//------------------------------// // Don't get Cooked, Stay Off the Hook // Story: The Many Destinies of Sunset Shimmer // by ratedoni //------------------------------// Applejack saw with some degree of jealousy at what Rainbow Dash was doing and although it wasn’t a good plan on the long run, it was still very tempting for the blonde girl to start bashing her head on the wall like her friend. At least it would be a solution to all the nervous energy and guilt currently bubbling inside of her. Rainbow apparently couldn’t get rid of her own feelings playing sports, but it was obvious considering how much Rainbow was beating herself up; Applejack winced at the mental pun she had made, but it was true since Rainbow was not only feeling guilt about the latest drama, but also of all the friendship related occasions she have failed to be with her friends. The blonde knew very well how that felt since she was also part of the whole problem; she always tried to follow the teachings of her parents and the rest of the Apple clan by extending a hand of friendship and camaraderie to all, but she had failed; worst still, she had told Sunset that she like family to her, part of the Apple Family. What a way to spit on her parent’s teachings and all because of something as stupid as a child nickname; if she had been ashamed before, learning what she had done and who had let that information be known was enough to make her stay forever in her room. To think that she and the rest of the group had turned their backs on Sunset when she needed them the most, and all because of hearsay and rumors. It was so damn obvious and they felt for the trap like fishes going for the hook; that was what they were, fishes that took the bait hook, line and sinker, all because three little girls were jealous of Sunset. It should have been obvious that someone was framing Sunset, but she acted like a spoiled brat and abandoned her friend when she needed her, now here they were, waiting for good news as the statue in front of them continued to ripple and move as if it were made of water instead of rock. They should have known that something was wrong the moment they didn’t see Sunset the next day, but they were so angry that they didn’t notice, what with the constant posts of Anon-A-Miss making everything even more volatile than normal in the school. That should have triggered an alarm on her head, but she had been so angry with Sunset that she didn’t care, not until the portal underneath the statue began to react strangely. Princess Twilight had been basically send flying from the mirror, crashing against Rarity who had been standing in front of the statue, so it was clear that things were not okay and things only got worse when she told them the reason of her visit. Apparently, Sunset had been so depressed that she had wrote to Twilight for advice at what had happened and boy was the princess mad at them. The way she had begun to tear apart all the things they said; first the reason why they were so sure it was Sunset, how the simple fact that the blog was red and yellow was not enough and if they had any kind of hard evidence that Sunset had done it. When Rainbow and Applejack tried to defend themselves that the photo had come from Sunset’s phone Twilight simply glared at them even harder. That’s when all crumbled once they saw that there was a new Anon-A-Miss post at that moment. It would be impossible for Sunset to be Anon-A-Miss since she was lost among the multiverse, so it would be a little hard for her to write a new post since she wasn’t even on Earth anymore. Apparently when she wanted to get Princess Twilight’s help with what was going on the mirror began to malfunction and as Sunset stepped inside the mirror, this destabilized and instead of being a connection between Earth and Equestria, well, Twilight wasn’t sure where it could have sent Sunset Shimmer. From all of them, Fluttershy had been the one that had took it the worst; since Twilight told them what had happened, the shy girl had locked herself on her room and would not come out; last time Rarity and Pinkie had went to her house they could hear her sobbing and was enough to make Pinkie’s usual mess of curls fall flat across her back. Things were definitely crashing down around them and it didn’t help that with Twilight’s worry and rage the school had been all but turned upside down in the search of the real Anon-A-Miss. Applejack still remembered how Twilight’s eyes were practically shining with repressed anger and disappointment as she spoke inside of the gym to all the students reunited; it made her feel diminutive, and she wasn’t the only one. The fact that they all now knew that Sunset was lost in another dimension while Anon-A-Miss still kept on sending post after post made everyone stop and think about it. So here they were, with only one explanation of how Anon-A-Miss could get access to Applejack, Rarity and Rainbow Dash’s secrets; it had been so simple, basically in front of their faces the whole time; no wonder Apple Bloom was always trying to convince her that Sunset was Anon-A-Miss. She left the punishment and the full nine yards to her Granny, not that she was off the hook with Granny since she had told her several times to think before acting. Twilight meanwhile, still as angry as the rest of them about that kind of deception from the three friends, kept on working on the mirror. It was weird, the princess didn’t seem surprised that Apple Bloom and her friends had been the ones behind the whole thing, only disappointed and worried about Sunset. She had started to work on finding where exactly Sunset was almost immediately and haven’t even taken a rest for the last couple of days. Applejack was taken from her own thoughts after hearing the excited scream of Twilight; immediately standing up from the front stairs, the blonde girl quickly reached Twilight’s side to see what had happened. “I found it! I found the dimension she felt into!” “Wait, what? How did you-” “It was in a book that Starswirl wrote! It basically says that Equestrian magic can be searched across the different realities and each one has their own unique feeling.” “So you basically used magical radar to search for her?” “A little bit more complicated than that, but now I know where she is and… what is going on with the mirror?” Looking at the statue’s base they began to see how weird it began to look; instead of the ripple of dark colors, this time it began to vibrate in a deep red color, just before they were caught on a literal deluge of a liquid that had been jettisoned through the portal. The power of the liquid had been so strong that the two of them had been pushed into the main hall of the school, with other students being victims of the literal tsunami of what seemed like… paint? Once Applejack could get her bearings back she saw that most of her body had been turned red due to the massive wave of paint that had come from the portal and not too far away from her she heard the voice of Rarity who had also been splashed; Applejack didn’t want to imagine the tantrum she will launch due to her clothes being ruined by the paint deluge, but just as she was about to stand up, right underneath her, in the painted floor of the school, two eyes opened up scaring the hell out of Applejack who jumped backwards as from among the paint, a figure appeared as if she had been part of the paint. A hollering figure, obviously feminine, appeared in front of everyone in the hall; she had what seemed four tentacles working as her hair, with two of them falling across her back, with another two working as bangs across a face that looked human, but still looked alien to her, except… she knew that face, that color… those eyes. “Yeah, it worked, I did it! I opened the portal by myself!” “What the ink you mean by doing it yourself!” the young… something looked for something inside her grey and green jacket and took out an old walkie-talkie with what seemed like a cartoonish squid on top of it. So, did that mean the girl was a squid or something similar? “Oh, shut it Pearl, the only thing you did was be a pain in the behind.” “Don’t make me cross too and splat your ass all over the map!” “I swear, the only thing you two do is snark and fight, you two have the weirdest friendship I have ever seen,” another voice came through the walkie-talkie making this as surprising as possible. “Marina, the midget and I are not friends… oh, hey guys, sorry for all the ink,” that smile, those eyes, even with that weird domino mask-like marks around the eyes, Applejack recognized them. “Sunset?”