Scootaloo looked around nervously as she and Sunset climbed out of Celestia's van. Sunset immediately headed inside the school to find a place to hide before school started, Scootaloo meanwhile was hoping that her friends Applebloom and Sweetie Belle hadn't arrived yet. She found their morning hangout spot, a bench on the school's front lawn devoid of any sign of her friends. Sighing, she sat down and looked over her homework, Sunset had helped her with it during breakfast. Sunset Shimmer, she thought, you're nothing like the evil demon that we thought you were.
"Scootaloo," Sweetie Belle cried disturbing Scootaloo's thoughts, "why didn't you tell us that you were homeless?"
"I didn't want to worry you..." Scootaloo said quietly.
"Well I don't care," Sweetie Belle said stubbornly, "you are coming home with me tonight!"
"I'll have to check with Principal Celestia first," Scootaloo answered.
"Why would ya have ta ask Miss Celestia?" Applebloom asked, she had walked up with Sweetie Belle.
"Well, I'm kinda living with her now, and she is my guardian," Scootaloo explained, "Sunset is her daughter."
You could have heard a pin drop in the silence that followed. Both Sweetie Belle and Applebloom looked like they had just received the most shocking news of their lives.
"Ya live with Sunset Shimmer now," Applebloom said.
"Oh this is good," Sweetie Belle said, "think of all the stuff we will be able to post now!"
"No," Scootaloo replied, "I'm out, I want nothing more to do with Anon-A-Miss!"
"You're out," Sweetie Belle asked, "why?"
"We started Anon-A-Miss to drive a wedge between Sunset and your sisters and Rainbow Dash so that they would spend more time with us," Scootaloo explained, "didn't we achieve that? Now all we are doing is hurting everyone else at CHS and blaming Sunset."
"Well yeah, but..." Applebloom started to say.
"BUT NOTHING!" Scootaloo interrupted, "Sunset cried herself to sleep last night! And this morning when I asked, Miss Celestia told me that Sunset has done that almost every night since we started."
Sweetie Belle and Applebloom didn't know how to respond. Scootaloo was right, they had originally planned to separate their sister from Sunset Shimmer, but Anon-A-Miss had grown beyond their control, and they didn't know if they could stop. They watched silently as Scootaloo gathered up her belongings and walked inside the school.
Sweetie Bell looked at Applebloom.
"What do we do now?" She asked.
*****
"The game is afoot my dear Aria," Sonata said. Aria turned and looked at her sister. Sonata was wearing a ridiculous looking hat and blowing bubbles through a plastic pipe.
"Sonata," Aria said as she waved her hand at her, "what did you get that hat and why are you dressed like Sherlock Holmes?"
"Pinkie gave it to me," Sonata said, "if I'm going to be a detective, she says that I need to dress the part."
Aria rolled her eyes. She loved her sister, and she was glad that Sonata had found a kindred spirit in Pinkie Pie, but sometimes, their antics could be a bit much.
"Are we good for this evening?" Sonata asked.
"Yes," Aria said as she held up her phone, "Adagio called me to let me know that Cadence will be bringing her and Twilight to the game. On the premise that Adagio needs to build her school spirit and that Twilight needs to get out more."
"Excellent," Sonata said with a laugh and rubbing her hands together, "everything is proceeding as I have foreseen."
Again Aria rolled her eyes.
*****
Sunset stood quietly at her locker. She wasn't sure how long she had been standing there with the door to her locker open, but she wished it would transport her some where, anywhere, else.
"Excuse me, Sunset" a quiet voice said, Sunset chose to ignore it, if she didn't hear the insult that was about to come her way, then did it really happen?
"Sunset, darling," Rarity said, "Fluttershy and I would like to speak to you."
Sunset looked up, and turned to face her two former friends.
"What is it?" Sunset asked, trying and failing to show any emotion.
"Oh dear," Rarity said, "how should I put this, Fluttershy and I would like to apologize."
"Let's go somewhere quieter than the hallway to talk," Fluttershy said as she grabbed both of their hands and led them through the school to their favorite music room. Entering the room they saw Scootaloo's backpack and scooter, but no sign of Scootaloo.
"Poor dear," Rarity commented, "to have been alone and homeless for so long, it breaks one's heart."
"She isn't alone or homeless anymore," Sunset answered, "she has mom and I."
"Really," Fluttershy replied, "I hadn't heard that."
"It just happened yesterday," Sunset explained. The room grew quiet quickly as Fluttershy and Rarity tried to decide what exactly they would say to Sunset, and Sunset tried to think of what she could say to them.
"Sunset, after discussing it with Fluttershy," Rarity said, "we've realized that you can't be Anon-A-Miss, and we would like to apologize for wrongly accusing you."
"How did you figure out that it's not me?" Sunset asked.
"Well there were subtle things," Rarity answered, "who ever it is is trying to make sure that all the evidence points at you, using your color scheme, somehow hacking into your phone to steal those pictures."
"Plus there was all the abuse you are receiving," Fluttershy said, "if you were behind it, you wouldn't let anyone treat you that way."
"In the past the old you was always so careful to make sure that everyone knew it was you even though there was no evidence that was linked to you," Rarity said, "and I feel so foolish for not realizing that immediately."
"Rarity," Sunset said, "you are anything but a fool."
"Can we go back to being friends?" Fluttershy asked.
"I would love that," Sunset said, "and next time you have doubts, come and talk to me before jumping to conclusions."
The three girls shared an embrace.
"I heard that Aria and Sonata are looking for the culprits," Rarity said with a mischievous grin, "how can we help darling?"
"You'd have to ask them," Sunset replied, "they know more about what they are doing than I do."
"It's so amazing," Fluttershy said, "a month ago you were just learning about friendship, and now you have three cousins you can share the experience with."
"They are pretty awesome." Sunset agreed.
The warning bell rang for morning classes. And the three girls exited the music room. After taking a moment to make sure that the coast was clear, Scootaloo came out from behind Rarity's costume rack where she had been hiding. Aria and Sonata are looking for Anon-A-Miss, i need to warn them, she thought, and who are Sunset's cousins?
*****
The rest of the day passed quickly, though throughout lunch Gilda had been glaring angrily towards Aria. Aria for her part chose to ignore Gilda, at least she was able to ignore her until she ran into her during the basketball game against Crystal Prep.
"Smoking in the girls room," Aria said looking at Gilda and Lightning Dust as she washed her hands, "how cliche can you get?" Aria inhaled, "those aren't cigarettes are they."
Lightning Dust only laughed, Gilda however growled at her.
"None of the faculty use this restroom." Lightning Dust explained.
"You gonna stop us Monsters Inc.?" Gilda asked through clinched teeth.
"None of my business," Aria said as she walked out the door. Gilda growled as she watched the door close.
"We are going to have to do something about her," Gilda said.
"Why,<cough, cough>," Lightning Dust responded, "she didn't do anything to us."
"Ever notice how she hangs around VP Luna," Gilda shot back, "it's only a matter of time before she rats us out."
"What do you have in mind," Lightning Dust asked.
"Oh, I'll think of something," Gilda sneered, besides, no one humiliates me in front of Gabby!
"You get so cute when you are angry." Lightning Dust said.
"Save that for later." Gilda said with a smirk.
Aria, meanwhile, had taken her seat between Adagio and Sonata. Adagio sat next to Twilight, who had taken a seat next to Cadence.
"Who do you cheer for?" Twilight was asking Adagio.
"What do you mean?" Adagio asked with some confusion.
"Well, you attend Crystal Prep, but your mom Is the coach for CHS," Twilight explained, "who do you cheer for.
"She'll just have to do what I do and be an impartial observer." Cadence answered for Adagio.
"Hey Aria," Sonata said, "why don't you and 'Dagi show Twilight around the school so she doesn't get lost during the Friendship Games."
"That's a great idea!" Cadence said enthusiastically with a conspiratorial glint in her eye.
"But I thought we were here to watch the game." Twilight said.
"Oh, isn't it obvious," Adagio replied, "Crystal Prep is going to win, the only question is by how much."
"Come on, consider this an insider's tour." Aria said as she took Twilight's hand. She led Twilight out of the gym and toward the main hallway and was relieved when she saw that Adagio had joined them.
"Aria," they heard Principal Celestia say, "could you give this list to your mom, and tell her I need her final roster on Monday."
"What is it?" Aria asked as she looked over the list of names.
"The list of final candidates for the team of students that will represent Canterlot High at the Friendship Games." Celestia explained, Aria was now glad that her name wasn't on the list, "sorry, but you and Sonata haven't been enrolled here long enough to qualify."
"I'll give it to her." Aria said.
"Thank you Aria, I knew I could count on you," Celestia explained, "I would have given it to her myself, but I need to get home, Scootaloo and I have an appointment with her case worker. It was nice to see you Adagio."
"Who was that?" Twilight asked as Celestia walked away.
"Our aunt, the Principal of CHS," Adagio explained, "Aria, dear, I can carry that list for you."
"I've got it," Aria said as she neatly folded it and put in her vest pocket.
I need to get my hands on that list, Adagio thought to herself, then I can get Cinch off of my back.
"So let me get this straight," Twilight said looking at Aria, "Your aunt is the Principal at the same school where your mother is the Vice-Principal, the school that you and your younger sister attend, your cousin however is the Dean of Students at Crystal Prep, where your older Sister goes to school."
"Yeah," Aria replied "that pretty much sums it up, except we have another cousin that also goes here."
"My brain hurts," Twilight said.
"You'll be alright my dear," Adagio answered "why don't we sit here in the Student Media Center for a moment."
"So many books..." Twilight said as her eyes darted from shelf to shelf.
"Twilight," Adagio asked, "could you do us a favor and access the school computers."
"We want to know who accesses the MyStable page for Anon-A-Miss." Aria continued.
"Who is Anon-A-Miss?" Twilight asked.
"That's what we're hoping to find out," Aria explained, "who ever she is, she is making our cousin's life a living hell."
Twilight looked at Adagio, then at Aria, then she looked at the computer. Finally she looked back at Adagio.
"I'll do it," She said. With that Twilight sat down at one of the computers and was able to open its browser relatively quickly. Meanwhile both Aria and Adagio kept an eye out for any trouble. After a tense number of minutes, Twilight spoke.
"Nothing here about Skunks Apes," Twilight said as she adjusted her glasses, "back to square one."
"Focus Twilight," Adagio said as she put her hand on her friend's shoulder, "we're looking for any information about Anon-A-Miss."
As Twilight was looking through the school computers for any evidence on the identity of Anon-a-Miss, Aria got the idea to do a little super-sluething of her own. She pulled out her own phone and went to the Anon-a-Miss MyStable website and slowly scrolled through the post. It seemed like the bitch had posted something about every student at CHS, then she noticed that three students hadn't been victimized. Interesting, I never would have suspected those three, Aria thought to herself, I better confront them on my own. Adagio would overreact, and Celestia knows what Sonata would do. Besides Scootaloo is in a fragile place right now.
"Oh that, right," Twilight said as she closed the computer down, "several students have viewed the page from your school's computers, but no one has accessed it to make any posts."
"Great," Aria said, "who gets to tell Sonata that her plan failed?"
"There you three are," Sonata said, "mom sent me to find you, she, Raven and Cadence are taking us all out for a post game pizza!"
As the four girls walked down the hall Sonata noticed a darkened section of hallway. I wonder if i should mention this to mom? Then she heard a familiar voice approaching from around the corner.
"I'll catch up," Sonata said as she stopped at the entrance to a girlsroom, "I need to make a quick pit-stop." she watched as her sisters and Twilight disappeared around the corner, then she waited and listened to the voice to come closer. Peeking around the corner, Sonata made sure that her prey was alone. Quickly reaching out Sonata grabbed Rainbow Dash and slammed her against a nearby locker.
"You call yourself the Element of Loyalty," Sonata hissed, "where was your loyalty when your friend, Sunset Shimmer, needed it most?"
"Sonata, are you ok?" Rainbow asked.
"I'm not done speaking!" Sonata said. Rainbow tried not to look into Sonata's eyes, they had both become orbs inky darkness, the shadows around the two of them seemed to claw and laugh at Rainbow, "Sunset put her trust in you and you cast her aside because of some stupid high school rumor? Some Element of Loyalty you turned out to be!"
Rainbow closed her eyes. She knew deep down that everything Sonata was saying was absolutely true, but if Sunset wasn't Anon-A-Miss, then who was? She felt herself slide down the locker into a sitting position. When she opened her eyes there was no sign of Sonata.