"A-A-Adagio?" You stutter. "I don't know what you're talking abou-"
You're cut off when suddenly, Cloud Chaser drops two pieces of metal on the ground, then holds an all too familiar looking contraption that makes you freeze like a deer caught in the headlights.
"These look familiar?" Cloud Chaser asks, raising an eyebrow.
"I can explain." You say quickly to Rainbow Dash. "I-"
"You can't explain SHIT!" Lightning Dust roars, taking Adagio's electromagnet switch, and whipping it at you. The switch lands straight into your chest, knocking you out of your seat and onto the ground.
"Lightning!" Rainbow Dash shouts. "What the hell?!"
"You want to know why you were doing so bad that game?!" Cloud Chaser shouts. "You weren't having a 'bad game' Rainbow Dash; your game was being sabotaged!"
"Sabotaged by him!" Lightning Dust snarls, pointing at you. "He's the one who screwed you!"
"Watch this." Cloud Chaser grabs Adagio's switch, and turns it on. Immediately, the metal bars snap together, causing a loud clang to go off that rings through your hearing aid. "He fucking put those magnets in your cleats Rainbow, and was watching the entire time, turning it on every time right before you made a kick!"
You get back up, clutching the place where Lightning Dust threw the switch at you and see Rainbow Dash staring at you. It's a stare that you'll never forget. It's one full of disbelief and shock, yet you don't find a trace of anger within her eyes for some reason. However, it doesn't change the fact that it's penetrating you in a way words simply can't explain.
"Anon..." She says slowly. "Is what Lighting Dust and Cloud Chaser said...true? Did you really do that?"
You look at the switch in Cloud Chaser's hands, then back to Rainbow and slowly nod.
"Yeah..." You say, with your eyes closed. "I did..."
"See?!" Cloud Chaser says. "This little shit even admits it!"
"Rainbow..." You look at her remorsefully. She's still in shock from the news Cloud Chaser delivered to her. You know what you're about to say isn't going to do anything, but you have to say it.
"I'm sorry."
"Well it's just too bad that sorry isn't going to do anything now." Cloud Chaser glares at you. "Sorry isn't going to make us turn that humiliating loss around is it? Sorry isn't going to make all of Canterlot High and Crystal Prep forget what just happened, and sorry sure as hell isn't going to fix Rainbow Dash's injuries that YOU CAUSED, NOW IS IT?!"
Your heart's pounding. Everything's falling apart right now. Everything. You feel like your brain's about to implode right now from panic, and it's about to until you feel a fist suddenly crash into your stomach.
"That's for Rainbow Dash!" Lighting Dust rages before swinging at you again. This time you're ready, and your forearm shields your face from the blow. "And this one's for Canterlot High!"
You throw the stool in between you and Lightning Dust to distance, and dash to the side, narrowly avoiding another punch. Your victory is short lived however, as you run into straight into Cloud Chaser's knee. She lands another knee onto your thigh and pushes you onto the ground.
"You think you can do this to Rainbow and get away with it?!" Cloud Chaser shouts, stomping her foot onto you. You quickly go into a fetal position, covering your head with your arms as Lighting Dust joins in, nailing a kick onto your shin. "You're gonna pay, you fucking scum!"
"Both of you, STOP!" Rainbow Dash shouts. However, Rainbow's pleas fall onto deaf ears and the two girls continue beating the ever living shit out of you. You take another hit from Cloud Chaser, this time to the cheekbone, as you scramble to get away from the two of them.
"I said STOP!" You watch as Rainbow Dash grabs a folded up wheelchair from the side of her bed, and throws it at her two teammates. The brief moment of confusion gets Lighting Dust and Cloud Chaser off of you, and you scramble away from the two girls. "Quick Anon, run!"
You don't need reminders; you bust out the door, and make a mad dash to the stairs, but just as you close the door, Lightning Dust grabs you by the shirt.
"Oh no you don't!" Lightning Dust cries out. "We're far from finished with you!"
Gritting your teeth, you frantically reach into your pants, and pull out that bottle of taco spray Sonata made for you. You aim in the general direction of Lightning Dust's face, and let loose, spraying wildly like your life depends on it. Lightning Dust immediately lets go of your shirt, and begins screaming in agony as you unleash another blast for Cloud Chaser.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Please don't kill me later!" You call out right before you throw yourself into the elevator and close the door. You quickly punch in G on the elevator, and after a short delay, you feel the contraption starting to move.
You're panting, you're sweating like a marathon runner, and you can taste blood in your mouth, but holy hell does it feel good to be alive. You kiss the bottle of Sonata's taco spray before stowing it away back in your pocket. The Dazzlings screwed you and almost got you killed, yet at the same time this thing just saved your life. Well...more like they gave you a solution to a problem they created...
The adrenaline starts to wear away, and your body begins to feel the full aftereffects of your little tussle with Lighting Dust and Cloud Chaser. You can feel your jaw, along with every other bone in your body throbbing with pain. Your shins and stomach especially feel worse for wear, but hopefully nothing's broken.
The elevator door opens, and you limp out of the elevator, lighting jogging out of the main lobby and back to your car that's thankfully still intact. You rush over to it, pull open the keys, but just before you shift the gears into Drive, you take a good long look at yourself in the mirror.
'Yeah, and just how are you going to explain to your mom that huge gash on your left cheek Anon?' Your conscience says to you. 'And what about the blood oozing from your lips? Exactly. You're not.'
You keep the car in Park, and begin dialing your friend Flash Sentry.
"Yo, Anon." He says cheerfully. "What's up?"
"Hey, Flash." You say. "Can you do me a favor?"
"Sure, pal. What is it?"
"Do you mind if I crash over your house for the night?" You ask. "Please? It's really important."
"How important is really important?" Flash asks.
"Like Mama Anon is going to kill me if you don't." You say. "Please Flash, I really need you this time."
"It's cool, it's cool." Flash chuckles nervously. "Just uhhh, are you sure you should be telling the police this instead of me?"
"No, no, it's not like that." You facepalm. "Anyways, thank you so much man, I'll see you soon."
You hang up, and make your way out of the parking lot. Since it's pretty late out, you don't find much traffic, which is good considering you want to get as far away from that hospital as possible. The traffic lights also seem to be cooperating with you, as every single time you slow down for an incoming red light, it turns green at the last second. Perhaps this is God giving you some respite after the crap you just went through? If so, your ungrateful ass should start going back to church every Sunday instead of playing video games.
You shake your head. No. Even though you got away from Lighting Dust and Cloud Chaser, you know that when you get to school tomorrow, things are going to suck. Rainbow Dash is probably on her phone right now, sending word out over what you just did to her and the game to every single student out there. You're as good as dead once everyone finds out what you did to Rainbow Dash.
'Well, my GPA's a 3.71.' You think to yourself. 'I could always ask my parents transfer me to Crystal Prep.'
You give yourself a small chuckle. Before you graduated from 8th grade, your parents actually wanted you to go to Crystal Prep. They made you go through the whole application process, and you actually got accepted. However, you flat out refused, begging your parents not to let you go since Flash Sentry and all your other friends were going to Canterlot High.
You turn off of the main roads, and onto Flash's street. It's a nice, quiet neighborhood far away from both the Canterlot Hospital, and the Dazzlings' apartments, just the way you like it. You realize it's actually been a really long time since you visited Flash Sentry's house; you remember going here all the time back in middle school. The two of you would play football in his backyard, then Guitar Hero inside when you guys get too tired, then football again when you guys had energy again. It was an endless cycle of fun, and you guys didn't think of anything else. But those were better times; better times when neither of you had to worry about dealing with psycho girls.
Speaking of which, Flash Sentry used to date Sunset Shimmer, so he must have some nice first-hand experience with crazy women. Perhaps he could offer you some advice on how to deal with both Adagio and the entire school from murdering you? You shake those thoughts out of your head, and just concentrate on parking your car.
When you finally find a good spot, you walk up to Flash's door, and ring the doorbell, nervously looking behind you as you do. Just in case. A couple seconds later, your friend opens the door, and looks at you, mouth agape.
"Damn, what happened to you?!" Flash exclaims. "You look like you just came back from a mafia shootout!"
"Hold on, not now." You say, as you look back again. "Just lemme in, and lock the doors. I'll explain everything."
"Oh, and pull the window sills down too." You remind him. "I don't want to take any chances; not after what just happened."
******
"You did WHAT?!" Flash Sentry shouts.
"I know, I know, I fucked up." You sigh in shame. "I fucked up big time."
"Damn right you did!" Flash looks at you in disbelief. "Christ, I didn't even know you had it in you, man...I had no clue you of all people could do something like that..."
"Hey, hey, hey please don't make me feel any shittier than I am already." You say, as you finish applying the bandages to your face.
You mentally slap yourself; even Flash Sentry, your best friend, who's known you since like 6th grade is disappointed in you. You look back, and you can't believe you did what you did as well. You just...weren't thinking. At all in fact. You just nodded, and went along with everything Adagio said, and look at you now.
"I want to know, Anon..." Flash Sentry says as he hands you another ice package for your shins. "What the heck was going through your mind when you were...you know....plotting with Adagio about the whole game sabotage thing? What were you thinking?"
"To be honest, I wasn't." You admit. "It just...it just felt like it was a good idea at the time. Wasn't thinking about the future, or the consequences that would follow afterwards."
"I just got so pissed when Rainbow threw that flashbang." You continue. "I was so hyped for the Battle of the Bands, and then all the sudden boom; I'm deaf. I can't hear. It's gone. I was so angry...I couldn't just sit there and take it; I wanted to do something about the fact that someone just pulled this dumb 'prank' on me."
"Well, at least at the end, you backed out, and knew you were wrong." Flash Sentry says optimistically.
"But by then, the damage was done." You cross your arm. "So what do I do now, Flash? Starting tomorrow, everyone at Canterlot High's gonna tear me apart."
"Maybe you could transfer to Crystal Prep..." Flash Sentry scratches his head. "Your sister went there, so you've got some sort of legacy, and not to mention you'll probably get a hero's welcome the second you step in the hallways..."
You cringe again at the mention of "Anna Fourchen". If word ever somehow gets out about that on top of the shit you already have on you, you're running away from home and buying a train ticket to Las Pegasus the very second you turn 18. Missing out on your High School Diploma for a year is a small price to pay to avoid being labelled as a sex offender.
"But let's say my parents say no to the Crystal Prep idea." You continue the discussion. "Then what?"
"Well, I'd lay off social media for one..." He replies. "Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, Instagram...they all gotta go. Delete 'em unless you want death threats flooding your inbox every day."
"Death threats?" You scoff. "You sure you're not taking it a little too far?"
"No, I'm serious!" He presses on. "I-I-it happened to Sunset after what she did, and it's sure as hell going to happen to you!"
"Sunset Shimmer blew up the freaking school!" You throw your arms up. "Are you seriously comparing me to her?!"
"I'm not." Flash puts his hands in front of him defensively. "But a lot of other people will. We've got people who are absolute fanatics about soccer, and you can bet they'll be coming for you, Anon."
You sit back down on the couch, you think about what your friend just said. It's going to suck, obviously; but how bad? Meanwhile, Flash Sentry walks away from you, and starts digging through the refrigerator.
"Hey Anon, catch." Flash throws you an apple. "I'll go find you a sleeping bag and a pillow."
"Thanks." You say.
Alone again, you take out your phone and start deleting all those social media apps like Flash Sentry's telling you to. The next thing you do is you start going through your contacts, immediately blocking people who you know are going to kill you for you what did.
Which is like half your list.
'Raindrops, you're definitely out.' You think to yourself. 'Hmmmm, should I keep Big Macintosh?'
In the middle of your thoughts, you all of the sudden stumble upon Rainbow Dash. Your eyes widen upon seeing that name. Since when the heck did you get her number? You quickly go and look at the profile picture, seeing a blue skinned girl with multi-colored hair and magenta eyes. Yup that's Rainbow alright. But...
You click on her profile image, and immediately start texting something up.
Rainbow,
I know you probably blocked this number right now, but if you see this, I want you to know that I'm genuinely sorry about what I did to you. There's no excuse for what I've done, and-
"Fuck this." You whisper, cancelling the message and saving it as a draft. "She's never going to forgive me." You lean back into the couch, and throw your phone to the side, feeling worse and worse as each second goes by.
"Hey Anon!" You hear Flash Sentry calling you from another room. "What kinda pillow you want, green or red?"
"I'll take green." You reply. Immediately, Flash comes back to the living room, carrying a rolled up sleeping bag in one hand, and a green pillow in the other.
"You wanna watch anything?" Flash asks. "Adult Swim should be on just about this time."
"Sure, why not?"
You flick the remote on, and find King of the Hill playing. It doesn't take long for you to get into the show with Flash. All the while, you can feel your thoughts trailing farther and farther away from that soccer game, and for the better. If all that stuff Flash is saying is true, then that means tomorrow, CHS is going to raise hell on you and rightfully so. But at least just tonight, right here and now, it's just you and your best friend having a good time together.
Somewhere outside however, in the cover of the darkness and unbeknownst to you, three intense glows of red light begin to pierce the horizon. Their light begins to shine brighter and brighter, and finally flash white. Seconds later, the sound of sinister laughter, echoes across the street. But it's faint; extremely faint. Something that your hearing aid would never detect.