"You did WHAT!?" Apple Bloom screamed in disbelief from within the school's cafeteria. "SCOOTS! Why did you do that!?"
Scootaloo shushed her friend to get her to calm down so they won't get attention from the other students, despite that a few were already looking at their way. "Calm down Apple Bloom! Everyone is staring!"
Apple Bloom calmed herself down somewhat, but still had a angry expression on her face. "Don't dodge the question Scoots! What possessed ya to think it was a "good idea" to break into our main soccer team lockers, steal their secrets and then posted them online?"
"I had to!" Scootaloo defended. Before Apple Bloom opened her mouth, Scootaloo spoke again. "Just think for a second! When you subtly brought up "Piggy Wiggly" to your sister and her friends during their sleepover, you also inadvertently revealed that you knew about the story too! If Sunset wasn't around at the sleepover, then who would be the first thing your sister will think was responsible for her nickname to be posted on the site?"
Apple Bloom thought about Scootaloo's words for a moment before her eyes widened in realization. "She would think... it was me."
Scootaloo nodded. "Exactly! And you were lucky that she never thought about that yesterday after her nickname was posted online. But even then, if we posted more things about our sisters and their friends, then things will be suspicious and doubted Sunset being the true culprit. I also noticed that some of the other students were doubting that Sunset was Anon-a-Miss too! That's why I did what I did so that not only to put more suspicion on Sunset, but also covering our own tracks in case if things went downhill."
Apple Bloom paused with a thoughtful look. Even though what Scoots did was extreme and a terrible idea, her friend had a point. Apple Bloom was very lucky that her sister never considered her to be the suspect despite how she subtly dropped that nickname during their phone call with everyone listening. Her friend also had a point that they shouldn't be too obvious either if they keep posting just the Rainbooms secrets. But even with those facts, was it really a good idea to drag in other students into the crossfire to keep up with the act?
"Well... Ah guess that makes sense and helped us in the long run, Ah'll give ya that!" Apple Bloom conceded before her face changed to a worried expression. "But did ya have ta put up some serious private stuff about other students? Ah mean, Soarin's thing for pie–as messed up as it was, seems too personal for anyone to see!"
"And I supposed Applejack's "Piggy Wiggly's" nickname wasn't personal at all?" Scootaloo countered.
Apple Bloom was about to rebuttal Scootaloo's claim, but she was unable to speak. She silently cursed herself, realizing that Scootaloo brought up another point.
"Besides," Scootaloo added. "He's Soarin from the Wondercolts Team! I'm sure he can handle a few laughs."
Apple Bloom shook her head. "Ah don't know Scoots. I saw him a few times outside of the team and he seems to be a very sensitive type. Granted, he's not as sensitive as Fluttershy, but still sensitive in his own right."
"Apple Bloom, he's an athlete!" Scootaloo argued. "Athletes were trained to not get sensitive at all!"
Apple Bloom gave Scootaloo her deadpanned stare. "Scoots... they were trained to not get sensitive for the sake of the game! It's a whole 'nother ball game when it comes to something personal in their lives! And I can guarantee that Soarin will be very upset when he finds out that his love for... pies... is up on our site!"
Scootaloo scoffed with an annoyed glare. "Okay one, you already posted something about your sister without a second thought! Why do you care about anyone's feelings now? And second, if I haven't done that, then I wouldn't have gathered more material for us to use from our new followers!"
Apple Bloom was about to argue but then she stopped herself with widen eyes.
"Wait... new followers? New material?" Apple Bloom exclaimed in a perplexed tone.
"Yeah!" Scootaloo replied in her cheerful tone. "See, as I posted many secrets on the site, I received more and more Emails from our new followers with dirt from other students for us to use on a silver platter! I even encouraged everyone who followed Anon-a-Miss to send us more material for us to use in the future!"
Apple Bloom stared at her friend in shock. Not only she discovered her friend broke into the lockers to steal the teams secrets, but she also learned that they are getting more secrets from other people who followed their site. And her friend also encouraged them to give them more!
"...ya kidding me!" Apple Bloom groaned and then lightly facepalmed herself into her hands. "Scoots, I don't like this idea at all! This whole thing has disaster written all over it!"
"Trust me Apple Bloom!" Scootaloo assured, waving off Apple Bloom's concern. "Since I'm always on Email duty, only I can decide which is suitable enough to be posted on that site. I won't put anything up if it's that's too far!" She then put on a huge grin. "Besides, most of the stuff I got was just pure gold!"
Apple Bloom sighed and gave her friend her skeptical look. "Dare Ah ask... what kind of "secrets" did ya get?"
"I'm glad you asked," Scootaloo replied eagerly before she took out a list from her pocket. "We got Bon Bon's fear of bugs and bears, Lyra's obsession with unicorns, Snips and Snails held back a grade–which wasn't really a secret for them if you ask me, Micro Chips had a crush on your sister–"
"Wait!" Apple Bloom interrupted with a look of disbelief. "Micro Chips? THE Micro Chips? The nerdiest kid in the entire school... had a crush on mah sister!?"
"Yeah I'm surprised as well. I guess he had a thing with farmer girls!" Scootaloo said with a shrug, completely oblivious to her friend's bewildered expression. "Anyway," Scootaloo continued, looking back at her list. "Bulk Biceps watched My Little Dragons, Vinyl Scratch and Octavia are secretly dating, Trixie sleeps with her nightlight on and..."
Scootaloo suddenly paused and frowned as if she just discovered something uncomfortable for the first time which only piqued Apple Bloom's curiosity.
"And... what?" Apple Bloom asked with anticipation.
Scootaloo hesitated for a moment before she finally replied. "And a photo of Silver Spoon wearing a necklace and showing it off at some party."
Apple Bloom frowned in confusion. "Dat's it? Ah don't see what's the big deal–"
"Which belonged to Diamond Tiara," Scootaloo finished. "And before you ask, according to the sender, Silver Spoon somehow got a hold of Diamond's necklace without Diamond's knowing!
Apple Bloom had a shocked expression on her face. "No way! Those two are best friends! How could she decided to steal a necklace from Diamond Tiara?"
"What about me?"
The two girls nearly jumped from the sudden third voice from behind them. They turned around and then immediately got nervous when they found out that the their voice was none other than Diamond Tiara. She wore a pink diamond necklace, black shirt with a yellow coat with a white fluff collar, short black shorts that were slightly torn from the bottom with a grey skirt over it, yellow boots with white cuffs and black ribbons with a diamond jewel near the bottom of the boot. She also had a long purple and white striped hair with a tiara hairclip on the side of her head. She was used to be a longtime bully to the CMC way before they enrolled to CHS, teasing a mocking them every time they see each other. But that all changed sometime after the Battle of the Bands when Apple Bloom discovered Diamond Tiara's rough home life, especially when Diamond was alone with her mother. To make a long story short, the CMC was able to lead Diamond Tiara to a much brighter life and her mother no longer controls her life. Now Diamond, along with her best friend Silver Spoon, are friends with the CMC, even if she still acted sassy from time to time.
"D-D-Diamond!" Apple Bloom cried with a forced smile as Scootaloo hastily stuffed her list back into her pocket. "Where did ya come from?"
"I just got here from my previous class," Diamond responded before narrowing her eyes. "Were you two talking about me just now?"
"Oh we're not talking about you!" Apple Bloom quickly lied with a nervous laugh. "Ah was... just asking Scootaloo's opinion if Ah should get Applejack some kind of... diamond accessory for Christmas instead of something related to Apples. A-A-And Scoots was just telling me her thoughts, right Scoots?"
Caught off guard that she was dragged into her friend's lie, she quickly answered Apple Bloom's "question" with a nervous look of her own.
"Oh... um... y-yeah!" Scootaloo stammered with an uneasy grin. "I um... think you should... um... get one of those... belt thingies... for her hat... cause it's a thing to put belts on hats... and your sister always were a hat!"
Apple Bloom resisted the urge to facepalm from Scootaloo's lame "input". "Uh... Scoots? Belts aren't made of diamonds."
"Sure they do!" Scootaloo insisted. "They have diamonds on their belt buckles and sometimes along the belt... that counts... right?"
Diamond Tiara just gave Scootaloo a look as if she had grown a second head. "Uh huh... no offense Scootaloo, but I'm a better person who knew about accessories since I go to the mall ninety percent of the time!" Her eyes then brightened. "Hey I know! Why don't you two and Sweetie come with me and Silver Spoon after school to the mall for Christmas shopping!"
Apple Bloom shook her head. "Oh no! That won't be necessary Diamond! We don't want to impose–"
"Oh I insist!" Diamond pressed, not taking Apple Bloom's refusal. "It's at least I could do! We didn't hang out much after you three helped change my ways and... I want to start making up for all the times I tormented you as a bully! So... will you three hang out with me?"
Apple Bloom was about to refuse again, but paused when stared at Diamond's face. While the rich girl had a look of confidence, but her eyes had a different story. Her eyes had a sad, regretful look, as if she was pleading her to give her a chance. By staring at those eyes, Apple Bloom felt a tinge of guilt. While Apple Bloom did become friends with Diamond Tiara after she helped her and then forgave her for years of bullying, but she never really hang out with Diamond much afterwords. Even if they did bump into each other, Apple Bloom still had her guard up whenever Diamond was around. Maybe some part of her still felt resentful towards Diamond always targeting her for all those years or maybe felt uncertain that Diamond will go back to her old ways despite everything they did to help her. Her voice scolded her for thinking that way about Diamond and telling her that she really is trying to change, but she could not help remembering all the hurtful things Diamond had done towards her in the past, even after finding out about Diamond's tough family life. As they say, time heals all wounds but the scars will never fade.
Yet, there she was, offering Apple Bloom to hang out like she did so many other times before, only for Apple Bloom and the rest of the CMCs to turn her down with an excuse. Even without their "history," Apple Bloom was having a situation right now with Anon-a-Miss no thanks to Scootaloo, which wasn't the best time right now. But unlike before, Apple Bloom just couldn't bring herself to turn her down again, especially when Diamond was really trying to reach out to her.
Not wanting to deny her newly friend's olive branch, Apple Bloom let out a heavy sigh. "Al...alright, we can come."
"R-really!? You will?" Diamond asked with hope.
"Yeah really," said Apple Bloom before frowning. "Except Sweetie Belle wasn't at school today."
Diamond frowned in concern. "Is she okay?"
"She's... not feeling well today due to her cold," Apple Bloom replied while looking away.
While it was true that Sweetie never showed up at school today, but it wasn't due to illness. Apple Bloom received a text from Sweetie early that morning that she doesn't "feel" like going to school today without clarifying what sickness she had. Deep down, Apple Bloom had a feeling that Sweetie Belle felt guilty for what she did to Rarity and her friends last night and didn't want to face her sister today. Apple Bloom felt bad for making Sweetie Belle feel that way, but she assured her and herself that what their doing was for a good cause.
At least, she hoped so.
"Oh that's too bad. I hope she's feeling better," Diamond said with a frown before perking up a bit. "Maybe we can go together another time when she's feeling better, sometime next week maybe?"
Before Scootaloo spoke up, Apple Bloom quickly replied. "Sure, we don't have anything planned, so ah guess next week is fine."
Diamond smiled. "Great! You won't regret it! We can meet up at the front of the mall."
"Right by the fountain, right?" Apple Bloom asked.
Diamond nodded. "Yep. Tell Sweetie to get well soon! See you girls later!"
With that, Diamond waved at them before walking away to her own table. As soon as she was gone, Apple Bloom sighed in relief before facing Scootaloo, who had a look of annoyance on her face.
"Apple Bloom..."
"Ah can't say no to her Scoots!" Apple Bloom defended. "She looked like she really wanted us to hang out with her!"
Scootaloo annoyance melted away somewhat and let out a long sigh. "Hey! I have no problem hanging out with her, but... now's the bad time."
Apple Bloom cocked an eyebrow. "What? With Anon-a-Miss or Sweetie Belle?"
As soon as she said their other friend's name, Scootaloo's expression immediately went soar. To Apple Bloom, she can tell that Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle not only are still mad at each other, but they haven't spoke to each other since yesterday. She hated seeing her two best friends fighting each other, but she also needed their help to keep their act going and continue to frame Shimmer. Having her friends mad at each other was not an option.
"Look Scoots, what you said to Sweetie Belle yesterday was uncalled for! You two really need to talk it over!" Apple Bloom spoke up. Before Scootaloo could argue, Apple Bloom cut her off. "As for the site, Ah think you should take a break from that site and not post anymore secrets fer the time being!"
"But Apple Bloom–"
"End of discussion!" Apple Bloom stated firmly.
While Scootaloo was peeved at her friend, the school bell rang, signaling everyone that lunchtime was over.
"Well talk more about this later Scoots!" said Apple Bloom as she gathered her things.
Apple Bloom then stood up and left the cafeteria without saying a word to her friend and went on with her day.
It was the following day at CHS. Unlike the usual typical day where everything is bright and full of energy, today however was gloomier, lifeless and and dull. Instead of everyone was casually hanging out in the hallways with their friends, acting all cheerful and excited about their upcoming holiday break, every student body was heading to their own classes with a dull, depressing expressions on their faces, Apple Bloom included. The school wasn't as warm and welcoming than what it used to be. Ever since she showed up, everyone is no longer friendly or trusting with one another and they were each pretending that they didn't notice each other to avoid fights. This of course made Apple Bloom feel depressed because her sister was also affected by all this negativity and that she wasn't the same since.
If only if she have never showed up.
Suddenly, something felt off to Apple Bloom when she realized that everything was quieter than normal. When she looked around, she quickly realized that everyone that was in the hallway had disappeared. Apple Bloom felt very nervous to be out all alone in some eerie hallway with no living soul around her.
"H-hello?" Apple Bloom called out, causing her own voice to echo out into the empty hallway. "W-where did everybody go? Where is everyone?"
Suddenly, all of the lights went out, leaving her all alone in a dark. While Apple Bloom isn't afraid of the dark, but being all alone in the dark by some strange unknown entity with no one else around felt unnerving. After standing in the dark for a moment, which felt like an eternity to Apple Bloom, she heard something which send chills down to her spine.
"Hehehehehe!"
...
"Hehehehehe!"
From what Apple Bloom could make out, it sounded like a bunch of low sinister chuckles, which was creeping her out to no end. It gets worse as chuckles was starting to get louder and louder until it reached to a flow blown horrifying evil laughter.
"HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!"
Apple Bloom was shaking in terror now. Whoever it was out there sounded like she came from some kind of horror film, only she was actually experiencing it in person! In fact, whoever was laughing doesn't sound like an actual person at all! What was worse about the whole situation was that whatever it was out there messing with her, Apple Bloom was facing this mysterious entity all alone with no sister, her friends or anyone at all to aid her.
"W-who... who's there!?" Apple Bloom finally called out, using what was left of her courage.
"It's me Apple Bloom," The mysterious voice replied with a chuckle.
"Me... who?" Apple Bloom uttered with confusion but still terrified.
The mysterious voice chuckled again. "Oh you know who I am Apple Bloom! I guess you could say... you've known me for quite some time!"
"Wha- what are ya talking about!" said Apple Bloom. "Ah- Ah don't know you at all!"
"You really don't know?" The voice gasped mockingly before chuckling again out of amusement. "Why Apple Bloom, I'm hurt that you could forget all about me! Perhaps I should... refresh your memory!"
As soon as Apple Bloom heard a sound of snapping fingers, a light came back on in front of her, which relieved her a bit. However, her relief was short lived when she noticed the light revealed a person who was all pale and stood there in a zombie-like trance with glowing eyes. On top of all of that, Apple Bloom knew exactly who that person was.
"A-APPLEJACK!" Apple Bloom screamed as she ran over to her sister. "Applejack! Are you okay!? Please! Talk to me!?"
Apple Bloom tried to snap her sister out of her trance by shaking her sister back in forth by the shoulders. But no matter what she did, she couldn't break her sister free from that trance.
Apple Bloom ceased her actions when another light turned on about a few feet next to her. There was another person who was standing under the light in a zombie-trance. This time, the person Apple Bloom identified was Sweetie Belle's sister, Rarity. As Apple Bloom was processing this, more lights turned on one by one, revealing more people including Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy.
Apple Bloom just stood frozen as more people from her school revealed under each light in a similar trance. It was then occurred to her that they were all in the same trance by Shimmer after she transformed herself into a she-demon. But unlike last time, her sister and her friends were also enslaved with mind controlling magic.
And there's no one will be able to stop her!
"What have you done!?" Apple Bloom screamed. "What have you done to mah sister!?"
The only thing Apple Bloom could hear from the darkness was a roar of laughter as if Apple Bloom had said something funny. This only made the young pre-teen angry, barely forgetting her fear of facing this mysterious visitor who was mocking her.
"Where are you!" Apple Bloom shouted, while trying to scope around the dark room to the best of her ability. "Show yerself you... you... DEMON!"
"...behind you."
Apple Bloom quickly turned around to the source of that deep voice from behind her. When she did, her eyes widened in horror. What she saw was a floating, tall creature in front of her while covering in the shadow. While Apple Bloom can not see the creature's features due to the darkness, but she can still make out some of the familiar outline of the creature's body. Tall boots, red skin, some kind of flaming dress as well as flaming tail and hair, and two huge demon wings.
Suddenly, the demon creature opened up two of its glowing eyes and gave her a huge toothy grin with a wicked glee.
"Nice to see you... Apple Bloom!"
Apple Bloom gasped loudly as she suddenly sat up straight from her bed. Her breathing labored as she looked around her dark bedroom. She then calmed herself as she realized that it was only a dream.
A very... scary dream.
What the heck was that? she thought to herself as her breathing subsided somewhat. Ah have bad dreams before, but nothin' like this!
Her eyes then narrowed as she remembered that certain she-demon creature from her nightmare.
Even in mah dreams, that Shimmer girl thinks she's all high and mighty and can talk trash like we're nothing! Well, pretty soon with Anon-a-Miss on our side, we can finally bring her down to a peg or two and my sister can ditch her forever!
With that determined thought and attitude, Apple Bloom laid back down to her pillow and tried to get herself back to sleep.
The Keyword being "tried".
The next day (for real this time), the morning routine at CHS appeared to be normal as always with the acceptation of some students were sniggering at the latest posts from Anon-a-Miss with their phones. Apple Bloom didn't paid them any mind as she was slowly walking down the hall like a zombie. There were dark rings around her eyes and were also bloodshot due to lack of sleep. She kept having that same nightmare over and over again. Apple Bloom didn't know why she kept having that same dream, but she hoped that it'll go away either in time or when she'll finally get rid of Shimmer.
"WHAT!?"
Apple Bloom suddenly stopped in her tracks and she was now high alert. She knew whose voice belonged to and it sounded like something serious going on. She ran towards the source until she approached the corner of the hallway. When she peaked around the corner, she spotted Sunset and the Rainbooms in the middle of the hallway with Sunset looking perplexed at Applejack's phone while the others were either giving her angry of disappointed expressions. There were also a some students stood in the hallway watching them from the sidelines, not caring if they're late for class. Apple Bloom decided to blend in along with the students and watched as the scene unfolds between Sunset and the Rainbooms1.
"How did she get our pictures?" Sunset cried as she was looking through Applejack's phone.
"They're not our pictures Sunset," Rainbow Dash said coolly, causing Sunset to look up at her. "They're yours!"
"All those pictures were taken by you!" Applejack added.
Apple Bloom realized which photos they were referring to and silently praised Sweetie Belle for a job well done. These pictures definitely incriminated Sunset as the culprit and get her sisters and her friends to ditch her for sure. She continued to watch with eager anticipation for the potential fallout between Sunset and the Rainbooms.
Sunset was taken aback from Applejack's revelation. "Wait, but– I've had my phone all this time! How did she–"
"Yeah, how did she!?" Applejack interrupted Shimmer as she went up to Shimmer's face with narrowed eyes and snatched her phone back from Sunset. "How did she know about my nickname? How did she get the pictures from your phone!" Applejack then pointed accusingly at Sunset, "It was you all along! You're Anon-a-Miss!"
"We trusted you Sunset!" Rainbow Dash said in her anger tone. "We thought you were our friend!"
"How could you do this? After all we've been though together!" Rarity said disappointingly, couldn't bring herself to look at Sunset.
"No wait, you guys– I didn't do this!" Sunset cried desperately. "I could never hurt any of you!"
"But you did!" Pinkie Pie accused in her upset tone. "You must've just been pretending to be our friend, when all along you were just after our secrets! You– you secret stealer!"
"No! NO! I don't know how she got this stuff, but it–it wasn't me!" Sunset pleaded to her friends who clearly did not believe her judging with their hands on their hips with the exception of Applejack who just crossed her arms and Fluttershy just standing there starring at Sunset. "I'm not this person!"
Apple Bloom was staring to feel uncomfortable as things went escalating real fast. She jumped when she saw Fluttershy, the normally quiet person in school, boldly took a few steps towards Sunset and pointed at her.
"No you're not!" Fluttershy exclaimed angrily with tears spilling from her eyes. "You're not the person we thought you were! You're not our friend!"
"No, I... I am! I promise!" Sunset cried.
What Apple Bloom saw next surprised her. As Sunset was pleading to her friends, tears were spilling from her eyes. Apple Bloom had seen Sunset cry before during her time as a bully but they were mostly fake just to get herself out of trouble. However, unlike those times, Apple Bloom noticed that Sunset's sadness was not only real, but her expression was also pained as well.
Pain for about to lose her friends.
"This is it Sunset!" Applejack declared in her most hard tone Apple Bloom had ever heard as Applejack lowered her hat over her eyes. "You're not going to take advantage of us any more! I'm sorry, but you did this to us!" Applejack then turned away from Sunset. "Tell whatever secrets you want! But we don't have to listen!"
With that, she and the rest of the Rainbooms walked away from Sunset as Sunset collapsed to her knees and cries over the loss of her friends.
While Sunset was crying in the middle of the hallway, Apple Bloom took in the sight of a sadden former bully.
She did it. Apple Bloom and her friends actually did it! Their plan to get their sisters and the Rainbooms to ditch Sunset actually became a reality and no longer friends with her! Sunset finally got the punishment she deserved for all the bullying and making other lives miserable in the past. It was a victory for the CMC and for everyone else who was affected by Shimmer's tyranny.
...
But... why did she felt like that it wasn't?