“HIM!? THE BALTAN!?” Icarus shrieked.
Lugiel raised an eyebrow at the bat-faced alien’s outburst.
“Yes, what of it?” Lugiel did not like having his decisions questioned by mere underlings but he was willing to hear them out before coldly dismissing them.
Nobody ever accused him of not ever listening.
Composing himself, Icarus explained, “Well, my lord, I would have thought you would want a handler with some investment in seeing your newest asset survive, as opposed to an emotionless psychopath that may kill her on a whim.”
“Exactly,” Lugiel retorted.
Confused, Fall looked between Icarus and Lugiel.
“Excuse me?”
“Baltan’s duty is to watch you and deal with you if you ever decide to betray me, Ms. Fall,” Lugiel informed Sunset’s evil doppelganger.
“What!? Haven’t I already proven my usefulness to you!?” Fall demanded.
Dark Lugiel stood up from the chair that he had made his throne, and approached Fall. Despite his current appearance, the aura surrounding him was still intimidating. Icarus backed away to put more distance between himself in his master and managed to bump himself against the wall. Meanwhile, Fall found herself frozen in the presence of Dark Lugiel.
“When I look into your eyes, Ms. Fall, I do not see loyalty but ambition. While I can respect the latter, I do not tolerate disloyalty. You do not want to serve but lead and you are simply using my resources, biding your time until you’ve gained enough power to do so. Well know this: I may not be well-versed in magic, but I know that while it may play well with Spark Dolls, it cannot harm them. So I chose an alien who could terminate you in an instant and not even flinch.”
Enraged, Fall lunged at Lugiel, grabbing him by his collar, “YOU BASTARD! THIS WASN’T THE ARRANGEMENT I AGREED TO!”
“Strike one,” Lugiel simply replied, calling Fall’s attention to the fact that Baltan was now aiming its pincers at the back of her head. Lugiel then grabbed Fall’s wrists and pulled her hands off his collar, “You’ve have just demonstrated exactly what I thought of you: short-sighted ambition, but not a single brain cell to pull it off. You believed that you held all the cards; that you could play me like a fiddle to your tune. Now you realize you have dug a hole that you have no chance to escape from. Afterall, you were the one who believed that mind controlling a horde of teenagers to conquer another world would make sense. Seeing as how you are such a simple creature, let me phrase this as simply as possible: You. Are. Mine.”
“And what if I told Sunset and her merry gang who you really are?” Fall challenged.
“Threatening my host, Ms. Fall? Really?” Lugiel laughed, then said in a gravely serious tone, “You would never make it to the door. Strike two.”
Baltan’s pincers began emitting heat in preparation to fire. Now truly cornered, Fall was forced to back off with a hiss.
“Fine.”
She hated the face looking back at her, and she hated it more when it wore a smug look of satisfaction. Fall clenched her fists but she did not react knowing it would not end well for her.
“Glad we could come to an understanding,” Lugiel chirped in fake joy, before returning to his serious tone, “Now you do have some liberties. You may deploy Baltan for tasks. However, these tasks must fall in line with my goals, and if you attempt to run off and squeal while he’s away, he will know. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” Fall growled out.
“Good. Baltan, take her away,” Lugiel commanded, before realizing something, “Oh, as for your little scheme with Anon-A-Miss, I have a feeling it’s about to come to a close.”
“What!? That can’t be possible! I’ve planned it to the finest detail!
“Ginga’s host and her friends managed to figure out who was responsible for spreading those secrets. I overheard them the other day,” Lugiel explained.
“No! This can’t be happening! I won’t let my plan fall apart like this!” Fall panicked.
“Then I suppose you should get to work then,” Lugiel said as he tossed Fall a Spark Doll, before mockingly adding, “Merry Christmas, Ms. Fall.”
With that, Baltan grabbed Fall and teleported them from the room.
“Master, what do you wish for me to do?” Icarus asked.
“I need someone to clean my collection and dust the place,” Dark Lugiel commanded. “I also have a nice little outfit you can wear while you’re doing it.”
Alien Icarus found a feather duster in his hands and blinked but he knew better than to question and disobey his master.
*////*
After appearing on a rooftop, Fall smashed her fists onto the rail of the roof, furiously ranting within her mind by virtue of not wanting to give Baltan an excuse to terminate her early,
‘That bastard! How dare he say those things about me! “Not a brain cell to pull off my ambitions,” who does he think he is!? I’ll show him! Once I’m reattached to Sunset Shimmer, I’ll make sure that his death will be particularly slow. But first, I need to break her, and kill Ginga. If my plan is going to fall through, I will make its last stand, I will make it as savage as possible.’
“Baltan!” she barked. The alien’s sole response was to tilt its head in expectation of her orders. Fall threw the Spark Doll to Baltan, “Take this, and plant it and a Dummy Spark on Applebrat. I will implant a set of instructions into the heads of those twerps. Once you’re done there, take me to Camp Everfree, there is magic there that I need.”
Baltan nodded and blinked out of existence.
*////*
Baltan reappeared in Applebloom’s rustic bedroom, fortunately, without the girl inside it. Going by the voices downstairs, it seemed as though the Apples were preparing for something. What it was, Baltan cared not. It only cared to obey its master’s bidding.
Baltan began scanning the room before beholding the little girl’s bag. Soft as a ghost, Baltan walked to it, and planted the items, leaving it looking as untouched as it was when Baltan appeared. Baltan, objective complete, teleported silently from the room.
*////*
As an avid lover of plants and flowers, Wallflower Blush visited a certain flower shop frequently. Because of her plants, she never felt lonely. They had been her only companions.
Yeah, that might sound a bit sad, but as she was usually so easily forgotten, she needed something to feel good about herself. Now, though, she was a bit less lonely since finding Taro and befriending Sunset Shimmer and the others. She was also invited to a Christmas Party. So, she wanted to bring some flowers to liven things up.
As she looked at the various flowers for sale, something interesting caught her eye. She leaned in for a closer look and her eyes widened when she saw what it was.
It was a Spark Doll, hidden amongst the flowers. It was just lying in the flowerpot. Wallflower carefully picked up to examine it.
It was not a monster but an Ultraman. She would need to bring it to Ultraman Taro to identify.
Oh, wait, she had nearly forgotten about the flowers she was going to get. She would also need to pick something up for Taro. He was probably still upset about being used as her Christmas Tree Angel. Also, she had taken pictures of him dressed up as such.
He really should get into the Christmas spirit, really. Hopefully, a gift would help with that.
Now, what could she get for her tiny Ultraman friend?
*////*
The Apple Family home was decorated for their upcoming Christmas Party. All of Applejack’s friends would be coming and so were Applebloom’s friends. When Applebloom checked the decorations on the trees, she inspected the gifts that were under it. She found one with Sunset Shimmer’s name on the tag.
“Sunset’s coming?” Applebloom asked unhappily.
“Yep,” Applejack answered.
“But-”
“Look, I know you told me you think she’s Anon-A-Miss and we believed it, but after we cooled down, we really thought about it. To be honest, it’s just too sloppy to be her style.”
“So, you’re still going to let her come after all she’s done then?” Applebloom demanded.
“It’s all in the past, Applebloom. Let bygones be bygones. Plus, this is Christmas. We’re supposed to show goodwill to everyone. I mean, Jesus died for our sins and he even forgave the people who crucified him. I think we should be able to forgive people on Christmas no matter how bad they’ve been as long as they feel remorseful.”
Applebloom looked away, ashamed. When she checked Anon-A-Miss and found the post she had made, she had been horrified. She did not even remember putting up that post. However, it had already been seen by the students at CHS who were still following Anon-A-Miss.
Suddenly, Applebloom’s phone pinged a message alert from Sweetie Belle that simply read: Crusader meeting. Clubroom. Now.
Applebloom’s stomach sank. What had got Sweetie Belle so angry?
“Uh, AJ? Ah need to go.”
“Huh?” Applejack said, “Where are you off ot?”
“Oh, just meeting Sweetie and Scootaloo in the clubroom. I’ll be back later.”
“O-oh okay.”
As Applebloom left for the door, Applejack just sighed sadly. She knew why Applebloom was going out and it broke her heart to know that her little sister was involved in this whole Anon-A-Miss mess. However, they could not let the CMC know that they were on to them. They needed to be smart about this lest they lose any evidence that could prove Sunset’s innocence. There were many students who still believed Sunset was behind Anon-A-Miss, but there were also some that decided it could not be her. Most of them were still on the fence, though.
Applejack just hoped Applebloom finally decided to do the right thing.
Taking out her phone, Applejack sent a text to Wallflower.
*////*
“Is this necessary?” Taro asked. Wallflower had just taped a microphone to the Ultra’s body.
“We’re going to need some evidence to incriminate them in case they delete the account and deny it,” Wallflower said. “You’re small enough to go unnoticed.”
“I’m sure people will notice a floating alien doll,” Taro remarked.
“Just keep yourself hidden. This mic will get send everything to a recorder,” Wallflower told him.
“But how are we going to plant me inside their clubroom?” Taro asked. “It’s not like we have keys to the door.”
“Who says we’re using the door?” Wallflower asked. “You’re going through the air vents.”
*////*
Applebloom reached the clubroom and found Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo waiting for her, sitting in their beanbag chairs. When she entered, her two friends stood up. Meeting here, in their clubroom at school, was the safest as it warranted them privacy to discuss what needed to be discussed.
“Sweetie? What’s up?” Applebloom asked, attempting to be casual.
“Yeah, your text made you sound pissed,” Scootaloo said.
“Don’t ‘what’s up’ me, Applebloom, what the hell were you thinking, posting that secret!?” Sweetie Belle demanded.
Applebloom broke out into a nervous sweat.
“Uh, what secret?”
Sweetie Belle gave her a flat stare.
“You suck at lying ‘Bloom. THE SECRET ABOUT APPLEJACK’S DEAL OBVIOUSLY!”
“WOAH! Hey, stop screaming! What about it?” Scootaloo asked.
“I just had a talk with Rarity, and she said that they asked Sunset if she knew about the deal, and she said she didn’t know about it, and had no way to find out about it. She even showed them her old blackmail on Applejack just to prove her point,” Sweetie Belle replied, “So, again why did you post it?”
“But Ah didn’t post it!” Applebloom protested.
“Well I didn’t know about it, and Scootaloo didn’t know about it, so that just leaves you,” Sweetie Belle pointed out via process of elimination.
“But Ah don’t remember posting it!”
“Oh, what, so some person who also doesn’t know about the deal, hacked the page and posted it?” Sweetie Belle fired back.
“That’s not fair Sweetie,” Applebloom said, starting to become angry herself.
“Isn’t it!? ‘Cause that’s what it sounds like you’re saying!”
Applebloom growled, “Now listen here you!”
“STOP IT!” Fall screeched.
The Crusaders became silent as the headache came and went.
“WE ARE NOT DOING THIS RIGHT NOW, DO YOU HEAR ME!?”
“Yes,” the Crusaders monotoned.
“GOOD! NOW GO TO BED, AND FORGET THIS LITTLE SPAT EVER HAPPENED, UNDERSTAND!?” Fall ordered.
Robotically, Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo stepped out of the clubroom, unaware of the tiny alien that had been listening to everything.
“How strange,” Taro whispered, before returning to Wallflower. He luckily did not run into any rats. He really did not want to deal with such disgusting rodents.
*////*
Rainbow Dash returned to her house, nervous about the possibility of having to talk to her parents. However, she could not put it off any longer. This needed to be done. If she did not talk to them, then nothing would be fixed. After everything she had gone through, it was time for things to change.
Quietly opening the front door, she prayed that she could reach her room without having to face them.
No such luck.
As soon as the door opened, two pairs of puppy dog eyes were pleadingly staring at her.
“Dashie!?”
“Hey, Mom. Hey, Dad,” Rainbow Dash greeted halfheartedly. Great, just great. She actual planned on avoiding them before confronting them about their problem, but it looked like the universe had other plans. It looked like they had to skip straight to that. Well, it was now or never. “We need to talk.”
“Are we best friends again?” her parents asked, stars in their eyes.
“Wha- no!” Rainbow stammered, surprised by the sudden question.
The stars immediately dropped from her parents’ eyes and returned to a depressive look with a drawn out, “Aaaaaaaw.”
“Hey! None of that!” Rainbow demanded, only for the stars to return to her parents’ eyes, “... You guys have issues.”
“Huh?” came the blank response.
“Jesus Christ, look, just sit down for some heavy shit,” Rainbow commanded.
Bow Hothoof and Windy Whistles tilted their heads in confusion, but complied.
Rainbow took a seat across from her family. This was going to be a pretty hard conversation to have with her parents. They had always embarrassed her with how loud and supportive they were of her. However, recently, she just learned that their support had deluded them into believing that she could do no wrong. She had confessed to nearly killing people and they still thought she had been doing the right thing.
Something needed to be done and she needed to set them straight. It would be difficult, but Ultraman Mebius had given her the courage to say what needed to be said.
“Mom, Dad, ever since I was a kid, you’ve done everything to make me feel like a winner. Yeah, some of the stuff you guys did was embarrassing but it cheered me up and gave me the confidence to become the very best,” Rainbow Dash said.
“That’s because you are the best, sweetie,” Windy Whistles interrupted, smiling. Rainbow Dash frowned.
“Yeah, well, that’s not true,” Rainbow Dash protested, causing her parents to gasp. “You wanted me to be my best, but I think the more you wanted me to believe in myself, the more you believed I was the best that I could do no wrong. It’s that kind of thinking that, well, makes me not see how wrong I was and that my actions have consequences. I wasn’t the best friend Sunset needed. I never gave her a chance and I was too bullheaded to listen to my friends when they finally came around and realized she was innocent. I even blamed her for stealing them when the truth was I was driving them away because I was too stubborn to listen. It took Sunset kicking my ass to get my head on straight.”
“But-” Bow Hothoof was about to interrupt.
“I was wrong!” Rainbow Dash cut her off. “I was wrong about Sunset but you guys didn’t even try to talk any sense to me and I can see the reason why. You’re set to support me, even if I do something wrong. I do want you to have my back, but you’re my parents. You’re not supposed to be my best friends. You’re supposed to punish me when I do something bad, not encourage me. We’ve got a problem here, Mom and Dad. I can see that now. If you’re going to support me then you have to agree with me. You need help. No, we need help. I think it’s time we all spoke to a professional.”
It was a hard pill for any of them to swallow. Rainbow Dash didn’t think she was as awesome as she thought and the parents needed to accept that supporting Rainbow Dash 100% needed to stop. There were just some things that they could not support. To support her all the time would mean letting her get away with murder. Rainbow Dash did not want to turn into one of those spoiled brats who felt entitled. Look at what it nearly cost her. At least now she had a chance to rebuild her relationship with Sunset and her friends.
“OK, Dashie, if that’s what you want then we’ll do it,” Bow Hothoof said. “We’ll go see a shrink.”
“Yes we’ll do it for you, honey,” Windy Whistles agreed.
“Now, just to be clear, you’re both serious about this, right? You’re not just agreeing just to make me feel better, right?” Rainbow Dash questioned.
“Honestly, if you think we have problems, then maybe we should talk to somebody. I may not be 100 percent onboard with this idea, but since you’re the one suggesting it, then maybe we should consider it,” Bow said. “I mean, I think letting you get away with murder is already crossing the line somewhere in Good Parenting 101.”
“Right now, I kinda feel like the parent here,” Rainbow Dash mumbled.
Windy Whistles’ eyes widened at that. She could see it, how motherly Rainbow was being in this moment. Donning a wistful expression, she thought, ‘Oh Rainbow, you will be a fine mother when you have kids.’
*////*
Since the previous week, a cyber bully dubbed ‘Anon-A-Miss’ had been posting personal secrets on their MyStable profile, humiliating students and causing fights between them. Sunset was believed to be the culprit, declared loudly by the Rainbooms who then abandoned her. However, it would appear that the Rainbooms had accepted Sunset Shimmer back into their group. Rainbow Dash’s absence, however, implied her own stance on the issue.
Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna really could not do anything. While they could ban the students from using their phones in school, nothing would stop them from using them once they were outside. They could block MyStable, but they would still encounter the same problem once school let out.
“So, you believe your sisters are the ones behind Anon-A-Miss,” Luna reiterated. With her was her sister Principal Celestia and the Rainbooms.
“Yeah,” Applejack confirmed. “It’s the only thing that makes sense when you think about it.”
“Well, we have our culprits, Celestia. It’s time to call them in,” Luna decided.
Celestia steepled her fingers. For days now, Anon-A-Miss had been tearing the student body apart and making Sunset the guilty party. To finally have the culprit’s names should make stopping them and punishing them easy.
“If they are the culprits, if they even suspect they’ve been caught, they might delete the profile on their phones and we’ll lose our proof,” Celestia informed her sister and the Rainbooms.
“We’ll simply have them hand their phones over when they enter our office,” said Luna.
*////*
It was an odd sight to see all of the Rainbooms reunited when just last week they had rejected Sunset Shimmer after they accused her of being Anon-A-Miss. It would appear that they had changed their minds and were now supporting her. While there was still students who believed Sunset was guilty, they were in the minority. Many were being convinced that Sunset was being framed and actually apologized to her. Some were still undecided, however, just waiting to see how things placed out.
From their table, the CMC just watched them with various expressions of disbelief. They thought they had succeeded in using Anon-A-Miss to set Sunset Shimmer up and therefore their sisters would not want anything to do with her. It seemed to work at first, but as the days went by, it looked like their plan ultimately failed. They didn’t know how it happened, but they knew it began with the appearance of Ginga and the monsters.
“Maybe it’s a sign,” Sweetie Belle suggested. “The universe is telling us to stop.”
“No, we just need to keep going-” Applebloom started but Sweetie Belle cut off.
“Face it, Bloom. Do you think doing more of the same thing will change anything? That’s just crazy.”
“What’s crazy is that they trust Sunset again,” Scootaloo countered.
“Well, maybe if someone didn’t post something Sunset could never know,” Sweetie Belle glared at Applebloom.
“But I don’t remember posting it!” Applebloom insisted.
“Likely story,” Scootaloo sneered.
“You girls need to get your acts together,” Fall’s voice appeared in their heads. “Turning on each other, really? Now? When the enemy is at your gates and closing in quick?”
The pain came and went, replaced once more by the dull sensation of Fall’s suggestion powers, “Now listen closely, you three are about to be called into Principal Celestia’s office, you are going to deny everything, understand?”
“Yes,” the three girls replied in unison.
“Good, now get to it,” Fall commanded as the intercom sounded its summons, causing the girls to stand up and begin walking to the office.
*////*
The CMC marched toward Principal Celestia’s office. They got their stories straight and agreed to deny any allegations of being involved with Anon-A-Miss. Together, united, they could conquer everything.
Applebloom knocked on the door.
“Principal Celestia. It’s me, Applebloom. You wanted to see me.”
“Come in,” Celestia said.
Applebloom opened the door and she entered with her two friends.
They froze.
They expected Celestia to be alone with Luna. However, that was not the case.
Before calling the CMC, Principal Celestia had made a few calls. This was a serious matter and so the CMC’s parents and guardians had been called.
Granny Smith’s had been called and had been waiting for a while now. Sweetie Belle’s parents; Hondo Flanks and Cookie Crumbles were present as well. Finally, in attendance were Scootaloo’s Aunt Holiday and Aunt Lofty.
“Good, since everyone’s here, we can begin,” said Celestia as she steepled her fingers. “Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, please take your seats.”
There were three empty seats in front of Celestia’s desk and the CMC obediently complied.
“Hand over your phones, please,” Luna ordered. The CMC nervously paled. Luna looked at her expectantly. To question her or deny her would be a show of guilt. Nevertheless, the CMC took out their phones and handed them over to Luna. “You’ll get these back afterwards, probably.”
“Alright, so what is this about?” Hondo Flanks. “When you called us, you said it was something important.”
“What happened? What did Sweetie Belle do?” Cookie asked. “Sweetie Bell, are you in trouble?”
Sweetie Belle wisely kept silent.
“Everything will be explained, I promise,” said Celestia. “Now, to start with, are any of you familiar with Anon-A-Miss?”
“I heard our eldest daughter crying about it,” Cookie answered.
“My granddaughter Applejack complained about it too,” Granny added.
“Alright, but for everyone not familiar with it, then I’ll explain,” said Luna. “Since last week, a malicious MyStable user has been posting the personal secrets of the students in this school. It all started with Applejack’s childhood nickname and then the pictures from a slumber party at Rarity’s home. Due to some misunderstandings, a student named Sunset Shimmer was accused of being responsible. However, we have come to believe that isn’t the case.”
“But it has to be her!” Applebloom blurted out. “It’s only something she would do!”
Luna disliked being interrupted but she continued nonetheless.
“Sunset Shimmer may have done terrible things in her past, but this is something completely out of character. She has been working hard to redeem herself after she realized the error of her ways. To throw away all her efforts, all her friends, just to post their secrets just does not seem right. Also, it just seems too careless. I’ve seen the profile and it was made to look like her on purpose.” Knowing Sunset Shimmer, she would be smart enough to throw suspicion away from her, not focused on her.
“So, what does this have to do with Scootaloo and her friends?” Holiday asked, though Lofty seemed to know what was going on.
“Simply put, after much deliberation, and also after speaking with their sisters, we have reason to believe that Applebloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle created Anon-A-Miss to frame Sunset Shimmer and make her a pariah, Celestia answered.
At once, the CMC exploded.
“It wasn’t us!”
“We didn’t do it!”
“Please, it’s Sunset! Sunset’s the one who did this!”
“I think I have an easy way to settle this,” interrupted Luna with a commanding voice. “Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, I want you to unlock your phones and open the MyStable app.”
“What?” Applebloom responded.
“Do it,” she insisted.
“No, you can’t make us!”
“Applebloom, do as VP Luna says,” Granny ordered.
“But, Granny!”
“Now, Applebloom!”
“Okay, okay!” Applebloom took her phone and unlocked it. Her finger shook as she began to tap the MyStable app icon.
“Scootaloo, you too,” ordered Aunt Holiday.
“That goes double for you, Sweetie Belle,” commanded Hondo.
The CMC could not deny their parents and took their phones. If they opened the app, everyone would know that they were Anon-A-Miss as it would instantly open up to the Anon-A-Miss profile. Even logging out now would not do them any good.
*////*
“So, the plan is to let their parents pressure them into confessing,” Lightning Dust said. “You sure that’ll work. I mean, kids lie to their parents all the time.” She was guilty of doing that plenty of times. Likely influence from her great uncle Wind Rider.
“True, but I think that if they keep the pressure on, one of them is going to slip then the whole dam will burst,” Sunset said. “Hopefully.”
“And what if those aliens try to stop them?” Applejack asked.
“That’s why we’re out here, waiting, just in case,” said Sunset as she got ready for anything.
The door to Principal Celestia’s office opened and the CMC stepped out with their heads hanging in front of them. They looked like they were walking to the chopping block. It was obvious that they had been given their punishments. They had likely confessed to everything.
Applejack, Rarity and Rainbow Dash were ready to speak to them next, but then Applebloom began to reach into the front pocket of her overalls.
While this was happening, Sunset began feeling something. A buzzing sensation, like a light electrical charge in the air, that felt both familiar and frightening to her. But what was it?
“SUNSET, WATCH OUT!” Ginga suddenly warned.
On reflex, Sunset drew the Ginga Spark as Applebloom swiftly drew a Dark Dummy Spark from her pocket and fired a beam at Applejack. Stepping in front of her friend, Sunset held out her Spark, creating a barrier to block the incoming attack.
“DAMNIT! I thought I had her!” Applebloom screamed in frustration.
“APPLEBLOOM, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!? YOU COULD’VE KILLED HER!” Sunset shrieked.
“Yeah, that was the idea,” Applebloom(?) replied, making Sunset aware that she lacked her accent.
“Wait, something’s wrong. Who are you?”
“Guess there’s no point hiding it now huh?” ‘Sweetie Belle’ said.
“Hi, Sunset, remember me?” ‘Scootaloo’ joined in.
Sunset now realised what she had been feeling earlier. Magic. Knowing that left only one possibility.
“It’s you, my demon.”
“Call me Fall, everyone else does,” Fall said as her voice came out of the CMC as they spoke in unison.
“I think I’ll just stick to demon, if it’s all the same to you,” Sunset sneered.
“Yeah, right back at you and your little brain buddy,” Applebloom-Fall snarked back.
Rainbow looked between Sunset and the Crusaders with shock, “Sunset, what’s happening?”
“Rainbow, they aren’t the Crusaders, they’re the demon from the Fall Formal now,” Sunset explained to her athletic friend.
“What!? But how!? How is she doing this!?” Rarity exclaimed.
“Wait, you think this is some new development?” Sweetie Belle-Fall laughed, “Oh, honey, I’ve been active for far longer than this.”
“What?” Rarity asked, now even more confused.
“In a way, you were right to accuse ‘Sunset Shimmer’, just, not the one you made friends with,” Scootablo-Fall said.
Sunset’s eyes widened, “No.”
“YES! I AM THE REAL ANON-A-MISS!” Fall screamed, now cackling through the three girls.
“How is this even possible?” Pinkie asked, “I thought the Elements got rid of you?”
“Nope, all they did was shove me into a closet in Sunset’s head. I was still alive, just crazy de-powered and weak,” Fall answered.
“But then, if you were so weak, how can yah be behind Anon-A-Miss?” Applejack asked.
“Oh, I’ve been working towards this ever since she,” Fall pointed at Sunset, “First Ponied Up. That magic gave me just enough power to start tearing her down and rebuilding my empire. Nothing overt, didn’t want to get put back in the closet by the Elements again, but in subtle ways. However, there had never been an opportunity, until I felt the slightest feelings of neglect within these three girls, and I knew I had my chance.”
“Now hang on, if they were feelin’ neglected the would’ve come ta’ us,” Applejack retorted.
“Hm, maybe,” Applebloom-Fall countered with a shrug, “But that’s why I got them convinced that you wouldn’t listen to them, that you didn’t care. That Anon-A-Miss was their idea. And I did it all from within Sunset’s head.”
Rainbow began running at the mind controled Crusaders, barely held back by Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, “You bitch!”
“When you five ditched her that day I thought I finally had her back where she belongs: with me,” Scootaloo-Fall continued, “But then he showed up. That bastard Ultraman Ginga entered the picture and made Anon-A-Miss irrelevant. Then you girls got Princess Celestia involved and woke him up, getting me kicked out. The only reason I’m even alive right now is because I stole energy from Ginga on the way out.”
“Well if you have a body now, why are you still after me?” Sunset demanded.
“THIS. ISN’T. MY. BODY! YOURS IS! And I want it back,” Fall growled.
“Really? Well that’s too damn bad, you’re not getting her!” Rainbow challenged.
“Tough talk, but completely toothless given I have a Dark Dummy Spark and a monster,” Applebloom-Fall retorted, now pulling out a Spark Doll resembling a three faced totem pole.
Applejack’s eyes widened, “Don’t you dare, you monster!”
“Oh, I dare!” Fall threatened, bringing Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo closer to Applebloom, “You wanna prove your innocence Sunset!? You’re gonna have to beat me first!”
Applebloom-Fall then touched the two items together while Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle took hold of Applebloom’s shoulders.
“DARK LIVE! JASYULINE!”
The dark light engulfed the trio of girls and became a pillar that shot through the ceiling. This was followed by the ground shaking as something huge landed outside.
“And here we go again,” Sunset Shimmer mumbled. “Ginga, let’s get to work!”
The Ginga Spark opened up and released Ginga’s Spark Doll. Catching the doll in her left hand, she addressed the group.
“Check on the adults!”
ULTRA LIVE! ULTRAMAN GINGA!
“Here we go, GINGAAAAAAA!”
*////*
Outside the school, the alien monster Jasyuline appeared. It resembled a totem pole with arms as legs and it had three faces positioned in a vertical line. The face at the top looked angry, the face in the middle looked manically happy and the face at the bottom looked sad. Even more disturbing, however, was that the faces resembled the Crusaders’: Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo in that order.
Ginga touched down some distance away and assumed a fighting stance.
“What is this thing, Ginga?” Sunset asked.
“Jasyuline, an infamous alien collector that attempted to capture Ultraman Mebius in gold, and bring him to his planet. He was defeated when Ultra Father appeared, and revived Mebius, allowing him to destroy Jasyuline,” Ginga explained.
“HEY! Less talking, more fighting,” Fall taunted from inside Jasyuline, compelling the alien to charge.
“Fine by me,” Sunset replied, commanding Ginga forward.
Jasyuline threw a punch, but Ginga caught the punch and redirected the momentum over his shoulder, flipping the alien onto its back. Ginga then delivered an elbow drop to the monster, before heaving it over his head and throwing Jasyuline to the ground.
Ginga returned to his battle ready stance as Jasyuline got back to its feet in a frenzy, and charged again, swinging his arms furiously. The alien attempted a kick, but Ginga caught the leg, and kicked out the remaining leg keeping Jasyuline standing, knocking it to its knees. Ginga then threw two punches, one to the crying face, one to the happy face, then delivered a sidekick to the angry face, puting the monster back onto its back. As Jasyuline attempted to stand back up, Ginga performed a wrestling style bodyslam.
Ginga stood back up then began a slow walk around Jasyuline.
“You know? With all your confidence, I thought you would be a harder fight. But I guess your bark is worse than your bite. Hehe, I’ve always wanted an excuse to say that,” Sunset said.
Fall, however just began laughing as she commanded Jasyuline to stand.
“What’s so funny?” Sunset asked as she prepared the Ginga Cross Shoot.
“Are you sure you want to do that?” Fall laughed.
“Against you? Definitely,” Sunset responded, nearly finished with the motions for the attack.
“Even if it sacrifices your chance to prove your innocence?”
This caused Sunset to lose focus, interrupting her attack, “What? What are you talking about?”
“I’ve linked the Crusaders memories of the past several days to Jasyuline. In other words, if you defeat Jasyuline then their memories of Anon-A-Miss goes with it!” Fall boasted.
Sunset glared at Fall, not wanting to believe her, “You’re bluffing.”
“Maybe, but are you willing to take that risk?” Fall taunted.
Sunset hesitated. She had no reason to believe her demonic counterpart. However, what if it were true? What if defeating Jasyuline caused her to lose the one thing that could clear her name.
Jasyuline took advantage of Sunset’s hesitation and conjured his boomerang weapon. With a swing of his arm, he hurled the weapon at Ginga, striking him in the chest. Sunset grunted from the blow.
“Sunset, do not let her get in your head!” Ginga advised.
“Sorry!” Sunset yelled back as Jasyuline caught the boomerang and prepared to attack again. “Ginga Fireball!” Ginga retaliated, launching the Ginga Fireball attack at Jasyuline. However, Jasyuline just used his psychic powers to catch the Ginga Fireball attack, freezing the fireballs in midair. “What!?”
“Take this!” Fall shouted as she sent the Ginga Fireball attack back at Ginga and Sunset. Ginga crossed his arms in front of him to shield himself as the fireballs exploded against his body. Sunset felt the burn as the fireballs exploded all over Ginga’s body.
“No holding back! Ginga Cross Shoot!”
Ginga powered up his signature Ultra Beam attack and fired. Jasyuline did not catch the attack this time but instead burrowed underground by rapidly spinning his body. He dodged the Ginga Cross Shoot as it sailed over his head while he went underground.
All of a sudden, the ground behind Ginga erupted and Jasyuline emerged. He grabbed Ginga from behind, holding him in place.
“The thing about Ultramen is that you’ve got a time limit!” Fall taunted. “I just need to waste your time and you’ll be a sitting duck!”
“I won’t let you get the chance!” Sunset challenged, breaking Ginga’s left arm free and attempting to elbow Jasyuline, but the alien blocked it, then kicked Ginga in the back.
“So predictable,” Fall taunted. She had inhabited Sunset’s mind so she knew how Sunset fought. Armed with that knowledge, Sunset’s demon had an advantage.
Sunset turned Ginga around, finding herself at a loss as to what she could do to win this fight. Clenching her fists, Sunset decided the best way to handle this fight was with pure brute force.
Ginga threw a punch that connected with the top face, knocking Jasyuline back. He then stepped forward, delivering a kick into the middle face, sending Jasyuline staggering back.
“Hyah!” Ginga jumped and performed a flying roundhouse, knocking Jasyuline onto his back, kicking up dirt and rocking the ground.
“How’s that for predictable!?” Sunset snapped.
Jasyuline swiftly rose back to his feet. An invisible force simply pushed him back to a standing position.
“Still predictable! GOL-JASYURA!”
Jasyuline concentrated and the wing-like structures mounted on his neck glowed before shooting a blast of energy at Ginga. Ginga quickly formed a shield to block the attack. However, the blast broke through the shield and hit Ginga. Once exposed to the blast, it was all over for Ginga as he was starting to be encased in gold.
Jasyuline pushed the now gold and petrified Ultra onto his back and took out his boomerang and started hammering away at his color timer.
Meanwhile, the Rainbooms and Ginga Gang had been watching the fight up until Ultraman Ginga was turned into a gold statue. They watched helplessly as Jasyuline hammered the color timer to shatter it.
“This is bad!” Taro panicked. “If Ginga’s color timer is shattered, he could die and Sunset could die too!”
“Sunset!” Fluttershy cried.
“Sunset, get up!” Rainbow yelled in encouragement.
“Sunset, you can’t give up!” Applejack yelled.
“Sunset, please, don’t let this be the end!” Rarity begged.
“Sunset, you gotta keep going!” Pinkie Pie cheered.
“Sunset!”
“Sunset!”
“SUNSET SHIMMER!”
The Rainbooms glowed as they ponied up. The light enveloped their bodies and all of a sudden they were beamed straight into Ginga’s color timer.
“Whoa,” Lightning Dust gaped.
When the light faded, the Rainbooms found themselves in a shining void, facing Sunset, who seemed to be in pain as the effect of Jasyuline’s Gol-Jasyura was slowly turning her into a gold statue. She was already in the middle of the transmutation when the Rainbooms arrived.
“SUNSET!” the Rainbooms cried out as they surrounded her.
Sunset’s eyes widened, and she turned to face her friends, “Girls? What are you doing here? How did you get in here?”
“Well we couldn’t just stand by and watch,” Fluttershy said, trying to see how she could help Sunset. The gold encasing her had already reached her midsection and slowly creeping up her body. Pretty soon, she would be a lifeless gold statue and be lost to them forever.
“You’re fighting for all of us,” Applejack added.
“And all by yourself,” Rarity praised.
“Even when we were being stupid and lousy friends,” Rainbow Dash said regrettably.
“You always came to save us!” Pinkie Pie cheered.
“Girls...” Sunset was touched and her body glowed with magic, causing her to pony up. The gold covering her body also began to flake off as the Ginga Spark glowed brightly in her hand. Five beams of light shot out of the Ginga Spark and hit the girls. A bright light began to shine from their wrists and form into bracelets.
Applejack’s bracelet sported apples, Rarity’s bracelet had diamonds, Rainbow Dash’s bracelet had a rainbow-colored lightning bolt, Fluttershy’s bracelet had a butterfly on it and Pinkie’s bracelet had balloons on it.
In Equestria, these were the cutie marks of the Elements of Harmony and their personal symbols.
“Wh-what are these?” Fluttershy asked.
“I don’t know, darling, but they are FABULOUS!” Rarity gushed, unhelpfully.
The void inside Ginga shook as Jasyuline struck the Ultra again.
“Yeah, that’s nice Rarity, but that isn’t helping! We need to figure out how to beat that three-headed terror!” Rainbow Dash shouted.
“That’s not helpin’ either Rainbow, we need to figure out how- wait,” Applejack began, before turning her bracelet in a certain way and spotted something. It gave her an idea. “Sunset, hand me the Ginga Spark!”
“What!? Why!?” Sunset asked, confused.
“Ah think ah’ve figured out how these things work, but ah need the Ginga Spark to see if ah’m right.”
“INCOMING!” Pinkie Pie shrieked, drawing the Rainboom’s attention to Jasyuline’s swinging hammer.
Out of time, Applejack snatched the Ginga Spark from Sunset’s hand and touched the tip to a Mark of Courage on her bracelet.
ACTIVATE! HARMONY AUGMENT! GINGA HONESTY!
*////*
In the real world, Ginga’s body flashed brightly and he was back to normal. It happened just in time as he caught Jasyuline’s hammer.
“Huh!?” Fall gaped.
With orange Zenshin Crystals, Ginga cocked his fist back, causing a glow to emanate from it, then launched it into the hammer, shattering it into a thousand pieces. Jasyuline staggered back in shock, before flying backwards from an equally supercharged push kick.
Ginga flipped back to his feet and went into a fighting stance. He seemed renewed and reenergized, ready to kick butt.
*////*
Within Ginga’s light, Applejack stood at the forefront holding the Ginga Spark to her bracelet.
“Ah was right. These things can allow us to control Ginga and power him up,” Applejack said.
“Oooooooo! Me next! Me next!” Pinkie chanted, taking the Ginga Spark from the farm girl, and touching it to her bracelet.
ACTIVATE! HARMONY AUGMENT! GINGA LAUGHTER!
*////*
Ultraman Ginga flashed again, his Zenshin Crystal now pink, and he threw his hands over his head, as if preparing the Ginga Slash. Jasyuline scrambled to his feet and prepared to block the attack. Instead of light blades, multiple lightning bolts shot out of the crystal in Ginga’s head. They seemed to spread out before converging and then slamming into Jasyuline’s back. The alien monster staggered forward as Ginga performed a somersault.
“Elbow!” Pinkie Pie cheered as she slammed Ginga’s elbow into Jasyuline’s top face. Jasyuline summoned his boomerang weapon when Ginga seemingly multiplied around him. “Come and find me! Which is the real me?” Pinkie Pie giggled.
“Hey, c’m on Pinkie, let someone else have a turn,” Rainbow said.
“Okie-dokie, Dashie,” Pinkie responded, handing the Ginga Spark to Rainbow Dash.
“Thanks,” Rainbow said, and touched the Ginga Spark to her bracelet.
ACTIVATE! HARMONY AUGMENT! GINGA LOYALTY!
The collection of Gingas flashed again, the Zenshin Crystals turning blue, and began moving in a circle around Jasyuline at such speeds that they became a blur. Jasyuline became dizzy as he tried to track them, causing Fall to become dizzy as well.
“Whoa, I’m fast!” Rainbow exclaimed.
“That’s nice, Rainbow, are you going to actually hit him or just run circles around him?” Sunset asked, annoyed.
“Huh? Oh, right.”
Ginga suddenly launched out of the blur, and began a blinding series of punches and kicks, until Jasyuline caught one of his fists.
“Gotcha,” Fall said, then compelled Jasyuline to knock away Ginga with a blow from his boomerang.
“Oh, crap!” Rainbow yelped.
Rarity rolled her eyes, then took the Ginga Spark from Rainbow.
“Allow me, darling.” She daintily touched it to her bracelet.
ACTIVATE! HARMONY AUGMENT! GINGA GENEROSITY!
Ginga flashed again, his Zenshin Crystal now violet, as he stood ready for the attack. Jasyuline threw his boomerang again, but Ginga caught the weapon, shocking Fall from within the monster. Ginga then tucked his left hand behind his back and assumed a fencing type stance.
Fall went from shocked to enraged, and commanded Jasyuline to attack. The giant alien threw two punches, but they were slapped away by the boomerang Ginga now wielded. Jasyuline then attempted a kick but Ginga responded with bringing his stolen weapon painfully onto his enemy’s shin.
“OW! SON OF A BITCH!” Fall shrieked, causing Jasyuline to begin hopping on one leg, clutching his shin, then fell face first to the ground, because Ginga had thrown the boomerang into the alien’s remaining leg.
“Hm, precision. I would expect nothing less from someone such as myself,” Rarity tittered.
“Hey! I have an idea!” Pinkie cried, “Lets see what Fluttershy’s does!”
“Why, what a splendid idea Pinkie,” Rarity said, turning to her shy friend.
“O-Oh, it’s okay. I’m fine just watching,” Fluttershy said, wanting to stay out of the fight. However, her friends gave her looks of encouragement that raised her confidence. Taking the Ginga Spark, Fluttershy touched it against her bracelet.
“Kick some butt, Fluttershy,” Sunset Shimmer said as Rarity handed the Ginga Spark to Fluttershy. The shy girl took the device and gently touched it to her bracelet.
ACTIVATE! HARMONY AUGMENT! GINGA KINDNESS!
Jasyuline roared and charged at Ginga, swinging his arms wildly. He threw a punch but Ginga swiftly dodged it. The alien monster saw the Zenshin Crystals were now yellow. Jasyuline went for another strike, but Ginga diverted the blow before shoving Jasyuline back with both his hands. Jasyuline started to throw punches but the circular motions of Ginga’s arms diverted them and left the alien monster open to a palm strike to all three faces, knocking him back.
“What’s going on!?” Fall demanded. “What is this!?” She could not comprehend what was happening.
Sunset held the Ginga Spark as her friends stood with her.
“This is our power, Fall! Together, with my friends, we can overcome anything!” Sunset proclaimed.
“You idiot! If you defeat me right now, your chance to prove your innocence will go up in smoke!” Fall screamed.
“As long as my friends are with me, as long as they believe in me, then everything is going to be OK!” Sunset smiled.
“Well said, Sunset,” Ginga responded proudly.
“C’mon girls! Let’s finish this!”
The Rainbooms all stood together in the Ginga Cross Shoot Pose. Smiling together with Sunset, eyes forward, they focused their magical energy for their finishing move.
Fall could feel the familiar energy radiating off Ginga as the Zenshin Crystal cycled through all its previous colors before shining with an aurora light.
“NO! NOT AGAIN!” Fall screamed.
“GINGA HARMONY SHOOT!”
The Zenshin Crystals shone with rainbow-colored light before Ginga fired off the Ginga Harmony Shoot. The beam slammed right into Jasyulina’s psychic shield but it shattered from the impact. The monster - and Fall - both shrieked as the beam punched a hole right through the monster.
Jasyuline stood now with a hole in its body before his entire body exploded. These exploded fragments soon faded away as the Jasyuline Spark Doll fell to the ground. The Crusaders also safely landed inside a crater as the Spark Doll landed with them.
*////*
On a nearby rooftop, Fall screamed and collapsed to her knees. She broke out in a cold sweat, her entire body shaking. Turning her head, she saw Baltan tilting its head at her.
“Give me some good news!” Fall demanded.
As Fall was finding out, speaking to the alien was a lost cause as it never spoke, merely stood in place occasionally tilting its head. Fall growled, “You’re no help at all. Well, no matter. Without the Crusaders’ memories, Sunset can’t prove her innocence, meaning I still win. Baltan, get me out of here.”
The alien nodded, and placed a pincer on Fall’s shoulder before teleporting them both away.
*////*
The adults were found unconscious in the office. Fortunately, none of them were hurt. They had likely been knocked out by some kind of spell cast by Fall as she took control of the CMC.
“Hey!” Wallflower nudged Principal Celestia, “Hey, wake up!”
Lightning Dust splashed Principal Celestia’s face with a glass of water.
“Lightning!” Wallflower cried.
“What? It woke her up, didn’t it?”
“It did, but now you have detention,” Principal Celestia replied, unamused.
“... Crap,” Lightning whispered.
As the girls went about the room, waking up the adults, the Rainbooms entered the room, carrying the Crusaders.
“Scootaloo/Applebloom/Sweetie Belle!” the parents and aunts shrieked.
“What happened to them?” Principal Celestia asked, worried.
“Fall happened,” Sunset replied.
“What? Who’s Fall, and what do they have to do with Anon-A-Miss?” Vice-Principal Luna demanded.
Sunset stayed silent for a moment, looking at the fretting families before leaning over to the principals and whispered, “Not here, let's talk in your office.”
The principals raised their eyebrows, but agreed. With a final look at the group in the room, Sunset and the principals relocated to Luna’s office.
*////*
“So, what we’re hearing is, that the demon you turned into at the Fall Formal was actually its own entity the whole time, and ever since the Battle of the Bands, has been attempting to undermine your progress in bettering yourself, and now it has its own body, but wants to get back into your head like some crazed stalker,” Luna summed up.
“Uh, pretty much,” Sunset said.
“Which would technically make you Anon-A-Miss,” Principal Celestia added to her sister’s conclusion.
“Uh, yeah?” Sunset said, uncomfortably.
“But you can’t be punished because Fall was operating outside of your awareness,” Luna said.
“Y-Yeah.”
“However, the Crusaders were the ones to actually make the page,” Celestia said.
“Yeah,” Sunset squeaked.
“And we can’t punish them either, because it was made under duress,” Luna concluded.
“Yeah,” Sunset sighed, now understanding what the principals were getting at.
“This is problematic, the two biggest suspects in this case and neither of them can be reasonably punished,” Luna said.
“Indeed,” Celestia sighed, “This was supposed to be easy. Bring in the Crusaders, prove they were Anon-A-Miss, have an assembly to prove it to the school, then have the page taken down, that was it. Then this demon enters the picture and goes ‘actually, I’ve been controlling things from behind the scenes’. Honestly, things were easier when magic did not come into the equation.”
“I’m sorry,” Sunset apologized.
“No, no, Sunset, this isn’t your fault. It’s just, someone needs to be held accountable, but there’s nothing in teacher’s training that could possibly help in this situation. Do I unfairly punish you for having the demon that you weren’t even aware of? Or do I just as unfairly punish the three little girls who were little more than victims of said demon? I just… Don’t know what we can do until the Crusaders wake up,” Celestia ranted, barely holding herself together.
Sunset opened her mouth in preparation to speak, but then, as though it were an act of divine intervention, the door opened, revealing Fluttershy, “Uhm, I’m sorry if I’m interrupting, but the Crusaders have just woken up.”
*////*
Sunset and the Principals reentered Celestia’s office to find the now awake Crusaders looking sheepish. Sweetie Belle was the first to notice the trio, and said, “Look, if this is about that thing with the noodles, I’m sorry. I kept telling them that it was a dumb idea.”
Celestia paused, confused by this statement, “Sweetie, that was last month.”
Upon hearing that, Applebloom became confused, “Huh? What’s that supposed to mean?”
Sunset’s stomach dropped, “Girls, what’s today’s date?”
“November 14th, why?” Scootaloo said.
That was it. Fall had not been bluffing. While they might have saved the Crusaders, Fall still managed to win. As the CMC could not remember anything about Anon-A-Miss, they could not confess as it was like it had never happened.
It was all over now.
Sunset Shimmer shook her head. This was her one chance to save her reputation, but it was all gone now. The school would not fully trust her now. They will still suspect her of being Anon-A-Miss even if the profile was deleted. With the culprits unable to confess, there was just no chance of Sunset clearing her name.
“I’m sorry,” Sunset whispered, tears in her eyes..
“Sunset wait,” Wallflower pleaded, but Sunset had convinced herself in her self doubt.
“I’M SORRY!” Sunset cried, running out the office.
“SUNSET!” Wallflower called, running after Sunset.
“What? What did we say?” Applebloom asked, confused.
Deciding it was better to trust Wallflower with Sunset, the Rainbooms turned back to the Crusaders.
“Applebloom, check the date on your phone,” Applejack said.
“Why?”
“Jes’ do it.”
“Okay! I don’t know what yer expecting though…” Applebloom drifted off as she noticed the date on her phone, “Wha’? That can’t be right.”
Confused, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle leaned over their friend’s shoulders, and upon seeing the date, checked their own phones. The date was the same across the board.
“Okay guys. I know that we’ve played some pretty big pranks on each other, but this one isn’t funny,” Scootaloo said with a tinge of anger.
“We don’t bring in students to this office to play pranks, Scootaloo,” Principal Celestia reprimanded, “For the past eleven days, you three have been trying to tear the school apart using a MyStable profile called ‘Anon-A-Miss’ in an attempt to frame Sunset.”
“What, no we haven’t, we would remember doing something like that. Plus, the dates don’t add up,” Sweetie Belle retorted.
Vice Principal Luna sighed, “And that’s the complicated part.”
“Huh?” the Crusaders asked in confusion.
“Apparently, it wasn’t actually your idea; it was the idea of that demon Sunset turned into at the Fall Formal,” Pinkie Pie said.
“Wait, so Sunset turned bad again?” Scootaloo asked.
“No! I mean literally, the demon, they’re separate things now.”
“I’m so confused,” Applebloom said, tearing up in fear.
“Look, if it helps, we have a recording of you girls talking about whether or not you should continue with Anon-A-Miss,” Celestia said.
“Wait, you do?” Sweetie Belle asked.
Rather than answer with words, Celestia opted to just play the recording. While the argument played out over the speakers, the Crusaders looked on with shock.
Principal Celestia then showed the CMC the Anon-A-Miss profile page and made them look at each and every post. Vice-Principal Luna watched as the CMC went through a medley of expressions showing shock, disgust, and being appalled by everything that was on it. The comments were cruel too as the students mocked each other when their secrets were exposed.
When Applebloom saw the first post, she could not believe that she would post her sister’s childhood nickname, but only family knew it.
When the presentation was done Applebloom could only ask, “Why? Why don’t we remember doing something so horrible?”
“That was the demon’s last ‘fuck you’ to Sunset before her plan fell apart,” Rainbow said, “She scrubbed your brains of the memories of the last few days.”
“She must have also scrubbed the memories of the days building up to Anon-A-Miss,” Trixie added.
“Which explains why the time lost is longer than eleven days,” Rarity concluded.
The Crusaders’ shock gave way to anger. They had been used? Turned into cyberbullies to attack people at the behest of some demon with an obsession with Sunset?
Their anger was suddenly stopped when Vice Principal Luna said, “However, now we have a problem.”
“Indeed, Luna. Now that we know about the demon, Fall’s, involvement, we no longer have someone to punish for making Anon-A-Miss, and by extension, a way to stop the rumor mill, and the abuse leveled at Sunset,” Celestia revealed.
“Oh,” Scootaloo said. What else could be said? Sunset had a panic attack because she no longer could prove her innocence, and there was nothing anyone could do about it.
Suddenly, Applebloom gasped, “Ah have an idea!”
*////*
“SUNSET WAIT!” Wallflower yelled, still following behind Sunset.
Since the reveal of how much time the Crusaders had lost, Sunset had been running throughout the school halls, directionless, and wild. She just needed to get away and be alone somewhere.
Wallflower managed to catch up to the redhead and grab her arm, stopping her.
“Sunset, please! Just wait!” Wallflower pleaded.
“Let me go, Wallflower! It’s all over now!” Just let me go!” Sunset tried to pull her arm free, but the green girl just held firm.
“No, Sunset. I’m not letting you go.”
“Why not!?”
“Because you’re my friend,” Wallflower stated firmly. “That’s why.”
“And so am I,” Taro said as he stood on Wallflower’s shoulder. “And we’re not letting you be alone.”
Sunset just sighed, still crying.
“But Anon-A-Miss...”
“So what? Screw Anon-A-Miss,” said Wallflower. “Sunset Shimmer, what Anon-A-Miss did should not stop you from being who you are.”
“And what am I?”
“A hero. You’re someone who’s always trying to do the right thing and trying to make up for the bad person you used to be. Sure, not everyone thinks you’ve changed, but you’ve got me and the others who will stick with you even if the whole school turns on you. I mean, seriously, do you think we’re going to let you deal with this alone?”
Sunset met Wallflower’s eyes. Sunset Shimmer had almost forgotten that she had friends to deal with all this. Sure, Anon-A-Miss may never confess now, but what did it matter? Even if the whole school turned against her, she still had her friends.
She was Ultraman Ginga, the Giant of Light who fought monsters. She could do this with her friends.
“Sunset?” a small voice asked.
In an instant, the confidence that Wallflower had been building in Sunset evaporated. Turning to the voice, Sunset whimpered, “Hi, Applebloom.”
The young farmgirl, feeling terrible about the mess Sunset was in, suddenly launched into a hug, “Ah’m sorry, Sunset!”
Sunset was taken completely by surprise, but quickly managed to recover, “No, it’s okay Applebloom, you don’t have anything to apologize for.”
Applebloom released Sunset and backed up slightly, “Ah know, but ah still feel bad about it.”
Sunset’s eyes became downcast with the girl’s admission. She supposed it made sense for Applebloom to feel that way; afterall, she was the ringleader before Fall entered the picture. What Sunset did not expect, however, was what Applebloom said next.
“Which is why we’re going to confess to being Anon-A-Miss.”
Sunset’s eyes widened, “WHAT!? You’re- No! Applebloom, I cannot possibly ask you to do that!”
“Ya don’t have to. Ah’m choosing to do this, and Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo have already agreed to it. Plus, ah’ve already cleared it with the Principals and our families, so this is happening with or without you,” Applebloom declared.
“Wh- No, please don’t, Applebloom. We-we can find a better way to resolve this,” Sunset pleaded.
“How? By telling the school that your demon escaped and was trying to ruin your life?” Applebloom snarked, “Yeah, the school has seen some stuff, but that’s kinda pushing what they’re willing to believe.”
“But-” Sunset attempted, but Applebloom cut her off.
“Sunset, it’s fine! We’ll have you and everyone else to keep us safe. Besides, we kinda owe you.”
Sunset looked at Wallflower who shrugged, then back at Applebloom. This was a girl trying to make amends for something she had done. While she had no memory of it, she still wanted to do the right thing. Therefore, she would need their support.
“Alright, we’ll help,” said Sunset. “But you’re going to need to sound convincing. Otherwise, people are going to think I blackmailed you into confessing.”
*////*
“Are you done yet, Icarus?”
Alien Icarus was dressed in a French maid outfit and dusting Dark Lugiel’s room.
“Nearly done, master!”
“Hey, Icarus! Looking good!” Metron mocked.
“Oh, bite me you fish-eyed weirdo!”
“Oh? And how would you like me to do that with no mouth?”
Icarus threw down his feather duster and snapped to Metron, “Listen here you-!”
Suddenly, a sharp displacement of air announced the arrival of Fall and Baltan teleporting into the room.
“Ah, so our conquering demon returns,” Lugiel jeered, “Tell us, how did your mission go?”
“Oh, shut up, I may have lost this fight but there’s always next time,” Fall swore. “Plus, after I wiped the Crusaders’ memories, there will be no way for Sunset to prove her innocence.”
“Hm, so you win either way?” Fall smugly nodded, but then Lugiel snapped, “THEN WHAT IS THIS UPDATE ON ANON-A-MISS CONFESSING THEIR INVOLVEMENT!?”
Fall recoiled from the angry titan, “Wh-what?”
“You stupid brat! Boasting about non-existent victories, while still managing to sabotage yourself!”
“What are you talking about!?”
“THE ENTIRE TIME YOU WERE CONTROLLING THOSE GIRLS, IT NEVER ONCE OCCURRED TO YOU TO LOG OUT OF THE ACCOUNT FROM THEIR PHONES!”
Fall froze in shock, “WHAT!?”
Lugiel responded by shoving his host’s phone into Fall’s face, with the relevant post opened on the screen, “Your arrogance and overconfidence completely sank what would have been a brilliant plan, demoting it into a merely mediocre one.”
“Goddamit! It was going so perfectly! I erased their memories so they wouldn’t be able to confess! I made Sunset a pariah but that didn’t work! Fuck Ginga! Fuck the Rainbooms! Fuck! Fuck! Fuuuuck!!!” Fall screamed as she threw a tantrum. She then began to calm herself down, “No, don’t lose it yet, Fall. You still have those magical geodes, and you know just who to give them to.”
“What was that last part?” Lugiel probed.
“Uh, Lord Lugiel, I have a backup plan, but it will take some time to prepare, so, just do whatever until it’s ready please,” Fall deflected, sweating slightly.
Lugiel eyed Fall suspiciously, “That was a blatant deflection, but I am intrigued. Very well, take all the time you need.” Lugiel then turned to Metron and Icarus, “You two, come here.”
The two aliens snapped to attention, causing Fall to become aware of the maid outfit Icarus was wearing, “What the hell?”
“Lord Lugiel was punishing me for attempting to evade my duties to accompany you,” Icarus admitted sheepishly.
“Silence!” Lugiel barked, “I believe it’s time for you two to get out into the battlefield yourselves.”
Metron seemed to beam with excitement at this news, “My Lord, are telling Icarus and I to personally fight Ultraman Ginga?”
“Yes, you will attack Sweet Apple Acres during the Apple family’s party with the objective of killing Sunset and her allies in one fell swoop. And Icarus, you will be needing this.”
Lugiel threw a Spark Doll to the bat-faced alien, revealing a mostly complete hybrid monster, “There is only one piece missing, and I believe you know what to do. Now, begone, all of you! I believe you have preparations to make.”
The collective of aliens and demon nodded and left the room, shivering with anticipation of the coming battles.