//------------------------------// // Mourning After // Story: Repercussions // by shallow15 //------------------------------// “This has to stop.” The music room was empty except for five girls who were all feeling the same sensations of failure and dread. Fluttershy looked at her friends and repeated herself. “This has to stop. It's too dangerous now. This – this isn't like what we've done before. This isn't something from Equestria trying to take over the world, or people playing with power they don't understand,” Fluttershy's fists clenched tightly as her voice rose in volume. “This is someone who is using the magic to try to kill people!” “We all get that, Fluttershy,” Applejack began, but the other girl cut her off. “I don't think you do, Applejack! Sunset's only alive by sheer luck, and if some of us hadn't been there when Beachberry and Pepperdance were attacked, they'd both probably be dead now! And without Sunset, we don't know if our magic will be enough to stop her! If we try to take her on...” Fluttershy trailed off and she slumped in her chair, her hair falling over her face. “I don't want anyone to die. I don't want any of you to die.” The other four girls exchanged glances. Rarity pulled a chair over to face Fluttershy. She reached over and took her friend's hands. “Look at me, Fluttershy,” she said gently. She waited until Fluttershy looked up, and gave her a small smile. “You're absolutely right. This does have to stop. But who can we hope will stop her? The police aren't prepared for any sort of magical force like this. Sunset isn't available. And I know we don't dare put Princess Twilight in danger. So that only leaves us. We have to stop this. It's our responsibility. You understand that, right?” Fluttershy sniffled and nodded. “But I'm so scared. I know, I know. Big surprise.” The other girls were shocked at the almost bitter tone Fluttershy's voice had taken, but they wisely said nothing, letting her say what was on her mind. “But I'm not scared for me. I'm scared for everyone who'll be left if we lose. What if whoever this is beats us? What happens then? I – I don't think she'll stop at us,” Fluttershy's head rose, her eyes wide enough for the others to see the terror in her eyes. “I think she might kill the entire world if she's not stopped.” There was an awkward silence as the girls tried to figure out how to respond. It was Applejack who broke the silence. “Then we need to figure out who it is and put an end to all this. But first things first.” She turned to Pinkie who was more subdued than usual, sitting on a chair and idly toying with one of her drumsticks. “Pinkie? How's Rainbow and Pepperdance?” Pinkie sighed. “Pepperdance is in the hospital. She hasn't woken up yet either. It doesn't look like she's in a coma like Sunset though. But the police took her phone as evidence, so we couldn't get a chance to check her call log to see who she talked to yesterday.” “And Rainbow?” Twilight asked. Pinkie just shrugged. “She wasn't good when I saw her last. Her parents took her home and said she wouldn't be at school today. I tried calling her this morning, but she didn't answer.” Rarity let out an exhausted sigh. “I can't say I blame her. She's known Pepperdance since elementary school. Pinkie, would you be up to visiting her this afternoon with me?” “Yeah, sure,” Pinkie said, unenthusiastically. The other girls exchanged a worried glance, unused to seeing their friend so quiet. “Er... Twilight,” Rarity began, “Any luck with those emails?” “Oh, right,” Twilight opened her backpack and pulled out the sheaf of emails. “Eliminating those we know can't be her, I'm fairly confident that most of the cyberbullying Sunset received came from someone here at Canterlot High. And as I thought, about half of these emails all came from the same set of IP addresses. I can't say with 100% certainty, of course, but I think we can be reasonably sure that the same person sent these messages. But here's the really interesting one.” Twilight pulled out the email she had found the night before and handed it to Applejack. The cowgirl's eyebrow raised and she handed it to Rarity, who stared at it, unbelieving. The email was passed around to the other girls, with similar expressions of surprise. “I tried figuring out where it came from, but I, uh, kind of fell asleep at my desk,” Twilight blushed in embarrassment. “But I still thought you should see this.” “I don't get it,” Applejack said, “Why would Sunset keep this email with the others?” “I'm not sure,” Twilight answered. “But it clearly has some sort of significance to her. Maybe she thought it was sarcastic, or a set up for another wave of nasty letters.” “Can you figure out where it came from?” Rarity asked. “I don't know if it's relevant to what's going on, but it might give us another lead.” “I'll need more time. There were no headers with this one and the email address seems to have been randomly generated by the website. I might be able to work it out, but I'm not confident.” “Then we go back to talking with our suspects for now,” Rarity said. “Does anyone know if Beachberry's back at school today?” “I saw her earlier this morning,” Fluttershy said. “It looks like her arm is broken.” “Better a broken arm than anything else,” said Applejack. She looked at Rarity. “Still wanna go with the original plan?” “We'll be less intense than we intended, but we definitely need some answers from her.” Rarity pulled out her phone. “Assuming her schedule is still the same, we'll talk to her in the computer lab this afternoon. Then after school, before Pinkie and I go see Rainbow Dash, I'll have a word with Moondancer.” “You think you're gonna get any answers out of her?” “Princess Twilight is friends with her Equestrian counterpart. She gave me some advice on how to handle her. We'll see if it works.” “What about Firecracker Burst?” “Given what happened to Rainbow, I think we may need to postpone her interview until tomorrow.” “You need me for backup with Moondancer?” “No,” said Rarity. “You and Fluttershy head to the hospital to visit Sunset as we planned. We've been away from her long enough. I'll be by as soon as I can.” “Sounds good,” Applejack replied. She looked at the other girls. “Look, y'all, I know this ain't what we hoped would happen and we're up against someone who definitely is more dangerous than anything we've dealt with, but we can't fall apart now. If we give up, she wins, and I know we ain't gonna leave Sunset behind like this, right?” “Right!” Rarity said firmly. Twilight nodded. “Right.” “Right,” said Fluttershy, after wiping her eyes. The girls looked over at Pinkie, who blinked and looked up. “Huh?” “Pinkie, darling,” Rarity's voice was filled with concern. “Did you get any sleep last night?” “Not really,” Pinkie murmured. “Are you sure you're up for school today?” “I'm fine,” Pinkie replied, her voice flat. The bell rang and the hallway outside the door began filling with the sounds of students. Pinkie stood up and grabbed her backpack. “I'll see you after school, Rarity.” She trudged out of the room and joined the throng of students. The others exchanged another worried glance. “I think we better keep an eye on her,” Applejack said. “I agree,” replied Rarity. “I'll try to find out what's going on when we go see Rainbow this afternoon. Twilight, you have a few classes with her, don't you?” Twilight nodded. “I'll make sure she meets up with you later. I better go catch up.” She grabbed her own backpack and left the music room. The remaining three girls stood up themselves. Fluttershy rushed over and hugged both Rarity and Applejack. Her friends returned the hug. “It's gonna be okay, sugarcube,” Applejack whispered into Fluttershy's ear. “I promise.” Fluttershy released her friends, gave them a small smile and left the music room. Rarity and Applejack sighed and looked at each other. “We're in over our heads, ain't we?” Applejack asked. “Yes, I'm afraid we are. But what else can we do?” Applejack nodded. “The best we can, Rares. The best we can.”