The six girls sat in a circle, back in their old school hangout. The Rainbooms poster which had been on the wall had been ripped down- as soon as Rainbow had seen the defacement, she'd torn it down, swearing under her breath to put up a new one, "20% more awesome." After the girls had come across Pinkie and Sunset behind the stage, Rainbow had run to speak with Celestia, and every girl had skipped class for the period. Flash Sentry stood in near the doorway, having already shooed away two sets of inquisitive- and one group of angry- students from intruding on the Rainbooms. After hunkering down in the music room, each of the girls had slowly but surely gathered their thoughts.
Pinkie Pie had her head on Sunset's shoulder, quiet hiccups the only sound she made. The party girl looked tired, and her face was covered by her hair- slightly curled locks still dangling around her face. The girl she leaned on looked nearly as bad, though much more alert- Sunset had had an emotional roller coaster over the last four days, and was looking pretty bedraggled. The despair, fear, and pain she'd carried was nearly spent, but she was still anxious- her friends might have been back at her side, but the rest of the school still wanted her head- and she lacked the proof to prove her innocence.
Fluttershy was the most conflicting of the figures in the circle. There was still an odd undercurrent within her- a strength she'd only previously shown when angered beyond reason. But her shoulders were bent forward- she'd released her burdens, and the quiet smile on her face as she petted Angel Bunny showed the relief she felt at finding her equilibrium, lost so long ago. Of the whole group, she seemed the most calm, but it was a spent calm- most of her energy having fled with her outburst Saturday past, or expended in calming the near-hysteric Pinkie.
Rainbow Dash's posture was stiff, and she was gazing into the distance, still muttering under her breath. A stranger would have thought her expression merely stoic, but the other Rainbow Dash across the portal, and her friends around the room, knew the truth. Each smack of Rainbow Dash's palm into her other hand spoke of anger at herself, her mutterings were of impotent threats against an invisible enemy, and her lack of action spoke of her rage at the situation. Rainbow was pissed, but lacked a proper target for her anger.
Rarity scribbled in a notepad, not her ordinary sketchbook. The scratching of her pen only paused when she gripped her temple, and the red marks starting to form on her hand and forehead spoke of her concentration. There was no drama, no fainting in the face of the situation this time- she seemed to be more concerned with figuring out the next move than her normal histrionics. No clothes would solve this issue- Rarity's design skills were being pulled in a different direction.
Of the group, only Applejack seemed normal. Having been the first to realize her mistake, and the one whose revelation had shook her the least, she'd come to terms with her demons long before the others. Although the last week had been stressful, she'd already relegated the situation, in her mind, into the category of "Family Troubles"- and as an Apple, she was well versed to handle those. Her brow was furrowed slightly, but her thoughts rested on problems, not guilt or wrath.
Rarity was the one to break the silence, snapping her notebook closed.
"Girls, I've gone over the facts. Rainbow Dash" she motioned to the athlete, whose head rose at her gesture, "pointed out that although the web page bears Sunset's silhouette, it does not have any of the wit nor subtlety we expected from the old Sunset. Applejack recognized it as the tactic we'd seen her use before, turned back upon her. I recognized the conflict of why Sunset would do this- there's no purpose to Anon-A-Miss beyond petty vengeance."
Applejack looked across at Rarity. "What are you gettin' at, Rares?"
"Sunset had the means, opportunity, but no motive. We've recognized that, as we know Sunset's old plans and her real self well enough to know why our current troubles make so little sense."
Rainbow scowled, coming to her feet. "No one else knows her well enough to know the truth easily, though- no offense, Flash." He nodded in assent.
"Umm..." Everyone turned to look at Fluttershy. "If Sunset's been staying with Applejack these last few days, couldn't we just have the Apple family say she wasn't posting secrets? I mean, she didn't have access to a computer for a few days, right?"
"Three problems, Fluttershy." Everyone turned to look at Flash, who was frowning at his phone. "First, Dash and I talked about that Friday night. It's possible to queue up posts to be published later. Second," He frowned even more. "Anon-A-Miss' posts slowed down on Saturday, and they didn't post anything on Sunday. I don't know why, but it looks like whoever it was just decided to stop being Anon-A-Miss- or like Sunset was hiding her activities." She shrugged off the glares directed at him. "I'm not saying she did, just saying it could look like that. Third, most of the school's not exactly rational right now- they want someone to hate. I don't think we could convince everyone she's innocent without help- or the actual culprit."
"Wait, we?" Rainbow spoke up. "Flash, don't get me wrong, I'm glad for the help. But why are you including yourself in this?"
Flash shook his head. "Sunset and I talked earlier. She doesn't deserve this- and as soon as the real culprit is found, and their reasons are aired, we can finally put things back to normal."
Outside the room, three heads listened to what was going on inside. The CMC listened to their older siblings debate what should be done. As one, the three girls turned to one another.
"Ah know what we should do," Apple Bloom began "But it ain't my decision alone. You heard what they're sayin' in there. We all know just how bad it's gotten. So- what do we do?"
"Will coming forward really fix the problem?" Sweetie Belle spoke next. "I mean, the secrets are already out there. Stopping Anon-A-Miss might not add any more fuel to the fire, but..."
"Can we hide it, though?" Scootaloo spoke next. "Can we live with it if we never tell- if something happened to Sunset? Or even if nothing happens, can we stand what we've done? Can we fake innocence around Rarity, around Rainbow, around Applejack, and Flash?"
"We gotta decide. Do we tell our families, tell Celestia, and own up to what we've done? Or do we hope they never find out th' truth?" Apple Bloom finished.
The girls stood silently for a moment, then each looked at each other. Each made their choice.
The Rainboom's debate ended with a knock at the door. Flash glanced out, then frowned. He swung the door open. "Scoots? Apple Bloom? What are you doing here?"
"Cause... we gotta confession to make. A couple, really, but I- we- need to say this." Apple Bloom looked around the room, at six confused faces- and Sunset's look of dawning realization.
Applejack spoke, puzzled. "Bloom, what are you-" she was cut off by Sunset's throat clearing. Looking behind her, she saw the red-and-gold haired girl shift Pinkie off her shoulder, and motion for Apple Bloom to continue.
The redhead cleared her throat, and continued. "A little over a wee ago, we were meetin' in Flash's basement. Sweetie and I were talkin' and we got upset about how you weren't spenin' as much time with us." More and more of the faces around the circle were beginning to shift from puzzlement to understanding, and then to anger, or in two cases, disappointment. "We knew some stuff, and Sweetie got pictures of Sunset's phone. We put what we had together... and we made the Anon-A-Miss page."
Rainbow, predicably, was the first to break the silence. "Scootaloo! Why would you- just to get more time with-"
"No. I wish it was that simple." Scootaloo's voice was tight, even as she felt Flash's glare bore into he back of her head. "I... wanted Sunset to..." She cut her voice off.
"Payback for what I did to Flash." Sunset guessed, pinching the brow of her forehead. "And petty jealousy. That's it? That's why you tried to ruin my life?"
"Ah'm not sayin' we were being smart- or had a good reason." Apple Bloom said softly, her voice thick with guilt. "But that's why we're here." She looked up, guilt evident in her eyes. "Sunset- Ah'm sorry. Ah didn;t know what you were goin' through, but Ah shouldn't have done it anyway." She looked away. "Ah hurt both mah sisters- and nearly lost one before Ah got to know her. Yah might never forgive me, but-"
"Save it, Bloom." Applejack's voice was harsh. "We're gonna have a long talk about this- and Ah know Granny's gonna have somethin' to say to you."
Rarity's voice cut through the end of Applejack's speech. "And where is my sister?" Her voice crackled with a hard anger. "I see she isn't with you. Is she not willing to face me?"
Scootaloo spoke up. "Yeah- but she's got a different job. She didn't want to talk to you- so she's gonna go tell Principal Celestia."
Sweetie Belle sat in the chair in front of Celestia, who was glaring at her coldly, her sister watching from behind her. "So let me get this straight. You three got jealous, decided to frame Sunset, and started by posting a few secrets. You do know that's cyber-bullying, right?"
"Yes, Principal Celestia." Sweetie Belle glanced down at her feet. "Better that we get in trouble than something happen to Sunset- or worse. We know we're going to get in serious trouble for this."
"Then why come forward?"
"Wait." Everyone turned to look at Pinkie Pie. "So, you took stuff from Sunset's phone and shared around family secrets for the rest. That doesn't explain where you got Bon-Bon's secrets, or Topsy Turvy's. or Soarin's, or anyone else's stuff! Where'd you get all that stuff?"
Scootaloo grimaced. "After we posted a few things, people started sending more stuff in to the Anon-A-Miss page. We posted some of it, because we thought it might be a good way to isolate Sunset."
"That's the other reason we had to come forward, though. We didn't post the really bad stuff." Apple Bloom explained.
Everyone froze. "Really bad stuff?" Rarity enunciated. "Those pictures you posted were horrid! And most of the rest of it was worse!"
Flash spoke up next "What do you mean, really bad stuff, Scootaloo?"
Celestia leafed through the printouts in front of her, her gaze harsh. "This is..."
"I know." Luna watched Sweetie, sitting out in the main office, even as the sisters conversed within the Principal's personal office. "Some of those things are barely gossip, but others..."
"Blackmail material. Putting some of this stuff out there could ruin careers, or ostracize people from the school entirely. But I'm not talking about the secrets themselves." Luna glanced back at Celestia, whose furious visage twisted as she looked over one exchange. "Some of the names here- friends trying to betray friends- or worse- under anonymity."
"So, not just punishment for the CMC?" Luna spoke. "I assume there will be a little clemency, since they came forward on their own accord?"
"Only a little, Luna. They were willing to frame Sunset, cause emotional damage, and put her life at risk. As first offenders, they'll receive limited punishments- but not too limited. They need to be shown- as does the whole school- that this is not acceptable. But theirs aren't the only heads going to roll for this." She looked up at Luna. "I know you want to play bad cop this time. Call an assembly for this afternoon. Give me some time to go through all this, and we can hopefully make certain no one gets passed over for punishment." She looked donw at the documents. "I'm glad we won;t have to jump through any more hoops to find Anon-A-Miss- but we still need to bring this mess to a close. Decisively."
Luna grinned, then turned back to the door. Opening it, she found that Sweetie Belle had been joined by her two friends- and the seven older teens. Rarity was glaring down at her shame-faced sister, while Applejack held Apple Bloom by the shoulder. Rainbow Dash and Flash had Scootaloo between them. As one, the ten students turned to face the vice-principal.
"All of you, come in. We have a lot to discuss." Luna said.
Great chapter az always.
Those 3 are in the scolding of their lives
This was great I feel like this was good way to handle things. We don't need someone to chew them out or give a big "You Suck" speech, there need to be consequences but they don't have to be extreme.
Alot of people like to claim they are doing a more realistic version of Anon-a-miss but in my opinion this is the only story that can honestly claim that.
Bonus points for actually keeping everyone in character. At this rate you might ruin all future Anon-a-miss stories for me XD.
If it's a long chapter you might want to spilt it into parts.
you forgot "with" in there between "stand" and "what"
Looking forward to it. But, one fact still remains about what happens next chapter. CMC and the students of CHS, you all bought your tickets so, ALL ABOARD THE KARMA TRAIN!
= whole thats about it for errors i found good job
Excellent work! It's good to see that the CMC confessed. Nonetheless, I still hope that they get a good punishment. They have to learn their lesson after all.
And it seems that even others were involved too! Ooh boy! Just wait until the revelation...
Keep this up!
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.... is 2K a long chapter? Doesn't seem like it to me.
Interesting. When it comes to light, friendships can and do become fake at times, especially in Highschool. Often for the most simplest of reasons, like envy or the need for personal gain. Being betrayed or betraying someone is a fact of life. Like it or not, it will happen even over something small. But it takes a lot of guts and will to own up to that betrayal, to seek amends or to forgive the one who did it. Since in those instances the consequence can be much worse then the gain. In a real situation like this I have no doubt those kids would have never been looked at the same way again by their family or friends. Even after whatever punishment occurs. These three would have to live knowing that they broke that trust forever. Which often can lead to them being bullied by those they once trusted too. A viscous cycle.
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No, but there is one thing I realized when dealing with confession and conaquenses of Anon-a-miss stories. Sure you can plan it, but it will always go out the window. Even I have an anon-a-miss story and it was only intended to have 2,000 words but now it's at 6,000 and haven't finished it. I might have to break it into parts so readers won't get bored of it.
The reasons for the CMC doing this to Sunset make a lot more sense than "We wanted to spend time with our sisters." Scootaloo actually had the most believable reason, wanting payback on Sunset for what she put her brother through. And it's nice to see that they even recognized when a lot of the stuff sent in to "Anon-A-Miss" was way too far. Shows that they've got standards, even when they dislike somebody. Gives them a lot more humanity and even sympathy, even if some people feel like they don't deserve it.
Also, bonus points for them keeping all of the secrets and such sent in to them and turning the collection over to Celestia. Even more points for the twist with some people sending in the secrets of their friends and such. Makes me wonder why they would do such things. Bravo!
The confession part did feel a little quick, but honestly I prefer it that way at this point. I've seen too many other fics deal with this exact situation with anon-a-miss, and at least one where it dragged on and on. I can accept what we got.
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The confession is over- the confrontations are not.
I figure that Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Flash, and Sunset will want to have private talks with their counterparts.
I think you handled this chapter well. Seeing them all trying to come to an understanding together, as well as how the CMC decided to tell the truth was nice. You threw me for a loop; I thought Sweetie ran off, but you actually had her go to Celestia, nice. I can't wait to see the next chapter. ^_^
I do like that the ultimate deciding factor in their confession wasn't a matter of "can we still get away with this?" but a matter of "can we live with ourselves if we do?"
There really wasn't much more to say for this chapter. The next one is where things will get messy, isn't it? I don't envy the students who sent in nasty secrets. The crusaders in this universe do get a bit of credit for having the sense to not publish everything.
I love this story! It's 20% cooler then most of the other Amon A Miss stories. Heh
Can't wait for the next chapter see hwo everyoenr eacts nd how they learn not only Sunset was innocent, but who was the REAL culprits who sent them the stuff to post and be told the CMC bless thier hearts refuse to post the bad stuff, sure many of them be shuddeirng like mad.
Feeling they dodge a bullet big time, while the senders be hunkering down growing very very small.
Looked down.
Looks like it's about to hit the fan. Get the umbrellas and shields ready.
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And I was a bit surprised that we didn't get an update yesterday (the 3rd).
But then I got to thinking and figured that maybe something had come up in your offline life.
Can't wait to see what happens next in Chapter 14!
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Not so much stuff going on (though there is) as it is that this particular chapter isn't as inspired as many of the others. My muse is being grumpy, and doesn't like doing unoriginal things- like mass assemblies.
However, it'll be done before the evening's out. I had a few good ideas, and now I'm putting them into practice.
I know this is a long time but you put She when refering to flash here.
Wait, who? The CMC - that is, Cutie Mark Crusaders - live across the portal; these human girls can't use the same moniker because humans lack cutie marks.
I've seen 'Canterlot Movie Club' used before; is that what CMC means in this world?
Though the CMC could teach these girls a lesson; the fillies had their own experience with spreading harmful rumours, after all. The only difference is that the fillies were forced into it by Diamond Tiara, while the humans had no such excuse.
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I read in a fanfiction that it was the Canterlot Motley Crew and I think I'll use that from now on.
I'm a little concerned about these punishments. I hope this doesn't turn into revengeporn or something stupid.
Kind of hard for me not to ship Flash and Sunset after this chapter and the other moments in this fic. A guy that's willing to go to bat for this girl, and play personal guard to her, even after she really fucked him over emotionally. Even if he forgave her and wanted to be a friend, that's a little above and beyond the call of duty. I really cant see them not becoming a couple in the future. Dont get me wrong, there's a lot of damage that would need to be fixed. But the way you wrote this, it doesn't look impossible.
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damn why is everyone downvoting you