//------------------------------// // Chapter 11 // Story: Blamed // by Madox //------------------------------// The bus arrived at its stop and opened the doors to let out its few passengers. Among those were two girls of identical height. One was wearing a hoodie with the hood hiding most of her features, while the other presented her red and blonde hair to the world. They both stopped to look around before they decided on a direction and started moving. "Really the worst timing for a change of schedule for the buses. At least CHS isn’t that far away from here," Shimmer said. "Yeah," Sunset agreed while she looked around. "Too bad Mum and Dad couldn't drive us." "They would have if they had known of the schedule change," Shimmer said. "They just didn't expect that we would need to walk part of the way." "Neither did I," Sunset said while she looked up and down the street. Desert Sunrise had told them that he would need to take care of a few things in the morning and might be unable to drive them to school in time for the assembly. Thanks to this development, the girls had to take the bus, with Desert and Star following as soon as possible. None of them knew about a construction area nearby and the schedule change for the buses in the area. "Wish I had taken my hoodie with me now. I feel so exposed." "Oh? What's wrong?" Shimmer asked with a smirk on her face. "Don't tell me you’re afraid of meeting Gilda. She’s not that big of a problem." Shimmer took several steps before she realized that she was alone. Turning, she saw Sunset standing in place, frowning at her with clenched fists. "Sunset?" "Well, I'm sorry that I'm afraid of seeing the girl that beat the heck out of me twice and nearly killed me the last time! Sorry that not everyone can see it as simple as you!" she yelled. They stood in silence for a minute as Shimmer stared at her friend in shock, before Sunset's features softened and her gaze fell. "I... I'm sorry. That was uncalled for, and—" Sunset’s apology was interrupted when Shimmer pulled her into a hug. "No, it's my fault,” Shimmer said. “I guess I’ve been dealing with Gilda for so long that I forgot what effect she has on others. I should’ve been more considerate about how you were feeling." The two girls remained in that position for a moment before they continued on their journey through the streets. Neither of them said much after Sunset's outburst as they walked towards CHS, until Shimmer spoke up. "Keep walking. She’s following us," she whispered with just a light dip of her head to Sunset. "I saw her out of the corner of my eye when we passed an earlier alley, and I don't think she’s alone this time." Sunset swallowed a lump in her throat as she tried not to show her pursuer that they were aware of her. "What should we do now?" Shimmer kept silent as she thought while they continued walking down the road. "She hasn’t done anything yet, so either she’s really alone and doesn't want to deal with the both of us together, which I doubt, or she’s gonna spring a trap on us. Walking into her trap isn’t a good idea. I think we should call her out now before she gets the jump on us." Sunset gulped. "Alright. You know her better than I do, so I trust your judgement." Shimmer nodded, and the two girls discussed how to do it while they kept walking. A minute later, they stopped and turned around. "You can come out, Gilda!" Sunset called out. "We know you’re here! Quit being a chicken, and show yourself!" Only silence greeted them at first, but it didn't take long until Gilda stepped out of an alley not too far away from them, followed by the two girls Sunset had the “pleasure” of meeting with Gilda on her first day in town. Sunset herself couldn't resist a smile when her eyes fell on Gilda, or, more precisely, the bandage she wore around her head. 'Guess her thick skull isn’t hard enough to stop metal,' she thought. "And I thought you went soft, given how easy it was to sneak up on you before, Shimmer," Gilda said with a snarl. "But unlike last time, you won't get away now." Sunset opened her mouth to answer but was stopped by Shimmer tapping her on the shoulder. She leaned in and whispered something in Sunset's ear, and Sunset laughed in response. Gilda glared harder at the girl. "Hey! What's so funny?" Sunset took a moment to stop laughing. "My friend here says she can't fight you properly, Gilda. There are no trash bins big enough to fit you this time." Immediately, Gilda’s attention turned to Shimmer. "So, you’re the one who interrupted me the other day." For a moment her hand wandered up to her bandage, stained by a small, dark spot, before she lowered it again. Her eyes moved up and down as she took in her new subject of interest, and she clenched her fist. "You’re gonna pay for that!" Shimmer stepped forward, lowering her hood. "I doubt that, Gilda. You’ve been trying to make me pay for years, never with any luck." "What the fuck?!" Gilda exclaimed in surprise as she, along with her two lackeys, stared at the two girls. "G, what's going on?" "Is that one of her magic tricks?" Gilda remained quiet for a moment, thinking the situation and the question over while she looked at the two of them. "I doubt it. She’s never done anything magical except at the Fall Formal and the Battle of the Bands. If she could use magic, she’d have done so by now, and not to do something dumb like making a clone of herself." "See, I told you she’s not stupid. Not smart, maybe, but not stupid," Shimmer said to Sunset before turning back to Gilda. "You’re right; there’s no magic involved this time. This is the Sunset Shimmer from this world, and it was her you attacked both times this week. Let me tell you, her dad is not amused. Trying to kill her was the worst you could do." Gilda gritted her teeth. "You think I’m scared? Well, I’m not." "Kill her?" Gilda heard from behind her. Gilda looked over her shoulder at her lackeys, who looked at her questioningly. "What’s she talking about, G?" "Nothing you two need to worry about," Gilda grumbled. Shimmer saw her opening. "Oh, did your dear boss not tell you about how she tried to kill Sunset here two days ago with a knife? It was sheer luck that I was nearby and able to save her. That's where she got that bandage from." The two looked at Gilda with wide eyes. "Is that true?" Gilda turned and focused her gaze on both of them. "So, what if it is? Is that a problem?” she snapped. “I do what I want, and you do what I tell you to do. Is that clear?" They took a step back in fear. "The police are already looking for you, Gilda," Sunset said. "You won't get away." Shimmer nodded. "She’s right. And you two will be arrested as well. So far, it’s only for the assault. You can get lost now or just pile on charges with Gilda. It’s your choice." Gilda whirled back to the Sunsets. "Oh, shut up!" Gilda’s lackeys took the opportunity to exchange glances, nod, and run away from the group. Hearing their footsteps, Gilda turned around again. "Hey! Where do you think you’re going?! Get back here, you traitors!" No matter what she yelled after them, though, neither looked back, and soon enough, they disappeared around the next street corner. "So, Gilda," Shimmer said, "how should this go now? Sunset here was already able to fight you to a stalemate on her own without knowing a thing about how you fight. Do you really think you can take both of us at the same time? Just leave and confess to the police. Don't make it any worse for yourself." Gilda glared at the two girls, her eyes moving from one to the other while she thought about her situation. It was true that the other Sunset gave her a harder time than she expected, and going against both would be a stupid decision. Looking at the other Sunset, Gilda noticed that she was not as confident as the other. She was tense, and she was looking like she hoped the situation would be over soon. 'It seems I left an impression,' she thought to herself. She knew that dealing with that one would be much easier this time, especially if she could take out the real threat while she was watching. Confident in her plan, Gilda smirked. "So, the mighty Sunset Shimmer, queen bee and ruler of CHS for years, has gone soft after all. Never thought I’d see the day she starts hiding behind others or needs help in a fight." Shimmer glared harder at Gilda, who continued, "All the other times we fought, you took me down alone without any problem. It seems your time with the Rainbooms got to you." "Shut up, Gilda," Shimmer growled. "Or what? Are you going to run home to your mommy?" Gilda replied mockingly. "Come on, horse girl! Show some guts and fight me!" Shimmer gritted her teeth as she let Gilda’s words run through her mind. "Sunset, would you mind staying out of this? It just got personal." Sunset stared at Shimmer in shock. "Are you out of your mind? You do realize she’s playing you, right?" "I know. And do you know what pisses me off even more than that? That it's working." Trying to reason with Sunset, she said, "Look, I can see how much it bothers you to be near her. I don't think it will do us any good if you try to go against her now. I’ll be fine; it's not the first time we tussled." Sunset bit her lip as she looked over to Gilda, who was smirking at them. Closing her eyes, she sighed in defeat. "Alright, but be careful." "Sure. Just stay a bit to the side. Keep an eye out and warn me in case her goons come back. And remember, if the worst happens, we still got one trick up our sleeves," she added. She waited until her friend was a safe distance away before she turned to Gilda. She cracked her knuckles and took a defensive position. Shimmer had fought with Gilda a few times during her time on the throne of CHS, so she knew that Gilda has the advantage in regard to pure strength, which is what she relies on to win her fights. She, on the other hand, was smaller and weaker but also more agile than Gilda. The key to winning was to avoid her attacks as much as possible while hitting her whenever possible, slowly wearing her down. Deciding to kick things off, Gilda rushed forward, her fist drawn back and aimed at Shimmer’s face. After waiting as long as she dared to, Shimmer stepped to the side to avoid the hit, but Gilda showed once more that she was not as dumb as she looked. While in mid-swing, she suddenly lashed out with her elbow and hit Shimmer in the face, making the girl cry out in surprise and pain. Shimmer quickly managed to regain her senses after the painful hit and took several steps back from her opponent before Gilda could follow with another punch. She raised her hand to her cheek and flinched slightly at the touch, but she also realized that there has not been as much power behind it as she was used to from Gilda. "It seems someone finally learned from past mistakes," she said. "Didn't you once say you only needed to hit hard enough to win fights?" Gilda flexed her hand. "Yeah, but actually hitting you is easier said than done." She rushed forward again with her fist, but instead of sidestepping her, Shimmer blocked the fist with her left arm. "I take that as a compliment," she said before she delivered her own punch into the girl’s face, followed by ramming her elbow into Gilda's guts. Gilda fell down on one knee, coughing and holding her stomach, before she used her new position to throw herself at Shimmer, forcing both of them to the ground. Groaning and cursing herself for not being more careful, Shimmer opened her eyes only to see Gilda already back on her feet and standing over her. Grinning down at her, Gilda kicked her in the stomach, making Shimmer cry out in pain. Before the second kick came, though, Shimmer managed to roll to the side and avoid Gilda’s foot. While she got back on her feet, she rammed her elbow into Gilda’s guts before she took a few steps back to get some distance between them while Gilda tumbled backwards, holding her stomach. Just like before, she suddenly jumped forward to tackle Shimmer, but this time, Shimmer quickly stepped to the side and kicked Gilda in her ass, sending her to the ground. Panting heavily, Shimmer used the time to regain her breath while Gilda slowly rose to her feet, catching her breath as well. She knew that she needed to end this quickly, otherwise Gilda might get lucky with one of her next hits. Howling in rage, Gilda rushed forward again. Throwing her earlier caution to the wind, she threw punch after punch at Shimmer, but in her rage-engulfed assault, it was much easier to either block those hits or avoid them entirely. Shimmer on the other hand, still waited carefully and used any opening Gilda left open to deliver a blow herself. "Give it up, Gilda," she said, panting while she blocked another fist with her right arm. "You’re at your limit." "Shut up and let me hit you!" Shimmer growled. "Fine, if that’s what you want. But there’s one thing I want to make clear first," she said as she took a step back from her opponent. "And what's that?" Gilda asked as her fist shot toward Shimmer’s face. Shimmer leaned to the side and watched the fist go past her face. "I'm not a horse." Pulling back her own fist, she put her strength behind it and punched Gilda in her guts as hard as she could. Gilda doubled over and fell to her knees before crumpling to the ground. "I'm a pony." Breathing heavily, Shimmer slowly relaxed as she kept an eye on the downed girl. Gilda’s eyes were still open and glaring at her, but considering how she was breathing heavily and barely moving, it was clear that she had had enough. "Now that was something," Shimmer said as she sat down on Gilda’s back, resulting in a grunt from the girl. "I’ll admit that you’ve gotten better, Gilda, but do you wanna know what your biggest weakness is?" She waited for a few seconds, but received no answer besides unintelligible mumbling. "You underestimate your enemy, and you’re too hot-headed. You make a lot of mistakes when you’re mad. That makes it easy to plan ahead." She patted the girl’s head. "Maybe, one day, you’ll learn." "...Fuck...you…Shimmer..." Gilda managed to get out between breaths. Before Shimmer could reply, Sunset came up to them. "That was impressive. Are you alright?" Shimmer stretched her arms over her head but winced in pain from the hits she received. “It could be better, but it could be worse. I’ll survive.” Sunset offered her hand, and Shimmer grabbed it to get back on her feet before she retrieved her phone and purse. She turned around and shifted her attention to the girl panting on the ground. “So, Gilda, what should we do with you now?” Gilda said nothing. She just kept glaring up at them while she caught her breath. Shimmer sighed. "Do you know what one of my kind’s biggest traits is? We believe in the good in every living being, and we’re willing to give those that hurt us the possibility to redeem themselves. I’ll admit that I'm kind of the black sheep with how I used to be, but I try to live up to that now. "So, here’s what will happen: We’ll let you go, and once you’re able to walk again, you should go and confess to the police. Don't even think about leaving the city; the police are already looking for you. Make it easier on yourself. They’ll probably let you off easier." Without another word, Shimmer turned away from the girl on the ground, with Sunset following her. "Do you really think that's a good idea? I don't think she’s the type to simply give up." "She isn't, and I don't believe she’ll do the smart thing either. But at least I offered it to her." Not far behind the two girls, Gilda rose back to her feet. She was still panting heavily, and she wobbled slightly on her feet, but she was able to stand. "You…little shit. I’ll…show you…who’s boss," she whispered to herself as she panted. Shoving her hand in her pocket, Gilda pulled out her knife. Carefully at first, she walked after the girls, but with each step, she got faster while still making sure to make as little noise as possible so as not to alert them. Finally close enough, she grinned and raised her knife and prepared herself to rush the remaining distance between them. But before she could do so, someone grabbed her wrist with the knife and twisted hard. Gilda let out a scream of pain, alerting the girls while she let the knife fall to the ground. The next thing she knew, the one who grabbed her forced her to the ground and pinned her down, both of her arms twisted behind her back. Turning her head, she saw a very muscular man with grayish-blue skin and dark-blue hair wearing a tracksuit holding her down. “Who the fuck are you?!” “Iron Will does not appreciate your language or your actions,” he said in a gruff voice. “I don’t care what you appreciate! Get off me!” A sigh drew Gilda’s attention away from the man to the two girls she had tried to attack. “And, of course, you choose the worst way to use that chance I gave you, Gilda,” Shimmer said with a shake of her head. She waved her hand at the man. “Let me introduce you. This is Iron Will, ex-bodyguard and owner of a gym here in Canterlot. He’s also an old friend of Sunset’s dad.” She turned her attention to Iron Will. “Thanks for helping, Will. And thanks for agreeing to let us handle her until it got out of hand.” “Don’t mention it. Desert won’t be happy that I let this go so far, but you made Iron Will curious. You got some nice moves, I’ll admit. Even so, I was about to step in a few times.” “Thanks.” Shimmer beamed. “So, Gilda. I don’t think I need to tell you what’s gonna happen now. With everything you did, we won’t be seeing you again for a long time.” Gilda glared at Shimmer from her position, before she suddenly smirked. “Not as long as you think. Sure, you’ll probably get me for beating her up—” Gilda nodded at Sunset, “—but you can’t prove anything. With just your word against mine, they’ll never convict me for anything else!” They all remained silent, until Shimmer spoke up. “You know what? You might be right, Gilda. With only me and Will as witnesses, you might just be right.” She buried one hand in the pocket of her hoodie and put the other on her chin. “I wonder if there’s a solution to this. Oh, what’s this in my pocket?” Gilda followed Shimmer’s movements in confusion as the girl took out her phone and looked at it in mock confusion. “Would you look at that. I accidentally activated the recording function a while ago, and it’s been recording everything all this time.” Gilda’s eyes grew in panic as the meaning sunk in, while Shimmer smirked. “Gotcha.” Iron Will laughed. “Another nice move!” Shimmer shrugged. “I try. Don’t take it too hard, Gilda. You’re already the second one who fell for this in as many days.” Gilda started stammering something, but Shimmer tuned her out as she turned to Sunset. “So, how about we call the police? We have an assembly at CHS we don’t wanna miss.” ~*~ The last day of school was usually a day for students to celebrate as they got ready for a slew of free time. However, for one group of friends standing outside CHS, the mood was anything but celebratory. They had met at their usual spot in front of the statue. Each of them had arrived late to school that morning, so they had to suffer through the first few classes of the day before they could meet for a spell before the assembly. "So, Ah guess y’all had trouble sleepin' last night?" Applejack asked around, receiving several nods. "Same." "Can you blame us? After what we learned yesterday about the other Sunset and Dashie's involvement, I had too much on my mind," Pinkie said, her hair sagging slightly. "Indeed. Even if it was just a slip of her tongue, it's still ghastly what happened thanks to it," Rarity added, before she looked around. "Say, where is Rainbow Dash, anyway? I don't think I’ve seen her yet." "Um, she was even later than us, so Mr. Doodle held her back to talk with her after class," Fluttershy said. "She said she would come around before the assembly." "Ah hope so. Yesterday was too much, but Ah want to talk with her about that more. Try to get some sense into that airhead o’ hers." The group fell into silence after Applejack spoke. None knew what to talk about, until Fluttershy broke the silence. "Did... one of you listen to it? That message she sent us, I mean. I tried, but I couldn't get myself to start it." Rarity sighed. "Neither could I. There was something about it that kept me away from it." "Yeah," Pinkie agreed. "Do you think we should listen to it together? To make it easier?" "Sounds good ta me. What do y’all think?" Applejack asked the others. She received several nods in reply. They huddled closer together so that no outsider could hear it before Applejack started the message on her phone. At first, there was not much to hear. There were some footsteps along with the wind. When the steps stopped, there was some rustling and, afterwards, silence. The girls looked at each other in confusion before more steps could be heard. They sounded like they were approaching quickly and were soon followed by the first spoken words. "Penny for your thoughts?"