offender was underage. You will have to ask him or someone else for more details." The freshmen gulped heavily. Nobody saw it, but Spike’s and Twilight’s eyes widened at the news that her big brother’s counterpart would be involved in the investigations. "I have some things to add as well,” Vice-Principal Luna said. “There is for one the abuse of school property. MyStable was allowed by us on the school servers to strengthen communication between the students and you used it as your private gossip rag. And besides that, I heard what you said before you erased the account. If I hadn't found you three in time, the truth would never have been discovered. I know that you planned to keep quiet about it and Sunset Shimmer would forever be known and cursed by all as the school's greatest bully and criminal." Luna gave them a death glare for trying to cover it up without a shame. "You wanted to keep this a secret forever?! That's more than mean, that's evil!" Pinkie Pie said furiously. Twilight had to admit she was a little scared whenever the normally chipper party planner, pony or human, it didn't matter, showed this side of her. On the other hoof, she was negatively surprised once before by such a cold hearted decision of the three as well. "Ah can't believe it," Applejack muttered to herself. Her cheeks burned from shame for her sister's original plan of deceit. "What is the verdict, your honor?" Discord asked with an overly dramatic voice. Principal Celestia ignored the Spirit of Chaos and pierced the girls with her eyes. "Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo. Your age and unawareness of the consequences you caused, knowingly or not, are no excuses. You planned everything through in your mind and acted accordingly without remorse. If it wasn’t for Vice-Principal Luna's intervention we would still be in the dark. And that you mutually decided to keep quiet about it only makes it worse." She stood up from her chair and put her hands forcefully on the desk, surprising some in the room with the volume. "You didn't show any signs of feeling guilty until it was explained to you what happened in the aftermath of your activities. The easiest and most logical choice for me would be to expel you from this school. To write in your personal file what you did and why, sending everything to the other principals to inform them about you and lastly to make sure that you three will land in three different schools to make sure that something like that will never happen again." Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom started to cry, while Scootaloo looked only at the ground. Their sisters wanted to help, but they trusted that Principal Celestia knew what she was doing, even if it was hard for them. The tall woman sat down on her chair again, "But I won't..." Many eyes widened, only Twilight, Spike, Discord and Princess Celestia allowed themselves a small smile, "I don't believe in capital punishment and such measures would only ruin your future. Every important person would know what you did and have prejudices. No, I believe firmly in second chances, goddess, and Luna, knows I'm hopeless in this regard." The vice-principal coughed falsely into her hand, "Understatement of the century." "T-thank you, Principal Celestia," Scootaloo whispered gratefully. "Yeah, we all will accept any punishment you give us," Sweetie Belle agreed. Apple Bloom nodded her head wildly. "I won't expel you, but you will receive the hardest form of punishment I can give you without kicking you out. You three will be safe from the other students. Anybody who tries to harm you physically because they seek revenge will end up in detention for seven months and if that happens a second time the one responsible will be suspended immediately. Still, you will be suspended for two weeks after your apology to let the truth about their own mistakes sink in to calm them down to some degree, then you will have detention after school for the rest of the year and are forbidden from participating in any school activities until further notice. You won't be allowed anymore to use the school computers for anything other than subject related assignments and even then only under supervision. And lastly you won't share the same classes anymore for the duration of your time here at CHS. Of course what you do in your free time and during lunch break is left up to you. That will be your punishment," Principal Celestia didn't even blink uncomfortably as she said it. The freshmen's jaws dropped. "B-but that's totally unfair!" Scootaloo exclaimed, thinking that such harsh consequences weren't justified. This time the principal's pony counterpart spoke up, "I'm not familiar with your customs, but I can assure you that the punishment you received is more than appropriate. Many parents will demand severe consequences and if she won't outright expel you the principal will have a lot of the more vengeful sort upon her when she isn't as strict as possible." Princess Celestia lost count over the centuries how many times she heard about problems with the descendants of the noble class at her school for gifted Unicorns, because they threw a tantrum over the smallest hint of 'disrespect' against them when others defended themselves and talked back. And of course their insufferable parents supported their heirs obviously in everything, such conflicts caused her more than one headache. "You can consider yourselves lucky with your fate, when you think about the possible outcomes this meeting could have had for you three. But I will refrain from attending the school assembly myself, because I'm confident that Princess Twilight can easily represent the both of us. I have more important matters to attend, my daughter's well-being takes priority." "You can count on me, Princess Celestia," Twilight replied with determination. She had more than enough words to share with Canterlot High's students about what they all did. Apple Bloom was scared, because her normally very overprotective big sister didn't say a word so far in her defense. "Applejack, please, say somethin'!" The cowgirl sighed uncertainly, "Apple Bloom, ya are ma' little sis' and Ah'll always love ya, but Ah can't simply forgive and forget what y'all did to everyone. What y'all did to Sunset. Ah'll need time to sort this mess out." Rarity looked conflicted at her own sibling. "She is right. We will all need time to come to terms with what happened. You brought this on your own." The purple-haired girl was fidging around in tension, "Rainbow I-" "Cut it Scoots!" the athlete shouted in anger, sadness and guilt, her eyes wetted by tears. "You should have told me right away that something was wrong, not pulling a stunt like this! I don't want to see you for now. I'm not even able to forgive you right now. Just... grr... give me time, OK?!" She received a timid nod. Principal Celestia glanced briefly at everyone in her office, "I think this concludes our meeting for now." Reaching for the phone on her desk, she pressed a button, “Raven, please call the school board and let them know that we’re having an emergency assembly with the students about the thing.” Picking up the receiver and pressing another button, "Attention students! We will be having an emergency assembly in 30 minutes. That is all."