My Grandma once said, ‘Watch with attentive eyes the whole world around you, because for the greatest secrets to be found, you must delve in the most unlikely of places.’ It’s something that I have taken to heart, even when our views of life diverge, to an extent at least.
Secrets are one of the greatest aspects of humanity, for they deliver fear to the heart, doubt to the soul, intrigue to the spirit, and above all else, give us the chance to recognize friend from foe, ally from enemy, monsters from humans, and gods from devils. Those who know the truth and are still able to hold such deep shames or horrors safe from others´ ears are valuable people, for they become keepers of knowledge, and transcend to a higher existence.
They evolve, becoming a pillar of trust.
Perhaps I am embellishing this a bit, after all, such individuals are only one in every million. And even if one manages to find one kind of pillar in this life… how much would it take for it to betray you? No, the real question would be; How much one needs to betray it to make it turn its back on you? How much guilt and regret that pillar must withstand from one’s sins until its conscience crumbles on the floor and rises again like a phoenix? Devils and monsters can bore in them the right notes to do the right thing, and not even them can stop an awakened righteous heart, no matter the cost they must pay for revealing the truth.
But focus on the present I must, for I need to know a secret from someone.
Hiding above the roof of a colorful tree house, I was comfortably laying my back on its sturdy wood. The Apple’s trees are very resilient across the seasons, the leaves remaining gracing me with a hiding spot that my targets couldn’t uncover unless they paid enough attention to it. As I saw the clouds pass within the limited view that the branches and leaves allowed me to have, I grew bored as I waited for the main event to appear.
Doing this makes me feel like a kind of a spy… sort of. I mean, who doesn’t like the thrill, the scheming, the joy of fulfillment after a job well done regarding counter-scholar-terrorism against bullies and blackmailers from a school? I know that I do. At the same time, one can also learn to use poison to fight poison.
It’s… exhilarating sometimes, even if deep down I know it’s wrong.
Following Bittersweet’s steps were very easy to match. After he said to me that he would oppose me, I knew I needed to check on him more regularly. See what he was planning on my back and counterattack. The fool, believing that he can stop me at this point of the match, even going so far to recruit the Crusaders, of all people he could think of. I didn’t believe it at first but following the kids and him around the school made my suspicions on their actions clearer. I even heard from Applejack in the morning that they repaired the tree house where I was currently resting on.
I gotta admit that the tree house looked cute on the outside.
Perhaps he told them about me. Perhaps not. I bet he didn’t tell them, he failed once and I’m sure he would fail again if he told them the truth. Innocent, lovely but annoying little kids, thank you for being as naïve as the rest. Still, I don’t know what’s in his head regarding their recruitment but I wouldn’t be even here if I didn’t care about fulfilling my objective. My plans must keep going on the right track, and I can’t be careless, no matter how much advantage I have right now. A little eavesdropping and damage control never hurts a plan.
Never.
Alas, they were taking too long, and they had an advantage in the form of Big Mac and his truck to begin with. It’s been almost half of an hour since school was over and more than ten minutes since I arrived here and no signs from them could be seen on the road down there. If I had known that Big Mac was a very slow driver, I would have stopped by the local store and bought some snacks instead of rushing and taking several shortcuts. My teeth hungered for a hard candy, but oh well, better earlier than sorry, as everyone says. I decided to relax my position even further and whistle for a bit. I can wait a bit more.
I have waited three long years already and I will do it again for the sake of my goals.
…. ….
Ten minutes later.
“We must hurry or we’re gonna be late!” A glimpse of Scootaloo’s loud voice was heard across the winds.
I moved my head to the direction of the road and I spotted a red truck coming to the Apple’s terrains. As the Elder Apple Sibling parked his vehicle and the passengers got out, I checked one last time that I was in a safe spot. The trio ran towards the stairs of their tree house and hopped inside. Such energy, such passion!
“It’s better than I expected.” The fool’s voice was of amazement.
Not moving from my spot, I closed my eyes and focused on the moment, on my surroundings, on my targets. I could hear it, Scootaloo rushing to the center of the modest tree house. I could feel it, Sweetie Belle’s tender steps as she was walking to the other side of the hall, carrying with her something of moderate size. I could picture it, Applebloom standing near them and tidying the place. I could imagine it, him sitting in the cramped place filled with cute little girls, putting an embarrassed face and hiding it from them.
“What’s wrong, Bub?” Applebloom asked.
“Nothing. It’s just that I never imagined I would be sitting in such a… rosy place.” He said embarrassed. “Looks nice, so good job.”
“Thanks!”
Hehehe, I knew it!
“Well, y’all! Let’s start our first official meeting at our new club house!” Applebloom shouted.
“YAY!!!” Her friends followed.
I know he was in a dire spot but I never imagined that he was desperate enough to seek help from The Cutie Crusaders. But who else but them? I made sure that he cut all ties with his trusted friends, one way or another. The only one who could actually lend him a hand because of loyalty and deep friendship was Gilda, but she was helping him with Sugarcoat right now. And even if she managed to calm her down and bring with her the rest of his friends, by the time she brought the reinforcements, my victory would have become a forgotten memory already.
“We should all come up with an idea to write our own anthem!” Scootaloo’s voice trembled with excitement.
“That sounds like a great idea!”
“CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS FOREVER!!”
“YEAH!”
I could see it clearly, his face of desperation as he saw the trio jumping and laughing together, celebrating for their participation in a school activity in a while. The vibrations of their motions reached my back. He didn’t say a word, nor scolded them, after all, they were still kids, and kids deserve every opportunity to have fun before reaching the last year of high school.
Right, Bittersweet?
While they finished exchanging ideas for songs and having their own fun, I checked my phone and texted back to my friends’ messages. I must uncover what he intends to do, but their discussion was so slow that even texting seemed funnier. He must help Sunset. Period. That’s the only thing that matters now to him. How must he achieve it? By cleaning the crap we created for her. How must he do it? Oh, that’s the interesting part.
They were so slow, though.
No sooner than the breeze of autumn exploring my mortal vessel, Applebloom brought from the house cookies that Granny Smith made for the occasion. They began eating the treats to reinvigorate their blood with essential nutrients, and surprisingly, I grew jealous of the fact that they were eating carrot cookies with a mix of apple fiber with a good glass of fresh milk and some natural marmalades of different kinds.
“Crap, I am hungry now.” I smirked in defeat, the smell coming from inside unbearably delicious to my nose.
“Alright, y’all! Let’s make this official!” Applebloom started moving across the room. “Before starting our meeting, we must promise three things to make this mission work! Number one; this is a secret mission! Anyone who isn’t any of the present here can’t know about this! Put both hands in your heart and say, ‘We are a team and we won’t spill the beans’!”
“We are a team and we won’t spill the beans!” The group said in chant, Nitpick a bit embarrassed while doing it.
“Number two; we must put ourselves a time limit for real about this! If we laze around, time will catch with us and we have at least ten days to make this thing work, y’all!”
“We have more than ten days, Applebloom!” Scootaloo said. “Remember that Thanksgiving is going to happen on the last Thursday of the month! There’ll be plenty of time to do things right!”
“Yeah, but just like a good sale, if you don’t act quickly, all the good stuff will be taken.”
She was right. For them it was Wednesday 12th, and Thanksgiving was going to happen in fifteen days. There would be plenty of opportunities for something bad to happen, and diminishing their mistakes with daily planning was a most for them. I must make sure that those plans never come to fruition now, mustn’t I?
“And what’s number three?”
“We should use codenames to talk about these things while in public!”
“YAY!” The girls rejoiced.
“This will be fun!”
“We would be like secret agents of friendship!”
I was about to explode in laughter when they finished saying that. I struggled to keep my posture intact and don’t make a rattle! I could see it! His face! I could see his face falling on his hands and wildly scratching his hair.
“What kind of codenames should we use?”
“Foreign names!”
“Genius!”
Those kids will kill me!
“I know a lot about those!” Sweetie Belle raised her voice.
“Why should we use codenames, girls?”
“Because when we want to talk about our progress in public, nobody will know what we are actually talking about! We can say it’s a private joke of sorts!”
Your operation is a private joke, alright!
“That… actually could work. Most of the school think that you are always wasting time anyway.”
“That’s rig- not true, Bub!!”
“Anyway, Sweetie Belle, have you thought about our names yet?”
“Yeah! Applebloom will be called Michelle, you’ll be call Madeline, and I’ll assume the identity of Claire!”
“…Why?” The girls all asked amused and somewhat perplexed.
“I don’t know, but I think they fit with us. Like, if in another life we were famous voice actress or something.”
“Right~, Sweetie Belle… Hey, can I choose another name? I believe I have a better one for me!”
“Let’s hear it, Scoots!”
The little child cleared her throat and simply said, “Rainbowloo!”
… …What a lame name.
It didn’t take him a second to respond, “Rejected.”, as he slammed his hand on something sturdy like a judge.
“But it sounds cool!”
“Don’t make kick you out of this mission, padawan!”
“Aww…”
“In any case, let’s get down to business!” After a few minutes of quietness, she continued. “Prepare to be amazed by the super duper incredible information we made for you! It took six hours to prepare all of it! Many good minutes were lost during Mr. Cranky’s class.”
“So that’s why you disappeared in the middle of the movie!” Nitpick said a bit concerned.
“It was for the greater good!”
“Say already that it was a boring class. I almost fell asleep as well.”
“And Mr. Doodle didn’t miss us at all.”
“Don’t do that ever again, even if it concerns this, it’s that clear, padawans?”
“Yeah…” The trio expressed apologetic.
“Well then, let’s start!” Sweetie Belle clapped her hands. “Behold!”
I needed to see but I couldn’t move from my spot. If I got down, Big Mac could see me through the window of his home, and even if I managed to casually go down and knock the door, what kind of explanation I could give to them? Bittersweet would instantly know that I followed him. Making him paranoid would serve me well… but at the same time… He had enough to worry about.
“So… what Sunset said about her past self was truer than I imagined.” He said with a bit of disappointment. “Is this for real?”
Sweetie Belle then said, “But that was before. Now she is one the best girls one can befriend. There were also mean gossips of all the students combined in our file but we only focused with the stuff that Sunset did in the past.”
Curses! What is he reading!? Screw it, I must see!
Quietly I put down my head on the window, and there I saw it. Sunset’s younger self was showed on the projector. Many pictures besides it brought to me many bitter memories. One in particular was when she humiliated the cooking club because she didn’t like the grilled chicken they did for their first try as a team. It wasn’t good but it didn’t excuse her of what she did to them.
Burning their utensils wasn’t a kind gesture, and them paying for something they didn’t do was out of the question.
As they continued the presentation, I noticed something. Those were the Anon-A-Miss archives they posted when the trio were spreading gossips! So a copy of their deeds survived after all! Clever brats.
Making sure that nobody was below the tree house or looking at me through the window of the Apple’s house, I came back to my resting position above the roof with a clearer idea of what’s this all about.
After a few minutes of silence, he finally said, “Melody had a jazz club? …And she played the Saxophone as well!? What happened to it?”
“They disbanded. But she enjoys music so much that she teaches music to others!”
“Yeah, as you know, she sometimes teaches some kids from the block how to play an instrument.”
“Ah, yes. I remember she mentioned that during that time where… I had my first fallout with Spitfire… while I defended Twilight. Hnh, If only I had acted wiser instead of being enraged back then. Ok, next.”
They continued talking but nothing was extraordinary or useful. They mentioned various names like Trixie, Minuette, and other students that no longer resided in CHS. But why? Damn it, give me another clue to work with!
“Okay, let’s go.” He stood up and opened the door.
“Shouldn’t we review the other stuff? We can do multiple friendship solutions today!”
Friendship solutions? Now we are talking.
“Trust me, girls, trying to do a lot of stuff in a short amount of time isn’t wise. I learned my lesson well when I tried to take leadership of the whole event and ended up sick last time.”
“Right.”
As they got out of the house, I noticed something incredibly peculiar. While they were walking to the bus stop, there was a shadow that wasn’t there before and didn’t belong to the tree that slowly started moving from it, a little bump that had assumed the form of a cowgirl hat. Her hair that looked like silky golden hay flew away with the wind, her arms crossed tightly and legs firmly standing on the ground with a silhouette of determination.
It seems that I wasn’t the only one who eavesdropped for a bit.
…. ….
Watching the students do the usual routine became a stale existence for Nitpick. Now that they no longer were strangers to the halls and procedures of each institution, CHS and Crystal Prep didn’t argue as often as before with each other. They created with pure silence and dedication an unsigned treaty of peace, claiming that finishing the job was more important than blaming who didn’t do what. Also it meant that they didn’t have to see each other in the face, something that was pleasant for people like Sour Sweet and Suri Polomare.
As he walked with his documentation in hand, he stumbled with Zap, only giving him an indifferent stare as she continued her path, the stress of Sugarcoat giving her a stale approach in her social life. He had a sudden pity for her, but he decided to focus on his mission. He soon began doing his daily inspection and decided to put his mystery quest at halt.
He gave to the crusaders some documentation, and it seemed that they had to fill it. As I proceeded to following them from the shadows and avoiding some students along the way, Lyra painfully among them, I realized that they were actually learning how to analyze things on what was wrong with our procedures. At least, I hoped it wasn’t the case.
As he inspected the progress all of CHS had while filling his format, he was happy - as much as it was unbelievable coming from him - to see that the students had come a long way since the first day of the competition. No longer they had to play ‘catch the mice’ to put order on the halls, no more were the days where the representatives had to tell the students to separate organic and inorganic trash and dispose them on the right containers. A new culture of good values and scheduling dawned on them.
For a fleeting moment, it felt like if he was in another school, with other people, in a better situation. Such nostalgic face he had as he wrote down the rest of his notes.
“Alright, that should be all. Let me see what you have!”
“Here!”
“I believe we did well!”
“We did awesome if you ask me!”
“Let’s see if-!”
I didn’t need to guess that they screwed up as he got quite for a second before trying to say something to the three inexperienced girls. His face was priceless.
“We did great, right?”
Then, he saw it. A picture he couldn’t avoid seeing. A scene he mustn’t ruin in his life. Eyes sparkling with hope and longing for approval were looking at him with smiles and shimmering teeth. Part of me felt guilty for trying to laugh at him, but it was almost impossible. His face was funny as hell.
“Yes.” He forced his way to not answer bluntly. “It was a good first try… Let’s do the tour again and let me teach you how to do things up a bit better!”
“Sure!”
“No problem!”
“Every day is a new opportunity to learn something new!”
“Right!”
He didn’t know where to start and explain things again. I suppose I could help for a bit. Charity is a nice thing to do after all. Sometimes.
“Hi, there!”
“Oh…” He mumbled as he looked at me with a tired gaze. “Bon Bon.”
“Hi, Bon Bon!” The trio greeted me more enthusiastically.
“So, what are you doing?”
“Nothing that concerns you.”
“So cruel! So mean! Why are you denying me like this!?”
“Don’t be so dramatic.”
“Girls?”
“We are filling this format! It’s really hard but we are giving it our best shot!”
I knew it. It was the check list of the things we were supposed to do every day.
“Good luck with this!”
“Thanks!” They shouted in harmony.
I peeked on the papers and gently took it away from the leader’s hands, much to his displeasure. “You know, Applebloom… Hmm, how should I word it? Here you are supposed to see if we are lacking resources. For example, haven’t you noticed that we don’t have enough brooms now?”
“Now that you mention it, it’s true!”
“Sweetie Belle, you put that we had enough water for the students when that isn’t true.”
“We have six bottles of water in the fridge for all of us!”
“Will it be enough for ten students in this place?”
“If they can share the stuff it will.”
“Sometimes one is more thirsty than another. We must make sure that we have a bit more than the required to do things right.”
“Oh, I understand now!”
“Scootaloo… why did you put that we are done for today?”
“Because it’s true!”
“I noticed that we haven’t even helped the staff gather the leafs on the yard.”
“But that’s outside the building! It’s busy work that don’t belong to us!”
The spitting image of laziness from Dash stunk around you, Scootaloo.
“Bittersweet, you have your hands full with these three and it seems that you cannot do your duties under these circumstances. Why don’t you allow me to help you? I’ll buy you some juices!”
“Yay!!”
“No.” They gave him the cute, sad face and he finally succumbed to their charm. “Fine.”
…. ….
After a job well done for the first try, The Crusaders were drinking juices, courtesy of me, while we were resting on the park nearby. They felt needed, as their good mood and smiles became a little beacon of joy for me. As for him, he looked like crap once again, struggling to socialize with people that weren’t of his age. His only consolation was that the grass floor was comfy and not filled with dead branches or dirt. Sweetie Belle lend him a mantle to lay back anyway.
“This isn’t what I expected.” He sighed heavily, looking at the sky with skeptical eyes.
“It’s a lot of work but it’s really fun!” I said. “Those kids look happy as hell!”
“I don’t know why… Where are you going?”
I climbed a tree and laid my back on it. “Ta-dah!”
“Stay there until I get home, alright?”
“No, thanks. You could get lost in the dark corner of the streets if I don’t walk you around!”
“Shut it.”
“What are you planning to do with those kids?”
“Nothing.”
“Look at their faces!” I pointed at the place where they sat. “They look so cute trying to figure out how to do your homework on their own.”
“If they manage to do it by themselves and become helpful to the others, everyone will trust them again and say that they weren’t guilty of the incident from last time.”
“Who is everyone?” I asked with mockery. “I thought you didn’t use that word lightly.”
“This time it applies to all involved to the vandalism that happened on CHS.”
“I never thought it was them, so don’t put me in that generalization, please.”
“Now I know that you are screwing with me.” He put himself comfortable and crossed his legs. “Please go away, I’m not in the mood to hear your shenanigans.”
“Perhaps I can give you company more intimately besides you and comfort you.”
“Quiet.”
“Heh… Whatever you’re planning, it won’t work on me.”
“I’ll stop you.”
“Half-hearted plans are useless against me.”
“Lady Luck will help me this time.”
“Oh, and why’s that?”
“Because this time I’m trying to help the innocent.”
“You have tried to help people from the bottom of your heart before and failed.”
“This time it will be different.”
“Because of them? Please, innocent and energetic doesn’t equal miracles.”
“They’ll make a miracle.”
“No if I get in your path.”
“If you harm those kids in any way…”
“Don’t worry. I’m not demon to do such monstrosity. As a matter of fact, I may help you at helping them.”
“I know that tone! What are you planning?” I whistled to his question. “Bon Bon.”
“Nothing that you should know. You have your secrets now, and I have mine as well.”
He sat down and looked at me angrily from below. “Tell me what are you scheming now!”
“Tell me what your current agenda is.”
“Never!”
“Never say never.”
“Damn you.”
“I really like teasing you!” I lazily put my hand on my belly while letting gravity swing my unused arm. “Let’s go to the movies sometime.”
“You really get on my nerves.”
“Because you overthink too much. Pride. Heh! Justice. Ha! Doing the right thing is an embodiment of the two. Whatever your next move is will fail because you are desperate. You dragged those three because you grew weary and tired of not knowing who to trust. But let me share with you a little tip of my own. Want to beat me? Try something better, something daring. Do the unexpected!”
“It’s like you want me to stop you.”
“Truth is that I don’t want you to ruin my plans but I told you before, didn’t I? If I’m meant to fail, at least I want to be beaten by someone like you. I want to get rid of Sunset… no matter the cost.” Leaves flew around us as a cold breeze traversed the now silent park.
“Bon Bon…”
“I found the solution to it, y’all!” Applebloom shouted in triumph.
The trio gathered around the young redhead farmer and looked at her paper with complete attention. As she read and explained to them what she thought it was the right thing to put on the documentations, I soon noticed that Bittersweet had a caring expression on his visage. I was certain of one thing, he wanted to help the girls reunite with their sisters through hard work. That was a sweet thing to do but life is not that simple. There are always obstacles that make the journey an infernal path of frustration to some.
And sadly for him, I’ll give him hell if he stands in my way!
…. ….
The Crusaders were minding their own business while riding in the bus that leaded to Ponyville. Their humor was impeccable, feeling reassurance and a sense of fulfillment after working so hard their still immature minds. I was sitting a few seats away from them. Waiting for the best moment to begin my newest plan.
“This is our stop!” Scootaloo shouted.
As they got down of the bus, I casually stepped down as well and followed them at a generous distance, my phone occupying most of my field of vision on purpose.
Wait for it… Increase speed of my footsteps… Crash!
“Ouch!” Sweetie Belle whined.
“I’m sorry! I got careless with my phone and didn’t notice you were in front of me!”
“Oh, it’s you, Bon Bon!”
“It’s weird for you to be clumsy. Something wrong?”
You calling me clumsy is one thing.
“Nothing. You know, the usual! Checking text messages, posting silly pictures in MyStable! Stuff. How about you?”
“We are going home!”
“Not before retrieving our stuff at Sweetie’s room!”
Time to put my plan in motion.
“Why don’t you have a sleep over with Sweetie Belle? Your stuff is there and you can play until midnight. We won’t do a lot of activities in school tomorrow.”
“We kinda talked about that but…”
“But what?” I innocently asked.
“Rarity is still mad at me for what happened the other time?”
“You mean that stuff you broke but in reality you didn’t broke?”
“Yeah… Why can’t Rarity be like you? You are one of the few people that believe us!”
“For starters, even if I’m sometimes blunt with you, I care about you.” I patted their heads and playfully messed with their hairs. “Friends like me are concerned that you could harm people’s feelings, like the time where you were Anon and such.”
“We are different this time, y’all!”
“We’ll help people!”
“We won’t let the school down again!”
“WE ARE THE CUTIE CRUSADERS! UNITED WE STAND AGAINST CRYSTAL PREP!” The trio jumped with joy and passion.
“Good! Very good!” I clapped at them. “Still, you need to become stronger, your thoughts need to be sharper, your ideas clearer! You need to formulate your plans now! A slumber party here and there can help you out! Don’t you have a place where you can gather and think?”
“We have-!” Applebloom quickly shut down Sweetie Belle’s mouth.
“Excuse us for a moment.” The younger Apple say.
“Sure, go ahead.”
They walked away a few steps from me and began whispering. As for me, I laid my back on a post and began looking for things to share on my profile. There were some cute owls I found near the borders of the town and I was looking for the best to put on my timeline. Also… although I don’t have the hearing of a true born pony like Sunset or the Princess, I could still hear them pretty well.
“You were about to spill the beans.”
“It’s just a tree house. She doesn’t need to know what we do there!”
“What if people come nearby and hear our plans?”
“The guys could get mad if they know we are using the Anon-A-Miss archives!”
“Shh!” The three whispered, and I hid a giggle with my mouth. Such sweet children.
“But she is Bon Bon! She trusts in us! Maybe we can make her join us! She is super smart in these things and she could give us ideas and support!”
“Yeah!”
“Can’t deny that.”
I felt so flattered hearing that. Such a shame, though.
“But what about Nitpick? We promised that this was a secret operation.”
“Then how about… How about we only ask her tips for our plans when get stuck in something we can’t do alone?”
“And could only tell her that it’s for helping school’s businesses!”
“Yeah!”
The little ones came back to me, brimming, innocent, but mischievous face looking at me with big expectations and hope.
“We have a tree house, but we can’t exactly sleep there yet.”
“My big bro is getting some cement and bricks to reinforce the foundations of the house and some walls. Could get really cold if the house is made of only wood during winter.”
“I see. I suppose the tree will handle the extra weight, then.”
“It’s a very robust tree. It didn’t even budge when Big Mac was hammering the original house some years ago.”
“Then how about we have a slumber party in Lyra’s? I just called her and she and I will watch some movies together. You can join in if you at least buy a jumbo pack of chips.”
“REALLY!?” The trio yelled with joy, forgetting their mission altogether.
“Are you really inviting us?”
“We won’t get in the way?”
“Can we play some games?”
“Yes, no, and yes! Call your parents and if everything goes green, follow me!”
…. ….
It was almost midnight. Charming, soft and angelical figures were playing a game of Mana the Gathering, one of the most popular card games in the planet. The Crusaders united forces to destroy Lyra, who was the Great Lord in the commander mode. Three versus one, the commander having special powers to withstand the combined assault of the tree. The poor fools didn’t have a single drop of opportunity against her, though.
Somehow, Lyra was always lucky in pulling the most powerful cards in each season.
Meanwhile, I was left to the task of adjusting Sweetie Belle’s laptop. When we tried to watch a movie on Netmazon, her laptop was so slow that it could it barely load one percent of the movie per ten minute. So, having a bit of technological skills thanks to Lightbulb and my Mom, I began to inspect the issues of what should have been a powerful hardware. Virus, Malware, worms, and fucking Trojan horse. Restoring her machine to peak condition would cost me my fun during our slumber party.
Obviously, that was part of the plan.
I knew too well that Rarity and Sweetie Belle weren’t smart enough about the dangers of cookies and clicking stupid click-baits on the web. At least Rarity had Shimmer to guide and help her when her machine felt off. The younger sister wasn’t lucky, until now. The only thing I asked for was to find the files of Anon-A-Miss and destroy them.
It’s been three hours by now, and no sign of the files yet.
Lyra suddenly laughed with a somber tone of victory. “You are doomed!” She said. “Warriors of Light, feeble and cower before my loyal servant!” She raised a card above her head and revealed the image to them. “With the spirits of shadow and fire-” She was referring the her resources. “I invoke Red and Blue Eyed Infernobreath Dragon!”
The most powerful dragon card in the current meta of the game. Super short-print and expensive. I love that woman but I hate her lucky pulls.
“OH NO!” The trio were in despair.
“Quick, does someone have a mana mitigator?”
“No!”
“We are doomed!”
The Anti-Malware Enforcer finished scanning the hard disk at last. Considering that the Anti-Virus and several other programs were running at the same time, Sweetie’s laptop was potent indeed. Some of the uncorrupted files were damaged, but they were functional enough to see a peek of them. No sign of the Anon-A-Miss files were found, much to my displeasure.
“Well done, Crusaders!” Lyra’s commanding voice echoed in the room. “You managed to freeze my servant for one turn. But if you think that you will survive, then you. ARE. WRONG!!” She laughed like a villainous maniac.
“Faith, Crusaders!” Shouted Applebloom. “The Heart of the Cards will guide us!”
“That’s from Duel Kings! It doesn’t apply to Mana!”
“I can’t believe you mismatched the mood!”
“And you must die for that!” Lyra said enraged. A faithful hater of Duel King she was, much to my own anger.
How could she hate that anime? No, wait, considering she likes crappy Pirate Moon…
Next was the antivirus to sound its alarm. Three thousand and twenty six threats? What the hell she was viewing on the web? No matter, the software did its job and it removed most of the corrupted files. Mostly repeated images and empty Office files. I focused my energy on the few Word and PP files and found nothing of interest from them. All could be easier if I could navigate her PC freely, but I couldn’t open files carelessly as long as the chance of them coming to see my search existed.
“ALL YOUR RESOURCES HAVE JUST BEEN DESTROYED BY THE EFFECT OF MY INSTANT CARD, DOOM MYST!”
“NOOOO!”
They were dead. It was just a matter of time for me to fail as well.
And my time was almost extinguished. The laptop gained considerable speed after the two programs cleansed critical system files and erased garbage from the hard drive. Still, the fragmentation of the drive was taking ages because of the sudden cleansing. I would never find the files like that.
I cannot fail like this!
“You have THAT card!?” Lyra was amazed and frightened.
“Yes!” Sweetie Belle barked in victory. “To activate this card, I must possess at least three Angel Creatures. I place the land, Dessert of Risen Angels, in my board.”
“That card will only delay the inevitable!”
“Or it can buy us some time!”
And to me as well.
Like a miracle, the DiskSpace Cleaner found something of interest after purging other kind of corrupted files and saving the salvageable. There were exactly four files that were over ten megabytes in size, and one of them was a presentation with a rather amusing name. Peeking quickly to back, that was the best chance to look at the files quickly and see if I hit jackpot.
The moment of truth was before me… and I succeeded.
I took a quickie and realized that the files were filled with all the gossips and dark secrets of the school. My duty was clear. I selected every single of those filthy documents and let the program deleted them for good.
The nightmare…
“…was over.”
“DIE, CRUSADERS!”
“NOO!”
I didn’t know what to do; Laugh because they were taking the game too seriously, or be a little amused that they were still pure kids at heart.
I like the latter… If only the whole world were like this.
“Ok, be gone! Let my eternal rival face me once again!” Lyra challenged me.
“Alright, Heartstrings. The defrag function just finished and I restarted the laptop.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, Sweetie. Come, check it out!”
As soon as the desk was functional, Sweetie Belle was amazed and extremely happy that her laptop wasn’t lagging anymore. It could open more programs at the same time without flinching and delaying its speed.
“It’s great, Bon Bon! You are a genius!”
“Nah, Twilight, Micro Chips or Lightbulb could have done better. Look, here is the history file of each software and what it deleted.”
“I see. I didn’t even know that I had all those apps installed there.”
“It only deleted dangerous or infected files beyond salvation. Your laptop is now safe.”
“Alright! This… … No… Oh no… Nononononono, NO!”
“What’s wrong?”
“The programs… they deleted those files!!”
The expression of horror from the Crusaders was… bitter and uncomfortable for me. I didn’t want to make them feel like failures or useless… But it was the only way to set them apart from a path of destruction, even if their intentions regarding the data were good.
I… I’m so…