//------------------------------// // Tear it Up or Anon-a-Abyss // Story: Not Another Anon-a-Miss Fic // by Justice3442 //------------------------------// One hand shakily holding onto the indifferently cold handrail of a staircase and the other tightly clutching to my journal- my lifeline; I descend down to join my fellow classmates of Canterlot High. My name is Sunset Shimmer, and I have committed grievous sins. I clutch the journal tighter to my body as I try to make myself as small as possible. I haven’t slept well the last few days… maybe even at all. My head throbs and my vision is blurred, but I’m doing everything I can to avoiding getting in the way of anyone. My name is Sunset Shimmer, and I am struggling. I thought I could move on from my wrong doing… That by showing that I’d changed, by saving those I once tormented, that I could earn peace. I thought… I had thought that maybe that was enough to earn forgiveness… maybe even acceptance. My name is Sunset Shimmer, and I was wrong. The toll my crimes have taken is clearly more than I can hope to pay. But the bill has still come due. As I try to quietly make my way through the crowd, someone bumps into me and knocks me straight to the ground. My name is Sunset Shimmer, and I am still hated. I drop my journal and as I’m prostrated on my hands and knees, their words come. Words reminding me of what I was once. Words accusing me of things I know I didn’t do, but things I was once more than capable of nonetheless. No one relents and I am battered down verbally with accusations of crimes I didn’t commit. My name is Sunset Shimmer, and I deserve this. Memories come at me now as I hug my knees. Memories of what I did. Memories of black text against white background cheering this strife creating stranger’s actions and memories of those pleading for them to stop… all lain at my feet. All while words from those from whom I just want forgiveness continue to attack me. My name is Sunset Shimmer, and I want to die. I have nothing, nothing of value at least. I have no friends. No family. I AM nothing. Apologizing isn’t enough. Being kind isn’t enough. Even saving everyone from a dark and terrible evil isn’t enough. All I have left is a desire. One small desire that’s drowning in abyss of my own creation My name is Sunset Shimmer, and I scream. “LOOOOOOOOVE MEEEE!” Sunset hollered at the top of her lungs as she collapsed into a heap of tears on the tiled floor of Canterlot High. “WON’T SOMEONE JUST LOOOOOVE MEEEEEEEeeeeee?!” With one more breath, the word “Please” eked out of Sunset’s lips. Only sobs followed. The students around Sunset quickly parted to give her some space, which was more or less the opposite she was hoping for. That is, the students around her save one. A light-purple skinned girl with burnt orange hair tied into a massive braid and emerald eyes that appeared to be constantly scanning her surroundings as if death was potentially hiding inside every room, locker, or drinking faucet took immediate and terrified notice of the collapsed girl in front of her. Her mind raced as she clutched her hands together and held them against her thick purple coat, which seemingly doubled as armor for the girl, as she pressed her back against a green locker. Her red plaid legging-clad legs began a panicked dance in place as she stared down at Sunset. The girl looked to her left and right like a scared animal searching for a bolt hole. “Christ, Panic Station, what the hell did you do to the poor girl?!” Panic Station turned, though no hint of relief crossed her face, she at least stopped her frenzied dancing as a mocha-skinned girl with long brown hair and light field green eyes that looked to be already done with the day strolled up. Her loose-fitting, thigh-length denim dress, unbuttoned from her midriff up, swayed slightly as she moved exposing hints of a white shirt underneath. A shirt that had clearly seen better, and less greasy, days. Her large brown boots landed heavily on the tiles of the floor as she raised a rolled-up sleeve clothed hand up to her chin and pondered the situation carefully. “Me?!” Panic Station protested. “I didn’t do this! Associating with Sunset Shimmer is one of the fastest ways to increase one’s Potential Incident Steering Student to Death or Injury Quotient! I mean… There’s been studies.” The other girl turned and glared at Panic Station. “Yes, I remember your essays… Especially being included in them.” Panic Station frowned back. “Well, you should be more choosey with your part-time jobs, Oddjob! I mean, working at a, most likely, haunted restaurant for children?! Especially when children restaurants are already five times more likely to be haunted than most restaurants!  Not to mention all the other insane stuff you do. I mean… selling carpets and chemistry sets is waaaay safer job, provided all the carpets are kept near ground level and you don’t actually use the chemistry sets!” “Ugh, sounds boring,” Oddjob replied. “Boring is good!” Panic Station insisted, she began to idly fiddle with her massive braid. “Boring is safe…” Oddjob rolled her eyes. “Then find a nice boring friend who doesn’t enlarge your PISSDIQ!” Panic Station looked down at her white slip-on shoes. “I tried. The girl with the smallest PISSDIQ is named Wallflower Blush, and I just can’t find her!” Standing about an arm’s length away, a student with light-green skin and messy, long green hair folded her arms across her brown-and-tan striped sweater and glared at Panic Station with dull-brown eyes sitting above freckles. “I’m standing right here,” Wallflower informed. “I’ve been trying to get you to tell me more about your PISSDIQ for weeks!” “Ahhh!” Panic Station immediately leapt toward Oddjob and buried her face in the other girls’ chest. “Stranger danger! Stranger danger!” Oddjob sighed and extended a hand to Wallflower. “Sorry, Panic Station is bad at first impressions. And usually seconds… and thirds.  I’m Oddjob, and you are?” Wallflower lowered her eyelids. “I’m Wallflower, we sit next to each other in third period English and even worked on a group project together Freshman year.” “Oh, sorry!” Oddjob said. “That was a while ago, though.” Wallflower continued and began to list items off on her fingers. “And Sophomore year, twice Junior year, and two times so far this year.” “Uh…” Oddjob retracted her hand and nervously rubbed the back of her head and forced a smile. “Well, erm… Did I at least make a good first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh impression?” Wallflowers left eye ticked. “We’ve also been in 8 other classes in this school alone.” Oddjob looked down at her fingers in confusion. “Uh.. erm… What number was I up to?” Wallflower through her hands into the air. “THAT’S IT! This is LITERALLY all Sunset Shimmer’s fault!” Panic Station turned her head and peeked out from her hiding spot composed of her own coat and Oddjob’s chest. “Erm… as much as Sunset’s very presence terrifies me, it’s uh… it’s demonstrably not!” “SHE WON’T EVEN ACKNOWLEDGE ME ON THAT STUPID ANON-A-MISS PAGE SHE MADE!” Oddjob looked down at the girl in a heap who was still sobbing her heart, soul, and possibly a concerning amount of personal hydration out. “Right, ‘cause the evidence has really piled up the last few days she actually made that stupid thing.” Wallflower clenched a fist to her chest. “That’s it! I’m going off to plan my revenge against Sunset! Sunset, who is clearly responsible for me not being noticed by anyone,” she declared as she stormed off. “But revenge is a statistically unsafe activity to involve oneself in!” Panic Station exclaimed. “I mean… there’s been stuuuudiiiieeees!” Oddjob just shook her head. “Forget her.” “Wow, done and done,” Panic Station replied. “…Don’t…forget… me…” Oddjob looked down at Sunset Shimmer, who hadn’t moved save for the extra work her tear ducts were putting out. She sighed. “Right, we need to do something about her.” “Ah! No, we don’t!” Panic Station insisted. Oddjob took Panic Station by the hand and dragged her out into the crowd of students. “Come on!” “PISSDIQ RISING! PISSDIQ RISING!” Meanwhile, As Sunset’s wail echoed down the hallway of Canterlot high, even the five girls who were sure... ish that she was the one responsible for the chaos of the school had reason to pause, and at that moment the stranglehold on their minds suddenly broke like a wave on the shore. The student body of Canterlot High was giving Sunset plenty of space. Rainbow Dash looked across the hallway to regard the wretched woman. “That… that hurt my soul…” she admitted, eyes wide, heart simultaneously pounding in her chest and breaking. Rarity likewise kept her eyes on the scene in front of her. “We don’t have souls anymore, darling,” she replied, the inside of her mouth dry as a sun-scorched desert. “Those clearly belong to the Devil at this point.” In a strained and quiet tone of voice, Fluttershy uttered, “I. Can’t. Do. This.” Slowly, Fluttershy turned her hands so she was looking down at her palms and simply stared down at them in wide-eyed revulsion. Pinkie Pie shook her head. “Yeah… this isn’t funny.” The other four girls all paused and stared at Pinkie in disbelief. Pinkie continued, “Actually… I don’t think it ever was funny…” “You… you thought this was a joke?!” Rarity exclaimed in complete befuddlement. Pinkie returned the baffled expression. “Well… Yeah! A prank, you know? Why else would we do and say all those mean things to Sunset Shimmer?” Pinkie thought about this for a moment. “Wow… this was a really bad prank…” Rainbow Dash threw her hands into the air. “Why would you even think we’d do this as a prank?!” Again, Pinkie mirrored the person speaking to her and likewise threw her hands in the air. “I don’t know! Why would you even just keep going along with this if it wasn’t?!” Pinkie smacked a hand against her head. “Girls, I at least know I’m a bit—” Pinkie held her hands to either side of her face and waved them a bit “—different. Maybe I’d have said something if it was just one or two of you doing this, but all four of you?!” Pinkie sighed and shook her head. “It’s a good thing I already habitually take hard-core drugs…” Applejack raised an eyebrow. “What?” “What?” Pinkie parroted back at her. Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy all exchanged horrified looks. “I… I don’t think… We… we don’t know we did it exactly…” Fluttershy muttered. “It was… it was like… a voice telling me what to do… and smothering out thoughts of what I knew was right…” Pinkie just rolled her eyes. “Oh, who doesn’t have voices in their heads?” Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy again exchanged glances, this time ones of confusion. Pinkie glanced upwards and began talking to no one in particular. “Pinkie, eat five quarts of whipped cream for breakfast. Pinkie, you should start a riot because we won a cross country dual meet! Pinkie, you should take off your clothes to make an impromptu cheer banner!” “Pinkie, dear,” Rarity began, “you’ve literally done all of those things in the last month!” “True!” Pinkie admitted happily. “But I at least tune out all the voices telling me to torture my friends to death and then bake and eat them!” Applejack simply stood with arms crossed as she stared at Sunset who was still huddled in a puddle of her own tears. “She’s fakin’,” Applejack asserted. The Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy all turned and stared at Applejack with looks of astonishment far beyond anything that had just been pointed toward Pinkie. “Applejack!” Pinkie exclaimed shrilly. “What the actual fuck?!” “I…erm… one hundred percent agree with Pinkie,” Fluttershy said. “We all agree with Pinkie!” Rarity added. “Yeah!” Rainbow Dash chimed in. “Just what does Sunset have to do to prove herself at this point?!” Applejack rolled her eye. “Maybe more than throwing a little tantrum at school?” Again, all the girls simply stared at Applejack with slacked jaws and disbelieving eyes. “Wow…” Rainbow Dash uttered. “Just… ‘wow’.” Rarity tilted her head slightly. “Applejack, I throw tantrums.” She pointed at Sunset. “That is a complete and utter mental and emotional breakdown.” Applejack just rolled her eyes. “If ya say so…” “There you all are!” Oddjob exclaimed as she stormed up, Panic Station in tow with the kind of reluctant, scared struggling where one fights against their bindings but doesn’t possess the strength to escape. “What the hell are you all doing standing around here for!” she demanded. She motioned towards Sunset. “Sunset looks like she’s ready to cry herself until she dies of dehydration!” Panic Station let out a scared whimper and opted to clutch onto Oddjob as opposed to try and escape her clutches. Oddjob continued, “Sunset is clearly having a complete and utter mental and emotional breakdown over there!” Rarity looked at Applejack and motioned to Oddjob. “There? You see?” Applejack’s expression simply turned grumpier as Oddjob looked over the five in confusion. “I thought you all were like… the friendship police and didn’t let stuff like this happen!” Rarity, Pinkie, and Fluttershy all gave Oddjob guilty looks. “Look,” Rainbow Dash began, “we’re working up to it, alright?!” “Well work FASTER!” Oddjob exclaimed. Rainbow Dash cringed. “Okay, yeah… Now THAT really hurt my soul…” Applejack spoke up, “Hey! You don’t know what we’ve been through!” Oddjob rolled her eyes. “Oh, this should be good…” “This Anon-a-Miss person, A.K.A. Sunset Shimmer—” “Allegedly!”  Rarity added. “—posted my embarrassing family nickname for the world to hear!” “Oh, you mean Piggly-Wiggly?” a young voice called out. Applejack looked over at a trio of younger girls. “Not now, Apple Bloom!” Apple Bloom frowned. “Okay, but yer talkin’ about Piggly-Wiggly, right?” “Ah said not now!” Apple Bloom sighed and began to dejectedly walk away. “This isn’t workin’ at all…” she shook her head “It’s like us creatin’ a site that forces my sister to deal with constant bullying and being made fun of somehow takes up more of her free time!” Panic Station watched as the freshman girl wandered off and turned back to the rest of the group. “Uh. Did anyone else hear—” Oddjob gave Applejack a disbelieving look. “That’s it?! That’s what’s got you so upset?!” “—You know what? It’s fine. Getting involved is inherently more dangerous than not. I mean... there’s been studies…” “Hey!” Applejack protested. “People have been leaving notes in my looker and drawing pictures of pigs for days!” Oddjob threw her hands in the air. “Pretty much EVERYONE has been targeted at this point!” “I haven’t,” Panic Station said. “I’ve spent most this week hiding in the field shed inside a fort made out of sports equipment.” Rarity nose wrinkled. “That sounds—” Pinkie gasped. “AAAAAAWESSSSSOME!” Rarity tilted her head towards Pinkie. “I was going to say redundant.” “Erm,” Fluttershy interrupted. “Shouldn’t we go help Sunset?” “Quiet, Fluttershy!” Applejack snapped. —“Erm… I almost always am…”— “This is important!” —“It’s...uh... definitely not…”— Oddjob looked around at the students in the halls, many either turning a blind eye to the state Sunset Shimmer is in or taking pictures or videos with the phone. "You know, whoever put that information out isn't the only one to blame, right? I mean, none of this would matter if the school wasn't apparently filled to the brim with douche-nozzles who universally have nothing better to do than make fun of people... for some reason." Pinkie grinned and added, "And don't forget the literal thousands of other people who joined the site just to get in on the fun!" Oddjob rolled her eyes. "Right... fun..." Applejack glared at Oddjob. “Well? What’s happened to you that was so bad?!” Oddjob sighed. “I got my hands stuck in a blow dryer I was trying to fix at Greasy’s Pizza! To get out, a co-worker lubed my hands up with a mound of the excess grease we keep in the kitchen! While I was working to get both my hands out of the tight hole I had jammed them in, the stupid thing turned on and shot a wad of hot, white goo all over my face!” “Wow…” Rainbow Dash uttered. “Phrasing times, like… four…” “Anyway, someone took the security footage and put it online!” Oddjob shook her head. “And now everyone has been calling me ‘Grease Girl’!” Turning away for a moment, Oddjob cupped hands to her mouth. “’HANDJOB AND BLOWJOB WERE RIGHT FUCKING THERE, YOU DUMB SHITS!” Applejack folded her arms across her chest. “Okay, but this was a betrayal of trust!” She shook her head. “Sunset or whoever did this really made feel sorry Ah trusted them. Even if someone, probably Sunset—” “Allegedly!” Rarity exclaimed, narrowing her eyes. “—apologized for this, Ah dunno if Ah could ever forgive them! At least, Ah’m sure it’d take me a long time to trust them again… which is a statement ah’m sure won’t prove ironic in the future.” “There you are, Sunset!” a familiar voice called out. The girls and turned and watched as Twilight Sparkle bolted past them. Panic Station gasped. “No, no, no, no, no! Twilight Sparkle! One Hundred percent of the time she shows up at school, some disaster happens!” Oddjob glanced down at her friend. “Well at least someone is doing something about Sun-Woah!” Quickly grabbing Obbjob’s arm and bolting away, Panic Station made a mad dash for any direction the opposite of Twilight Sparkle would. “Nope! Nope! I don’t want to be crushed by rocks, hit by potentially radioactive rainbow beams, or tripped into today!” The other five girls momentarily watched Oddjob and Panic Station part as a familiar white-skinned woman in a nurses outfit rounded a hallway corner. “AH!” Panic Station screamed in terror as she froze. “Oh, hi Panic Station, Oddjob!” Nurse Redheart greeted. “Uh, hey!” Oddjob greeted as Panic Station once again retreated behind her and used her as a human shield. Redheart held up an IV bag of blood. “Either of you need a top-up?” She leaned forward and raised a hand to her mouth as she whispered, “Fresh from the Principal’s office and still warm…” Oddjob laughed nervously. “Uh… No… we’re goo—” Panic Station suddenly reached into her coat pocket and leaned past Oddjob. “Pocket garlic!” she shouted as she threw a handful of garlic cloves in Redheart’s face. “Ow! Hey!” Redheart protested as the garlic bounced off her face. “Not cool! Don’t throw food in the hallways!” Panic Station once again bolted, dragging Oddjob behind her. Redheart bent down and began picking up the garlic cloves, one by one. “And I’m even allergic to garlic,” she sighed, “I get a rash and everything!” “Sorry, Nurse Redheart!” Oddjob called out. “She’s normally uh… always like this!” At the other end of the hall, Twilight made her way up to Sunset where she didn’t hesitate to bend down and slowly raise Sunset back to her feet. “Why did you run off to school by yourself?! Why didn’t you wake me up?!” “I don’t know!” Sunset brittlely replied. The broken girl barely held herself up in Twilight’s arms as her tears still streamed down her cheeks. Sunset’s eyes bounced back in forth in their sockets as if desperately searching for an answer that made any degree of sense. “I just… thought… you know… You probably needed your sleep… and that it’s erm… important that you’re well rested… uh…” Twilight’s face tightened in confusion. “Your life is unraveling at the seams, Sunset! Why the heck would I even humor the idea that sleep is more important than a friend’s well-being?! Wait…” Twilight scrutinized Sunset’s face. While Sunset had clearly washed, had finally tended to her hair, and was wearing clothes substantially cleaner than anything she had worn for the past several days, there were still deep, dark circles around eyes that seemingly refused to focus on anything. “Did you get any sleep last night?” “Does… Does holding a pillow to my face and crying into it all night count?” “No,” Twilight said flatly. “No, it does not.” “Oh… in that case I didn’t get any sleep…” Sunset admitted. “Howdy, Twilight!” Applejack greeted as she and the other girls approached Twilight and Sunset. “Ya might want to back away from Sunset there. We’re pretty sure she’s up to her old tricks.” The other four girls around Applejack all expressed words suggesting they strongly disagreed. Twilight joined them. “Girls, what the actual fuck?!” “That’s what I said!” Pinkie interjected. Rarity raised her hands up defensively. “Darling, we’re all ready to believe Sunset Shimmer now!” “I’m not,” Applejack retorted. “And I always believed her! I just thought we were pulling the most absurdly complicated and mean-spirited prank ever!” Pinkie said in a bubbly tone. Rarity sighed. “Three of us are ready to believe Sunset, one of us is Pinkie Pie, and the last one…” Rarity rubbed an index finger under her lower lip. “Hrrrmmm… How should I put this?” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. “‘Is just determined to be a complete asshole?’” she suggested. Rarity nodded. “Perfect. Couldn’t have worded it better myself.” Sunset’s eyes lit up. “Wait! I got it!” she bent down and recovered her journal. “I know you don’t trust me-a-and I can’t prove I’m innocent-but please—” Applejack just sighed. “Well, why bother then?” Pinkie tightened her brow and puffed out her lips as she gave Applejack a scrutinizing look. “Who hurt you, Applejack? Who hurt you?!” Applejack pointed to Sunset. “Allegedly!” Rarity stressed. “‘Allegedly’ is a pretty key word here, dear.”  Sunset held out the journal “Look at this. I’ve been telling Twilight everything that’s been happening! I even wrote to her on the nights we had slumber parties!” The other girls all exchanged concerned glances. “Uh… Sunset…?” Twilight began. “Oh, God…” Fluttershy raised both her hands up to her mouth. “I-I think we broke her…” she uttered in terrified alarm. Rarity stood next to Sunset and put a hand on her shoulder. “Sunset, we don’t need to see that journal… We believe you.” Glimmers of hope began to dance in Sunset’s eyes. “You… you do?!” Fluttershy rubbed the back of her head. “We’re just not sure why you didn’t show us that right away…” Pinkie nodded. “Yeppers! Also, Twilight is right here… in front of you.” Sunset rubbed her eyes. “Oh… right… I am so very, very tired…” Fluttershy walked up and placed her hand on Sunset’s other shoulder. “Erm… Sunset, do you want a smoothie, or maybe a milkshake? I mean those always make me feel better!” Pinkie gasped. “Yay! Milkshakes!” Still bleary-eyed, Sunset nodded. “Yes, please…” The girls began to shuffle on with Rarity and Fluttershy helping Sunset keep her balance as Pinkie excitedly bounded in front of the group and Rainbow Dash took the rear. Twilight watched the group go in confusion. “So, uh… are any of you going to apologize to Sunset, or…?” “Come on, Twilight!” Pinkie Pie called out. “Milkshakes!” “Well, okay…” Twilight said with a shrug as she followed the group, “but I’ve got this really poignant story about windigos I want to tell when we get there!” “Yay! Storytime!” chirped Pinkie. “Storytime and milkshakes!” Shaking her head, Applejack, too, began to follow the group. “She’s playing you!” she called out. “Sometimes, all you can do is stay strong. Stay yourself. And find your family,” Twilight concluded as the other girls at the table all stared at her over their drinks. There was a beat of silence as everyone attempted to process what they just heard. “So, uh… What did you think?” Twilight asked. Pinkie broke into a fountain of tears. “It’s so beautiful!” “Uh… sure…” Rainbow Dash said, her eyebrows tightening slightly. “Beautiful is certainly… a word…” “It wasn’t beautiful!” Sunset exclaimed. “It was barely anything!” Twilight's cheeks puffed out into a pout before she turned and frowned at Sunset and mumbled back, "But.. but I spent all of a few seconds coming up with it when we were writing to each other last night!” Sunset took a quick sip of her milkshake and sighed. “Twilight, you asked me if I ‘remembered the story of the windigos’ just so you could point out that nobody needs windigos to ‘spread hatred and chaos!’” Sunset threw her hands up in the air. “Furthermore, before that you mentioned they fed on fighting and hatred, not caused it!” Sunset stood up and slammed her palms on the table, causing it to shake with a heavy ‘thud!’ “I mean… do you remember the story of the windigos!? Because you apparently forgot it halfway through telling your own story about them!” Twilight whimpered. “Okay, but what about the last bit? About family?” Sunset motioned out to the other girls. “My ‘family’ abandoned me, remember?! I mean… I could ask them to ask themselves if the Sunset Shimmer they know, the real Sunset Shimmer, the person I am now, would do that Anon-a-Miss stuff, but if they were real family, I shouldn’t HAVE to do that.” Starting with Fluttershy and moving from Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and finally Pinkie Pie, the girls did the ‘cringe’ version of the wave and shrank back in their chairs slightly. “She’s got us there…” Rainbow Dash admitted dejectedly. Rarity tossed Sunset a wayward glance. “Do you at least feel better?” she asked hopefully. Sunset took another big, angry sip from her milkshake straw. “Sure, but the bar was pretty fucking low…” Fluttershy stared down at her lap, either unwilling or unable to look Sunset in the eyes. “Too bad we still don’t know who the real Anon-a-Miss is.” “Well, Twilight’s story did help me figure out something!” Sunset admitted. “Really?!” Twilight said, her face lighting up. “Settle down,” Sunset replied dryly. “Only one word was all that useful.” Sunset looked over at Applejack. “AJ, you said us and your family are the only ones who knew your nickname, right?” “Yeah…” Applejack said hesitantly. “But I know none of my family would tell—” “Huh…” Pinkie uttered. “Apple Bloom did literally blurt it out over the phone to us all…” “Well, I trust you five— I mean you four,” Applejack corrected. She looked around, her eyes landing on Twilight, and added: “Well, I guess you five if’n we’re counting Twilight.” The girls once again went silent as they all stared at Applejack. “Seriously, darling,” Rarity began. “What the actual fuck?” “Well… Maybe someone else overheard it?” Rainbow Dash suggested with a shrug. Sunset leaned down and propped her head up with her hand. “Maybe… But what about the party photos?” She bit at her lower lip. “I had my phone with me the whole time after the party…” Rarity motioned towards Sunset. “And the only people at the party were us! Well, and my family of course.” Sunset’s eyes flew open wide. “Your family? Wait…” Both Twilight’s forehead and lips contorted in confusion. “Sunset, you actually opened this conversation talking about family… You even mentioned AJ’s family with this nickname…” Sunset continued, “Dash, Anon-a-Miss posted a science paper you wrote, right?” “Uh, yeah?” Rainbow Dash replied in a clearly annoyed tone. “Did you have soccer practice the day you got your report back?” Sunset asked. Rainbow Dash thought for a moment. “Soccer practice? Um, yeah.” Sunset’s lips pulled upwards slightly. “And the junior team was practicing too, right?” Twilight shook her head as if to clear it. “Sunset, Rainbow doesn’t have any siblings younger than her… or older for that matter…” “Well, sure,” Rainbow Dash answered Sunset. “They usually do.” “I know who Anon-a-Miss is,” Sunset began. “It’s—” The bell of the shop’s front door rang. “Yeah. It was us.” The girls looked over as Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo all stood before them, all three looking particularly ashamed. “WHAT?!” Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Pinkie all exclaimed in unison as many of the girls rose to their feet. “It’s pretty obvious if you think about it,” Twilight with an irritated expression on her face. “Sunset… is… is this how you feel like all the time?! Because, if so, I get why you can be so snippy!” “Apple Bloom! How could you?!” Applejack cried. “Yeah!” Pinkie chimed in. “And why did you three just show up right as Sunset was going to reveal who the culprit was?!” Apple Bloom shrugged. “Ah saw Sunset freak out and decided to get Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo so we could confess… Ah guess we just showed up specifically at the most convenient moment.” “Well…” Pinkie Pie turned and stared directly at one of the shop’s four walls. “That’s just lazy writing.” “We didn’t mean it to go this far!” Apple Bloom insisted. “Honest!” “But why did you do it?” Sunset asked, leaning her hand on the table. “Because… because of you, Sunset,” Apple Bloom admitted as she looked down at her feet. “I was jealous that my sister was spendin’ time with you and her friends ‘stead of her family. I wanted to make you look bad. So I made up Anon-a-Miss and posted the story about Applejack and made it look like you’d done it.” “I saw the site,” Twilight interjected. “You kinda laid it on a bit thick, to be perfectly honest.” She pursed her lips. “Also, by that exact logic, it’s all of Applejack’s friends and not just Sunset who was the problem… I mean... if you actually thought to remove or distancing your sisters from anything that wasn't spending time with you, you could have also set fire to their places of work!” Scootaloo let out a massive sigh. "Hey, that was MY idea! But someone—" Scootaloo turned and glared at Apple Bloom "— complained that they'd lose their livelihood, home, and having food every day if we did that plan!" "You wanted to set fire to our orchard!" Apple Bloom protested. Scootaloo nodded. "But think of all the time you'd get to spend with your sister in the homeless shelter!" Twilight rubbed the back of her head and turned towards her friends, "Erm... you have therapy on this planet, right?" Tossing her friends a worried look, Sweetie Belle spoke up, “Apple Bloom told me about it, uh... our sister's friends taking away time we might have to spend with them... Not the fire thing... and… and I felt the same way! So at Rarity’s party, while you were asleep I snuck in, took Sunset’s phone,” —Twilight’s eyes narrowed. “You’re talking directly to Sunset. There’s no need to mention her by name…”— “and downloaded her pictures and videos.” Scootaloo stepped up as Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom turned on the waterworks. “Anon-a-Miss got out of hand,” she admitted. Twilight sighed as the crease on her forehead deepened. “Scootaloo… Rainbow Dash isn’t your family, nor does she live with you… You had nothing to gain from any of this.” “People started sending her OTHER secrets, new pictures…” Scootaloo continued as if Twilight wasn’t even there. “We posted everything! Even though it didn’t help us at all and only served to make things at the school worse for most everyone and much, much worse for Sunset.” “…This must be what going mad feels like,” mused Twilight. “We’re so sorry!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed as a big smile crossed her face and practically tackle hugged Sunset. “We had no idea what would happen to you!” “And again!” Scootaloo added. “Totally willing to let it continue despite the fact there was zero benefit to us at all!” Twilight’s left eye began to spasm. Smiling warmly, Sunset took a half-step back from Sweetie Bell. “It’s okay girls, I forgive you. Believe me… I know what it’s like to feel like you’re all alone…” Sunset’s smile seemed to break slightly as it went just a few degrees askew. “I mean… being left out of a couple slumber parties isn’t close at all to the hell you put me through the last few days! Not… not even remotely close. But I forgive you.” “No, this must be what going mad feels like,” Twilight postulated. Applejack sighed and took off her hat as she raised fingertips to her forehead. “You girls…” she mumbled. “Please forgive us, big sister!” Apple Bloom pleaded. She cupped her hands to together. “We’re really sorry!” Applejack smiled wide at her little sister. “ ‘Course I forgive you, Apple Bloom. You’re family!” Twilight threw her hands up in the air and stood up. “Fuck it! I’m out!” she declared as she quickly rushed to the door. “I need to go home before my brain liquefies in my skull and starts leaking out my ears.” Applejack looked over at Sunset as the bell to the shop rang once more, signaling Twilight’s exit. “But, you know, real family.” Applejack looked back down at Apple Bloom. “The type of family where I’m immediately ready to look past yer mistakes and welcome you with open arms just because you seem so plum sorry!” she added, swinging her free arm in front of her. An uncomfortable silence came over the other girls as Apple Bloom shouted “Yeeee-hawww!” and gave her sister a big hug.  “… Applejack…” Fluttershy began. “Erm… what the actual fuck?” AND SO… ‘The holidays are here at last!’ Rarity typed as she stood in front of her computer monitor. ‘My most favorite time of the year!’ Smiling to herself, Rarity hit ‘Send’ before she turned around and grabbed a pink jacket lined with faux-white fur. “Sweetie Belle! Are you ready to head out?” she called. “Yeah! Let’s go!” Sweetie Belle replied. Soon the pair were outside, their boots crunching against the fresh snow as clumps of the white flakes fell around them. “Thanks for inviting me and Apple Bloom and Scootaloo along, even after… what we did,” Sweetie Belle said with a smile. “You can just say your friends,” Rarity interjected. “I’d know who you’d be talking about.”  Sweetie Belle continued, “It means a lot to me that by being completely horrible we’re actually rewarded for our actions!” “Well, you’ve done what you can,” Rarity said as she and Sweetie Belle piled into the back of a blue station wagon, presumably driven by one of their parents who presumably wasn’t important enough to even show. “You took down Anon-a-Miss’s profile, you told Principal Celestia what you did, you’ve apologized to the other students you hurt... And you’ve had many conversations with me where we keep on talking about what happened via heavy exposition.” “… and we got six months of detention,” Sweetie Bell offered. Rarity nodded. “Yes, the compromising of some of you girls’ free time during the fleeting years of your high school youth is certainly proper recompense for the lives you’ve trampled all over,” she said without a hint of sarcasm. “But all the stuff that Anon-a-Miss put out there is still out there. WE can’t take that back.” Rarity closed her eyes. “No, you can’t.” She placed a sympathetic hand on Sweetie Belle’s shoulder. “But you tried, and that’s what counts! Not the horrendously terrible actions you did and continued despite the fact the unintended consequences were staring you dead in the face on a daily basis, but the fact that you’ve made some sort of attempt to make the barest of amends. I think we’ll be okay, even if a few of our secrets are out.” Sweetie Belle frowned. “But… what about the kids you said whose lives we trampled all over?” “Oh, I just meant us and our immediate friends, specifically,” Rarity said. “There is damage you three did that is completely unrepairable…” She flipped a hand out matter-of-factually. “Sunset just seems like an empty husk of her former self now, for instance. I doubt she’ll ever be the same.” Sweetie Belle frowned at her sister’s words. “Well, we are sorry about all the trouble we caused. I mean like… really, really sorry.” “And I’m sorry that you and Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were feeling left out.” “…You can just say my two friends, Rarity. I’d know who you’d be talking about.” Rarity continued as a trickle of blood began to ran down her white ear. “We shouldn’t have made you feel alone. And because we did, clearly we’re at fault to some degree and that means your actions are less egregious. So it’s okay that Sunset Shimmer took the brunt of the blame for… reasons…” Rarity looked outside. “Okay, looks like we’re here. We’re so fortunate that Applejack’s home was exactly far enough for us to have that short conversation we had in exactly the time it took whoever it is that’s driving this car to take us here in the snow.” Smiling with glassy, unfocused eyes, Sweetie Belle leaned over and hugged her sister. “I love you, Rarity!” “And I love you, Sweetie Belle!” Rarity said returning the hug. Sweetie Belle broke the hug, a notable amount of blood dripping from her nose. “After all, you’re family!” Rarity stated as the two sisters undid their seatbelts and left the car, Rarity making no mention of Sweetie’s nose or the fresh stain on her own jacket. “Real family! Who I will always give the benefit of the doubt to no matter how horrible you act or may have acted in the past towards me or the people I care about!” Rarity smiled wide as the blood from her ear continued to drip onto the white snow below. “And you know what I love about family?” Rarity asked as she approached the front door, already open as Applejack and Apple Bloom stood inside and smiled at the approaching girls.  “Uh, n—” “No matter how big your family is…” Rarity said as the pair walked into the house, Applejack already having retreated all the way back to the kitchen to talk with Sunset Shimmer and Big Mac as Apple Bloom waved from the snack table with Pinkie Pie as if she was just now seeing Rarity and Sweetie Belle for the first time today. —"You didn’t give me time to ans” — “…There’s always room for more,” Rarity concluded. So, the extended family sat by a nice Hearth’s Warming fire. Sunset, her friends that had betrayed her, and the sisters and friends that had betrayed them, also Big Mac and Granny Smith who lived there but didn’t bother to invite any of their own friends… Oh, and also Maud for no apparent reason other than she brought pizza to the first slumber party, but not Limestone or Marble, because they’re less popular and hadn’t really been established outside of flashbacks yet. Everyone sat, laughed, and basked in the warm glow of family. And nobody had an ill word to say. Not about what happened, and certainly not about blood leaking from either their own or each other’s various orifices. No, not even that or the cold, dead eyes everyone had with tiny glints of desperation and anguish hidden inside.   Desperation from wanting to be free. And anguish from the knowledge their actions may never be their own ever again. And they all lived happily ever after, whether they actually wanted to or not.