//------------------------------//
// Chapter 06 - The Girl in the Photo (Edited by: Moonriseoversunset) 
// Story: The Mysterious Forum - Anon-a-miss 
// by Leo Luce 
//------------------------------//

*knock knock knock*

"Sunset calm down everything will be okay," Celestia said, trying to calm down her daughter, who was doing everything but beating down the door in front of her trying to get it open.

"But mom Flu-" She stopped herself when the door opened and pushed past a confused and startled Mrs. Shy.

"What the… Celestia?"

"I'm terribly sorry, but your daughter is in danger. We came as soon as we could," Celestia said, walking up the stairs with Mrs. Shy.

"What's happening?" Mrs. Shy asked while the color drained from her face and began to follow Sunset up the stairs with Celestia following behind her. "Fluttershy was scared of something this morning but wouldn't say anything about it."

They entered Fluttershy's room to see Fluttershy with Sunset, who was hugging the scared girl. Mr. Shy was already inside the room, sitting at Fluttershy's desk. Zephyr appeared behind Celestia and his mother from the commotion that was being created.

"Hey, hey, it's okay now. I'm here. Nothing's going to happen, okay?" Sunset said, trying to calm down Fluttershy.

"But… but the photo-"

"Hey, don't worry. No one or thing is going to hurt you. They have to go through me first, okay? You trust me, right?"

Fluttershy nodded.

"Then I promise no one is going to get hurt. We will solve this just like all the other rumors, okay?" Fluttershy nodded once again.

"Can someone tell me what's going on?" Mr. Shy asked.

"There's no time. Short version, Equestrian magic is acting up, and it targeted Fluttershy. But we can solve this. Fluttershy, can you show us the photo?"

"But… what if it kil-"

"No, it won't unless you meet the girl's eyes. Did you see her eyes?"

"No… they were covered."

"See? Now we need to solve this quickly. So we need to look at the photo first."

"O-okay," Fluttershy said, picking up her phone from the bed and opening the photo.



The photo was in a park. The picture looked normal at first, with the sun setting in an empty park. Behind a row of trees was an apartment building from the looks of the balconies. It wasn't until you really looked to see that a girl standing in the park became slightly visible. The girl was in the middle of the park, looking towards the camera. But her whole body was covered in shadow, making it unable to see who she is. The thing that caused hairs to stand on people's necks wasn't the shadowed girl but rather the lack of a shadow for the girl. Nothing was there, causing Sunsets to unconsciously clench her hand fight the fire wished to be unleashed.

"Okay, first, see if we can find any clues," Sunset said as everyone gathered around her.

"This was taken probably in the evening," Sunset said. "Does this place look familiar?"

"It looks like Filthy Rich's apartment complex," Zephyr Breeze said.

"It is, but this looks like before he renovated it," Mr. Shy said.

"That means this photo was taken about… 9 years ago," Celestia said.

"9 years? Can you think of anything that might be linked to this?" Sunset asked.

"What do you mean?" Fluttershy asked.

"Usually, rumors are based on real incidents but twisted through time. So if we can find where and how this rumor was created, we might be able to stop it before it's too late."

"Now that you mention it, this sounds familiar, but I can't remember what happened," Celestia said.

"In that case, let's go to CHS. The girls should be there by now. We can all look into past newspapers and news stories on the internet to see if something comes up," Sunset said.

"Okay. Let me get dressed," Fluttershy said.

"Wait, wait, you are not going anywhere," Mr. Shy said firmly as he stood from the chair he was occupying.

"What, but-"

"What if something happens to you? You are already in so much danger."

"But-"

"Mr. Shy, I know that you want her to be safe, but that's exactly why she should come with us. She will be safer with me and the girls, so if something happens, we can stop it, with force if we have to," Sunset said as she handed Fluttershy clothes.

"But-but-"

"Mr. Shy Sunset is right. She is safest with Sunset. Fluttershy will be safe. You have my word on that. I'd say she's safest with Sunset," Celestia said.

"But what do you expect us to do?"

"Stay here and be safe. Fluttershy is the target, but that doesn't mean it won't go after you. You're safest here away from Fluttershy, so you don't get caught in the crossfire. I can protect Fluttershy fine, but it would be a stretch for the girls and me to protect three more people," Sunset said seriously, as she gave them the most logical answer she could come up with on the fly.

"But, I-okay, if it's to keep my daughter safe, then we will," Mr. Shy finally relented.

"Come now, we've spent far more time than needed. We have a lot of research to do if we're going to solve this before something happens," Celestia said as she moved aside to let Sunset and Fluttershy out the door.

On the way, Sunset sent a message to the club to started looking for any incidents involving Filthy Rich and apartments. When they finally arrived at CHS, they saw that Luna was already there. The football team was practicing at the field where they met Rainbow.

"Fluttershy, you okay?" She asked, running up to them.

"Y-yeah… though I'm really scared."

"I heard from Twilight. What can I do?"

"For now, we are going to look in old newspapers to see if we can find any incident that might be the root cause of the rumor. We already know it happened near Filthy Rich's apartment complex about 9 years ago," Sunset said.

"Then what?"

"If this is a vengeful spirit, we might be able to properly stop it. For now, you can go back to your practice; we'll call you if something came up. Be ready and keep your phone ringer on and near you if you can."

Rainbow nodded as she ran back to her gym bag.

As Rainbow ran back to her morning practice, Sunset, Fluttershy, and Celestia walked inside the school. They made their way straight to the club room. As they entered the club room, they saw that Twilight and Aiko were already looking through old newspapers through the internet.

"Sunset, Fluttershy – oh Miss Celestia," Twilight said as they entered the room.

"Did you two find anything?" Sunset asked.

"No, nothing yet," Aiko said.

"Don't worry, we can find this. I'll start looking too. I have a feeling I know what we are looking for. I just need to remember what it was," Celestia said.

And with that, they started looking for any incidents that might be connected to the rumor. Time went by as they skimmed past newspapers and any online sites that might have what they are looking for.

"Any luck?" Sunset asked.

"No," Aiko said. "There's so many to look at. If we can narrow it do-"

"Eeeeek!!" Fluttershy yelled, throwing her phone and latched onto Sunset. "I-I-It's that…."

"The second one?! Did you see the eyes?" Sunset asked.

"N-n-no…" Fluttershy said. Sunset picked up the phone and took a look at the photo. "C-c-careful…"

"Don't worry, her eyes are still covered," Sunset said, showing the photo to everyone. The photo was still the same, but the girl was much closer this time, and her clothes are now visible.



"That uniform," Twilight said.

"You know that?" Sunset asked.

"Yes, that's the old Crystal Prep uniform."

"Oh yes, it is," Celestia said. "I remember now. A girl from Chrystal Prep was killed in a stabbing, in, when was it, in the second semester, in March, I think?"

"Okay, That narrows it down a lot. We are looking for a murder case of a Chrystal Prep girl 9 years ago during March," Sunset said as she began typing in the search bar. "Do you think maybe Cadence would know something?"

"Maybe. I'll ask her," Celestia said, taking her phone.


'anyone is okay…'


"Um… did you hear that?" Fluttershy asked.

"Hear What?" Aiko asked. The others looked at her, confused.

"Uh, it's nothing."

It didn't take long to find what they were looking for, as they were able to get news articles about the murder pretty easily.

"Hm… so the girl was killed by a stalker," Sunset said, reading the article. "Mom, did Cadence said anything?"

"Yes. They had an article on their wall newspaper. Apparently, the one who wrote that was a friend of the girl that was killed. Here she sent me the article," Celestia said, showing the article Cadence sent her.

"… Ivi was just a sweet, kind girl. Always did things for others before herself. She always cared about other people so much. Even when she was being stalked for weeks, she never told anyone about it. Even her best friends. How the world could be so cruel to do something as inhuman as this is beyond me."

"That's so sad," Fluttershy said with unshed tears.

Sunset sighed as she rubbed her eyes.

"What are we going to do now?" Twilight asked.

"Let's see what we know so far. The girl's name is Ivory. Killed by stalker-homicide. She also kept quiet about it without telling anyone. Even authorities figures," Sunset listed.

"But why would a kind girl want to kill others? Even for revenge, don't you think it's odd for her to want to kill others?" Aiko asked.

"Maybe it has something to do with the rumor. The rumor was altered a lot. So she's bound to do it, whether she likes it or not," Sunset said.

"Oh my. That's so…" Fluttershy said.

"So what now? Are you going to use the elements?" Celestia asked.

"Yes. But for that, we need to wait till the last picture, since she only appears when you meet the eyes of the girl," Sunset said.

"So we wait," Twilight said.

"Yes, we wait. Let's call the girls," Sunset said.

"About that, Applejack had an accident at the farm. She might not be able to help us,"

"What! Great, now what?" Sunset asked herself before she began to pace the room. "Wait, Princess Twilight said, as long as we have five base elements, we can power up the element of magic. We have five, so we can use them. Let's call the others," Sunset said, picking up her phone.

Since Rainbow was already there, they only had to wait till the other two. And before long, they too came to CHS. Since they had to wait till the last picture, the girls decided to play some songs in the music room to help pass the time and keep stress levels low. They also found a violin in the music room, and with encouragement from Twilight, Aiko agreed to play some songs for them.

However, Sunset also noted how Fluttershy was flinching from time to time. She assumed it was due to the rumor and tried to help her take her mind away from it for the time being.

Hours went by as the girls waited till the next picture. Celestia and Luna went to get something to eat for the girls leaving the girls alone.

"This is boring," Rainbow said. "Not that I want the ghost to appear and kill anyone but can it just hurry up already?"

"Now now, Rainbow. Patience is a virtue. Maybe this whole thing is a false alarm," Rarity said.

Sunset then saw Fluttershy getting up and walking towards the door.

"Wait up, Fluttershy, where are you going? I'm coming with you," Sunset said.

"Oh… um… I… I'm going to the… restroom," Fluttershy reluctantly said.

"O-oh…" Sunset said, blushing while the other girls laughed. "I-I'm still coming with you. What if the girl showed up while you were alone? Every horror fan knows the last thing you need to do is be alone."

"Mm-hm~…" Rainbow said mockingly.

"Let's just go already," Sunset said, leaving with Fluttershy.

The two girls walked in silence through the hallways in the school. It felt like one of these haunted school horror games with no one in the school and the rumor hanging in the air. Sunset looked at Fluttershy and saw she was looking ahead with a faraway look.

"Don't worry, Fluttershy, we'll stop this," Sunset said reassuringly.

"Oh- um… actually… I was thinking," Fluttershy said.

"About what?"

"About the girl. All this happened because she was scared to tell anyone about it. Like me…"

"What are you getting at?"

"I-"


'anyone is okay….'


"Fluttershy?"

"I- Eeep!" Fluttershy was interrupted when she got a notification on her phone. "O-oh no… I- is it?"

"Don't worry. Let's go back. I'll look at it. So you don't have to."

"What! No, I won't let you,"

"Fluttershy, it's okay. This is my responsibility."

"Your? What are you talking about? I thought we went through this."

"I'm a princess now. As a princess, this is my responsibility," Sunset argued.

"Well, I don't care. No one can rule alone. And I already agreed to go through this when I joined the club. So this is my responsibility as much as yours," Fluttershy said, raising her phone and looking at the picture.

"Fluttershy, wait!" but it was too late. Fluttershy's eyes widened in fear as she dropped her phone down.




'anyone is okay…'


"Look down!" Fluttershy shouted while she is doing the same.

"What-"

"She's here. Don't look up!"

Sunset complied.


'anyone is okay…'


"She's here," Fluttershy said.

"She-"

"Wait… let me do this…"

"Flutt-"

"Please… you trust me too, right?" Sunset didn't respond for a moment.

"I do…" They then saw a pair of legs below them. They were covered in blood.


'anyone is okay…'


This time, Sunset heard it too and knew why Fluttershy was always on edge. The voice also sounded distorted. She readied her magic just in case whatever Fluttershy was going to do didn't work out. After what felt like an eternity, which in reality was just a few seconds, Fluttershy took all of her courage and talked.

"I… I was scared." Fluttershy said. "Every time you chose me and sent me a photo…I thought that I would be killed."

'I hope you know what you are doing, Fluttershy,' Sunset thought.

"I thought that I would die…but maybe… you were thinking the same, right?"


'anyone is okay…'


"W-when you were sent photos from a stalker… you were scared… and wanted someone to save you."


'any…one…save me…'


"Even though you were scared… you weren't able to say it… because you didn't want anyone you loved to get hurt."


'any… one… anyone is okay… save… me…'


Sunset noted that the voice slowly became clearer. But before she was able to think any further, she heard Fluttershy taking a deep breath and suddenly looked up.

"Fluttershy what-" And then she stopped. The bloodied girl in front of them was changed. She was no longer covered in blood. And she looked at Fluttershy, eyes filled with tears.

"Y-you just wanted someone to know… how sacred you were… that you were worried that you would get someone in danger… you just wanted anyone to understand your feelings… you wanted someone to understand your thoughts, that you couldn't express in words."


'I was scared…but I couldn't say it…because I was weak… because I didn't rely on anybody...'


The voice was much clearer now.

"That's not right," Fluttershy said. "You are not… you are not weak at all… you are just more kind than anybody else…"

'…'

'I'm sorry…'

'that I scared you…'

'…'

'thank… you…'

'for understanding me… for not running away from me…'


The girl then smiled at Fluttershy before slowly fading away.


'thank you…'








We are the newspaper club:

That girl was also sent photos by a stalker and ended up being killed. She kept silent until the end, thinking that she didn't want to get her friends or loved ones involved with her problem. Even though she wanted someone to understand how lonely she was.

If the girl shows up in front of you and you catch her eye in the photo. Please do not run away from her. Understand her. Feel her loneliness, sadness, and kindness, which she was holding until the very end.



"I still can't believe Fluttershy figured it out and talked to a ghost," Rarity said.

"Yeah, that was so cool," Rainbow said. Fluttershy blushed at the compliment.

"How did you even figure it out?" Luna asked.

"I… um… I felt like that…?"

"What?"

"Maybe because you are so much like her?" Sunset said. "I mean, she too was a very kind girl just like Fluttershy. Maybe she thought that you might understand her. Maybe that's why she chose you specifically."

Fluttershy smiled at her.

"Maybe…"