“I already said I’m sorry.” Wallflower Blush whined on the floor of the gym. “Why can’t you just forgive and forget?”
“This isn’t about your past,” Sunset Shimmer answered.
“And why did you make me leave my cell phone at home?”
Sunset sighed. “This is about your future. I can’t have you get distracted.”
“Can I go now?”
“No!” Sunset firmly said. “I didn’t break into the gym for nothing.”
“Why did you drag me here with you? I don’t want to get in trouble.”
“You truly are a villain mastermind, aren’t you?”
“What are you talking about?”
“You still have the memory stone, don’t you?”
“You were there when you all destroyed it. And since then you invaded my memories like a dozen times already with your freaky powers.”
“That’s just it, you have no memories of the memory stone after we shot at it with our rainbow power.” “Because you destroyed it…”
“No, because you outsmarted us by hiding the artifact and erased your own memories to counter my telepathic powers.”
“You’re insane. There’s no evidence for anything you’re saying. You have nothing but your conspiracy theories against me. I’m going to go now.”
“We’ll be here until you complete the training.”
“You know I don’t like awkward situations. Just standing alone in your presence would be enough for me to use the memory stone on you if you hadn’t destroyed it. Without the artifact, I now want to avoid anything cringe-worthy. That’s all I want in my life. Any judgment hurts me more than a knife in a chest would. If I could turn myself invisible forever, I’d do it in a heartbeat. If you just as much as look at me, I want to dig myself into the ground and die.
“We all know you suck, Wallflower, that’s why my friends entrusted you with me. If you sucked less, maybe you won’t have the urge to abuse the memory stone anymore. This is why I need to train you.”
“Right… Well, I’m certainly not good at sports or whatever this is. You can fail me now and we’ll both be done with it.”
“My patented fighting style doesn’t require a fit body, only discipline.”
Wallflower sighed. “Fine, let’s get this over with already. What do you want me to do?”
“Undress.”
“The hell!” Wallflower yelled. “What kind of perversion is this?”
“When studying karate, one wears a kimono. When one studies tauntate™, one dresses for the occasion.”
“Tauntate?”
Sunset Shimmer nodded. “Patented and trademarked.” She kicked over a box to Willflower’s legs. “Take off your clothes. Put on the fighting gear.”
On the box was a sign with big letters: ‘WARRIOR’
“Ugh, fine!” Wallflower unzipped her pants. “Look away while I change!”
Sunset Shimmer turned around, hiding her grin from the student.
“What the hell is this?”
When Sunset Shimmer turned around, she saw Wallflower in her undies holding the box with extended hands away from her.
“There are just a bunch of pantyhoses inside. I don’t wear tight clothes. I don’t know why anybody does. It makes no sense to me. If clothes need to stretch, it means they’re too small to begin with and you should get a bigger number or different piece. Nobody should wear clothes that are too small. Why anybody would ever want to subjugate themselves to such merciless clothes is beyond me.”
“Well, I do wear pantyhose. And today you do as well. It’s an essential part of the demoralization technique I developed. I didn’t get to my position at school without trash-talking, and that demands discipline. These clothes force discipline on the wearer. That’s why you always see me wearing pantyhose, except when I’m not, of course.
“None of this makes any kind of sense…”
“Science also shows that compression increases physical performance and recovery. It stands to reason that we can enhance our skills that way.”
“And my comfort zone says I don’t want them near me.”
“When I came to this world, I didn’t understand how human females managed to annoy males to no end and eat up their nerves. But then I figured out the female secret weapon. It’s the pantyhose that fills girls with turmoil and makes them lash out at the world. I sought to harness that power, and that’s how I invented the Tauntate fighting style.”
Wallflower sighed. “Taunting somebody isn’t a fighting style...”
“The more layers of pantyhoses, the greater the buff. And since tonight is the only time we have this place for ourselves, you’ll need all the buff you can get. Sure, pantyhose might feel uncomfortable, but one does not go into combat for comfort.”
“Even if that made any sense, you can’t get me to wear tight clothes. I get claustrophobic just thinking about it, not to mention that I’m allergic to nylon.”
“Wallflower Blush, all your life you’ve been making up excuses and running away. No more!” With that, Sunset Shimmer placed one leg between Wallflower’s legs and knocked her on the floor with her body. “Tonight you grow out of your cowardness!”
Wallflower just barely managed to catch herself with her hands before she hit the floor. “What the hell is wrong with you, Sunset?” At that moment, she felt an enormous weight on her lower back, pinning her to the floor.
“I used to be like you, looking out for my own interests. But my friends defeated me and forced me to adopt their way of thinking. They taught me a lot. And today I pass that friendship message onto you, my student.”
“What lesson would that be?” Wallflower struggled, but couldn’t break free.
“Might makes right, of course.”
“I don’t think friendship means what you think it means.”
“Nonsense.” Sunset picked up a pair of pantyhose and rolled them up so that only the foot part stuck out of the bunched material.
“Please, just let me go and I’ll tell everybody that you taught me a lesson. I’ll also give you my lunch money for a month and do your homework.”
“Oh, Wallflower, don’t you know that I’m a different person than I used to be? My friends broke me. The things you offer mean nothing to me anymore. My only aim is to break you as well because that’s how friendship spreads.” Sunset lifted Wallflower's foot and brought it closer.
“You’re insane, Sunset!”
“Be quiet now, I need to concentrate so that I don’t rip the fragile material.” With that, she put on the pantyhose on Wallflower’s feet.
“No! I don’t want this. Let me go!”
Sunset said nothing. Without uttering a single sound, she dressed up the legs under her until the pantyhose were one with the skin beneath them.
“I hate you for what you did to me!” Wallflower wined.
“It’s just clothes…”
“You got what you wanted. Now let me go.”
“Wait, you think we are finished? Wallflower, I have a dozen pantyhoses left in the box. We’re just getting started.”
Wallflower gasped.
After lots of struggling and some crying, the task was finally completed.
Sunset stood up from her student and announced, “Now that that’s done, we can finally start with the training.”
Wallflower just lay on the ground, clenching her fists.
“With tauntate, you can end a fight before it even starts. It’s all about demoralizing your opponent. I have a two-hour monologue prepared to explain how it all works. After that, you’ll be able to take a test and if you pass, I’ll let you go.”
“Can we just cut straight to the test so I can undress and go home to cry in my corner of despair?”
“Sure, we can do that. I find failure to be a great motivator. When you fail the test, you’ll have no choice but to submit to my teachings.”
“I cannot fail,” Wallflower said with determination in her voice.
Sunset helped Wallflower to her feet since she either wouldn’t or couldn’t bend her knees.
“You are a warrior and I am your opponent. Your job is to demoralize me. You’ll need to achieve great discipline because you can never repeat the same taunt, that would be just lame and not demoralizing at all. If you achieve this, our lesson will be complete. But if you fail, I’ll have to repeat my monologue.”
“I must prevail,” Wallflower chanted more to herself than her teacher.
Sunset Shimmer walked backward a few steps away then bowed down with palms pressed together. “You possess great power now, but if you’re not careful, it can break your opponent, or yourself. A mere one layer of pantyhose was enough to turn me into a she-demon. But you’re not ready to tap into that power yet.” She stood straight and slapped her chest with both hands repeatedly. “Come at me with all you’ve got. Taunt me until I’m demoralized if you can!”
Wallflower didn’t want to buy anything Sunset Shimmer was selling, yet the clarity of her goal was unlike anything she experienced in her life before. Failure simply wasn’t an option. With a fixed stare at her opponent, she began crafting taunts as if all the blood from her legs was pumped to her brain, sending it into overdrive. Her vocal cords tightened as if by an effect of Thaumaturgy. Her normally silent voice turned into booming shockwaves as she yelled out at Sunset Shimmer.
“I see you’re disconnected from reality since there are no tears in your eyes. The world is suffering. I know it to be true. I feel the pressures of agony from all sides with my very being.”
"I want to run away from the dozen pantyhoses that I’m wearing even more than I’d be willing to run from death. Ergo, death has nothing on me now that I'm wearing them."
"I had to put on multiple layers of pantyhoses in preparation for this fight. You'll pay for making me do that!"
“I won’t forgive you, just as these pantyhoses are unforgiving to me.”
“You’ll know no pleasure of winning for the rest of our encounter, just as I don’t know the pleasure of freedom anymore. The pantyhoses took away the last patch of free skin.”
"You can't hurt me more than I'm already hurting."
"Your opposition is just a welcome distraction from the much greater discomfort that I'm feeling because of the tight-fitting clothes."
"You can’t tear me apart, not with all these layers of compression holding me together."
“I used to be afraid of cuts, but now I just want you to rip me free. I want to see everything that binds me destroyed!”
“Even if you cut my legs, I wouldn’t bleed. My blood vessels are so squeezed that there’s practically no blood flow in them.”
"You can't break me, the pantyhoses have already done so."
"My discomfort is your demise, these pantyhoses are my ultimate weapon. They give me the desire to end it all."
"I can’t handle the tightness so I’ll overcompensate by handling you!"
"I may be suffocating in these pantyhoses, but in the end, I'll be victorious."
"You'll never defeat me. You can’t defeat one who has already been conquered by the discomfort of wearing multiple layers of pantyhoses."
"If I can go through with wearing tight clothes then the challenge before me doesn’t even compare."
"The pantyhoses are too tight for me to prolong this any longer."
"I'll squeeze the morale out of you, just like these pantyhoses are squeezing my legs."
"You'll never see me crumble, the pantyhoses are keeping me standing. I can’t even bend my knees."
"You're no match for me, I've already lost the battle against discomfort, I can’t lose more."
"I'll squeeze the fight out of you, just like these pantyhoses are squeezing the life out of me."
"You'll never defeat me, the struggle of wearing tight clothes makes this test trivial in comparison."
"You'll be similarly caught in my web that these pantyhoses are trapping my skin."
"I'll squeeze the fight out of you, just like these pantyhoses are squeezing my bladder."
"You'll be defeated, just like my circulation is thwarted by these pantyhoses. I can’t even feel my legs anymore."
"I have nothing but focus and control remaining because all the potential for distraction has already been claimed by the pantyhoses I’m wearing."
"You'll be caught in my grip, just like these pantyhoses are gripping my legs."
"You'll be defeated, just like my comfort is disconsolate by these pantyhoses."
"The pantyhoses are restrictive, and if I have to suffer, I’ll make you suffer as well."
"You'll never see my defeat, the pantyhoses already claimed it."
"You'll be caught in my trap, just like these pantyhoses are trapping my skin."
"I'll outsmart you, just like these pantyhoses are opposing my every move before I even make it."
"You'll be defeated, just like my flexibility is crestfallen by these pantyhoses."
“The abundance of blood in my head allows me to tap into my hidden vocabulary, just like pantyhoses are reaching into my most private areas.”
"I'll outdo your expectations, just like these pantyhoses are outdoing my will to live."
"You'll be defeated, just like my mobility is subdued by these pantyhoses."
"The pantyhoses may be constricting, but they're also giving me composure. Even if I wanted to kneel before you, I couldn’t because the many layers won’t allow me to bend my knees."
"You can't keep up with me, just like I can't keep up with the sensory overload from the tight pantyhoses."
"I shall hold my ground because these pantyhoses are so constricting that I don't want to move."
"I'll outlast you, just like these pantyhoses will probably outlast me. I’m running out of breath as we speak."
"You'll be outmatched, just like these pantyhoses are outmatching me."
"The pantyhoses may be tight, but they're also giving me a death wish."
"I'm more present in the moment, my clothes touching me all over without my consent ensure it."
"Your distraction tactics may have worked on your other foes, but they won't work on me because I'm already distracted plenty by the sensation of the fabric rubbing against my skin and applying unyielding pressure upon it."
"You cannot break my morale because it already broke when you dressed me up for this fight."
“You could threaten me with a knife right now but I’d only welcome it because I’m not sure how else I’ll be able to get out of this stupid fabric without something sharp.”
“You think victory over me would be a nice thing, but we can’t have nice things because pantyhoses exist in this world. You cannot have a nice thing because the fact remains that I’m wearing pantyhoses right now. ”
“You wish to reason with me, but you fail to understand that it’s completely unreasonable for anybody to wear pantyhose, and I’m currently wearing multiple.”
“I know what you’re thinking. You believe I’m in a tight spot right now. You have no grasp on the extent of tightness I’m in.”
“There are only 2 kinds of people in the world. Those who have worn pantyhose in their lives and the innocent ones who have not yet been defiled. Witness my corruption take root as I transition to the dark side. Innocence lost can never be regained!”
“My rage is unquenchable because the violation on my legs is everlasting.”
“If I am destined to suffer, you shall suffer as well!”
“The tightness I have to constantly endure is so unbearable that it becomes me. I will be unbearable to you in turn!”
“You hope for victory, but hope is a lie. I know for my hopes have been snuffed out by the tightness of the pantyhose.”
“The clothes you’re wearing may be heavier than mine, but my burden is the greatest!”
“Pantyhoses don’t decay like we do. In a sense, now that they latched onto me, that part of me is immortal. What chance do you have against me, mortal?”
“No pain that you might unleash upon me can compare to the pressure I feel right now.”
“I’m in a position where I only wish for death. I wish it upon you too!”
“You may beg for mercy after this, but the world itself does not deserve salvation, for pantyhose exists in it. Mercy is only a fairytale.”
“You cannot defeat me for one can only be defeated once, and I’m already utterly defeated by the tightness I feel.”
“I can never rest for I am restless because I’m itching everywhere, and if I touch myself I only feel it more.”
“Have you ever felt so anxious that you just exhibit the urge to destroy somebody? I feel that all the time now.”
“My faith is unshaken. Suffering is the only higher power. This newfound dogma is law!”
"If I may only undress when this fight ends, I'll make quick work of you because god knows I want to strip naked right now due to the chaffing I feel because of the dumb fabric."
"You've only seen half of my power. I use the other half straining my thighs, trying not to get squished by the pantyhoses completely."
"You think you are good enough to stand on this battlefield? A good enough warrior has not yet been born. None can withstand the ultimate power of pantyhose. It's only a matter of how many pairs before one succumbs. We are all destined for defeat; pantyhoses ensure mine, and I'll ensure yours!"
“My ego took a hit by the mere fact that you’ve seen me wearing tight clothes, I cannot let you walk away from here undefeated. You won’t be bi-winning tonight.”
Wallflower shook her head, breaking her mind off the test. Due to the sensory overload, she could only focus on one thing at a time. Before her kneeled crumpled Sunset Shimmer, clearly demoralized.
“Did I pass the test?”
“Yeah, you’ve already passed it with your first taunt. But you kept on going…” Sunset slowly stood up, hugging her shoulders with her hands. “It seems the student has surpassed the master. I have nothing more to teach you.” She walked to the exit of the gym.
“Good, then I’m taking these off!” Wallflower slid her palms down the body, under all the layers of pantyhoses. But all she achieved with that was to get her hands stuck in there as well. When she struggled, she lost her balance and fell. “Ugh, little help here, please?” She looked at her former teacher who was already at the exit.
“Make sure you undress only one layer at a time else you can get stuck and won’t be able to undress.”
Wallflower tried to retract her hands, but the elbows were already past the event horizon of the pantyhoses. When she bent them, they only lifted the pantyhoses higher which was exactly opposite of what she wanted. And when she straightened her hands, they only drifted further in. The more she struggled, the more she got stuck.
The exit door shut closed behind Sunset Shimmer.
“No, no, no, no, no, no, no! Wait, wait, wait, wait!”
With that, Wallflower Blush was left alone to twirl uselessly on the floor. A long night full of sweating, crying and hyperventilating in the bounds of tightness awaited her.
Wallflower Blush hoped that when morning came, a cleaning lady would find her and help her out. But when the rays of light finally illuminated the gym, all the doors on the tribunes opened and the students started pouring in.
“Somebody, please help me out of these pantyhoses!”
The students, many of whom she knew, reacted as if by instinct. Almost in no time at all, there were just as many cell phones in the air as there were students. The glaring devices with their devious red lights were all pointed at her.
She begged and twirled and cried, but they all just stared at her from the tribunes as if she were a victim about to be thrown to the lions at the Colosseum.
The entire school filled the tribunes before Celestia finally came to open up the event. She walked to the mess on the floor and helped her on the slippery feet.
“Thank you,” Wallflower said, glad that her ordeal was finally over. At least that’s what she thought.
“You can’t be here, missy!” Celestia scolded her. “Go back to the tribunes.” With a hand, she pointed at the stairs.
Still stuck in the many layers of pantyhoses, Wallflower Blush ascended the stairs as best she could.
When she came face to face with her schoolmates, she yelled, “Does anybody have scissors?”
Only red lights drew closer in response.
“Aaa!” she pushed through the crowd for what it seemed like an eternity since the exit door was on the very edge of the tribune. They saw her. She hoped she’d get free before the event so that nobody would see her like that, but the exact opposite had happened.
Alas, not all saw her. Not yet. There were still some stragglers running the hallways of the school.
They all stopped and stared at her as she passed them in the hallways.
Wallflower kept looking at the floor, trying to avoid the painful gazes. She would have covered her face with her palms if they weren’t still stuck in the many layers of pantyhoses.
But when she came out of school, her ordeal was not yet over. She still had to get home. Yet she couldn’t pay for a bus without money or hands. Nor could she call a taxi.
She sighed and walked in a direct route to her home through the main street of her town.
It was still morning and people were going to their workplaces.
She didn’t have to look at them because she already knew. The cars slowed down to a crawl when they drove past her. The chatter of the bystanders suddenly cut to silence.
They were all staring at her.
It was a long walk, and the sun didn’t help. She would have been sweating in the many layers of pantyhoses even if it was winter, but it was summer.
She craved water, but at the same time had trouble holding liquid inside. The irony of her predicament escaped her. Her bladder was full, and it being squeezed from all sides with tremendous pressure didn’t help at all. The mind was in turmoil almost as much as her body. Behind her was a sleepless night full of struggle and strife.
But the clarity of her situation dawned on her as bright as a nuclear explosion when she bumped her head on the locked door of her house. The fact was as clear as the skies above her: she forgot the keys to her house in the pants she left in the gym - on the opposite end of town.
It was time to backtrack.
She had to pass all the people who stared at her before and new ones as well.
The hallways in school were the easier part since they were mostly empty. The exact opposite was true with the tribunes that were packed.
Again she was greeted by the piercing red lights.
And when she walked the stairs to the gym floor, the band suddenly stopped playing.
In the silence, in front of the whole school, she walked to her stuff on the floor. She dropped to her knees and booped for keys in the pocket of her pants.
All the while, she had to be careful not to fall forward, because if that happened, she wouldn’t be able to get up again.
After many failed attempts, she finally managed to snatch at the keys with her teeth.
She couldn’t get up without risking falling in the slippery pantyhoses. Instead, she crawled on her knees across the floor of the gym to the nearest wall.
Hitting against the wall with her head again and again, she helped herself to climb up as if she were a growing wallflower.
And once more, the long journey past her schoolmates on the tribunes and the heart-piercing red lights.
Like a déjà vu, roaming through the main street past the watchful crowds to the door of her house.
Her bladder felt like it was about to burst. Yet the key didn’t want to align with the keyhole even after a dozen tries.
And when it finally did, it was time to rotate it.
It was then that she realized that it would be impossible for her to turn the key. Between the door handle and the wall, there was simply not enough space for her big head to grasp the key firmly with her mouth.
She banged her head against the door in utter defeat.
“Excuse me, miss,” came a sound from behind her. “Are you the one they call Pantyhose Warrior?”
“Nobody calls me Pantyhose Warrior!” Wallflower almost screamed as she turned back, even though she heard that phrase being said behind her back at least a dozen times already.
“That’s too bad,” said the other businessman.
The first one added almost before the second one finished. “I guess the one whom the internet calls Pantyhose Warrior won’t receive the million dollars from the Flim and Flam brothers then.”
“A million dollars…” Wallflower said as in a trance she was actually in due to the oncoming heat-stroke.
“All you have to do is sign this contract, and they’re yours.” The second one said
“More or less…” the first one added.
It was too good to be true, but more than that, Wallflower thought about the opportunity for freedom. Her last hope of salvation. “I’d need a free hand to sign anything.”
One held a contract before her eyes while the other took out a cell phone from his pocket. The familiar red light glared at the desperate girl. “Have you read this contract and do you agree with everything that is in it?”
“Yes, I’ve read it and agree to it, now let me sign it.” She signaled with her head to the bound right hand.
The first businessman passed the contract to his brother and stuck a cane under all the layers of pantyhoses to make a small opening.
It wasn’t much, but it was just enough for Wallflower to free the elbow and then the hand.
Not wanting to deal with anybody at that time or in her life ever again, she quickly signed the contract, turned back to unlock the door then ran to the bathroom.
Wallflower hoped in vain that she would be able to unpeel all the layers before the call of nature would get the better of her.
Wallflower sat in front of her house in her undies. In one hand was a bottle of water from which she drank like mother's milk, and in the other she held a toilet cleaner with which she poked ceremonial fires of burning nylon.
A makeshift wooden wagon stopped before her.
She looked up. “Oh, it’s you guys again. Where are my million dollars?”
“As per contract, you get a thousand dollars at the end of every month for the next 83 years and 3 months.“
“Right…”
“And as per contract, we get to equip your house with new electronic devices.”
“More free stuff for me?”
“In a sense…” one answered.
“There is a caveat, though,” the other said.
“You have to put these on.” The first one handed her a box filled with pantyhoses.
“Oh, for the heck's sake, not this again…” Wallflower squeezed her fists. “Never again!”
“Your written consensus overrides your verbal lack of consensus.” One of them waved with a signed contract.
“And if you break the contract,” the second one added, “you’re the one giving us a million dollars.”
“...that I don’t have.” Wallflower sighed.
“This house you inherited is a good start.” The first one caressed the doorframe with a palm.
She stood up and pressed her hands to the hips that were still hurting in the skin canals left by pantyhoses’ rubber bands. “Can I see that contract again?”
“Here’s a copy.” The other one handed it to her.
At first glance, it seemed like an empty sheet of gray paper, but as she studied it closer, she noticed that it consisted of thin, black lines.
Some people like to add small print to the contract, we do things differently. We write whole contracts in small print.
“So, I just have to do this thing now and I’m the one who gets the million dollars?”
“Sort of…” They both said in unison.
She grabbed the box and walked to the restroom. “Just for the record, I hate you!”
Wallflower Blush walked out of her bathroom and noticed that the Flim-Flam brothers invited themselves into her house and were installing speakers on the ceiling.
“There. I’m wearing pantyhoses. Not sure why they have a metallic waistband, though. Anyway, this is the last time that I’m wearing tight clothes. Can I take them off now?”
“Can you?” One of the brothers snapped a belt around her waste.
She tried to undress, but the clothes were firmly stuck to the belt.
“Electromagnetic belt,” he said. “It’s not as if we don’t trust you. Surely you intend to honor your contract, right? It’s just…”
“We don’t trust you,” the second one added.
“Wait, you expect me to keep wearing these?”
“Only for the duration of the contract.” The first one nodded.
“That’s like a hundred years. And how do you expect me to go to the bathroom if I can’t take them off?”
“We’ve prepared a special public form, which you can fill at any time,” the second one added. “I’ve already bookmarked it on your computer.”
“You were on my computer?”
“Don’t worry, I first backuped your browsing history, including the suggestive My Little Tentacle fanart, onto a public cloud. All your digital history is preserved and freely accessible.”
She stormed into her room as fast as pantyhoses would allow her, and indeed, she saw her computer already turned on with a long form on the screen.
She pressed the ‘submit’ button without even reading any of it.
All the fields turned red, with bold text on top of the page stating, “Fill out the required fields.”
She quickly skimmed among the options under the ‘submitted reason for removal’ and yelled, “There’s no option for: they’re itching me!”
“Indeed,” the first one said.
“It’s not a valid excuse,” the second one added. “Going to 1 or 2 are the only options. If approved, the belt will shut down for a minute.”
“Get out!” Wallflower Blush yelled. “Both of you, get out of my house now!”
“I just put up the last camera,” the first one said. “We can, indeed, go now and watch the numbers go up as the stream goes viral.”
They waved her goodbye and left the house.
“Cameras? Stream? What were they on about?” Wallflower banged her head against the wall from all the confusion and turmoil she’d been through thus far.
“Is she going crazy?” came from the ceiling.
“Who said that?” Wallflower looked around but didn’t see anybody.
“We’re the sound of reason. You haven’t heard from us for a long time.”
“Hearing voices is a symptom of being crazy.”
“I think hearing voices is the least of her problems.”
“Yeah, she’s crazy alright. Nobody in the right mind would wear a dozen pantyhoses for no reason.”
“Who are you, people‽” Wallflower screeched. “I had no choice!”
“You’re just an attention whorse.”
“No, I’m not. The attention is the exact opposite of what I want!”
“*Pantyhose Warrior says while she streams on all platforms…”
“Wait, what?” she pressed her hands against her head. “That can’t be true.”
She quickly opened the search engine Giggle and said, “Pantyhose Warrior” as she wrote it in the text box.
When she pressed ‘I feel lucky’, she saw herself staring back at her.
“Inception!” came from the ceiling.
It was the same comment that appeared in the chat by the stream. And so too were the following comments, read out loud from the ceiling.
“She’s cheating by opening her own stream to add to the view count.”
“I’m not cheating! I don’t even want any of this.”
“Lie to somebody else.”
She stood up and yelled at the ceiling “I’m not lying!”
“Lier, lier, pantyhose on fire!”
“Stop watching me!” she said to the internet, fell on the bed and covered herself with a sheet.
“I wonder what she’s doing under there.”
“I bet she’s getting frisky under the covers.”
“Nobody would want to touch her with a 6-foot poll. Of course she has to take care of it herself.”
“I’m not doing anything!” She threw the covers off herself “Leave me alone!”
“Congrats on the million views!”
Wallflower Blush blushed “A million people are watching me?”
“Why does she call herself Pantyhose Warrior? She’s too pathetic to even be a girl scout.”
“I don’t even call myself that, and I never wear pantyhoses!”
“A dozen pantyhoses you’re wearing say otherwise.”
“Leave me alone!”
“You’re just lying there like a lazy bum you are. Get up and dance for us!”
“I’m not here for your entertainment. Stop watching me!”
“I can’t stop watching now, I didn’t finish yet.”
Wallflower blushed like never before. She assumed a fetal position and pressed a pillow on her head. Yet not even the pillow cooperated. It wasn’t as soft as she remembered it to be. It was as if it had a hard lump in it.
She tried to lose consciousness and escape to dreams from the harsh reality, but the constant and persistent comments kept her awake. She could only ever fall asleep after crying, but the tears wouldn’t stop flowing.
“I’d do her now that she’s hiding her face.”
“I’d do her with a 7-foot poll.”
“I’m new here. Why is she wearing pantyhoses? Is this like her fetish? Grose!”
“If I was her I’d rather kill myself than keep on streaming.”
“I bet her parents are proud of her…”
“I heard her parents are dead.”
“I bet she choked them to death with her pantyhoses.”
“Headcanon accepted.”
“I go to the same school as she does. I’ve heard she fucked with people’s brains.”
“Well, there’s a new fetish I haven’t heard about yet.”
“Neurophilia?”
“Why isn’t she in an asylum?”
“I bet she was too crazy even for them.”
“Did you guys see the memes about her? They’re spreading like wildfire.”
“I’ve just uploaded another autotune video clip of her asking for scissors.”
“Let me get this straight, she broke into the gym to wear pantyhoses?”
“Don’t try to find any reason, she’s clinically insane.”
“Why is she wearing pantyhoses in the middle of the Summer?”
“If she was hot by herself she wouldn’t. But she’s the opposite of hot so she must.”
At that moment, Wallflower Blush’s cell phone rang on her cupboard. It was an SMS from Sunset Shimmer, “Use the memory stone. Erase the day.”
She sat on her bed, trying to interpret the message. As she supported herself with a hand on the pillow, she felt the bump again. “Can it be?” She reached inside the pillow and pulled out the fully intact artifact. “There are people who are wrong on the internet. But I can fix it. I can erace the day from everyone’s memory and fix the internet!”
Her smile quickly dissipated as the rock was pulled. She tried to stop it but it was ripped out of her hands. It flew through the window.
Sunset Shimmer intercepted it and turned to Twilight Sparkle. “Told ya she had it.” With that, she walked off.
“I can’t believe you were right about Wallflower.” She too turned around.
“Help,” was the only thing Wallflower could utter.
Twilight glanced back at her. “Clearly you’re still evil. Erasing people’s memory is one thing, but censorship on the internet? You truly are a vile villain. Reformation will therefore have to take a long time in your case.”
With that, Wallflower Blush was left alone with the internet trolls who would make sure she’d never forget the day or any day after that.
