//------------------------------// // 13.- The Aftermath // Story: Canterlot High's Sports Challenge // by LiQuiD //------------------------------// - CHAPTER 13 - THE AFTERMATH (BGM) The weekend quickly went by, but you didn’t have enough energy or will to come out of your house. You didn’t even bother checking your friends’ messages…nor your social media’s newsfeed. Why should you anyways? You probably are getting bombed with hate mail from your classmates; you let out an exasperated sigh as soon as the alarm goes off. Monday, 6:30 A.M. You didn’t get much sleep, again…the first thing you do is look at your awards sitting right on top of your desk. Eugh, do you really have to go to school today? You drag yourself out of bed, wishing you didn’t have to talk to anyone at school right now like when you used to. First off…the morning ritual, exercise, toilet, shaving and taking a shower. When that’s done, you get out of the bathroom and put on your clothes, you go downstairs and prepare something quick to eat so you don’t have to bother your mom. When that’s done you brush your teeth and lastly pet your dog goodbye. It’s a chilly and cloudy morning and it looks like it’s gonna rain. Talk about Monday Blues… Halfway there you ponder if it’s gonna rain, thunders are heard in the distance. You better hurry up if you don’t want to get wet, however as if this day couldn't get any worse lightning flashes on the sky, and all of a sudden it starts to rain. Heavily. Unbelievable. You find a dry place to take cover from the rain, you wish you had brought an umbrella or something. ”Anon!” A familiar voice calls out, you find Sunset Shimmer running towards your position, covering her head with her hoodie, as soon as she arrives to the dry spot you’re standing under she warmly greets you with a hug. ”Hey Anon, you okay? You didn’t reply to any of my messages.” “I…uh-I kinda forgot.“ ”Wow, you’re a terrible liar Anon,” she arches an eyebrow, sounding quite annoyed at your response. You sigh. “I’m sorry Sunset, it’s just-“ ”If it’s about the Qualifiers you can forget about it Anon, it’s water under the bridge, or rather us under this rain don’t you think?” She says with a cute giggle. "Heh, yeah I guess..." you say, trying to hide your smile. “But seriously, if you hadn’t helped that poor girl we would’ve been disqualified anyways. That dumb Zephyr…Fluttershy spent all of her weekend treating his injuries,” Sunset Shimmer says. “Wow really?” ”Yeah, that’s what I wanted you to see…” She says as she pulls her phone out of her hoodie’s pocket to show you the conversation she had with Fluttershy and the pictures that she sent. “Sheesh, those look serious.” ”They actually aren’t according to her, but everyone got him quite good.” “Aw man that’s not good, now I wonder what the school’s gonna do to me,” you say, expecting the worst; Sunset just shakes her head. ”Don’t be silly Anon, I’ll let you know that if they try to do something; I got your back…” she proudly says. “Really?” You ask, Sunset Shimmer just nods. ”Yeah…I mean like, that was so sweet of you! The way you carefully picked her up and everything,” Sunset says trying not to get flustered, “I mean seriously…why did you do it Anon?” “Well, Nelly’s experiencing what I was during Jr. High…I thought their team would stop bothering her if she wasn’t last place. And it actually happened, I mean…didn’t you hear how hard they were on them? They even mocked her when she was on the floor.” ”And that’s exactly what you went through in Seacrest County isn’t that right?” She asks. “Sadly…yes. She didn’t deserve any of that abuse.” "...you're a good man Anon," she says with an approving nod and a smile. "I-uhhh..." you don't know what to say, you start to feel a blush forming on your cheeks, Sunset Shimmer just giggles at your reaction and keeps making small chat with you until the rain starts to calm down. ”Oh! Finally! We better hurry up Anon or we’ll be late!” “A’ight…” you reply in a very uninspired way. ”Come on, let’s race to school…” “A race?” Sunset Shimmer starts to run. ”Come on! If I win you’ll have to buy me a slice of pie from the cafeteria!” She yells. "Hey! That's not fair!" You smile and run after her. (BGM) Minutes later you both arrive to Canterlot High, and Sunset Shimmer just reached the main entrance by a couple of seconds before you. “Looks like I won Anon!” Sunset says with a smug smile. ”Yeah…wow, you were so fast!" You say while panting. “Ehhh…what can I say, other than sorry?” Sunset Shimmer says. ”Sorry?” You ask. “For you buying me a slice of pie at lunch…a deal’s a deal," she says, you only let out a chuckle. “Oh right! Yeah…you won fair and square. Be careful though, it'll go straight to your thighs,” you say while eyeing her beautiful figure, "on second thought. I'll buy you as many pies as you like." "Ha ha...very funny Anon," Sunset Shimmer sarcastically says as she looks at her reflection on the Main Entrance’s glass, ”whoa! My hair’s all ruined!" She takes a brush out of her backpack and starts combing her hair. “Say, will you join us at lunch at the usual spot?” She asks. “Umm…” ”Come on, don’t be like that Anon…don’t tell me that now that we’re out of the competition you don’t want to hear from us anymore,” she says in a jokingly manner. “What? No no no…of course not! I’m just…kiiiinda afraid of Aria, and Brawly, and Mac, and Flash and-” "Alright alright! You've made your point!" Sunset Shimmer giggles, "you worry too much Anon.” “Hey Anon!” A voice calls out from behind, you turn around and find Snips and Snails standing next to the dusty trophies of the school. “what are you doing here? Your new friends and your girlfriend at Pleasantview High are waiting for you in the next town over!” They both laugh at you; Sunset Shimmer frowns at them. Her annoyed stare is menacing enough for them to back away and head immediately to their classrooms. ”Those two will never learn, just ignore them Anon…” Sunset Shimmer says The bell rings. “Whoops, we better get going! I’ll see ya at lunch okay?” “Yeah, I’ll be there.” "Awww cheer up you grump!" She says giving you a hug and patting your head, which instantly makes you feel better. (BGM) Hours later. It’s finally lunch time, you grab a tray full of fruit, a couple of vegetables and a sandwich, a pie for Sunset as well and then head to the usual spot where…all of your friends are sitting at. ”Over here dude!” Flash Sentry raises his hand. Huh, and you thought the team would disband after being disqualified. ”Yoohoo darling~” Rarity calls, everyone looks quite happy. You walk to your favorite table and sit on your favorite chair, next to Rarity. ”Heya dude!” Rainbow Dash happily says before throwing a plastic spoon directly towards your face, “why didn’t you answer our texts? We thought you were dead or something!” Rainbow being Rainbow… “Sorry y’all…I kinda felt bummed after the qualifiers,” you say while letting out an awkward chuckle. ”So what? Life goes on dude, there’s always next year!” Rainbow Dash happily says, “besides…it wasn’t your fault we got disqualified.” ”Uhh, it kinda was! Remember Rainbow? You were there after all!” Sonata says, “in fact, we ALL were there!” "Shut your pie hole dumdum..." Aria bumps Sonata’s arm with her elbow. ”Pssh…it doesn’t matter now does it?” Rainbow Dash says, “well, for the rest of you at least; I guess I’ll have to conform with small time jobs.” ”What was that sugarcube?” Applejack asks. ”Uhh, n-nothing!” Rainbow quickly replies, “say Anon, did you at least read what I sent you?” “What? How Zephyr Breeze looked after you all went medieval on his behind?” You say. Rainbow Dash and the rest of the team lets out a laugh, which upsets Fluttershy. ”Close, but no…look,” she says as she hands you her phone, “apparently the Eagles of St. Ursula High from Group G were disqualified as well.” You read the note posted on the Lifeinvader website. ”That happened yesterday…apparently most of their players took a shortcut during the Cross-Country event.” ”Typical Eagles,” Heath Burns says, “no wonder everybody hates playing against them.” ”But that’s not the end of the story…” Applejack adds, “Apparently other schools were disqualified as well.” “You don't say…” you raise an eyebrow. You look at the score and read how the Eels, the Eagles and the Dragons were disqualified. To your dismay, Seacrest County is the leader of Group G and did amazingly well…but you already saw it coming. They have the highest score of all schools. They absolutely destroyed Group G. You read how the only event they lost was Cross-Country against the Eagles, however…they all got the best times in all the events, and even they all dove from the highest platform getting only 9s and 10s. They also got EVERY individual award as well, you’ve heard rumors, but this score is perhaps too much…aren’t the officials gonna do something about it? ”Dearie? What’s wrong?” Rarity asks, looking concerned from your reaction. “Oh…uh, nothing Rarity. I’m just checking how the other teams did, ooh look at Group C!” ”Hmm…the Gophers and the Goats made it?” Big Macintosh says, to your surprise he can say other things that aren't eeeyup or nnnope. ”Aww man,” Rainbow Dash adds, “I would’ve preferred if the Tigers and Penguins made it instead.” ”Nobody cares about them Rainbow Dash…” Heath Burns says. ”Well they got a rivalry! Just like us and the Shadowbolts isn’t that right?” Tennis Match says ”Yeah, and only our town cares for our games as much as Lion County cares for theirs…” Heath Burns adds, "besides everybody knows what the results are gonna be so they even bet for Crystal Prep. Always." ”Ain't 'cha an optimist Heath Burns?" Applejack rolls her eyes. "I wonder why St. Ursula cheated,” Sonata says, “the other teams didn’t look like they could compete against them anyways.” ”Don’t go sayin’ nonsense Sonata…” Applejack adds, “those varmints knew good ol’ Buffaloes had everything to beat them, our cousin Braeburn attends that High School…isn’t that right Big Mac?” ”Eeeyup…” ”Well; personally, I’m glad the officials kicked them out of the competition.” Applejack adds. ”Just like we were?” Brawly Beats asks. ” ’cept we’re innocent!” Applejacks raises her voice, “dang it! If it wasn’t for Zephyr Breeze we would be in second place!” ”Try first place,” Flash Sentry adds, “we were there…at least for a bit.” Fluttershy just places both her hands on her face. ”Aww, don’t feel bad dearie, it’s not your fault at all!” Rarity comforts her friend. ”But Rarity, if I hadn’t asked Rainbow to let my brother in the team none of this would’ve happened…” Fluttershy says looking quite embarrassed. ”Rarity’s right…don’t be so hard on yourself Fluttershy, he’s the one responsible after all.” Rainbow Dash smirks. ”I’m sorry everyone, I don’t know why he acted like that,” Fluttershy says! ”Yeah…what a loser,” Aria adds, “he was probably jealous of Anon because you two get along pretty well.” Rainbow Dash blushes. ”D-don’t be ridiculous!” Everyone goes “oooooh!” in a mocking tone, which upsets your captain even more. “Say Flutters…how’s your brother doing?” You ask. Fluttershy looks rather surprised because amongst all of people sitting at the large table YOU were the one to be asking such thing. ”Oh! Umm…he’s doing okay. He stayed home and didn’t want to come to school today, that’s what he said at least.” ”Good!” Rainbow Dash says slamming her hand on the table, “all he has done was bring us a bad time, he better stay in his room forever!” ”YEAH!” Everyone says at the same time. Oh boy. Fluttershy looks like she wants to move to another city right now. Adagio Dazzle approaches the table, carrying her lunch on a tray. ”Oh, hey Dagi!” Sonata warmly greets the poofy-haired girl. ”What are you two idiots doing here?” She coldly asks, "you got disqualified already thanks to the newbie and that idiot brother of Fluttershy; you’ve wasted enough time already by hanging out with these losers.” Everyone at the table frowns at her cruel words. ”That’s not true!” Sonata says, “Principal Celestia said she'd reward us, besides...we’ve had so much fun! Isn’t that right Ari?” Aria Blaze blushes, but refuses to tell how she feels. ”What? You actually believed Principal Celestia’s lies? At best you'd get one extra credit in math you klutz, but that's it.” ”B-but-“ Sonata doesn't know what to say. ”No buts Sonata, we have stuff to do…remember?!” ”Nooo! I don’t want to go back to that awful job at the mall!” Sonata protests, Aria Blaze groans. ”Whatever…we have to pay the rent’s bills next week and I’m tired of covering up for you two! You better get up and say your goodbyes to these losers you call a ‘team’.” ”Now you just wait a darn minute! Who do you think you are Adagio?!” Applejack says standing up to her. ”Sis! Relax!” Big Mac stands up to prevent her sister to pick up a fight with Adagio. ”Yeah!” Sonata says, “it doesn’t matter we were disqualified! We did our best and we had fun! Isn’t that right guys?” ”YEAH!” Everyone says again. ”There’s nothing to be ashamed of! Especially when Anon’s little stunt made us quite popular!” Sunset Shimmer says. “Wait what?” You say, taken by surprise. ”You didn’t see? You were all over the news!” Sunset Shimmer says as she shows you a pic of a Bleeter account she took a screenshots of. You read the headlines out loud. "Boy loses a competition dramatically but wins all of our hearts, Canterlot High loses an important event because of a kid’s big heart, Canterlot’s disqualification, justified or not?" All of the notes denote how cute the gesture was towards Nelly. But also demonizes your school by showing Zephyr’s actions, claiming you orchestrated it as well. “Are you kidding me?!” ”I know…ridiculous right?” Sunset Shimmer says, “now that I think of it…I shouldn’t have shown them to you.” ”Hahaha…” Adagio laughs, “how precious, you guys actually thought you were gonna win? Even if you had passed the qualifiers you had to eventually face Crystal Prep again or even worse Seacrest County High.” ”-Tch…” Everyone looks quite sad after hearing her hurtful words. ”Now that would’ve been funny to see! Hmm…what a shame. You two! Get on your feet and let’s get going!” Adagio yells, Aria just lets out a sigh, then she stands up. ”A-Ari?” Sonata asks. ”Let’s go dumdum…Adagio’s right,” Aria lets out a defeated sigh. ”B-but…” ”It’s over already…” Aria says, Sonata lets out a sigh. ”It was fun you guys…” she tries to smile, “thanks for the opportunity.” As soon as Sonata picks up her tray and stands up the speaker system buzzes loudly, catching everyone's attention. “Attention…Canterlot High’s team!” Principal Celestia’s secretary on the speaker system announces, “Principal Celestia wants to talk with you, report immediately to her office!” (BGM) ”W-what would she want with us?” Rainbow Dash gulps. ”Aww…she’s obviously mad with the team she had so much faith in to fix this dumpster of a school of course. Adagio turns around and leaves, laughing at you all, ”have fun!” Everyone looks quite worried. ”S-she can’t do anything to us because we lost right?” Ringo says. ”We didn’t lose…we were labeled as cheaters, which is way worse…” Applejack adds. Everyone stands up. ”Well…might as well get this over with,” Lyra says, “you coming captain?” ”…y-yeah, just lemme-“ Rainbow Dash gulps down a whole bottle of water, ”Alright…let’s go.” "Captain? Why are you so nervous?!" You ask, concerned over the girl who looks that hasn't sleep these last two days. "I-it's nothing Anon, I'm just very thirsty...that's all," she replies. You can see how hard her hands are twitching. Rainbow Dash knocks on Principal Celestia’s office, Ms. Raven, Celestia’s Secretary, opens it; she looks kinda nervous. ”Is everyone here?” Ms. Raven asks. She counts twenty students in the tiny room plus Rainbow’s friends; Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Twilight Sparkle. ”Good…Rainbow Dash? Anon? The Principal is waiting for you; the rest of you must wait here.” Oh no…you messed up BIG! Rainbow Dash looks uneasy as well, Ms. Raven opens the door, and you find out that Principal Celestia’s not alone. You both walk inside the office and let Ms. Raven close the door behind you two. Vice Principal Luna, Superintendent Discord and some officials from the qualifiers are here as well. (BGM) ”Please, have a seat you two…” Superintendent Discord says. Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna look quite nervous as well, both you and Rainbow Dash sit on the crummy old chairs in front of Principal Celestia’s desk. ”You both look so tense, cheer up kids!” Superintendent Discord asks, “what? Do you think Principal Celestia here’s gonna expel you or something?” Rainbow Dash gulps. ”But let me tell you something, she can’t…giving a better look at the state of this place she dares to call a high school, I’m thinking of firing both her and Vice Principal Luna as well!” ”W-what?! But we-!” Principal Celestia tries to protest. ”I’m talking with your students Principal Celestia…don’t be rude interrupting me like that!” He says in a very threatening tone, Principal Celestia just shuts herself up. ”Ms. Rainbow Dash…you’re the captain representing Canterlot High, isn’t that right?” She nods. "Well, the nice gentlemen over here wants to talk about a few things regarding last Saturday’s…rather unfortunate events.” ”Umm…okay?” Rainbow Dash replies. ”Good morning Ms. Dash, we’re here as a request from the Ministry of Education’s Board of Directors…we’re here to review your team’s disqualification status." Superintendent Discord arches an eyebrow. ”We had to disqualify your team because of a player named Zephyr Breeze…who we believed had sabotaged fellow player Nelly Prattle from Pleasantview High. But…according to the officials and other members of the Ministry of Education, something about this whole ‘sabotage’ thing doesn’t add up.” ”Of course it doesn’t add up!” Rainbow Dash protests, “we didn’t need to cheat!” ”Indeed…you had second place assured already," then they turn to you. “Anonymous, you had a clear advantage over the situation. However, you turned to help the fallen player while giving up an easy win resulting in your team’s temporal defeat,” the official says. “Yeah…well, how do I explain it? I-it’s kinda hard to do it right now. I just, really felt sorry for this girl and-” ”So you didn’t know about the cable at all right?” He asks. “No! I did not! I thought she had an accident at first, and then I found the steel cable on the track,” Anon says. ”I see…” Principal Celestia bites on her fingernails, and when she runs out of nails she bites on Luna's fingernails. ”I don’t know why Zephyr threw that cable on the track…but-” you say before getting interrupted by the official ”Well, why don’t you ask him yourself?” The official says. Everyone in the room looks perplexed. (“What are YOU doing here?!”) Trixie's yells can be heard coming from the other side of the door. “Hmm?” “How many times do we have to teach you a lesson Zephyr?!” Brawly Beats asks. Zephyr barges through the Principal’s door and promptly locks it. ”H-hey everyone...” Both Principal Celestia and Rainbow Dash stand up. ”YOU!” Rainbow Dash angrily says. ”H-hey Rainbow!” Rainbow Dash quickly grabs him by his shirt and slams him on the wall. ”OW! My arm! Careful Dashie!” He begs, you stand up and do your best to pull Rainbow Dash away from him. ”Rainbow! Calm down!” Rainbow Dash stops herself from acting dumb and sits down once again, refusing to look at Zephyr Breeze this time around. Zephyr Breeze looks quite hurt. ”Do you have something to say young man?” Superintendent Discord says. ”Yeah I uh…I went to talk with the Ministry of Education earlier in the morning about what happened last Saturday.” ”Yes,” an official says, “he said he didn’t want to hurt the Pleasantview girl, surprisingly, he wanted to sabotage Anonymous.” “What?!” You say. ”Yeah…” Zephyr Breeze says with an awkward chuckle. ”Wait a minute,” Superintendent Discord asks, “what’s this now? You’re taking this two-bit cheater’s testimony as granted?!” ”No, we have evidence to back that up…” An official says as he takes a tablet out of a briefcase. (BGM) "The first video contains Crystal Prep’s security footage, showing how Zephyr Breeze hid during the event, and then throwing the steel wire on the track. The second one shows the point of view of a fan across the track who was recording the final stretch of the relay race. Combining both videos we concluded that…Zephyr Breeze was telling the truth. Unfortunately in that exact moment Nelly Prattle outran Anonymous." They rewind the fan’s video where the steel wire was about to land on your feet; however, Nelly's legs caught it first in midair, the official plays the security footage again, this time after Nelly tripped. ”Zephyr Breeze’s reaction reflected failure to achieve his goals.” The footage shows him pulling on his hair as you pick up Nelly on the ground, Superintendent Discord can’t believe what he's seeing, nor Principal Celestia... ”The Board of Directors from the Ministry of Education ruled such event as ‘out of the ordinary,’ regarding how Zephyr sabotaged one of his own teammates, Anonymous helping out his rival, even if it costed his team victory,” the other official says. ”Wait a second,” Superintendent Discord says, “where are you going with all this? Canterlot High has been disqualified already!” ”So has St. Ursula High, Sky Lagoon Academy, and Ghastly Gorge High…however, they didn’t show any remorse when disqualified, the evidence against them was pretty self-explanatory, and showed unruly behavior during the games.” Then both officials face you. ”Canterlot High’s case…was completely different however, this kid showed the rest of the contestants what ‘these games are about’ according to the Ministry of Education.” Celestia and Luna’s faces are filled with joy. ”B-but…you’re not gonna get rid of Pleasantview High are you?!” ”No…it would generate a lot of controversy if we kicked out Pleasantview High.” Superintendent Discord lets out a relieved sigh. ”However…we’re letting Canterlot High back in the REPECHAGE EVENT.” Your eyes go wide, Rainbow Dash’s eyes go wide as well, and Luna's, and Celestia's, and obviously Discord's. ”THE WHAT?!” Superintendent Discord asks, “…that’s I-IMPOSSIBLE!”