//------------------------------// // Chapter 14 // Story: Blamed // by Madox //------------------------------// The Rainbooms and the Crusaders waited outside Principal Celestia's office, each group keeping to themselves. While the Crusaders stared down at their feet, the Rainbooms kept looking at the Crusaders with a mix of anger and disappointment about their actions. Vice Principal Luna had left them alone mere minutes ago to inform her sister of the presence of both groups instead of just the three freshmen. She had also warned them to remain quiet and not to do anything all of them would regret. Those last words had mostly been directed at Rainbow Dash, who had crossed her arms and turned away. The hallway was too quiet for each of their likings, with the only sounds being their own little movements and the muffled voices from inside the office, which were still too quiet to tell who was talking. "Rarity?" The fashionista turned her head to look at her sister. Sweetie Belle was barely looking up into her eyes, twiddling her thumbs. "Are you... Are you mad at me?" Rarity fully turned to face her sister, her face not showing any kind of emotion. "No, I'm not..." Sweetie Belle raised her head in surprise, staring at her sister. "I'm furious!" she suddenly hissed without raising her voice, her expression shifting to anger. Sweetie Belle recoiled in shock and took a step away from her sister, tears welling up in her eyes. "I'm barely holding myself back from causing a scene in public, but you will hear all of that once we are home!" "The same goes for you, Apple Bloom," Applejack said, her head turned to look at her sister. "Ah’d hate to be in your shoes once Granny gets to ya." Apple Bloom flinched upon hearing her sister's cold tone, and just the thought of Granny Smith made a shiver run down her spine. Scootaloo stood to the side, her eyes now fixed on her idol, who was standing a short distance behind her friends, her back turned to them and her arms still crossed in front of her. She opened her mouth a few times but closed it each time, not knowing what to say. "Rainbow..." "Shut up!" Rainbow growled without moving. "And stay away from me!" Scootaloo recoiled as if struck, her eyes widening in terror at the anger radiating from her idol. The office door opened before any more could be said or done, and Luna stepped out. "You can all come in now." She saw Rarity starting to say something but stopped her with her raised hand. "Save your questions for my sister." She turned and walked back inside with the girls following her. The office was cramped with people now after adding the girls. The Crusaders gathered on the left side after entering, while the Rainbooms went in right after them. Applejack and Rarity made sure to stand close to their sisters while Rainbow stood as far away from Scootaloo as possible. Principal Celestia stood near the wall on the left in the back, Sunset and her parents on the right with Twilight. Luna made her way over to stand beside her sister. Leaning against the principal's desk at the back stood Shimmer, her arms crossed and her eyes closed. She made no move at all while the room fell quiet. "Well?" Shimmer asked after several moments of silence, her eyes still closed and her voice emotionless. "Nothing to say? No 'secret stealer', 'traitor' or 'she-demon' this time? I kinda got used to hearing those these past two weeks." The Rainbooms flinched, looking away from her. Shimmer opened her eyes to look over her former friends, until her eyes rested on Applejack. "You wanted to speak with me earlier. Now’s your chance. I'm listening, which is more than you allowed me." Applejack sighed. "Sunset, Ah—no, we’re sorry for everything. It was wrong of us to assume you were the one behind Anon-a-Miss. We shouldn'ta jumped to conclusions like that." "Applejack is right," Rarity said. "What we did was unacceptable, and I feel terrible for everything we did and said to you." "I feel really bad for all the mean things I said to you, and I would do everything to make you smile again, but I don't think there’s anything I can do," Pinkie said as she held a sniffling Fluttershy close. "I... I would love to go back to how everything was, but that's impossible," Fluttershy said just loud enough to be heard. Rainbow Dash tried to say something, anything, but her words failed her, and she simply stared at the floor, ashamed of herself, unable to even look into Shimmer's eyes. Shimmer stood in front of the gathered Rainbooms, her anger reaching new heights with each word they said, but she waited until they were done. "That's it? That's all you have to say?" Shimmer balled her fists in anger, her knuckles turning white. "After everything you did, all I get is a few half-hearted apologies I'm supposed to take seriously?! You don’t even get why I’m mad!” The girls fell quiet, looking at Shimmer in shock. “What do you mean, darling?” Rarity finally asked carefully. Shimmer pushed herself up from her position against the desk and narrowed her eyes. “You dropped me immediately when it seemed I had done something, but what pisses me off is the fact that you didn’t even give me a chance to prove to you that I was innocent. After everything I did to show that I changed, after helping you to fight off the sirens at the Battle of the Bands, you didn’t even consider that I might be framed!" “Sunset, please…” Shimmer whirled around towards the country girl. “Shut up, Applejack! I’m not done yet!” Applejack took a step back. She had never seen Shimmer this furious, not even at the Fall Formal. Sunset on the side looked at her friend in worry. She took a step forward to calm her down like she did the previous day at Sugarcube Corner, but was stopped by a hand on her shoulder. Following the arm, she looked up at her dad, who only shook his head. Desert Sunrise has seen similar situations before and knew that Shimmer had to let all of this out now before it consumed her from the inside. On the other hand, he was also ready to step in should she get too riled up and turned to violence in her anger. "I pleaded, begged and even cried to you to give me a chance," Shimmer continued her rant, "but all I got was a slew of insults and a fist to my face! And if that wasn't already enough, you even had to throw me to the wolves!” Seeing the questioning looks on their faces, she got even angrier. “What, didn’t realize it yet? It even came up during the assembly! When the whole mess began, the most I got from the other students was a glare and some hushed whispers behind my back. All they had were their suspicions that it was me based on that stupid profile picture, but after you called me out in the hallway, they all went after me. After all, when the beloved heroes of the school say it can only be Sunset, it must be true, right? They only suspected me to be Anon-A-Miss, but you are the ones who painted the target on my back! Everything that happened to me and Sunset is your fault!” Shimmer was breathing heavily now, but slowly, she calmed down. The Rainbooms looked at her in shock as they realized that she was right. The other students only started pestering her after they called her out. Without them, it was entirely possible that they would have left her alone. "What... What have we done?" Fluttershy whispered as she sank down to the floor, burying her face in the palms of her hands to cry. Pinkie was by her side, hugging her. Rarity cried as well, her make-up running down her cheeks in black lines. Applejack had her hat pulled down to cover most of her face, but her gritted teeth were still visible. Rainbow was staring at Shimmer, her eyes wide and darting from side to side as she processed everything and how much of it was her doing. It took Shimmer a few minutes to get her breathing back to normal again, but she was not done yet. She brought her gaze to look into the eyes of Rainbow Dash, who recoiled slightly as if she had been struck. “And then there is you, and the little problem we have with what Gilda said…” Rainbows eyes widened again, and she gulped. "Sunset, please, I had nothing to do with Gilda attacking you or her!" Rainbow pleaded, pointing at Sunset. "It was just a bad choice of words, and Gilda acted on her own. You have to believe me!" Shimmer remained quiet, glaring at the girl in front of her. No one said anything for several long moments until she answered. "Honesty lied to my face by claiming to be my friend and that I was family. Generosity cast me out once everything went down to save her own reputation. Kindness and Laughter both left me alone, sunk to the floor in the middle of the hallway, crying my eyes out. "Why should I believe that Loyalty wouldn't stab me in the back the moment I get on her bad side?" Rainbow stumbled back, her gaze lowering to the floor. "Y-You’re right... I'm a lousy friend, if I can even call myself that. So, whatever you are going to do, I deserve it." She closed her eyes and waited for the punch she expected to come, but nothing happened. "I'm not going to do anything." Rainbow looked up again and blinked. "Huh?" "As much as I want to 'repay' you for your punch, and as much as it would make me feel better, I won't do it. 'An eye for an eye makes the world go blind,’ or however that saying goes. "And besides, if Gilda stays with her side of the story, you’re in enough trouble already, with a charge for conspiracy on you. And even if they can't prove that you had anything to do with it, there will always be this shimmer of doubt hanging over your head." Rainbow's eyes widened again. That thought hadn't even crossed her mind, and it could ruin her life in the worst case. Behind her, Scootaloo trembled when she heard what they had done to the one she cared most about. That tremble turned into a shiver that ran down her spine when Shimmer's gaze moved to her and her friends who had stayed in the back behind the Rainbooms till now. She didn't say anything, she just motioned with her hand for them to step forward. None of them even thought about not following, and seconds later, they stood between her and the Rainbooms. "'Remember why we’re doing this. We’ll get our sisters back, and Sunset will be punished for everything she did in the past,’" Shimmer said in a mock imitation of Scootaloo's voice. "I’ve been thinking about this, and I get where the last part comes from, but the first part confuses me. So, tell me. How did I take your sisters away from you?" All eyes rested on the three girls, waiting for their explanation. It was Apple Bloom who broke the silence. "Applejack has been spendin' less and less time with me since the Fall Formal. She always had plans with ya and canceled every time we were supposed to do somethin' together to hang out with ya." "It was the same with Rarity," Sweetie Belle added. "She barely spent time home with me anymore." "Rainbow promised me several times to practice with me but canceled every single time..." The room fell into silence as every eye fell on the Crusaders standing in the middle. The mentioned girls stared at their sisters in anger, not believing what they heard. "...Are you serious?" Shimmer whispered, her left eye twitching. "You are telling me that you ruined my life, endangered Sunset's life, and turned the entire school into a madhouse... because you were jealous!? That's... probably the stupidest thing I ever heard, and I did a lot of stupid things in my life. What in the name of Celestia were you thinking!?" "Did she just use my name for—" "Be silent, sister. You can ask her later." The Crusaders cowered before the angry girl. "We didn't know what to do," Sweetie mumbled. "You could have talked to them like every sane being would have done! Instead, you pulled all of this off just because of me spending time with them, deciding that embarrassing them in front of everybody was a better choice. And for your information, I have received my punishment for what I did in the past." "As if," Scootaloo whispered, but still loud enough to be heard by Shimmer, who turned to face the girl. "What was that? Could you repeat that for us, because I really hope that I heard wrong." Scootaloo, with a sudden surge of bravery, stepped forward and glared at Shimmer. "As if one month of detention and apologizing is enough for everything you did!" Shimmer glared back, but before she could say anything, she felt a hand on her shoulder. Looking back, she saw Celestia by her side. "Sunset, take a small break." At first, Shimmer didn't move, but soon enough, her shoulders slumped down and she stepped back, letting the principal take over for now. Celestia sighed before she turned her attention to the Crusaders. "First off, girls, I'm very disappointed in you. I never expected you to be behind Anon-a-Miss, and when Sunset arrived today with that recording, I didn't want to believe it. "Regarding her punishment back after the Fall Formal, it is not your responsibility to decide that. It's mine. Just because you are not aware of it does not mean there hasn't been more punishment. We just never made it known to anybody else, as is proper. For instance, she has also been banned from participating in any major school event, like the upcoming Spring Fling. That was also supposed to be the case for the Musical Showcase, but we all know why that turned out differently." The Crusaders shared a glance with each other. None of them had thought about the possibility that Sunset had been punished more than they knew. "Furthermore, we have been thorough in regards on how to punish Sunset. I assume most of what you know about what she did from overhearing the other students speak about it?" The Crusaders nodded. "I was afraid of that. Let me tell you that most of these stories the students are telling are simply not true. "After the Fall Formal, my sister and I received dozens of reports from students about what Sunset did to them. We looked carefully into each and every claim and couldn't find any connection to Sunset for most of these. Yes, she did blackmail others to get her way and exposed some secrets if necessary, among other things, but otherwise, she mostly controlled all of you by doing nothing, simply through the fear of what she might do. "It came to the point that whenever something happened to someone, it was assumed Sunset was behind it, even if she was in a totally different location at the time. The same goes for Snips and Snails, before you try to argue," Celestia quickly added once she saw Scootaloo open her mouth. "And before you try to bring it up, that punishment was mostly only for everything she did over the past years here." Seeing their confused faces, Celestia continued. "Before Princess Twilight left at the night of the Fall Formal, I had a talk with her regarding what to do with Sunset, and we agreed that I would judge her for everything she did while she attended CHS and the princess would give her own judgment regarding the magical events to keep the portal a secret." "That's right," Twilight said as she stepped beside the principal. "And I decided that she would stay here to learn about friendship, which could be considered an exile from our world. My crown—or, more accurately, my Element—already did enough to her when she tried to use it." "That makes no sense; how can your crown do anything?" Scootaloo asked. "I don't get it." "That's just because you have no idea how magic even works," Shimmer said as she stepped up again after calming down enough. "Did you see my transformation after I put on the crown? No, because you were still inside with everybody else. Otherwise, you would have seen that it is incredibly painful to be changed by dark magic against your will." Shimmer looked at the ground, her hands clenched together into fists. "I never wanted for that to happen... I only wanted the crown and its power so that I could return to Equestria to show the princess how strong I was and that I was worthy to stand by her side as her equal. I never thought that I would be turned into a monster, but once I was, I lost control. "I was trapped inside my own body while the darkest side of me took over. Do you have any idea what it’s like to see your own body move, to hear and feel everything without being able to stop yourself from doing such terrible things? To be a spectator, trapped in your own body and forced to watch? I screamed at myself to stop, but I couldn't do anything besides watch! "And then, I was transformed back. I was really grateful that Twilight was able to stop me and that I could move my own body again, but I wish it would have been different. It might look really pretty and harmless from the outside, but getting hit by a fricking rainbow beam and getting purged of dark magic hurts! "And that wasn't even the end! The Elements made me see and feel everything I ever did to show me what my actions caused. Every bit of pain and misery I caused came over me in seconds." Shimmer raised her hands and counted off. "To sum it up: I have been corrupted by magic, forcefully transformed and changed back against my will—each of those things accompanied by massive physical pain—mentally punished, banned from all major school events, given detention, and given a few other punishments, all of which I accepted without any protest. And top all this with the treatment the other students gave me afterward, which I also took without protest." Shimmer glared furiously at Scootaloo, who didn't dare to move a single muscle, her fellow Crusaders hiding behind her. "So please, tell me what more I deserve as punishment." The room fell into silence as Shimmer waited for the freshman to say anything. Scootaloo stood in place, staring at her in shock with a loss of words. Her friends were still hiding behind her, with Apple Bloom holding a crying Sweetie Belle. At the side, Northern Star had her arm around her daughter’s shoulder, pulling her closer, both of them with tears in their eyes after hearing what Shimmer had to endure. Desert Sunrise stood beside them with his arms crossed, a stoic expression on his face as he took everything in. Celestia and Luna had their eyes closed. They knew about all of this, hearing about it after the Fall Formal. Twilight looked down at her feet in shame. She knew that the purging of the magic would have been very unpleasant, but she had not been aware of what exactly her Element had done to Sunset until her return to this world, and she still felt horrible about it. The Rainbooms knew as well, and none of them looked at Shimmer or spoke up to defend the girls. They all knew the pains she went through, but none even thought about it when the whole mess with Anon-a-Miss started. Shimmer kept her eyes locked on Scootaloo that entire time, waiting for the girl to say anything, but after a while, she turned away. "Nothing to say? Good, because I'm done with you as well. I hope you’re proud of yourself. After all, you got what you wanted." She looked at Sunset and her parents and nodded before she turned her attention to Celestia. "Principal Celestia, do you want to take over? We’re done here for now." Celestia nodded. "I will deal with the rest and stay in contact with you to inform you of everything necessary later." Luna stepped forward. "I will accompany you outside and see if our other guests arrived yet." Shimmer nodded and walked towards the door, past the crying Crusaders. Twilight, Sunset, and Sunset’s parents followed. As she walked past her, Applejack reached out with her hand. “Sunset, is there—” Before Applejack could finish speaking, Shimmer shoved her hand away and sent her a glare. "Don't touch me," she growled. Applejack let her arm fall limp to her side and looked down at the floor. "There’s nothin’ we can do to make this up to you, is there?" Shimmer looked into her eyes before turning away. "No... At least, not now. It hurts too much." She sighed. "Maybe one day, I can and will forgive you and reach out again, but until then, I don't want to see you." Without another word, Shimmer opened the door and stepped out with her entourage, leaving Principal Celestia, the Crusaders and the Rainbooms, who looked after their former friend, behind.