Facing Reality
It's occasionally said that nothing travels faster than the speed of light, save bad news, which obeys its own special laws. Gossip, however, follows similar laws- a feat Rarity had often employed to her own ends. Today, however, the news percolating through the assembled students was not spread by the violet haired fashionista, but instead whispered back and forth through the crowd.
Anon-A-Miss has been caught.
What else could it be? There hadn't been any fights, but rumors persisted. After Sunset Shimmer's rejection by her friends, many had either felt smug satisfaction or fear when she'd failed to reappear on Friday. Some had whispered of suicide or flight by the former bully, and others- stoked by Lightning Dust and Gilda's proclamations- said she'd been hospitalized by an attack, or driven out of town. Her return on Monday- accompanied by Applejack, and later seen in company with the rest of her friends- did little to down the pointed fingers.
There had been those who had doubted her guilt from the beginning, but they'd had little purchase against the tide. Vinyl Scratch and Octavia Melody had rebuffed any attempts to accuse anyone without proof, Vinyl emphatically insisting though loud music that Sunset was innocent. Flash's band and gaming group, as well as much of the AV club, had remained skeptic. Support had also came from surprising quarters- the Diamond Dog gang had refused to accuse Sunset, but only because the whole mess "smelt funny." A good portion of the sports teams had also withheld judgement, considering that they had been hit the hardest by the machinations of the Dazzlings.
None of these groups alone stood up for Sunset. Still, the currents of skepticism had barely pushed aside the wave of anger. Most expected to hear that Anon-A-MIss had been caught. They expected to hear punishment handed down. And they expected to see Sunset Shimmer humbled once again.
They would only be right on two of three counts.
Vice Principal Luna stepped up tot he microphone. "Can everyone hear me? Good." The remaining muttering quieted, and she began her speech. "Less than a week ago, a webpage was posted on the social media site MyStable. the "Anon_A-Miss" webpage was a gossip rag, revealing embarrassing secrets to the entire school. Many here assumed the culprit was Sunset Shimmer." Her neutral expression became a frown. "We will come back to that later."
The crowd's murmurs went from angry to puzzled. Assumed? Who else could it have been?
"Girls, please come forward." Luna spoke into the microphone.
From behind her, in the wings, emerged the CMC, nervous beyond belief. Only Apple Bloom could face the crowd- Scootaloo had her head held high but her eyes shut, while Sweetie Belle was watching her shoes. At first, you could have heard a pin drop in the crowd. Then, a mixture of confused and angry murmurs and whispers started to carry through.
Luna waited until the crowd had begun to reach speaking volume, then tapped her mic twice. "Quiet please." The audience, however, did not respond to such a polite request. As the sounds of the crowd began to mount, Luna pulled in a breath. "SILENCE!"
Dead silence returned to the auditorium. "Thank you. Now, I understand these girls have something they need to say. She turned and handed the mic to Apple Bloom.
Apple Bloom swallowed, then spoke to the waiting crowd. "I... I guess I can start with an I'm sorry." She hestitated, then continued. "From all of us. We were angry at Sunset- so we decided to make it look like she was goin' back to being the bully again. But... things started getting out of hand, and-"
An angry yell cut her off, as one student charged up to the front of the stage. Trixie Lulamoon looked incensed. "You- you- why would you share that? Trixie does not need everyone to know about her- how did you even-"
Scootallo took the mic away from Apple Bloom and looked Trixie in the eye. "How did we even know? Someone told us."
At Trixie's stunned silence, Scootaloo continued. "After we set up the page Wednesday, people started sending stuff to us. Secrets like your plushie, or Twist's candy failures, or that picture of Octavia. We posted some of it- but a lot of stuff made me uncomfortable. It was wrong. We were just sharing gossip, but some people got mean!"
While most of the crowd looked confused, some of their members felt cold sweat on their spines. However, Trixie wasn't done yet.
"Trixie saw nothing more mortifying than what you slandered her with, you ignorant little brats-"
"Because we didn't share it!" Scootaloo replied. "I actually deleted a lot of stuff- but Sweetie held on to most of it, even when we agreed not to post it." She turned her gaze to her fellow Crusader. "I still don't know why..."
The smallest of the CMC took the mic from Scootaloo, the walked forward. "Its- it's why we stopped, really. Some of the things that were sent in... It was bad. Really, really bad. No one needs to know someone underwent transition, or is gay, or has a dad who died... You get the idea. Personal secrets, family secrets, crimes..." She shuddered, and suddenly rose to her full height. "And some of you were willing to kill over the little stuff! Over gossip! If we'd shared the bad stuff, what would the school have done?"
In the crowd, Gilda scowled, only to feel a tug at her shirtsleeve. Lightning Dust actually looked a little guilty and made a quick hand motion, asking her friend to talk later. Gilda nodded. The rest of the crowd looked a little shocked at the violence of Sweetie Belle's outburst.
Sweetie Belle continued. "We were willing to make Sunset feel isolated- but we never wanted to start fights! We never wanted anyone to get hurt!" Her head and voice dropped. "But- we didn't think. We started this whole mess, and now it's over. Anon-A-Miss is shutting down."
"And not a moment too soon." Luna plucked the microphone away from the little girl, and turned to watch the crowd. Though there had been quite a few Anon-A-Miss posts, most had been gossip at worst, and even so most of the school had never sent anything in to Anon-A-Miss. That, in turn, had informed Tia's descision on how to go about punishing the student body. "If people had submitted the information to Anon-A-Miss, then not jumped to conclusions regarding who was the one posting what slander they were too cowardly to spread themselves, I would simply punish the CMC. Nor will I punish those that made a mistake in singling out Sunset Shimmer- provided they sent nothing in themselves."
Her glare deepened, her voice hard. "But some of you still thought it was appropriate. Eighty of you- a full tenth- sent something to their site. Most of it was just gossip. Some was not, and many of you sent multiple secrets." She pulled in a breath. "Your principal and I have decided to give these young ladies behind us three months of detention. They will also be banned from school clubs and have restricted access to the school computer network. However, we cannot punish them without punishing those of you that supported them- in three distinct ways."
She glared a the now-silent audience. "To those of you who sent in something which was relatively harmless- and that ended up posted on Anon-A-Miss- will receive one week of detention, serviceable at the start of next school year. Those that sent in the material deemed unacceptable to be posted will receive three weeks of detention, instead. And to those of you who were stupid enough to state online how you were looking forward to, and I quote, "Break Sunset Shimmer" and sent something in to Anon-A-Miss..." She scowled. "Six weeks."
"Any student who appears on the list above-" behind her, on the projector screen, appeared an alphabetized list of names, "must report to the office sometime during the next week, to receive a note to take back to your parents, and to inform you of the time and date of your detention. If you do not, we will send the note to you- and inform your peers on the targets of the information you tried to spread behind the actions of another. We will also double the time you spend in detention."
"There will be no violence. No reprisals. We are administering the punishment here. Anon-A-Miss is over. That is all."
Trixie glared at the girl in front of her. "Lavender."
Lavender backed up. "Trixie, it was just supposed to be a joke, that's all! It's not like-"
"Trixie trusted you with that information! And you spread it to the whole school!" Trixie huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. "Trixie is outraged! This is-"
"Ms. Lulamoon." Trixie spun to find Vice-Principal Luna standing behind her. "I understand that you had an altercation with Sunset Shimmer earlier today?"
Trixie stopped suddenly. Now that the truth was out, her actions seemed a little harder to justify. "Um- Trixie was- um-"
"You called Ms. Shimmer a bitch multiple times, threatened to expose the truth about her, and then detonated a smoke bomb in the hallway. Although trying to find out he truth about Anon-A-Miss would have been a useful task, the other two acts in that altercation are unacceptable." She glared at the student in front of her. "During your three days in detention, you can write an apology letter to Ms. Shimmer, which will be reviewed by both myself and Principal Celestia. Do you understand?" As Trixie nodded, Luna smiled. "Good. Now, hand over all of your smoke bombs and sparklers, Trixie. Yes, all of them. Including the ones in your hat."
Lightning Dust stared glumly at the front of Spitfire's desk. The captain of the Wondercolts sighed and looked up at Dust. "Dust, seriously?"
"Captain, I swear I thought it was her. I mean, how could I have known that it was those three brats?"
"It doesn't matter, Lightning Dust. We are Wondercolts- we just don't go and threaten to beat people up over a few spread secrets. Personally, I'm surprised you weren't punished worse for threatening her."
Remembering Celstia's wrath, Dust shuddered. "Yeah- but me and Gilda have to ride heard on all the guys we riled up. If any of them go after those Crusader brats, we're getting suspended at least for not stopping it."
Spitfire's face scrunched up. "And Gilda isn't planning on going after those girls?"
Lightning Dust looked at her incredulously- then gave a brief chuckle "Gilda? seriously? Half the reason she wanted to go after Sunset was because beating up the old queen bully would give her more cred. She told me that "Beating up someone as big as Shimmer would make my rap- beating up three little babies would ruin it." She had no interest in the Crusaders. Side's- last I heard, she was going after the five guys who sent stuff to Anon-A-Miss, then pledged to help her beat up Sunset. She's real pissed at them."
"I see." Spitfire massaged her brow. "Look, Dust, I don't like what you threatened to do to those girls. Still, Wood Sprinter and Quick Dip both quit before I could cut them from the team, and I can't afford to lose a third second stringer at the same time." Her glare intensified. "But if I hear one more word of you getting out of line- any fights, anything online- your ass is grass. You understand me?"
"Understood, captain."
Principal Celestia sat behind her desk, contemplating the two girls on the other side. "Miss Heartstrings..."
"Look, Bonnie had nothing to do with what I sent in. You can't pin anything on her!"
"That's not true, Lyra! I mean, I sent that picture, not you!"
"Don't think you can pin my crimes on yourself! This is an-"
"As fascinating as it is that the two of you are willing to suffer through three weeks of detention to save the other, I'm more curious about the photo." Celestia looked down at the print, then blushed slightly. "I was... unaware either of you were dating one another- or even that you were attracted to girls in the first place."
Lyra and Bon-Bon both blushed. Bon-Bon spoke first. "Well... we really didn't find out until just before the fall formal, and well..."
"We weren't going to go shouting it from the rooftops." Lyra followed up. "I mean, even when Shimmer was a b- jerk, she never called anyone out over their sexuality. But there were plenty of other jerks who did."
Bon-Bon nodded. "I sent in the picture because I was tired of hiding our relationship. This seemed like a good way to reveal it- maybe we'd get a little sympathy."
"Bonnie, that was MY plan, not yours. I'm the one who sent the picture in-"
"Pictures." Both girls turned to Celestia. "You both sent in pictures. The same one, I might add." The girls then turned to stare at one another. She shook her head. "In truth, I'm seriously considering commuting most of your sentences- as long as you come out in a less dastardly manner."
Bon-Bon nodded absently, still staring at Lyra. Without a word, she grabbed the mint-skinned girls' hand and dragged her out of the office. As the door shut behind her, Celestia could hear a slight sucking sound, followed by cheers from the students waiting in the office lobby. Celestia's eyes widened, and she ran to her door. "Girls, please take your kissing outside my office. Girls, I said- Boys, put those cameras away this instant!"
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I actually feel bad for the CMC in this story, because they may of made a msitake at first, but they started to realize thier wrong doings and stopped posting before it got real bad.
Still it breaks my heart on what they did, in this story rather then make me furious as in the other ones.
YAYAYAYAYAY. Update. I Love This Story. This Chapter Was Executed Perfectly
Anon-A-Misspellings
Well, technically, Bon Bon and Lyra are outside Celestia's office.
I enjoyed this chapter - what else would a Vice-Principal do in order to speak to the entire school? The only option is 'assembly'.
Heck, when I was in high school (2010-2015), I remember my year group having to be summoned a couple times because of something downright idiotic a few members did - like vandalise a few sections of the school, or acting irresponsibly in public and thus bringing shame to the school.
It was sometimes annoying for me, as I didn't know anything until it was told to us (I still do tend to read during breaks - and I'm not a fan of gossip or 'hanging out') and said summons often occurring in place of lunch (which meant less reading, and not being able to go to the canteen as quickly - the food wasn't horrible, but both quality and quantity were superior in my earlier years, unfortunately), but...eh, how else would the effectively-Dean of Students deal with a group of teenage boys?
...And yes, I did go to a boys-only school.
Sweet Celestia! CHS did NOT look like it had 800 students in attendance in the movies!
8466837
I'm guessing because of animation limitations.
I got that figure from an average high school size in Massachusetts- the state whose climate and location matches best with the CHS area.
8466865
Still, that is a lot more than I expected them to have.
That ending tho
This was excellently handled and it's good to see that things didn't get too out of hand with the student body and they took this all rather well. And that ending was the perfect way to lighten things up. ^_^
8466877
Even the most dramatic and serious of stories (and this isn't one) should have some levity. I think ending an otherwise serious chapter on a funny note can be a good idea.
Then again, cliffhangers are even better. But, I've used all the cliffhangers I'm going to in this story.
Except the Epilogue. I'm gonna make you all desperate for more!
Excellent work! Loved this. Wonder how that conversation with the CMC and Sunset will go...
Loved the last bit too! Lyra and BonBon FTW! Lol.
I loved that last part.
8466888
I'm looking forward to more. I've enjoyed reading this a lot.
I swear those 2 are indeed the OTP of MLP
8466821
Exactly what I was going to say.
8466718 Okay.
And I know all abut grumpy Muses, as I live with a few of those myself.
Ornery, stubborn l'il critters, they are.
And that's good to know.
8468342
Wait, you have multiple muses?
How do you get anything done? My lone muse is enough!
8468530 Yep, I have several, from different fandoms.
Biker Mice From Mars, TMNT, SWAT Kats, Elfquest and this gen's MLP are the main ones.
Oh, Heavens Above, it ain't easy... especially you have a hot-headed Ninja Turtle (Raphael), a full-of-himself Martian Mouse (Vinnie) and various others in my head all clamoring for attention, and for me to to get back to work on my older fics that have them in them.
Yeah, I hear ya there!
Sometimes I think Wendy and Richard Pini (the co-creators of Elfquest) have it easier than us, as they've often said that their pointy-eared "children" actually live with them.
On the other hoof, I dunno of living with a tribe of elves, PLUS their attendant wolf pack, is a very good deal, either!
I love what you did here with lyra and bonbon.
8466874
It seems a reasonable number. My high school graduating class had a little over two hundred students, and multiply that by four years...
So far, really good story. I'm not sure why you're so down on this chapter, I think you handled this better than we did. That said, I did have a problem with a couple things beyond your usual minor typos like
Let's see, school faculty likely wouldn't refer to it as next school year, possibly next year or more likely as after break. Second, they would've threatened to send the notes to parents if the students didn't pick them up, or return them signed by a parent. Outside of those, it's all good.
8844410
My thoughts exactly, I could totally see a bunch of guys (and not just high schoolers) climbing over each other to get photos of something like that. At least something good came out of that mess.
8844410
Yep
Grammar error:
“Tot he” - “to the”
“Anon_A-Miss” - “Anon-A-Miss”