Chapter 1: "World's Worst Best Friends"
24 hours ago. . .
"This is it, Sunset. You're not going to take advantage of us anymore. I'm sorry, but you did this to us. Tell whatever secrets you want...but we don't have to listen."
Her name was Sunset Shimmer. She was nothing short of a radiant beauty in the eyes of many; her vivid crimson and yellow-striped hair, moderate cyan eyes, and light amber skin are clear-cut evidence of this fact. However, appearances can be quite deceiving, and hers was no exception. Beneath the elegance of it all laid a much more disturbed character whose personality was difficult to pinpoint because of her unwillingness to let go of her past and move on with the future. Somehow, her lack of idealism made her cope with a lot of realism in the world she found herself trapped in.
Sunset watched as her friends walked away before hanging her head and crying in despair. How could I let this happen to me? I let this...Anon-A-Miss frame me for something I would never do. Even worse, my friends and quite possibly the entire school believe that everything that's happened...was all because of me. She felt her hands ball up into fists and her vision blur as a result of her tears. Her sense of sound was also taken into account as she couldn't comprehend the insults being hurled at her from an angry mob that had gathered around her.
Far better to be feared than loved...
Sunset took up her journal and ran away from the mob, who continued their rain of profusive put-downs with both pride and indignity. From the corner of a hallway, the younger sister of Applejack watched with shocked sorrow.
Oh, Sunset... Forgive me...
12 hours ago. . .
Sunset felt her legs and feet suddenly go numb as she trudged along the 10-foot-deep snow, soon growing to be 20 feet. Despite wearing relatively warm clothing (i.e., a leather jacket, a red sweater beneath said leather jacket, an orange scarf, etc.) to survive the cold night, she still felt stiff as a starch shirt. The satchel that carried her journal slung across her body, she almost forgot about it when it glowed, catching her attention. She took out her journal, opened it up, and found the following message:
Sunset, are you there? What's going on? Are you okay?
No, Twilight... I'm not okay. Sunset sighed to herself. Taking out her pen, she wrote the words I'm sorry, Twilight... I've failed you. I give up. before placing the journal away and continuing her trek forward.
And before she was stopped in her tracks by five familiar friends. No, those five familiar friends.
"What do you want, Gilda?"
The school's second strongest athlete behind Rainbow Dash, Gilda was known for her extemely short temper and killer mean streak. The unfortunate distinction of being born with a last name of Griffon (not "Griffin") was a true testament to these facts. One such male athlete learned this the hard way and ended up in the hospital for two months with a fractured jaw, two broken ribs, and one anatomical adjustment concerning the male reproductive organ. And here she was: attempting to do the very same thing to her self-proclaimed enemy...with four other classmates aiding her this time.
"A little revenge, Shimmer. And don't think you can weasel your way out of this one. The entire school knows that you're Anon-A-Miss, and we don't need any evidence to convince us otherwise."
With that, Gilda pulled a switchblade and flicked it open, slowly advancing towards Sunset. She (Sunset) knew immediately that the odds were not in her favor: five against one, the leader of the five wielding a weapon. A really sharp weapon. Despite being trained in proficient martial arts, she was still only a beginner as such. Well... No harm in trying, right?
Sunset charged at Gilda and her goons, taking her out first before dealing with the others. Kneeing her in the stomach before delivering a right hook, she side-kicked Lightning Dust away before throat chopping Dumbell and performing an uppercut with her knee. Ambushing her from behind, Hoops grabbed Sunset by her scarf and proceeded to choke her while Score approached her from the front; she quickly ducked just as Score's fist flew and collided with Hoops's nose, causing him to shout in pain and release his grasp on the scarf. Performing a leg swipe on both boys, Sunset had little time to react when Gilda acted.
Sunset cried out in pained surprise as Gilda's switchblade pierced her right side. This didn't stop her, however, from disarming her opponent of her weapon...and stabbing her in return. She didn't kill her, but it was enough to make her feel pain and scream out to the heavens. With little time to waste, she kicked her off and ran as far as possible. A few miles later, she ended up near a riverbank that was flowing freely in spite of the winter season. It was during this point in her retreat that her vision began to blur once again due to her extensive blood loss. Clutching her side in an attempt to stop or – at the very least – slow the bleeding, Sunset eventually gave up and collapsed on the snow. She didn't plan on rolling into the river whilst attempting to roll on her back, awaiting her inevitable fate in the process.
Sunset cried out in distress this time as the waves swept her away from civilization, the abnormally loud noises draining out her calls for help. She lost consciousness as only visions of water were all she could see before...
In the present. . .
Sunset's eyes fluttered open as she was on her back, staring up at the forest trees which were still blanketed with snow and frost. Slowly sitting up before standing up, she felt...surprisingly energetic. Touching the wound where she was stabbed by Gilda, she glanced down to find...no wound at all.
Okay... I am definitely tripping.
Glancing around in order to get accustomed to her surroundings, the ground she stood upon was abloom with weird flowers. Really, really weird flowers. And the trees was riddled with their usual leaves. Normally, they would be brown or no leaves at all. Glancing down at her feet, she seemed relatively intact from toe to head. Then...there was something yellow beneath her boots. Crouching down to get a closer look, she brushed the object with her gloved hand picking it up and performing an examination.
A yellow brick...?
Turning around, she brushed away the snow with her boots and realized: It's a road. A...yellow brick road. She continued her boot brushing until she reached the entrance of the forest. The sight before her was truly a sight to behold, prompting her to drop the yellow brick in amazement. It was an emerald green castle which, despite being a few miles away, seemed incredibly up close and personal to her.
"Oh, man..." Sunset said to herself, "I don't think I'm in Canterlot anymore."
In the real world. . .
Applejack couldn't believe this. She saw it, yes. She just believe it in the fucking slightest. She never cursed, no. She just had to make that one exception. In this case, it was her younger sister.
Apple Bloom took a deep breath followed by a subsequent deep gulp. A very deep breath followed by a subsequent very deep gulp. I'm dead. I'm so dead... were her main thoughts at the moment. She had just confessed to being Anon-A-Miss – the central culprit behind these Christmas criminalities of hers. It would've been a his, had the perpetrator been identified as a male rather than a female. It didn't matter now, for the minor miscreant had been caught in the act. As such, the victory was treated as a Pyrrhic Victory rather than a Laevinic Victory...not that it was one to begin with.
Applejack slowly entered the room, barely holding her unbridled rage. Her hands balling into fists, she shifted to where she could see the laptop much easier. A very pocket-sized portion of her right mind wished that she hadn't. Her green eyes weren't lying to her, for there was the Anon-A-Miss profile for the human eye to see and comprehend. Shameful, sordid secrets flooded it with requests to post more of them. To make matters worse, it was painted with the central colors of her former friend. From there, any negative and even hostile thoughts concerning her (the former friend) were instantly thrown out the window and replaced with...regret.
The country girl found tears forming in her eyes, much to the dismay of her younger sister. Apple Bloom still grieved for her older sister in spite of everything that has happened in the past few weeks. She merely wanted her to care for her more, but...
At what cost?
"You will tell them the truth...you hear me?"
Apple Bloom's thoughts were interrupted by her older sister's uncharacteristic cold, disappointing tone knocking her out of them. Applejack herself felt contrite with the strict and rather threatening feel of her question/demand, but she knew that it was somewhat necessary to get a response. A response was exactly what she got, but not in the way she expected to get it.
"Yes, sis..."
Realizing that she had made a mistake, Applejack pulled her sister close and held her tight as Apple Bloom let the dam break. Sobbing into her sister's shoulder, the sight of her crying tears of despair almost made her want to cry as well. Almost... You have to stay strong, Applejack. You have a chance to fix everything...that is, if everything hadn't fallen apart already.
Oh, how wrong she was...for the most part.
Around 9. . .
"Apple Bloom... She's Anon-A-Miss..."
"What?"
Principal Celestia swerved and almost crashed at the sound of one of her students' rather blunt statement concerning the cyberbully plaguing the school like a disease – no, a virus. A very lethal virus. In the first few days that Anon-A-Miss made his (or, rather, her) first strike onto the student board, it primarily targeted five special girls in particular. Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy were very good girls by all accounts, so imagine her surprise when they basically burst into her office one day that Miss Shimmer be taken care of...and not in the good way. In fact, their tone was akin to assassins for their mob bosses: they requested that the jobs be carried out by themselves rather than some sorry simpleton with no prior experience whatsoever.
The humor was beginning to settle in, nonetheless. Celestia would've laughed at Applejack's deadpan delivery with the revelation. Of course, considering they were in...
"I'm sorry, Applejack. Could you repeat that?" Celestia had parked to the curb near Sugarcube Corner to avoid causing any collateral damage.
"I said Apple Bloom is Anon-A-Miss, Principal Celestia."
"... And you know this how?"
"She told me just now."
Celestia couldn't comprehend the words that were being spoken to her at the moment, but she didn't need to.
"Bring your sister at the school tonight, and make sure you're alone." For now, at least...
In the current time. . .
The two sisters arrived at the school around the time their principal did. Requesting that they head to the latter's office, the three females marched towards the room and locked the door behind them. Taking their respective seats, Celestia placed one hand over another as she took a look at Applejack and Apple Bloom.
"So...is what I've been told true, Apple Bloom?"
"Yes, Principal Celestia. I'm the real Anon-A-Miss...not Sunset." Apple Bloom pulled out her phone and began to type. A moment's notice later...
RING!
Celestia felt her own phone ring, prompting her to check the message. The message received was clear as a crystal. Her entire body stiffened at the juicy info Anon-A-Miss had spilled this time. Her eyes twitched, her mouth dried, and her lips curved; her fingers on the right hand rapidly tapped on the desk just as her fingers on the left hand began to slowly crush the electronical device in her grasp. To say she was angry would be an understatement.
"Was there anyone else involved...?"
Apple Bloom nodded a tad too late just as the door burst open, her two faithful friends leaping into the room.
"Sweetie Belle?! Scootaloo?!"
"Principal Celestia! Apple Bloom's not Anon-A-Miss! We are!"
Had the two arrived a few minutes earlier, they would've prevented their own secret from spilling out like blood on the gutters. Had they arrived a few minutes late, they would've saved themselves a major humiliation conga. Either way, they were unable to comprehend what was happening now for their determination to save their friend overshadowed the punishments that awaited them.
Principal Celestia would make sure that the punishments would be sorely severe.
A while later. . .
The auditorium crowd erupted with enraged screams and shouts, immensely infuriated at the revelation that three scrawny, little middle schoolers – and NOT the high school one-winged angel they all expected – were actually the cybernatic secret sharer known as Anon-A-Miss. At first, some refused to believe it was so, while others claimed that the notorious Sunset Shimmer had blackmailed them to be the scapegoat and garner a small speck of sympathy. At the second glance, however...
"Scootaloo... Why...?" Rainbow Dash murmured under her breath, a stark contrast to Rarity's rather...dramatic cry for comprehension.
"Why, indeed?! Sweetie Belle! Why did you make us all believe that...Sunset was Anon-A-Miss?!"
At that armor-piercing question, everyone in the auditorium hung their heads in shame and regret. Almost everybody in the school (students and staff) had put Sunset through her own personal hell and mocked her for it. Every student who pushed, shoved, and beat her to the punch... Every teacher who failed every piece of homework, quiz, and test they gave her just for the sake of contempt... Every new friend she made who turned on her without sparing a second glance... That was before they knew the truth. The real truth.
"Rarity... I swear...we never meant for this to go too far... We didn't think – "
"No... You didn't think... You just did..."
Amazingly enough, that remark never came from Rarity or Rainbow Dash, but instead...
"Fluttershy...?"
Indeed, the Queen of Shyness herself had spoken up in response to this whole mess, surprising everyone in addition to her friends. Her hands balling up into furious fists, she sauntered towards the three girls, who were backing up in fear.
"I called Sunset a secret stealer... A secret stealer. You know that? ... You knew. You must've known that this was wrong deep down, but all you cared about in the end was nothing less of petty revenge."
The tension was building up at that point, and just like that...it was cut with a verbal knife.
"It wasn't petty..." Sweetie Belle muttered, "Sunset... She took Rarity from me..."
"THAT'S NO EXCUSE!" Fluttershy suddenly screamed, a jolting jump accompanying everybody as they gasp in horrified shock. The gasp in question saw it wriggle its way in the part where a very angry Fluttershy lifted a very scared Sweetie Belle by the collar, facing her eye to eye. Rarity's gasp was the loudest of them all.
"YOU TRICKED US! YOU TRICKED US ALL! WE HAVE SHUNNED SUNSET! BULLIED SUNSET! BEATEN SUNSET! AND ALL OF A SUDDEN, YOU WANNA APOLOGIZE AND FORGET ALL OF THIS EVER HAPPENED! WELL, FORGET IT!"
"FLUTTERSHY!"
Suddenly, a flash of blue, purple, and white tackled said girl off the stage, causing her to drop Sweetie Belle. Rarity held down Fluttershy as she proceed to head-butt her repeatedly.
"HOW DARE YOU LAY A HAND ON MY SISTER?!"
"Rarity, stop!" Rainbow Dash had leaped off stage and ambushed Rarity, grabbing her from behind the neck, "You're gonna kill someone!"
"Grr..." Rarity jumped up in a flash once again, proceeding to elbowing Rainbow numerous times in the face as a means to get her off, but the athlete didn't budge.
Not in the fucking slightest.
Author's Note
So, the universe takes place during Anon-A-Miss and borrow components from the original 1939 film, Oz the Great and Powerful, and Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return. Yes, I know that that last one was a critical and commercial flop, but I like it...no matter what the critics say.
Also, I recently saw The Dark Tower (2017). It wasn't all perfect, but it have its moments. Therefore, it serves as an inspiration for the story beforehand.
