Deafened

Chapters

Blind Date
Whodunnit?
Adagio Scheming
"Anna Fourchen"
Shanty Stroll
The Seven Hundred Dollar Moneyshot
The Fruits of Your Labors
The Worst Game Ever
Bro Talk
Sunset Shimmer v2.0
Trust Issues
Guitar Hero Anon
Real Guitar Butcherer Anon
Caffeine Crash
Let's Battle!
Second Round
Flashbang!

Blind Date

Dear Adagio,
Hey, if you're free today after school, can you meet up with me in the English room? There's something I need to tell you and I'd greatly appreciate it if you came.

Sincerely, Anonymous

You fold the note, and hide it in your pocket before nervously looking over your shoulder to see if anyone saw you writing it. You shift uncomfortably for the rest of the Physics class with Professor Discord. He's saying something about energy waves or something, but you have no clue what the heck he's talking about. Right now, the only thing on your mind is the girl sitting three desks to your right.

Adagio Dazzle.

You'll admit it right now, compared to your friends, you were always lagging a bit behind with when it came to girls; sure, you talk to them, but you're basically the only dude among your friends that has never had a girlfriend before, which always bothered you. You remember the closest you've ever got was at this party once when Berry Punch stumbled over you on a sofa, and licked your neck. But she was drunk. Like immediately puked all over your shirt as soon as she did it drunk. It's a shame too, because you really liked that shirt.

But Adagio...man, she was the real deal. From the day she and her two friends came here, you were instantly under her spell. From her long, beautifully poofy hair to her generously shaped hourglass figure, she stood out even in Canterlot High, which was well known for its beautiful girls. You peek over your desk, and you see that she's paying just as much attention to Professor Discord's lecture as you are. She's looking down her desk, with her phone on her lap texting. You take a good look at Adagio's perfectly shaped legs that her tight magenta tights hugging all the way down to her purple heeled boots. You're so fixated on her that when turn to face your desk, you see Professor Discord right in front of you, looking expectantly at you.

"Well, Anon?" Professor Discord puts his hands across his hips. "Can you give me the answer to the problem on the board?"

"Purple!" You blurt out randomly, your mind still transfixed on Adagio. "It's purple!"

Realizing what you just said, you feel blood rush to your head as you try to slide under your desk to make yourself look smaller. You're expecting the entire class, Adagio included to laugh at you but you instead see Discord looking quite impressed. In fact, everybody around you looks just as amazed over what you just said.

"Aaaaaaaand correct!" He shouts dramatically. "At the current angle, the ray of light while taking gravitational lensing in consideration will be slightly redshifted, thus looking violet to the naked eye. You are correct, Anon."

"Nice one, champ." You feel a tab behind your back, and see your friend Flash Sentry giving you a thumbs up. Looking around the room, you see even Adagio looking at you a little surprised.

'Score!' You think in your head.

You reach into your bag, and take a large gulp of water from your bottle before shaking your head, trying to get back into the lesson. Who knows? Maybe Adagio is one of those girls who really likes smart guys; if you can look smarter it might impress her. The bell rings, and you hear the shuffling of everyone packing up their belongings.

"Homework is problems 14-31 on page 221, and don't forget to study for the test next Wednesday!" Discord calls before packing up his own things and walking out of the room.

You pack up, just in time to see Adagio gracefully striding out of the room, until you yourself leave the classroom.. You notice Sonata Dusk, another one of the new girls still in the room, taking a picture of the whiteboard with her phone. You know Sonata's a good friend of Adagio; in fact, Physics class is the only time you don't see Adagio, Sonata, and Aria Blaze together.

"Hey!" You call out to Sonata before she leaves the room. She turns around, and gives you a warm smile. "Wait up!"

"Oh, hi Anon!" Sonata chirps. "What's up?"

"Can you...give this to Adagio?" You hand her a folded piece of paper apprehensively. "It's important."

"Oooh, what is it?" Sonata says excitingly. "Is it a love letter?"

"W-w-what?" You stammer, trying to laugh it off. "Of course it isn't! It's just something secret that only Adagio can see. Promise not to peek, will you?"

"Gotcha!" Sonata says. "I'll make sure Dagi sees this. Catch ya later!"

You take a deep sigh and wipe the sweat off your forehead. Damn, that went a lot smoother than you thought it would have been. You know if it was Aria you were asking to do this, she'd have just laughed at you while tearing the paper apart in front of you.

As you make your way to the English classroom, you spot Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy at their lockers, whispering and murmuring to each other about something. The only thing you overheard from them was the word 'prank' and with Rainbow Dash being part of it, you know something nasty's about to happen to some poor bastard in the school. You see Fluttershy reaching into her bag, but upon spotting you however, Fluttershy's hand immediately shoots behind her back and the two girls freeze up, like deers caught in a car's headlights.

"You two alright?" You ask suspiciously. "You girls look like you just saw a ghost, or something."

"Oh...heh, didn't see you there, Anon." Rainbow Dash laughs nervously as she fiddles with her fingers. "Nawww, we're just planning a super sweet prank on someone."

"Oh, really?" You lean forward, excited. "So tell me; who's the poor sucker?"

"Sorry, can't risk telling you." Rainbow Dash say cooly. "You could be friends with them; right Fluttershy? Right?" Fluttershy, who's sweating bullets, responds by nodding frantically before hiding her face behind her pink hair.

"Well, none of my business anyways." You shrug. "Good luck getting whoever it is though, Dash!"

"Heh, thanks!" Rainbow Dash chuckles, laughing almost a little too much. "It's gonna be hilarious!"

You eventually make it to the English classroom and just as you predicted, nobody is here. You dim the shades trying to make the lighting look great, and take a breath mint, popping it into your mouth. You then pull out your phone and use the selfie camera to check your hair. Once confident with your looks, you sit on top of a desk and begin waiting for the moment.

"You said this room?" Your head perks up as you instantly recognize Adagio's voice.

"Yup! That's what the note said." Sonata's voice pipes up. "Anyways, see you at the library with Aria!"

The clicking of Adagio's boots gets louder and louder as your heartbeat intensifies. You can feel your cheeks burning up already.

'No...' You think to yourself, shaking you head. 'Come on Anon, pull yourself together. You got this. She's all yours.'

The door opens, and before you, walks in Adagio Dazzle herself. She's looking even more beautiful than before, if that's somehow possible. Naturally, your eyes began trailing downwards, but you you stop at her neck this time, seeing a sinister looking ruby around her neck that gave off a blood red glow.

"Hey, my eyes are up here." Adagio snaps, a slight tone of annoyance in her voice. "So...out with it."

"Oh, sorry about that." You chuckle nervously. "I was just looking at your necklace."

"This?" She says as she looks down, looking suspiciously at it as the glow intensified. Adagio stares at her necklace for a couple of seconds before looking at you with an all knowing grin. "What about it?"

"I've never seen one like that before." You continue the conversation. "I like it."

"Why thank you." Adagio smiles, playing with her hair a little before rubbing her necklace. "It's truly one of a kind."

"It looks great on you." You point our, making Adagio blush slightly. With a newfound surge of confidence, you get off the desk, and walk towards Adagio with long strides that quickly close the distance between you two.

"But anyways...the reason why I wanted to see you..." You say.

"I think I already know~"She says as she leans forward, giving you a sample view of her cleavage. Her necklace's red glow intensifies even more. "But go on..."

"Adagio..." You say slowly, and you watch as her eyes widen. "I-"

You're about to say 'I like you.' but then you realize something quickly changed about Adagio's eyes; they were half-closed, almost seductive for a moment, but now they're wide, and full of fear. You watch in confusion as all of the sudden she quickly dives under a desk, and covers her ears. A weird metallic clanking on a nearby table grabs your attention and you turn around, spotting something that you instantly recognize from video games.

"Shi-"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCeH-vFdft8

Whodunnit?

"Are you serious?!" You shout out loud. You can feel your lips and tongue moving, the vibration in your voicebox, but no sound. Nothing at all. All you hear is a ringing, white-noise like sound in your ears that blankets over everything.

Nurse Redheart nods her head sadly, as she writes on her clipboard "However, the damage to your ears is not permanent; you should recover in two to three weeks."

You close your eyes and rub your temple in frustration. Of all the times to go deaf, it happens just within a week of the Battle of the Bands! You heard that this year, it was going to be a really good one too, and even better, Adagio was going to be in it! What are you going to do now? Just gawk at the light shows and watch everyone dance? You mean, you wouldn't mind at all seeing more of Adagio, but without the music and singing to go with it, it just wouldn't be the same.

But what pisses you off the most is not that you went deaf, but the fact that someone deliberately threw A FUCKING FLASH BANG AT YOU. What did you do to deserve this? You're (generally) nice to everyone you meet, you never start fights with people, and you always keep to yourself. Guess Canterlot High just has some sadists who like to fuck with people just for the hell of it.

You see the door open, and in walks two people: your mom, and Principal Celestia.

Principal Celestia while usually having a calm demeanor, looks visibly worried this time, constantly eyeing your mother as if she was some rabid bear, and for a good reason too because your mom looks like she's ready to go all Mortal Kombat and rip out Principal Celestia's spinal cord like Sub-Zero. You watch as Principal Celestia's pupils shrink as your mom begins talking again. You don't know how to read lips, but judging from the way your mom's gesturing as she shouts at your princpal, you can guess she isn't happy; probably threatening to sue the school for letting something like this happen to you. Right when you thought your mom actually was going to rip out your Principal's spinal cord, you decide to step in.

"Mom?" You hold out a hand. "I don't know about you, but I'm angrier at the person who did this to me rather than the Principal."

Your mother looks at you for a moment and takes a deep breath before reaching into her purse, and grabbing out a stress ball which she then commences squeezing furiously, probably imagining it's Celestia's face. Meanwhile, Principal Celestia puts a hand to her chest, looks at you, and mouths 'Thank you.'

Nurse Redheart, after seeing that "friendly" conversation between your mother and the Principal nervously steps in, and starts talking with your mother. You watch as she reaches into her pocket and shows your mom the spent flashbang grenade, causing your mother's eyes widen with fury again. You give her a pleading look which calms her down again and Nurse Redheart continues talking, probably explaining your little predicament.

Meanwhile, you're sitting on the hospital's bed trying to think of the asshat who did this. Your first suspicions turn to Aria Blaze. Of all the people in Canterlot High who you hate, Aria tops the list by a long shot. From throwing raisins at you during lunch, to always trying to foul you in basketball during gym, to always trying to make you look like a doofus in front of Adagio, you've never hated someone as much as Aria. Why she hates you so much you don't know, but all you do know is that if she was the one who threw that thing at you, you're going to show her no mercy, Adagio's friend or not.

Your second suspect would be Snips or Snails. You heard rumors from Rarity that the two of them have also had the hots for Adagio, and whoever threw the flashbang just so happened to do it when you were about to ask her out? No way that's just a coincidence, but that doesn't explain how the heck they managed to get their hands on something like a flashbang; they're total idiots and you know for a fact that neither of their parents are cops and they're so clumsy there's no way they would have been able to snag some police gear from the Canterlot Police Department without showing up on the local news. They're not smart enough to do that.

'What about Sunset Shimmer?' You think to yourself. Those are really the only people you know who don't like you, so your suspicions now turn to Canterlot High's local sociopath who almost blew up the entire school. You had a really bad flu during the two weeks where it all happened, but from what you've heard, Sunset Shimmer went from being the most feared, respected, and popular girl to the most hated piece of shit in the school. But you've also heard from your friend Flash Sentry who used to date her tell you that she actually regretted what she did and is now trying to make amends with everyone she hurt. Good for her, but you still have suspicions about her.

'Whoever it is...' You think, gritting your teeth. 'I'm getting to the bottom of it. And I'm going to make them pay.'

*******

You hand in your English test to Ms. Cherilee, and stumble back to your desk, nearly crashing into another student on your way back; the flashbang not only left you temporarily deaf, but also messed up your coordination so you need to walk around with a cane from now on. You also got yourself a hearing aid for your ears, so you can now vaguely understand what other people are saying to you now, but it's a really crappy one so it heavily distorts the voices of everyone you hear, making them all sound really deep, and monotonous like Darth Vader. Because of this, you can never tell who's speaking to you. It could be your mom, your friends, or Principal Celestia, and you'd be none the wiser. On top of that, it would always beep whenever it detected someone talking, driving you insane whenever you were in loud places like the cafeteria because it would pick up every single noise in the room.

You accidently walk into the corner of your desk, your groin taking the brunt of the collision and you grunt in pain. Everyone immediately turns their gazes toward you, and you can feel your face flushing red with embarassement. Aria snickers as you sit down while clutching your nether regions, and you respond by giving her the finger when Ms. Cherilee isn't looking. You don't know how or why, but Aria is in every single one of your classes except Physics, meaning you see that smug little cunt every single day. And to make things worse, in just two days, Aria already found out a new way to annoy you; she'd get up real close with her phone, and play a pre-recorded audio of a bass guitar right next to your hearing aid. You don't know how, but for some reason, your hearing aid detects this as somebody's voice, and the sound would play in your ears as a super low pitch noise that literally causes your entire head to vibrate.

"Don't even think about it." You growl at Aria as you see her preparing her phone again. She responds not with words, but by putting to a hand to her ear, feigning that she didn't hear you.

"Wow, that's low, even for you." You mutter.

The bell rings, and you get up making sure you "accidentally" smack Aria in the shins with your cane before leaving the classroom. Physics is by far your favorite class: It's the last class you have before the end of the day, the only one where you don't have Aria, and the only time when you get to see Adagio. You open the door and as expected, you see Fluttershy waiting for you.

Ever since the flashbang incident, you can no longer use the stairs to get from class to class so Principal Celestia assigned Fluttershy to help you around the hallways. She's such a sweet person; kind, considerate of others, and you gotta admit, she's really beautiful. Almost as beautiful as Adagio.

"How are you feeling today, Anon?" She says. Or at least what you heard from your hearing aid.

"In a decent mood since I got this." You point towards your hearing aid. "I tried fiddling with my hearing aid last night, but it still can't pick up music, so I'm still going to be missing out on the Battle of the Bands."

"Oh..." She says as she looks down. "I'm so sorry to hear that..."

"Don't be sorry." You pat Fluttershy on the shoulder as she carries your textbooks for you. "It's not like you were the jerkwad who threw that flashbang."

For some strange reason, Fluttershy cringes when you mention the flashbang. You look at her, and she has such a pained, almost guilty expression on her face.

"Something wrong?" You ask Fluttershy.

"Oh, no. Nothing." Her eyes dart away from you. "I was just...thinking about Aria. How she's always so mean to you."

"Oh." You say. "Yeah, I hate her just as much as she hates me. In fact, I bet she was the one.."

"R-r-really, Anon?" She asks. "How can you be so sure?"

"Just spend a class in English with me and Aria and you'll find out." You answer. "I spend more time trying to dodge spitballs from her then I do working. Anyways, I can take care of everything from here; see you later, Fluttershy!"

You walk into the classroom just as Professor Discord is taking attendance and spots you. You take a look around the classroom and see Adagio scrambling to do her homework at the last second when Discord isn't looking. Deciding to do a favor for her, you do your best to walk to your seat as slowly as possible. Right when you begin to settle down in your seat, Sonata Dusk taps your arm, and you look up to see a note. She puts a finger to her lip, and you nod. Once certain that nobody else is looking, you unfold the note and read:

"Anon are you alright? -Adagio"

Your heart skips a beat; you're getting a note from Adagio?! Guess she actually does somewhat care about you; you don't know much about girls and relationships, but you know enough that this is a positive sign. You quickly write back saying you're fine, and poke Sonata, gesturing her to send it back to Adagio. It doesn't take long until Sonata hands you another note.

"I'm fine. Do you have any idea who did it?"

"In all honesty, I think it was your friend Aria." You write back. Just as you hand the note to Sonata, you realize you just scrutinized the friend of the girl you're trying to get together with.

Rookie mistake Anon, rookie mistake.

The note passing between you and Adagio with Sonata being the mediator keeps going on, and on until you nearly run out of paper entirely. The bell rings, marking the end of the day and you pack up. But just before you exit the door, you're stopped by Adagio and Sonata.

"Yeah?" You ask the two of them.

"Adagio thinks she found out who the person was that threw the flashbang." Your head turns and to your dismay, is Aria Blaze joining the two girls. "And no, it wasn't me."

"And how do I know you're not lying?" You sneer.

"In case you didn't notice, Adagio was in that room too." Aria points at Adagio. "I don't hurt my own kind, doofus."

"All bickering aside...let's get down to business..." You hear a slightly lower voice emanate from the hearing aid so you can only assume it belongs to Adagio's.

"You said you think you know who did it?" You cross your arms. "Go on then, 'cause I'm all ears right now."

"Rainbow Dash." She answers. "The day before it all happened, Aria was at the police department, where she spotted Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy snooping around in the back."

"Rainbow Dash is also really close friends with Twilight Sparkle, whose brother is a lieutenant in the Canterlot Police." Aria adds. "When you have a friend like Twilight Sparkle, it's probably ridiculously easy to smuggle stuff in and out of there."

"But how are you so sure that it's Rainbow Dash, and not somebody else in her friend group?" You ask.

"Hellooooooooo~" Sonata waves her arms in front of you. "Have you even met any of them? They're like the biggest goody two-shoes in the world except for Sunset and Rainbow Dash! I'm not that smart, but even I can tell."

"Plus, if you've ever met Sunset Shimmer, she's been trying to lick everybody's butt after what she did a while back so the only one left is Rainbow Dash." Aria adds.

You think hard for a moment...everything they're all saying actually makes a lot of sense when you add it all together.

"So then why are you telling me all of this?" You ask.

"We're telling you because you just lost your hearing, and everybody and their mother in Canterlot High knows what happened." Adagio scoffs. "We're telling you this because Rainbow Dash just made you look like the biggest pushover in the entire school." Your heart sinks a little when you hear just what your crush genuinely thought of you.

"Even I feel a little bad for you." Aria nudges your shoulder. "Come on...don't you wanna do something about it? Don't you wanna get even?"

"She just made you miss the Battle of the Bands too!" Sonata pipes up. "I mean...it was gonna be the best one in YEARS! I was gonna be in it!"

"Real humble there, aren't you?" Aria rolls her eyes. "But yeah......we do sing pretty good."

Anger begins to boil up inside you. How could you forget about the Battle of the Bands? You were so hyped for it, and now one shitty "prank" from Rainbow Dash and it's all gone! They're right. You ARE pissed about this! You DO want to do something about this! Just now, you notice that Aria and Sonata are wearing the same exact kinds of necklaces as Adagio: blood red rubies with a simple black strap. They were beginning to give off a faint glow.

"Don't forget, I was also inside that room too." Adagio says as she extends her hand over to you. "I don't know about you, but it looks like to me we have a common enemy here, Anon..."

"Yes..." You nod as you shake Adagio's hand. At that moment, the three girls' necklaces flash red before your eyes as you feel an ever so faint tugging in the back of your head. "Yes we do."

Adagio Scheming

Ever since Rainbow Dash threw that flashbang at you, you had to stop driving to school like you normally did, meaning you now have to take the bus. And to think that once you got your license, you'd never see this big piece of yellow metal ever again...

You take one good look at the bus, and can already foresee that nothing good is going to come out of riding on this bus; the bus's typical routine is to pick up students from a middle school before coming to Canterlot High, meaning when you step in, there's going to be like four empty seats at best, meaning you're almost always going to have to sit next to that one awkward middle schooler.

Come to think of it though, A LOT of middle school kids are awkward. You remember how when you were in middle school, you and your friends were scared shitless by how tall the high schoolers were. Oh how the tables have turned now; you get on the bus, and every single middle school kid stops whatever they're doing, and looks at you as if you were some serial killer. But Lady Luck is on your side today, and you find a nice empty seat up front.

Just as you're about to take a seat, you feel your phone go off and you get a message from an unknown number. You read the text message:

Anonymous,

Hello, this is Adagio. We wanted to discuss our plans on settling your little vendetta with Rainbow Dash today. Come to the cafeteria.

Your cheeks burn for a moment. How the heck did Adagio get your number?! Not that you're complaining or anything, but still. You take one look at the grumpy looking bus driver glaring at the kids in the back throwing food at each other, and that's all the incentive you need to start walking back towards the entrance of the school. As you make your way towards the cafeteria, you wonder what exactly Adagio meant on "settling your vendetta".

What was she going to do? Expose Rainbow for what she did or something like that? But since Aria is in her little friend group, you're guessing they'd cook up something a little more sadistic... But you can't help but feel nervous about the idea of doing something like that; you're all for making Rainbow pay, but doing anything illegal is where you draw the line. If your mom ever finds out you committed a crime she would murder you herself before you even set foot in jail.

Once you step into the cafeteria, you immediately take off your hearing aid as to avoid the hundreds of voices that it's going to pick up all at once. Students of all ages from freshmen to seniors are scattered across various tables; some are doing their homework, others are on their phones, and some are just talking, and having a good time with their friends. However, it doesn't take long for you to spot Adagio's poofy mass of orange hair among the crowd, and the three girls notice you walking towards them.

"Want to take this somewhere quieter?" You ask the Dazzlings. "Here, my hearing aid goes bonkers since it picks up everyone's voices at once."

You watch as the three girls start talking with each other before Aria rolls her eyes and Adagio motions you to follow them. The two of you eventually leave the cafeteria altogether and take a turn into an empty hallway. You stuff your hearing aid back into your ear, and wait for one of the three Dazzlings to break the ice.

"So..." You say, trying to keep your eyes from falling downwards towards Adagio's cleavage. "What's your plan?"

"Well, to know what hurts people the most, you need to know what they like the most..." Adagio says. "I for one, know that Rainbow Dash takes absolute pride in her athletic prowess..."

"And plus, next Tuesday there's a pretty big soccer game against Canterlot High's rivals: Crystal Prep!" Sonata adds. "It's like an invisible old man living way up on the clouds is just giving us this opportunity!"

"Invisible old...what?" Aria looks confused at Sonata. "Man, you're so weird Sonata..."

"Ha! Not as weird as your tacky ripped vest!" Sonata shoots back, giving Aria a raspberry. "I mean seriously; who pays sixty bucks for clothes that already look twenty years old?"

"Tacky?!" Aria's eyes flash with anger as she cracks her knuckles."Why you- I'll show YOU tacky!"

Before you can even blink, you see Sonata pinned to the ground as Aria begins twisting her arm back, causing Sonata to scream in pain.

"AAAAAAAUGGHHHHH! UNCLE! UNCLE! UNCLE! UNCLE!" She shouts, furiously tapping the ground with her free arm.

"Can you two go ten seconds without bickering like a married couple?!" Adagio steps in just before Aria was about to do what looked like something out of WWE on Sonata.

"But she started it!" Sonata whines, rubbing her nearly twisted arm.

"And I'm ending it!"Adagio shouts.

This whole little argument between the three girls would have been cute if not downright hilarious had these girls been like, ten years younger, but now it just makes you feel like you're walking into a private part of their lives that you shouldn't be seeing. You feel extremely awkward after just witnessing the way Adagio acted almost like a mom to Sonata. You clear your throat, reminding the Dazzlings that you're here too.

"So then..." You say. "What is your plan, Adagio?"

Adagio's face contorts into a malicious smile, causing you to almost recoil at the sight of it; how could such a pretty face look even more evil than Aria?!

"Sabotage." Adagio's evil smile widens even more.

"It's no secret that Canterlot High and Crystal Prep absolutely hate each others' guts." Aria says. "From what I've seen, sports matches between the two schools can turn into complete slugfests."

So that's what they're going to do; sabotage the game on Tuesday and make it look like it was all Rainbow Dash's fault. Sounds pretty brutal to you. You'd almost feel sorry for Rainbow Dash had she not done what she did to you.

"Huh." You cross your arms. "I was expecting more of trying to get Rainbow Dash suspended by exposing to the entire school it was she who threw that flashbang, but okay."

"That wouldn't work in a thousand years." Adagio says.

"And why's that?"

"The Principal has her favorites." Adagio explains to you. "And Rainbow Dash, along with those other six girls that always tag with her have always been her favorites; she could have videotaped the entire thing, put it on Youtube, and Principal Celestia would still find a way to weasel out of punishing Rainbow Dash."

'Wow, that sucks.' You think to yourself. And to think that you spared that woman from getting her ass sued to oblivion by your mom; if you knew she was really that corrupt you would've let your mom go full force at her.

"So how are we going to carry this out?" You ask. "What's your exact plan?"

"Just do what I say, and I'll promise you'll have your sweet revenge." She answers back. "I guarantee it."

"But that doesn't explain-" You're cut off by Aria elbowing you on the arm, and shaking her head, warning you not to fight with Adagio. Normally, you'd tell Aria to piss off, but you get a feeling that she's right this time.

"So what do you want me to do?" You ask Adagio, keeping your arms folded in front of your chest.

"If we are to sabotage Rainbow Dash's soccer game, we need to know where she keeps her sports gear, and other bits of important information." Adagio puts a hand to her chin, showing she's deep in thought before turning her gaze to you. "Soccer practice should be going on right now, Anon. Go with Aria and try to gather as much information as you can about the game. Sonata, you and I are going to the science lab; I think they have something that could be of use to us..."

"Ugh, why am I stuck with the dweeb?!" Aria protests, looking at you with disgust. Adagio responds with an intimidating "deal with it" glare, and that's all she needed to do to shut up Aria.

'Wow.' You think. 'What a woman.' Being able to straight up tell someone like Aria to fuck right off without raising a finger. So she's hot, she's smart, and is a total badass. What a woman indeed.

"Well, we've got some work cut out for us then."You look over to Aria. "Come on, let's get on with it."

"I don't take orders from you." She says dismissively. "Just don't get in my way, and Rainbow'll get what's coming to her."

'Still as bitchy as ever.' You think as you begin walking briskly with Aria towards the soccer turf. The two of you continue to walk in silence together, passing by crowds of people and eventually leaving the main building and on to the soccer field. When the two of you get out of the main building, instead of walking straight towards the soccer turf, Aria goes off to the side, and into a woody area dense with trees, and bushes and you follow.

You silently wonder to yourself whether these woods have any ticks or poison ivy in them; you've seen your uncle get Lyme Disease from one of those bastards before. It's anything but pleasant. Nevertheless, Aria keeps going forward until she's hidden underneath a pile of brushes on the edge of the woods and motions you to come over. You come in, and realize this little patch of bushes has a near-perfect view of the Canterlot High soccer field.

"I've got a pair of binoculars in my bag." Aria says. "Get them."

Deciding not to argue with her, you reach into Aria's acid green backpack and begin rummaging through her belongings. You're not that surprised when you open the bag and get a faint whiff of weed along with at least five packages of gum. You continue to dig around, and finally stumble upon a pair of deep violet tinted binoculars and hand it to her. Aria all but snatches it out of your hands, and focuses it forward. You squint, and you can just barely make out figures running around the field.

"Wanna learn a trick?" Aria asks, her gaze still focused on the soccer field. "Make a fist with your hand, but make sure there's a tiny hole in between, and put your eye to it. You'll see better." You follow Aria's instructions and when you put your fist to your eye, you're amazed to find that it actually works.

"There's Rainbow Dash." You mutter, spotting her juggling a soccer ball with her feet.

"Take a good long look." Aria smirks through her binoculars. "In a week, this sorry girl's life's gonna be hell. We'll make sure of that. Now, make yourself useful and get a notebook and pen. We're here to gather a little info on our buddy here."

"Info?" You raise an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"Anything." Aria replies. "Rainbow's kicking foot, the kind of soccer ball they use, anything that'll give us an edge in sabotaging her game."

"It would've helped to have gotten a little more extra guidelines..." You say, taking out a notebook and pen from your bag.

"Adagio doesn't like setting a hard, concrete procedure on doing things; likes to give the people she works with a little breathing room to improvise if things go wrong."Aria explains. "Well...at least for me. She's not as lenient with Sonata..."

"And why's that?" You ask.

"'Cause she's a total nincompoop."

The two of you share a quick chuckle before getting back to spying on Rainbow Dash and the girl's soccer team. You want to feel like you're on some super cool secret agent spying mission, but who are you kidding? This is stalking plain and simple. But sometimes, good guys need to do bad things to make the world right. Was that how it went? Or was it the other way around? You don't know.

"So...Rainbow Dash's kicking foot is her left." Aria mutters before turning to you. "Jot that down."You nod, quickly writing down Aria's observations. The two of you continue doing this until eventually the two of you compile nearly two entire pages worth of notes. From things like her uniform number to her estimating her cleat size, you jot it all down and Aria reads everything you've written over.

"This looks like enough for Adagio." Aria says, tearing out the pages from your notebook. "Good work, Anon."

'Wow. Did she just congratulate me?' You think to yourself. 'Aria Blaze? The girl who takes every opportunity to annoy the hell out of you, and make you want to murder someone every single day of your life? Your life really is starting to make a turn for the better.'

"Didn't think I'd ever get that from you." You chuckle.

"Yeah, don't get used to it, Anon." Aria smirks.

***Meanwhile with Adagio and Sonata***

"Adaaaaaaaaa I'm thirsty!" Sonata calls out from the other side of the science lab. "When are we leaving?"

"Come on, just hold it a little longer, Sonata." You answer back. "We're almost done here. Just keep watch of the hallways, and tell me if any teachers are coming."

"But I'm so thirsty my head is hurting!" She protests.

"Five minutes, that's all I'm asking!"

'Why must Sonata always act like a child?!' You think. 'She's a siren over seven hundred years old, yet has the maturity of a six year old!' Aria is just one year older, and you three. Do those two years really make that a huge of a difference?

"Come on." You mutter to yourself as you rummage through the chemistry lab's cabinets. "All I'm looking for is a roll of copper wire...is it really that hard to find?"

You go through another pair of cabinets, and find another spool of copper wire. Just one more, and you two should be all set. You look over your shoulder, then listen for any footsteps before grabbing the wire and stuffing it into your backpack. Suspicion begins to overwhelm you when you haven't heard Sonata complain at all for a couple minutes. You look behind you, and see Sonata carrying a brown bottle. She opens it and is about to pour some into her mouth.

"SONATA YOU IDIOT, DON'T DRINK THAT!" You screech as you dive over a table, and snatch the brown bottle out of her hand. Some of the liquid spills out of the bottle, splattering on a nearby table. A menacing hissing sound soon follows after as a smoking hole begins to form where the liquid met the table. You glare at Sonata whose eyes are fixated on the burnt hole in the table.

"Oooooh that was so cool!" Sonata says excitingly. "Do it again, Dagi! Do it!"

"Why would you EVER do that?!" You glare at Sonata.

"I was thirsty!" Sonata replies innocently. You feel your left eye twitch involuntarily; is she purposely doing this just to annoy you, or is she actually this stupid?

"Did you even read the bottle?!" You point at the brown bottle, which you begin to read aloud. "'98% Concentrated Sulfuric Acid, Highly Corrosive, DO NOT CONSUME.' That giant hole in the table could have been your throat, Sonata!"

"Hmph!" Sonata sticks her head up in the air proudly. "Corrosive Schamossive; you make it sound like we're just normal humans!"

"Without our true Equestrian magic, we are just normal humans." You snap. "Or did you forget that part too?"

"Oh..." She says. "Ooops...Well I uhm-"

"Just wait outside." You facepalm. "I'm almost done here..."

******

You look at the clock. 3:30 PM. Adagio said they'd be done by now...why aren't they here yet? You look over at Aria and see her tapping her foot impatiently, wearing her trademark grumpy scowl.

"Any idea what's holding your sisters up?" You ask.

"My guess is that Sonata probably did something stupid again." Aria says. "Or perhaps Adagio ran into a mirror in the hallway..."

You chuckle. 'It's funny because it's true.' You think to yourself. But hey, if you were as attractive as she was, you'd be looking at yourself every now and then too.

The cafeteria doors swing open, and you look up to see Adagio with Sonata tagging right behind her. Adagio's hair appeared to be a little disheveled, but that didn't stop you from staring a little too long at her. You look down and see Sonata's skirt with a small little hole where the fabric is darkened around it as if it was burned by acid or something.

"I trust you two got the job done?"Adagio asks.

"We got it." Aria answers back, handing Aria the notes you jotted down during your little spying session. "He actually did a pretty good job."

Adagio starts reading the notes intently, and you can't help but notice Fluttershy walking past the four of you. She stops as if she were about to say something, but a glare from Aria sends her scuttling away. Adagio hands back the notes to Aria and turns to you with an impressed look on her face.

"Nice job, Anonymous." She smiles. "Looks like Physics isn't the only thing you're good at."

"Oh, I'm good at a lot of things." You chuckle. "...If I say so myself."

"Mmmmmh."Adagio walks closer to you, gently grasping your shoulder. "I do hope to find out in the future."

You look and see that it wasn't her hands that were touching your shoulder; it's her tits pressing against them. At this angle they look even bigger than normal, causing your entire body to stiffen at the sight of it. A normal person, guy or girl from Canterlot High would have turned as red as a tomato and into a stuttering mess by now, but you resist the overwhelming urge to keep it cool, to control your bloodflow and keep it going towards your head; not the other one below your belt.

"Then it's time for the second part of our plan."Adagio smirks, immediately backing up from you. "In order for this to work, we're going to know Rainbow's locker number..."

"Oh, that should be easy." You say. "Just one of you girls can go and get it-"

"I'm afraid that's not going to work." Adagio cuts you off.

"Why's that?" You ask, a confused look on your face.

"Sonata's been banned from going into the locker room after starting a massive food fight in there, and so is Aria for bullying." She says. "Me, I've got some personal beef with the coach that I'd rather not talk about."

You look over, and see Aria rolling her eyes.

"I can't believe they consider asking other girls for their homework as 'bullying'." Aria scoffs. "That's complete, utter BS."

"Well you WERE twisting their arms whenever they said no, Aria..." Sonata crosses her arms. "Maybe that's why-"

"Maybe you should be quiet." Aria snaps.

"Should not."

"Should too."

"Punk Wannabe."

"Taco Lover."

"Ta-"

"Please!" Adagio shouts at the two. "You two are going to give me a heart attack!"

"A heart attack?" Sonata tilts her head sideways. "But you're not even that fat, Dagi..."

"That fat?" Adagio's eyes widen with anger. You swear that for a moment, you saw white hot steam coming out of her ears. "Excuse me?!"

"I-I mean uh..." Sonata stutters in fear. "Wha-what did I just say?"

"Say that one more time, and you will regret it." Adagio growls. "Understood?"

Sonata, now completely petrified with fear, nods frantically. Looking back, you can see Aria doing her best to hold back her laughter. Even with her purple skin, you can see her starting to turn blue.

"Ummmm...Adagio?" You say nervously. "What were you saying again about getting into the girl's locker room again?"

"Oh...that." Adagio's anger vanishes instantly. "I'm afraid you and Sonata are going to have to think up something for yourselves; I need to think of our next move, and I'm simply far too busy with other things, and Aria has detention tomorrow." You look at Sonata, who gives you a beaming smile and rushes over to you.

"Ooooh, I thought of something already!" Sonata says excitingly as she jumps up and down. "Meet me tomorrow after school outside the girl's locker room, and be sure to bring some taco salsa!" You look at Adagio and Aria, confused as to why the taco salsa. Aria responds by mouthing 'just go with it.'

"Why the taco salsa?" You ask Sonata. "Sounds pretty useless to me..."

"It is CRUCIAL that you bring the salsa!" Sonata's eyes widen, pointing her finger at your chest. "You CANNOT forget it! My plan will be IMPOSSIBLE if we don't have it."

"Alright, alright, I'll bring it." You say with your hands outstretched. "Anyways...see you all later." The three girls nod, and you begin texting your mom to pick you up from school, wondering just what Sonata has in plan for you.

******

Driving home with Aria sitting up shotgun, and Sonata in the backseat playing on her phone, you pull your car out of Canterlot High's parking lot, and back to your apartment. It's been a long day, but you've gotten a lot done too. But now comes your turn to do some work.

"You don't actually like him, do you Adagio?" Aria asks, breaking the silence. "Anonymous?"

"I just met him." You reply to your sister. "What do you mean?"

"I've seen the way he looks at you in the hallways and during lunch." Aria scoffs. "He's all over you, Adagio."

"Ha! Of course he would be!" You raise your chin up. "What kind of puny human male wouldn't be absolutely mesmerized by me?"

"You know what I think?" Sonata joins in on the conversation from the back. "I think he's a really nice guy! We should have tacos with him some time!"

"Good for you, Sonata." Aria rolls her eyes.

"You're overthinking it, Aria." You say bluntly. "Remember; the sole reason why we're even here is so we can get our hands on that Equestrian magic. We're nowhere near strong enough to try and take it yet, so we need to feed off the humans' negative energies here."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Aria goes back to looking outside the car window. "You told me this a million times; I know that."

"If you know, then you'd know what Anonymous can do for us." You chastise her. "You don't feel it? The negative energy he has for Rainbow Dash? He genuinely wants to see her get screwed over, and not to mention I was in that room too. If I got hit as bad as Anonymous from that flashbang, our plan to win the Battle of the Bands would have been completely ruined."

"Oh, speaking of Anon, I forgot something!" Sonata blurts out. "I need to tell him what brand of taco salsa to bring!" Aria facepalms, then turns back to you.

"Okay, so yeah we can get a little more negative energy from Anon's hate towards Rainbow Dash but that's it?" She shrugs. "Doesn't seem worth the effort to me."

"It's true." You agree. "But also, don't forget about the game Rainbow Dash is in; it's against Crystal Prep. You know how much those two schools hate each other; now imagine all the negative energy when Rainbow Dash, the captain, the star player of Canterlot High soccer team single handedly loses the game against their biggest rivals!"

"Oh." Aria pouts. "But since we're going this far into it; why not start a little more mayhem along with it?"

"What do you mean?" You raise an eyebrow. "Start a riot?" Aria leans back to her seat laughing.

"Damn, you just read my mind." She says.

"And that's why I'm the one who takes charge." You smirk.

You eventually make it to your apartment just on the edge of Canterlot. It's a pretty crappy location to be honest, since your house is really close to the border between the really nice parts of Canterlot to the bad neighborhoods, but you've never had any trouble so far. In fact, it's usually Aria who's giving the other residents trouble. Recently, she's been getting a huge influx of cash that you have no idea where it's been coming from, along with seeing her hanging out with some sketchy looking people.

After finally making it to your apartment, Sonata immediately rushes to the fridge for food, Aria hops on the television, and you head towards your room. You take out all the copper wire you took from your bag along with your Physics textbook, and begin flipping to the chapter you're looking for.

"Alright..." You mutter to yourself. "Let's see what we can do here..."

"Anna Fourchen"

The rest of the day goes rather uneventful; Aria fouled you again during gym, you took notes during Biology, you got an 89 the English test, and got a nice look at Adagio during Physics. It's another one of those days where nothing special happens, and the day goes by smooth and fast. Just the way you like it. The bell rings again and you pack up, making your way towards the girl's locker room.

Wading through the crowd of students along with the occasional teacher, you spot Sonata waiting for you with an "Adagio-like" smirk on her face. As you make your way to her, she pulls a neon green duffel bag out of her backpack and hands it to you.

"You'll be needing these..." She says calmly as she hands you the bag. "Also, did you bring the specific brand of taco sauce I asked you to?"

"Yeah, yeah." You yawn. "I got your text. Anyways, what's in the bag?"

"An extra change of clothes." Sonata answers. "Come on, I'll explain everything to you."

You raise an eyebrow; did something happen to Sonata? Because the way she's acting, it's completely unlike the goofy, happy go lucky Sonata you're used to; she's acting very...'Adagio-like'. Sonata leads you to another hallway which after looking around, pulls a hairpin from her pocket, puts it to the door, and after a few seconds of moving it around, the door opens.

"...Did you just pick the lock?" You ask Sonata.

"Yeah." She beams. "It's actually pretty easy. Close the door behind you."

You step inside the room, recognizing the place as the school's server room. You're not so sure, but your gut instinct is saying you really shouldn't be here. You watch as Sonata moves over to one of the computers, slides in a USB drive to a port, and starts rapidly typing away on it. A few seconds later, the screen flashes, and multiple screens pop up on the monitor.

"There, that should be all the cameras in the girl's locker room." She smiles, taking out the USB drive.

"Wait." You stare at the computer. "They put security cameras inside the stalls???"

"Do I look like the whacko who designed Canterlot High?" Sonata points at herself. You look at the computer screen, and sure enough, you see girls walking in and out. You spot Rainbow Dash walking around with Cloud Chaser and some of the other girls on the soccer team. Just seeing her makes your grind your teeth in anger. You turn to Sonata with a determined look on your face.

"Let's do this." You say, pulling up a seat. "I want to hear your plan."

Sonata reaches into her bag again, and hands you a rather intricately drawn map. You look at it, and assume it's the layout of the girl's locker rooms.

"It's simple." She says. "You just take this map, and navigate through the girl's locker room to get to Rainbow Dash's. I'll keep an eye on all the security cameras so you can move around the locker room without attracting that much attention."

"Yeah...but what's the salsa for?" You ask.

"Oh! I almost forgot!" Sonata exclaims. She reaches into her bag, and grabs what looks like an empty bottle of Old Spice body spray. Sonata opens the bottle, then dumps in a bit of the salsa, and adds some vinegar and water before mixing it with the hairpin she used to pick the lock. After a couple seconds of stirring, Sonata screws the top of the bottle back on, gives it a shake, and hands it to you.

"If someone gives you trouble, spray this at their face." She says. "Trust me, that brand is the best; it stings for hours on end when it gets in your eyes; used it on Aria a couple of times."

Wow. Honestly, you never knew Sonata was this smart. She always gave off the impression of some ditzy goofball who never knew what she was doing. No wonder Adagio has her around, she still knows her stuff in the end. But something in her plan still seems a little off...

"Wait a second..." You say as you stuff the map and "taco spray" in your pocket. "I just thought; how the heck am I going to get into the girl's locker room? I'm a guy!"

Sonata responds by staring at you blankly, then pointing at the duffel bag she gave you earlier. You never actually checked what was inside of it. Opening the bag, you see what looks like a really long, brown wig and...

Oh god, are those Aria's clothes?

"No." You say flatly. "There is absolutely no way I'm putting these on." Just when you were beginning to be really impressed by Sonata's intelligence, reality smacks you in the face.

"Aww c'mon, don't chicken out now." Sonata crosses her arms. "You wanna get back on Rainbow Dash for what she did, don't you?"

"Yeah, I hate Rainbow Dash for what she did." You admit. "A lot. But this? This is crossing the line."

"Come on." Sonata pouts. "I worked soooooo hard on this, you can't bail now!"

"Do you have any idea what's going to happen if I get caught?" You hiss. "I'll be expelled!"

"Fine, suit yourself then." Sonata says as she begins packing up her belongings.

"By the way..." She adds, with a smirk on her face. "I know for a FACT that Adagio hates guys that are spineless..."

Shit...does she know?

Groaning in frustration, you grab Sonata's wrist just before she opens the door to leave.

"I'll do it."

"What was that?" Sonata puts a hand to her ear. "And no, I'm not making fun of your hearing; I actually didn't hear what you said."

"I said I'll do it." You mutter through gritted teeth.

******

"Aaaaaaaaand there you go~" Sonata grins as she finishes applying one final bit of eye liner to you. "All dolled up. You know, you look way hotter than Aria in her own clothes."

"Oh, can it." You groan try to adjust your junk under Aria's ridiculously tight pants. The only thing you could imagine that's worse than walking into a girl's locker room as a dude is walking into a girl's locker room as a dude while wearing Aria's clothes. You can't believe you're actually doing this. "Why couldn't you just get me a pair of sweatpants?"

"I dunno." Sonata shrugs. "I just grabbed the first pair of spare clothes I saw laying around."

"How did you talk me into doing this again?" You facepalm as Sonata checks your wig one more time.

"Oh, and remember, you gotta act girly!" Sonata reminds you. "Just...do stuff that girls do!"

"I'm not a girl, how am I supposed to know?"

"How do you not know what girls act like when you stare at Adagio half the time during Physics?" Sonata asks.

"Never mind." You say, trying to hide your blush. "Forget I said anything."

"Well, you better learn fast, Anon." Sonata giggles, opening the door. "I'll stay in the server room, and keep an eye out on the cameras. I'll give you a text whenever there's someone coming your way."

Taking a deep breath, you twist your neck, exhale, and walk out of the server room, into the hallway. Feeling like the biggest pervert ever, you adjust Anon Jr. one more time before walking towards the girl's locker room. The fact that Aria's boots click louder than a jet plane every time they hit the linoleum floor doesn't help the feeling that someone is always watching you.

"Fuck..." You swear under your breath. You just realized this hallway leads to the cafeteria. Hell, you wouldn't go into the cafeteria like this even if you were being paid. Now, if your memory is correct, there should be a set of stairs that lets you go on the second floor, allowing you to avoid the cafeteria altogether. You spot them, and begin climbing. You thought walking in these ridiculously tight pants was bad enough; but now, climbing up stairs makes your nether regions feel like they're about to explode. And just a you finally make your way up the stairs, the sight before you makes you gulp.

The second floor still has students; students standing right in your path towards the girl's locker room. You reach into your bag, take a drink of water, and take a few deep breaths.

"Come on, you can do this." You whisper to yourself, as you try to not panic. You figure that if you just act normally and walk the way you normally do, then nobody will think anything's out of place...except for the fact that a guy is staring right at you. Your entire body tenses up; is he seeing through your disguise, or is your disguise so convincing that he actually thinks you're attractive?

Upon finally reaching the entrance, you freeze for a moment. You stare at the entrance like a suicidal person staring at the edge of a cliff. You know that if you go in there, and get caught there's going to be dire consequences. You're going to be expelled, your future will be ruined, you're probably committing a felony, your friends will never talk to you again, you'll be publicly shamed by everyone in Canterlot, your mom is going to tear you three extra assholes, and when your dad gets home, he'll tear you ten more. Suddenly, you feel your phone vibrate, and you see you got a text message from an unknown caller.

Just do it.
-Sonata

Swearing under your breath, you take the plunge, walking straight into the girl's locker room. Fate is kind however, as you find it to be relatively empty. In fact, you don't think there's anybody else in the room at all. Without hesitation, you begin your search, looking from locker to locker. Five minutes go by with you finding absolute zilch. You look back, and find that you've covered less then a tenth of the entire locker room with your methods.

'Damn it...' You curse under your breath. 'At this rate, I'll never find Rainbow Dash's locker without getting caught..'

You take a seat from the bench to think of a plan, and to readjust Aria's pants again. Seriously; how does she breathe with this thing on? You take out the map Sonata drew for you, and take a good long look at it. Once confident you can visualize the entire locker room in your head, you stuff it back into your pocket.

You remember last year when you were on the the tennis team, Coach Iron Will made it mandatory for everybody to register for their own personal locker; maybe the girls soccer team does the same thing too? If so, that means Coach Iron Will probably has a list full of all the girls' lockers. Now with a plan in your mind, you begin walking as fast as you can down to the end of the locker room. However, just as you get up, you get a text from Sonata.

Lightning Dust and Cloud Chaser heading back to the locker room, might want to lay low.
-Sonata

Immediately after reading the message, you hear voices coming from the entrance to the locker room. Quickly spotting an empty locker, you make a mad dash towards it, and stuff yourself inside before closing the door. It's hard to see out of the locker, but you spot two shadows coming closer and closer to the entrance of the girl's locker room.

"I mean...I feel like Rainbow went too far this time..." You overhear Cloud Chaser. "He still didn't recover yet."

"I heard she somehow got her hands on a military grade flashbang, the stuff SWATs use against terrorists." Lightning Dust replies. "I don't know, I still thought it was kind of funny if you ask me."

'Fuck you too, Lightning Dust.' You think to yourself as the two girls pass the locker you're hiding in. You take a slight peek outside, and take note of the door which they used.

'So the red door's the girl's soccer locker room.' You say in your mind. 'Alright then...' You rush back to the locker you've been hiding in, close the door, and begin texting Sonata:

I found out the girl's soccer locker room, but it's going to look really sketchy if I just barge in. Any ideas?
-Anon

The door opens a couple seconds after you send the text, and you see the same two girls walking out of the room with a carton of water bottles and a few extra soccer balls.

"...Crystal Prep? Pffff. Didn't you see how they got completely creamed by Cloudsdale last week?" You hear Cloud Chaser say. "They're nowhere as good as they were last year; all their good players were seniors and they graduated. Plus, with Rainbow Dash on our side, we're going to wreck them."

"I'm just worried that Rainbow Dash is gonna train too hard, and injure herself before the game or even worse, during it." Lightning Dust replies. "That's what happened during our last time versus those snobby Crsytal Prep bitches. Well, seeya on the turf."

Once confident that the coast is clear, you open your locker door (and almost tripping because of Aria's stupid heeled boots), and start heading towards the girl's soccer team locker room until you get another text from Sonata:

"Just go up to Coach Iron Will and pretend you want to join the soccer team.
-Sonata

You know...maybe she really is a genius after all. You take a look at Sonata's map, and see that Coach Iron Will's office is just the door right next to the soccer team's locker room. You gulp as you stare at the door leading to Iron Will's office; better start praying to God that Sonata's disguise is going to work. You take a deep breath, and push open the door.

Coach Iron Will at the moment, is on his laptop, typing away on some sort of Microsoft Spreadsheet before hearing you open the door and turning.

"I don't think I've ever seen you here before." He says eyeing you suspiciously, causing you to feel nervous; did he see through your disguise already? "New girl?"

"Yeah." You answer back, trying to make your voice sound as high pitched and feminine as possible.

"Sheesh, something wrong with your throat, young lady?" Iron Will asks surprised. "You sound like you've got a pretty bad sore throat right there."

"I do..." You lie, just going with the flow. "I'm a new freshman, and I just wanted to sign up for the girl's soccer team.

"Oh, of course." Coach Iron Will says, his demeanor turning much more friendly now. He turns his back on you, and starts ruffling through a cabinet of files before handing you a clipboard. "Typically, we don't allow students this late into the season to join, but since you're just a freshmen, I'm sure the sports departments will let it slide. Just take this clipboard, write down your name, grade, e-mail, and cellphone number. I'll do my best to get you everything you need and to get you onto the field as quickly as possible."

You take the clipboard, and then take out your phone, trailing through the last names...

Dash, Rainbow | Grade 11 | rdash20@gmail.com | 978-740-2048 | Locker No. 267

You quickly take a picture of that section with your phone and you're about to put down the clipboard but then you're hit with the harsh realization that you need to put a fake name, and everything. Gulping, you quickly scribble a fake name, fake e-mail, and a random cellphone number before handing it to Coach Iron Will.

"Anna Fourchen..." Iron Will reads aloud. "Wait a second, do you know Anonymous?"

"Yeah." You lie. "I'm his little sister."

"Wow... he never told me he had a sister that looked so much like him." He chuckles, making you cringe. "I've had your brother for three years on the tennis team. This was his senior year and he was just getting good enough to make Sectionals..."

"Then...well he's your brother so you probably know all about what happened to him." Iron Will mutters. "Anyways, how's he doing, Anna?"

"He's recovering..." You answer. "Although he's still in a lot of pain."

"Mmmm I'll bet." Iron Will nods. "Took the flashbang grenade at point blank from what I've heard. Anyways, tell Anonymous I said hi and hope he gets better soon."

"Will do, Coach." You say before hurrying off. Just as you close the door to Iron Will's office, you feel your phone vibrating again and you open it, seeing another text from Sonata:

"Better get out soon, Anon. Girl's soccer team is coming back from practice.
-Sonata"

Panic begins to overwhelm you as your mind races, trying to find some way to get out without being seen. Your disguise may have fooled Coach Iron Will, but he's as blind as a bat. You'll be discovered for sure if someone like Rainbow Dash walks in.

You hear voices at the entrance of the locker room, and you're forced to run over towards a bathroom stall. Locking the door behind you, you lean on the wall and take deep breaths. 'Take it easy, Anon.' You think to yourself. 'Just wait them out and leave after they do. It's gonna be easy. No need to panic.' You lean against the wall, realizing just how sore your feet were from walking around in Aria's boots. As soon as the noise begins to die down, you're about to open the door until you hear a knock on your stall.

'ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!' You think to yourself. 'IS THIS SOME KIND OF SICK JOKE?!'

"Occupied!" You call out, beginning to panic again. Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! What are you gonna do now?! You look around, looking for something, anything as a method of escape. Too bad there's nothing because you're in a FUCKING BATHROOM STALL.

"Come on, you still in there?" You instantly recognize that voice as none other than Rainbow Dash's. Gritting your teeth, you look around desperately one last time, looking for something, ANYTHING to help you escape. Your hands find its way to the pocket of Sonata's taco sauce pepper spray, and you start to shake it up until you spot an open vent on top of the ceiling. Y

'That's it!' You think. 'I can use that to escape!'

You put away Sonata's taco spray, and take a step on top of the toilet seat, you hear Rainbow Dash pounding the stall door again.

"What the hell are you doing in there?!" Rainbow Dash asks. "Hurry up, will you?!"

Gritting your teeth, you bend your knees and jump as hard as you can towards the open hole. Your hands manage to successfully grip themselves onto the opening of the vent, but just as you thought you were about to make it, Aria's pants strike again. The ridiculous tightness of them makes it impossible for you to bend your legs over into the opening of the vent, as well as crushing your balls even further. The intense pain and discomfort makes your left hand slip, leaving you dangling across the side. You look down and gulp; at this height, you're definitely going to break something if you fall.

Swearing under your breath, you take a deep breath. No. This isn't how it's going to end; there is no way in HELL you will get caught and expelled; you WILL get through this vent even if it kills you! You feel adrenaline rush through you, as you let out a roar, and pull yourself up into the hole. Your entire body feels like it's on fire, and you're breathing as if you just finished running a marathon, but you made it. You're safe.

"Damn, that sounded like one hell of a nugget!" Rainbow Dash exclaims.

Shaking that comment out of your head, you turn on your phone, and start shining the flashlight through the dark tunnel ahead of you. You immediately start crawling, feeling like some sort of ninja or spy from a Hollywood movie as you try to get by making as little noise as possible. Well...you would feel cool had you not almost gotten expelled. The only feeling going through your mind is absolute relief that you somehow made it up here. But now, you're lost; you have no idea where the hell this vent leads to, and there's no way you're going back to that stall. The only way to go is forward. Your phone gets another one of Sonata's messages:

Wow... Even I didn't think of that. But I don't know where that vent leads, so you're on your own. Adagio wants us to all rendezvous back at her locker by the way.
-Sonata

As you continue shining your phone's flashlight through the vents, you finally find another opening. But this time, it's closed. You take a peek outside, and realize this is Professor Discord's Physics room. Professor Discord is in there, packing up his own belongings, and cleaning up what looked like the lab activity your class did. As he's about to leave the room however, he looks around the room one last time, causing you to freeze when his gaze sweeps over your direction. Smiling for a brief moment, Discord clears his throat, and closes the door.

'Did he see me?' You think to yourself. 'If he saw me, I'm screwed.' Gulping, you take your bag out, and start rummaging through all the compartments. Just like every other school on the entire planet, they have a strict ban on weapons like knives, and guns for obvious reasons. However, you always kept one of those Swiss Army Multitool knives on you regardless; it's gotten you out of a lot of hairy situations, from needing a bottle to be opened, to cutting random stuff, to saving guys wearing girls' clothes trapped in air vents.

'Thank god these screws are Philip heads...' You think to yourself as you pull out your multitool, and begin loosening them wih the chisel. After a couple of minutes, the first screw comes loose, and you move on to the next one. Upon finally loosening up the fourth and final screw, gravity takes control, and pulls it down creating a loud clang that resonates even through your hearing aid. Damn it, why didn't you think of that before you loosened the last screw?! Well...let's just hope nobody will be investigating that sound any time soon. You drop down and deciding to play it safe, take the backdoor. Upon walking out, you pull out your phone and start texting Sonata:

I got out of the vents, and I'm on my way back to Adagio's locker.
-Anonymous

Now, you consider yourself a reasonably athletic person; you're not some six foot tall future NBA basketball star, but you're certainly not out of shape. But after that crazy ordeal, you're both physically and mentally drained. The most you can do is sort of just slowly lumber your feet across the ground until you finally make it to the front of Canterlot High, and back into the school. Now if your memory serves you correctly, Adagio's locker is by the English room. You totally don't know that because you kind of stalked her once. It was just once; and you didn't mean any ill will from it; you were just...curious.

But you forgot something; you, Anonymous Fourchen, a GUY dressed up in GIRL'S CLOTHES is standing right in front of the MAIN FOYER OF THE SCHOOL with at least THIRTY STUDENTS. You realize there's nothing you can do to weasel your way out here; all you can do is to just hope that your previous shenanigans didn't mess up your disguise, and walk through the crowd as "Anna Fourchen". Gritting your teeth, you start walking briskly through the crowd of people; the less time they see you, the less likely you'll be spotted. Your eyes dart around your surroundings nervously, taking note of every student around you.

You spot Rainbow Dash and Lightning Dust who eyes you before turning away. Rainbow Dash however, keeps her gaze on you and the two of you are locked in an awkward stare-down until you feel yourself hit something solid that knocks you down.

"Oh no, I'm so sorry!" You hear a familiar voice. You look up, and see none other than your friend Flash Sentry. "You alright?" Being the bro he is, he extends his hand forward, and helps you up.

"I'm alright..." You reply back. "It was also my fault for not looking where I was going." You scan the foyer for Rainbow Dash one more time, only to find that she's gone now.

"No, I wasn't looking either." Flash replies. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine." You reply. "Anyways, see you later." Just before you leave, you feel a hand tap your shoulder. You look back, and you still see Flash Sentry.

"Wait, I never even got your name." He says. "In fact, I don't think I've ever seen you here." Your stomach lurches. Oh god, are you really going to have to pull this fake girl name lie on your own best friend?

"I'm Anna. Anna Fourchen." You say, extending your hand forward. "You're...?"

"Flash Sentry." He says, shaking it, holding on maybe a little too long. "Wait, you've got the same last name as Anonymous; are you his sister?!"

You mentally facepalm. God damn it! Why did you have to include the last name?! Why couldn't you just keep your damn mouth shut?!

"...Yeah." You nod. "I just transferred here from another school."

"Oh, what school?" Flash Sentry asks, stepping in a little closer. He also looks like he's flexing a little. Is he...

"Crystal Prep." You quickly lie. "I stopped going because it was too expensive."

"Wow, Crystal Prep?!" Flash laughs. "Man, you must be really smart! I'm like best friends with your brother Anon, and he never told me anything about you!"

"Y-yeah." You reply. "Anon doesn't talk about me much."

"Huh." Flash leans in a little closer again. "He also never told me how pretty his sister looked..." Your stomach lurches even more intensely as the realization hits you.

Your own friend...your biggest bro...is fucking hitting on you right now.

"You know, I'd love to talk, but I gotta be somewhere." You step back. "Bye, Flash."

"See you later, Annie!"

You cringe. You know Flash Sentry is a nice guy at heart, but ever since Sunset broke up with him, he's been trying really hard to get together with another girl to try and just forget about everything that happened; but hey, maybe if he didn't act like Tiger Woods doped on twenty pills of ecstasy every time he saw a 6/10 or above, he'd still be in a stable relationship. But whatever; the sooner you get to Adagio, the sooner you can get out of these stupid clothes.

You're nearing the English hallway... now if you just turn the corner you should-

"Fuck!" You yell, covering your eyes as a blinding flash of light dazzles you. You hear an all too familiar laugh. You open your eyes, and see Aria Blaze holding her phone in her hands.

"DELETE THAT PICTURE RIGHT NOW!" You shout, lunging towards the smartphone, only for Aria to sidestep out of the way causing you to do a faceplant on the floor.

"Seriously?!" Aria snickers. "THIS was Sonata's plan?! Dress you up like a girl, and- are those MY clothes?! I can't believe it!" In the middle of her laughing, Aria continues taking even more pictures of you. You look up, and see the little sadist happier than you've ever seen her been.

"Hey, it worked so that's all that matters!" Sonata crosses her arms.

"I think I'll be keeping these pictures for a looooooooong time." Aria says while wiping tears from her eyes. "As much as I hate to say it, you're right Sonata; Anon really does look like a convincing girl; Not surprised coming from someone like him though."

"Just shut up." You glare at Aria as you pick yourself up from the ground. "If I find ANY of those pictures on Facebook, or ANY form of social media, you will pay with your fucking blood."

"Sure thing, 'Annie Fourchen'." Aria snickers. You feel a blood vessel threatening to pop as you see Aria set the picture as her new phone background. Aria takes notice of this, and starts laughing like a maniac again.

"Come on, stop being so mean to Anon..." Sonata pats you on the back. "He's been through a lot today."

"I'll have to agree with Sonata this one time..." You turn, and see Adagio walking towards the three of you. "He did a good job; an amazing job actually." Adagio walks up to you with a wide grin on her face.

"I have to say, I'm very impressed with you, Anonymous..." Adagio puts a hand on your shoulder. "That escape into the vents? Even I wouldn't have thought of that." Normally, you'd be making an ass of yourself trying to impress Adagio, but at the moment, you're way too infuriated to even try flirting with her.

"I swear, if I find any of those pictures-"

"Don't worry about it." Adagio smiles. "I'll make sure it won't happen." You turn, and see Aria still giggling to herself as she goes through the pictures on her phone. You hope that cunt dies in a fire.

"Oh, by the way, catch!" Sonata says, handing you a bag filled with your original clothes.

You all but dive for the bag, and rush into the nearest classroom, slamming the door behind you, and begin to reclaim your identity as 'Anonymous Fourchen'. From this day forward, you no longer have a sister called 'Anna" anymore.

Shanty Stroll

"You still got some eyeliner on your left eye, 'Annie'." Aria grins. You immediately freeze, and rush towards the nearest water fountain where you begin splashing your face with water before returning to the Dazzlings' side.

"Can you stop calling me that?" You glare at Aria. "It's really starting to get on my nerves now."

"And that's why I'm doing it." Aria's grin widens. Shaking your head, you give your cheeks one last scrub to make sure there isn't any leftover makeup on you, and decide to leave the three girls, only to be blocked by Adagio.

"Anonymous, I know you probably don't want to hear this right now, but we're still going to need you to stick around." She says.

"On a Friday?" You complain.

"Rainbow Dash's game is on Tuesday." Adagio reminds you. "This part's important as well; we can't afford any mistakes from here on out."

Sighing, you take out your phone, and begin texting your mom:

I'm heading out with friends, Mom. I'll be back home late.
-Anonymous

"What exactly are we doing, then?" You ask Adagio.

"Just follow us to our car." Adagio motions you. "I'll explain everything later."

Aria's right; she really does like leaving people out in the dark. You put your phone away, and begin tagging along the trio. Normally when you see the three girls together, Adagio takes the center of the group while Sonata and Aria are at her left and right side respectively. You take the side with Sonata, because fuck Aria. Upon reaching the main foyer of the school, you pass by Flash Sentry talking with a group of guys. You don't personally know any of them, but it's just another group of friends that Flash hangs out with.

"I'm not fucking with you guys, I'm serious!" You hear Flash Sentry exclaim. "Anon's sister---I"m telling you...she's hot!"

Upon hearing this, you immediately leave Sonata's side and zip onto the opposite side of the Dazzlings with Aria, who (of course after hearing that) is struggling to remain silent. She's holding a hand to her mouth, looking as if she was about to puke.

"Can it, Aria." You growl at her.

"Make me." She shoots back. You clench your fist; had Aria not been a girl, you would've choke slammed her through all the three stories of Canterlot High by now. Your anger is quick to fade and is soon replaced by that dreadful feeling of shame. You're thankful that your whole "girl" disguise worked, otherwise you would have been expelled, but at the same time you can feel your manhood now being next to nonexistent after being called "hot" by your own best friend. You eventually make it to the Canterlot parking lot, and upon seeing the car the Dazzlings stop by, your jaw drops.

"Is that a Mercedes C300?!" You exclaim. "No way. No fucking way!"

"Isn't she a beauty?" Aria asks, tapping the hood of the beautiful silver Mercedes. "And I mean the car, not 'Anna Fourchen'."

"Alright Aria, that's enough." Adagio says sternly. "It's not funny anymore."

"Alright, alright..." You're amazed at how Aria's eyes immediately widen with fear, as her voice turned as feeble as a little mouse. You don't know how Adagio makes Aria shut up like that, but you need to start learning from her.

You mouth a 'Thanks' to Adagio, who gives you a wink, and unlocks the car door. Aria takes shotgun while you and Sonata go in the back. If you thought the outside of the Mercedes was impressive, it was nothing compared to how it was inside. You thought you were hot shit for driving a Toyota Camry, but this beautiful piece of functioning art makes your car look like a Hot Wheels toy. The real question though, is how the did these girls afford such a nice car? Are their parents CEO's or something?

"How did you girls get such a nice ride?" You ask, admiring every single aspect of the car. "This looks like a car you'd see from Crystal Prep students, not Canterlot High..."

"Aria sells-" Adagio stuffs her hand in front of Sonata's mouth and smiles.

"We just saved up some money, that's all." Adagio says innocently. You shrug; it's not like you're complaining that you're riding in a god damn MERCEDES BENZ. Adagio starts the engine, and goes immediately full throttle out of her parking spot, nearly running over another student in the process. Your head lurches to the side as Adagio turns violently, narrowly missing a lamppost while nearly hitting another student.

A little part of you dies inside from seeing such a nice car being treated so roughly. You look to your left, and see Sonata pulling out a helmet, and offers you an empty brown lunchbag which you silently accept. Just in case. If Adagio's driving like this, you can't even imagine the horrors that await you when she's actually on the main road.

"...Adagio?"

"Not now." She hushes you. "We're getting close to Main Street; I need to concentrate here." You gulp and feel your heartbeat accelerate almost as fast as the car itself when you see Adagio run a red light, going 50 miles an hour. She narrowly misses a pedestrian and her dog, then swerves out of the way of an old woman in a wheelchair, causing cars in the other lane to brake. Horns honk all around around you, blaring angrily at Adagio like an angry mob, and you even see one man getting out of his car, but it doesn't faze Adagio in the slightest. You look nervously around the corner of each street, and your fears come to reality as you see a bright blue and red siren flashing. A police car is hurtling forwards, straight towards you and the Dazzlings.

"Adagio, cops at nine o'clock!' Aria calls and Adagio responds by pulling over so hard that she nearly flips the poor Mercedes.

'This is the end.' You think to yourself. Your mom is gonna kill you.

"Should I take this one?" Aria asks, unzipping her vest and revealing a blood red ruby necklace that looks exactly like Adagio's.

"I'll handle it." Adagio says. "Just stay in the car you three. And Anonymous; might want to take off that hearing aid of yours."

"Huh? Why would I-"

"Just do it." Aria says bluntly. You look over to Sonata who looks just as serious as Aria. Shrugging, you comply and take off the hearing aid. Adagio opens the door and steps out of the car, walking towards the police officer slowly. Obviously, you can't hear anything since you're partly deaf, so the most you can do is just watch. Adagio seems to be conversing with the police officer who looks pretty angry at her. Probably because she nearly killed multiple people and a dog, and not to mention driving such a beautiful Mercedes the way she does should be a felony all on its own.

Adagio puts on a fake frown on her face. Is she going to cry her way out of this one? It doesn't really seem to be working, as the police officer doesn't seem to be showing any signs of letting up. The two continue talking, almost arguing until you see Adagio reach into her shirt, and pull out her blood red ruby necklace. It's gleaming unnaturally bright, as she holds it delicately in between her hands and begins opening her mouth. From the looks of it, it's like she's singing or something. Soon, a green cloud of smoke comes out of nowhere, and the cop's face goes from angry to...what the hell is he smiling at Adagio now? The police officer shakes Adagio's hand, and tips his hat before returning to his vehicle and Adagio starts walking back, a satisfied looking grin on her face.

"Uhhh, what just happened?" You ask Sonata and Aria as you put your hearing aid back on. "I was sure that officer was going to at least give Adagio a ticket or something.

"I talked the officer out of getting a ticket, and he let me off with a warning." Adagio smiles, before starting the engine again. "Alright, now we can talk."

Your head is thrown back into the seat again as Adagio slams the gas pedal, the Mercedes (quite literally) tearing a path through the streets with an ever growing orchestra of angry drivers honking at her.

"So where are we going, and are we going to get there alive?" You ask nervously as Adagio nearly hits her fifth pedestrian.

"Just making our way home." Adagio says casually. She then turns over to Aria who's looking at a map. "We make a right here and turn onto the highway, right Aria?"

"Yup." Aria nods, turning on the radio. You look at Sonata who's tightening the straps on her helmet, and double checking her seatbelts. Meanwhile, you wonder if you're going to come out of this car alive...

******

You're sick to your stomach; everything around you is a blurred mess. Looking over, Sonata doesn't look like she's in that good of a state either while Adagio and Aria get out of the car perfectly fine, as if nothing happened at all. You thought you had it bad last summer at Six Flags when Flash Sentry said he's give you twenty bucks if you'd sit in the front seats of the Bizarro fifteen minutes after downing two chili hot dogs and large fries. Needless to say, that roller coaster felt like a cruise ship after riding in the backseat with Adagio on the highway. Especially that one time when she swerved to the fast lane without using her turn signal; you genuinely thought you were about to die.

"Come on, get your butt out already." Aria calls out as she grabs your wrist. She all but yanks you out of the car, and you roll on the pavement, feeling like you're about to throw up everywhere. You're not one to criticize other people, but holy cow...Adagio's driving is really something.

"I still can't believe she cut off that truck." You groan. "She didn't even use her turn signal, and that Russian guy held his horn for a full minute."

"Eh, he didn't seem too scary." Aria shrugs. "We didn't understand whatever he was yapping about anyways."

You push yourself up from the ground, and follow Adagio, who leads you into a tall, red brick building. Upon squinting your eyes, you realize this place is an apartment complex. 'Must be a crowded living space for three girls.' You think to yourself as you walk into the main entrance. Adagio reaches into her purse, and hands a card to a tall, hulking security guard with a nightstick and gun strapped around his waist in plain sight. Adagio hands him three cards, which the man looks at briefly before turning his gaze down at you and holding his hand out, expecting you to give him a card of some sort as well.

"A guest." Adagio quickly steps in front of the security guard who nods at her before unlocking the door and holding it open for you four. The apartment's lobby actually doesn't look too bad; it's very well lit with generally decent looking people walking around, and is well furnished with sofas, chairs, and even a pool table. However, the fact that around every single corner there's either a security camera in plain view, or armed guards walking around in Kevlar vests makes you feel uncomfortable. It's like this apartment is waiting for some zombie apocalypse or something.

"What's up with the security here?" You ask. "It's like a military base in here."

"The place recently had a major break-in." Adagio answers you. "It's right on the edge between the nicer parts of Canterlot, and the really bad neighborhoods overrun by gangs."

"They ever gave you trouble?" You ask concerned.

"They wish." Aria laughs harshly. "Most of those 'thugs' are turn into the biggest pushovers once they take just one hit."

'She's one to know, isn't she?' You think to yourself. 'Man, Aria's such a wannabe.'

You follow the Dazzlings through another set of stairs then through a tiled hallway until Adagio stops at a door that you assume is their apartment room. After unlocking it, she opens the door, and motions you inside. Upon walking into the apartment, you see a rather messy living room with a well worn red couch and a reasonably sized television resting on a stand. You also find that the entire apartment smells strongly of taco sauce along with a faint scent of what you could swear is weed. Not that you do weed so much that you can instantly recognize the smell.

"Finally! I'm starving!" You see a light blue blur to your left as Sonata instantly appears right next to the open the fridge. Leaning over for a moment, you find that at least two compartments on the fridge were dedicated to tacos alone.

"What's with Sonata and tacos?" You ask Aria who simply shakes her head before sinking into the couch and turning on the television. Adagio meanwhile, goes into a hallway away from the living room and kitchen into another room which you assume is probably her own bedroom and closes it, locking the door.

With nothing else to do, you decide to join Aria by the television and take a look at what she's watching. You find a spot on the opposite side of Aria, and find that she's watching some sort of slasher horror film. You honestly never saw the appeal to such movies; they were just...too violent. It's just watching a group of people get killed one by one, each time more gruesome than the next, until the protagonist finds some way to kill the monster or killer and their lover dies in the process of defeating the monster or something similar to that. It's so linear and cheesy.

You flinch as you see the monster sink its claws into a woman's chest, then rip out her ribcage. You have to admit, the effects were pretty sweet, but you start feeling nauseous before getting up and walking away when you see the monster grabbing a man upside down by his leg, and starts spitting acid on his face. Aria meanwhile, is laughing her head off, having the time of her life watching the man scream in agony.

"Aria, can you please turn that down?!" You hear Adagio yell through her room. "I'm trying to work here."

"Come on, this is the best part!" Aria shouts over. "Just give me like ten minutes and I'll-"

"No, I need you to turn that down NOW!" Adagio screams louder. You watch as Aria cringes, before finally bending to Adagio's demand. However, her mood quickly lightens after watching the monster pick up another victim, and (very messily) devour him. You wonder; why does Aria actually listen to Adagio and her only? What makes it so that she's so scared of her?

You take a peek into the kitchen, and see Sonata still stuffing her face with tacos. She's not even chewing them; she's straight up swallowing them whole like a snake, and then immediately moving onto another taco.

"Oh, hi Anon!" Sonata chirps. "Want a taco?"

"Nahhh, Mexican food gives me gas." You hold up a hand.

"Oh well, more for me!"

You sigh, walking out of the kitchen. Why are you even here again? Your questions are answered when you see Adagio emerge from her room, looking at you very intently.

"Need something?" You ask her, trying to retain your composure as you just noticed that Adagio has taken off her normal clothes and is wearing nothing but a pair of shorts and a cream colored tank top with a very generous cut.

"Yes." She says, before motioning you forward. "Come inside."

Your heart leaps out of your chest; is Adagio really inviting you to her room?! No way! You walk perhaps a little too enthusiastically forward towards the open door.

Upon entering Adagio's room, you notice first and foremost, that it's a lot cleaner than the rest of the apartment. It's like an entirely different place; everything is organized, there doesn't seem to be any trace of dust, and everywhere you go, at least one mirror is pointed at you. You turn, and see a strange, metal contraption on Adagio's desk with a bunch of spare screws, wires, and other junk laying around.

"I've been working on this for the past two days, but it's almost ready..." Adagio grins, rubbing her hands together. You look at it confused; it looks like a weird rod of metal completely wrapped in copper wire with a small little computer chip screwed to it. The entire thing is no bigger than the palm of your hand.

"What is it?" You ask, picking up the metal contraption. "Some kind of electronic?"

"Careful with that thing." Adagio says strictly. "It's an electromagnet I made; it took me quite some effort to get the neodymium I needed to make it."

"Wait." You stop dead in your tracks. "Neodymium? You mean the super magnetic stuff you find in electric generators and stuff?"

"That's right, Anon." She winks. "I knew you were always a star when it came to Physics."

"How did you even get this?!" You exclaim.

"Almost illegally." Adagio replies, before walking up to you, and giving your forearm a light squeeze. Your entire body tenses up from the sensation, including a certain appendage below your belt. "I can trust you to keep your mouth shut, can I?"

You nod furiously. Adagio simply giggles, and takes a seat on her bed, legs crossed.

"My plan is to smuggle this neodymium magnet in Rainbow Dash's soccer cleat during the game." Adagio says, as she reaches into her backpack, revealing another homemade electronic device which you can only assume is the remote that activates the electromagnet. "Imagine how idiotic she'll look when she has the ball, then suddenly 'slips', am I right?"

"And it's all too bad it'll be against Canterlot's BIGGEST rival: Crystal Prep too!" You smirk.

"Fast learner." She laughs. "Really makes me wonder what else you've got under your sleeves..."

"Or down under." You joke.

......

'Wait...what did I just say?' Your brain stops dead in its tracks. 'Did I...'

"What's the matter, Anon?" She asks innocently, leaning in toward you. "Your cheeks look so...red."

"Oh." You put a hand to your cheek, laughing nervously. "Oh. heh, you're right..."

"You know..." Adagio cuts you off, sitting next to you on the side of her bed. "I was always curious..."

"Curious about what?" You ask, trying to keep it cool. She's invading your personal space like it's a world war, not that you mind....but still; this was not what you expected from your off-colored joke at all. Her hand grasps your shoulder, and you feel your entire body heating up again.

"That day at the English classroom..." Adagio locks you in place with that seductive, half-lidded smile again. You look down and notice her ruby necklace beginning to give off a warm, pink glow. "You said you wanted to say something..."

"Yeah..." You mumble.

"Well...it's just you and me now." She leans in even closer to the point where you can smell her perfume. "Go on...what was it?"

Oh god...is this actually happening?

"Adagio..." You say slowly. "I-"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQIXUnRyy2k

"Sonata, you IDIOT!" You hear Aria scream from the other side of the room. "WHY?! Why would you ever do that?! Why did you think that was a smart idea?!"

Adagio instantly leaps off the bed, and rushes out of her room. Somewhere in the distance, you hear the faint sound of a car alarm going off. You groan in frustration over being cockblocked a second time.

"First Rainbow Dash, now Sonata..." You curse under your breath.

You leave Adagio's room, and into the living room, seeing a shattered window along with one extremely pissed off Dazzling.

"What happened?" You ask.

"Fucking Sonata saw a mouse on the window and decided to throw a baseball at it, that's what happened!" Aria shouts. "And not just any ball; it was a ball I got signed by the Cloudsdale Shortstop, Soarin!"

"But look!" Sonata says holding the mouse by its tail. "It's dead though!"

"You could have used anything but that ball!" Aria screams. "That baseball's worth at least SEVEN HUNDRED DOLLARS!"

As much as you hate Aria and want to laugh at her misfortune, deep down you do feel kind of bad for her. You'd be pissed too if something as valuable as that football was lost over something this stupid.

"First things first, that rat's bleeding all over the floor, throw it out already!" Adagio says to Sonata before turning to Aria. "Don't worry, we'll find it first thing tomorrow morning."

"Are you kidding?!" Aria's eyes widen with fury. "Something that valuable is gonna be gone by then." You all watch as Aria puts on her boots and grabs the keys.

"I'm getting it now." She says before slamming the door. You look at Adagio who's just facepalming right now. Meanwhile, Sonata's off in the bathroom washing her hands after touching the rat.

"When she's this mad, even I can't control her." Adagio shakes her head before walking back into her room. "Let's get going, Anon. Sonata, you stay home and just clean up all the blood, okay?"

"Aye, aye!"

You take a deep breath, and sigh as Adagio runs into her door to get changed. It doesn't take long until Adagio comes out of her room with a baggy sweatshirt and jeans on and you start walking with her towards the door.

The two of you jog down the stairs and quickly get out of the apartments, the guards once again eyeing you rather suspiciously, but you're in too much of a hurry to care. Just as the two of you get outside, you hear the sound of tires screeching and you look to see the Dazzlings' car speeding out of the parking lot.

Adagio groans, clenching the nose of bridge in frustration. She then brings out her phone and begins rapidly texting someone. You watch as Adagio's red necklace begins glowing as she's texting. After putting her phone away, Adagio takes a seat towards a nearby bench, and you join her.

"Calling a ride?" You ask.

"Yeah." She answers. "I swear, if Aria does anything to that car on the way...our insurance is high enough as it is."

'Gee, I wonder why.' You think to yourself. After a few minutes of doing nothing, you see a police car passing by which then stops and pulls over in front of the two of you. You're confused for a moment, but when you see the officer inside, you gulp in fear.

Oh crap, that's the same cop that stopped Adagio. You thought he just let Adagio off with a warning. Or maybe he changed his mind and is back? Can cops even do that? You look at Adagio worriedly, but she seems to be completely calm right now. You notice as the police officer approaches you and Adagio, there's a faint, emerald glimmer in his eyes.

"Track down Aria." Adagio says in a domineering tone towards the police officer. He responds by opening the back door of the police car, and looks at you, as if he's expecting you to come inside. You're in a stupor, completely confused as to what the heck is going on right now.

"You coming?" The police officer asks. "It's not polite to keep a lady waiting, you know."

You shake your head, and see Adagio already buckled in up front going through some maps of Canterlot. She doesn't find this completely weird that a cop out of the blue just offers you two a ride? Shrugging, you get up from the bench, and step inside the police car. Just like in the movies, there's imposing, metal bars that block you from accessing the two front seats, along with the side and back windows that give you a bit of a claustrophobic feel.

The officer starts the car, and takes off. Thankfully, his driving is much smoother than Adagio's as he actually stops at stop signs and traffic lights. Meanwhile, Adagio is rapidly dialing away on her phone, probably trying to contact Aria. From the look on Adagio's face however, it doesn't look like she's getting much luck though.

"How many times did I tell her to clean up her damn voicebox?" Adagio curses.

The police officer makes a right turn, and you look out of the car through the barred windows, briefly catching a glimpse of Canterlot High before it disappears through a mass of buildings and houses. Buildings and houses that seem to look in much poorer quality than you're accustomed to. Every single one of the houses has roofs with missing tiles, porches with rotting wood, and just run-down houses in general. The streets have random litter and fragments of broken bottles scattered everywhere as well and is very poorly lit. These are definitely the "bad neighborhoods" of Canterlot that your mom always warned you about.

"Uhhhhm, Officer?" You speak up. "I think we made a wrong turn here..."

"No, no, Aria should down on this street." Adagio answers, stepping out of the police car.

"You sure?" You look around, nervously. The entire street is devoid of any human activity, but you spot movements in the shadows every now and then. "This place looks kinda...run down if you ask me."

You look at Adagio, who stares at her necklace awkwardly for a moment. Suddenly, panic fills her eyes for a brief moment as she opens your door, all but yanking you out of your seat. She then hurries over to the police officer, says something, and he drives off, disappearing into the darkness. You look back at Adagio awkwardly for a moment as she sighs in relief. Oddly though, you notice her necklace's typical shining, blood red glow has now reduced itself to a dull maroon.

"What was that all about?" You ask Adagio. "And what's your deal, leaving us both in the middle of some ghetto neighborhood?"

"First off, don't say that word here." Adagio hushes, her eyes darting back and forth, looking for movement. "Second, it's a long story, and I don't think making extra noise somewhere like here is a smart idea; especially when my songs are weak right now."

"Your songs?" You raise an eyebrow.

"Never mind." Adagio shakes her head. "Forget what I just said. Anyways, just keep your eyes peeled for the car; we find that, and we'll find Aria. And make sure we're not being followed, okay?"

'Jeez, so paranoid.' You think to yourself. You take a look at the nearest house to you, and the lights are completely pitch black. Just like every other house down the street. The entire street looks abandoned, and it's giving you the creeps.

Actually, you take it back. You're starting to get pretty paranoid too. This place doesn't look friendly at all. You just follow Adagio through the dark, unlit sidewalk, praying to God that she knows what she's doing.

Author's Note

Not dead, just a mega butt-ton of procrastinating. I try updating it faster from now on. Please let me know how you feel about the pace of the story (too slow, too fast, ect. ect.)

The Seven Hundred Dollar Moneyshot

If only this street was properly lit, this place wouldn't look half as creepy as it does. But on the other hand, that extra lighting just might mean a not so nice person can find you two a lot easier. Speaking of not so nice people, as you and Adagio walk deeper and deeper into the streets, you start seeing walls sprayed with intimidating looking graffiti signs of different colors. There's no doubt about it that you two are walking straight into gang territory. On the outside, you may appear calm, but you're actually scared to death over being in a place like this. You wonder if Adagio's handling this situation any better then you.

You look back, and find that the Adagio Dazzle you're accustomed to from school has changed quite a bit. She no longer walks with the long confident strides she does in school, and that constant devious smile on her face that has always captivates you is also gone. Instead, she walks with her back hunched over, her head constantly probing left and right like a security camera. The slightest noise gets her attention, and her trademark poofy hair has also been brushed and tied back into a ponytail, revealing her ears that are normally hidden behind them. She looks far more human, and attentive of her surroundings.

"Careful now." She says to you. "Something doesn't feel right..."

From the back of your ear, you hear the sound of a radio playing loud hip hop music. Turning around, you spot a pair of dim headlights getting brighter and brighter. Adagio, who noticed it before you, already found a hiding place behind a parked truck, and beckons you to come over.

You scramble for a spot next to Adagio, and wait as the music gets louder and louder. You hold your breath as it revs past the two of you, leaving behind visible tire marks on the pothole ridden road.

"That was close." You whisper, clenching your heart.

"Just keep moving." Adagio orders you. "The sooner we find Aria, the sooner we can leave this dump."

Adagio peeks her head just above the car, scanning for any movement before gingerly getting up from her hiding spot, motioning for you to follow her. The two then continue to walk in silence, forgetting the car ever came by. Adagio keeps her eyes up front, while you watch behind, keeping your eyes peeled for anything fishy.

You wipe sweat off of your forehead. To add with the rundown houses of the street, the near deafening silence, and gang graffiti, it's also extremely humid tonight; the air feels oppressively thick, and a thin layer of mist rises above the road, making it pretty hard to see far. All these factors combined makes this place feel like the setting of a horror movie, starring you and Adagio.

The street seems to go on without end, but to your relief, you finally spot the familiar looking Mercedes in all its glory. You take a quick look, and find the car's perfectly intact; no scars, no scratches, no dents, nothing. Nice to know that Aria didn't kill anybody coming over here.

"Well, there's the car..." You think aloud. "No Aria however." You look over to Adagio nervously.

"Where do you think she went..."

You and Adagio suddenly freeze in place at the sight before you. In the darkness, you spot three humanoid silhouettes moving towards the two of you with a very aggressive and purposeful manner. From the looks of the shadows, they definitely look like they're armed.

Your mind is screaming for you to move, to get behind cover, to do something, anything to get away from those three people, but your body stays there, paralyzed, and unresponsive. The three silhouettes are getting closer and closer until you see them stop at a fence. Shaking your head, your mind finally regains control of your body, and you dash with Adagio behind a tree.

"Think they saw us?" You ask Adagio, who responds only by shushing you. You dare to take a quick peek, and make out the shadows as three extremely tall, brutish looking men wearing ski masks to conceal their faces. One of them is carrying a gun, and another one a very big, machete-like knife.

"Well? Spill it already." You hear them speak, causing you to dart back behind the cover of the tree. "Is it her?"

"What the hell do you think?" A different voice growls impatiently. "This is the house she said to meet us in. Now do you have that stupid baseball with you?"

"Yeah, it's right in my pocket...but tell me this: Do you think those stories are true about her?" The conversation continues. "How she can take on five guys twice her size all at once?"

"Bullshit." You hear a harsh laughter. "It's just like those stories about walking talking ponies living on some other dimension; just stupid campfire stories to pass the time. Besides, we came prepared."

"You know, I don't care who or what that this 'Aria' girl is." A third, much angrier voice steps into the conversation. "I just wanna get this done so we can get to the pub early before all the good whiskey's gone. Now come on, let's move it."

You hear the sound of a shotgun being pumped, immediately followed by a fence gate being kicked open. You and Adagio remain behind the tree, not daring to move a muscle. When the sounds of the mens' footsteps die down, Adagio looks a you with a pale face.

"Aria..." She gulps before shaking her head. "I can't believe her..."

"I always knew she sold weed at CHS..." You say in disbelief. "But this? I didn't think....."

"That she's actually involved with all these gangs?" Adagio finishes off your sentence. You nod in reply. "I'm going to need a serious talk with Aria if we ever leave this place alive."

Dragging yourself away from the safety of your tree, you and Adagio stare at the run down house where the three thugs just walked into. The windows are dimly lit, signaling that there's people inside, and you hear Adagio grinding her teeth in stress.

"This can't possibly be worse than walking into the girls' locker room, right?" Adagio asks, her eyes still fixed on the house.

"Only the girls inside didn't carry freaking twelve gauges..." You answer back. You take the lead, with Adagio closely tailing behind you, and walk into the lawn. The lawn, much like the house is extremely run down; the entire left side has somehow been completely overtaken by brambles, and whatever ground that isn't host to the thorny bushes is home to sickly, mildew green grass that runs up to your thighs.

The front porch doesn't look any better than the lawn either; the right side is sagging, and you can see some of the supports splintering, giving you the uneasy feeling that the house could completely collapse any second. Sneaking off to the side of the house, you spot a lit window that's still open, and wave for Adagio to come over, pointing at the window.

"Alright, think you can boost me up there?" Adagio asks. "I think I can hear someone talking."

Nodding, you kneel and place your hands on your bent knee, making a platform to Adagio to climb on. She steps on you apprehensively, gaining balance before you thrust her upwards towards the window.

'Jesus.' You think to yourself, letting out a wheeze. 'She's definitely heavier than she looks.' But it's nothing you can't work with; you watch as Adagio grabs the opening of the window, and carefully peeks, looking for any signs of activity in the house.

"See anything?" You ask Adagio, your arms beginning to wobble a little.

"Not yet, but I can hear talking." Adagio answers back. "If I can just get a little higher, I can-"

A loud crack suddenly goes off, startling Adagio, who lets out a yelp and falls backwards. You were also taken away by this, and jump in surprise to both the sound, and the sudden shift in weight. As you fall down your butt, you look up in horror, as an orange mass off curly hair quickly smothers your vision.

The next thing you feel is pain. Lots and lots of it. Like how you said earlier, Adagio's not fat; far from it. But you'd be more dishonest than a used car salesman if you said she was light. You want to scream as loud as you can right now and you would've if your face wasn't smothered by Adagio's hair right now. You spit out the orange strands of inedible spaghetti in your mouth, and gently roll to the side.

"You alright?" Adagio asks worriedly, as she hurries over you.

"I'll live." You groan a reply, clutching your stomach. "But did you hear that?"

"A gunshot."

"But Aria..." You say slowly.

You never liked Aria. Period. The second you saw that girl in your gym class, you knew she was trouble. You've fantasized beating her up even more than you've fantasized being with Adagio. But...this?

In all those thousands of daydreams, you at least had the courtesy of leaving her alive. Even if it's barely. You never wanted to kill Aria, or see her get killed. Everybody still deserves a right to live, no matter how much of a cunt they are.

"Do you think Aria-"

"Let's not think of that right now." Adagio cuts you off. However, you can see quite clearly that she's even more worried than you are. "Can you still walk?"

"Yeah."

"Then come on, I spotted a ladder outside that we can use to get in that window." Adagio points to an open toolshed in the house's backyard.

Nodding, you get up while doing the best you can to ignore the pain. You watch as Adagio sets the ladder, and climbs up, and you follow suit, being careful not to make too much noise. When you reach into the interior of the house, you're not surprised to see that just like from the outside, it's a complete mess; the floor is so dusty that you're leaving footprints as you walk. Half eaten cans of food are scattered everywhere, and broken shards of glass bottles are littered all across the room, just waiting to be stepped on. You look over to Adagio, who doesn't seem to be too fond of this place either, but then again, who is? This entire house feels like it's about to collapse from the way it creaks and moans every time the wind blows against it.

"Ugh, this dust is going to take hours to get out of my hair." Adagio mutters, brushing her sweater. "I swear, if Aria's still alive, I'm going to kill her myself."

You look around, and find another room lit by, that seems to be the source of all the talking and commotion. Putting an ear to the door, you try to listen in on the conversation.

"This ball for just two hundred?" You hear a harsh laugh that's distinctly masculine. "Girl, you don't even know how much your own belongings are worth!"

"I shouldn't even be offering anything for my own god damn belongings." You hear a familiar voice growl. "It was mine to begin with 'till it somehow wandered into your hands."

"Hey, finders keepers." You hear another masculine voice. "Besides, you owe us for that last bad shipment anyways."

"It's not my fault you goons can't spot an undercover cop when he's right next to you." Aria says, her voice getting increasingly more aggressive. "As soon as I sell my batch to you, I don't have a part in whatever you guys do with it. It's on you that you had to throw it all away to stay out of jail, not me. Now two hundred fifty for my ball, and you three'll walk out with no broken bones, deal?"

"Ohh, did I just hear a threat?" A third voice chuckles. "Little girl, you better watch that mouth; we're the last people you ever want to start a war with."

"You damn well did just hear a threat. Now are you going to do make the smart move, and take my deal?"

"No, Aria, no!" You whisper, cringing at Aria's response. What is she doing?! Is she trying to get killed?! You reach into your pockets, and still feel Sonata's taco sauce pepper spray still inside. Giving it a quick shake, you lean back onto the door again, only to feel something loose. You look down at the door, and find that the wood around the hinge is rotting away, which means...

"Fuck!" You shout as the door completely falls apart, sending you tumbling into the room with Aria and the three gangsters. You kick up a huge cloud of dust, and watch as Aria quickly runs over to one of the men, knees him in the groin, and takes something out of his hands while dashing back towards Adagio.

"Anon, come on!" Adagio runs over, and pulls you back up. Upon getting up, you bolt down the stairs with Adagio and Aria, hearing heavy footsteps, along with some very vulgar language close behind you. You skip the last four steps, and jump down the staircases, then quickly find the window you and Adagio came in, and make a jump.

Landing on your feet, the three of you start running for your dear lives as you hear loud cracks and the sounds of bullets whizzing around you like angry bees. Now, you've played your fair share of shooter games; Counter-Strike, Battlefield, and everything in between. You always liked to believe that you had it all figured out when it came to situations like these where gunmen are trying to murder you. But too bad getting shot at in real life is a day and night difference between getting shot at in a video game.

"ARIA!" Adagio shouts. "Key!" Aria nods, as she reaches into her pocket, and tosses Adagio the keys to the car. She remotely unlocks the car, and the three of you scramble into the car. You take a seat in the back, while Adagio takes the wheel and Aria sits up front with her. Her hands fumble around with the ignition a bit before finally starting the engines, and taking it.

Normally, you'd be complaining about Adagio's driving right now, but this is different; if her driving doesn't kill you, than those three gunmen chasing Aria certainly will. Besides, so what if she just took off that mailbox? It was so broken and rusty, you guys are doing the owners a favor by making them have to buy a new and proper one.

"I can't believe you." Adagio groans, narrowly missing a cat crossing the street. "All for that stupid ball..."

"Hey, is it my fault Sonata decided to be stupid and throw it?!" Aria shoots back, polishing the baseball with her vest. "Also, how was I supposed to know that a bunch of goons I used to sell shrooms to just so happen to pick it up?!"

"This has gone WAY TOO FAR, ARIA!" Adagio explodes, making Aria flinch. "You said it would never involve me, or Sonata, now look at us!"

"If it weren't for me, we wouldn't have this car, OR the rent every month, genius!" Aria retaliates. "You and Sonata would've had to get 9-5's at McDonald's if it weren't for me! These guys I don't even deal with anymore!"

"Well we're dealing with your buddies right now!" Adagio shouts, as she slams the brake, and makes a hard left turn. "This whole mess that we're dealing with was caused by you, and-"

"Hey, hey, hey let's calm down girls!" You pipe up, trying to defuse the situation. "Why don't we just focus on getting out of this place alive first before we-"

"STAY OUT OF THIS!" The two girls shout in unison. Their voices synchronize, temporarily breaking your hearing aid for a second before going back to normal.

The temporary peace and quiet is soon broken when you hear a loud clang in the back of the car. You look over your shoulder, and see a blue pickup truck pursuing you. They flash the truck's headlights for a second before firing again, this time shattering the side view mirror on Aria's side.

"Fuck!" Aria shouts, looking at the destroyed mirror. "That's gonna cost so much to fix!"

The moment she says that however, another bullet hits the car, causing you to jump in fear. You cover your head, and duck as you watch Aria reaching down for something in one of the compartments.

"Aria...?" Adagio says worriedly while still keeping her eyes on the road. "What are you doing?"

"Teaching." Aria replies, pulling out a pistol. "More specifically, teaching these assholes a lesson on respect."

"No." Adagio says firmly. "Absolutely not."

"Last time I checked, Canterlot has a Stand Your Ground Law." Aria says.

"I don't care." Adagio retorts. "I won't be dragged into a second-degree murder lawsuit with you over some weed, and a stupid baseball."

"I thought 'leaders' always do what's best for the group." Aria says, mocking Adagio's voice as she does. "So much for captains going down with the ship. So much for-"

"Alright! Alright! Fine!" Adagio shouts. "Just...don't kill anyone, please!"

"No promises."

Aria begins loading rounds into an empty magazine before sliding it on to the gun, and pulling back the bolt, producing a very audible clicking noise. Upon hearing this, Adagio presses a button on the Mercedes' front panel, and the car's top window opens up, giving Aria a place to shoot from.

"Hey assholes!" Aria shouts before firing a round. "Eat this!"

Another bullet whizzes by the car, and Aria continues firing. You peek your head up from your seat, curious to see if Aria's actually hitting anything, but all you can see are brief, but intense flashes coming from the truck pursing you. Just as they begin gaining on you guys however, Aria fires another round, hitting one of the tires, causing the truck to lose control and spin out onto the sidewalk. She then flips off the truck just as Adagio makes a sharp turn, and you lose sight of your pursuers.

"Damn, that was fun!" Aria laughs, as she sits back on her seat. "You two should've seen the looks on their faces when I shot a hole on in their tire!"

"You're freaking crazy." You shake your head. "You know that?"

"And you're a dork." Aria flips you off, before turning her eyes back on the road. "By the way, did you know we're getting chased by the cops, Adagio?"

"I can try to lose them on the highway." Adagio replies, swerving violently to a different lane on the road onto an interstate highway. Aria starts loading more rounds into her gun, while all you can do is tighten your seatbelt; you've seen how Adagio normally drives when she's on the highway; how she's going to drive while being chased by the police? You'll be having Nam flashbacks if you survive this.

Within the span of ten seconds, Adagio's already going 90 miles an hour. Your heart feels like it's about to rip out of its chest as you've never went this fast before in your life. Zipping in between cars, you take another look at the rear view mirror, and see the blue and red sirens flashing getting closer.

"Guys!" You shout in the back. "They're closing in on us!"

Adagio responds by slamming on the gas pedal, causing the back of your head to connect with the back of your seat from the inertia. You take a quick peek, and to your horror, you three are now going at 140 miles an hour, the car's limit.

"They're still gaining on us!" You call out from behind. You're beginning to panic. What else can you guys do?!

"You got the energy for one more song?" Adagio asks. "I'm still spent."

"Well shit, I'm also low on negative energy." Aria sighs. "So...are we gonna have to blow 'em up?"

"And end up as international criminals?" Adagio scoffs. "Do you even think before you do anything?"

"Yeah, big words coming from someone who-"

"Hey, can you two seriously do something about the COPS THAT ARE LESS THEN FIFTY METERS AWAY FROM US?!" You interrupt them. Adagio puts a hand on her forehead and starts thinking, while Aria starts looking for more bullets.

You guys cross over a bridge, and Adagio suddenly slams the brakes, causing the tires to screech as she abruptly slows down, and pulls over onto the breakdown lane.

"What?!" Aria shouts. "Are you insane?!"

"Shut up, Aria!" Adagio shushes her. "I know what I'm doing! Just put down your gun, and walk out of the car!"

Shaking your head, you watch as police cars swarm you, blocking your escape. You look at Adagio, who's holding something in her hands, as you and Aria get out with your hands on your heads. You look to see Adagio doing the same, although with one hand behind her back.

"Freeze, and put your hands up in the air!" One of the police officers demand. "Both of them!"

"Adagio?!" You look over. "The hell are you-"

"I know you're going to hate me for this, Aria." Adagio mutters, suddenly getting her attention.

"Huh?!" Aria's eyes widen with fear, feeling the pockets of her vest. "Wait a second, where'd my ball go?!"

Adagio runs over to the edge of the bridge, and throws something small, white, and round as hard as she can.

"NOOOOOOOO!!!" You hear Aria shout, as she sprints towards the edge of the bridge and jumps off, going after the baseball. "FUCK YOU ADAGIOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooo-"

You hear a loud splash, and watch as all the cops look at each other in shock over what Aria just did.

"Jesus, did she just jump?" One of them asks another officer.

"That's fucked up..."

You and Adagio back up to the edge of the bridge, and look down, seeing Aria emerge from the water, looking a lot more pissed off than usual for obvious reasons.

"Adagio, you BITCH!" She shouts at the bottom of the river. "WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?! WHEN I GET BACK UP THERE, YOU'RE GONNA WISH YOU WERE ARRESTED! THIS BALL IS WORTH SEVEN HUNDRED BUCKS!!! SEVEN HUNDRED! WORTH MORE THAN YOUR LIFE AND-"

As Aria's angry rambling continues, you can help but notice a mass of green smoke emerging around Aria. It starts spinning violently around her like a tornado before shooting upwards, and spiraling into Adagio's red ruby necklace. The necklace rejuvenates itself, the dull maroon quickly glowing, and returning to the most intense shade of red you've ever seen. Adagio then quickly rushes to you, and rips off your hearing aid.

"Hey!" You shout. "What gives?!"

Adagio then opens her mouth and starts...humming? You don't know; you can't hear shit without that thing. Suddenly, all the cops start putting away their guns. Adagio then walks up to each and every one of the cops, and starts...conversing with them? You look at the scene before you in disbelief. Seriously, what the hell is going on?

A couple seconds later, and all the cops get back into their cars and start driving away, leaving you and Adagio alone together on the bridge. She tosses back your hearing aid, which you promptly check for damage before putting it back on.

"Hey...Adagio?" You ask nervously. "What the heck just happened?"

Adagio looks around nervously, before sighing in defeat.

"I guess there's no point hiding it anymore, is it?" She stoops over. "Clearly, you know we're not ordinary girls..."

"You just...opened your mouth, then...that green fart cloud, and everyone was just...calm!" You exclaim. "Seriously, how did you do that?! It was like-"

"Adagio!" You're cut off by the voice of Aria, who's soaked to the bone and holding her prized baseball. Every time she takes a step, her boots make a loud, wet squishing noise.

"Oh, you're still alive!" Adagio says, putting on the fakest smile you've ever seen. "Was the water cold?"

"If you didn't just save our lives right there, I'd kill you right here, right now!" Aria snarls before taking off her vest, and squeezing the water out of it. "Do you have any idea how much that belly flop hurt?!"

"No, because I'm not the one who dove from a thirty foot bridge for a stupid trinket." Adagio replies.

"Hey, come on Aria, just take one for the team alright?" You pat her soaked back. She promptly swats it off before glaring at you.

"What happened, happened..." You hold back a snicker. "It's all... water under the bridge now."

If looks could kill, than Aria's glare would have disintegrated you with sheer hatred. You can tell she's seriously considering murdering you right now, but you don't care; you just had to say that. Meanwhile, you pull out your phone, and your heart drops after seeing the time.

2:45

Yup. Mama Anon is not going to be happy with you one bit. You may have survived a gangster shootout, followed by a highway cop chase, but you know the second you step in your house, you're dead meat. All you can do is look at Adagio and Aria hopelessly as you three walk back into the car, and take off.

"...Adagio?" You ask nervously, constantly checking your phone to see if your mom's texted you at all or not.

"Yes, Anon?" She responds.

"...Do you mind if I crash over at your place tonight? I really don't want to go home right now..."

Author's Note

Sorry for taking so long to pump out the chapters, I don't really have a set schedule so I kind of just write whenever I feel like it. Also, I've been trying to find some proofreaders to help me out. If anybody is reading this, please help me out by linking a site to where I can ask some people to proofread.

The Fruits of Your Labors

You can feel your heart beating out of its chest. You're the only one left...everyone else is dead.

A quick ammo check also reveals that you've only got four bullets left. This is bad. You nervously turn around the corner, rifle drawn, but nobody's there. Well, there was somebody, but he's dead now. You nervously walk over to the corpse of the slain soldier, picking up any spare magazines. You whisper a quick prayer to him, and cross your heart hoping you won't end up like him before moving on.

Checking your radar, you find that you're not picking up anything. You don't dare to reload either, as the sound will give away your position, and that's the last thing you need right now. You turn around another corner, spotting an enemy.

'I don't think he saw me.' You think to yourself. 'Alright, this is good.'

Slowly walking alongside the shadow of a wall, you stalk your enemy, who's still completely unaware you're right behind him. Adrenaline rushes through your blood vessels. You could shoot him right now, but that would alert everyone else. You silently holster your rifle, and pull out your knife.

You're so close to him, you can hear him breathing. Shifting your knife into a reverse, icepick grip, you raise the knife and prepare to end him until you hear a loud crack. The horrible sound of metal penetrating metal rings through your ears before you're thrown to the side of the streets, seeing a pool of blood forming underneath you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VYTEZyj6KM

"You fucking retard!" Your teammate shouts at you through his microphone. "Why didn't you just fucking shoot him while you had the chance?! And check your fucking corners!"

"You're such an obvious wallhacker, oh my god."

"How the hell did you get to this rank?! Clearly you were boosted!"

"It's 'cause of idiots like you that I can never leave this rank! I'm always stuck with retards who can't even hold a site or do anything and-"

You take off your headset, and rub your temples before leaning back on your chair in defeat.

'How the heck can people get so mad over a video game?' You think to yourself. 'They were meant to be fun, not to stress you out! That's what school's for.'

Oh well, first block starts in ten minutes anyways, and besides; today's finally the day of Rainbow Dash's soccer game against Crystal Prep. You're not going to let a bunch of angry idiots you met online ruin it. You close your laptop, and decide to go on your phone to pass the rest of the time. Opening Facebook, the first thing you see is a new story.

BREAKING NEWS
SHOOTOUT AT FRANKLIN STREET, POLICE SUSPECT DRUG RELATED

"Nope." You think aloud as you shut off your phone. "Nope. Nopenopenopenopenopenopenope." Looks like somebody's getting to class early then.

Walking off towards the boy's locker room, you reach into your bag, and get ready to change into your gym clothes. You start reminisce over what happened last night; you begin to realize just how lucky you were to come out of without a scratch. And all for stupid ball too...

But hey, seeing Aria bellyflop off that bridge was priceless though. You mentally replay that image of her in your head, until see Coach Iron Will approaching you.

"Anonymous?" Coach Iron Will says. "Can I talk with you for a minute?"

"Oh... sure." You look at him surprised. The last time you saw Coach Iron Will was...well...... when you were disguised as a girl. Talking with him now as the real you feels almost of place for you now.

"What's up, Coach?" You ask, smiling nervously.

"I wanted to talk about your sister Anna." Coach Iron Will says. You flinch a little; you know exactly where this conversation is going. "I have her soccer uniform ready, and I've been trying to contact her with everything: e-mails, phone calls, she's not replying at all. Since you're her brother, can you personally send the word to Anna for me?"

"Oh...well...it's been complicated." You say slowly to Coach Iron Will. "You see...Anna's been out for a while."

"Hmm?" Iron Will raises an eyebrow. "What happened?"

"Over the weekend, Anna was going out for a run, then someone hit her with a car." You lie. "It was bad. She's in the hospital, and the doctors say it's going to take at least six months before she can even go back to school."

"Oh my God." Coach Iron Will puts a hand to his chest. "I'm...I'm sorry Anon. I didn't know..."

"It's fine, it's fine Coach." You smile weakly. "The most important thing is that she's still alive; we're just...not going to see her for a long time."

"No, that's understandable." Coach Iron Will pats your back. "Take good care of your sister, Anon. And once again, I'm really sorry for what happened to her."

Coach Iron Will walks back to his office, and the second he closes his door, you facepalm.

"I can't believe I just pulled off that lie." You say to yourself. After you finish changing, you start making your way out of the locker room when Flash Sentry suddenly joins you.

"Hey, Anon." Flash says, patting your back. "You look tired man, you good?"

"Nawww, I'm fine." You smile. "I just...went through a lot this weekend; that's all."

"Oh." Flash pouts. "Anyways, you mind if I ask something?"

"I'm all ears." You say, tapping your hearing aid. Flash seems to look a little nervous for some reason, which is very odd for him. You're his best friend; what he going to be asking that he can't even trust you with? Flash takes a deep breath, exhales slowly.

"Let's say hypothetically speaking." He begins. "There's...two guys who are total bros; like us."

"Mmhmm."

"And let's say one of the guys has a sister..."

'Motherfucker.' You think to yourself. 'I know exactly where this conversation is going.'

"And said sister is really cute, and-"

"My sister's a lesbian." You quickly interrupt him. "In fact, she spoke with me a while ago, asking me to break the news to you for her."

Flash stoops down, and lets out a sigh of defeat. You feel bad seeing him like this, but you feel even worse for lying not once, but twice to your own best friend. You look down on the ground, feeling like you can't even look to your friend in the eye anymore. From posing as a girl for a day, to nearly getting killed on behalf of Aria, you realize you've went through so much bullshit......all to get even on Rainbow Dash.

'Is it even worth it at this point?' You think, asking yourself this question in your head. 'And what's gonna happen afterwards anyways? It's not like getting revenge on Rainbow's gonna magically undo everything that's happened to you...'

"Oh well..." Flash says shrugs, breaking you out of your inner monologue. "That's fine; plenty of other girls out there to choose from, right Anon?"

"Yeah, sorry, Flash." You shrug. "You know how it is; some people are just born different, and it is what it is."

The two of you enter the gym together, and you see Coach Iron Will setting up the nets for volleyball. He briefly goes over the basic rules, and then splits you all into teams. Naturally, you never get paired with your friends, and instead end up stuck with Aria Blaze.

"So...today's the day, Anon..." Aria comments, as the two of you walk to your assigned field together. "Adagio wants to meet you at the soccer field right after dismissal, by the way. To make sure everything's all set up before the game."

"Yeah...she texted me." You reply.

"Well?" Aria looks at you funnily. "You're not excited, or anything?"

"I guess I am..." You mutter. "Though I'm starting to feel like it's not really worth it anymore at this point."

"What?" Aria looks at you in disbelief. "You've went thought so much bullshit to get this plan to work though!"

"That's my point." You reply. "Is it really worth nearly getting killed just to get even with Rainbow?"

"Alright, last night was too much, I'll give you that." Aria admits. "I can promise you something like that's never going to happen again."

"But you're not the only one who's been pulling out all the stops." Aria says. "Did you know Adagio stayed up all night trying to fine-tune that electromagnet thing? She really cares about this, you know."

"Adagio?" Your head perks up in surprise.

"That's right." Aria nods, a smirk cracking across her face. "She really wants to see this plan succeed for you. Besides...don't you have a thing for her anyways?"

"Wait, what?" You take a step back in shock. "I...wh-"

"Oh, come on don't act dumb." Aria grins. "You really think I didn't notice?"

You can feel your cheeks burning, as look back at Aria, who's grinning widely at you. She lives with Adagio for crying out loud, there's no point hiding it from her of all people. Still though, it makes you feel extremely uncomfortable that Aria knows about your little crush.

"I thought so." Aria chuckles. "And you know what? Last I've heard, she's been starting to like you, Anon. I can always hear her talking about you with Sonata..."

The hairs at the end of your head stand back. You can suddenly feel all the discomfort from Aria discovering your crush for Adagio melting, and being replaced with a warm feeling of excitement. Normally, you wouldn't believe a single word coming from Aria's mouth, but this? You know what she's saying is true; you want what she's saying to be true.

"Tonight's also the night where one of Adagio's favorite restaurants is holding a special discount too, now that I remember." Aria mentions, before turning a devious gaze to you. "I don't know about you, but I'd say right after the game would be the perfect time to take her out on a date Anon, don't you think?"

"100%, Aria."

******

After gym class with Aria, nothing really special happened for the rest of the day. You just try to focus on finishing Discord's classwork so it doesn't become homework tonight; you have a feeling that tonight's going to be one that you'll remember for quite a while, and you don't want any homework to ruin it.

The bell finally rings as you finish the last problem, and everybody immediately starts packing their stuff. As you pack up, you feel a tap on your shoulder, and see Sonata, giving you an all-knowing smile. Nodding to her, Sonata takes the classroom's back door and start walking towards the school's soccer fields.

Ever since that little talk with Aria, you feel your desire for revenge against Rainbow Dash reinvigorated. Aria was right; you were just shaken up from what happened last night, that's all. And not only that, but after all the trouble you've went through to make this plan finally work, you'll might as well see it to the end. You've stuck with the Dazzlings for this long, and you're gonna stick with them until the end, no matter what happens.

"This'll definitely be a night to remember." You chuckle to yourself as you make your way down to the school's main foyer. As you walk down the science hallway however, you see two girls conversing near the stairs. Another glance and you notice it's Fluttershy, talking to the most vicious girl in the school: the infamous Sunset Shimmer.

You gulp. You know all too well that wherever Sunset Shimmer is, there's going to be trouble. Trouble that you really don't want to get involved with. From your past experiences with the Dazzlings, they're far from innocent themselves, especially Aria; but Sunset? Sunset is where you really draw the line between good and bad. You've heard rumors that she's involved with some shady black magic cults, and has actually killed people before. And not to mention that whole demon episode of her trying to take over the school, you know to keep far away from her.

Well...you weren't actually there; when it was taking place, you were in bed, sick with a really nasty flu. Your body ached so bad, your limbs felt like they were about to just dissolve, and your body was violently shivering under five layers of blankets as you sweat so much you soaked your pajamas through. And not to mention the coughing and stuffed nose; that was the worst.

You just keep your head low, and start walking a little faster, feeling sorry for whatever plans she has cooked up for Fluttershy until you spot a boot standing in your way.

A boot belonging to Sunset Shimmer.

"Look, Sunset." You say quickly while backing up slowly. "I don't know who told you what, but if I did something to piss you off, I didn't mean to so please-"

"Chill Anon, chill." Sunset puts her hands in front of you. "I'm not here to kill you, relax."

You look at Fluttershy for a moment and she nods reassuringly, making you feel a little better that Sunset's approaching you in this manner.

"So then..." You say cautiously. "What do you want with me?"

"Anon, you know those three new girls you've been hanging out with recently?" She asks. "Adagio Dazzle, Sonata Dusk, and Aria Blaze?"

"Yeah." You answer back. "What about 'em?"

"I'm just wondering." Sunset continues. "Have you ever noticed them acting out of the ordinary?

"What?" You raise an eyebrow. "What do you mean by acting out of the ordinary?"

"I've been keeping my eye on them ever since I got here." Sunset says.

"And why are you so curious about them?" You ask, starting to get a little annoyed. "I'd love to chat, but I have somewhere I need to be soon."

You start walking away from Sunset, until you feel a hand suddenly grab your shirt. You turn, and see Sunset Shimmer, dead serious eyes pointed straight at you. You'd pee your pants if you didn't just use the restroom ten minutes ago.

"I know those three girls are plotting something." She says. "And I know you're involved with it. A guy like you doesn't suddenly start hanging out with three girls he doesn't even know just for shits and giggles. I don't know what those three have said or promised to you Anon, but you can't trust them."

"And what reason do I have to trust you?" You say as you pull your shirt out of Sunset's hand. Sunset visibly flinches from your words, which surprises you greatly. You just sassed the Heisenberg of Canterlot High, and you're still standing in one piece!

"I appreciate your little warning, but I really need to start going; I'll miss my bus otherwise." You start briskly walking away from the girls.

"No, seriously Anon!" Sunset calls from behind you. "You don't what know those girls are!"

You shake your head. Is Sunset off her rocker today? What's gotten into her? Normally, if you talked to Sunset the way you just did, you be lying on the ground with a broken nose right now. Why did she let you off so easy?

'Whatever.' You think to yourself. This is going to be a wonderful day, and you're not going to let anybody ruin it. You can already see everything happening in your head: You and the Dazzlings watching Rainbow's game turn into a disaster, Rainbow Dash embarrassing herself in front of the whole school, and nobody but you four will know what's really happened. Then afterwards, as you walk away from the chaos with Adagio, you'll say what you wanted to say to her that day right before Rainbow's flash bang ruined it.

And she'll say yes.

Reaching the main foyer, you find Adagio waiting for you. She greets you with a wink, and you respond by smiling brightly.

"Today's the day, Anon." She says wearing that all too captivating, devilish grin of hers. "You ready, big boy?"

The Worst Game Ever

You walk with Adagio in silence across the empty soccer field. In two hours, this turf is going to be host to a ferocious battle between two world renowned high schools. You've been to a Canterlot High vs. Crystal Prep football game before and boy, you could feel the tension between the two schools. Every single tackle looked like the players were trying to kill each other, and during the final quarter a huge fight broke out, sending two Crystal Prep students to the hospital. If their football games are anything to go by, then you know that tonight is going to be a slaughter.

"Something on your mind, Anonymous?" Adagio asks.

"Oh, nothing much." You reply, looking at the ground. "Just wondering where Sonata and Aria are."

"Sonata's out digging holes around the soccer field to place the metal bars, while Aria is smuggling those magnets into Rainbow Dash's soccer cleats." Adagio answers.

"They need any help?" You ask. "We've come way too far to muck things up."

"Don't worry." Adagio places her hand on your shoulder, causing you to tense up a little. "You've already done enough."

"This..." Adagio says as she gestures her arm across the whole soccer field. Her hair dances around the setting sun, shimmering like a waterfall. You're taken back by just how beautiful she is in the sunlight before she looks at you smiling.

"Is your day."

You feel yourself involuntarily moving closer and closer to her. You want to say something, but you just can't seem to get it out. All you can do is move closer and closer to Adagio until you hear a distant voice snap you out of your trance.

"Dagi, I'm done!" Sonata shouts, running towards the two of you with a dirty shovel in her hands. "Man, digging holes is hard!"

"It's only fitting she gives the worst job the worst." You hear Aria grumble right behind her. "My work's done too. All we have to do now is to find a nice vantage point to watch the mayhem unfold."

"Hey, how about up there?" Sonata suggests, pointing towards one of the giant stadium lights. "I think I see a ladder leading up towards it."

"All stadium lights like those have ladders, idiot." Aria rolls her eyes. "Why would you want to go up there anyways? It's so freaking high, you won't even be able to see anything."

"Ooooh what's wrong?" Sonata cocks her head to the side, a devious smile forming on her lips. "Is Big Bad Aria scared of heights? Big Bad Aria, who beats up gangsters can't take a little altitude?"

"Oh shut up!" She pushes Sonata away. "It's not that I'm afraid of heights; it's just...we won't be able to see anything up there! How are we going to use that magnet thing Adagio made if we can't even see the action and or anything?"

"Well, after that night when I threw Aria's baseball down the bridge, she did begin having a really irrational fear of heights..." Adagio says, trying to hold back her laughter.

"Yeah, no thanks to you." Aria glares at her. "I still can't believe you did that."

"It's not even that high..." You say as you look up. "Plus, we brought binoculars."

"Fuck you too!" Aria holds a finger to your throat. "You're just doing this to gang up on me!"

"Or maybe you're just CHICKEN!" Sonata mocks her while making chicken wings with her arms. "Bwak! Bwaaaak! Bwak! Bwak!"

"Adagio can I hit her?" Aria begs. "Please? Please???"

******

Alright...maybe Aria was right; these stadium lights are pretty tall. It also doesn't help that the entire thing shakes whenever the wind blows. But hey, you're already halfway there, so you'll might as well go all the way. You look down, and Adagio's right under you, followed by Aria, and Sonata.

"Aria, can you climb any slower?" Sonata complains. "I'm falling asleep down here!"

"Can it, Sonata!" Aria barks. "I'm doing my best and-WWWHOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" Aria's arms wrap around the ladder as another gust of wind comes down upon you guys, shaking the entire pole. You're not 100% unfazed either; this is scary, but knowing that Aria's faring it far worse than you makes it feel all the better.

"Come ooooooooooonnn, I've seen sea horses that move faster than you!" Sonata presses on. "What's up with you? You scared?"

For the last time, I'm NOT scared!" Aria growls. "It's just...difficult to climb!"

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhh." Sonata replies. "I get why you're going so slow now! How could I be so stupid? You were never scared, you're just fat!"

In the middle of Aria's angry cussing, you and Adagio burst into laughter. Holy cow, you never knew Sonata Dusk could be this savage, but you're loving every bit of it. A few minutes of silent climbing go by before you look down again, and see Sonata with an evil smile on her face.

"Hey, Aria?" Sonata asks softly.

"What the hell do you want this time, Sonata?" Aria grumbles.

"SHARK ATTACK!!!" Sonata shouts as she grabs Aria's leg and starts flailing wildly, causing Aria to let out an ear-piercing scream.

"You. Are. The. WORST!!!" Aria screeches at the top of her lungs.

******

Upon finally reaching the top of the pole, Adagio takes out four pairs of binoculars along with of course, the homemade switch that turns those magnets on and off. Behind you, Sonata and Aria are also settling down. In an attempt to get as far away from Sonata as possible, Aria sits to the far right, leaving you sitting in between Sonata and Adagio.

The sun finally sets, and it doesn't take long for the stadium to quickly come to life. It's an hour and a half before the game, and there's already a long line of people waiting at the entrance of the stadium to buy tickets.

"What?!" Sonata shouts as she looks through her binoculars. "Are you kidding me?!"

"What's wrong?" You turn to Sonata.

"They're charging FIFTEEN BUCKS for one ticket!" Sonata exclaims. "And they're not even giving discounts for students or parents either!"

"Oh, they'll definitely be wanting their money back after they see this game." Adagio chuckles. "Well, at least the Canterlot High fans."

Through your own binoculars, you see the Crystal Prep Academy bus rolling into the school's parking lot. It doesn't really take that much effort to spot it though; it's more like a coach bus then an actual school bus but hey, it's what you get for going to an expensive private high school. In a uniform line, the girl's team walks out, each of them donning much fancier looking uniforms then that of Canterlot High. Like how you said before; it all comes as part of the package of a super expensive school.

"There's the Crystal Prep team." You mutter before shifting your attention to the soccer field. You spot Rainbow Dash, Lightning Dust, and all the other members of the Canterlot High team warming up with stretches, and other sorts of passing exercises.

"Adaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa" Sonata groans as she rummages through Adagio's backpack. "You forgot the food!"

"I don't know." Adagio shrugs. "Maybe I had to make room for more important things like the magnets!"

"Come on, Sonata." You say, trying to defuse the situation. "I think you'll be fine if you skip dinner for just one day."

"I didn't even have lunch though!" Sonata throws her arms up in outrage. "I'm gonna starve!"

"And whose fault is that?!" Aria joins in. "Maybe if you don't completely pig out on Taco Tuesdays every week, you'd still have money left in your account!"

"Well I'm still twelve pounds lighter than you, so suck it!" Sonata sticks her tongue out.

"That's 'cause I'm not a god damn skeleton like you!" Aria shoots back. "I-"

"Girls!" Adagio shushes both of them. "The game's about to begin!"

Just as Adagio breaks up the fight, you hear the sound of drums rolling. Looking down, the Canterlot High marching band begins playing as both teams walk onto the soccer field, all geared up. The crowd erupts with applause, and you adjust your binoculars, seeing Rainbow Dash talking to Coach Iron Will with a confident smile on her face.

"We'll see how long you keep that smile on your face, Rainbow." You whisper to yourself.

******

"I know, I know." You say dismissively. "I'll be careful this game."

"Last time you said that, you and Cloud Chaser ended up missing out on a whole season because of those girls." Iron Will reminds you. "Please...just take it easy this game, Rainbow."

"You know there's no such thing as 'taking it easy' versus Crystal Prep, Coach." You reply. "You always gotta go all in against them!"

"I'm not risking my star player when we've got much bigger fish to fry like Cloudsdale!" Iron Will snaps. He's about to say something else, but catches himself and takes a deep breath. "The point I'm trying to emphasize is that we've got a great team this year. We have the potential to take Regionals; possibly even Nationals! For the sake of our team, please don't take this little rivalry with Crystal Prep too far. Please."

"Point taken, Coach." You give him a thumbs up before checking the laces on your cleats and walking towards the field. They seem a little heavier than usual, but it's probably just some pebbles or something. You do some final stretches before spotting Lightning Dust running towards you.

"It looked like you were having a pretty heated discussion with Iron Will." Lightning Dust says. "Everything's good?"

"You know Iron Will." You yawn. "He's always like this whenever we play against Crystal Prep. Well, come on; let's get to the field!"

As you come under one of the stadium lights, the crowd erupts with cheering. You respond by waving your hands to everyone, giving the Canterlot High fans a thumbs up before turning around, and seeing the rest of the team waiting for you. On the other side is the Crystal Prep captain Indigo Zap, arms crossed and tapping her foot.

"Canterlot!" You call out to your team. "Huddle!"

The entire team responds to you, and it doesn't take long for everybody to join arms in a circle, with you in the center.

"Girls..." You begin. "I know what you're thinking; it's Crystal Prep. The girls who demolished us during the semi-finals last year. But good news is that most of their good players were seniors and graduated."

"But that's not an excuse to slack off against them." Lightning Dust steps in. "You know those girls; they're not afraid of playing dirty, so get in there, get the job done quick, and get out before they decide to try anything on you."

"Now, Canterlot High on three!" You shout. "ONE, TWO, THREE!"

"CANTERLOT HIGH!" The entire team shouts in unison before everyone takes their positions on the field.

"Wow...that was a lot more prep talk than usual..." Indigo Zap yawns. "What's wrong? Are your new freshmen scared of us?"

"In your wildest dreams." You scoff. "We have a stacked team this year; you're nothing to us."

"We'll see about that." Indigo cracks her knuckles. From the corner of your eye, you see the referee approaching the two of you, whistle in one hand, soccer ball in the other. He gives the two of you a nod, and you scrunch your nose up. Shaking hands with Indigo Zap is always the worst part of every game; it always turns into a contest to see who can crush the other girl's fingers.

"Well?" Indigo Zap sticks her hand out expectantly, with a malicious smirk. "You gonna shake it, or just stand there like an idiot?"

You stare down the Crystal Prep captain as you lock hands with her, and clamp down as hard for a few seconds before pulling your hand back. You look at your hand, and see blood trickling down your knuckles where Indigo's nails dug into you, and you respond by shaking your head and returning to your side on the field. The referee then places the ball on the center of the field, backs up from the action. He takes a deep breath before blowing his whistle, signaling the start of the match.

******

Rainbow Dash immediately takes the ball from Indigo Zap, and starts advancing full speed towards the goal, effortlessly weaving through Sour Sweet and two other defenders on her way towards the goal. Seeing Rainbow's lighting fast offense is truly something amazing to behold.

But too bad for her, this'll be her worst game ever. You see Sonata about to turn on the electromagnet before Adagio stops her.

"Wait until she's near the goal." She says. "It'll be a lot funnier seeing her botch an easy shot."

But at the last second, Rainbow passes to Cloud Chaser who headbutts the ball, only to have the Crystal Prep goalkeeper save it. The left side of the stadium starts cheering like crazy while the right side starts a chorus of boos.

Indigo Zap quickly rushes over to the Crystal Prep goalie, whispering something in her ears and running off back into the field. You watch as the goalie punts the ball, seemingly aiming it at nothing until the ball suddenly does a crazy spin, nearly hitting Rainbow Dash in the face. Indigo Zap takes the ball and passes it to Lemon Zest, who charges towards the goal.

Once within kicking distance, she feigns going for the shot before passing back to Indigo Zap, kicking a Canterlot player in the process. Once again, the Canterlot crowd erupts in boos, ending just as the referee blows his whistle.

"Christ..." You say to yourself. "These girls are brutal."

"Oh, it's only going to get worse from here." Adagio smiles maliciously, her ruby necklace pulsing for a brief moment.

******

"A penalty kick?!" You shout in outrage. "That should've been a red fucking card! She deliberately went for Raindrops there!"

"I know." Lightning Dust agrees with you. "I don't know what that ref's thinking."

"Don't sweat it, Rainbow." Raindrop says. "I'll just sit back and ice my leg for a couple minutes. I'll be back before you know it." Gritting your teeth, you and Lightning Dust set your teammate on the bleachers before heading back to the field.

"Hey Lightning Dust." You nudge her. "Can I trust you to take the shot? There's something I need to do."

"Is that even a question?" Lighting Dust cracks her knuckles. "That Crystal bitch goalie's gonna be seeing stars when I'm done with her!"

"Awesome." You pat Lightning on the back. "Go get 'em."

Walking over to the other side of the soccer field, you spot Indigo Zap talking with some other Crystal Prep teammates. Whatever it is, they sure seem to be cracking up over it.

"Indigo!" You shout over to her, only to be ignored.

"Indigo!" You repeat yourself, raising the volume to your voice a little. Still no answer.

Anger beginning to boil up inside of you, you walk up to the Crystal Prep team's cooler and kick it as hard as you can. The ice inside splatters everywhere as it crashes down the bleachers. Finally Indigo Zap begins to even acknowledge you. She gets up from her seat and looks at you with annoyance in her eyes.

"Indigo!" You shout. "Get over here!" Rolling her eyes, Indigo whispers something to the girls she was talking to and walks over to you.

"I don't know what your deal is letting Lemon Zest hurt my teammate like that, but I'm not having anymore of that." You say aggressively.

"It was a genuine mistake." Indigo says calmly.

"Bullshit." You growl. "That was a free shot; who the hell passes in a situation like that?!"

"She feigned going for it, and tried passing it to me before your teammate got in the way." Indigo shrugs. I can tell Lemon Zest to be more careful when she makes passes, but there's only so much she can do when the other team just gets in her way and plays dumb..."

You clench your fists. Talking to them isn't going to do anything.

"Listen up, 'cause this is your first and last warning!" You point at all the Crystal Prep girls. "If I see any of you trying to hurt my teammates again, you're all gonna regret it!"

You walk away fuming, hearing the distant sounds of the Crystal Prep students laughing.

******

The crowd goes wild as Lightning Dust scores the first goal on Crystal Prep, and in the distance, you see Coach Iron Will taking a sigh of relief. After the cheering and whooping from the crowd starts to die down, the Crystal Prep goalie punts the ball forward to Lemon Zest, only for it to be stolen by Cloud Chaser who then passes it to Lightning Dust. She tries to advance towards the goal, but gets double-teamed by Sour Sweet and Indigo Zap who manage to wrestle the ball out of her possession.

Indigo Zap does a motion with her hands, and Sour Sweet immediately nods before sprinting away. Indigo then kicks the ball towards Sour Sweet, who then head butts the ball to Lemon Zest. The ball soars through the air like a bullet towards Lemon Zest who positions herself in front of the ball and does a bicycle kick, sending the ball straight into the Canterlot goal behind her. The entire thing happened in less than ten seconds, all without the ball even touching the ground.

'Man, five minutes into the game, and it's already this good!' You think to yourself. For a moment, you almost feel sorry for having to sabotage such a great game like this. Your thoughts are interrupted when you see the ball soaring through the air again as Canterlot High begins their own offensive play.

Cloud Chaser takes the ball first and passes it towards Rainbow Dash who starts sprinting towards the goal with Lightning Dust not too far behind her. Indigo Zap moves in to stop Rainbow Dash, and she responds by kicking the ball in between her legs, and doing some crazy gymnast flip to jump over her. The crowd goes wild as Rainbow Dash lands on her feet, and begins lining up her shot on the goal.

"Get ready, Sonata." Adagio says. "She's about to make her shot."

******

Man, the look on Indigo's face when you jumped over her like that was one you'll never forget. The Crystal Prep goalie's all the way on the other side of the goal too; there's no way she'll be able to save this shot. You take a moment to line up your shot until you feel a weird tingling sensation in your cleats. The strange sensation gets stronger and stronger as you reach the goal until you're suddenly lifted off your feet. The whole world is spinning and the next thing you remember, your face is buried into the turf.

You spit out the grass and look up, seeing the entire crowd...cheering? You look at them confused, completely clueless as to what the heck just happened until you feel a hand grabbing you from behind, and pulling you back up.

"Rainbow!" Lightning Dust exclaims. "I don't know what you just did, but holy shit!"

"What?" You ask.

"What do you mean?!" Lightning Dust laughs. "You just did some crazy kung fu backflip kick into the goal! You sent the ball going so fast you ripped a hole through the net!"

You turn, and Lightning Dust was right; there's a gaping hole in the net, and the Crystal Prep goalie is on the ground with a look of utter bewilderment on her face as she stares at you. Shrugging, you jog back to your side of the field, wondering what the heck just happened.

******

"Sonata..." You say slowly. To your right, Aria and Adagio are both facepalming. "You're supposed to use the magnet to make Rainbow Dash mess up, not help her."

"Of course she messed up!" Sonata says. "Did you see that faceplant she did? I'm surprised she doesn't have a bloody nose!"

"Then explain why the entire crowd is cheering, idiot!" Aria shouts.

******

The Crystal Prep goalie passes the ball to Indigo Zap, as they try to set up for that bicycle kick strategy they did last time, but you saw this coming a mile away; you intercept the ball right after Sour Sweet passes to Lemon Zest, and start running the other direction with it. Indigo tries to steal the ball from you, and you pass back to Cloud Chaser, who continues to weave through the Crystal Prep defense like it's nothing.

She then passes back to you and you begin lining up your shot, but from the corner of your eye you spot Sour Sweet and Lemon Zest sprinting towards you to take the ball away. There's no time to line up the perfect shot; you doubt you're going to make it before they get to you, but you shake your head and go for it anyways. As your foot connects with the ball, you feel that strange tingling sensation in your feet again until your foot suddenly jerks to the left. The last thing you hear before you hit the ground is the referee's whistle blowing, and the sound of gasps coming from the crowd.

"Rainbow!" You look up from the ground, and see Lighting Dust with Cloud Chaser close behind running over to you. "Rainbow, what the hell?!"

"Ughhh..." You clutch your head. "Lightning..."

"Seriously Rainbow, what was that?" Lightning Dust asks as she pulls you up from the ground.

"What do you mean?" You ask, before looking to your side, and seeing Sour Sweet and Lemon Zest on the ground. Sour Sweet's clutching her face and groaning as Lemon Zest is on her knees, rubbing her temples.

"You just did that weird...kung fu kick thing again." Lighting Dust says, trying to motion what you did with her hands. "Except... you missed and clocked those two right in the face."

"I don't know how that happened." You say. "Seriously."

"Look, I know those Crystal Prep girls are total bitches, but you can't go stooping down to their level." Cloud Chaser puts a hand on your shoulder. "Plus, what you're doing isn't doing us any favors either; the ref almost gave you a red card for that! Iron Will was just barely able to talk the ref out of it but still, Crystal Prep's getting five penalty kicks instead!"

Your teammates walk away, leaving you to your own devices. You look back on the Crystal Prep goal, trying to think as to what just happened there. Did you slip on the grass? Definitely not; there's no way a "slip" would've sent your foot going so high that it would kick those girls in the face, and you know for sure you didn't misplace your foot; when it comes to taking shots, you're the best on the entire Canterlot High team. Your thoughts are interrupted when you suddenly feel a shoulder forcefully colliding with you, nearly knocking you off balance. You look up, and see a wild eyed Indigo Zap staring daggers at you.

"Ooops, sorry Rainbow." She says innocently before brushing her shoulder. "That was an accident."

"I swear to God I didn't mean to do that." You say defensively. "Seriously, I was just trying to kick the ball; I wasn't-"

"Oh, I believe you." Indigo says with a dangerous smile etched across her face. "But if you wanna play like that, than you can expect a lot more 'accidents' happening from here on, Rainbow."

******

"Ooooooh, the crowd doesn't look too happy about those penalty shots." Aria says as she looks through her binoculars. "Especially since Crystal Prep got all five of 'em in."

"Now that is messing up!" Adagio smiles, patting Sonata's back. "Except next time, being a little more subtle with those magnets would help."

"Rodger, Rodger." Sonata replies.

Rainbow Dash is locked with Iron Will in what looks like a pretty heated exchange of words, and no wonder. Crystal Prep is over double Canterlot High's score, and it happened all over one "mistake". After the two separate, Rainbow Dash walks away, her cheeks flushing red with anger before taking her position back on the soccer field.

The Canterlot goalie makes a pass to Rainbow Dash. Seeing this as another opportunity to use the magnet, Sonata cranks the switch only a few notches, and what should have been an easy pass results in Rainbow Dash tripping, and having the ball stolen by a Crystal Prep girl. The Crystal Prep girl then passes it to Indigo Zap, who lines up an easy shot, further increasing Crystal Prep's lead.

"Alright, you've had your fun Sonata." Aria says, reaching over for the switch. "How about giving the rest of us a turn here?"

"What do you mean, I just got it!" Sonata protests.

"You've had three goes already, just give it up!" Aria argues back, trying to climb over you and Adagio to get to Sonata.

"That first time didn't count, I was only testing it, so I only used it twice!"

Meanwhile as Aria and Sonata wrestle for control over the switch, Adagio's fondling that ruby necklace of hers. Surprisingly, she hasn't really been paying much attention towards the game itself, but rather the crowds. Her eyes constantly dart over towards both the Crystal Prep and Canterlot crowds, as if she's looking for something to happen. You focus your own binoculars on the crowd, and you can spot an ever so faint mist of green smoke starting to coalesce around the Canterlot High fans.

"That first time totally counted, idiot!" Aria shouts as she finally snatches the remote out of her hands.

"Adaaaaaaaaaaaa." Sonata whines. "Aria's being mean againnnnnnnnn!"

"Not now, can't you see I'm busy?!" Adagio glares at Sonata. "Just let Aria have her way, and don't bother me again!"

Sonata pouts before giving Aria a raspberry, and turning her back on the rest of you. Aria responds by rolling her eyes, and shifting her attention back towards the game. Apparently, the referee called a foul, and for whatever reason, Canterlot High's getting a penalty kick for it. Your eyes widen with excitement when you see it's Rainbow Dash who's about to go for the shot too.

"Hey," You nudge Aria. "You see what I'm seeing?"

"What?" Aria asks, raising an eyebrow. "Rainbow Dash about to look like an idiot as she screws up a penalty kick?"

"You're reading my mind." You chuckle, focusing your binoculars on Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow begins walking up in front of the Crystal Prep goal with the look of utmost determination on her face. She starts running towards the ball, and just before she makes the kick, Aria pulls the switch, forcing Rainbow's foot upwards. The sudden shift in movement causes her to overshoot the ball, causing it to bounce off the top of the goal's railing before ricocheting back, smacking Rainbow Dash square in the face.

You, Sonata, Aria, Adagio, and everybody else in the stadium begin cracking up over what just happened. Even the Crystal Prep goalie lost her composure, and is rolling on the floor laughing right now.

"Damn, I'm good!" Aria says in between her fits of laughter. "Rainbow must be so pissed right now!"

"That shot was the best, but you're still the worst!" Sonata exclaims. "If...that makes any sense."

"No it doesn't, idiot."

As your laughter dies down, you turn your gaze back towards Rainbow Dash, who for some reason, is still face-flat on the ground. It doesn't look like she's moving, which is starting to concern you.

"Hey, wait a minute." You narrow your eyes on Rainbow Dash. "Why isn't she getting up?"

******

As Lightning Dust drags you off the soccer field, you feel like the insides of your head have been pulverized by a jackhammer. Your vision is slightly blurred, and the pain in your head refuses to relent. When she gets you off the grass, you try to stand up, only to fall down on the ground again.

"Hey, hey, take it easy Rainbow!" Lightning Dust says as she pulls you back up.

"I don't know what the hell is happening to me this game." You clench your head. "I just...I started sucking all the sudden!"

"C'mon, don't be so hard on yourself." Lightning Dust pats your head as she settles you in a chair. "The time when you kicked those two Crystal Prep girls was an honest mistake, and...well that penalty kick..."

"I must've looked so stupid." You groan. "Indigo's never gonna let me hear the end of that one."

"Hey, it's alright." Lightning Dust repeats herself. "We all mess up; nobody's perfect. You're having a bad game. We all do."

Your teammate hands you a bottle of water, which you promptly accept. After taking a large gulp, you sigh again in frustration, trying to think about why you're messing everything up all the sudden. You know it's not technique; you've nailed those shots down perfectly during practices, and last week against Baltimare every single kick you made was dead on. But for some reason, this game your foot just keeps slipping at the last second! What the hell is going on? Is it the turf?

"By the way, Rainbow." Lighting Dust mentions. "Raindrops says she feels better now. I can ask Iron Will if she can fill your spot."

"That's not gonna work." You shake your head. "Raindrops is a defense player. She's not a striker like me."

"Striker or not, it doesn't change the fact that you probably have a concussion right now." Lightning Dust points at the giant welt on your forehead. "I'm surprised you're still conscious after that! And plus, you're having a bad game as well. Why don't you just sit this game out and save your energy for Cloudsdale?"

"It's not that I looked like an idiot from messing up that penalty kick that's bothering me!" You exclaim. "It's the fact that I'm having a bad game, and I can't find out why I'm sucking! What if I have a 'bad game' against Cloudsdale? What's to stop me from butchering that game like I am this one?"

"Rainbow..."

"You gotta think about the mental aspects of soccer." You say as you get up from your chair. "The best players are the best not because they can just kick a ball fast; they're the best because they can find out the reasons as to why they're losing, and fix it! I just need to find out why I'm messing up my kicks, and we'll be back on top of that scoreboard where we belong!"

You begin walking back towards the soccer field. The first few steps felt a little uneasy, but you shake it off and continue walking. It doesn't take long until your entire body feels normal again, as you begin running back to your position on the field.

'Yeah, see Rainbow?' You think to yourself. 'It's all mental; you recovered from that ball to the face just fine. You just gotta fight through the pain, and stay focused.'

To your side, you spot Indigo Zap and another Crystal Prep girl pointing at the welt on your forehead.

"Hey Rainbow, are you Hindu or is that just acne?" Indigo Zap snickers.

"You're hilarious." You roll your eyes, shifting your attention back towards the game.

******

"Gee, look at that welt on Rainbow's forehead." You say. Behind you, Aria and Sonata are struggling to contain their laughter while Adagio is still fixated on the crowd.

"I know, it looks like there's a tomato growing on her head." Aria laughs.

Meanwhile, the game started taking a rather nasty turn. Crystal Prep was starting to get downright malicious with their plays. You wince as Sour Sweet straight up clotheslines the Canterlot High goalkeeper in an attempt to get the ball; they now seem more focused on hurting the other team then they are scoring points. Meanwhile, you can hear the crowd getting increasingly more and more vocal every time one of Rainbow's "mistakes" happen.

Speaking of which, Rainbow Dash is in possession of the ball again and Aria turns on the electromagnet. The sudden magnetic force causes Rainbow to lose her balance, and you watch in shock as she makes a head-on collision into Lightning Dust. The crowd gasps, and you focus your binoculars on the scene, seeing blood pouring from Lightning Dust's nose.

"Alright Aria..." You turn over to her. "Maybe that was a little too much."

"Hmmm?" Adagio snaps her attention off the crowd, at looks at you puzzled. "What do you mean?"

"Just look." You point at Rainbow just as Aria turns on the electromagnet again, causing her to accidently collide with another player. "She's hurt!"

"And what's your point?" Aria asks. "I thought you wanted to get back on Rainbow for what she did to you."

"I-I mean...y-yeah!" You stutter. "But...this?! Blood, and gore?"

"Anonymous..." Adagio raises an eyebrow. Even Sonata's looking at you funny now. "You're not feeling... sorry for Rainbow Dash, are you?"

"I thought you said you wanted revenge on Rainbow for that flashbang." Sonata cocks her head to the side. "And after all this work, we're giving it to you; why're you acting so weird about it?"

"I'm not acting weird about it." You argue. "It's just...it's not what I exactly had in mind..."

"Then what did you have mind?" Adagio asks. "You wanted to sabotage her game, yet for some reason, now that we're actually doing it, you feel uncomfortable? What's wrong? I want to hear it."

"Yeah... I do want to sabotage her game, but this? This...we're just hurting her now!"

"And by hurting her, we stop her from playing as well as she normally does, thus sabotaging the game." Aria says. "No offense, but sometimes you act dumber than Sonata, Anon."

"I..." You shake your head. This conversation is leading nowhere. "Never mind. Forget whatever I just said."

A few minutes go by, with none of you talking anymore. However, you do notice something that's off; the crowds...they seem a lot angrier than usual. And its not just the Canterlot High fans, but also the Crystal Prep ones despite the fact that Crystal Prep's score is now triple that of Canterlot High's. And also, that green fog. It's much more noticeable now. Hell, you can see it even without your binoculars. Now, you were never a superstitious person, but you can't help but get the feeling of dread, that something bad is going on.

But back to the game, Cloud Chaser's in possession of the ball right now, and she narrowly avoids Sour Sweet's attempt of stealing it. She spots Indigo Zap now making a charge towards her and passes it to Rainbow Dash, who's in position to do a bicycle kick. You look nervously at Aria, who has a sadistic smile on her face as she readies the electromagnet one more time.

Aria cranks the electromagnet all the way up, and you see Rainbow Dash's momentum change violently in the opposite direction before landing on the ground in a split. The crowd explodes with shouting and even from way up here, you can hear Rainbow Dash screaming in pain from that brutal landing.

That's too much.

That's just not right.

"Aria!" You shout as you snatch the controller out of her hand. She doesn't put up much of a resistance though; not when she's slapping her knee, laughing her head off. "Aria, what the hell?!"

"Oh man, did you see her?!" Aria roars. "That was priceless!"

"Aria, that wasn't funny!" You shout. "Look at her!"

"So you really are feeling sorry for Rainbow Dash..." Adagio crosses her arms, giving you a dark look. "I'm disappointed, Anonymous."

"This just isn't right!" You snap. "This is downright malicious; we're hurting her, Adagio!"

"Who cares?" Aria says bluntly. "Rainbow Dash hurt you. I'd bet my baseball that she sure as hell didn't care about you when she threw that flashbang."

"I don't know if that flashbang messed up your memory Anon, but in case you forgot, Rainbow Dash started this first, silly!" Sonata pipes up. "You're just finishing it. She kicked the hornet's nest, and now she's getting stung!"

"This...this isn't about revenge anymore!" You protest. "This is about being a decent human being! This is wrong, and you three know it!" You're about to say more, but then you come face to face with Adagio. She's two inches from your face right now, but this Adagio is completely different from the Adagio you're used to. She simply stares at you with dead eyes, a hint of disgust within them.

"You know..." Adagio says coldly as she takes the remote out of your hands. "Nobody's forcing you to stay here. You can leave anytime you want. You're on here of your own free will."

You look at the three girls for a moment, then back towards the soccer field. Taking a deep breath, you grab your bag, and start climbing down the stadium light.

"The game's over anyways." You mutter.

******

"Men..." You say bitterly, looking down on the crowd that's now in complete turmoil. "Such useless, spineless, cowardly pigs..."

"Ooooh, the chairs are already starting to be thrown!" Sonata jumps excitingly. "Look! Look!"

"I'm actually kinda surprised he got cold feet at the end." Aria shrugs. "Yeah, Anon sort of gave off the goody-two shoes vibe to me, but I could've sworn I still felt a ton of negative energy behind him."

"That's the issue." You turn to Aria before standing up. "Watch."

You take off your pendant, and hold it in front of you. It flashes red, and immediately begins siphoning the green clouds of negative energy around the stadium. The pendant's glow gets brighter, and brighter as it continues to feed on more negative energy. Aria and Sonata gasp as they see the gem's about to reach its critical point, but then it abruptly stops, returning to its inactive, maroon state.

"You see?" You grit your teeth. "Just by a hair. We could've been at full power; enough to put the entire school under our spell. Our plans are so tantalizingly close."

"Well..." Aria says slowly. "Does this mean it's time for Plan B?"

"Yes it is, Aria...." You nod your head solemnly. "Yes it is."

"You know, I kinda hoped we wouldn't have to do this." Sonata comments as she starts packing up everything. "I kinda liked Anon; he's a funny guy."

"Well funny or not, he's of no use to us anymore." You mutter. "Let's get going girls."

******

You plug the keys into your car, and start punching into your GPS the address of the Canterlot Hospital. Upon getting signal, you immediately roll out of your parking space, and get on the main road.

'This feeling...' You think to yourself. 'I don't know why, but damn...it's like there's a knife sticking out of me...'

"In twenty feet, turn left onto Faust Road." The GPS announces.

What the hell were you thinking, following through all of this with Adagio anyways? Just now, you're beginning to come to your senses; what you did there was just downright evil, and God forbid you caused permanent damage and ruined Rainbow's dream of going pro in college for soccer. That split looked absolutely brutal. Definitely some broken bones at least.

You shake your head. You're overthinking it. All you know is that what you fucked up. You fucked up big time, and you need to make things right. You pull over into the hospital's parking lot, and run towards the main entrance. Fortunately, there's only one other person in front of you at the front desk and it doesn't take long for him to finish his business.

"May I help you, young man?" The nurse at the front desk asks politely.

"Is there a girl by the name of Rainbow Dash here?" You ask. "Blue skin? Multicolored hair? Goes to Canterlot High?"

"Why yes." She answers. "We just brought her in twenty minutes ago. Room 262 on the fourth floor."

"Thank you." You say before rushing towards the nearest elevator. The inside of the elevator is one of those metal, reflective ones where you can see yourself in. You hate these elevators; the last time you used an elevator similar to this one, you walked into the mirror, and broke your nose.

"Fuck!" You shout as you clench your chin. Just as you were thinking about it, you walked into the wall of the elevator. Well, at least you didn't break your nose this time, but you left a nice dent in the elevator's wall. Shaking your head, you punch in the number 4, and lean back, listening to the calm piano music.

Deciding to pass the time, you look back at the dent in the mirror you made. The dent bent the light around the mirror, deformed your face and making you look like some sort of cyclops freak. You're not sure if this is God's way of passive-aggressively telling you that you fucked up, but your guess is as good as any other's.

The elevator beeps, and the door opens. You begin tracking left and right for the number 262, starting from 200 on the right side. 208...212...234...the numbers get higher and higher until you finally reach your destination. You stare at the door for a moment before walking up to it, and giving three firm knocks.

"Come in..." You hear the weak, defeated voice of Rainbow Dash. You shake your head, feeling a little better as to what's about to happen. You open the door and your nose is immediately assaulted by the smell of pungent medicine, cleaner liquids, and other sorts of artificial odors. It's a nice room, but you could definitely see yourself getting tired of this sight fast if you were stuck here for a couple months, which is what's going to happen for Rainbow.

"Anonymous?!" You hear Rainbow gasp. You turn, and see Rainbow Dash, in all her glory. All over her, you see bandages: Her feet, her legs, her torso, her head, no part of her body was spared from the white cloth and you feel an immense pang of guilt building up inside of you from seeing her in a state like this.

"Hey." You wave to Rainbow. The two of you stare at each other awkwardly for at least three minutes. Realizing this is going nowhere, you clear your throat.

"I uhhhhhh I heard about what happened at the game versus Crystal Prep." You say.

"Yeah..." She looks down at herself. "Didn't go too well..."

"I can tell." You point out, causing Rainbow to chuckle. "I just...wanted to see if you were alright, is all. Nothing broken?"

"Grade two concussion, busted pelvis, three broken ribs, left shin fractured, and both ankles dislocated..." Rainbow Dash says in a matter of fact tone.

Your heart sinks.

"Oh..." You cringe. Your inner moral compass is screaming at you for what you've just done. Well who the hell are you fooling? You have no right to even say you've got a moral compass right now. "Wow... that sucks..."

"It's not as bad as it sounds." Rainbow Dash says reassuringly before tapping her head with the back of her hand. "My bones are literally made of adamantium. It's just gonna suck going to the bathroom is all."

"You mind if I sit down?" You ask Rainbow Dash.

"Does it look like I can stop you?" She laughs. "Of course you can, man."

You find a sturdy looking wooden stool, and take a seat by her side. A couple of minutes go by again with the two of you not really saying anything.

"You know..." Rainbow Dash says, breaking the awkward silence. "You're the last person I would've expected to visit me."

"Really?" You ask. "What makes you think that?"

"Well..." Rainbow says feebly. "The whole...prank...thing?"

"Yeah, my hearing's still a little messed up from that." You say. You see Rainbow flinch as you mention it. "But it's nothing compared to what you're dealing with right now."

"No way." Rainbow says. "I'd go crazy if I can't listen to my playlist at least once a day. Being deaf must totally suck."

"Partially." You smile, pointing at your hearing aid. "And every day it's getting better and better, so don't sweat it."

"Speaking of which..." Rainbow Dash says. "I uhmmmm I wanted to talk about that..." She gulps before taking a deep breath and looking at you with dead serious eyes.

"I...wanted to apologize for what I did to you." She says. "I fucked up. I know; it wasn't funny, but...sometimes you just don't think things through before doing them. It just felt like a funny idea in the moment, but then I really thought about it, and...what I did was just messed up."

"Yeah, I totally feel you." You say, trying to avoid eye contact with Rainbow. Funny, you feel the same exact thing right now. "We all fuck up time to time. But what happened, happened...I can't go back in time and fix up my ears, and you can't go back in time and fix your...everything."

"Oh c'mon, it's not that bad." Rainbow Dash laughs. "I can still use my arms; I'm not totally out of commission yet!"

The two of you share a good laugh together. When you think about it though, you seriously can't believe what you're doing right now. Two weeks ago, you'd never even dream of being having this friendly chat with Rainbow Dash. But now, the two of you are laughing with each other like nothing ever happened.

But also this feeling of just...letting go overtakes your mind. When you think about it, ever since that flashbang incident the only thing that was ever on your mind was getting even with Rainbow Dash. Your grades slid, you stopped doing the things you loved like playing video games with Flash Sentry, every ounce of your being was focused on that one goal of revenge, and you felt extremely restless every night after.

But now, you've never felt so mentally rested as you are before. Like a leaf floating on a creek, guided only by the gentle current of the water, you've never felt so at peace with yourself until now. You just want to close your eyes, and sleep.

Suddenly, you hear the door open again, and hear the heavy pounding of footsteps entering the room.

"Rainbow!" You hear the voice of Lightning Dust walking into the room. "Rainbow! You won't believe what-"

Lightning Dust and Cloud Chaser walk into the room, still in their soccer gear. You can smell the sweat, and grass coming from them even from here. But that's not what's on your mind right now; what's really on your mind is why are those two girls looking at you as if they're about to murder you?

"You've got some serious nerve showing your face here of all places." Lightning Dust growls.

"Wait." You freeze in place. "What are you talking about?"

"Don't even try playing your bullshit on us." Cloud Chaser says coldly, her eyes flashing green for a moment. "Adagio Dazzle told me everything I needed to know."

Bro Talk

"A-A-Adagio?" You stutter. "I don't know what you're talking abou-"

You're cut off when suddenly, Cloud Chaser drops two pieces of metal on the ground, then holds an all too familiar looking contraption that makes you freeze like a deer caught in the headlights.

"These look familiar?" Cloud Chaser asks, raising an eyebrow.

"I can explain." You say quickly to Rainbow Dash. "I-"

"You can't explain SHIT!" Lightning Dust roars, taking Adagio's electromagnet switch, and whipping it at you. The switch lands straight into your chest, knocking you out of your seat and onto the ground.

"Lightning!" Rainbow Dash shouts. "What the hell?!"

"You want to know why you were doing so bad that game?!" Cloud Chaser shouts. "You weren't having a 'bad game' Rainbow Dash; your game was being sabotaged!"

"Sabotaged by him!" Lightning Dust snarls, pointing at you. "He's the one who screwed you!"

"Watch this." Cloud Chaser grabs Adagio's switch, and turns it on. Immediately, the metal bars snap together, causing a loud clang to go off that rings through your hearing aid. "He fucking put those magnets in your cleats Rainbow, and was watching the entire time, turning it on every time right before you made a kick!"

You get back up, clutching the place where Lightning Dust threw the switch at you and see Rainbow Dash staring at you. It's a stare that you'll never forget. It's one full of disbelief and shock, yet you don't find a trace of anger within her eyes for some reason. However, it doesn't change the fact that it's penetrating you in a way words simply can't explain.

"Anon..." She says slowly. "Is what Lighting Dust and Cloud Chaser said...true? Did you really do that?"

You look at the switch in Cloud Chaser's hands, then back to Rainbow and slowly nod.

"Yeah..." You say, with your eyes closed. "I did..."

"See?!" Cloud Chaser says. "This little shit even admits it!"

"Rainbow..." You look at her remorsefully. She's still in shock from the news Cloud Chaser delivered to her. You know what you're about to say isn't going to do anything, but you have to say it.

"I'm sorry."

"Well it's just too bad that sorry isn't going to do anything now." Cloud Chaser glares at you. "Sorry isn't going to make us turn that humiliating loss around is it? Sorry isn't going to make all of Canterlot High and Crystal Prep forget what just happened, and sorry sure as hell isn't going to fix Rainbow Dash's injuries that YOU CAUSED, NOW IS IT?!"

Your heart's pounding. Everything's falling apart right now. Everything. You feel like your brain's about to implode right now from panic, and it's about to until you feel a fist suddenly crash into your stomach.

"That's for Rainbow Dash!" Lighting Dust rages before swinging at you again. This time you're ready, and your forearm shields your face from the blow. "And this one's for Canterlot High!"

You throw the stool in between you and Lightning Dust to distance, and dash to the side, narrowly avoiding another punch. Your victory is short lived however, as you run into straight into Cloud Chaser's knee. She lands another knee onto your thigh and pushes you onto the ground.

"You think you can do this to Rainbow and get away with it?!" Cloud Chaser shouts, stomping her foot onto you. You quickly go into a fetal position, covering your head with your arms as Lighting Dust joins in, nailing a kick onto your shin. "You're gonna pay, you fucking scum!"

"Both of you, STOP!" Rainbow Dash shouts. However, Rainbow's pleas fall onto deaf ears and the two girls continue beating the ever living shit out of you. You take another hit from Cloud Chaser, this time to the cheekbone, as you scramble to get away from the two of them.

"I said STOP!" You watch as Rainbow Dash grabs a folded up wheelchair from the side of her bed, and throws it at her two teammates. The brief moment of confusion gets Lighting Dust and Cloud Chaser off of you, and you scramble away from the two girls. "Quick Anon, run!"

You don't need reminders; you bust out the door, and make a mad dash to the stairs, but just as you close the door, Lightning Dust grabs you by the shirt.

"Oh no you don't!" Lightning Dust cries out. "We're far from finished with you!"

Gritting your teeth, you frantically reach into your pants, and pull out that bottle of taco spray Sonata made for you. You aim in the general direction of Lightning Dust's face, and let loose, spraying wildly like your life depends on it. Lightning Dust immediately lets go of your shirt, and begins screaming in agony as you unleash another blast for Cloud Chaser.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Please don't kill me later!" You call out right before you throw yourself into the elevator and close the door. You quickly punch in G on the elevator, and after a short delay, you feel the contraption starting to move.

You're panting, you're sweating like a marathon runner, and you can taste blood in your mouth, but holy hell does it feel good to be alive. You kiss the bottle of Sonata's taco spray before stowing it away back in your pocket. The Dazzlings screwed you and almost got you killed, yet at the same time this thing just saved your life. Well...more like they gave you a solution to a problem they created...

The adrenaline starts to wear away, and your body begins to feel the full aftereffects of your little tussle with Lighting Dust and Cloud Chaser. You can feel your jaw, along with every other bone in your body throbbing with pain. Your shins and stomach especially feel worse for wear, but hopefully nothing's broken.

The elevator door opens, and you limp out of the elevator, lighting jogging out of the main lobby and back to your car that's thankfully still intact. You rush over to it, pull open the keys, but just before you shift the gears into Drive, you take a good long look at yourself in the mirror.

'Yeah, and just how are you going to explain to your mom that huge gash on your left cheek Anon?' Your conscience says to you. 'And what about the blood oozing from your lips? Exactly. You're not.'

You keep the car in Park, and begin dialing your friend Flash Sentry.

"Yo, Anon." He says cheerfully. "What's up?"

"Hey, Flash." You say. "Can you do me a favor?"

"Sure, pal. What is it?"

"Do you mind if I crash over your house for the night?" You ask. "Please? It's really important."

"How important is really important?" Flash asks.

"Like Mama Anon is going to kill me if you don't." You say. "Please Flash, I really need you this time."

"It's cool, it's cool." Flash chuckles nervously. "Just uhhh, are you sure you should be telling the police this instead of me?"

"No, no, it's not like that." You facepalm. "Anyways, thank you so much man, I'll see you soon."

You hang up, and make your way out of the parking lot. Since it's pretty late out, you don't find much traffic, which is good considering you want to get as far away from that hospital as possible. The traffic lights also seem to be cooperating with you, as every single time you slow down for an incoming red light, it turns green at the last second. Perhaps this is God giving you some respite after the crap you just went through? If so, your ungrateful ass should start going back to church every Sunday instead of playing video games.

You shake your head. No. Even though you got away from Lighting Dust and Cloud Chaser, you know that when you get to school tomorrow, things are going to suck. Rainbow Dash is probably on her phone right now, sending word out over what you just did to her and the game to every single student out there. You're as good as dead once everyone finds out what you did to Rainbow Dash.

'Well, my GPA's a 3.71.' You think to yourself. 'I could always ask my parents transfer me to Crystal Prep.'

You give yourself a small chuckle. Before you graduated from 8th grade, your parents actually wanted you to go to Crystal Prep. They made you go through the whole application process, and you actually got accepted. However, you flat out refused, begging your parents not to let you go since Flash Sentry and all your other friends were going to Canterlot High.

You turn off of the main roads, and onto Flash's street. It's a nice, quiet neighborhood far away from both the Canterlot Hospital, and the Dazzlings' apartments, just the way you like it. You realize it's actually been a really long time since you visited Flash Sentry's house; you remember going here all the time back in middle school. The two of you would play football in his backyard, then Guitar Hero inside when you guys get too tired, then football again when you guys had energy again. It was an endless cycle of fun, and you guys didn't think of anything else. But those were better times; better times when neither of you had to worry about dealing with psycho girls.

Speaking of which, Flash Sentry used to date Sunset Shimmer, so he must have some nice first-hand experience with crazy women. Perhaps he could offer you some advice on how to deal with both Adagio and the entire school from murdering you? You shake those thoughts out of your head, and just concentrate on parking your car.

When you finally find a good spot, you walk up to Flash's door, and ring the doorbell, nervously looking behind you as you do. Just in case. A couple seconds later, your friend opens the door, and looks at you, mouth agape.

"Damn, what happened to you?!" Flash exclaims. "You look like you just came back from a mafia shootout!"

"Hold on, not now." You say, as you look back again. "Just lemme in, and lock the doors. I'll explain everything."

"Oh, and pull the window sills down too." You remind him. "I don't want to take any chances; not after what just happened."

******

"You did WHAT?!" Flash Sentry shouts.

"I know, I know, I fucked up." You sigh in shame. "I fucked up big time."

"Damn right you did!" Flash looks at you in disbelief. "Christ, I didn't even know you had it in you, man...I had no clue you of all people could do something like that..."

"Hey, hey, hey please don't make me feel any shittier than I am already." You say, as you finish applying the bandages to your face.

You mentally slap yourself; even Flash Sentry, your best friend, who's known you since like 6th grade is disappointed in you. You look back, and you can't believe you did what you did as well. You just...weren't thinking. At all in fact. You just nodded, and went along with everything Adagio said, and look at you now.

"I want to know, Anon..." Flash Sentry says as he hands you another ice package for your shins. "What the heck was going through your mind when you were...you know....plotting with Adagio about the whole game sabotage thing? What were you thinking?"

"To be honest, I wasn't." You admit. "It just...it just felt like it was a good idea at the time. Wasn't thinking about the future, or the consequences that would follow afterwards."

"I just got so pissed when Rainbow threw that flashbang." You continue. "I was so hyped for the Battle of the Bands, and then all the sudden boom; I'm deaf. I can't hear. It's gone. I was so angry...I couldn't just sit there and take it; I wanted to do something about the fact that someone just pulled this dumb 'prank' on me."

"Well, at least at the end, you backed out, and knew you were wrong." Flash Sentry says optimistically.

"But by then, the damage was done." You cross your arm. "So what do I do now, Flash? Starting tomorrow, everyone at Canterlot High's gonna tear me apart."

"Maybe you could transfer to Crystal Prep..." Flash Sentry scratches his head. "Your sister went there, so you've got some sort of legacy, and not to mention you'll probably get a hero's welcome the second you step in the hallways..."

You cringe again at the mention of "Anna Fourchen". If word ever somehow gets out about that on top of the shit you already have on you, you're running away from home and buying a train ticket to Las Pegasus the very second you turn 18. Missing out on your High School Diploma for a year is a small price to pay to avoid being labelled as a sex offender.

"But let's say my parents say no to the Crystal Prep idea." You continue the discussion. "Then what?"

"Well, I'd lay off social media for one..." He replies. "Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, Instagram...they all gotta go. Delete 'em unless you want death threats flooding your inbox every day."

"Death threats?" You scoff. "You sure you're not taking it a little too far?"

"No, I'm serious!" He presses on. "I-I-it happened to Sunset after what she did, and it's sure as hell going to happen to you!"

"Sunset Shimmer blew up the freaking school!" You throw your arms up. "Are you seriously comparing me to her?!"

"I'm not." Flash puts his hands in front of him defensively. "But a lot of other people will. We've got people who are absolute fanatics about soccer, and you can bet they'll be coming for you, Anon."

You sit back down on the couch, you think about what your friend just said. It's going to suck, obviously; but how bad? Meanwhile, Flash Sentry walks away from you, and starts digging through the refrigerator.

"Hey Anon, catch." Flash throws you an apple. "I'll go find you a sleeping bag and a pillow."

"Thanks." You say.

Alone again, you take out your phone and start deleting all those social media apps like Flash Sentry's telling you to. The next thing you do is you start going through your contacts, immediately blocking people who you know are going to kill you for you what did.

Which is like half your list.

'Raindrops, you're definitely out.' You think to yourself. 'Hmmmm, should I keep Big Macintosh?'

In the middle of your thoughts, you all of the sudden stumble upon Rainbow Dash. Your eyes widen upon seeing that name. Since when the heck did you get her number? You quickly go and look at the profile picture, seeing a blue skinned girl with multi-colored hair and magenta eyes. Yup that's Rainbow alright. But...

You click on her profile image, and immediately start texting something up.

Rainbow,
I know you probably blocked this number right now, but if you see this, I want you to know that I'm genuinely sorry about what I did to you. There's no excuse for what I've done, and-

"Fuck this." You whisper, cancelling the message and saving it as a draft. "She's never going to forgive me." You lean back into the couch, and throw your phone to the side, feeling worse and worse as each second goes by.

"Hey Anon!" You hear Flash Sentry calling you from another room. "What kinda pillow you want, green or red?"

"I'll take green." You reply. Immediately, Flash comes back to the living room, carrying a rolled up sleeping bag in one hand, and a green pillow in the other.

"You wanna watch anything?" Flash asks. "Adult Swim should be on just about this time."

"Sure, why not?"

You flick the remote on, and find King of the Hill playing. It doesn't take long for you to get into the show with Flash. All the while, you can feel your thoughts trailing farther and farther away from that soccer game, and for the better. If all that stuff Flash is saying is true, then that means tomorrow, CHS is going to raise hell on you and rightfully so. But at least just tonight, right here and now, it's just you and your best friend having a good time together.

Somewhere outside however, in the cover of the darkness and unbeknownst to you, three intense glows of red light begin to pierce the horizon. Their light begins to shine brighter and brighter, and finally flash white. Seconds later, the sound of sinister laughter, echoes across the street. But it's faint; extremely faint. Something that your hearing aid would never detect.

Sunset Shimmer v2.0

Everybody knows about the whole fiasco of Sunset trying to take over the world happened at CHS; but you were in bed sick with a really bad case of the flu when it was all happening. Your head was pounding, everything ached, and you were shivering like you were having a seizure despite having multiple layers on.

A week later when you recovered, you were shocked to see Sunset Shimmer, the Heisenberg of Canterlot High being shoved around, treated like dirt, and bullied incessantly. Hell, even Snips and Snails were having a go at her. You asked Vice Principal Luna what the heck was going on, and she replied saying Sunset Shimmer turned into a crazy winged demon that tried to enslave the entire school and kill Twilight Sparkle. You went to over thirty students to confirm, and every single one of them said yes. You thought it was pretty fucked up too, especially since she used to date your best friend.

"Hey, catch!" Without warning, a soccer ball flies straight at your stomach, knocking the wind out of you before a second one nails you straight in the groin. The students run off laughing before you can do anything about it other than swear loudly.

"Man..." You wince, clenching your balls to try and do something about the throbbing pain.

Flash Sentry was right; word spread about what you did at the game versus Crystal Prep faster than a wildfire, and he was also right when it took an even shorter time for everyone to decide that what you did was just as bad as what Sunset Shimmer did way back, possibly even worse.

So yeah, today marks Day 7 in a new chapter of your life as Sunset Shimmer 2.0. Your friends have all abandoned you, save for Flash, you have like twelve new nicknames that change as the months go by, and you sit alone at lunch every day.

But your favorite part about your new life is this really cool game invented by the girl's and boy's soccer team where everyone is supposed to kick a soccer ball at you as you pass by in the hallway.

You get 1 point for nailing Anon in the arms, or legs. 5 if you knock a drink our of his hands or make him trip. 3 points for any torso shot, and 10 if you score a headshot. However, getting a ball to hit the family jewels was the jackpot, awarding you 50, and a free ice coffee, courtesy of the Canterlot High soccer team. Thankfully for you, most people aim below the belt line, leaving your head pretty intact. However, your stomach, hips, and thighs have become thoroughly sore since Day 1. You feel like the pain's stopping and begin to get up before seeing a shadow looming over you.

"Look." You put a hand up in the air. "I already took two nutshots today, one for each ball; so can you at least show some decency and just go for the chest-"

Your body freezes up, a chill going down your spine as you stare into a set of gentle, sky blue eyes. But you know better; there's nothing gentle with eyes who belong to THAT girl. Hell, you'll be damned if there's a single gentle bone in Sunset Shimmer at all.

"Uhhh, h-howdy." You stammer nervously. Despite the beating he just took, Anon Jr. is all to ready to open the floodgates and piss in your jeans at the sight of Canterlot High's Maleficent Queen of the Cunts.

Surprisingly, Sunset hasn't smashed your face in just yet. She's just...staring at you as if she's deep in thought. You suddenly hear a bouncing noise coming from behind and turn, just in time to see a soccer ball moments before it connects with your stomach. You gasp in pain as you find yourself lying on the school's hard linoleum floor once again.

"Snips, you overshot it!" You hear Snails chastise his friend. "That could've been a perfect nutshot!"

"I still have this baseball though!" Snips says. "But Lightning Dust said to do it with a soccer ball!"

"It's still a ball so I guess it's fine." Snails shrugs. "Go for it!"

You're no physics master like Discord; you're barely maintaining a B in his class, but even you can tell that as the ball soars through the air that this one is going to be a jackpot. You try to move your limp body, but that last soccer ball might've pushed your body to it's limit. Still, you desperately try to escape your inevitable fate until you spot an arm moving in front of you.

Sunset Shimmer's hand lays an inch from your crotch, holding in her palm the baseball Snips threw. She gets up, staring at Snips and Snails with a fiery glare in her eyes before holding the baseball to them, and crushing it to dust in her hand. You see Snips and Snails looking at the small pile of baseball rubble at Sunset's feet then at each other, each accumulating a dark spot in the center of their pants before screaming in terror and running away.

Sunset wipes the remaining baseball fragments off her hand and then turns to you. You want to thank Sunset for what she just did, but you're equally as scared as Snips and Snails right now. She offers a hand, which you gingerly take, still keeping an eye for any sudden movements that she's about to do.

"Hey, uhhh... Thanks..." You say nervously.

"You're welcome." Sunset replies back calmly. You can see there's still a great deal of anger still burning away in her eyes which scares the shit out of you.

"But uhhh...I don't mean to be rude..." You continue, gradually building up confidence. "But why? Why did you do that?"

Sunset looks at you blankly for a moment before looking away and taking a deep breath.

"You were there during the Fall Formal last year, weren't you?"

"Actually, no." You reply honestly. "I was sick in bed with the flu." Upon hearing this, her eyes open with surprise for a moment before looking down at the ground again.

"Well you've probably heard about it, didn't you? What I did?"

You reply with a nod. Let's be honest though: who doesn't know about it? But then again...who doesn't know about what YOU did as well? The two of you walk in silence together, before another student comes at you with a soccer ball. He stops abruptly as soon as Sunset Shimmer gives him a glare that could kill, and quickly scurries away like a mouse.

"Doesn't it suck?" Sunset suddenly blurts out. "Just being... hated by everyone?"

"Yeah..." You answer back. "And it's even worse when you know it's because you did something awful to cause them all to hate you..."

"I'm like...you now...no offense though." You quickly add.

"None taken." Sunset chuckles, before quickly hunching over for a moment. "I know what you're going through right now..."

You yawn, or at least try to yawn before your stomach reminds you just how many times it's been hit today. You wince with pain, and start coughing up a storm.

"Anon!" Sunset gasps. "You alright?!" In between your coughs, you try to nod. Much to your surprise though, Sunset puts down her purse to unzip your jacket. She pulls up your shirt, revealing your swollen stomach that's been smacked by so many soccer balls you could see the soccer ball patterns printed on your skin like a tattoo.

"Oh my god..." She whispers, putting her hand on your stomach. "It's burning...."

"Heh, it's not as bad as it looks." You chuckle, pulling your shirt back down. "All I need is to take a warm bath and it'll be gone before-"

You're cut off by a very angry glare from Sunset. It's not the same "I'm going to strangle you with your own intestines" glare she gave to Snips and Snails, but rather more of the kind a mother gives to their children when they do something stupid. It doesn't matter though; both glares are equally frightening coming from Sunset Shimmer.

"Why are you letting them do this to you?!" She demands. "Why aren't you standing up for yourself, Anon?!"

"'What can I do when twenty soccer balls all come flying at me at once?" You reply, before pulling your shirt back. The sudden feeling of fabric touching your skin again sets of waves of pain again, causing you to let out a groan. "God...I wish I never met Adagio."

"Wait a second." Sunset freezes in place. "Anon...speaking about Adagio, and those two other girls...there's something I need to ask you."

"Go for it."

"That night during the game when you were with those three girls...did you see anything strange? Specifically, something like green smoke, or whatnot?"

"Why are you so obsessed with those three girls anyways?" You ask.

"Just answer the question." Sunset says bluntly. "You know those three girls aren't normal by now."

"Well..." You scratch your head. "I do remember seeing a ton of green smoke towards the end of the game...and those weird, ruby necklaces that they wore always glowed around that green smoke stuff."

"Wait. Seriously?" Sunset says fearfully. "What else did you see?"

"I remember one time when I was with Adagio, I saw her necklace sucking in that green smoke, and just glowing. Like really brightly."

Color fades from Sunset's face as her eyes shrink down to the size of pinpricks. Suddenly, she grabs your arm, and starts sprinting down the hallways of the school with you.

"Hey!" You shout. "What are you doing?!"

Sunset continues dragging you across the school's hallways, first leading you first down the English hallway, down a flight of stairs, through the cafeteria, and into the library. She bursts the door open, and runs off with you towards a messy table filled with open and closed books scattered left and right.

"Sunset!" You finally wriggle yourself free from her grasp. "What the heck are you doing?!"

"Oh...I uhhh, probably should've told you where we were going first..." Sunset chuckles nervously, blushing a little. You can't believe you're actually thinking this, but it's actually kind of cute when she's embarrassed like that...

"Well, whatever it is you looked like the sky was falling for a moment, so it's probably important." You say. "So why'd you drag me here?"

Sunset Shimmer ignores your question for a minute, and proceeds to start digging around the table for a book. You tap your foot impatiently for a moment before she finally returns back to you, and shows you a book.

"Mythology: Ancient Creatures and Monsters of the World." You read aloud before raising an eyebrow at Sunset. "What are you trying to tell me?"

"Look." Sunset takes the book out of your hands. She starts rapidly turning the pages before stopping at a page with a picture of this weird fish thing with hooves.

"What's this?" You ask, confused. "The Capricorn symbol?"

"No no no no no." Sunset facepalms. "It's a siren. A magical monster that sings mind-controlling songs that make others do their bidding. They feed of other creatures' negativity and the more negative energy they feed, the stronger their powers become."

"And your point?"

"Doesn't that sound a little like Adagio, Aria, and Sonata to you?" Sunset asks you.

You stare at Sunset blankly for like two minutes straight. Slowly, but surely, a peculiar emotion begins to build up inside of you. It bubbles, getting stronger and stronger until you can't contain it anymore.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! OH FUCK MY STOMACH, WHY DID I LAUGH?!! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! FUCK! OW! OW! OW!"

Pain and Laughter. That's all you're feeling right now after the absurdity of what Sunset Shimmer just said; nothing else. Your sides are simultaneously exploding as they leave your body right now. Pain and Laughter, Pain and Laughter.

"Anonymous, I'm serious!" Sunset stomps in anger. "This isn't any time to be joking around!"

"Come on, Sunset!" You cough, wiping tears from your eyes. "Everybody knows there's no such thing as magic!"

"Oh, I'd be a little more open-minded if I were you..."

Your laughter instantly vanishes, as you freeze in place. You recognize that voice. Deep, and sensual, but you know that nothing good would ever come from hearing that voice again. You turn around, and see Adagio Dazzle, accompanied by Aria Blaze and Sonata Dusk. Except this time, they look...different. Those red pendants they're wearing are glowing unnaturally bright; much brighter than usual. It's to the point where if you look at them directly, you're dazed as if you looked at the sun.

"You!" Sunset Shimmer growls. "What are you three doing here?!"

"This is none of your business." Aria scowls at Sunset Shimmer. "We're here for Anon."

"What do you want?" You say slowly, glaring at Adagio as you do.

"Awww don't be so cold, Anonymous." Adagio pouts. "It's been over a week since we've seen each other..."

"Only feels like yesterday, unfortunately." You cross your arms. "What the hell could you possibly want with me this time, Adagio? Haven't you already caused enough damage to one poor dude?"

"Oh, this will only take a moment." Adagio says, brushing your arm which you promptly push away. Giggling, she nods to Aria and Sonata as the three close their eyes and open their mouths.

"Anon quick, cover your ears!" Sunset shrieks.

Instantly, you begin hearing something beautiful. Adagio, Aria, and Sonata break into a chorus of singing, and their gems sparkle to life, dazzling you for a second. You feel a strange tugging in the back of your head. It's more of a slight migraine than anything. You just cross your arms, and listen to the three girls as the singing finally begins to die down.

"So uhmmmm, am I supposed to applause?" You ask Adagio, who looks at you surprised for a moment, before narrowing her eyes.

"Of course..." Sunset takes a sigh in relief. "The hearing aid..."

"That's too bad." Adagio frowns. "Anyways Anonymous, we're here because we wanted to give you a little message."

"A message?" You cross your arms.

"You see, there's going to be changes that are about to happen to this school Anon." Adagio explains, her trademark evil smile returning to her face. Two weeks ago, you'd have melted before that smile. Now...well, it's still easy on the eyes for you, but now you know Adagio Dazzle's true colors. "Starting now, this school's going to be ours, and I'll expect you not to get in our way."

"And...how exactly do you plan on doing this?" You look at her awkwardly.

"Like this!" Aria grins. She extends her hand forward, and you see a faint, purple mist shoot towards you. It grasps your neck, and you instantly feel the flow of oxygen being cut off from your lung.

"Hey! Get away from him!" Sunset Shimmer shouts before lunging at Aria. Adagio responds by simply holding her hand out, and Sunset is suddenly knocked off her feet by some invisible force.

Meanwhile, you wheeze in pain, struggling to push the mist off your throat, but its hold on you gets tighter and tighter. Right when you feel like you're about to pass out, the mist suddenly dissipates, and releases you.

"Wha...What the fuck..." You gasp, grasping your throat.

"Pretty cool, isn't it?" Sonata smiles. "The more negative energy we consume, the stronger we become! And after that soccer game, we definitely had a good time!"

"This is the power of the siren." Adagio says, a wide-eyed, unmistakably evil smile etched across her face. "The power that you created, Anon..."

The realization finally begins hitting you like a freight train; so does this mean...

"That's right, it was never about your petty little games with Rainbow." Aria holds out her necklace. "I don't even need to use my magic to tell that was on your mind."

"You may not be under our spell, but after the Battle of the Bands, everyone else will!" Adagio laughs.

You clench your fist in anger. After all this time, Adagio never even liked you, did she? You get back on your feet, and prepare to give Adagio the biggest right hook you can muster, but all Adagio does is wave her hand, and you're blown off your feet in a similar way that Sunset was.

"Come on now..." She coos, kneeling down over you. You can tell with the way she's leaning over in front of you she's clearly trying to give you a view of her cleavage. The gem in her center glows to near blinding levels of light as her face gets closer and closer to you. "Did you really think that would work?"

"Piss off." You growl at Adagio. You know that at this very moment, Adagio could probably do some sort of magic that would blast your face off, but you don't care; you stare her down as you lay injured on the ground defiant. All Adagio does in return is smirk down at you before dissolving into a ball of light that disperses through the air. Aria, and Sonata follow suit, and before you know it, they're gone.

"Ughhh."

"Sunset!" You gasp, seeing her on the ground. "You okay?!"

She responds only with another groan. Panicking, you pick her up and push the books on the table aside, making room for Sunset before laying her down on it. You start by feeling her forehead, which doesn't seem to be burning, and then check her pulse. Oh shit, you don't feel anything. You then check her breath, and she only seems to be breathing ever so slightly.

Gritting you teeth, you know what you have to do next.

CPR

You take off your jacket, and try to remember: was it 30 compressions then 2 breaths, or 20 compressions and 4?

'Fifty-fifty' You think to yourself. 'Guess I'll go with the former.'

You position your hand in the center of Sunset's chest, just below her breasts, and start pumping, counting to thirty in your head. Upon reaching thirty, you grimace as you stare at Sunset's open mouth. It's this part that's always the worst. Wiping your mouth, you roll up your sleeves, and take a deep breath as you descend.

'Here goes nothing.' You think.

Wow. Sunset's lips feel...soft. Really soft. Slowly, you tilt her head back, and exhale. Blowing into her mouth as you give her oxygen. You eventually expend your lungs and pull away from Sunset, taking another deep breath before descending upon her again. However, as soon as you start blowing, those aqua eyes of hers shoot open, as she lets out an ear-piercing scream. The next thing you feel is an intense, stinging pain that emanates across your entire cheek as you're knocked down to the ground.

"ANON!!!" Sunset Shimmer shrieks. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!"

"What do you mean what the hell was that?!" You retort in outrage. "I just saved your freaking life!"

"Bullshit you creep! You were about to try something on me before I woke up and-"

"THAT WAS CPR, DUMBASS!" You roar, rubbing your cheek. You get up, seeing Sunset Shimmer's anger vanish instantly. Her face is so red right now, it looks like she's about to explode, which you would be concerned about had she not just slapped you across the face.

"This never happened." Sunset points at you. "Got it?"

"Yeah." You agree, before revealing the giant red hand on your cheek. "And just how am I going to explain this?!"

"Does it really matter?! You're so hated by everyone in CHS, that you can't possibly go any lower."

"Yeah, big words coming from you." You shoot back. Realizing you hit a soft spot, you quickly bite your tongue, and step back from Sunset Shimmer. The two of you stare at each other, both of you expecting the other to hit them or something, until you finally lower your guard, and look down at the ground.

"I...uhm...I...I...I didn't mean what I said." You stutter. "I'm...I'm sorry Sunset Shimmer."

"And I'm sorry too for slapping you." Sunset Shimmer says. "I'll go get some ice and-"

"No, no it's fine." You shake your hand. "I'll just walk it off."

"B-but how are you going to explain-"

"You were right; I honestly don't care what other people think of me anymore." You chuckle. "Perks of being the most hated person in Canterlot High."

"Second." Sunset points at herself, laughing. "Don't forget about Sunset She-demon."

Author's Note

Was writing this chapter and realized I accidently cut like 1k words out before publishing this. Sorry guys.

Trust Issues

Magic isn't real, they said. There's no such thing as wizards, the tooth fairy doesn't exist, and neither does Santa Claus. Broomsticks don't fly, zombies are BS, Hogwarts is fake, and The Force is a work of fiction from a sci-fi franchise owned by Disney. And Disney isn't magical either. Not since that abomination called High School Musical came out.

Well then what the hell was all that crap the Dazzlings just did? Magic not real your ass; if that wasn't magic, then the world is flat for all you know.

"So...Sunset?" You ask. "I don't know about you, but when Adagio talked about 'changes' happening to this school, doesn't that sound really sketchy?"

"I'm feeling the same exact thing." Sunset nods. "In fact, I've been getting bad feelings from those three ever since they showed up in Canterlot High. But I never thought they'd actually be something as dangerous as sirens..."

"So...there's still a way to stop them, right?"

"Well...according to the book, the more negative energy they absorb, the stronger they become." Sunset says. "It's...troubling seeing those necklaces of they wear glow so brightly like that; I never remember them being like that before."

You think about what Sunset Shimmer just said for a moment; come to think of it, YOU never saw those necklaces glowing like that before either. But if what Sunset's saying is true about how the more negative energy they get, the stronger they become, does that mean something happened to make their necklaces glow brighter?

Well, last time you were with the Dazzlings was when you were at Rainbow Dash's game. You were sitting right next to them; you definitely would have known if their necklaces were glowing like that, so that means something must have happened where they absorbed a butt ton of negative energy.

But what would cause so much negative energy to concentrate at one place? Well something like screwing with a certain girl's soccer game and pissing off an entire crowd's worth of people along with sending said girl to the hospital definitely fits those lines...

You already feel awful enough for what you've done, but now, not only did you do such things above but you also doped three psychopath siren girls with more negative energy than a BLM march clashing into a Trump rally? You walk over to the nearest desk, and swing your head down against it as hard as you can.

"Uh oh." You say, the realization hitting you head on. "I think I just fucked big time..."

"What do you mean?" Sunset asks, concerned.

"That means it was me!" You pointing a shaking finger at yourself. "It's because of ME that they have all that negative energy! It was because of that soccer game I ruined with the Dazzlings which I followed through with!"

"Man...I'm such an IDIOT!" You shout, kicking a nearby bookcase over. You've never felt so stupid in your life as you have right now. So not only did the Dazzlings completely bomb your social life, but they also used you to gain a bunch of magical power and now they're going to take the school? As if you're not feeling shitty enough...

"So there's nothing we can do?" You ask. "Are we supposed to just sit here, grab a cup of coffee, and wait for Adagio to take over the world, or something?"

"Of course not." Sunset scoff. "You know Twilight Sparkle and her friends?"

"Oh yeah, they're the ones who stopped you from...you know, all that bad stuff you did." You say, before looking down at the ground. "And...Rainbow Dash was one of them..."

"That's not important though." She quickly interjects. "What's important, is that I know Twilight Sparkle definitely has an answer for this, guaranteed. If she could take down me, she can sure as hell crack those three sirens!"

"Come on, Anon." She holds her hand out for you. "Let's take down those Dazzlings for good!"

******

Sunset Shimmer's car is much more humble than the Dazzlings' Mercedes. It really is a bummer missing out on the super plush leather cushion seats, and adjustable thigh rests, but Sunset's car isn't the one shot full of holes after a crazy gangster highway chase that nearly gotten you arrested. You still can't believe you made it out of that alive, without a single scratch on your face. Well, at least now you know that if World War III ever breaks out, you'll be one of the lucky ones who make it back home.

"Where are we going exactly?" You ask Sunset. "Because I don't know about you, but I'm kind of nervous meeting up with a bunch of people who are Rainbow Dash's friends after what I've done."

"Crap, I should've thought about that first." Sunset realizes as she cranks up the engine. "Oh well, you're already in the car with me so let's just follow through."

"Hey, remember the last time I 'followed through' with some girl's plans?" You remind Sunset. "Oh yeah; it turned me into a walking soccer goal for everyone at CHS."

"Well Adagio is a siren, not a real girl." Sunset says. "Don't sweat it Anon, Twilight's a good person; if she can forgive a girl who turned into a winged demon that tried to kill her, she can probably forgive a guy who sent her best friend to the hospital."

Sunset sets her car to Drive, and strolls out of the school's parking lot, onto the main streets. You really appreciate how tame her driving is compared to Adagio's. No running red lights, no nearly killing pedestrians, no police chases; just the way you like it. However, it doesn't change the fact that you're sweating nervously under your jacket; you seriously don't know how the hell you're going to introduce yourself to Twilight, let alone the rest of Rainbow's friends after what you did.

The two of you ride together in silence as Sunset pulls off the main road and into a street that's not too far away from CHS. You narrow your eyes as Sunset's car approaches a light maroon house with bright pink, red, and white color schemes on the roof that make the entire place look like a giant gingerbread house.

"Hold on a minute..." Your heart leaps with excitement. "This is Pinkie Pie's house!"

"Oh, you already know Pinkie Pie?" Sunset looks at you, surprised. "Well, this should make introducing yourself to Twilight all the less awkward then."

"Well, more of like I been invited to one of her parties...once." You admit, causing Sunset's optimism to shrink a little.

"Oh." She says before shrugging. "Still better than nothing."

Sunset finds a place to park, and you get out, staring at the brightly colored house and how it contrasts with the rest of the white and yellow houses of the neighborhood. You bet if you were looking over this entire street on like a hot air balloon or a helicopter, you'd be able to see Pinkie Pie's house from miles away. You shake that thought out of your head when Sunset motions you to follow her, and the two of you step up to Pinkie's doorstep.

Sunset Shimmer goes for the doorbell, and a millisecond after the buzzer goes off, the door swings open, nearly smacking you in the face as Pinkie Pie rushes out to give Sunset a hug.

"OhmigoshSunsetyourfinallyherewhattookyousolongg!!" Pinkie Pie screams. "Wewereallwaitingforyouand- Oh, hi there I didn't see you!"

"Hi..." You smile nervously as you watch Sunset desperately struggling to get out of Pinkie's embrace. When she finally does escape, Sunset collapses on a nearby lawn chair, panting heavily.

"This..." Sunset says in between her breaths. "Is Anon....he's a...friend of mine."

"Pinkie Pie?" You look and see a white skinned girl with extravagantly brushed purple hair looking out the door. "What's all the racket going on-"

Her eyes lock onto you to for a moment, and she gives you an icy glare that's almost as scary as the ones Sunset gives.

"You!" She points at you. "Just what do you think you're doing here, Anonymous?!"

"Hey Rarity, it's okay!" Sunset quickly tries to step in as the purple haired girl steps out to confront you. "He's fine, he's fine!"

"Fine?!" Rarity turns to Sunset with disbelief written all over her face. "FINE?! He's the one behind it all! He's that insufferable sadist who ruined Rainbow Dash's game, and sent her to the hospital!"

"Wait, who's here?!" Another girl emerges from Pinkie Pie's doorstep. This time, it's an orange skinned girl with blonde hair and a cowboy hat. She speaks with a heavy Southern accent, and takes one good look at you before flaring her nostrils. "Anon!!! Why you no-good, yellow-bellied, two-faced varmint!"

"Applejack, stop!" Sunset shouts, getting up from her seat. "He's-"

"C'mere you, I'm gonna dish out the corporeal punishment your parents should'a given you!" She shouts before lunging at you. Fortunately, after a week of countless soccer balls being kicked at you, you've had plenty of experience learning how to dodge fast moving objects soaring at your face and groin. Fists and feet are no exceptions.

You duck under Applejack's left hook, and jump down the stairs of Pinkie Pie's porch, rapidly feeling your pants everywhere for Sonata's taco spray.

'Fuck!' You curse. 'Those were in my other pair of jeans!'

"Sunset!!!" You call over to her as you slowly back up from Rarity and Applejack. "Help! I don't wanna hit a girl!"

"Well I just became friends with them too; my reputation isn't any better than yours!" Sunset replies. "Hold on, I'll go find Twilight, she'll get some sense into those two!"

'Twilight, Twilight, Twilight. She's like some god damn oracle to Sunset Shimmer!' You think as you sidestep from one of Applejack's punches. Feeling the adrenaline starting to kick in, you quickly dash behind Applejack, and follow Sunset Shimmer as she sprints into Pinkie Pie's open door.

******

"C5." You declare with confidence. There's no way this is one is going to be off target; your calculations simply wouldn't allow it.

"...Miss." Fluttershy replies. "...Sorry Twilight. Now uhmm...G....6?"

Your jaw drops in disbelief as Fluttershy lands the final hit, sinking your aircraft carrier and winning the game. You don't know why you can beat Rarity and Applejack every time at Battleship, but lose so consistently against Fluttershy.

"Where did you even place your ships?!" You ask in frustration. Your jaw drops even further when you peek over and see all of her ships huddled together in the upper left corner. "Are you kidding me?! Who does that?!"

"Well, I...I didn't want the ships to be lonely..." Fluttershy replies. "I wanted them all to be together. So...do you want to play again?"

"Well Pinkie refuses to start the slumber party until Sunset Shimmer gets here." You look at your watch. "Not sure what's taking her so long..."

You and Fluttershy begin setting up for a new game of Battleship, until you start hearing shouting downstairs; the shouting gets louder and louder as you hear footsteps racing up the stairs. Suddenly, Sunset Shimmer bursts into the room, panting.

"Sunset!" You smile. "You finally got here! Wecome!"

"Twilight!" Sunset gasps. "Applejack and Rarity are-"

"HOLY SHIT SHE'S GOT A BASEBALL BAT!!!" You hear a guy's voice shout. It's immediately followed by the sound of a vase shattering accompanied by more shouting.

"Wait." You narrow your eyes. "Who's that?"

Tearing through the room, you see a fair skinned guy with brown hair and blue eyes filled with terror as he quickly slams the door behind him. He then grabs a chair, and holds the piece of furniture against the door, barricading you all in.

"Get back her, you coward!" Applejack shouts.

"It's still not too late; we can still to talk this through!!!" The guy replies, as he leans against the door.

"Not in this this lifetime, we ain't!"

Sunset looks at you desperately, jerking her head towards the ongoing pandemonium as Applejack finally breaks through the barricade, holding a baseball bat. Just as she's about to swing it, you and Sunset Shimmer step in.

"Alright, that's enough!" You say strictly. "Let's just sit down, and talk about it like civilized poni-I mean human beings."

******

You nervously eye Applejack and Rarity every now as you all sit together in a circle in Pinkie Pie's living room. Sharing a sofa with Fluttershy and Sunset Shimmer, across to you is Twilight in a recliner with Rarity and Applejack together in another sofa adjacent to you. Pinkie Pie however, is off in the kitchen looking for food.

"So he's the one?" Twilight asks the rest of her friends. "Anonymous Fourchen? The one who sabotaged Rainbow Dash's game?"

"And sent her to the hospital?" Applejack adds, glaring at you. You try to avoid her gaze as her words cut into you like knives.

"I admit it." You sigh, nodding your head as you try to look at Twilight Sparkle in the eye. "It was me."

"But you see, the funny part that everyone in Canterlot High seems to forget was that he teamed up with those sirens to do it." Sunset steps into the conversation.

"That doesn't make him any less guilty of what he did to Rainbow Dash." Rarity crosses her arms. "He could have been conspiring with Principal Celestia for all I care, but it doesn't change the fact that he hurt Rainbow Dash, and did so not on accident, but of his own accord."

"Well Rainbow Dash isn't completely innocent here either." Sunset argues, defending you. "And we still don't know the full story here; he could have been doing it under Adagio's spell for all we know; he could be-"

"No, she's right." You cut off Sunset as you look down on the ground. "I shook Adagio's hand. I went in with the genuine intent to screw over Rainbow Dash...but that's not the important part."

"Now just what in tarnation do you mean, that ain't important?!" Applejack gets up from her seat in rage. "Are you sayin' Rainbow Dash ain't important to us?!"

"Please Applejack, let him talk." Twilight puts her hand up. "Anonymous, continue."

"Those siren girls though..." You say. "As the game went on, as Rainbow Dash began 'messing up' more and more, I started noticing this weird green mist growing around the crowd. And it wasn't the first time I've seen it happen before; I one time saw Adagio's necklace just...absorbing that green mist and shining really brightly when it did."

"And ever since that game, the last time I ran into Adagio, Aria, and Sonata, their necklaces were glowing extremely bright; much brighter than usual. They could do crazy stuff like teleport, and Adagio could knock Sunset Shimmer unconscious without laying a finger." You continue. "I think...I think not only did I screw over Rainbow Dash's game, but I think I also overloaded those three sirens with negative energy, which was their plan all along."

"Hmmmm." Twilight puts a finger to her chin. "Well, that does explain why they backstabbed you in the end: to gather more negative energy from the hate CHS would direct at you."

"And what was the purpose of telling us this?" Rarity raises an eyebrow. "Are we supposed to feel more empathetic towards you now? If anything, I'm even more disgusted with you now, Anonymous."

"So you hurt Rainbow Dash, and helped them three sirens rise to power?" Applejack says, shaking her head.

"That part wasn't on purpose!" You say defensively. "How was I supposed to know those three girls were ancient sea monsters that eat hatred for lunch?!"

"You are in no position to dodge responsibility!" Rarity shoots out at you. "This is all your fault, and you know it! You-"

"Alright, that's enough from you two!" Sunset gets up from her seat, glaring at Rarity and Applejack. "First off, he is not dodging responsibility for what he's done! He just has his priorities straight! What's more dangerous to the world right now; three sirens filled to the brim with negative energy, or Rainbow Dash?!"

"And second, how do you know he doesn't regret what he's done?!" Sunset continues on, keeping her glare fixed on Rarity and Applejack who sit back in shock. "We all make mistakes and mess up, some more than others, but it doesn't mean you can't change! One action doesn't and shouldn't define you for the rest of your whole freaking life!"

Upon finishing, Sunset leaves the living room, fuming. You all watch in silence as she storms into the bathroom, slamming the door so hard the calendar nailed to it falls off. A full minute of silence passes by before Twilight Sparkle clears her throat.

"So, Anonymous?" She leans forward to you with a concerned look on her face. "Is what you're saying really true about those siren girls' necklaces? Are you positive they're now glowing as you said, and they gained those new powers and whatnot?"

"I can say it with one hundred percent confidence." You nod. "But what's your answer to it? There's not many things I can see defeating three teleporting, telekinetic, mind-controlling girls..."

"Well, the source of all sirens' magic come from their songs and their voices." Twilight informs you. "So in order to break their hold on everybody, we need to perform our own counter-spell using the same form of magic they're using."

"So...you mean we have to sing ourselves?" You ask. "Alright, that's cool, but what are we going to be doing about the rest of their powers like their crazy teleportation and gravity blasts? Like how I said before, Adagio was able to knock Sunset unconscious without even raising a finger!"

"Yeah, that's the tricky part." Twilight replies. "The idea of the counter-spell was complex enough as it was without you overloading those three sirens with negative energy...no offense, Anon."

"None taken." You sigh. "But is there anything I can do to help that doesn't involve magic? Because I know as much about magic as the Crystal Prep girl's soccer team does about sportsmanship."

"At the moment, not really." Twilight shakes her head. "I'm sorry; I understand you want to help, but magic is ridiculously complex; especially for beginners, and there's all sorts of variables and-"

"It's fine, I totally understand." You chuckle. "Calculus and Physics are already big enough stress causers for me anyways."

"Wait, but Twilight." Fluttershy pipes up. For the first time, Fluttershy spoke up; you've almost forgotten that she was even here. "What about the Rainbooms band? Rainbow Dash is still in the hospital, so that means we don't have a guitarist, or a singer."

"Hold on a minute." Rarity scoffs. "You can't be serious, can you, Fluttershy? Let him join Rainbow Dash's own band?! That's so insulting!"

"Our band." Applejack corrects her, before looking at you. "I don't know, Anon. Rainbow Dash was pretty darn good with that guitar, even though she let everybody and their mothers know about all about it. It'll be hard to top her off..."

"Well I think we all need to take a breather, and just think more about on all of this tomorrow." Twilight steps in. "Besides; did we all forget what we're here for anyways? We're having a slumber party, girls! We're supposed to be enjoying ourselves!"

'A what?' You think in your head. 'Sunset never told you anything about a slumber party.'

The second Twilight finishes her words, your nose picks up a one of the most heavenly scents it has ever been graced by; the scent of the darkest chocolate with a trace of cherries and strawberries.

"WHO'S UP FOR SOME PINKIE PIE DARK CHOCOLATE BROWNIE SPECIALS?!" Pinkie Pie shouts, emerging from the kitchen wearing a chef's hat. In her hands lay two plates stacked with the most luscious brownies you've ever laid eyes upon. Everybody, including you gets up from their seats and starts rushing towards the kitchen in an attempt to get first dibs.

However, after the first two steps, you stop yourself, reminding yourself as to where you are right now; Pinkie Pie's house; a slumber party; a slumber party full of GIRLS that you were not invited to. Sighing in defeat, you shake your head.

'Your business with them is done, Anon.' You think to yourself. 'All you wanted to do was just to meet up with Twilight Sparkle and inform her about the Dazzlings; and she says there's nothing you can do anyways.'

You look back at the girls wolfing down on the brownies one last time, then get up from your seat, walking towards the door of Pinkie Pie's house. You'll just call your mom, or Flash Sentry to pick you up.

"Heyheyheyheyheyheyheyheyhey!" You turn around, seeing Pinkie Pie bouncing up and down towards you in a very cartoonish manner before dramatically pointing behind her. "The party's this way."

"A party that I was never invited to." You mutter. "I'm going home."

"And who said that you weren't invited?" Pinkie Pie looks at you suspiciously.

"Nobody said I was invited, thus I wasn't invited." You reply.

"Well now you are!" Pinkie Pie beams, before pulling a brownie out of nowhere, and handing it to you. You stare at her awkwardly, before her smile finally fades, and sighs.

"I know what you're thinking, Anon." Pinkie says, as she puts a hand on your shoulder. "You think we all hate you, don't you?"

"Why wouldn't you?" You reply.

"Because I can see it in your eyes, silly!" Pinkie points at your face. "You really are sorry...and I get it! I mean...you've heard of what Sunset's done, hasn't she?"

"Of course."

"Well, she's friends with us, now!" Pinkie points out. "So why can't you?"

And with that, she pats on the back, and rushes back into the kitchen, leaving you alone. You look down at the brownie, and take a bite. Just as you expected from the smell, the brownie was delicious; it had the perfect amount of sugar and chocolate; not too bitter, not to sweet, and with just the right amount of fudge. It doesn't take long for you to devour the entire thing, leaving you wanting for more. You walk towards the kitchen, where Pinkie Pie is, and as if on a cue, she tosses another brownie towards you, smiling.

Guitar Hero Anon

For obvious reasons, you didn't want to take an active role during Pinkie Pie's slumber party; you want to just keep a low profile for the entire time, so Applejack doesn't change her mind about not clobbering you with a baseball bat.

You sort of just stuck to the fringes for the entire time, mostly passing the time by drinking ginger ale and staring at the ceiling, since you never really felt like you were invited to the party anyways. Fluttershy was kind enough to let you play a couple of board games with her and just chat, but it didn't last too long until Pinkie Pie grabbed her for some Dance Dance Revolution tournament they were holding or something.

With nothing else to do, you simply make your way down the basement, and look for a comfortable looking beanbag for you to call it a night. You strip down until you're in nothing but your underwear and undershirt, then grab a nearby wool blanket. It takes a bit of tossing and turning about until you find a nice comfortable position, but when you do, you start staring at the ceiling, counting sheep before your eyes start getting heavy.

******

You wake up, finding that you're no longer within the safe confines of your beanbag anymore. In fact...are you even in Pinkie Pie's house anymore? You look around, taking in your surroundings, and instantly recognize this place as Ms. Cherilee's English classroom. Hang on; was this the place where you were about to ask out Adagio before all that flashbang crap happened to you? There's no mistaking it; it is.

Immediately, your body freezes up, when you start hearing the clicking of heeled boots. You turn, seeing Adagio Dazzle, in all her glory waiting for you. Except, this time, that jeweled necklace of hers isn't glowing like a miniature nuclear reactor this time.

"Adagio?!" You blurt out. "What are you doing here?!"

"Answering your letter." She replies, holding a piece of paper. "I thought you wanted to see me...specifically in the English classroom."

You squint your eyes, recognizing that paper as the letter you remember sending to Sonata, asking her to forward it to Adagio. Your eyes trail around the classroom, looking for any signs of Rainbow Dash, or grenade-shaped objects...Once certain there's nothing there, you walk up to Adagio, and look at her straight in the eye.

"Sorry, Adagio." You say. "I think you've got the wrong person. I never remember sending that letter to you."

"Oh really?" Adagio asks. All of the sudden, you find that she's inches away from your face as she tilts her head to the side, giving you a perfect view of her cleavage. "Are you sure there's nothing you wanted to say?"

"I'm sure." You smile, resisting the urge to look down. "I've got nothing to say to you. We should both be going our separate ways now."

You walk past Adagio, and make your way to the exit of the classroom door until a sudden gust of wind blows the door shut in your face. You try to open the door, only to find it locked. You then try pounding on the door, to try and get somebody else to open it, until you hear a guttural laugh coming from Adagio.

"Liar." She says as her necklace sparkles to life. Immediately, two amorphous blobs of mist fly into the room; one purple, and the other blue. The two mists quickly begin to take shape, materializing into Aria Blaze and Sonata Dusk respectively. Their necklaces, just like Adagio's have that blinding, sinister glow to them as well.

"Alright, you can stop your fancy lightshow and let me go now, Adagio." You shield your eyes from their necklaces with a hand.

"Not until I've gotten what I came here for." Adagio replies, holding your letter.

"I already told you, piss off!" You shout. "I-"

You're cut off by a sharp slap to the face, as you turn back and see Adagio with her arms crossed, looking annoyed at you.

"You're lying not only to me, but to yourself." She says. "I know what you want."

"Oh yeah?" You challenge her as you clench your cheek. "What is it then?"

Adagio looks at Aria and Sonata who nod their heads. Immediately, the two sirens tackle you, with Aria pinning your left arm to the door and Sonata taking your right. You try to struggle, but then Aria takes her free hand, and punches you straight in that soft spot in the center of your ribs. It knocks the wind out of you, as you feel all the muscles in your body beginning to shut down. Every breath begins to feel like a labor as you seemingly struggle to survive.

The Dazzlings then pick up your limp body, and throw you on top of a desk. Adagio leers over you, that infamous evil smile rising above her face.

"I know what you want." Adagio answers, as she trails her finger across her body. "...Me."

"No..." You gasp, struggling to even reply to her. Whatever Aria did, it makes the simplest things from talking to breathing a million times harder. "No......you don't even like me! Don't think I'm falling for your bullshit again!"

"Oh, don't be so cynical." Adagio pouts, gently rubbing the spot where she slapped you. "We can forget about what happened at the game...we can start anew..."

"Over my dead body." You shoot back. You try to get up and get away from these sirens, but Aria smacks you in the same spot one more time. Pain emanates across your entire body like a shockwave, as you feel yourself finally lose control of your whole body. You can't move at all, yet you can still feel the very palpable pain of Aria's strike.

"You're lying, and we both know it." Adagio's evil smile widens. "I can see it in your eyes, I can feel it in your mind... a part of you still wants to be mine."

Without warning, Adagio grabs your head, and locks you into a deep kiss. The kiss begins soft at first, but then you begin to feel an unnatural sucking sensation as Adagio's lips hold onto you. You want to get away, but that last strike from Aria made it so you can't even fight back right now. You're stuck here in this predicament, as Adagio's kiss begins getting more and more aggressive.

Your eyes start losing color as everything around you turns more and more monotonous. Meanwhile, every nerve in your body feels like it's on fire and your heart is beating so hard, you feel it's about to burst out of your chest. Just as you feel like you're about to lose it all, Adagio breaks the kiss. Color returns to your vision, and life breaths itself back into you as you see her necklace glowing so bright, it's like white-hot magma. Delicate, purple wings begin erupting from Adagio's back as she licks her lips, and looks down at you with a seductive smile.

"Ahhhh that's more like it." Adagio sighs, caressing your chest as she leans over you. She slowly begins descending upon you again. "Come Anon, relax......relax and just give it to me..."

"Relax Anon...let go and give me everything."

******

"He's sweating so much!"

"Is he alright?!"

"Gosh darn it Anon, quit scarin' us!"

"Hey, can you hear me Anon?! Speak to me!" A female voice says desperately.

You feel something grabbing you. Panic beginning to overwhelm you, you start flailing wildly in response.

"I said no, Adagio!!!" You shout, flailing your arms. "Now get off me!"

"Damn it Anon, you're dreaming! You're dreaming!" The shaking gets more and more intense.

"Adagio I said NO!" Your roar as you raise your arms, preparing to shove her off you. You hear the sounds of gasping as your eyes shoot open, seeing Sunset Shimmer looking down at you.

"S...Sunset?" You look at her confused. You're still in an extremely disoriented state as all your five senses begin to slowly return. You find yourself back on Pinkie Pie's beanbag, soaked to the bone in a miniature ocean of your own sweat. You look around, seeing Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Sunset Shimmer all in a circle around you.

"Fuck..." You sigh in relief. "Damn, what a nightmare."

"Anonymous!" You look up, and see Rarity glaring at you. "Stop for a moment, and look what you're doing to Sunset Shimmer! That's absolutely no way to treat a lady!"

You look up, and see Sunset Shimmer looking down at her chest, as her face begins turning increasingly more red as each second passes by. You follow her eyes until you find your arms at her chest level, ready to push her. You feel around a little, and notice your hands are directly on two really soft objects...

"Anon..." Sunset says slowly.

"I know." You reply as your hands shoot to your sides automatically. "This never happened."

"Anon, you pervert!" Applejack steps in. "What in Sam Hill do you think you're doing to Sunset?"

"Hey, hey, hey it was an accident!" You turn to Applejack in fear. "I swear! I-"

"Calm down, everyone!" Twilight steps in, defusing the situation. "We're overreacting; it was just an honest mistake. Anon was clearly having a nightmare, and Sunset just wanted to help. No need for this crazy nonsense."

You watch as Sunset slowly crawls away from you, murmuring something to herself as Pinkie Pie walks up and offers her hand up to you.

"C'mon, Anon." She smiles. "It's not even 8:30 yet; why are you hitting the sack already? We've still got at least five solid hours of pure partying to go!"

You take Pinkie Pie's hands, and pull yourself up from the beanbag. Looking around, you can see the party moved to basement. Applejack and Twilight are having a go at each other in billiards while Rarity and Fluttershy are taking selfies together. You decide to go back to your old strategy of avoiding the main crowd, and roam off into the corners of the basement. Looking around, you spot an old television with an Xbox 360 under it. Behind the television, you spot one of those old plastic Guitar Hero guitars.

"No way." You gasp as your heart flutters at the sight of it. "No fucking way!"

You walk up to the Xbox and open it up, seeing a perfectly intact copy of Guitar Hero 3.

"Oh my God..." You whisper, a smile forming across your face.

This thing was your childhood. You and Flash Sentry would spend hours upon hours upon hours just playing the shit out of this game. You walk over to the television, checking all the plugs before looking back at the console, silently wondering to yourself if this thing still works...

"Please don't get the Red Ring of Death, please don't get the Red Ring of Death, please don't get the Red Ring of Death..." You pray as you press the button. Immediately, the reassuring green glow appears and the television flickers to life.

"YES!" You shout at the top of your lungs, accidentally attracting the attention of everybody else. Twilight, Sunset, Appejack, and everyone else stares at you awkwardly for at solid ten seconds before going back to whatever they were doing. You shake your head, and turn your face back towards the television.

The menu, the characters, the sounds, the songs, after five years, NOTHING has changed; it's still the best thing ever after indoor plumbing and electricity. You strap on the plastic guitar, feeling like you're reconnecting with a long lost friend as your fingers instinctively run themselves along the buttons, and remember all the controls as if you played this game yesterday.

You can't wait any longer; you pick a random song and without giving a second thought, crank it all the way to the hardest difficulty.

"Let's do this."

The song begins with some drums followed by clapping. Soon, the notes begin appearing on the screen as you begin mashing the guitar like you've been doing it all your life. Well, from 7th grade to freshman year, this was your life.

As soon as the lyrics break out, you look at the game confused; what the heck was this song you chose? You never remembered it being in the game. You shrug; it's alright, you guess...

A storm of green, red, yellow, blue, and orange appears on the horizon, but you stand unfazed, daring them to come at you. As the notes come speeding towards you, you begin pounding away on the plastic guitar, not letting a single note escape. You smile as the in-game crowd goes wild as you land your 50 note streak, and you continue rocking on.

"Whoa, look!" Pinkie Pie exclaims. "Look, Twilight! I never knew that old thing still worked!"

You ignore Pinkie Pie; right now, every single neuron in your brain is concentrating on getting 100% on this song. Sure, the song itself is kind of cheesy and over the top, but you could care less; it's been five years since you played this game, and you're finally back at it!

'Star Power's coming up.' You grit your teeth. 'Don't muck it up here, Anon.'

Another flurry of notes appear, and you tilt your guitar, initiating Star Power. The crowd starts screaming, and you respond by concentrating even more as each the notes for some reason seem to be getting faster. So far, you still haven't missed a note, but it's definitely taking a toll on your mental reserves.

'200 note streak...'

The song starts taking a more tame direction, and you decide to sacrifice some concentration to sit back for a moment, and take in the beat; that was always Flash Sentry's strategy when he played. You synchronize your heartbeat with the pounding of the bass drums, then start tapping your foot along with the tom-toms and snares. Just as you feel yourself relaxing a little too much however, a random orange chord appears out of nowhere.

"Fuck!" You shout, nearly missing that one. You crack your neck, and start shredding away again as the next wave of notes come crashing down on you. The notes are assaulting you harder than ever now, but you still stand your ground.

'300 notes!'

You take a deep breath in between each chord, trying to get as much oxygen into your brain as possible before another tornado of notes appear before you again. You enter a zen-like state of mind, and the desperate, feeling of stress drains away; you're left with an empty mind, filled with nothing but pure focus, and begin effortlessly nailing each note as they relentlessly try to cross your guitar unscathed.

A final wave of notes pour in at the very last second, but you were ready for it; you pin them all down without blinking an eye, and drop to your knees as you slam down a multiple chord.

'Nope, not fooling me again!' You think as you quickly mash one final note that seemingly materializes out of nowhere. The crowd starts cheering loudly as the two words 'You Rock!' fly into the screen. The lyrics to this song were a little cheesy, but you still love this game.

The cheering for some reason is still going on despite being back in the song menu. You look behind you, and see Pinkie Pie, Twilight Sparkle, Sunset Shimmer, Fluttershy, all cheering you. Even Applejack and Rarity are joining in too.

"Anon!" Pinkie Pie runs in, and gives you a bone-crushing hug. "That's AWESOMEEEEEEEEEE!!!"

'I've only seen Rainbow Dash get a hundred percent on that song before." Applejack says, impressed.

"That's nice, but can you let me breathe first?!" You wheeze. Pinkie Pie immediately lets go, and you fall face first into the floor, coughing like Walter White.

"You know..." Rarity says, looking at Twilight Sparkle. "I change my mind; I actually think Anonymous could fill in Rainbow Dash's spot on the Rainbooms."

"I don't know Rarity..." Applejack shrugs. "There's a big difference between real life n' vidya games; just because he's good at this, doesn't mean he can play a real guitar."

"Oh, don't be so dreary, Applejack." Rarity says before clasping her hands together. "It's the same movements; how hard could it be to actually translate into the real thing?"

"Well that's just great then!" Twilight Sparkle beams. "That means Anon can take Rainbow's place, while I don't have to sing at all, so I can concentrate all my efforts on the counter-spell for the sirens!"

Twilight looks at the rest of the girls nervously, before they all shake their heads disapprovingly.

"Nope, you're not going anywhere!" Pinkie Pie smiles as she embraces Twilight. "You're still gonna be our lead singer!"

"What?!" Twilight shouts in disbelief. "B-b-but the spell..."

"You said the spell needs to be sung anyways." Applejack points at her.

Out of nowhere, Pinkie Pie pulls out seven open bottles of Coca Cola before handing each of you one, and raises her bottle in the air.

"To Twilight Sparkle and Anon!!!" She announces. "The two newest members of the Rainbooms!"

You and Twilight Sparkle look at each other nervously before clinking your bottles together and downing the soda. You remembered how after 8th grade, Flash Sentry started actually playing the guitar instead of just Guitar Hero. Now, he's actually pretty good at it. Guess it's time to follow in his footsteps...

******

67...68...69...

70 sheep counted, and still not an ounce of drowsiness; you think that's an all time record for you.

"Why can't I fall asleep?!" You groan, elbowing the beanbag in frustration. Deep down though, you know the answer yourself; a part of you is still scared to death at the thought of falling asleep, and having another nightmare of Adagio having her way with you. The worst part about that dream is that what she said was true; despite you knowing that Adagio's a psycho, part of you still wouldn't mind being with her. Even if it means she'd use her siren magic to suck the life out of you.

You sigh. Of all the girls to pick, you chose a god damn siren succubus she-demon bent on world domination to be your first love.

Well, you'll might as well get something to eat if you're pulling off an all-nighter. Something sugary. You get up from your beanbag, and pull out your phone, using it as a flashlight to navigate through the dark basement and up the stairs to Pinkie Pie's refrigerator.

When you finally open the door and step out of the basement however, you're surprised when you see none other than Twilight Sparkle sitting on a countertop surrounded by books.

"Oh, hi there Anon." She smiles. "Didn't see you there."

"Can't sleep either?" You ask, walking up to her. "Funny, I thought I was the only one."

"Well...more of like trying to spend some extra time working on the counter spell." Twilight answers back. "I'm guessing the reason you're up is another one of those nightmares?"

"That plus that nap I took earlier makes it pretty hard to get sleepy." You reply, leaning over to look at Twilight's notebook. "Christ, those magic equations and everything look more complicated than rocket science."

"Well, it looks like it's a mess mostly because I had to change all my equations after finding out the sirens' negative energy inputs increased exponentially..."

"And you've got me to thank for that." You sulk. "To be honest, I'm surprised your friends didn't slit my throat while I was sleeping after what I've done to Rainbow..."

"Hey, don't say that." Twilight pats you on the back reassuringly. "It's not your fault you didn't know that those three girls were sirens."

"But it is my fault for hurting Rainbow Dash..." You sigh. "I swear...I'm never gonna forgive myself..."

As you slump over on the desk, you start feeling sorry for yourself all over again. Your brain starts playing back all the mistakes you've made the past couple weeks: first with the moment you shook Adagio's hand, then to that painful split Rainbow Dash did. Her screams of pain still echo through your ears. You clench your fists, and let out a pained groan.

"Anon, you okay?" Twilight drops her pen, looking at you concerned.

"I'm...I'm alright." You say. "Was just thinking about Rainbow...and the game."

"It's best not to think too much about it." Twilight advises. "What happened, happened."

"Yeah, I know." You agree. "But still, I-"

"And besides." Twilight cuts you off. "How is Rainbow Dash ever going to forgive you if you can't even forgive yourself?"

"They can-" You're about to say a witty comeback, but you stop to think about what Twilight said for a moment, and realize it actually makes a lot of sense. "Never mind. I'll stop distracting you now."

You spend the next few minutes stooped over the countertop, listening to Twilight Sparkle write in her notebook. Secretly, you're really curious as to how she can hold that pen with her mouth like that and still write legibly, but you decide against asking it. From now on, whenever you don't understand anything going on in this world, you'll just assume it's magic.

Like Calculus.

"Ughhh, I think I'm spent for the night." Twilight yawns, closing her notebook. "Say, can you do me a favor and pass me that book over there?"

You nod, reaching over the other side of the countertop and grab the book. From the look of the cover, it looks like some kind of novel.

"In Cold Blood?" You read the cover aloud. "By Truman Capote."

"Oh, it's just a novel I'm reading to pass the time." Twilight says. "It's pretty interesting..."

"What's it about?" You ask. "The title sounds kinda...gloomy."

"It's about two men who murder a family of four in a robbery."

"Wow." You scoff. "That's... really gloomy."

"It's actually a really good book." Twilight says. "It was Sunset who actually showed it to me; I remember one of the quotes really stood out to me."

"What was it?" You ask, now curious about the book.

"It was when one of the killer's sisters wrote him a letter after he murdered the family telling him..." Twilight clears her throat. "'There is no shame to have a dirty face---the real shame comes when you keep it dirty' "

"A...dirty face?" Your head perks up.

"It's a metaphor." Twilight explains. "A metaphor for there's nothing evil about making a bad decision. But it is evil if you continue doing it, knowing what you're doing is wrong."

The words resonate with you. You feel every muscle in your body loosen up, and a gentle feeling of floating overwhelms you as you repeat the words in your head.

'There is no shame to have a dirty face---the real shame comes when you keep it dirty...'

"You know what?" Twilight's head perks up. "You take the book. You keep it. I've already read it like three times anyways."

Twilight hands you the book, and you take it with a smile on your face.

"Thanks Twilight." You shake her hand. "That made me feel a lot better; I appreciate it." You get up from your seat, and begin heading back to your beanbag in the basement. Now you know why Sunset reveres Twilight so much; so much wisdom in such a young teenager. It's geniuses like her that grow up to be future presidents and whatnot.

"No problem." She says. "By the way, next time if you ever feel down in the dumps again, I'd recommend talking to Sunset Shimmer about it, instead of me."

"Sunset?" You ask. "Why?"

"It's... just a suggestion." She replies, before waving. "She's made a lot of mistakes in the past just like you; and just like you, she also hasn't fully forgiven herself for it all yet. I feel like both of you two need a friend right now that knows what you're going through."

"Well, thanks for the suggestion." You smile. "Good night, Twilight."

"You too."

You turn your phone back on, and try to find the door back to the basement. You open a door, finding an unused room full of rocks of all sizes and shapes. In front of you, is a fuzzy cat bed with a small pebble inside of it. On top, are the words engraved in gold "Boulder".

'Yeahhhh, wrong door, Anon.'

You open the next door to the left, finding a flight of stairs that look familiar. Yup, this is the basement. After a couple of seconds of wandering around, you find your beanbag again, and place Twilight's book on a nearby coffee table, before jumping back onto the beanbag.

You stare at the ceiling, and you start feeling sleepy as you try to think about what Twilight just said.

"There's no shame in having a dirty face..." You murmur to yourself.

"The real shame comes when you keep it dirty." Another voice suddenly finishes the quote. You jump up from your beanbag in surprise, and grab your phone, turning on the flashlight. You start turning around, looking for the source of the voice, but can't find it. Is it a ghost? Well, magic is apparently real, so anything can exist.

"Who's there?" You call out, flashing your phone through every corner of the room. After a minute of looking around, you give up. You shut your phone off and fall back onto your beanbag.

"Probably just the wind or something..." You mutter to yourself, the last thing you remember seeing is a pair of aqua eyes surrounded by strands of red and yellow before falling to sleep.

Real Guitar Butcherer Anon

"Is he... is he still alive Sunset?" Rarity asks, poking Anon gingerly with a plastic fork.

"He's still breathing." You answer back. "Doesn't seem to be showing any signs of getting up anytime soon though."

"But school's about to start in forty minutes and we still haven't left Pinkie's house!" Twilight says in panic.

"Come onnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn Anon wake up!" Pinkie Pie shouts, shaking him off of his beanbag. He flops onto the carpeted floor and stays limp, still snoozing away without a single care in the world. The girls all look at each other, before Applejack huffs in frustration and grabs a baseball bat.

"Applejack, don't you think that's a little overkill?" Fluttershy asks nervously.

"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger." Applejack replies, before raising the bat above her head. "WAKE UP ANON!"

As the bat comes soaring down on Anon, he begins tossing and turning. His head moves at just the right moment to avoid Applejack's strike. He then grabs your foot, and plants his head on it, using it as his new pillow. You try to shake him off, but he suddenly pulls you down to the ground, and rests his head on your thigh.

"Anon get off me, this isn't funny anymore!" You shout, feeling your face start to heat up. Every time you try to squirm out of Anon's grasp, he tightens his grip on you, until he's basically using your body as his new beanbag. You're suffocating under the full crushing weight of Anonymous as you spot Applejack raising her baseball bat again.

"Quick, Applejack now's your chance!" Rarity points at his head. "Get him now!"

"WAIT, WAIT STOP! PLEASE! DON'T DO IT YET, YOU'RE GONNA HIT ME TOO-"

******

Jesus, your eyelids feels so heavy it's like the entire world's hanging on them right now. You were sleeping fine and dandy, even having a nice dream of cuddling with a super fuzzy teddy bear until a certain redneck girl decided it was a smart idea to wake you up with a baseball bat. You scoop up a spoon full of cereal, and move it towards your face, only to miss and send the soggy Cheerios down your shirt. You moan like a zombie as you prop your head up with one elbow.

"Table manners, Anon!" Rarity says crossly. "Don't put your elbows on the table! That's so disrespectful!"

"I'm not at a five-star restaurant." You groan, before scooping up another spoonful of cereal. This time, you successfully deliver it to your mouth without making a mess. Just as you do however, you spot Sunset Shimmer walking with a slight limp in her leg towards you and takes the seat to your left.

"Mornin'." You say with a mouth full of Cheerios.

"You too." She replies. As she sits down, you notice her hair's a lot more disarrayed than normal. You don't know if her hair's always like that in the morning or something, but you gotta say, it's actually pretty cute.

You shake your head. No. Stop Anon. The last time you found a girl 'cute', she turned you into the Adolf Hitler of Canterlot High. A title which you still hold to this day, and it doesn't seem like it's leaving anytime soon.

"Eat up, Anon; breakfast's the most important meal of the day!" Pinkie Pie says as she throws you a bowl of oatmeal. "An important meal, for an important day!"

"Thanks, Pinkie." You say as you reach for the bowl. "Why's today so important?"

"Wait." Twilight Sparkle drops her spoon in shock. "You don't know?!"

"What?" You look at her confused.

"Today's the Battle of the Bands!" Everyone shouts simultaneously at you.

Normally you'd be panicking, but the magical thing about being tired is that for the first two hours, you give zero fucks about anything. A zombie apocalypse could break out right now, but you'd still prioritize getting a cup of coffee above all else. You simply respond with a mumble as you take a mouthful of oatmeal, and do your best to resist the urge of falling back asleep. Secretly though, you're feeling pretty confident about nailing this whole guitar thing; if you can get 90% on Through The Fire and Flames on Expert, then you're already basically a guitarist, right?

...Right?

...

Whatever; coffee now, think later.

******

"---Gonna stop your evil plaaaaaaaaaaaans~" Twilight finishes the song, singing horribly off tune. You look around, seeing everyone wearing a pained expression on their face, as if they all just witnessed a murder. Even Twilight Sparkle's purple dog has his ears folded back in horror.

"You know..." You say as you plug your hearing aid back on. "For the first time ever, I'm glad that I'm part deaf..."

"Oh believe me, I wish I was..." Rarity mutters as she massages her temples.

"Well not to be mean, but you weren't doin' so hot either, Anon!" Applejack steps in. "You were missin' notes too! Your A string was way out of tune, you're strumming the strings too softly, you're only picking in one direction, and you're supposed to put your fingers close to the frets, not on 'em! Plus, your posture just ain't right! And also not to mention the tempo which-"

You're tempted to unplug your hearing aid again, but you stand there and take Applejack's unrelenting, straight-to-the-point, soul crushingly honest criticism. You need to learn how to do this; the fate of Canterlot High is depending on this musical counter spell and like how Twilight said, you've only got one shot at it.

"I think we're all just exhausted right now." Fluttershy yawns. "Maybe we should all give it a rest, and practice later."

"I agree with Fluttershy." Twilight says. "My throat's feeling sore after that anyways."

The Rainbooms scatter, with everyone packing up their instruments and leaving you alone on the stage. Sighing, you give the guitar a couple of practice plucks, only to play out of tune again.

'How the hell am I going to learn to play this thing well enough to defeat three sirens in five hours?' You think to yourself. 'There has to be a way though...'

"You're still staying?" You turn around, and see Sunset Shimmer approaching you. "Don't you have classes, Anon?"

"Principal Celestia said everyone who's participating in the Battle is exempt from classes for the day." You answer. "Plus, I'm not leaving this room until I can at least play a solo without making the instrument sound like a dying kitten."

You try going for a chord, and true to your words, the guitar gives off an ear-piercing sound that shrieks across the entire room, and causes a window in the barn to crack. Sunset also cringes at the sound of you failing at the guitar.

"No...that's not it..."

You go for another attempt, until Sunset suddenly chokes up on the guitar's neck, killing your chord. You look up, and see Sunset giving you a weird look of annoyance.

"Why don't you just take a break?" Sunset asks. "You've been at it for like half an hour now, Anon."

"A break?" You look up at her in disbelief. "We have like five hours until the Battle of the Bands starts, and I still don't even know which string the A string is! How can I take a break?!"

"Why are you pushing yourself so hard anyways?" Sunset asks. "What are you trying to prove?"

"Nothing." You answer back, going back to strumming the guitar. You try to remember Applejack's advice about strumming both sides, but your guitar is still sounding awful. "Just trying to learn the guitar so I can play my part during the Battle."

"Come on Anon; are you sure you don't want to give it a rest?" She asks again.

"And what; give up?" You retort, botching a chord as soon as you say it.

"...Yeah?"

"That's crazy talk!" You burst out. "The Rainbooms need me right now! I gotta get this stupid guitar down before the Battle!"

"Anon..." Sunset says sternly. "Let's be realistic; you've got like five hours to learn how to play the guitar half decently; this isn't something you can do overnight."

"Doesn't mean I won't try." You ignore Sunset Shimmer, going back to working on your chords.

"It's just a fact!" Sunset argues. She's audibly losing her patience now. "No matter how hard you try, the results won't change!"

"Bullshit." You scoff. "Results can change as much as I want them to; all I have to do is just try a little harder."

"You're the one bullshitting yourself." Sunset says coldly.

"Well if you're done with your snarky comments, then let me practice my guitar in peace." You huff, walking away from Sunset. Your practicing however, is cut short when all the sudden, you hear someone unplug your amp. You look, and see Ms. Baconhair being the culprit.

"Sunset!" You shout. "What the hell was that for?!"

"Just face it!" Sunset says. "There's nothing you can do! Stop being so stubborn!"

"I don't give a crap about what you think; plug that amp back on!" You demand her. Sunset stares you down with a glare that normally would wet your pants tenfold, but you stand your ground, defiant. You need to learn how to play this stupid instrument if it's the last thing you do.

"I don't get it!" Sunset stomps her foot in frustration. "Why are you being so shameless?!"

"Shameless?" You raise an eyebrow.

"Look at you!" Sunset points a finger at you. "First Rainbow's game, and then you doping the Dazzlings on all that negative energy! All that crap you've done and you STILL want to go around, making an idiot out of yourself! Do you not get the concept of 'I've done enough damage as it is, so I'm going stop?!' Just stand aside, and let Twilight handle this! BOTH of us have screwed up this school enough for our lifetimes!"

"And all those things I've done to screw up this school aren't going to fix themselves!" You shoot back. "I don't want to let everyone down!"

"And what if you screw everything up again?" Sunset crosses her arms. "You'd have made an even bigger mess than before! You'll look like an even bigger idiot than before!"

"I'm NOT going to just sit on my ass and do nothing about a problem that I caused!" You shout, slamming the guitar on the ground as you do. "Because that is letting your friends down!"

Those last words paralyze Sunset in her place. You take a deep breath, and readjust your hearing aid before walking past Sunset, plugging the amp back in yourself, and finding a peaceful corner far away from Sunset for you to practice. Regardless, you're trying to find some sort of equation, some sort of formula, or pattern you can follow between the notes and the positions of the fingers, all the while trying to find out how to play a god damn chord.

'What's gotten into her?' You think to yourself. 'You thought Sunset was cool, but she somehow reverted back to the old Sunset Shimmer that turned into a demon again!"

Well Sunset Shimmer's attitude aside, it's not helping the fact that if Alcatraz was still in use, they'd probably hire you to use your shitty guitar skills to torture their prisoners right now... You miss another note, with the guitar's horrific screams reminding you all too much that you messed up.

'No.' You huff in frustration. 'I'm going to learn this stupid instrument, if it's the last thing I do!'

You decide to take a break from chords, and try to work on your fingering. 'As close to the frets as possible, but not touching them; just like how Applejack said...'

"The A string's the second to the far left by the way..." You hear a voice murmur behind you. "...your left."

"Oh, thanks!" You say. "So that means-"

You freeze for a moment, and turning around, seeing Sunset Shimmer who is kneeling beside you.

"Wait a second." You narrow your eyes. "How did you know?!"

"I...sorta play guitar..." Sunset says nervously, blushing a little. Yeah; she actually does look really pretty whenever she blushes like that. You shake your head, catching yourself staring a little too long at her and clear your throat.

"Good enough to give me a hand here?" You ask. "I'm completely lost right now..."

"I don't know." She looks away. "It's...it's a pretty tough instrument to learn."

"Tough enough to make me give up?" You raise an eyebrow. For at least ten full seconds, Sunset Shimmer stares at you in bewilderment before breaking into a smile.

"Well who said you were gonna give up, right?" She smiles.

"Awesome." You smile back. "So...if this string is the A string...then what are all the others?"

"Well...starting from your left, it goes E, A, D, G, B, E..." Sunset points at each string individually.

"Wait." You raise an eyebrow. "There's two E strings?!"

"Told you it's a hard instrument..." Sunset shrugs, before giving you a smug look. "What's the matter, Anon? Is this all it takes to stump you?"

"Like hell it is." You grin. "Go on..."

******

"Nice! That chord actually came out pretty good!" Sunset pats you on the back, rubbing a little as she does.

"Thanks." You smile. "It's all thanks to you though; I'd still be sounding like a humpback whale on laxatives if you didn't teach me how to properly play."

"Ugh. That put images in my head I didn't need." Sunset laughs. "But on a more serious note, something about your playing still feels...off."

"What is it?" You ask. "Is it my fingering?"

"No, no, no." Sunset shakes her head. "It's just...your whole guitar playing as a whole sounds...I don't know how else to say it, but it just sounds...bland"

"I mean...no offense Anon, but when I hear you playing it just sounds empty." Sunset continues. "It's like the notes are just soulless..."

"None taken." You reply. "So how do I fix it?"

"Music is supposed to be played from the heart, I was told." Sunset explains. "Just...just put some emotion into your music. Doesn't matter what it is; fear...happiness...anger... or maybe even love! Anything and I can guarantee you it will sound a lot better..."

"Hmmmm." You put a hand to your chin. "Emotions...."

You reach into your memories; the most powerful emotion you can come up right on the spot is Adagio Dazzle. Adagio Dazzle and how much you want to cunt punt her right now. But too bad you don't know any heavy metal songs about hating someone to death. You need to come up with something else...

You continue digging through your thoughts, looking for something that you feel really strong about...say, how about regret? You could play a song about regret after what you've done to Rainbow Dash, but you just get this feeling in the back of your head that you could do better, that there's something else you feel about that's even stronger than your hate towards Adagio and your regret combined.

...

"Say." You look at Sunset Shimmer. "I think I got something!"

"Oh, really?!" Sunset looks at you excited. "What is it?!"

"You know the band Lifehouse?" You ask her. "I think I know just the thing..."

You give your guitar a couple of practice strums, then go through all the basics about fingering and whatnot that Sunset taught you.

"Get ready to back me up, Sunset." You smile. "I've got a good feeling about this one!"

Author's Note

Holy cow, I just saw the word count, and realized how long I'm dragging this story out for. I did not mean for it to be anywhere this long; I'll be trying my best to wrap this all up without breaking the 100k word mark while getting out everything I want to say. If you made it this far in my story, I want you to know it means a lot to me that you were willing to put up with my writing for this long. :rainbowkiss:

Caffeine Crash

You strike the last note, and look behind you, seeing a yellow glow surrounding Sunset Shimmer as her eyes are closed. Her hair has grown considerably longer and two weird, yellow appendages have grown on the top of her head---no wait, those are ears! You stare at Sunset in awe as she opens her eyes and looks at you with a radiant smile.

"Anon!" She drops her guitar, and rushes over to you, embracing you in a Pinkie Pie-style bear hug. "Anon, that was incredible!!!"

You want to say something back, but...you actually don't mind this. It feels nice having her this close to you. It's......comforting. When she finally lets go of you, you take a step back, and look at her seriously.

"Sunset..." You say, clearing your throat. "Did you...did you see what just happened to you?"

"No, what?"

"At the end of that song..." You explain, gesticulating with your hands. "You just...you started glowing all the sudden, and then you grew horse ears!"

"I what?!" Her eyes pop open.

"No, seriously!" You nod. "And your hair too; it just...turned really long all the sudden!"

You and Sunset stare at each other for a moment before a small smile cracks on her face. The smile quickly spreads, and without warning, Sunset Shimmer begins squealing like a twelve year old girl who just got an autograph from the Jonas Brothers, or whatever boy band is popular nowadays.

"You're kidding!" She looks at you excitingly. "Did that seriously happen?!"

"Seriously!" You repeat yourself. "It was-"

"THAT MEANS TWILIGHT'S SPELL IS WORKING!!!" She exclaims. "WE ACTUALLY DID IT!"

"I can't believe I actually did it..." You laugh to yourself. "I can actually play this damn thing, and it's all thanks to you, Sunset."

"Oh, give yourself come credit too." She playfully smacks you on the back. "You've been slaving away at it for like five hours straight; of course you're going to see results!"

"Yeah I'm pretty awesome if I say so myself." You look at her triumphantly. You try to puff up your chest, but feel a wave of fatigue beginning to come down on you. "I'm...a..."

The world around you begins turning increasingly more and more blurred as you slowly feel your consciousness slipping away. A second wave of tiredness hits you and the edges around your vision begin to darken. Your mind starts shutting down, and every nerve starts to become numb; you can do nothing but listen to the sounds of Sunset's voice that's increasingly getting softer and softer before the overwhelming feeling of fatigue claims you completely.

******

When you saw Anonymous suddenly collapse on the ground like that, you immediately thought what just happened to him was some kind of medical condition he had, so your first instinct was to rush over to his backpack and see if you could find an EpiPen or something. The way he just passed out like that, it seriously looked like he just had an aneurysm or something really scary.

As you tore through Anon's bag looking for anything resembling medicine, what you found instead were six empty cups of Starbucks ice coffee, and a half-eaten cinnamon doughnut.

'So that's how he was able to practice for so long...' You sigh in relief. 'But it looks like the caffeine's all spent now, and so he.'

You stare at Anon as he snoozes away on the cold floor of Applejack's barn. He just looks so at peace right now, as if he's completely oblivious to the fact that he's going to be fighting three overcharged sirens in like an hour and a half. You move closer to his unconscious body, and poke him with a pencil, causing him to snort and roll away from you.

"Idiot." You smirk as you watch him tossing and turning again. Suddenly, you hear the barn open, and you see Twilight Sparkle peeking out of it.

"Sunset?" She asks. "Are you and Anon still-wait a second, what happened to him?!"

"Relax, he'll live." You chuckle. "He just had a little too much caffeine for his own good..."

"He...what?" Twilight looks at you confused, before her eyes fall on the empty coffee cups. "I just wanted to say that we have like forty minutes until the Battle starts, and I was looking for a ride; I still don't really feel comfortable about using those human car things..."

"Oh!" You look at the time on your phone. "Crap, I totally forgot!" You're about to get up, and make a run to your car before you hear a snore behind you, reminding you of Anon.

"Hey Twilight." You beckon her. "Mind giving me a hand dragging him to my car?" Twilight nods, and runs over to Anon, grabbing him by the ankles as you take his arms.

"On three...one...two...three!" The two of you grunt in unison as you two manage to lift him, but only travel a few feet before Twilight drops Anon's feet in exhaustion.

"Sheesh..." Twilight wipes her forehead. "How are humans this heavy?"

"Yeah." You agree. "Life here's tough without telekinesis and magic, but these human hands can be really useful too. Plus, these smart phones they have are really cool as well."

You wait for Twilight to regain her strength, before hoisting Anon up again. The two of you travel another couple feet before taking a break, and repeat the process five times over before finally getting him buckled up in the backseat of your car.

"Finally..." Twilight pants, before climbing up shotgun into your car. You grab your keys, slide it into the ignition, and take off in the direction to Canterlot High, thus commencing a period of silence where the only sounds being the car's engine, and of course Anon still sleeping off his caffeine crash.

"So Twilight..." You break the silence. "How're you feeling about this Battle?"

"To be honest, I'm kind of nervous." She says, looking down. "I really don't know about this counter spell..."

"The spell was hard enough as it was." Twilight Sparkle explains. "Now, with the sirens overloaded with negative energy because of Anon, so many more variables come into play; it's probably one of the hardest spells I've ever tried to pull off."

"I'm sure you'll find it eventually." You pat Twilight on the shoulder. "Besides...we've got a secret weapon in our hands now."

"A secret...what?" Twilight raises an eyebrow. You respond simply by jerking your head back to a snoring Anon.

"That music coming from the barn was him?!" Twilight exclaims. "How?! I thought he just picked up the guitar!"

"Let's just say you can accomplish a lot when you really set your mind to things......along with a mega butt ton of coffee." You quickly add. "Seriously though; he was practicing for almost five hours nonstop, and flat out refusing to stop until he could play that guitar half decently."

"S...Seriously?" Twilight's eyes widen with surprise. "Five hours nonstop?"

"I know." You roll your eyes. "Guy's crazy. The last time I've seen someone this determined to accomplish something was when...well..."

"When I was trying to stop you from taking over the school and invading Equestria?" Twilight asks. "With no offense to you by the way..."

"Yeah." You sigh. "And none taken."

It's been like what, three months since that whole..."episode" of your life? You don't remember, and it's probably for the best that you never do. You really wish you could just go back to Equestria, where you could blast yourself with a memory-erasing spell, so you could completely forget all that happened. Or even better, go back in time, and never make the mistakes that you made in the first place. That would be nice.

The conversation comes to an abrupt stop, and Twilight begins awkwardly looking at her feet, avoiding eye contact with you.

"Sorry, Sunset..." She says feebly. "I...I forgot that's a sensitive topic for you..."

"No need to apologize." You shake your head. "I was completely nuts during the Fall Formal, and I deserved it. In fact, I'm glad somebody like you was there to rainbow-blast some sense into me."

"But...still; it would've been nice if I just never did it in the first place..." You say, taking a deep sigh before concentrating back on the road again. Applejack's house is a fair distance away, since she lives on the outskirts of Canterlot due to the farm. Just now is the scenery finally beginning to break away from the flat, farmlands and the tall skyscrapers begin appearing on the horizon.

"Well if it never happened, you never would've learned about friendship, right?" Twilight replies. "Besides...they all say that the best way to learn is from your mistakes..."

"Yeah, but nearly murdering you, turning into a raging she-demon and almost taking over all of Equestria?" You reply. "Kinda asking much for just 'learning' something isn't it?" Twilight simply responds by chuckling.

"No price is too steep for learning the importance of friendship." Twilight smiles at you. "Besides...the most important thing is that you know what you did was wrong."

"Yeah, I know but..." You groan. "I just doubt I'm ever going to live down what I did-"

"Well, you can't expect others to forgive you if you can't even forgive yourself, right? Twilight cuts you off, wearing an all-knowing smirk. "Funny; it's just what I told Anon..."

"Anon?!" Your head perks up to that name. But the second you shift your attention away from the driving wheel, you hear an angry horn blaring as the biggest Coca-Cola truck you've ever seen in your life comes speeding towards you. You scream in terror, and violently jerk the wheel to the right, nearly avoiding a head-on collision with the monster.

Behind you, you hear a snorting noise as Anon finally wakes up, just to see the truck pass by, still holding his horn.

"Whoa, what was that?!"

******

Coffee is amazing; under the influence of this amazing brown liquid, you've pulled off amazing feats, such as passing Ms. Harshwinny's Chemistry class with an B+, and getting an 82% on Ms. Cherilee's Shakespeare Macbeth unit test that you spent twenty minutes studying for on Sparknotes. You know full well that if coffee didn't exist, your GPA would have probably dropped by a full point.

But then there comes the caffeine crash...the moment when it all comes to ruin..the moment that's happening to you now...

Regardless, you do your best to ignore the oppressive feeling of being dead inside, and do your best to focus on walking in a straight line without falling. You simply follow the rest of the Rainbooms through the auditorium, trying to find seats as the rest of the bands begin gathering up as well. Your eyes dart around, looking for any soccer balls flying towards your face or groin, but so far, all is good. Probably because Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna are standing in plain view in the center of the stage, and would see it. Still, there's nothing Celestia and Luna can do about the glares, and looks of scorn everyone gives you as you pass them by.

As you and the rest of the Rainbooms manage to find some vacant seats, you spot Flash Sentry carrying a guitar with some of his other bandmates, and you walk over to him, trying to strike a conversation.

"Hey, Flash!" You smile at him, holding your hand out to high five him. "You competing in the Battle?"

"Totally!" He nods, he's about to give you five, but then narrows his eyes for a moment. "W...wait a second, Anon; why're you here?"

"Huh?" You look at him confused. "What do you mean?"

"Only bands competing in the Battle of the Bands are supposed to be in the auditorium right now!" He says. "So that means...wow, that's so low..."

"C'mon man, what's gotten into you?" You ask him. You're about to put a hand on his shoulder, but he promptly smacks it away.

"What's gotten into me?!" Flash looks at you as if you just said the dumbest thing ever. "What's gotten into you is the real question! Don't you get it?! If you're in a band too, that means we're competitors; enemies! My band's going to win this battle, and you're just getting in the way!"

"Seriously, what the hell is with you-" You bite your tongue when you see Flash Sentry's eyes flash green for a second. You get it now...you simply shake your head, and make your way back to your seat, all the while keeping your eyes peeled for any signs of the Dazzlings nearby. It's odd though, because you can't seem to find them anywhere. You take one last look at Flash, and see him still giving you a look full of contempt, and turn back to your own bandmates.

"Don't worry." Sunset pats you on the back reassuringly. "He's just under those sirens' spells; he'll be back to himself before you even know it."

"I sure hope..." You grit your teeth. The auditorium's chattering quickly dies down. You look up from your seat, and see Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna stepping into the spotlight.

"Good afternoon, CHS students." Principal Celestia announces in her booming, authoritarian voice. "Thank you all for joining me today, in which is perhaps what is one of the greatest events to ever happen at Canterlot High School..."

"As you are all aware, what was once supposed to be a musical showcase has, under popular opinion, now become an all out Battle of the Bands!" She continues. "After all, competition brings out the best in all of us, and we are eager to see who may rise to the top, above all else. It brings both me and Vice Principal Luna great pleasure to formerly announce that Canterlot High School's Battle of the Bands... begins now!"

Let's Battle!

Your head is still pounding from that caffeine crash you had earlier, which combined with the fact that you guys are up next really makes you feel uneasy. Those six cups of coffee might have made it so that you could learn the guitar, but damn you're paying the price for it. A feeling of nausea begins to overcome you, and you can also feel something terrible building up in the back of your throat.

"Anon, are you alright?" Fluttershy looks down at you with concern. "You look like you're about to throw up."

"Actually..." You groan, getting up from your seat. "I think I might...Say, can you do me a favor and tell the others to wait for me before we go on stage?"

"S-sure...just take care." Fluttershy says. You give Fluttershy a thumbs up, and leave the auditorium with one hand clutching your stomach as you jog through the now empty hallways of the school. Another turn to the left, and you find yourself at the entrance of the boy's bathroom, which you quickly enter and walk up to a nearby sink.

"Come on..." You say to yourself, leaning over. You can feel the wave of nausea getting stronger, and stronger. "Come on...just do it already..."

Finally you feel your throat beginning to lurch forward, and you let out a burning torrent of rancid, brown mush. You grasp the edges of the sink as a second stream comes out and continue facing down in the pool of your own gunk until you're 100% confident that you got it all out. The headache still persists, and you can feel the vomit burning away the back of your throat, but at least the worst part, the nausea's gone. You quickly reach for the water bottle in your bag, guzzle down the remaining contents to wash out the stomach acid, and take a sigh of relief as the nasty, sour taste is no more.

"Fucking caffeine..." You cough, throwing the now empty bottle into a nearby trash can. "Why do you have to be such a bitch?"

As much as you want to shift the blame to someone else, you know it's completely your fault; nobody sane would ever consider downing six cups of coffee all at once. And not to mention you put like eight bags of sugar into each of them. You turn on the sink, to try to wash out the remains of your breakfast, but it doesn't really do much since the sinks at CHS are those motion-sensor activated ones that only let out a really weak stream of water. After a couple seconds, you give up, and make your way to the door. Immediately upon leaving the bathroom however, you hear the school's loudspeakers go off.

"Attention: The next band up is now The Rainbooms!" Vice Principal Luna's voice booms through the hallways. "The next band up is now The Rainbooms!"

"Fuck!" You shout, sprinting full force back to the auditorium. The distance from the bathroom to the auditorium in all honesty isn't really that long, but the desperation of the moment makes it feel like you're running a god damn marathon. You turn the corner, and see the entrance of the auditorium right in front of you, prompting you to run even faster.

'Did Fluttershy forget to tell everyone to wait for me?' You think in your mind, as you stop at the auditorium's entrance. 'If so, it's going to be really awkward just bursting in like that while they're playing...' You cross your fingers for a brief moment, and lock the door's handle in a death grip before shoving it open, only to feel some resistance on the other side.

"Ooof!" You hear a girl cry out. You take a peek, and see none other than Fluttershy lying on the ground.

"Oh no, I'm sorry Fluttershy!" You cry out. But before you can do anything, a random guy who gets up from his seat and points a finger at you.

"Hey, look!" He shouts. "Anon just pushed Fluttershy to the ground, and didn't even apologize!"

"What do you mean, I just did!" You yell back, holding your arms up innocently. Your voice however, is drowned out as the crowd descends upon you in a flurry of booing, and even death threats. You look around, and see a thin cloud of green mist coalescing around the auditorium.

"I......sorry about that, Anon." Fluttershy apologizes, getting back up on her feet. "I shouldn't have stood there..."

"No, it's my fault for knocking you down." You shake your head, doing your best to ignore the jeering crowd. Meanwhile, your eyes trail around the auditorium, looking for any traces of the Dazzlings, and their red ruby jewels. So far, you still haven't spotted them once since you arrived at the school, which makes you feel even more paranoid.

Giving up your search, you follow Fluttershy as the two of you walk down the auditorium. On top of the stage, you see the rest of the Rainbooms waiting for you two, along with Sunset Shimmer sitting by the side talking to Twilight about something. You clear your throat, and the Rainbooms all stop what they're doing as they look down at you expectantly.

"Sorry for keeping you girls waiting." You say, climbing onto the stage. "So...how's the situation?"

"We're still waitin' on Rarity..." Applejack says, with a clearly irritated tone in her voice. You look around, and see that she's in the backstage, applying eyeliner on her face.

"Will you hurry it up?!" Applejack complains, stomping her foot in frustration. "We're goin' in five minutes!"

"WHAT?!" You hear Rarity scream in terror. "I didn't even start my left eye though!!!"

"Then just wear an eyepatch, or somethin'!" Applejack shouts back. "If you don't get your bum down here in five minutes, we're starting with or without you!"

"Stop for a moment, and think about the ABSURDITY of what you just said, Applejack!" Rarity retorts. "We're performing in front of an audience; we need to keep some standard of appearance..."

You take another peek at the backstage, and it still doesn't seem like Rarity's coming out anytime soon. Shrugging, you take your guitar to the side of the stage, secluding yourself from the rest of the band. If Rarity's going to be taking this long, you'll might as well use your time productively, and see if your guitar needs any tuning or whatever. You begin strumming away, and you're about to adjust one of the strings, before you spot something moving towards you from the corner of your eye. You turn to your left, and spot Sunset Shimmer walking towards you.

"Hey." You smile. "What's up?"

"Hi Anon." She returns the smile. "And by the way, you don't have to touch that guitar; I tuned it up for you while you were gone."

"Oh! Thanks, Sunset!" You exhale in relief, putting the guitar down. "You have no idea how hard it is for me to tune these things; I always end up snapping the strings, and stuff."

"Don't worry, it was nothing." Sunset shakes her head. "But...where were you though?"

"Just regurgitating out my breakfast." You reply, patting your stomach. "Caffeine really starts to show no mercy once you hit the five cup mark..."

"I still can't believe you did that..." Sunset facepalms. "Six cups; what the heck were you thinking?"

"Hey, put yourself in my shoes for a moment." You say defensively. "I had like what, five hours to learn an instrument I never even touched? How else was I supposed to do it?" Sunset's about to open her mouth to retort, but pauses. She sighs in frustration, and just shakes her head.

"Exactly." You say triumphantly. "But hey, I still think it'll be worth it when you see me shredding away on the stage."

Speaking of the stage, You look back and see Rarity has finally emerged. She's wearing this strange hippy dress with metal bars, or whatever those things are on the ends; it looks...good, you guess? But personally, you feel like it's overkill for just your first performance; it looks more like something that should be saved for the final round, or something. You're about to join them, but feel Sunset Shimmer place a hand on your back.

"Anon...?" Sunset says nervously, as she locks eyes with you. "You think you'll be okay up there?"

"What do you mean?" You raise an eyebrow in confusion. "I've been practicing for five hours straight; 'course I'll get this song down."

"That's not what I mean." She says as she looks back at the audience. "I'm talking about the crowd. You're not worried about them at all? Do you really feel fine about the fact that you're about to play in front of a bunch of angry teenagers who all hate your guts?" You stop to think for a moment about what Sunset just said...come to think of it, she makes a really good point...

"I actually never gave it that much thought until now..." You admit, picking up your guitar. You take a good look at the crowd, and Sunset's right. They're not too bad right now, but every now and then, you spot someone pointing at you, or glaring at you in disgust. You can't help but imagine how aggressive they'll be when you actually start playing...

"Well at least Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna are here, so they won't be throwing soccer balls at me..." You say optimistically. "I should be fine." Just as you get up and begin making your way to the stage, Sunset Shimmer stops you again. You're slightly taken aback when you see a look of utmost concern on her face

"Seriously Anon..." She says. "Don't feel like this something you have to put yourself through...I...I can talk to Twilight! She can-"

"Sunset..." You cut her off. You take a deep breath, before looking straight into her aquamarine eyes. "I'll be fine."

"I'm choosing to do this..." You smile. "In case you haven't noticed, the whole reason this entire situation with Dazzlings getting out of control was my fault; it's my mess, and I'm cleaning it up." Sunset's eyes widen for a moment, and she seemingly freezes in place before she takes a deep breath, and nods understandably.

"Well then..." She gulps, looking down at the ground. "If that's the case..."

Suddenly, she rushes forward and pulls you in an embrace. You don't know why, but you feel your knees start to wobble violently to the point where you almost fall over when she locks her arms together around you. Her grip tightens, but not to the point where it hurts as she leans over towards your ear, and whispers.

"Good luck, Anon."

She steps back, giving you a reassuring smile, and walks off the stage. You respond with a thumbs up, and make your way towards the stage where the rest of the Rainbooms are waiting for you. As expected, the second you step into the spotlight, the crowd immediately starts murmuring, and you hear hushed whispers, that quickly erupt into booing. The students point at you in scorn, and some people in the back even begin flipping you off. However, you don't let any of it faze you; you look over to Twilight Sparkle, who nods, and gives Pinkie Pie the signal.

"One, two, three!" Pinkie shouts, smashing her two drumsticks together, and you all break into song. Just as you guys rehearsed before, Twilight takes on the lead vocals, backed up by Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy while you tackle the lead melody with your guitar. You focus, and push out all other feelings from your mind, concentrating solely on hitting all the right notes. You regret not writing down everything on a music sheet beforehand, but you're sure you can still still wing it, and just play it all by ear; your hearing's been improving recently anyways.

'So far, so good.' You think to yourself. You've only dropped one note, and the crowd looks like they didn't notice it anyways. The chorus begins, and you begin to synchronize your melody with Applejack's bass guitar. You tap your foot along to Pinkie Pie's drumbeat as you begin to lose yourself to the happy beat of the song.

All the sudden though, you don't hear Rarity's keytar anymore. You don't remember her taking a rest during this part of the song...You mentally shrug; probably just your hearing aid going whack. You shift your attention back towards the guitar, and without warning, hear a comical pop. Immediately afterwards, confetti begins raining down everywhere.

'That's a pretty neat effect...' You think to yourself, smiling. You continue playing, and strum the A string, only for it to give off a horribly out of tune noise. You look down in horror, realizing that the confetti is getting itself stuck in between the frets of your guitar. Panicking, you begin to start blowing on the strings to get it out, then you look to your right, seeing Applejack's having the same exact problem as you.

Rarity for some reason, still isn't playing and is just waving her arms around like zombie now. Meanwhile, Twilight started choking from accidentally inhaling in a piece of confetti, and Fluttershy also stopped playing her tambourine and is now running away from this random light that keeps chasing her.

Sweat begins to form on your brows as you watch Twilight's lips starting to turn blue. Applejack drops her bass guitar, and rushes over to Twilight to perform the Heimlich. The band is now in complete disarray; you and Pinkie Pie are the only ones playing right now, and the audience starts booing you guys. Your mind races, and you can feel your own nerves starting to get to you too.

No. Now's not the time to be shitting your pants, Anon. You need to find some way to salvage this performance. You look around, and grab Rarity's microphone that she's not using then step forward, straight into the limelight. Everybody, from the crowd, to the Rainbooms , to Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna all look at you, wondering what the heck you're doing and to be honest, you're not too sure yourself. The feeling of everybody staring at you is nearly palpable, and you can feel yourself sweating up a river.

You ignore Applejack, who's mouthing 'What are you doing' and without a second thought, break into a guitar solo, concentrating on landing every note as you play faster, and faster. At first, you botch a few notes, causing the crowd's booing to get even louder, but you see Sunset Shimmer on the side, staring at you with a look of bewilderment in her eyes.

Just the sight of her...for some reason...you feel yourself becoming reinvigorated. You're suddenly hit with a new wave of determination, and speed up your guitar solo, playing faster, faster than you've ever done before. Pinkie Pie, who's still somewhat confused as to what you're doing, starts following along with you, until the two of you actually start sounding okay. The booing quenches down, and you look at Principal Celestia, who's actually starting to tap her foot along with the beat.

'Come on, Anon...' You exhale, clenching your teeth. 'You've got this...this is just another Guitar Hero game....this is just Guitar Hero....this is just Guitar Hero..."

******

"Ruined!" Rarity weeps in despair as she holds the teared remains of her dress. "Absolutely ruined!!!"

Your t-shirt is soaked to the bone by your own sweat right now; everything feels wet, and you can feel your fingers sore from going so hard with that guitar. Somehow...you don't know how, but you guys still were able to advance towards the second round. In fact, Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna were actually clapping towards the end of the song, but you're sure it's probably because they just felt bad for you...

"Rarity, were you tryin' to make us lose out there?!" Applejack demands.

"That was not my fault!" Rarity shoots back. "You saw those magnets hanging above my dress; this was an act of sabotage!"

"She's right." You try to reason with the two girls. "I saw those magnets too, but Applejack also has a point; if you just dressed normally, those magnets never would've done anything."

"Oh, and I suppose you would know everything about sabotage now, wouldn't you?" Rarity crosses her arms. You feel her words sink into you like a hot knife through butter, and you're about to say something back at Rarity before you're cut off by Applejack.

"And you, Anon!" You turn, seeing a very pissed off country girl advancing towards you. She's not nearly as scary as Sunset Shimmer, but that's like saying you'd rather be mauled by rabid wolf instead of a rabid grizzly bear. Both suck.

"What in tarnation were you doin' as well?!" She demands. "That three minute guitar solo?! We're part of a band; you can't be doin' your own thing!"

"I...I...I panicked!" You reply. "First Rarity and Fluttershy stopped playing, then Twilight started choking on the confetti, and then you stopped to help her......what was I supposed to do?! Just stand there, and let our performance flop?!"

"Speaking of confetti, I never remembered that being part of our song..." Fluttershy looks at Pinkie Pie. "I hope you know just how distracting it was for the rest of us, and plus, it almost killed Twilight!"

"Yeah, big words coming out of the girl running from a light the whole time!" Pinkie Pie throws her arms in outrage. "A light!"

"You know I'm afraid of crowds!" Fluttershy argues. "I can't help it!"

"Hey, hey let's all just take a deep breath, and calm down." Sunset Shimmer steps in, trying to defuse the situation. "Yeah, things could've gone a lot better, but we still made it past the first round, and that's all that matters!"

"Sunset's right." Twilight says. "However, I did a rough estimate of the magical energy output our song gave out, and this is still nowhere near enough to beat the sirens. If my calculations are right, we need to play at least three times better if we even want to stand a chance against the Dazzlings!"

"Three times?!" Rarity gasps. "We...we barely made it past the first round though!"

"And it never would've been this bad if somebody didn't give them sirens so much negative energy..." You hear Applejack grumble.

"Hey!" You point a finger at her, feeling anger starting to boil up inside of you. "How the heck was I supposed to know that those three girls were magical sirens who-" You catch yourself. You want to say more, you really do, but you know trying to argue with Applejack it's like trying to teach a rock how to play fetch.

Well...Pinkie Pie's sister Maud Pie claims she can actually do that, but that's not the point; the point is, nothing good is going to come out of arguing with your bandmates. You just give Applejack one last glare, and walk away. You exit through the backstage doors, and begin looking for a nice, quiet place to blow off your steam without ruining your relationship with the Rainbooms.

You find a empty classroom and take a seat at a nearby table. In an attempt to ride out the wave of emotions, you close your eyes and try to meditate, concentrating on a peaceful place as you take slow, but deep breaths. However, your thoughts immediately trail back to what Applejack just said about you...

You seriously can't believe the audacity of that girl. Firstly, her calling you out on the crap that happened to you with the Dazzlings was totally uncalled for! And second, if you didn't do what you just did, you guys would've been eliminated for sure! They should be grateful that you saved their asses, instead of bitching about you 'doing your own thing'! And not to mention, how the hell did Principal Celestia not see that your performance was being sabotaged?! Well whatever; at least you were still able to advance to the second round like how Sunset said....even if it was by the skin of your teeth.

All you know is that you'd better prepare for the second round though; 'MC Snips' and 'DJ Snazzy Snails' aren't here to give you a free win anymore. You take out your phone, remembering that you took a picture of the Battle's tournament roster. Your eyes trail through the bracket, as you take a look at all the competing bands. You know Flash is advancing to the first round as well, so you cross out the logo of the band he beat...you continue crossing out all the losing bands to see who's left, and begin connecting the remaining bands together in a new bracket.

'So Trixie's band beat Lyra and Sweetie Drops, and the Dazzlings are probably advancing no matter how good their opponents are...' You think as you draw out a new bracket on the table. You take a sigh of relief when you realize that the only possible way you guys are going to be facing the Dazzlings is in the finals.

Well, that takes a lot of stress off your plate...but real question is, who are you going to be facing next round? You continue connecting the remaining bands together, and upon adding the Rainbooms to the roster, your heart sinks when you come to a horrifying realization.

You guys are facing Flash Sentry next round.

Well that's just great; you may have avoided the worst competition, only to get matched with the second worst possible option for you; your bro Flash has been playing the guitar for over five years now, or something crazy like that; just how the heck are your five hours gonna match up to that? No...there has to be a solution to this; you're just not thinking hard enough. In the middle of your thinking however, the door suddenly opens. You look up and see Sunset Shimmer walking into the classroom holding a brown bag in her hands.

"Hi, again..." You mumble.

"Hey." She smiles. "I brought you something, Anon." You look up, and you see Sunset pull an apple out of her bag, and hands it to you.

"Oh, thanks!" Immediately, you take a huge chunk of the fruit, and let your taste buds take in the fresh, juicy goodness. Just now, have you realized how freaking hungry you are right now. Probably because you "lost" your breakfast earlier this afternoon. As you continue wolfing down on the apple, Sunset takes a seat next to you.

"Nice job on that guitar solo, by the way." Sunset compliments you. "You really went all out there."

"Thanks..." You reply with a mouthful of food. "If only the rest of the Rainbooms were as appreciative as you..."

"They are." Sunset says. "I talked with Twilight; she said she's really glad you were able to step it up while everyone else was falling apart."

"Oh really?" You raise an eyebrow. "Then why were Applejack and Rarity acting so bitchy to me then?"

"Well, think about it." Sunset replies. "You're in a band with your friends, alright? Later, your best player gets injured and can't play anymore...then all of the sudden, the very guy who hurt her wants to join up? Wouldn't you feel a little uneasy about that situation too?"

"They wanted me to join though!" You argue.

"It doesn't matter." Sunset shrugs, reaching into her bag and pulling out a banana for herself. "You need to understand that the rest of the Rainbooms still probably feel really uncomfortable with you being in their band, let alone having you suddenly take a lead role, and start showing off."

"How was I showing off?!" You spit out an apple seed. "I was just doing what I had to do to make sure we wouldn't lose!"

"I'm not saying you're in the wrong here." Sunset holds her hands up innocently. "I'm just trying to help you understand their point of view..."

"But still..." She continues, peeling her banana as she speaks. "What you did probably single-handedly won us that round. I'm sure that deep down, the Rainbooms are all glad you're in the band, despite not openly saying it."

Sunset stares at the banana in her hands for a moment, then quickly glances in your direction. She then begins snaking her tongue around around the fruit, before slowly enveloping it in her mouth.

Just now you begin to realize you haven't taken your eyes off of her this entire time. You try to look away from Sunset as she eats her banana, but your eyes are unresponsive to your orders; your brain also begins going rogue, thinking thoughts it really shouldn't be thinking right now and- oh shit, she's turning your way. The two of you stare at each other in awkward silence, each with mouths full of food, before Sunset finally swallows first, and gives you a curious look.

"Is... something wrong?" Sunset asks, leaning closer to you. Her leather jacket brushes against the bare skin of your arm, as you start feeling things quickly going south; and by south, you mean blood rushing down to Anon Jr. You quickly cross your legs to hide the bulge in your pants, swallow your food, and open your mouth to respond.

"I was just......thinking." You quickly lie, backing away from Sunset Shimmer. "Yeah. Thinking. That's all. I was just looking at the roster, and that found out who we're facing off against."

"Oh." Sunset looks down. You could've sworn there a hint of disappointment in her voice, but who knows? That could just be the hearing aid. "Who is it?"

"Flash Sentry." You say. "To be honest, I'm kinda worried this time...he's really good at the guitar; much better than I'll ever be...and not to mention, he's my best friend! It's gonna be so awkward facing off against each other like this!"

"I know." Sunset nods. "He's been playing the guitar for like five years or something crazy like that."

"Yeah; not sure how I can top that off-" Your head perks up for a moment, as you feel like something's off. "Hey! Wait a second! How did you know that about Flash?!"

"I dunno." Sunset rolls her eyes. "Maybe 'cause I used to date him???"

"I was-" You catch yourself, realizing she's right. What was supposed to be a sassy comeback that comes out of your mouth, leaves you awkwardly staring at Sunset Shimmer. You don't know why, but never before have you felt more uncomfortable in your life than you are right now.

"What?" Sunset raises an eyebrow. "Flash never told you?"

"No." You shake your head. "That's not it. I...uhm...I...just forgot."

You're mentally screaming at yourself; how the hell could your dumb ass could ever forget about Sunset and Flash?! He's your best friend! You seriously don't remember the emotional shitstorm he went through after he got dumped? Those crazy ploys Flash thought up to get her back, some of them so absurd they'd make a Tom and Jerry cartoon look realistic? Or what about those three hour long phone therapy sessions where he was bawling into the speakers so loud, your parents thought you were having sex in your room?

"He's a nice guy though, isn't he?" Sunset blurts out, interrupting your train of thought. "Flash Sentry?"

"He is." You agree. "He's the only one who stuck with me after......well...after what I've done to Rainbow's game..."

"Which is also why I feel even worse about facing off against him in the next round." You grimace. "I...I seriously don't know what I'm going to do, Sunset."

"I could convince Twilight and the rest of the Rainbooms to let you sit out next round." Sunset says.

"No..." You shake your head. "There's no way that's going to work...."

"I'll tell them about how you feel about Flash Sentry and everything." Sunset explains. "I'm sure they'll understand you not wanting to go up against your own best friend, and battling-."

"No, that's not what I mean." You cut her off. "Who's going to be the lead guitarist then if I bail? Our chances of winning against Flash are slim enough as it is."

"Well then you're not really giving yourself a lot of options..." Sunset crosses her arms.

"Exactly." You say. "And that's what's driving me crazy."

You slide down your chair, and start staring at the ceiling. Is there anything you can do about this? You know for sure that your stomach won't be able to handle another caffeine binge session; the nearest Starbucks to CHS is twenty minutes away anyways. Your brain is going through every possible loophole you can realistically think of, but no matter what, you still can't come up with anything.

"Fuck." You think out loud. "I can't think of anything. And I know we'll lose for sure if we try to take on Flash's band head on..."

"Maybe we could try sneaking into Principal Celestia's office and try to change the roster, so we can get matched with a different band..." Sunset suggests.

"I dunno..." You shrug. "I don't think we can afford getting caught; both of our reputations here at Canterlot High are shitty enough as it is. The last thing you and I need is another reason for the school to hate us..."

"That's...that's actually a really good point." Sunset admits, before sinking down into the table. She reaches into her lunchbag again and rummages through it for a while before pulling out a ziploc bag full of multicolored candy. "Skittles?"

"Nah, I'm good." You shake your head. "That apple was enough for me."

"Suit yourself." Sunset says, before popping a couple into her mouth. You keep your eyes transfixed on Sunset's bag of Skittles for a moment, the multicolored bits of candy reminding you all too much of a certain girl...

While Flash Sentry's amazing at guitar, you've also heard stories of Rainbow Dash being pretty killer as well; you've never actually heard her play, but everyone else always rambled on and on about how she could easily become a rockstar, or something. Well too bad you sent her to the hospital, right Anon? You find that as time goes on, you find more and more reasons to regret what you did that night at the soccer game.

You begin to feel yourself wallowing in guilt again, as your memory starts replaying that painful split she did. The thoughts of those three siren girls' pulsating red necklaces than invade your mind; their blinding, blood red flashes enveloping your vision as Adagio's laughter rings through your ears.

No...no... stop Anon, stop. You shouldn't be thinking about that right now; instead, you should be thinking about how the hell you're going to beat Flash Sentry's band. You shake your head, and go back to the mental drawing board of your brain. Like how you said before, you can't beat him head on, and there's no way in hell you're ever going to try and sneak into Principal Celestia's office; you've done enough sneaking around as 'Anna Fourchen' for the rest of your lifetime.

"I seriously can't think of anything right now." You slam your fist onto the table in frustration.

"How about trying to find someone else to join the Rainbooms?" Sunset Shimmer suggests "But...everybody is under the Dazzlings' spell, so...."

"Wait a second!" Your head perks up, startling Sunset. "Sunset, you're a genius!"

"What?"

"YOU!" You point a finger at her. "YOU can play in the next round with us, Sunset!"

"M-me...?" She stutters, wearing an expression of shock on her face. "Are you-"

"If you're good enough to teach me how to play guitar, you've gotta be good enough to give Flash a run for his money!" You say excitingly. "I'm so stupid, why didn't I think of that before?! We'll definitely have a chance if we play with you by our side Sunset! And plus-"

"That's CRAZY!" Sunset shouts hysterically. "T-t-the entire school hates me! How am I going to perform in front of them and-"

"Well why don't you ask one of your bandmates how it's like?" You point a finger at yourself. "It's not that bad; all you gotta do is just ignore the crowd, and do your own thing!"

"What do you mean bandmate?!" Sunset shouts. "I never even agreed to anything yet!"

"Oh come on, Sunset!" You press on. "If I can do it, so can you! If you-"

"Attention: The second round of the Battle of the Bands begins now!" You hear Principal Celestia's voice over the loudspeakers. "All remaining bands please report to the auditorium to check in!" You stare at your phone's clock for a second. It's beginning already?! You thought you had like thirty minutes or something to rest! Well, if you guys get disqualified for something as dumb as not showing up to check in with Principal Celestia, Applejack's going to smack you into a new dimension.

"It's beginning already?" Sunset raises an eyebrow. "I thought we had way more time."

"I know." You say. "Well, let's get back to the auditorium before they change their minds again."

The two of you begin making a run back to the auditorium. You look back at Sunset Shimmer, noticing that as she's running, her face holds a look of utmost seriousness and her eyes begin rapidly moving around. Probably deep in thought; probably contemplating about joining the Rainbooms, or not. You seriously hope she does though; you highly doubt you can take on Flash's band alone...

When the two of you reach the auditorium, you wade through the crowds of people, and finally find the rest of the Rainbooms waiting in line to check in with Principal Celestia, who's holding a clipboard and rapidly jotting down names.

"Oh, there you are!" Twilight says. "I was beginning to think you..."

"Ditched?" You finish her sentence.

"...To be honest...yeah..." Twilight admits. "Sorry Anon, I-"

"No worries, Twilight." You say reassuringly. "I wouldn't dream of doing that at all; not in a million years."

"But what we should be worried about..." You look over, seeing Flash Sentry and the rest of his bandmates in a corner, setting up their instruments. He notices you, and your bro shoots you a nasty glare before going back to tuning his guitar. "Is our competition..."

"Next!" Principal Celestia calls out. You and the rest of the Rainbooms walk up to the folding desk Principal Celestia and set up, and look up to her; even when sitting down, Principal Celestia is still almost half a head taller than you. You remember you and your friends always joked around, claiming Celestia used to be a former NBA star or something, but none of you ever had the guts to actually ask her.

"Please sign the name of your band on this clipboard along with the names of all members along with the lineup and, or instruments being played." She says before handing you all a pen. Each of the Rainbooms all quickly jot down their names on the clipboard, and when Rarity finishes her name, she hands it to you. You begin writing your own name, then turn around, handing the clipboard to Sunset Shimmer behind you.

"If I can do it, so can you." You whisper before giving her the pen. You walk off to the side, waiting for her to sign her name on the clipboard. However, she's just standing there, completely motionless as she stares at the pen. This prompts Principal Celestia to clear her throat, and rise from her seat.

"Sunset Shimmer." She says, with a hint of disgust in her voice. "Are you done signing your name on the clipboard?" Sunset stares at the seven foot tall woman in fear.

"I...I'm sorry." She says, before looking back down on the clipboard. "I was...thinking about something."

She grasps the pen with a shaking hand, then looks desperately back up to you, which slightly takes you back; never before have you seen Sunset Shimmer, the meanest girl in Canterlot High look so terrified in her life. You regain your composure, and give her a slow nod. Her eyes widen, and she looks back down on the clipboard. Sunset Shimmer takes a deep breath, and grasps the pen, before scribbling her name away and hands the clipboard back to Principal Celestia.

You look back up at Sunset Shimmer, and see a grin slowly forming on her face as she walks up towards you. You hold out a hand for her, and smile back as she takes it.

"Welcome to the Rainbooms, Sunset." You say.

Second Round

Trixie hits the last note on her song, accompanied by all sorts of crazy, swirly green fireworks that fly all over the auditorium. One of them takes a violent turn in the air, and comes soaring straight at your face. You're about to jump out of your seat to avoid it, only to have the rocket fizzle out, and end in an insignificant pop four inches from your face.

"Wow..." Sunset Shimmer says. "Just wow..."

"I know, right?!" You exclaim. "That firework came straight at me! What in the world was Principal Celestia thinking, letting Trixie use those things?!"

"No, no I mean her." Sunset points at Trixie and her band on stage. "That performance...that was...that was actually good."

"Well, she didn't sound bad, I'll give her that." You shrug. "She'll be nothing once we take the stage though."

"How are you so sure about that?" Sunset raises an eyebrow. "We barely made it past the first round!"

"We barely made it past the first round when YOU weren't with us." You correct her. "I'll bet you my car that we're gonna crush every band that faces off against us if the two of us play as well as we did this morning at Applejacks' barn!"

As Trixie's band walks off the stage, you pull out your phone and gaze upon the second round's roster. If your memory serves you correct, then one more band should be up before you guys go. With nothing left to do, you reach into your backpack, and pull out that book Twilight Sparkle gave to you last night. All this time, you've only really glimpsed at a couple chapters at most, which makes you feel a little bad.

"Attention: The next band up is Flash Sentry and the Flash Drive!" Luna shouts through her microphone. You nearly drop your book in surprise and look back at your phone. Meanwhile, the crowd's cheering and whooping as your best friend walks on stage with his bandmates close behind him.

You never really got to know them since they were never in your classes; however, you've heard them rehearse once after school and you swear to God, they sound like an actual, professional band. You look to your left, and see the rest of the Rainbooms shifting uncomfortably in their seats as Flash Sentry tunes his guitar.

To your right, Sunset Shimmer looks especially uncomfortable, and you don't blame her; this is her ex that she's going to be facing off against next round...you thought you had it bad enough since Flash Sentry was your best friend, but when you look in retrospect, she's got it much, much worse.

Flash's band begins to play and three seconds into the song, your hands shoot up to your ears. The crowd breaks into a pandemonium of cheering and shouting, and your hearing aid begins picking up everyone's voices. The ringing, the obnoxious, high pitched ringing begins to hurt your ears and you tear it off. You expect the blanket of silence to come down upon you, but for some reason, everything still seems to be going on. The cheering...the guitars...the drums...

Slowly, you touch your ears with your hands. You begin by feeling the lobes, then trail upwards, following the natural grooves of your ears until you find your fingertips hovering on the edge of your ear canals. You then bring your hand right to your face, and snap. You snap again. The realization slowly hits you, as you snap one final time and feel your entire body trembling with excitement, and empowerment.

Your hearing...your hearing is back!

Just when you're about to start celebrating however, your attention shifts back to the stage where Flash Sentry is shredding away on a killer guitar solo at the moment. The crowd, more enthusiastic than ever, starts shrieking at the top of their lungs, forcing you to cover your ears again for fear of losing them again.

Although your hands cover your ears, you can still hear hear both the crowd, and Flash's band playing, which as much as you hate to say, sounds much better than everything else you've heard today. Including your songs. But a third sound permeates through all the other noises; it's faint, but for some reason, it refuses to let your ears ignore them. Acting on curiosity, you loosen your hold on your ears for a little bit, and the sound becomes more clear.

It's tough to describe, but the closest thing you can compare it to is singing. And from their soft voices, it definitely sounds like the voice of a female. Could it be another band practicing? You shrug; you guys are the last band about to perform in this round, so isn't it a little too early? Well at least it sounds good; the girl has a mature, clear tone to her voice; something that would fit to be the lead singer of a band or something; you swear though, you could've heard it sometime before...

Slowly, you find yourself bobbing your head to the melody of the mystery girl's singing; you begin to let the sound of her voice guide your mind. It's so...beautiful...the sound just clears everything away from your mind. You suddenly begin feeling the worry of facing off against Flash's band fade away; in fact, you can hardly even notice Flash's guitar solo anymore; his voice just sounds like white noise, and crowd's cheering fades away into whispers.

It doesn't take long for you to begin tapping your feet to the song; you're now swaying your entire body to the mystery girl's voice, like a cobra following the music of an Indian snake charmer. Your vision starts to blur now, as you seemingly lose connection with everything else in the world, but that girl's singing.

You want to let go...you want to lean back and lose yourself in the music...you don't want to think anymore...just let go and-

"Anon? Hey, Anon come on! We gotta get ready!" A foreign voice penetrates your mind. Suddenly, all feelings of peace comes to an abrupt stop, and you stand face to face with Twilight Sparkle.

"Did he fall asleep or something?" Twilight asks Sunset Shimmer. "He looked like he was completely zoned out for a moment..."

"I dunno." Sunset shrugs. "I was too busy listening to Flash's band."

"Speaking of which..." Fluttershy steps in. "They played good...I mean, really good...what are we going to do?"

"Just give it our all, and hope it's enough." Applejack says. "Come on, we don't have much time before we're up..."

******

As you tune your guitar, you can't help but think about what just happened in the auditorium a couple minutes ago. What was it? And more important, who was it that was singing so beautifully? Could it be...

You freeze up. Every hair in your body stands up in attention. It's that sound; that singing again! But this time, it's different; its lower, and has more of a bubbly, happy-go-lucky personality to it. But it's equally as beautiful as the voice you heard before. You feel your body involuntarily moving, as you set your guitar down, and begin walking towards the door. You have to find the source of this. You have to-

"Hey, what're you doing, Anon?" Sunset Shimmer stops you. "We're going in ten minutes!"

"I gotta make a pit stop." You quickly lie.

"Well make it quick, we haven't got much time." She says as you close the door behind her.

You stare into the school's empty hallways. Usually, you hate it when the hallways were empty like this; it feels unnatural, the way your footsteps echo every time your feet make contact with the linoleum, but this time it doesn't feel so bad...not when the sound of those girls singing is so beautiful...

Your ears search for the sounds of those voices, but it picks up nothing. Disappointed, you begin heading back but then you hear it again! Another voice! It's a higher-pitched one, with some attitude behind it, drawing you towards the stairs.

You follow the singing upstairs, into the English hallway and make a left. The music is getting stronger now. In the corner of your mind, you remind yourself that the Rainbooms are going soon, but at the moment, it doesn't seem to be that big of a deal anymore. All you want to do right now is find out who these beautiful voices belong to. In your music-induced stupor, you turn the corner and feel your body connect with something solid.

"Oh no!" You hear someone cry out. "I'm sorry, I-"

You shake your head, and find you're suddenly standing in the middle of the English hallway. You don't know how the hell you got here, but even more strange, is the fact that your best friend, Flash Sentry along with his bandmates are standing right in front of you.

"Jeez, do you even look where you're going when you walk?" He says in a hostile tone. You're slightly taken back by it, but a faint flash of green in his eyes reminds you of what's happening to him.

"Hey, it was an accident man chill." You raise your hands up defensively. But just as you're about to leave, you find your pathway blocked by the drummer of the band.

"You're not even going to apologize?" Flash rolls his eyes. "Man, some friend you are."

You know this isn't the real Flash speaking, but deep down, you feel a pang of annoyance build up inside of you. You really want to say something back, even though you know you shouldn't; you just keep your mouth zipped as you stare down your best friend.

"I'm sorry, Flash." You say calmly. "It was an honest mistake, now just lemme head back and-"

"And what?" Flash cuts you off.

"I dunno..." You say sarcastically. "Let me head back and play my song for the Battle?"

Flash Sentry stares at you for a moment, and his eyes widen with realization for a moment, and looks down upon you with scorn.

"Oh yeah, I totally forgot!" He laughs harshly. "You and your joke of a band somehow made it past the first round!"

"I hear Sunset Shedemon's part of the crew as well." He chuckles. "Damn...Twilight must be really desperate if she's letting people like you and her in; am I right, or am I right? I bet you don't even know how to play a guitar!"

You want to be the better man; you want to just let it go. To just walk away, and pretend this stuff never happened, and normally you would. But having this stuff all come from your own friend of all people, and that....that name he called Sunset infuriates you to no end. Just like when you were hearing that beautiful girl's singing voice, your brain suddenly seems to cease to function, and you do something that you immediately regret.

It was too late though; you couldn't do anything about it. Your fist was already flying. And man, was the sound of that crack sickening. Now, you can do nothing but just watch in shock over what you just did to your best friend.

"WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT FOR?!" Flash Sentry shouts in rage, clenching his nose. You try to step back, only to be shoved by one of his bandmates to the ground. You narrowly avoid a kick to the face, and look up to see your best friend staring down at you with blood pouring out of his nose, and a murderous glare in his eyes. Strangely though, green smoke begins to form out of nowhere, and you scramble to get back up the ground.

Flash lunges at you with a right hook that just grazes your cheek, and his other two bandmates try to get at you from the sides, but you quickly step back, pull out your taco spray, and let it loose before booking it down the stairs. Once you get down, you continue sprinting, all the way until you make it back to the room where you were originally practicing with the Rainbooms.

"Fuck..." You pant, finding a chair to collapse onto. You take a couple deep breaths, and stare up into the ceiling, taking in what just happened.

'You fucking scumbag, Anon...you just punched your best friend over literally nothing.' You think to yourself. But it was so weird though; during that moment, you just...you just weren't thinking straight! Obviously, it doesn't excuse you from doing what you just did, but still; what the hell is happening to you?!

Your thoughts are interrupted as you hear the door slam open, and see a red-eyed Flash Sentry charging towards you, cracking his knuckles. You put your arms in front of your face, but his right hook goes straight through your defenses, causing your body to crash painfully down on the hard, linoleum floor.

"Hey, hey, I'm sorry Flash! I'm sorry!" You shout, trying to get away from him. He grabs you by the throat, and he's about to punch you in the face again, but you suddenly hear him yelp weakly, and suddenly fall to the ground. You look up, and see a mane of yellow and red hair standing above Flash Sentry's body, before immediately making out who the person was.

"Sunset?!" You blurt out. You're about to say something, but see Sunset Shimmer's eyes gleaming with fiery rage; something that was...it's tough to describe it, but as terrifying as it was, it was somehow beautiful at the same time. You just stay where you are, as Sunset kneels, and puts her finger over Flash's neck to check his pulse.

"Are you alright?" She asks, a concerned look spread across her face.

"I'm fine." You reply, clutching your cheek. "Flash sure knows how to throw his hooks though..."

"What the hell were you doing?!" She demands, surprising you with the sudden aggressive tone in her voice. "I thought you were just going to the bathroom!"

"It's...it's complicated." You say.

"Clearly." She rolls her eyes. "Come on, we've only got five minutes left before we go on stage."

"But what about Flash?!" You point at his limp body.

"Oh, he'll live." Sunset says casually. "He'll probably wake up in like two hours or so."

You dust off your body, and stare at the unconscious body of your best friend. It doesn't take long for a wave of guilt to quickly come over you. In just a month and a half, you've caused so much harm and pain to others, and now your own best friend. It just keeps getting worse, and worse, doesn't it?

"He's a nice guy, isn't he?" Sunset says, handing you your guitar. "Flash Sentry?"

"Yeah..." You nod. "He's like a brother to me...he was the only one who stuck with me after the whole Rainbow Dash incident too, and now..."

"You punched him in the face?" Sunset finishes your sentence bluntly.

"And I feel like the biggest scumbag in the world." You hang your head in shame. "I immediately regretted it the second I did it; it......it was like Adagio and the Dazzlings all over again! I just wasn't thinking straight!"

"Well, at least you know what you did was wrong." Sunset says optimistically. "Right?"

"Yeah." You scoff. "Except you missed the part where I just lost my best friend now."

You drop your guitar and walk up to one of the mirrors in the room. Your reflection shines back at you, and you see a purple bruise forming on your cheek where you took Flash Sentry's hit. A hit that totally could have been avoided if your dumbass didn't decide to hit him first. Hell, a lot of things could have been avoided if you just thought about what you were about to do for a second time, but it's too late now...

"When I fucked up with Rainbow Dash and all, I felt like there was no way I could ever do something like that again..." You say. "Well look at me now......is there anything I can't fuck up?"

"Well at least you didn't turn into a crazy winged demon that tried to take over the school when you punched Flash." Sunset scoffs. "It could always be worse..."

"First Rainbow...now Flash..." You continue to stare at your own reflection. "Is everyone ever going to forgive me for what I've done? Hell, I can barely even forgive myself..."

Your eyes are tearing up. You start blinking profusely to try and fight back the tears; it's a battle you're losing though. As you wipe one of your eyes, you suddenly feel a hand on your shoulder.

"Well sitting on your ass and feeling sorry for yourself sure isn't going to do anything." Sunset Shimmer smirks. "Isn't that what you told me?"

You freeze in place for a moment, and take in what Sunset Shimmer just said for a second; did she just...

"We're still in this, you know." She says, picking up your guitar and holding it expectantly towards you. "Don't let your past define you...because your past isn't today."

You take the guitar out of Sunset's hands, and give it a couple strums...strangely enough, it's perfectly tuned right now, even though you never remember touching it since the first round. You turn around, and see Sunset Shimmer no longer by your side, but at the classroom's door, with her hands on her hips and a radiant smile on her face.

"Well, what are you waiting for, Anon?" She beckons you. "We've got a Battle of the Bands to win."

Flashbang!

"Rainbow... are you sure this is a good idea?" Fluttershy mumbled as she apprehensively held the grenade in her hands. She was holding so tightly on it, as if one slip of the finger, and the thing would go off in your faces.

"Come on, Fluttershy!" You groan. "We've already been preparing so far for this moment, we'll might as well go through it!"

"B...but...this might hurt Anon!" Fluttershy protests. "What if he dies?! We'll be murderers!"

"Please, for the love of God do you even know what these things are?" You snatch the flashbang out of her hands, causing her to jump back in fear. "They're used by the police to knock out criminals so they take them out without killing anybody. The reason they were invented was so that they DON'T kill people when they're thrown!"

"But... how did you even get it?" Fluttershy asks.

"Oh it was easy." You say. "Shining Armor, Twilight's sister is part of the Canterlot Police; they've got whole stashes of these things! They'll never notice if just one of them is gone."

You look at your phone, and it's 2:40. You've heard rumors that Anon was about to ask out that new girl with the super poofy orange hair. You forgot what her name was; Agario? No...that doesn't sound right, that's the game where you eat the cells, not her name.

You take a peek from your hiding spot and sure enough, you see a girl with purple heeled boots with hair so poofy it made Pinkie Pie's look like nothing. But more importantly, at a nearby table is a brown haired guy wearing a green button up shirt and khakis with a slight blush to his face. That's Anon alright.

"Here they are, get ready!" You whisper to Fluttershy as you duck back under cover.

You start stretching your arms, then crack your neck a few times. Meanwhile, Fluttershy's eyes are closed shut, her hands over her ears. You can see her visibly shaking in fear; shaking so much that to a distant observer it would almost look like she has hypothermia. Ignoring Fluttershy, you swing your arm giving a couple practice throws, until you feel confident you can land it right on the table Anon and the girl are sitting at.

Taking a deep breath, you pull the pin off, and toss the grenade as hard as you can before grabbing Fluttershy's arm, and bolting the heck out of the room.