//------------------------------// // Coffee Conundrums // Story: Repercussions // by shallow15 //------------------------------// “This is absolutely disgusting!” Rarity said, tossing the scrapbook on the table. “It's bullshit, is what it is,” Rainbow replied. “RAINBOW DASH!” cried Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rarity. Rainbow leaned forward in her chair. “What?! It is, and you all know it! Sunset's done more to make up for who she used to be than she has to. Why would anybody believe she hasn't changed?” “Anon-A-Miss,” Applejack said quietly. There was an awkward silence as five of the six girls looked at each other. “'Anon-A-Miss?'” Twilight asked. “It's a long story,” Rainbow answered, a sheepish expression on her face. “But it wasn't exactly one of our prouder moments.” “Just call it what it was: a major screw up on our part,” Applejack snorted. She turned to Twilight. “Last Christmas a bunch of our personal secrets got posted on a MyStable account named 'Anon-A-Miss.' Stuff only one of our group could have known. We all thought it was Sunset and well, we pretty much abandoned her.” “She was innocent, of course,” Rarity continued. “It turned out to be Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo. They were jealous of the time we were spending with her. But it showed that most of the students at school, us included, were all too ready to believe Sunset had gone back to her old ways.” “Ah-ha,” said Twilight. She decided not to press the issue, leaned forward and picked up the scrapbook. She began paging through the entries, a frown crossing her features. “Twilight, are you sure you want to read those?” Fluttershy asked. “Some of them get really, um, graphic.” “I'm not reading them,” Twilight said absently. “Well, forgive me for asking, darling,” asked Rarity. “But why would you want to look at those horrid things again?” Twilight didn't answer. She adjusted her glasses, reached into her backpack, pulled out a notepad and pen, and began making notes. “Oookay, then,” Rainbow said, ignoring Twilight for the moment. “So, we know there's a whole bookload of people who have it in for Sunset. How do we narrow it down to whoever did it so we can whomp their sorry butts?” “Problem is, it could be that none of the varmints who've been harrassin' Sunset were the one who attacked her,” said Applejack. “We don't know for sure.” “We don't know one of them didn't do it, either!” Rarity let out an aggravated sigh. “Even if none of them did do it, the fact that there are such petty, immature, small-minded, mentally incompetent – GAH! I need a cinnamon roll!” The fashionista got up from her seat and stalked over to the counter. “Oh! Oh! Get me a lemon bar, please!” Pinkie called after her. “She saved the headers!” Twilight crowed. The group turned to look at her, Rarity looking back from where she stood. Twilight blushed and let out an embarrassed laugh. “Um... sorry. What I mean is Sunset saved the headers from her emails. I think I may be able to use them to see where they came from. And if the IP addresses match from email to email, that means they were sent from the same location. We can narrow it down!” “You wanna run that by us again in English, sugarcube?” Applejack asked. “Sometimes, in cases like this – not all of them – what looks like multiple people can, in fact, be the work of one person creating a bunch of fake email and social media accounts.” Twilight began paging back through the scrapbook. “If the IP addresses in these headers match, it means that those two accounts originated from the same location. And if that happened, then it's likely that the same person sent them. We eliminate all the duplicates and we have a narrower suspect pool.” “That's... actually a good idea,” Rainbow said. “You think you can figure all that out, Twi?” Applejack asked. “Seems like a pretty hefty job.” “Well, I won't be able to work on it in earnest until after school, but I should be able to take out a pretty big chunk of them by tomorrow.” “All right, Twilight darling, we'll leave that to you,” Rarity said, returning from the counter. She handed Pinkie the lemon bar she asked for. “As for the rest of us, we need to keep our ears open at school for anything that could help us find the miscreant.” “I may already have,” Twilight said. “I recognize one of these email addresses. Or at least, the domain it came from. This email comes from 'chessblasters.org.' That's a website for a chess club I used to be a part of.” “So a chess nerd started sending death threats to Sunset?” Rainbow asked. “That's just messed up.” “It's not any chess club,” Twilight answered. “Chessblasters.org is the website of the Crystal Prep Chess Club.” “I knew it!” Rainbow cried. “I knew nobody at CHS would be that rotten.” “I wouldn't celebrate too much,” Twilight said. “There's three other domains here that are registered to CHS clubs. As well as quite a few standard internet provider domains, plus web based email services.” She sighed and looked up. “Like I said, I can probably narrow our list down, but there's still going to be quite a few possibilities left over.” “Well, then while Twilight's getting rid of the sock puppets, we can look into the ones we know about, right?” Pinkie said. Applejack nodded. “That's a good idea. Twilight, you still friends with anyone in the Chessblasters?” “Not really,” Twilight looked uncomfortable. “I kinda got... kicked out.” Rarity blinked. “Why on earth would they kick you out? I've seen you play Sunset to a draw several times!” Twilight grimaced. “I sort of beat everybody in the club. Multiple times. They didn't like it. At all.” “Ah,” Rarity said, not wanting to prolong her friend's discomfort. “Well, I suppose I could call Sour Sweet and see if she or any of the others have heard anything.” “And Applejack and I can look into the clubs at school!” Rainbow smacked a fist into her palm. “We'll get to the bottom of this in no time.” “Um, Rainbow?” Fluttershy whispered. “Maybe you shouldn't do that.” “Why not? It's the fastest way!” “But maybe not the best way,” Rarity interjected. “No offense, Rainbow darling, but you and Applejack can be a little... intimidating when the two of you are on edge.” “On edge? What are you talking about?” “She means when you get all riled up, you tend to punch first and ask questions later,” Applejack answered. “I'm not gonna punch anybody!” “Not with a fist, maybe. But you and me both have a reputation for not bein' all that fun to be around when we're upset. I'm with Fluttershy. If we're gonna investigate the clubs as school, we're gonna need to send in people who aren't gonna get their guards up.” “Subtlety is the keyword,” Rarity said. “Okay, but who's gonna do it?” Rainbow asked. “No offense, 'Shy, but if they start getting aggressive, you're gonna clam up and not get any answers. Me and AJ can't do it because if we get aggravated, THEY'RE gonna clam up. Rarity's going to be busy talking to the Crystal Preppers. Twi's doing her computer nerd thing, which only leaves... oh no.” She looked over at Pinkie, who had somehow procured a can of whipped cream and was emptying most of it onto her lemon bar. She put the can down and shoved the whole mess into her mouth, causing her cheeks to bulge outward. “Whaf?” she asked when she saw everyone looking at her. “'Subtlety,' right,” Rainbow said, shooting Rarity a look. “So if you three are doing all that, what are me, AJ, and Fluttershy going to do?” “One of the most important things we can,” Rarity said. She reached over and took the scrapbook from Twilight. “Excuse me, Twilight.” Rarity handed the scrapbook to Rainbow. “Once Twilight has all the information she needs from this, you three are going to bring this to the attention of Principal Celestia.”