Atonement
In a house in the suburbs, in a room completely closed off and devoid of light, lies a large bundle wrapped in the blankets of the bed.
Completely hidden by the soft fabrics of her bed, a girl remains out of reach of the outside world.
Her head is submerged in sour and painful thoughts. Her cheeks are stained with marks of what were undoubtedly tears. Her completely red eyes are dry.
She hears the sound of someone calling her. "Fluttershy!" calls the woman. "You're worrying me. You've been in there all day."
Fluttershy ignores her mother and remains in place, prey to her own mind.
"I'm awful... I'm awful... I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm awful... I’m awful…"
*S*A*S*
The winter completely covers Canterlot High School. The cold permeates though the corridors, and even with the lights on, it looks dark and somewhat dismal.
At lunch time, the students try to distract themselves with talks or games to forget the cold.
"Stupid cold, stupid snow, stupid winter, stupid busted boiler, stupid—AAAAGHHHH! Why is it so cold?" screams a frustrated and somewhat desperate girl with mint-green hair.
"Lyra, please calm down," says her friend with cotton-candy-colored hair.
"I can't, Bon Bon! I hate the cold! IhateitIhateitIhateit!"
"Lyra, please, behave," a black-haired girl sitting next to them demands.
Shortly after the girl speaks, another girl with two-tone blue hair in a rebellious style appears.
"It seems like it’s getting colder every day," Lyra complains. "Why?"
"It's winter, Lyra," the black-haired one replies. "Winter is cold."
"Winter or not, this is too much! I can't even touch my lyre! If I take off my gloves, I feel my fingers freeze!"
Bon Bon lets out a slight sigh. "I know what you mean. With how cold it is, we can barely cook in class. The ovens take so long to heat up."
The black-haired girl rubs her temples. "In the name of Amadeus, you two are like little girls. A little cold never hurt anyone."
"This isn’t 'a little cold', Octavia!" Lyra snaps. "This is freezing!"
Octavia only shakes her head and starts eating.
Bon Bon, seeing that the situation is somewhat tense, decides to change the subject. "Hey, Octavia, how is your practice going?"
Octavia almost chokes at the sudden question but manages to drink her juice and respond somewhat hastily, "Oh, you know, perfectly fine, no problem."
Her nervousness isn’t lost on Lyra and Bon Bon, who look at her, somewhat confused.
The DJ turns to look at her friend. Even behind those opaque shades, Octavia can feel the girl’s eyes on her. After a moment, Octavia sighs and says, "Well, there have been problems with the members of the band. No one pays any attention at practice. In fact, everyone seems to have gotten worse."
The DJ continues to give Octavia that knowing look.
"Alright, alright, enough with the look, Vinyl. I... I haven't really done well either..." Octavia finally responds.
"What? But why?" Lyra asks, surprised.
"Lately, with everything that has happened, I have been... depressed..."
Vinyl puts a hand on Octavia's shoulder and gives her a kind smile.
Bon Bon sighs softly. "I know what you mean. The cooking club is the same way. The food is bland, and the desserts taste bitter."
Lyra looks worriedly at her friend. "This is all because of Anon-a-Miss. She started this whole mess."
Bon Bon seems to think a little about that. "But Anon-a-Miss is gone. The account is closed."
"That does not take away all the damage she did before leaving," Octavia responds with clear annoyance.
"I still wonder why it closed," Lyra says to no one in particular.
Octavia responds with disinterest. "It's obvious. Sunset Shimmer has already been expelled. There's no point in keeping the account. I’m sure she is causing problems wherever she is now."
With that answer, she continues her lunch. However, out of the corner of her eye, she sees Vinyl shaking her head.
"Vinyl, do you honestly still think it's not Sunset?"
Vinyl nods as she begins to eat.
"Who else could it be? She's the only one capable of something like that."
Swallowing her mouthful, Vinyl turns to the cellist and tilts her head with a raised eyebrow.
"I don't know why she’d do it," Octavia responds to the unasked question, "but what does it matter? Reason or no, she did it. The whole school knows it was her."
Lyra hesitates a moment. "Umm, I'm not sure about that." The cellist and DJ turn to the mint-haired girl, who, after a bite of her own lunch, talks again. "Have you ever thought… maybe it wasn’t Sunset?"
Octavia looks at her contemptuously. "Oh, Lyra, are you really taking Vinyl's side?"
"I'm not on anyone's side. I’m just asking. Have you ever doubted it was her?"
Bon Bon, after thinking for a moment, puts her chin in her hand and responds, "At first, I had my doubts, but I can't think of anyone else capable of doing such a thing, and the fact that the Anon-a-Miss account closed when she was expelled all but confirms it."
"See? I told you," Octavia says to Vinyl.
The DJ just shakes her head and resumes her lunch.
Lyra looks curiously at Vinyl. "Why do you think it wasn’t her, Vinyl?"
Vinyl chews her mouthful and then shakes her head a little.
Octavia looks at her indignantly. "‘She’s not like that’? You act as if you know her well, which is not true."
Vinyl adjusts her glasses.
"You and I both know Sunset runs much deeper than what we see, especially for you, who never takes off those glasses!"
Vinyl swallows and turns to her companion with a frown.
"Hey, girls, don't fight," Lyra says worriedly.
Bon Bon sighs again. "There's no point in talking about it. Sunset’s gone, and so is Anon-a-Miss. Things are quiet again."
The group looks around the rest of the cafeteria. Everyone is quiet. There are almost no conversations, no laughter, only silence.
"Yeah, maybe too quiet..." says Lyra.
*S*A*S*
Sunset rummages through her locker, getting ready for her afternoon classes. “Just a few more hours, and I can go home,” she thinks.
Her thoughts are interrupted by a call. "Sunset Shimmer!" Sunset turns to find a young man with extremely pale skin and even whiter hair stomping toward her. "I finally found you. Have you any idea what you've done?!" he demands as he reaches her.
Sunset looks at him strangely and says, "Um... And you are...?"
He looks scandalized. "You don’t know me?! I am Winter White the Third, firstborn of the Winter family and future president of the largest financial company in the city!" he exclaims with something akin to pride.
Still confused, Sunset says, "Uh... A pleasure."
"The feeling is not mutual, Sunset Shimmer! You've ruined my academic record!"
"... I did what?"
"Because of you, I have failed last week’s exams!"
"Why? What did I do?" Sunset demands.
"What did you do?” Winter repeats as if the answer is obvious. “If you had not meddled, Sparkle would have helped me pass each test with excellence, as is only right and proper."
Sunset looks thoughtful for a moment. Then, she suddenly remembers. "Wait, I remember now. You and another guy were harassing Twilight that day."
"And because of you, I could not use her to pass! You have cost me my academic excellence!"
His shout surprises Sunset not only for his words but for the confidence in which he said them. It was as if Sunset were truly responsible for his failure.
"Hey, it's not good for you to copy others, much less attack them like that. You should’ve studied," Sunset says.
"Who are you to tell me what to do?" he demands, even more annoyed than when he arrived. "You're going to pay for what you've done to me, Sunset Shimmer. You'll pay for it."
With that threat and an arrogant gesture, he turns around and stalks away, leaving Sunset still surprised and confused by the whole scene. However, after shrugging her shoulders, she continues her business, preferring to downplay the follies and oddities of the academy.
*S*A*S*
The three little girls, the Crusaders, stand in front of the imposing door of the vice principal’s office. After looking at each other with fear, Apple Bloom, acting as leader, takes the initiative and knocks on the door.
It only takes a couple of seconds before an answer is heard. "Come in," says the clear voice of the vice principal.
Fear runs through the girls’ bodies as they open the door and enter, never moving more than a few inches from each other. All too soon, the three are in front of the desk, and Apple Bloom stutters, "You... You wanted to see us... Vice Principal Luna...?"
The closed windows gave the room a disturbing, almost sinister gloom. Luna herself remained motionless, as if she herself were a very part of that gloom. However, her eyes, displaying an almost cold look, betrayed that she was very much real as she glared at the three girls.
The Crusaders tremble slightly at the silence of the woman, but eventually, the imposing authority figure speaks. "That's right, Apple Bloom." Her voice is dry, almost devoid of emotion.
The little farmgirl gulps and asks, "It's... It's about Anon-a-Miss again... isn’t it?"
Luna lets a second or two of silence pass before answering, "I have a question to ask you three." As if by instinct, the three girls hold hands as Luna closes her eyes and seems to meditate what she wants to ask. "You created the Anon-a-Miss account, and you three published those secrets about your sisters and their friends."
The three girls feel that familiar guilt gnaw on them again. They lower their heads with regret.
"I understand that part," Luna continues, "but there is something about all this that I don't understand."
The three look up, curious, waiting for the vice principal to continue talking.
"I can understand how you could know your sisters’ secrets, but... how did you know about the other students?"
Surprised, the three look at each other as if silently discussing how to respond.
"I can't imagine,” Luna continues, “how you discovered the secrets of the other students, not without falsifying them or lying, which is clearly not the case. How did you know about them?" Luna falls silent, patiently awaiting an answer.
The three girls remain silent, doubtful, until finally, they come to a silent agreement, and Apple Bloom finally answers, "It started after we... posted about our sisters. After a few days, we started gettin’ messages from the other students."
She stops her explanation for a moment to look at the vice principal. Luna makes no attempt to interrupt her.
Scootaloo decides to continue the explanation. "Some of them started telling us secrets about people they knew from school, asking us to post whatever dirt they had."
At this, the vice principal's brow furrows, and her gaze becomes more severe. The three cannot help taking a step back.
Apple Bloom continues, "S-Some said they had fun with what we posted, and that's why... they started tellin’ us more secrets or sendin’ shameful photos for us ta post."
Luna says calmly, "And you decided to publish all that? Why?"
Although her voice is calm, there is an edge in her voice, only reigniting the girls’ fear. Scootaloo responds, although terrified, "I-I-I don't know. W-We didn't believe... that it was all that bad—"
Suddenly, the vice principal slams her palm on her desk, making the girls shut up and jump, stifling a scream. Luna breathes deeply with her eyes closed. She relaxes her shoulders and tries to stay calm. "... Continue."
Apple Bloom and Scootaloo try to continue, but their words are stuck. Sweetie Belle speaks for the first time, trying to be brave. "We published some things... things that we didn't believe were so bad. B-But then, more came... and more... and more..." Sweetie gulps and finishes, “We felt that we were in too deep, so we just published everything we were sent.”
After the explanation ends, Luna interlaces her fingers and with closed eyes thinks deeply. Finally, without opening her eyes, she says, "So, the students of the school got in touch with you—with Anon-a-Miss—and revealed by themselves the secrets of their acquaintances." She takes a deep breath. "Have I understood that correctly?"
The crusaders are still very nervous, but they all respond with a small nod. Luna takes a minute to think, which makes the three girls pale, fearing the worst.
With an exhalation though her nose, Luna lowers her shoulders and opens her eyes to look at the Crusaders again. "Do you still have these messages, or can you get them in some way?"
The question confuses them, and for a moment they do not know what to answer. The memory of when they decided to erase the account comes to their minds.
"N-No," Apple Bloom responds, scared. "We... We closed the account, and... all the messages were deleted with it..."
The vice principal doesn't say anything, just keeping her eyes on them.
Sweetie Belle suddenly has a thought. "Um... Maybe..."
She cuts herself off as Luna looks at her directly, unintentionally frightening her. After overcoming the scare, she continues, "Could we... recover the account?"
Luna is interested, and Sweetie's friends look at her curiously.
"The account remains for a period of time after deleting it... in case the user wants to recover it... Maybe..."
There is silence as the room’s occupants all think about that. It's Luna who breaks the silence. "Do it."
The order was not demanding but quiet, but it was still an order. The three girls sat partially frozen, not knowing what to think. But in the end, Apple Bloom pulled out her phone, and with a couple of touches, she saw a warning on the screen.
-This account has been deleted.
Do you want to recover it?-
The three stare at the phrase and, as if they were synchronized with each other, raise their eyes to the vice principal. Luna nods, and as if that would serve as authorization, Apple Bloom gives the answer.
-Yes-
And with that, Anon-a-Miss had returned.
Apple Bloom is afraid to speak. Her voice trembles slightly. "I-It worked..."
Luna does not respond. Instead, she stands up and approaches them. The three girls tremble, fearing what may come.
Luna stands in front of them, extends her hand, and says softly, "Can you show me?"
Afraid as she is, Apple Bloom does not protest, handing her phone over. Luna looks at the screen, seeing that account that caused so much trouble. She touched the device a bit, and her eyes display... something...
Returning the phone to its owner, she says, "Thanks, girls. This will help."
"H-Help?" Apple Bloom asks, concerned. "Help with what?"
Luna pauses a bit before answering, "You created Anon-a-Miss, but you are not the only ones to blame for this." Passing by the three, Luna walks towards the door. "You three can go. I don't need to tell you not to do anything with that account, but don't erase it, at least not until I tell you."
Opening the door, the woman prepares to leave.
"Vice Principal Luna!" Scootaloo exclaims. "What... What are you gonna do? And what will you do to us?"
Luna turns her head to look at them. "You three will have your punishment, but you will not be the only ones."
With that, the woman disappears behind the door of her office. The three are left alone, submerged in the gloom of the room, unable to understand what their vice principal was thinking.
Looking at the phone screen, the three simply stare at that account so hated not only by their sisters or the school but also by the three girls themselves.
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Those poor girls are gonna get chewed out by whole school when this is all said & done. Also what's up with that weird guy threating Sunset? What can he do, he's a nerd.
Btw you spelled Vinyl wrong a few times.
I am tempted to link a reaction vid, but I'll wait for Luna to reveal it and deal the punishments to do so
Thank goodness the students who sent in secrets will also get punished.
Also, some people got in touch with anon-a-miss in person and they still shat on Sunset?
Further dropping temperatures? Hateful atmosphere?
Oh shit. Why do I get the feeling......
Ooh. I know VP Luna can be intimidating but...dang. That's rather ominous. Keep it up!
Also:
That exchange with the rich kid went very differently in my head.
68.media.tumblr.com/0e791afb1f881fde1020f4c5c78ea4d3/tumblr_p6led88WKt1wcpmrko1_1280.png
So...who are you and why should I care?
68.media.tumblr.com/a374bf79957b2423723081773f00f43b/tumblr_p5sy30UuWv1wcpmrko1_540.png
So...who are you, and why should I care?
(You would not believe how long it took to get the images for this joke)
Well the real problem making Vinyl mute
8894929
Here they come...
Oh, you're freezing now? I can make an arrangement
* Picks up a flamethrower and starts to turn it on*
8895043
Don't worry, that guy won't represent a trouble - neither shall be remembered.
8895796
You rang~?
8898314
Because I like dialogues in bold
8896505
Nah how about the usage of Sunny Day or Groudon?
first 2 paragraphs in, and i can't help but think windegos.. one thing for winter to start, but lyra said it was 'freezing' we'll see i guess..
9547583
Because “anon-a-miss”
Is the EQG version of “gabby gums”
And being in the human world becomes a significantly worse shitstorm