“Well, here we are! Casa la Derpy!” Derpy declared excitedly as she pulled her car in front of a large two story house with a perfectly manicured lawn, purple roof, and the classic white picket fence to the side.
Sunset's eyes widened in surprise as she stared at Derpy's house. “Derpy, are… are you rich?” While the house was nothing extraordinary, it was far more than what she expected Derpy and her family to be living in. Far nicer then her or many of her fruends’ palaces.
“No, my parents are rich. I couldn’t afford this silly.” Derpy answered simply as she and her siblings got out of her car.
“That’s not-” Sunset realized everyone had left without her. She quickly climbed out of the car and ran up to Derpy. “That’s not what I meant. Why are your parents rich?”
“Dads an executive for some jam company.” Crackle explained in a bored tone. “I think he helped found the company with a friend of his or something.”
“The only bad thing is it’s basically right next to Crystal Prep.” Derpy huffed in annoyance.
“If your family’s rich, why not just go there?”
“Have you seen how much that school costs? There’s no way my parents would be able to pay that kind of money.” Derpy began unlocking the door. “Plus, do I seem the kind of girl that’d fit in with those rich snobs? They’d probably look down on me for my disability, personality, and my dad selling jam instead of being some oil tycoon from Dubai.”
“There’s also no middle schoolers allowed, so it's less convenient for us.” Dinky added. “Really saves on time and gas having us all go to the same school.”
Derpy finally unlocked the door and they all piled in. “Mom! We’re home!”
“Welcome back Sweetie, how was your day?” As Sunset heard Derpy's mother call out, she suddenly became very aware of her leather jacket.
She knew she was probably already on thin ice with Derpy's parents, and the bad girl look probably wouldn’t do her any favors. Wanting to make a good first impression, Sunset pulled the offending piece of clothing off of her and folded it up.
A few seconds later, a middle aged woman with gray skin and dark yellow hair came out holding a baby that looked a startling amount like Derpy. The woman stopped when she saw Sunset. “Oh, Sunset.” Graceful Falls put on a strained smile. “I completely forgot you were coming over.”
Sunset gave her own nervous smile, pushing the folded leather jacket against her chest. “I-it’s Fine Mrs… uh.”
“Falls.” She answered. “My name is Graceful Falls.”
Sunset nodded in acknowledgment. “Uh, y-you have a wonderful house ma’am.”
“Thank you, Derpy's room is upstairs and the attic and basement are where you’d expect.” Graceful Falls said, narrowing her eyes at Sunset. “Should I be expecting you to stay for dinner?”
“Yep! And she’s vegetarian, so don’t put any meat in her food.” Derpy said before Sunset could answer. “Now come on, I’ll show you my room.”
“Actually Derpy, can I speak with Sunset alone?” Sunset seized up in fear. “I need to give her some ground rules first.”
“Ok!” Derpy said cheerfully, not noticing Sunsets desperate look as she went up the stairs. Clearly Derpy didn’t hear the implication in her mother’s tone.
After Derpy left, Sunset and Graceful Falls stared at each other for a minute. “I understand you’re turning over a new leaf?”
“Um, yes.” Sunset answered meekly. “I was doing well until Anon-A-Miss.”
“Yes, it was quite surprising when it turned out those three girls were responsible.” Graceful Falls mulled to herself. There was an awkward pause before she continued. “Look, I know you’re dealing with a lot since this Anonymous business, so I won’t yell at you for too long, ok?”
Sunset just quickly nodded, pressing the jacket against her chest even harder.
“I don’t like you, not right now anyway. You were relentless with Derpy, she came home in tears more times than I can count. And she was too sweet, or perhaps scared, to give your name so we could report you.”
Sunset's posture fell. “If she didn’t give my name, how did you know it was me?”
“Because her friends told us. Not that it mattered, it was impossible to get you in trouble. You had the entire faculty wrapped around your finger. Felt like we couldn’t do anything to have you leave Derpy alone.” Graceful Falls muttered bitterly. “Why did you feel the need to go after her? She did nothing to you. She was nothing but nice to you, but you still treated her like dirt. I was so afraid you’d do too far and finally push her over the edge and she’d...” Graceful Falls trailed off, blinking back tears.
Sunset merely gawked, looking down at her feet. “I-I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I had never... I didn’t...”
Graceful Falls regained her composure and stared at Sunset. The more maternal part of her berated herself for bringing down a young girl's mood when she was already struggling. “Look, I just need to know, is this genuine? Do you really want to try to be friends with her? Because God knows she needs one right now.”
“I do.” Sunset lifted her head and nodded desperately. “Mrs. Falls, I am so sorry for how I treated Derpy before the Formal. I wish I could go back and take back everything I said and did to her, did to you. But since I can't, all I can do for her now is be someone she can depend on. To build her up rather than tear her down. Show both of you I’m different now.”
Graceful Falls nodded. "You better. Cause if this is some kind of plan of yours, if you hurt her in any way, there will be nothing in this world that'll save you from me."
"I don't doubt it." Sunset chuckled nervously. "You don't have to worry Mrs. Falls, I'll prove to you and your husband I can be a good friend to Derpy. If I fail, then I'll hand you the noose."
"I'll keep you to your word." Graceful Falls nodded. "Now, I've kept you here long enough. You two girls have fun. Just make sure she completes her homework."
Sunset smiled gratefully and began running up the stairs. "Oh and Sunset." Sunset stopped and looked down. "You don't need to hide the leather jacket, I've already seen you wear it whenever I saw you at school or an event."
Sunset cringed and sighed inwardly. There goes her good first impression… "Thank you ma'am." She said awkwardly before finally running up the rest of the stairs.
Lyra didn't even bother to turn Bon-Bons car off when she angrily unbuckled her seatbelt and unlocked the door.
She pushed it open in a huff and was about to jump out before being stopped by Bon-Bon. "I just want to talk to him."
"You mean you want to yell at him." Bon-Bon said knowingly.
“I just want to talk to him.” Lyra repeated as she struggled against Bon-Bons hold. “I won’t strangle him or anything, honest.”
“Lyra, shouldn’t the fact that Derpy was innocent mean that maybe your brother is innocent too?” Lyra fell back into her seat. “We shouldn’t go in guns blazing and yell at him when he could be innocent.”
“Who else could it be though?” Lyra asked frustrated. “Unless someone else just so happens to know, he’s most likely guilty.”
“Perhaps, but I think we should tell your parents first before you make your brother cry. They can probably handle it better than us and make him tell the truth if he is guilty.”
Lyra gave an annoyed huff And was quiet for a few seconds. “You’re right... We should get the little weasel to confess first.”
“Well, that's not exactly what I-” Bon-Bon said futilely as Lyra jumped out the car and marched to her front door. Bon-Bon sighed and turned the car off, following after Lyra.
The two girls walked through the door and entered Lyras house. To their left sat Lyra's mother Aura Melody in the living room. She was a middle aged woman with light blue skin, even lighter blue hair with two white stripes, and cyan green eyes.
She looked up from the tv and smiled at the two. “Hey girls, how was school?” Her smile faded when she saw Lyras angry expression. “Is something wrong?”
“You know how Anon-A-Miss revealed to the entire school that I believe in unicorns?” Aura Melody nodded. “Well, I think Summer Spark did it.”
Aura Melody looked surprised and turned the TV off. "That's a pretty big accusation Lyra. What evidence do you have?"
"There's just nobody else it could be." Lyra declared. "Nobody else who knew about it could've told Anon-A-Miss. He's the only suspect we have."
"Didn't you say that about poor Derpy?"
"Yeah, and that's why we went to you first. Maybe you and your husband could see if he's guilty or not?" Bon-Bon offered awkwardly.
"Perhaps. I'm glad you two didn't immediately start yelling at him." Aura Melody then looked to the hall. "Midnight Music! Honey, can you come here?"
A few seconds later, a man with dark green skin, blue eyes, hair alternating between orange and a lighter shade of orange, and a long soul patch walked in. "You used my full name, is something wrong?"
"Summer Spark's a weasel." Lyra said bitterly, causing her father to look at her confused.
"We think." Bon-Bon added. "At school we were talking about Derpy, which led us to speculate who actually did tell Anon about Lyras secret."
"And he's literally the only suspect left, so it has to be him."
"I see." Midnight nodded. "I can see why you think that." He turned to Aura. "Think we should call him down?"
"Do we even have a choice?"
"Probably not. And Lyra, try not to bite his head off, ok? Even if he is guilty." Midnight turned toward the stairs. "Summer Spark! Get down here!"
A young boy of about eleven years old came running down the stairs excitedly. He had wild orange hair, light blue skin, and green eyes. "Dinner already?" He said jumping over the last step.
He stopped and looked up at Lyra and Bon-Bon who stood in front of him. "Hey Bon-Bon! You staying for dinner?"
Bon-Bon was about to answer but was stopped by Lyra. "Don't you act all buddy-buddy with her you little weasel."
“Lyra…” Aura said with a disapproving tone, causing Lyra to back off.
Summer Spark merely smirked and crossed his arms. "Whatever it is, I didn't do it."
Lyra growled at her brothers surprisingly cocky display, barely held back by Bon-Bon.
"Summer.” Summer Spark looked to his mother who stood up from the couch. "Why don't you have a seat? We need to talk."
Summer Spark looked confused but did as he was instructed, sitting down on the couch. It was then that the full weight of the situation hit him: both his parents were eyeing him suspiciously, his sister was glaring at him, and Bon-Bon looked nervous, her eyes flicking back between Lyra and him.
The whole situation just screamed he was in a world of trouble, but he wasn’t sure why. "Doesn't this seem a little much for what I did? It wasn't that bad was it?"
"Wasn't that bad?" Lyra said exasperated. "You humiliated me!"
"Oh come on, you washed your hair with mayo, big deal." Summer Spark shrugged. "You can just wash it off right?”
"What?" Lyra asked, confused. "I skipped washing my hair today."
"Really?" Summer Sparks' uncaring demeanor disappeared. "Wait, then what am I being accused of?"
"Summer Spark." Summer tensed at his dad's tone. "Did you send an email to Anon-A-Miss to embarrass your sister?"
“Wait.” Summer Spark began panicking, sitting up from the couch. “That’s what I’m… no of course not! I wouldn’t even be there to enjoy seeing her embarrassed.”
Everyone gave him a disapproving look, Lyra shaking in anger. “Yeah? Then who sent them my secret, huh?”
“I-I don’t know! You thought it was Derpy right?”
“That was kinda disproven.” Bon-Bon turned to Lyra. “Which we should take into consideration, Lyra.”
“Summer, just tell us the truth.” Aura stared down at him intensely. “If you lie to us we’ll find out, and you’ll be in a lot more trouble young man.”
“I-it wasn’t me! I’d never!” Summer Spark began shaking in fear. “Sis, come on, y-you know I wouldn’t do this!”
“I also didn’t think that the CMC would be behind Anon either, but here we are.” Lyra took a step forward. “Unless you can start naming people who told them, I suggest you start confessing.”
“How do you know somebody didn’t figure it out huh!?” Summer's eyes began watering. “Or maybe I’m not the bad sibling here. Maybe it was Mystic Twinkle, or even Bluegrass Wishes. Why am I always the screw up!?”
“Son, we just want the truth-” Midnight started before being cut off by Summer Spark.
“I am telling the truth!” He was on the verge of crying now. “Why do none of you believe me!?”
“Then who else could it be!?” Lyra challenged angrily.
“It wasn't him, Lyra.” Bon-Bon said softly.
Lyra turned around with a confused expression. “And how do you know? You know he’s always trying to prank me, how is this any different?”
“I just know it’s not him.”
“How?” Lyra turned back to her brother. “Are you saying other people knew? Did you tell your siblings?”
“No.” Bon-Bon shook her head.
“Then who else could it be?”
“It’s not him, I know that much.”
“How do you know that?”
“I just know.”
“How?”
“I just do.”
“How!?”
“Because it was me alright!”
Everyone’s head snapped toward Bon-Bon who was hugging herself tightly and shaking.
“It was me, ok?” She looked down shamefully. “I was the one who told Anon-A-Miss you believe in Unicorns.”