//------------------------------// // Chapter 7 // Story: Silent Night // by cerealkiller78 //------------------------------// Hey, it’s Aria. Wish I could say this message was coming from someone else, but I’m the best you’re going to get at the moment. Something has happened, and I really think it would be best if you found out through person, rather than a simple message. I’ll meet you at the statue portal in an hour. Twilight just stared at the message. This could mean anything. And she doubted it was anything good. Her first thought was that this was a trap. Sunset hadn’t sent her anything as of yet, and suddenly Aria messages her using Sunset’s own journal telling her something has happened and they should meet…. This had trap written all over it. After pondering her options of what she could do, she ultimately decided to go to Celestia. If she was going to meet Aria, and quite possibly the other two as well, she would need backup. “Spike, I need a letter sent to the princess.” The dragon got a scroll and quill ready. “Ready when you are.” Twilight took a deep breath, trying to find the best way to say this. “Dear princess Celestia…” Parchment…Parchment everywhere. Make a report on this, fix that, sign these, send those. Sometimes, she wished she could just take a vacation from being ruler of Equestria. It definitely wasn’t just glamor, as everypony made it out to be. It was a real job. A job that sometimes she was quite tempted to just give to somepony else. Speaking of parchment, just then, a scroll materialized out of thin air to greet her. Celestia smiled, looking up from her work. Finally, something to distract her from work, even if it was more parchment. Dear Princess Celestia, there is really no easy way to put what I am about to say, so I will just get it over with. A few days ago, I was made aware by Sunset, of a dilemma in the human world involving a piece of their technology called a computer. Computers in the human world can spread information very quickly, for better, or for worse. In this case, it was for worse, as someone from the school had started spreading secrets about various individuals in the student body via a social networking site. The person doing this, made the page that he/she was leaking the secrets to, bear a striking resemblance to Sunset, making her look like she was doing it. She insists that she has not been the one doing it, though the school put the blame on her, and refuse to listen otherwise. She has been working these past days to find the real culprit(s). But the last I heard from her, was yesterday morning. She had a suspicion that the sirens might have been the ones doing it, so she found a way to get their address, and went to their house to confront them about it. I tried to tell her that going alone was a bad idea, but she insisted. Now, just a few minutes ago, I finally got a message from her journal…but it wasn’t from Sunset. It was from one of the sirens; Aria. Celestia didn’t even bother reading the rest. She got up, abandoning her work, and spoke to the first guard she saw outside her chambers. “I need my chariot now.” “Ooooh, she’s going to kill me!” “Twilight, calm down, you’re over reacting.” “This isn’t overreacting Spike. I should have told her about this right away. Not waited like this…She’s going to have my head!” “Like I said…Over reacting…” Twilight sighed. “Maybe you’re right…She won’t have my head…unless something’s happened to Sunset-Oh Spike she’s going to KILL me!” Twilight began hyperventilating. “Twilight, calm down! I’m sure Sunset is fine.” Spike tried reassuring, to calm her down. “If she was fine, why is ARIA of all people using her journal?...” Spike had no answer for that. Just then, a fanfare was heard outside. “She’s here…” Twilight gulped before making her way outside where Celestia was dismounting her chariot. She took a deep breath, and started speaking a mile a minute. “Princess, let me first just say that I am so sorry. I should have told you about this the moment she insisted on going to the sirens. I should never have even let her go alone, it was foolish of me and-” “Calm down Twilight, what is of importance right now is that we keep our heads. Now, I’ll admit, I didn’t actually read your message in its entirety. The shock of hearing that you had received a message from one of the sirens, via Sunset’s journal, was enough to simply make me abandon what else you may have said. So, if you could catch me up…” “You didn’t really miss too much… Just that she said that something has happened, and to meet her at the portal in an hour….which was about an hour ago, now.” Celestia’s eyes widened a little in concern at the new information. “Well, we should be on our way then.” She gave her guards directions to wait there, in case anything happened, before making her way into the castle, going straight to the back where the portal was. Aria stood waiting in front of the statue portal. She checked her watch. It was about time that Twilight was supposed to arrive. As if on cue, the portal indeed began rippling. Right on schedule…She thought to herself, as out emerged Twilight. Aria opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out as she saw the portal start to ripple once more. Aria raised an eyebrow. “Should have known you weren’t going to come here alone…” Aria crossed her arms, as she saw Celestia materialize out of the portal behind Twilight. “Cut it Aria, where’s Sunset?” Twilight immediately demanded. “You know, I honestly wanted to break this to you in private Twilight.” “Break what to me? What’s going on? Why were you messaging me with Sunset’s journal?” Twilight tried to sound intimidating, but Aria just rolled her eyes. “So eager to judge…You know, you really shouldn’t judge a person based on opinion, or how things may look at the time. Things aren’t always as they appear to be. You should wait until you actually know the facts of an event… To simply assume something can prove to be a deadly thing. Speaking of…Your “friends” over at CHS have built themselves quite the track record recently for making assumptions.” “What does this have to do with anything?...” “Everything, actually.” “Get to the point Aria.” “Fine, if you’re so eager to just cut to the chase, then I will. Sunset’s in the hospital.” “….W-What?! What did you do?!” “Again with the assumptions. When will you people ever learn?” “Tell me what happened NOW Aria!” “A simple “please” would be nice.” Celestia then stepped forward, a stern expression adorning her features. “Unless you would rather talk about this back at the Canterlot dungeons in Equestria, I suggest you cut the sarcasm and tell us what happened.” Aria turned her attention to Celestia. “I will. But you won’t like it. Chances are you won’t even believe me. But hear me out. If it turns out you don’t believe me, I have other sources to prove what I am about to say.” Celestia and Twilight waited for her to continue. “When she was about to leave our house yesterday, she got a text from Rainbow Dash, telling her to meet up at the school gym at 7:00pm. Now, this text that had been sent was from Rainbow Dash’s phone, but it wasn’t Rainbow Dash at all. Sunset went to the school, but it wasn’t her friends that were there at all. It turns out that a bunch of students who had had personal secrets let loose by Anon-A-Miss were out for revenge.” Twilight was dumbstruck by this new knowledge, putting two and two together, knowing where Aria was going with this. “….Are you trying to tell me that Sunset got attacked by students of CHS?...” “Twilight…That is EXACTLY what I’m saying…And there’s more.” “What?...” Twilight asked quietly. This is going to be hard to hear, but bear with me. Rainbow Dash was one of the students victimized by this Anon-A-Miss, and it really got to her…REALLY got to her, to the point that she acted without thinking.” “Aria….Are you trying to tell me that Rainbow Dash was one of the people who attacked her?...” Twilight asked barely above a whisper. “….Not directly…She lent her phone to the people who did this, and…She told them how to get to Sunset. She gave them her address, her personal information, and all they would have needed to know.” Twilight was silent for a long while, before finally finding her voice again. “You said you had other sources to prove this if I didn’t believe you…I need to see those if I am to believe a single word of this, and it had better be some dang good evidence. If I find out that this is some sick joke in any way on your part, you will be coming back to Equestria, and you will NOT like it.” “I’ve got a news report.” Aria took out her phone, went to the video, and gave it to Twilight. Aria waited as the news story played for Twilight and Celestia, confirming everything Aria had just said...and then some. Twilight didn’t even finish the video before she turned it off, slowly bringing her gaze back up to Aria, a look of utter disbelief on her face. “Enough proof for you?...” There was a long silence before Twilight spoke again, her voice barely above a whisper. “They….They were going to….kill her?” Her voice cracked. Celestia was eerily silent. Not one emotion showing through her features as she simply stared ahead. Before another word could be said, Celestia, her expression unchanging, merely turned around and stepped back through the portal. “Uhh…Be right back.” She said as she followed Celestia back through, fearing what was going through the princess’ mind. On the other side of the portal, Twilight found Celestia merely standing there, staring off into space. “P-Princess?...” Twilight tried hesitantly to get her attention. Celestia said nothing, continuing to stare for a long time, until she finally continued walking once more. “Twilight, for once, I am going to ask that you stay out of my way concerning this matter.” She spoke in a low tone as she made her way to the castle exit. “That’s a request I’m going to have to refuse, you are going to do something that you’ll regret for the rest of your life!” Twilight tried stopping her. “Oh trust me Twilight, I won’t regret ANYTHING I’ll do to them.” “Princess, just…STOP!!” Celestia stopped at Twilight’s tone, but didn’t turn around. “Listen to me…please…hasn’t enough blood already been spilled on that side of the mirror?” Celestia was silent, knowing exactly what Twilight was referencing. “This isn’t what she would want you to do.” Twilight spoke softly. Celestia turned slowly and looked at Twilight with tears in her eyes, and spoke barely above a whisper. “They took my sunshine away.” Celestia broke down in tears after that, as Twilight rushed to her side. Celestia wept and sobbed. Something Twilight had never before seen her mentor do. Celestia was always so calm and collected, and this was the complete opposite. Time was lost as they stayed like that, Twilight wasn't sure how much time had passed, but eventually they broke apart. “You go back there without me Twilight, for you’re right. I may just end up doing something I’ll regret if I see any of them. I…I just need some time.” Twilight stayed for a moment, reluctant to leave, but ultimately decided that she should get back to Aria. As Twilight emerged once more into the human world, she looked directly at Aria, who was still there, waiting. “……I just…There is just one thing I don’t understand Aria… Why even tell us anything of this? What’s in it for you?...” “I’ll admit, there is a reason I’m doing this. Sunset’s not the only Equestrian in this world who’s dying. If I didn’t tell you anything, it may have very well been that the next time you came to this world, you would have found that there was no Equestrian left…. Without those pendants, my sisters and I cannot absorb the energy we need to survive. Sunset was going to talk to you about getting them remade, but of course, that never happened. She left our house after getting that text…and ended up in the hospital.” "You...You're dying?..." Twilight asked quietly. "Adagio's in the worst condition of us right now. She doesn't leave the house anymore." Twilight sighed. She really didn't want to be in the middle of this right now. "Aria...I'll...see what I can do about it. But right now, I need to get to the hospital." Meanwhile at the hospital... “You’re that girl from that news bulletin!” “No, I’m not.” Rainbow said quickly, pulling her hood back up, but another person pulled it back down. “Hey, it is! You’ve got her hair and all!” “It’s a coincidence!” She defended. “There is a thing called coloring your hair y’know?” “Why would you dye your hair to look exactly like a wanted person?” One argued. “You’re the one who sold that girl out! What was her name?....Sunset was it?” “You’ve got the wrong person OK??” Rainbow blurted, feeling overwhelmed by all the accusations. She didn’t want to hear this. She didn’t want to be reminded of what she did. “I don’t even know anyone by that name!” She pushed and shoved her way through, making her way to the exit and left. Applejack just sat there dumbstruck, unable to do a thing, as were Sweetiebelle, Applebloom, and Scootaloo. Applebloom turned to Scootaloo with a look that said it all. This was all their fault…and there was nothing they could do to stop the vortex of chaos that their petty jealousy had set off.