Chapter 9
It was a rather sunnier, warmer afternoon in my home. I had been sitting at my desk listening to music by Moose and A Night to Forget. I had been drawing more and more abstract art than I usually did since the travesty a couple months back. At the time, I had fallen into a depression with art at the time where it genuinely made me sad to pretty much draw anything. It would bring back memories of that day. Sort of like PTSD, but unlike PTSD I got over it quicker. Thanks to Gem. On days where Gem and I had talked, I mentioned how I made art. Of course, curiosity struck Gem and she had wanted to see some of my works of art. I was a bit hesitant at first showing her, until Gem’s begging of seeing my art really convinced to show her. In a way, it took me by surprise on how much Gem loved some of my pieces of abstract art. She continuously kept saying that she loved them and that should sell my art. I strongly disagreed with the selling them, but at least it gave me the motivation to continue drawing. It brought me up a lot since the travesty.
As I was working hard on a drawing, I heard my Kaos account shoot up suddenly with urgent messages from Gem, or by her Kaos account at the time,”Mand”. Usually, if Gem would message me in Kaos it would be a singular message saying,”Hi” or “Watcha doing”. But this time, something was off. The notification sound of Kaos was blaring out multiple times. I went over to the messages to see what Gem was sending me. Then, that’s when I realized something was really wrong.
Gem had sent me around twelve messages in Kaos asking for help.
Mand: Lotus!!!! I need your help!!!!!!!
PLEASE HELP ME IT IS AN EMERGENCY!!!
SOMETHING REALLY BAD HAS HAPPENED!!!!
Lotus: What happened? Did you get hurt?
Mand: NO, I NEED YOU TO CALL ME RIGHT NOW!!!!!!
As fast as the speed of light, I quickly grabbed my mic which was not plugged in for space and called up Gem. It really made me feel really anxious about what had happened with Gem. Was she hurt? Did something happen to a family member? Did she all of a sudden lose her singing voice and can’t continue her singing for her school? Whatever it was, it had me shaking with anxiety.
U pon hearing the calling tone end, I was alarmed with the sounds of crying.
“Gem? Are you okay?”, I ask with a serious tone.
“N-n-no, this is terrible. Absolutely terrible!”, Gem says with her voice breaking.
“Gem, what happened? Did somepony hurt you or something?”, I ask Gem, this time shaking vigorously in my chair with anxiety.
Gem let out a couple of sniffles before answering.
“I w-was hacked on my profile. They managed t-to f-find pictures of me and exposed me on s-s-some website. And now I-”, Gem said before breaking down into tears again.
I had felt really bad for her. I never once knew what that felt like, but I could tell that it really is not something good to be a part of.
“Oh Celestia. Gem I’m so sorry. How did this happen?”, I ask Gem.
Gem took a quick second to calm down before answering.
“I-I was in a game with these group of players. I was playing regularly as u-usually do as a Scorcher. I w-was playing the game, killing the other team u-until one of the players on the other team got mad at me for k-killing him so many times. I-I didn’t really pay attention to it at the time. It wasn’t until one of them s-said that he was gonna hack my account and f-find out who I am and e-e-expose me. I-I-I ignored it cause I thought he was being a troll. But then he posted this link in the server and I clicked on it and-”, Gem said before breaking down again, sending me the link to the website.
I could never imagine how truly heartless somepony would be to do this to some griffon, especially for something so petty.
I really didn’t want to look at the site that Gem sent me because I didn’t want to feel ashamed of looking. But of course, curiosity always finds a way to make you do things you don’t want to do. Clicking the link, I was taken to a website with the terrible name of,” Smoke Exposed”. I scrolled down to find the Gem’s name to click on. Clicking her name, I was shocked to find that not only were her pictures on, but also her name as well. It turns out that Gem was actually named Ruby Heart. It made a little sense why she would name herself Gem given her name being Ruby. Glancing over at her pictures, I saw her pictures. She was a griffin with white feathers and red fur. Ruby had her feathers on her head kind of set back. Her feathers weren’t the only thing that grabbed my attention, it was also her eyes as well. Her eyes were a grey color, but for some reason they really looked beautiful despite the lack of color.
“Rub-, I-I mean Gem.”, I say to Ruby before realizing that she probably didn’t want to be called that.
Ruby sniffled a little bit before saying,”Ruby is fine. I don’t mind you calling me by my real name.”
“Y-Yeah, but I will feel bad because-”, I say trailing off nervously.
“Because what?”, Ruby asked me.
This was a moment that I was nervous about. I was considering telling her my name and even showing her a picture. But of course, my anxiety of showing a complete stranger what my name is and what I look like was getting in the way. I could never trust any player like that, not even PJ a player who I had been friends with the longest.
I hesitated multiple times, but I ended up taking a kind of half assed picture of me doing some awkward smile. I really wasn’t a hundred percent sure I wanted to post this one as a picture, but I was keeping Ruby waiting. I finally, after about 3 minutes of hesitation, sent Ruby that awkward picture of me cringing as I hit the send button.
“I-I figured if I know what you look like, I-It’s only fair i-if-”, I say trailing off from anxiety.
There was slight awkward silence between us before Gem let out a small chuckle lighting up a little.
“Oh Lotus, you don’t-” Ruby says before I interrupt her.
“Velvet, You can call me Red Velvet. I-I-If you want to.”, I say nervously to Ruby.
“Ok then, Velvet. You don’t have to do this for me. I know that you don’t want to show me what you look like.”, Ruby says now with a affectionate tone.
“N-no, I would feel bad seeing you like that and I would feel it isn’t fair.”, I say to Ruby explaining my actions.
“Red Velvet. I like your name. Guess it explains why you work at a bakery.”, Ruby says to me now fully calmed down from earlier.
I chuckled nervously in agreement, scratching the back of my neck with my hoof.
“Yeah, I guess you could say that. I like your name as well.”, I said to Ruby in response. “T-Thank you, Velvet.”, Ruby says with a bashful tone.
There was a brief silence between us before I looked at the website again and noticed something, something that could turn this whole situation around.
“Holy shit Ruby!”, I yelled out to Ruby coming to a realization.
“What is it?”, Ruby asked me in confusion.
“We can use this site, we can track down this fucker and get him.”, I exclaimed loudly.
“Velvet, I don’t understand.”, Ruby said.
“You said yourself that it was a player in Smoke that did this right?”, I asked Ruby.
“Yes.”, Ruby said.
“That’s just it then. We use this website to find the uploader’s Smoke profile and get this fucker banned. It shouldn’t take very long to do this.”, I now said with a bit of excitement.
Smoke was always quick to ban accounts for exposing personal info of another player, no matter how small the info leak was. Funny, if only they were quick to ban accounts for scams to give items back to the rightful owners.
“You’ll do that for me? You’ll help me give some justice for these guys.”, Ruby asked me perking up.
“Yeah, I won’t stop until I know that we may have a chance at finding this cunt’s profile and getting him banned.”, I said with a tone of confidence I usually never have.
“Wow, like, that means a lot to me. You really don’t have to do this for me, really. I think I could figure this out by myself.”, Ruby said to me.
“No, no please. I insist on helping. Plus I really want to see this cunt actually pay for doing this.”, I said to Ruby.
“Okay, thank you. I really appreciate the help.”, Ruby said thankfully.
“It’s no problem Ruby. Now, hows about we go find this cunt and make him pay once and for all.”, I said before starting to look.
In a matter of two hours, we had managed to find the cunt named,”Nanners”. It took a really long time, but it was very much worth it when we were looking and I heard Ruby exclaim that she had found him loudly. The player had a profile picture of a starfish that had glasses. Somehow this player managed to pull off the look of some wacky fun SF2 player while hiding the fact he was a true asshole.
“Well, this is him. This is the cunt who is gonna get served justice.”, I said to Ruby who is silently sitting there.
She was more silent after I said that.
“What’s wrong Ruby? Are you not excited to get this guy banned?”, I asked Ruby with a little concern.
“N-no I am. It’s just that I might feel guilty afterwards. Like I get that he is doing a bad thing and needs to get justice, but I feel that this is to much.”, Ruby said to me.
I could feel why she would feel that way, considering I’m not one who usually tries to get revenge on anypony.
“Hey, Well look at it this way. If this pony managed to spread out who you are and what you look like, somepony could find where you live and attempt to do horrible things to you. So this could be a way to prevent that if we get him banned, maybe we could also get the site taken down.”, I said to Ruby trying to make her feel better about going through with this.
“I guess you are right, but still I would feel bad about that.”, Ruby said.
“Why? He exposed your name and face to the world online. I would be furious if someone did that to me”, I explained to Ruby.
“I don’t know. It’s always been me to forgive any griffon, no matter what they do.”, Ruby said to me. I
n all my time before that moment, I never had met anypony or griffin that truly innocent and nice. Well, apart from maybe Peach. I really admired that from Ruby at that moment, despite all she had been through she could forgive someone for treating her so terribly.
“Wow, you would really forgive them? After all the shit he did to you?”, I asked Ruby with true contentment.
“It would take time, but yes I would.”, Ruby said with real passion in her answer.
“Aww. Ruby, you might be one of the nicest griffins I have met.”, I said to Ruby with true joy in my voice.
“Th-Thank you, I could say the same about you helping me through all of this.”, Ruby said. I really felt a feeling that I had never felt before with Ruby, I wasn’t really sure what it was at the time.
“Hey, I have an idea if you are down for it with this player.”, I said to Ruby.
“What is it?”, She asked me with curiosity.
“What if I message this guy and make a ransom with him that if he doesn’t take down the site, he will have his account banned?”, I said to the wondering Ruby.
“That could work, but what if he doesn’t? I don’t want to feel guilty about it afterwards if he does get banned.”, Ruby agreed before asking.
“If I know players like these, they value their accounts. So unless he doesn’t want his account, I’m mostly certain he will take it down out of fear of getting banned.”, I reassured Ruby.
“Okay Velvet, I trust that you will get him to take it down.”, Ruby says to me in response.
Now I had a lot on the line by doing this. I really did not want to put guilt on Ruby’s shoulders because of this if he gets banned. Sending the friend request to his profile, I began to go over the game plan in my head.
“Okay, go in, say hi, mention how you noticed you exposed some griffon, ransom, and then get rid of the site. Sounds easy.”, I said to myself in my head waiting for him to respond.
After about 3 minutes of waiting, not only did Nanners manage to accept my friend request, he messaged me as well.
“Ok Velvet, here goes nothing.”, I say to myself.
Nanners (Online) : Hey, You added me randomly. Did I see you in a game or something?
Lotus (Online) : Nah, Just stumbled onto your profile and was curious.
Nanners (Online) : Curious? About what? You and I have never met in a game before. It’s a little suspicious getting a random add then you questioning me like this.
Lotus (Online) : Yeah, I know it is.
But I guess so is exposing someone online but you know.
Nanners (Online) : Excuse me? What are you talking about?
Lotus (Online) : Oh I think you know EXACTLY what I am talking about. Considering you are the one that posted on the website that exposes Players.
Nanners (Online) : What? That Website? It’s nothing but fake names and fake pictures
Lotus (Online) : Idk, considering that my friend, AKA Gem, who you exposed on the site came to me crying telling me what happened was on there, I find it kinda bullshit that you are playing the Clueless card on me.
Nanners (Online) : Ok, even if I managed to expose the bitch, you still don’t have proof to back you up on these claims.
Lotus (Online) : Wanna take a bet? Let’s see how long it can take for your account to be banned. I can simply hit report right now and countdown to see how long it takes.
Nanners (Online) : You wouldn’t.
Lotus (Online) : Ok, say goodbye to your profile
“Dammit, You had to call my bluff.”, I say to myself in my mind as I sigh and go to his profile to report him.
I really was hesitant to paste the link to website of where he exposed Ruby mainly due to my anxiety of letting her down in not letting her feel guilty about it. Right before I was going to hit report, at the last second Nanners responded.
Nanners (Online) : Allright, I confess. I did it. I exposed your friend. You don’t need to get my account banned.
Lotus (Online) : Good, then we can negotiate what needs to happen to keep your account from being banned.
Nanners (Online) : Allright, “Master Detective”, what are your demands?
Lotus (Online) : Take down that website. We know that you are in charge of it with the group of players that were in the game where you exposed her.
Nanners (Online) : Done. That’s it?
Lotus (Online) : Yeah, unless you want me to add more.
Nanners (Online) : No, please I’m already gonna be in deep with the other players that were in charge with it.
Lotus (Online) : Good, now I better see that site taken down within 5 minutes or I’m retracting my deal and banning you.
Nanners (Online) : Alright then, anything else mister Detective.
Lotus (Online) : Yeah, Your kind of a cunt for doing that, see you never hopefully.
“Well? Did you manage to do it?”, Ruby asked me after I finally come back.
“I hope so, check to see if the link doesn’t work anymore.”, I said to Ruby hoping I didn’t put weight on her shoulders.
There was a brief pause before I heard a gasp of delight from Ruby.
“Y-Y-You did it! You actually managed to do it. I can’t thank you enough Velvet.”, Ruby said to me sounding truly happy.
“It’s no problem. I always will help a friend in need.”, I responded to Ruby.
“No, you don’t understand. I don’t think I could have done this without your help. Something could have happened to me if I didn’t address this and-”, Ruby went on stammering before I cut her off with a laugh.
“I think I get what you are trying to say. You’re welcome Ruby.”,I finally said to the nervous sounding griffin.
“Well, I’m gonna go take a bath. I feel like I need to have on after this to relax a little.”, Ruby said to me sounding a little sleepy.
“Oh okay, well I’ll maybe see you later tonight.”, I asked Ruby before she was about to leave.
“Mmmm, I’m not sure tonight. But I know for sure tomorrow I will be able to be on.”, Ruby said to me.
“Okay, well I’ll let you take your nice relaxing bath now. I’ll see you tomorrow.”, I said to Ruby as I hear her stand up.
“See you too Velvet.”, Ruby said before leaving the call in Kaos.
When she left, I felt a kind of sad feeling in my stomach. Like I was sad to see her go. It was a strange feeling that I had never really felt before with anyone. Could this be the feeling I think it is? The feeling that…….I’m having a crush on some griffin online?
“No, this couldn’t be it Velvet. Could it?”, I said to myself as I ponder the thought.
I began to think of what other possibility it could be that I was feeling. All the feelings that I thought of just didn’t make sense. The only one that really made sense, was that. That I was really falling for a Griffin online. Now at the moment, I was like you at the beginning of this story. Thinking that this is crazy to fall for someone online. But the more I thought about it, the more intrigued I became. I kept wondering more and more about what if I made it work. But more importantly, I wondered what if? What if, by some mane hair of a chance, she felt the same about me?
“Okay Velvet, keep yourself together.”, I said to myself rubbing my eyes trying to pull myself out of it. I thought going over to the bed to sleep on it would take my mind off of it.
Even once I got to the bed, I still couldn’t stop thinking about it. It soon got to a point where I had to accept it for what it is and like it: I was falling in love. I didn’t know if Ruby felt the same about me like that, but the one fact I couldn’t deny in my head: I was falling in love with Ruby. After me thinking about my feelings, I began thinking about Ruby and all we had been through. It really made me smile a little bit while I was laying in bed. I laid there thinking about Ruby for about a hour before my eyes slowly closed drifting to sleep. As I drifted to sleep, my last thought I kept thinking was what made me accept it in the end: I was falling in love.