Prologue: Your past will always find you; your past won't go away
Apple Bloom stormed into her room and kicked the door shut behind her. Somehow this was all Sunset Shimmer's fault. The fact that that didn't quite track didn't hinder the angry girl's assignment of blame at all. Sunset Shimmer was somehow responsible. Maybe the demon was protected by some kind of hex set up to bring misfortune on those who opposed her.
That had to be it.
How else could you explain Apple Bloom's master plan falling apart in less than a day when it when it wasn't even supposed to shift into gear until The Rainboom's next slumber party? She hadn't even recruited Sweetie Belle and and Scootaloo when it all came crashing down.
How else could one explain her phone just happening to slip out of her hand when she just happened to be logged into the Anon-a-Miss account for the only time since making it that morning? How else could you explain all that occurring right in front of Diamond Tiara, who had of course picked it up and seen things that weren’t her business.
How else could you explain how the phone, after Apple Bloom had tackled Diamond, managed to bounce and slide across the floor in such a way that it skidded to a halt directly at Applejack's feet?
Or the fact that all this happened to happen in the cafeteria: the one place in the entire school where her grandmother, instead of some teacher or other, would be the one to lecture her in front of the entire student body?
Yeah, this was definitely the result of some kind of demonic magic. It couldn't possibly be that Apple Bloom had brought any of this on herself.
Still . . . it was obviously some kind of passive magic. A charm or curse or something that brought misfortune on Sunset's enemies without notifying Sunset of who those enemies were. Sunset had shown precisely zero recognition that any of this was aimed at her. Like everyone else, Sunset believed that Apple Bloom had been playing a prank on Applejack, no connection to Sunset had been made, so Apple Bloom still had the element of surprise.
On the other hand, how could she use that element of surprise to her advantage when eldritch forces would turn luck itself against any plan she made? Things had been derailed so fast. The plan had been perfect, that much was clear.
All she'd meant to do today was plant the seed that it might be Sunset in Applejack's mind and let Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo in on the plan. They wouldn't be convinced yet, but they would have kept quiet and Sunset's own evil would have spelled her doom.
Sunset was making their sisters (honorary in Scootaloo's case, sure) ignore them at best and treat them badly as often, so when Rarity, under Sunset's influence, was dismissive or cruel to Sweetie Belle, which was sure to happen before or during the sleepover at Rarity's, that would ensure Sweetie Belle joined in. She'd have access to Sunset's phone once the girls were all asleep and would be able to get something --it didn't much matter what-- that would seem like it could only have come from Sunset.
That would be when things could really get moving. Sure the girls would think of some way to rationalize it away, but the doubt would be still there afterward: How had Anon-a-Miss gotten that whatever from Sunset's phone?
Sunset's influence meant that Rainbow Dash would inevitably mistreat Scootaloo, and then the crusade would be in full swing. With the three of them working together they could do what Apple Bloom could never do on her own: make sure that Sunset was the only single person that had been present for everything the account revealed.
Eventually Applejack and the others would have to accept that it was Sunset --back to her old ways. They'd all leave Sunset, with luck Sunset would leave, and after that everything would go back to the way things had been before Applejack made the mistake of befriending a literal demon.
The plan was perfect. There were absolutely no flaws.
So if the perfect plan couldn't take down Sunset, thanks to her stupid demon luck field, what would?
Maybe the solution was to avoid having a plan at all. Apple Bloom would just have to do everything in one fell swoop, then there would be no opportunity for the demonic magic to interfere. She needed something that was over as soon as it started. Something that couldn't be stopped by making her fumble a phone. Something that once unleashed could never, ever, be undone.
She had just the thing.
* * *
Apple Bloom did not, in fact, have a secret laptop in case her phone and regular laptop got taken away and Granny Smith unplugged the the ethernet cable that ran to Apple Bloom's room. She had a secret laptop because if any of the others knew about it they'd ask questions about where it had come from.
Explaining that she'd made friends with a couple of less than reputable older girls, one of whom did not-quite-legal things for fun, had never been a conversation Apple Bloom was particularly interested in having. Sure, she'd never been into that, and there were no attempts to convert her to the dark side, but the gift of a fully working computer would have seemed suspicious to the other Apples.
Even Apple Bloom herself had been flummoxed, briefly wondering if she was being buttered up for some untoward proposal, when she was given a completely free fully functional computer. Then its origins had been explained to her.
While Cipher was a hacker in the usual sense, Puzzle was a hacker in a far more literal sense: breaking down equipment and then Frankensteining it back together in ways never intended by the manufacturer. She hacked things up and then soldered, screwed, and wired them into something new and different. The laptop had been practice for her, taking some obsolete tech from a handful of different systems and making them into a single cohesive whole. Once it was finished and tested, neither Puzzle nor Cipher had had any actual use for it. It was just a waste of space that they were more than happy to give away.
Add to that their abject horror at learning that Apple Bloom didn't have her own computer back then, and it really was a foregone conclusion that they'd give it to her.
Then time passed and things changed. While Granny Smith still spoke with awe about the transition between 300 bits per second to 1200 back in her day, she accepted that modern technology did have a place in the rest of the family’s life. When Sweet Apple Acres got hard line internet connections in most rooms, including most of the bedrooms, and Apple Bloom got her own desktop, most of the reason to use the ancient laptop had gone away. When Granny Smith gave Apple Bloom a laptop last Christmas, all of the reason to use the secret one was gone.
Because of that, Apple Bloom hadn't used the it in ages. She hadn't thought about it in ages. Now, though, it was exactly what she needed. An ancient laptop with both wireless and USB connections, when combined with a thumb drive she'd been keeping hidden for some time now, would mark the downfall of Sunset Shimmer.
Unless the ambient demon magic protecting Sunset stopped the computer from working.
After Apple Bloom excavated it, plugged it in, and turned it on, it seemed like demon magic might not be necessary. The oldness of the computer alone was probably one of the tortures of Hell in and of itself.
She was greeted by the symbol of a decade old operating system, a reminder that the laptop had been little more than a paperweight between when Puzzle was finished making it and when it was given to Apple Bloom. Her fingers danced across the keys, her password was entered, and she . . . waited an excruciatingly long time for the desktop to actually be ready to use.
Every step involved looking at a how her cursor transformed into a pixelated hourglass and everything told her “(not responding)” before eventually deciding to respond in a way that more resembled embracing sloth than it did actually working.
Her initial plan had been to do the whole thing in one go, without ever opening her door, in order to minimize the chances of being caught.
Her will to go through with that plan, though, had not merely been ground down. It had been sacked, hoisted, de-sacked, dropped through the hopper onto millstones, thoroughly ground down, resacked, sent through the whole process again (being routed to different millstones via automatic processes, of course), and finally exported for sale as ultra fine grain.
Shortly after getting a sandwich and bringing it back to her room, the internet chat program was actually up and running.
“Finally,” she said to no one in particular. “Ya better be online right now,” she muttered to someone who had no way to hear her. She scanned the list of friends and lucked out when she spotted a green check mark indicating someone was logged in. Unfortunately Apple Bloom didn’t know which someone because, Puzzle and Cipher had a habit of using whatever account was already open, regardless of which of them the account in question actually belonged to.
She opened a chat box, which automatically invited the other user to a private chat. Before she finished typing her message, one popped up from the other user:
<\...hello?> A glitched out icon appeared next to the message, Apple Bloom still had no idea if it was the actual avatar, being artistically glitched out, or if the glitching was a function of her laptop being constructed from literal garbage.
<That you, Cipher? Or is it Puzzle again?> Apple Bloom Typed.
<Been a while.>
<Hey! You call a user by their handle, no one cares about who used to be who or who's behind the curtain!> Apple Bloom could sense the pout. Cipher it was.
<... Well well, if it isn't PoisonApple27! Don't remember picking up necromancy.>
<I know I haven't been on in a long time.> Apple Bloom responded with a frown.
<Just call me AB.>
<Can't be bothered to wait five centiuries to change the name to something less middle-schooler-ish.>
<*centuries>
<Nice.>
<And, yeah, nearly a year now.>
<Can only assume you finally found a reason to go back out in the sun.>
<Hey, no hard feelings. I know how impersonal things can feel when it's just words on a screen and the like. The outernet just isn't for me.>
Apple Bloom rolled her eyes, then typed:
<Nice to see your sense of humor hasn't sensed that you fail at humor.>
<Ouch. Bitey. Mad.>
<Time to cash in that favor?>
<Darn tootin.>
<I'm sending a video file over.>
The moment that message had been sent out she started uploading a video from the thumb drive. It was the best her phone could manage, which meant that it was a low resolution mp4.
<A video?>
<What, you hold me to this future deal and you just want me film a react video? -_->
<What?>
Apple Bloom huffed:
<No, shut up and lemme explain!>
<It's slow, you know that!>
She calmed down a bit:
<I'm in the process of doing it, don't be so impatient!>
<Welcome back to the internet, AB.>
<I told you to shut up.>
Cipher started typing.
<Now!>
It no longer said Cipher was typing.
<Here's the deal.>
Apple Bloom let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding in.
The video was only halfway through uploading. She had time to cancel the upload and reconsider. She thought about the risks. The fallout. There was still time . . .
Nope. This was the plan, it was perfect, and she was doing it. She typed out a paragraph in a hurry, gave it a glance over, fixed a couple mistakes, and sent it:
<Something really bad happened at my school a few months back. Got on the local news, but stopped there. Even then, it was only the aftermath. A broken gas pipe and a cigarette. Left a crater and everyone moved on after.>
<Read about that...>
<CHS? That's where you go?>
<My condolences for the other place.>
<Also, pipe?>
<What? That makes no sense.>
A link popped up.
<You looked up the schematics the moment you read my explanation, didn't you?>
<I find and spread information, AB. That's my thing.>
<Now, there's no pipe under that area of the school.>
<Exactly. The truth is right here.>
And the timing was perfect.
With a bing, the video was up, ready for Cipher to watch for herself.
Silence reigned in the chat for a few minutes, stretching on into several. All the while, Apple Bloom glared at the red figure in the thumbnail coldly. Despite the blazing inferno of hair frozen in a single moment of the video, she could still feel the heat on her skin from that night.
<What...the actual Hell?>
Applebloom raised an eyebrow:
<What, no joke about bad effects?>
<Look, your cinematography skills are kinda garbo, but its still 2013 as of this file's creation.>
<It was filmed on a smartphone from a fairly close distance.>
<This isn't Bigfoot footage. That, and if that's a special effect, you need to hook me up with your director friend, Cameron.>
<...I don't understand that joke.> Apple Bloom typed with a frown.
<The point is that if that's a fake, it's a very good fake that would at least have people talking about it.>
Apple Bloom grinned darkly,
<Good. Her name is Sunset Shimmer, she's a senior at Canterlot High School, and she's an alien.>
<...why are you telling me this, AB?>
<Find and spread information.>
<How many contacts do you have online?>
<More than you can count.>
<Why?>
<I sent you the video. You said it yourself. It would have people talking about it.>
<Even if the whole country doesn't believe its real, it would hit TV and websites all over the place. Canterlot though, that's the important place.>
Apple Bloom found herself wishing she could type faster, much faster.
<Sunset's known here. Weird stuff is known to happen here. A few students may have told their parents here and there, but there's a mixture of reasons why nothing ever came after. Lack of evidence, trying to incriminate with 'magic' as a claim, staff interference, and a lot of outspoken students kind of being compulsive liars in the first place.>
Adrenaline pumping, Apple Bloom started tapping her foot on the ground. She wanted this over quick. As soon as it was out of her hands there would be nothing left that could go wrong with this, she just had to pass it off.
It didn't really matter exactly what went down, just that the word got out. Whether shady people came wanting to experiment on Sunset or the response was limited to a slow but steady trickle of creepy true believers coming to find absolute proof, the attention could result in one thing and one thing only: Sunset would be forced to retreat through the portal to her home world because there would be nowhere in Canterlot, perhaps nowhere in the country, she could run to get away from whatever the result of all this ultimately turned out to be.
As for Apple Bloom, in ten minutes time she would wash her hands of everything and truly be done with the entire situation. After that she'd probably have dinner.
<AB...that's...>
<Well I can spread the video a bit, but doxxing her?>
<"doxxing"?>
<Spreading her identity.>
<There are moral and legal concerns.>
Cipher was typing, but Apple Bloom finished first:
<I don't care if it's illegal, just do it!>
<That psycho tried to kill my sister and everyone else I knew!>
<And now she's stealing her from me!>
Her hands were shaking, she was punching the keys so hard the tips of her fingers hurt, and her mouth was locked in a sharp frown.
The chat showed that Cipher had deleted whatever she'd been about to say, and hadn't started typing again.
Then fresh typing.
<...well there's no need to shout.>
<At least you didn't go ALL CAPS.>
<Okay.>
<Fine.>
<Only because I owe you, but after I spread this, I'm not touching it again.>
<I don't like it.>
<Fine. Thanks.>
<Dunno if we'll talk again soon or anything, but consider the favor repaid.>
<Best if we don't talk for awhile.>
<Dunno what you're goin' through, AB...but I don't want any part of it. Bye.>
A moment later the account logged off.
Apple Bloom smirked as she shut the laptop. It would power down automatically, so she didn't have to wait before rehiding it. After that she sat on her bed, leaning back against the headboard, and let her fingers tap out a rhythm as she sang to herself:
“Ya don' know what your future holds,
“So hear me when ah say:
“Yer past will always bind you;
“Yeah your past is here to stay.”
The setting sun cast a shadow over the young girl's face, her eyes narrowing as her frown turned upwards into a cold smirk.
“Yer past will always find you,
“'Cause yer past won't go away.”
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Hmm. Interesting. I'll see where this goes.
in Palpatine's voice Yes, Apple Bloom. Let the Hate flow through you. Give in to the Darkness. DO IT!
this will end badly for everyone!
like EVERYONE
even applebloom!
if the government see AJ using magic you best believe they will take her and the others away for experimenting
not to mention when twilight finds out Celestia finds out that sunset might be being experimented on.
then Celestia comes and burns us all to death XD
i cannot wait to see this continue.
Welp, this'll surely go to shit in a latrine pit.
I can't wait for the DRAMA that will undoubtedly occur! I wonder who "Cipher" is supposed to be. Discord? Who just spreads information like that in MLP?
8649705
Oh boy.
I have made no attempt to make it easy to guess who Cipher is. In particular:
That question will not help you in the least. It's like looking at Sci-Twi and asking "Who's a gadgeteer genius in MLP?" except worse.
Pony-Twilight at least occasionally demonstrates her invention skills, where Cipher's counterpart doesn't actually spread information (that I know of.)
If you're really intent on hunting down Cipher's counterpart, instead of focusing on the spreading, you should focus on the everything else. Who is a recluse that devotes themselves to gaining knowledge in MLP?
The existence of the internet in the human world makes spreading the knowledge gained much easier than it is in Equestria. Cipher never has to physically interact with anyone in order to spread the information, and that difference leads to Cipher spreading information when Cipher's counterpart does not.
Oh Bloom, you just BUCKED up and Bad, if the Government gets to Sunset she will RUN and she will go HOME because of this and guess what, she will take her journal with her and most likely destroy the portal on the other side so you guys won't ever get any more magical help and it will be all Your FAULT!
More more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more MORE!!!!!
please
8649751
Oh my gosh it's Moondancer
Well now I don't need to read this story! Jokes, I was just curious. I'mma so following this.
8649751
Ah, so it's Moondancer then? That individual does seem like the type who would disagree with the "outernet".
Anyhow, I always love stories where "the existence of X" is revealed, wherein X is whatever earth-shattering revelation would constitute the involvement of the government. Granted, I do prefer it when said government is subsequently ran circles around, but I'm sure whatever happens here will be entertaining.
Humans usually process things the easiest way possible, so a video about a girl turning into a demon and terrifying a school could easily be interpreted as a highschool film project or a hint to a new movie coming out rather than taking it as truth. I'd like to see Applebloom just keep trying to give evidence of what Sunset did as a demon and absolutely no one outside of the school believing her.
Congratulations, Apple Bloom, you've gone from cyberbullying to downright CYBERTERRORISM!
Yeah, she should get a callin' card from the Phantom Thieves.
very interesting glad to see a version that dont lead to the rainbooms betraying sunset but instead focusing on the simple fact that apple bloom in that comic was evil (i REALLY hate that comic and hate how many fix fics all fail to fix the core problem that sunsets friends betray her that is the real problem with the story yet no one ever fixes that part)
sure you gave her a reason here but really she is just being evil and trying to justify her actions she is just evil brat with this action
8649869
"Hey look at these special effects"
"Yeah, they're obviously fake and easy to see through"
"It makes sense, after all; this was definitely a school project of some kind, judging from the uploader"
"Wasn't this the same girl that uploaded that awful performance a while back? The song there was almost as bad as this awfully-drawn 'demon' girl"
"Yep. Probably had help from those other two girls, the orange one and the white one"
"Eh, want to watch something else?"
"Yeah, sure, anything's better than this sloppily-made mess"
...Something I imagine people saying, since (as you correctly said) humanity is drawn to doubt new ideas unless they're proven to be true beyond all reasonable doubt. Example: spherical Earth, evolution, moon landing, EA's douchebaggery - all of which are true, real and provable, and only the unreasonable believe otherwise.
Still, I'd like to see more than one chapter of this; the premise seems interesting, regardless of whether Real-Life people would immediately believe it or not.
...It'd also make Twilight and Cinch much more curious, though for very different reasons...
Why do I feel the Goverment will get involved in this plot?
8650085
"What? Applebloom is evolving!"
8649796
: APPLE BLOOM, YOU FOOL! YOU'VE DOOMED US ALL!
So, in a layman's terms:
I'm not quite sure what to make of this story to be honest ??? not sure what the execution of the premise is.
8650275
EA's douchebaggery? Why, they are the paragon of the gaming world!
I haven't had a thing to do with them since they killed Earth & Beyond, but they aren't likely to change.
Still, surprised to see mention of them in civilized conversation.
Who is Cypher?
heroesandvillainsofmbti.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/estp-cypher-pics02.png
kidding :p
So, random grab bag of things:
8649869
Absolutely. Presumably why it was so easy to cover up the Fall Formal and the Battle of the Bands to begin with. There's a reason that Apple Bloom isn't sharing the video herself, but instead calling in a favor to get it spread all over the internet, including at places where people will reflexively analyze the video to see what kind of effects went into making it (and come up empty because none did.) A handful of people see it and probably nothing happens, but if you get enough people watching it and someone is going to bite.
8650275
Apple Bloom is operating on the theory that those who take notice will either be:
a) the sorts of people who devote their lives to proving that bigfoot is not a hoax, which could make it very hard for Sunset Shimmer to live an ordinary life since all of these people's attention will be focused on her, or
b) people with institutional power that either already know about magic as a result of their power or have a staff that can analyze the video and determine that it shows precisely zero signs of being doctored.
In addition, she figures that even if no one believes it, Sunset will gain a degree of notoriety that she can never escape.
-
As an aside, people were aware that the earth was round at least as far back as Homer's time. The first recorded measurement of the circumference of the earth was also out of the Greek world (at a time when Egypt was a part of the Greek world) which was done by Eratosthenes of Cyrene who lived in the late third and early second centuries BC(E). It, like his calculation of the axial tilt of the earth, was surprisingly accurate.
The reason people thought Columbus was nuts because he thought the earth was small. Europeans of the time were completely unaware of the Americas (they should have asked the people from Iceland, who did an admirable job of preserving viking knowledge) so they thought the hemisphere was entirely ocean. Given the amount of provisions that could be stored one a ship, trying to cross that would be suicidal. Columbus, for some reason, thought that about half of the world (east to west) didn't exist and probably disbelieved in some of the north to south range too, since otherwise he would have believed the world was shaped like a rugby ball.
That's why he thought he'd hit India on arriving in the Americas when it was common knowledge at the time that it India was a lot farther away than that.
-
8651808
I'm not entirely sure what to make of your comment, to be honest, so I guess we're even.
If you want broad strokes I'd note which tags I didn't use. This isn't dark, tragedy, or comedy, for example. Obviously it could be dark if it ended up with Sunset on the run from people who would stop at nothing to get their hands on her and vivisect her. I'm not going there. Certain characters, having some experience with sci-fi plots, will be afraid that it'll go dark, but I promise a complete lack of vivisection
8652692
That's Cypher with a Y, this is Cipher with an I. Totally different.
8652949
Two things. First, when will you update?
Second, is this 'Cipher's' first name Bill?
so lets go over the basics, hackers favor only goes to the posting of the video, normally you'd protect a friends stuff, but i'm pretty sure the amount of napalm AB just dropped on that bridge could sterilize a small country, so not likely to have a lot of proxy server, may even be traced to AB just so the hacker can avoid the risk.
posting this movie at CHS where it already happened, not likely to have a big splash, the outside world maybe but there honestly more likely to say CHS has awesome special effects.
and posting sunsets identity online without given permission... thats a felony, that should be fun.
Why do I see her getting arrested in this....?
8649705
Isn't it obvious? The name practically gives it away...
vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/gravityfalls/images/e/ea/S1e19_bill_snap.png/revision/latest?cb=20130905173319
Well, this is interesting. You have my attention.
8649869
This is very true regarding the general public. But I can guarantee that there are divisions of the government that watch for this kind of thing and will at the very least make a cursory investigation into the matter to see if there is a credible threat or if it is a hoax.
Oh sweet buckets of baley! Well, this is going to erupt like a shipping flame war.
Big mistake. The government and some crazy people are gonna get involved. Yup, Apple Bloom selfishly put everyone including herself at risk.
Just how I get my favorite computers. That, or get a Raspberry Pi with a 64gb card.
Next chapter?
8910934
Do you think this story is dead?
9028682
I hope it's not.
9028789
I almost want to take over the story. It starts out amazing, and I could EASILY get the ball rolling, so to speak, with this kind of story.
9028682
I don't think so.
Granted that's just me, but I don't think so.
I mean, I heard the author's depression has been really bad all year, and she had a breakdown a few weeks ago, and there's some family drama going on, and such, but I think she'd say if she were actually going to up and quit.
After all, it's not like she lost her internet connection or anything.
Started talking in third person like Trixie the Great and Powerful, sure, but she hasn't lost her internet connection.
She could totally let everyone know if she were giving up, and she hasn't. So I don't think it's dead.
Shrugged.
9033744
My condolences. I'm sorry.
9037713
Life can be difficult sometimes. I'm used to it. Nothing to get Pinkie-sad about.
Because of the things making life difficult, I don't know when I'll have an update here, but it will come.
9037883
If you ever need anything, just PM me.
8805235
That's it, Wade kill AB.
Pleasure.*shoots Apple Bloom in the head with a shotgun*
well I could see the humane 6 fleeing to Equestria.. congrats AB you just lost your sister forever.
9087538
A little dramatic but YES!
Apple bloom, I hope you have nine lives.... Your sister is gonna have your hide!
9490270
Exactly.
The premise is interesting. I wish it would continue.
She does realize she could possibly lose her sister by doing this right? The government could either be like "Wow, that is some cool effects. " or be like "There is some shady stuff going on in that school. Better check it. " They could take Applejack and her friends away for research and experimentation. This could make some of those girls like Rainbow Dash snap and unlock their powers even more, and.....well that just won't go over well. Oh yeah and don't forget they will be constantly checking the school statue. She could very definitely get expelled, or even arrested. On top of that, a very angry sister who might not even want to talk to her ever again. What exactly does she even benefit from this anyway?
Somehow I initially read "hex set" as "het sex".
😠 You ungrateful brat!
hoooo boy, Spite thy name is Applebloom.
Here you go, Apple Bloom. With what you've done, you've earned it.
*hands her a card saying 'Officially Registered Supervillain*