//------------------------------// // What have you done? // Story: Lesson Learned // by Diamond Sword //------------------------------// Sorry for publishing this so late! I hope you enjoy what you've been waiting so long for! Sorry if it seems unevenly paced! Happy Holidays! The Crusaders were sitting in Applebloom’s room. They were reading through another secret that involved Spitfire when they got another private message. ‘Greetings.’ Hmm….for some reason, their name didn’t seem to appear on the screen. Applebloom began to type out her response.         ‘Hey there! You got a juicy secret to tell?’ ‘No. If anything, I’d like to ask you about something. You’ve got a couple secrets of your own, don’t you?’ They responded. Applebloom looked at the other two freshman. “Should we tell ‘em ‘no’? We don’t wanna get caught…” The bow wearing mastermind mused. “What if we try to change the subject?” Scootaloo asked. Sweetie Belle bit her lip. “But what do we say to them?” Applebloom began to think about it. They had to be careful. Subtle. For all they knew, it could be Sunset trying to - ‘You’re Applebloom, right? Applejack’s little sister?’ The girls nearly had a heart attack. How did this person know? ‘If you are wondering who I am, well I’m someone who is very disappointed in you. Know this: Your actions will have dire consequences. It is not too late for you to make things right.’ Applebloom began to type out their response. ‘And why should I believe you? You’re literally some stranger telling me what to do. Mind your business.’ Sweetie Belle gripped her friend’s shoulder. “Applebloom! Don’t do this!” “Yeah! They’ll probably tell the entire school about us!” Scootaloo cried out. ‘Believe me, Scootaloo. I want to. But I’m also concerned for your safety. Again, I suggest that you stop this while you’re ahead.’ For a while, no one said anything. ‘Your sisters have already abandoned Sunset by blaming her for what you did. So why are you still going?’ Beads of sweat began to dip down Applebloom’s head. ‘I’m not telling you. Sunset doesn’t deserve them. Our sisters deserve to spend time with their family. Their real family.’ At first, all the girls got was a laughing emoji. ‘And yet it is their so-called real family who is hurting them, humiliating them. I guess the ends justify the means. Well, if it makes you feel better let’s hope no other magical beings like the Sirens show up. You could call Twilight--oh, wait! Sunset called her. So what will you do when she’s gone?’ ‘I hope it’s worth it when your sisters...Oh, I said too much.’ The Crusaders were stumped. Sweetie Belle looked at the floor in shame while Scootaloo and Applebloom rubbed their necks. ‘And by the way, you’re doing exactly the same thing they’re doing.’ Applebloom tilted her head. ‘Who?’ ‘The Sirens. Past Sunset did the same thing, too. Ever since you’ve started this blog, you’ve destroyed friendships, caused chaos, and many other horrible things. You’re not too different from them.’ ‘You are just as bad as they were. Maybe even worse coz u hide behind a computer.’ Applebloom began nervously twisting her shirt. ‘But dats OK. Ur 2 scared, I get it. I’d b scared 2. I mean it’s not like anybody besides me will figure it out.’ ‘Nobody can hide 4eva.’ Applebloom’s hands clenched slightly. ‘You know what? You don’t scare me. I have the entire school behind me. I can find your secret and then no one will side with you. Heck, I can make it look like you did it.’ Ten minutes passed. So far, nothing happened. Scootaloo looked at her friends. “Do you think we scared them off?” Then, they finally got a response. Good Luck. That’s when the computer shut off. “Huh?!”Applebloom leapt out of her chair and began to fiddle with the computer’s plug. “AJ just got this thing fixed!” Sweetie Belle joined her. “Did the plug fall out? You always told us that the socket’s a bit big for it…” Scootaloo was about to join them, but then she noticed something strange…..She walked over to Applebloom’s window and noticed a bright yellow bird next to it. It was frozen in midair. As Scootaloo looked around, she found more worrying things. Granny Smith had apparently just come home, but the elderly apple family member was frozen in a position where she was preparing to close the door to their pickup truck. “G-girls?” Time was frozen, with only them being able to move. This was freaking them out. Applebloom ran over to her bedroom door, attempting to twist the knob and open it, but it wouldn’t budge. Sweetie Belle began to panic. “Is this the punishment they were talking about?!” The pale girl hugged her knees close to her chest. “Don’t panic! We just need to get out!” “Then what!? Who can help us!?” Applebloom bit her lip and looked around the room. That’s when she noticed a small crack in the floor. The computer’s screen turned white. “Do you think there was nothing wrong with it after all?” Scootaloo began to step closer. The screen began to glow brightly. Sweetie Belle and Applebloom frantically reached out for their friend. “SCOOTS, NO!” The light spread out through the room. The light dispersed, revealing Applebloom’s room in broken chunks. The girls sat on chunks of the floor as they floated in space. ‘You think you are untouchable, Anon-A-Miss? You seek to break the bonds of the Elements of Harmony. Well, watch what happens and see the consequences!’ The girls could’ve sworn that they heard voices along with the response. The chunks of Applebloom’s room began to break into smaller pieces. Applebloom jumped onto her bed and held out her hand to the other crusaders, helping them on. ‘You are playing a dangerous game, children. But there is salvation. Confess your sins and accept your punishment or WE will come for you!’ Applebloom suddenly felt herself sinking. She looked down at her bed and saw that her blankets had turned into liquid. Goodness, the girls were sinking really quickly. Applebloom tried to grasp her bedframe, but to her horror, her fingers slipped through them. The girls tried to swim up to prevent themselves from drowning, but with no luck. They all closed their eyes tightly as they braced themselves for the inevitable. That’s when the crusaders woke up in their individual beds, all three of them covered in sweat. It was all a dream? But why did it feel so real? That’s when their alarm clocks went off, signaling that they needed to get ready for school. But they weren’t so eager to do so…. Sunset silently walked into Canterlot High. The poor girl had to come in earlier than everyone else so that she wouldn’t have to deal with scowls and pettiness for the entire day. She got to her locker so that she could put away her things. Ah, wonderful. The other students were once again, generous to decorate her locker with vulgar graffiti. ‘Bitch’, ‘Slut’, ‘She-Demon’. Shaking her head, the amber skinned girl began to put in her combination. She still couldn’t believe that her ‘friends’ threw her away like that. They didn’t even listen to her…. She took out her phone and looked through the photos. Those were happier times. Tears began to well up in her eyes. Sunset roughly wiped them away and began to walk to class. Vice-Principal Luna was standing infront of Ms.Harshwhinny’s classroom. “Ah. Hello, Sunset. Let me unlock the door for you.” Sunset smiled softly. “Thanks, Vice-Principal Luna.” The long haired woman smiled back gently. “You are quite welcome. I apologize for what Anon-a-Miss has done…” Sunset rubbed the back of her neck. “I’ll try to get through it…” She walked into the classroom and took her usual seat. She laid her head down on her desk, closing her eyes as began to drift back into her thoughts. “Excuse me?” Sunset jolted upwards, looking around the classroom to see who just spoke to her. Her eyes landed on a tall girl with royal blue hair and powder blue skin who was sitting in the seat next to her. “Oh, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you!” Sunset sighed with relief and smiled softly at her. This girl was the first student to not show her any hostility. “It’s fi….fine…” Sunset began to notice the strange features that this girl had. She had a pastel pink aura around her body, her dress was made of leaves and yellow flower petals, with vines holding it together. She had the pony ears just like when Sunset and the others ponyed-up, as well as a set of wings. There were pink butterflies in her long braided hair, and she seemed to be slightly transparent, like a ghost of some kind… The girl in question tilted her head. “Is there something wrong, Sunset?” And she somehow knew her name…. “Um..yeah,actually...Who are you?” She asked. “Oh! I am Artemis Dolittle! I am the spirit that represents the Element of Kindness! It’s nice to finally meet you in person!” Sunset was surprised by this. She would’ve refuted if Artemis was not so ghost-like. ‘The spirit that represents the Element of Kindness’? How interesting…’ Sunset slowly nodded. “So, Artemis…If you don’t mind me asking...are you dead?” “Well...not entirely. Our souls just power the Elements and the Tree of Harmony.” Artemis shrugged. “It’s really hard to explain.” Alright, but Sunset Shimmer had more pressing questions. “Why are you here then? If you’re one of the spirits that represent the Elements of Harmony, why are you on this side of the mirror? Why not Equestria?” Sunset asked. “Well, let’s just say we sensed a disturbance in the Elements in this dimension and came to investigate,” Artemis explained. “And I have seen less than kind things happening here and this unkindness seems directed to you.” “Yeah...you can blame Anon-A-Miss for that,” Sunset Shimmer grimaced. “So this ‘Anon-A-Miss’ is the cause of all your troubles?” Artemis asked. “Yeah, and where it all started to go wrong for me.” “Do tell.” “You sure you want to listen? It’s a long story.” “Oh, I do love long stories, but I suppose this is not a very good one.” “I’ll give you the cliff notes version then.” Sunset mentally prepared herself. “So...a few days ago, Someone named ‘Anon-A-Miss’ showed up on MyStable and started spewing out everyone’s secrets. For a while, my….’friends’ were on my side, but a day later, they’re suddenly convinced that I’m Anon-A-Miss because I took the photos at one of our slumber parties and it happened to be on Anon-A-Miss’ page.I tried to convince them otherwise, but they just wouldn’t listen…” Artemis hugged Sunset tightly. To Sunset’s surprise, the spirit was actually able to have physical contact with her. “Oh, you poor thing!” Ok, this hug was starting to get a little too tight. “Artemis...can’t...breathe…” She responded, gasping for air. Artemis immediately let go. “Sorry! They just treated you so terribly!” “Yeah….And they’re not the only ones who believe that I’m Anon-A-Miss…” Artemis’ eyebrows furrowed. “You’re kidding….” Sunset sadly smiled. “I wish I was…” “Hun, so do I!” Sunset jumped, startled by the voice behind her. She turned to see another spirit. This spirit was female like Artemis, but shorter than her and Sunset. She had curly, gradient hair that started as purple, and shifted to orange at the edges. Rectangular framed glasses rested on her nose, her mismatched orange and purple eyes peering through the lenses. A set of pony ears poked out of her hair, matching her coral colored skin. This spirit also wore a lavender dress shirt that was rolled up at the sleeves, a white skirt, and sapphire blue heels . A light blue tie was around her neck, with matching diamond shaped earrings and a necklace. “Sorry, hun. Didn’t mean to scare you.” Sunset took some deep breaths. “Don’t worry about it….What’s your name?” The spirit smiled gently. “Persephone. Spirit of Generosity at your service.” She answered, adjusting her glasses. Ah. That’s explain the multiple amount of diamonds on her outfit. Artemis chimed in. “What are you going to do about the other students, though?” Sunset looked down at the floor. “Probably try to ignore them…” “Which’ll be easier said than done….” Persephone snarked. “Pretty much.” Sunset responded. “Well, we’ll try our best in helping you figure out who’s behind this.” Persephone put a hand on Sunset’s shoulder, smiling. Artemis smiled as well. “Stay strong, Sunset.” Sunset smiled softly back. “Thank you. I’ll try…” “Miss Shimmer!” Sunset sat upright, looking around her. Artemis and Persephone had disappeared. She wiped away a trail of drool off her cheek. Was she asleep? She looked to the front of the classroom to see Ms.Harshwhinny, tapping her foot with her arms crossed. “While I appreciate that you have arrived early to my classroom, it would be nice if you did not arrive early just so you could sleep.” Sunset blushed faintly. “Yes Ms.Harshwhinny..” Ms.Harshwhinny turned and began to prepare for her class. Sunset sat quietly in her seat. She felt a buzz from her bag, recognizing that Twilight had responded to her message. She grabbed the book and opened it. “Sunset, are you ok?! What happened?!” Sunset took out one of her pens and began to write back to her worried pen pal. “Not entirely, but I guess I’m feeling a bit better about this shitshow. I have some supporters in my corner.” Twilight responded almost instantly. “Really?! That’s wonderful! Who are they?!” “Well….I think I’ve got a clue about why the Tree of Harmony is going haywire.” Sunset wrote back. Applejack watched as her sister ran into the school building. The blonde haired cowgirl walked through the schoolyard. She was greeted with the taunting oinks of her fellow classmates. Her jaw tightened as she tried to ignore it. “AJ!” The farmgirl looked to her right, seeing a familiar pink party planner waving, accompanied by Rainbow Dash and Rarity.. Applejack walked over to them, frowning when she noticed the absence of one of their friends. “Where’s Fluttershy?” Rarity held up her phone. “The poor darling missed the bus. So she’ll be a bit late.” Rainbow Dash crossed her arms as she saw groups of former friends arguing. “It’s like the Dazzlings all over again. What did we do to her to deserve this?” She growled with clenched teeth. Applejack sighed, putting a hand on the hothead’s shoulder. “I know, Dash. But if we can report ‘er to Celestia, maybe she’ll get expelled. She ain’t gonna bother us anymore after that.” Rarity and Pinkie Pie nodded. Rainbow Dash’s shoulders bunched up. “But who says that she won’t go to some other school and pull the same bullshit and trick some other naive suckers?! That bitch needs to be taught a lesson! If friendship lasers won’t beat it into that thick head of hers, then I will!” All of a sudden a stray dog had run up to RD, barking, growling, and biting at her ankles. “HEY! OW! QUIT IT!” Rainbow Dash tried to shoo the dog away, but it was relentless, now biting harder. Applejack reached into her backpack and pulled out one of the dog treats that she saved in case Winona would run out of the house. She shook it in front of the dog’s nose, whistling and gaining it’s attention. She  tossed it in the opposite direction, causing the dog the chase after it. “Thanks, AJ...” Dash rubbed at her ankles, trying to ease the pain. “No problem. Now what in tarnation was that about?” Applejack’s eyebrows furrowed as she watched the dog run off into the distance. “Perhaps it was just picking a fight…” Rarity wondered out loud. Pinkie Pie scratched her head curiously. “But where did that little doggy even come from?” Applejack shook her head. “I’ve got no idea. But one thing’s for sure, We need to get ya to the nurse for them dog bites, Dash.” She supported her friend’s body as she began to lead her into the school building. As Rainbow Dash was lead to Nurse Redheart’s office, Applejack spotted Sunset in Ms.Harshwhinny’s class. The farm girl scowled, quickly turning her head away and lowered the brim of her hat to hide her face to avoid being noticed by her. Meanwhile, Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo were in the library, huddling together in the farthest corner and nervously looking through more secrets that had been sent from the students. “M-maybe we should delete the account..” Sweetie Belle whispered, still shaken up from the dream that she and her comrades had. “But what about Sunset, girls?” Apple Bloom asked. Scootaloo folded her arms across her chest. “Our sisters won’t take her back after this! We already finished the job! Let’s just bury the hatchet while we can!” Sweetie Belle nodded. “And besides, what we’re doing is pretty mean…” Apple Bloom gripped her phone quietly. “Still-” “Look, Apple Bloom, I know we’re doing this for our sisters and all, but we’ve crossed some lines.” Scootaloo was about to grab Apple Bloom’s phone, but the red haired farm girl pulled it away from her. “Hold on, y’all! Why don’t we just take a break from the secrets! We can just watch and see if anythin’ looks out of the ordinary! If nothin’ happens, then we can post a couple more! J-just to make sure that it was just a dream!” She hastily suggested. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle both thought it over. It seemed shakey, they had some doubts about this idea...but… Scootaloo huffed. “Fine. We’ll wait it out. But if we get abducted by some magical force or something, you better not throw us under the bus!” The first bell rang, signaling that all of the students needed to head to class. The girls exchanged looks with each other and ran quickly to the stairs, since their first class was on the second floor.            Deep down, Apple Bloom hoped that her plan would work.            The lunchroom was filled with students. Most of them had gotten their lunches, while a small group was still in line. The Rainbooms were sitting in their usual spot. And they were still pondering what to do about Anon-A-Miss.             “Anyone think that it’s weird that she hasn’t posted anything yet?” Pinkie chimed in.             Fluttershy nodded softly. “I know it should be a good thing, but it does seem a little suspicious…”             Rarity scoffed. “Darlings, this is Sunset Shimmer we’re talking about.”             Applejack swallowed the last bite of her apple. “If anyone knows how to do ‘suspicious’ right, it’s her.”            Rainbow Dash wasn’t paying attention. She had been silently watching Dumbbell and his goons tease poor little Twist about her dreaded secret.             The rest of the Rainbooms noticed.             “Oh, poor dear…” Rarity sighed.             Dumbbell had turned to leave, but he had unfortunately tripped and fell face first into an innocent bystander’s lunch.             But thanks to Rainbow Dash’s position, she had seen a red magical aura surround itself around Dumbbell’s foot. It dispersed as students crowded around him, laughing and pulling out their phones.             “D-did you girls see that?!” The blue skinned athlete asked, wide eyed from disbelief.             “Yeah! Serves him right for picking on Twist like that!” Pinkie cried, crossing her arms and tilting her nose in the air.              “He should watch where he’s goin’ next time.” Applejack shook her head.              Rainbow Dash glanced back at the crowd of students. “No! It wasn’t an accident!”               Rarity frowned. “Rainbow Dash, whatever do you mean?”               “I mean someone tripped him! I saw it! Something red was around his ankle!” RD cried. “I swear!”    But before any of the other girls could question her any further, the bell rang, signalling that lunch was over. Students began to clean up their messes and head to their lockers.   Applejack put a hand on Rainbow’s shoulder. “Don’t worry Dash, maybe it’s nothin’. Come on, sugarcubes.”   After they cleaned up, they began to make their journey to their classrooms. But before they could reach their lockers, Rainbow Dash spotted fire-like hair across the hall. Her eyebrows furrowed with rage as she watched the former unicorn get pushed by vengeful students. That stupid pitiful look on her face made her wanna just puke. Her hands curled into tight fists, causing them to become a paler shade of blue. Applejack said to annoy her, but she just couldn’t. That bitch needed to pay.  “Rainbow Dash!” Reached out towards her friend as she ran off through the crowd of students. The Rainbooms followed her.  Sunset could barely react before Rainbow Dash grabbed her and pinned her against the lockers. “Dash!” She cried. Multiple other students crowded around the two girls, snippets of excited whispers, laughter, and worried murmurs were heard. “Outta the way!” Applejack cried as she pushed into the front with the other girls in tow. “Rainbow Dash! What in tarnation are you doin’?!” Rainbow Dash ignored her friend, instead pulling Sunset close to her face. “Alright, Anon-A-Miss. What’s the deal what happened to all of the stupid secrets you were posting, huh? Why’d you stop? I thought you were enjoying it?” Rainbow Dash growled. Students yelled out agreements,with some of them showing the screens of their phones angrily. Sunset tried to push her former ‘friend’ away, but Dash wasn’t budging any time soon. “Rainbow, I told you girls, I’m not the one doing this! Now please, let me go!” Boos and jeers were heard from the other students. “Fuck her up, RD!” “Yeah, teach her a lesson!” Rainbow Dash didn’t need to be told twice. “Wrong answer!” She cried. “YOU WILL NOT HARM HER!” Someone’s voice boomed. Rainbow Dash was frozen. Literally, frozen. She had her fist raised to hit Sunset, but now she could not move. Not only that, but her friends were frozen too. The only thing that were not frozen were their lips. Time had stopped all around them, and Sunset was stunned. A magenta colored spirit had manifested beside the two girls. She looked disgusted at Rainbow Dash, the supposed Element of Loyalty. “You will be judged. But you are not the only ones.” The girls felt the ground start to crack from beneath their feet. They couldn’t do anything when the ground collapsed, causing them to fall into a deep hole. The bell rung, and everything returned to normal, except Sunset and The Rainbooms were missing. For the other students, it felt as if they had just blinked, and then they had just vanished into thin air. Cranky Doodle Donkey stepped out into the halls, with his hand on his hips. “What is goin’ on out here?!” He demanded. That was a good question. What was going on here? Meanwhile, in the library, Cheerilee was feeling the walls for the light switch, for they had mysteriously went out. She sighed with relief when she felt it, and turned the lights back on. The students who occupied the library were confused. On the top floor, it was empty, except for shelves that held books, and for the three backpacks phones that belonged to the Cutie Mark Crusaders, who had disappeared along with the Rainbooms.