Author's Note

Okay, so, why is a this labelled as a Sidestep instead of a Chapter, considering it's over 4000 words? Well I'll be honest. The Anon-A-Miss storyline is second thought to me with this story. Yes, it lead Sunset to where she is today. Yes, Anon-A-Miss is what Fall of Harmony and some of Contest of Rivals was all about. But this story is a bit different, and I couldnt justify giving Anon-A-Miss a lead Chapter in it. ^^;

There won't be much more reference of Anon-A-Miss in the story. The crimes of the Gaia CMC will never be mentioned, and I hope you all understand this.

Nyhll

Sidestep 13

“Woooooo! Shopping!” Sonata yelled as the girls arrived at the Crystal Empire Mall, the massive superstructure standing as resolute as ever, its face a myriad of glass and steel, glinting in the remnants of the cold light of the winter evening.

“I seriously hope we are keeping it simple this time, girls.” Fireside said as the car came to a stop. She unbuckled herself and got out of the car, the memory of a similar event playing through her mind. “I just need some fresh workout clothes, maybe some sneakers?”

“Well I don’t know why I got dragged along.” Aria groaned as she slammed the car’s door. “I’m so close to finishing the tune ups on Mag’s!”

“Well I was hoping to stop off at The Candie Shoppe.” Adagio said quietly as she locked the car and started towards the mall.

“Oooooh! Dagi needs some new toys, huh?” taunted Aria, the girl following up close behind and wrapping her arms around Adagio, causing a gasp to emanate from the mass of orange curls.

“A-Aria! Behave yourself!” the young woman chided, her face hidden by her hair even as she turned back to look at Aria.

“Ummm… Do I even want to know?” Fireside said, gazing at Sonata with a look of worry, amusement, and subtle knowing.

“Oh! I think Adagio just burnt out her vibrator last night.” Sonata said simply, a warm smile on her face as she leaned forward to look at Fireside. “That’s why she wanted to go to The Candie Shoppe!”

“Bwaaaaa…” Fireside stopped and stared in embarrassment at Sonata, face erupting into flames at just how innocent and nonchalant the girl was acting.

“Huh? What’s with that look, Fireside?” Sonata paused and tilted her head, a bemused look on her features.

“Are you sure that’s something you should be saying so nonchalantly!? Especially in public!?” whispered Fireside, the girl rushing forward and grabbing hold of Sonata’s shoulders. “That’s some very personal information, Sona!”

“Meh…?” the girl shrugged, giggling as she broke away from her sister. She started to skip towards the entrance of the mall, catching up with Fireside’s other two sisters. “All I know, Firey, is that you’d be a lot calmer if you did the same!”

Fireside buried her face in her hands, blubbering incoherently as her sisters made their way to the mall. Taking deep breaths to calm herself, Fireside eventually started running to try and catch up with her sisters, reaching them as they came close to the doors.

“Seriously? She hasn't yet?” Aria said, looking away from Sonata and back at Fireside with a lewd smirk. “C’mon, Glow! What’s the matter? You aren’t gonna bite yourself, are ya? Not that I’m judging that is!”

“Aria! Shut! Up!” the girl with the flaming face whispered harshly, looking ready to strangle her purple skinned sister.

“I do have to agree, dear.” Adagio said, a rather malicious look on her own face. “If you haven’t taken time for yourself yet, well…”

“Would you three just shut up about my personal life!?” Fireside screamed softly, her arms shooting up to cover her face, her head shaking in her embrace.

“Fine, fine.” Aria said reluctantly, striding forward and slapping her sister playfully on the arm. “Looks like you and Sonny are gonna go get your guys’ stuff, while me and Mom here go do our stuff.”

“Aria, I will murder you if you don't stop calling me that.” Adagio growled, hands wringing in front of her.

“Alright, alright, let’s go get you another toy so you can go home and calm down, Mom.” Aria snarked, turning back around towards Adagio, only to pause when she noticed the furious look on her sisters face. “Uh… Ad-wah!”

Adagio roared as she lunged at Aria, the girl ducking and dodging around, before running into the mall laughing, with Adagio in hot pursuit, screaming obscenities enough to make the world’s collective of sailors simultaneously blush.

“Um…” Fireside stood still and watched the reactions of the people that Aria and Adagio tore through, looks of confusion and annoyance spread amongst the sea of people. “Is it okay if I forget this all happened?”

“Nope!” Sonata giggled as she interlaced a hand around Fireside’s before starting to skip and drag her sister into the mall. “I’m not letting you forget this until you take some me time!”

“Sona!” Fireside started to object, before joining Sonata in a fit of giggles, staggering as she tried to keep up with her sister as the pair made their own way into the mall. “Sona! Please! Slow down!”

“Oh! Sorries!” chuckled Sonata as she reduced her speed to more of a leisurely stroll. “Though you should be able to keep up with me just fine, Firey! You’re so tall, and your legs are so long!”

“Well you started dragging me along, Sona! How could I keep up when I'm tripping over my own feet?”

“Run faster!” Sonata smiled as she looked back at Fireside, the girl finally catching her stride and giggling as she started to skip along with Sonata, the pair completely ignoring the looks of the people around them. They laughed and giggled as they skipped through the mall, apologizing to those they bumped into due to their vigorous movements.

“Okay… Okay, slow down…!” Fireside managed to get out between gasps for air and her continued cackling. “Where… are we… going…?”

“Well I was thinking we could stop off at TBS for your stuff, and then there’s a new shop that I want to go to!” Sonata squealed happily, giving a look that she usually reserved for when she gave one of her many glowing recommendations about tacos.

“Ummm… Sure? So off to the second floor then I think?” Fireside paused to try and look at one of the many map stations the mall had set up, only to momentarily freeze when her eyes panned to the side and saw an unmistakably familiar girl with a head of rainbow streaked hair.

“Er… Why don’t you lead the way, Sonata?” Fireside gave the warmest smile she could as she looked away from the map, praying that the girl and her group didn’t notice her.

“Absolutelies!” Sonata shot a hand up in the air, a single digit pointing to the sky. “You can trust Big Sis’ Sonata to get you wherever you need to be!”

Fireside let Sonata once again grab her hand and start dragging the pair towards the stairs and deeper into the mall.

“Do you think she noticed us?” Rarity said softly as she tilted her sunglasses down, peering at her friends worriedly.

“Kinda hard to miss me, Rare.” Rainbow growled fiercely, before groaning and apologizing. “Sorry… But my point stands! How many people do you know that have rainbow coloured hair in this city?”

“She has a point…” Fluttershy muttered, even softer than how the usually soft spoken girl talked normally.

“Well she didn’t seem to be paying attention to us if she did see us.” grunted Pinkie Pie, the girl seeming to have finished her metamorphosis into a disheveled mass of grey. “We should get going if we’re gonna follow her.”

“Agreed.” came the gruff response from Applejack, the farmer grimacing as she pushed down on her right arm, it’s orange length wrapped up in bandages. “This whole situation has gon’n left me in a right foul mood.”

“How's the arm feelin’?” Rainbow grimaced as she looked down at her friends arm.

“Better’n Celestia’s wall Ah’d figure.” the girl chuckled darkly as she flexed her arm, thoughts going back to the start of the day.

***

“Would the following students please come to the main office…” Principal Celestia’s voice echoed through the school over the intercoms, causing students to pause and listen boredly as the Principal started listing off students.

“Apple Bloom, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle. Again, would the following students please come to the main office…”

“What do you figure this is about?” Pinkie Pie asked, the pink ball of excitement uncharacteristically soft spoken.

“Maybe they heard about Sunset?” Rainbow shrugged, keeping stride with her friends as the group made their way to the office.

“With how much Twilight was around? I would say that they most likely know more than we do.” Rarity said, ignoring the looks that the group was earning.

Anon-A-Miss may have stopped posting, but the damage seemed to have been done. The student body was fractured, the friendships and camaraderies that had been built up since the Fall Formal and through the aftermath of the Battle of the Bands had been excised from the school in a deluge of distrust and paranoia, without a single student being spared from the atrocities. The school grounds had become more like a battleground, with what remained of social groups banding together in extremely fragile and volatile arrangements.

“And the only ones that know more than Twilight here are…” Fluttershy started, only to pause when the Rainbooms passed by the four girls she was just starting to talk about, each of them nodding slightly as the five girls passed on by.

“Would be those four…” Rainbow muttered as they passed by. “And they ain't sharin’ much.”

“Can ya really go’n blame ‘em?” Applejack said, shaking her head. “They said ta follow their leads, so Ah guess we’d best go’n follow.”

The quintet remained silent as they finished making their ways through the hallways, stopping as they gazed over the office in front of them, looking around at one another before nodding, following each other into the room one after another.

“Ah, girls.” Principal Celestia turned and smiled as she saw the Rainbooms enter her office, nodding at their arrivals. “I am glad to see the five of you have arrived. We are just waiting for the other three and then we can talk.”

“Are you going to tell us why we are here?” Rarity looked around the room, pausing when she noticed Vice Principal Luna standing with a tall, black skinned woman with her long teal hair tied back in a ponytail, as well as two officers of the Canterlot Police Department. “Erm… Who’s the woman? And… and why are there officers?”

“We will begin once- Ah, just on time.” Celestia gave a sad smile as she watched three younger girls enter her office, each with a barely restrained look of worry on their faces to match their shuffling strides.

“Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, thank you for joining us. Luna, would you please close the door? It is best that our meeting in not privy to errant ears.” Luna nodded to her sister as she crossed the room, making her way between the young teenage girls and to the door, closing it gently.

“Now, I am sure you all are wondering as to why we called for this meeting.” Celestia said slowly, looking over everyone arranged before her, Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Rarity coming to stand by their sisters, or next best thing in the case of Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo. “As you are no doubt aware, Anon-A-Miss stopped posting at the start of the month, though that was thanks to MyStable and our local officers in the CPD working together and freezing the account. The two parties also worked together to track the IP’s of the various posts that Anon-A-Miss had made, though they were only able to track the dates from a week beforehand, so all that we know is that Anon-A-Miss is a resident of our city, and has been posting from various places such as Sugarcube Corner and other business’ that offer free wi-fi.”

“But then why are we here?” Rarity asked, holding onto Sweetie Belle protectively. “We all have alibi’s, seeing as we’re students after all.”

“Well normally, yes.” Luna decided to speak up instead of her sister, walking around to stand beside her own family member. “However MyStable had a feature that allowed users to queue posts, so that they may be published at any time. It turns out that Anon-A-Miss made great use of this feature, as all of her posts were uploaded on either weekends, holidays, or after school hours.”

“Your seriously not saying that one of us is Anon-A-Miss, are you!?” Rainbow shouted, fury flying from every syllable. “After all that we’ve done for CHS!?”

“We are not implying that one of you is behind Anon-A-Miss.” Celestia said with a tired sigh, folding her arms as she looked down at the ground before shifting her gaze back up at the girls, looking deep into the three particular sets of eyes. “Is there something the three of you would like to say?”

“P-Principal Celestia!? What are you implying!?” it was Rarity’s turn to be angry at the head of her school, her grasp around Sweetie Belle tightening ever more as she stared intently at the older woman. “My sister would never associate with someone, or something, as beastly as Anon-A-Miss! I resent you even suggesting such at thing! Why she is the most innocent, most lovely-”

“Stop it!” Sweetie Belle tore away and out of her sister’s arms, tears streaming down her face as she fell to the floor, sobs starting to wrack her willowy frame. “Please, just stop it!”

“S-Sweetie… Belle…?” all of Rarity’s vitriol and fury had instantly washed away to be replaced by concern and confusion, the pale white girl reaching down towards her sister.

“I believe that is my queue to join the conversation.” said the unknown woman as she pushed off of Celestia’s desk and strode forward. “Pleasure to meet you all, you may call me Chrysalis. I’m, how to explain this… Well to put it simply you can think of me as “Black Ops.”

The girl’s watched in shock as the woman, Chrysalis, gave finger quotes in time with her description of herself, before looking back at Celestia, the Principal giving a single nod before Chrysalis turned back to look at the girls before her.

“My dear friend here, Principal Celestia, asked a favour of me to find to help with finding Anon-A-Miss. Oh, and this Twilight… Sperkles? Whatever her name was, she was rather adamant about Anon-A-Miss being found and brought to justice. I’ve seen some upset people in my life, but I don’t think they all combined would hold a candle to that girl’s raw rage.”

Applejack and Rainbow Dash both looked down as they felt the girls they were holding onto jolt suddenly, Rarity had knelt down and was trying to hold Sweetie Belle, even as the girl ignored her to continue sobbing.

“Needless to say, I was successful, and while my means weren’t of… well, fully legal, I did find Anon-A-Miss and inform Celery and Lettuce her about my findings.” Celestia groaned as Luna let out an annoyed scoff, Chrysalis giggling as she looked back at the two women. “They decided to inform the local authorities, and I assisted them by supplying the information I found. Then everyone got together and had a big meeting and that’s how this meeting came to be.”

“If you’re trying to intimidate one of us into falsely admitting blame, it’s not gonna work!” Rainbow yelled, glaring at the woman.

“Oh! Oh no! No, no, no! I’m not trying to get anyone to falsely admit blame.” Chrysalis laid her hands against her chest, giving a look of fake hurt that slowly faded away into a malicious glare. “I’m waiting for Anon-A-Miss to reveal themselves.”

The room remained silent, save for the soft sobs coming from Sweetie Belle and the silent reassurances coming from her older sister. Chrysalis started to pace around, her eyes glued on the three younger girls in the room even as their protectors held them close.

“How about this.” Chrysalis said after a minute of silent stalking, a dark smile coming to her face. “The first to admit their guilt will get half of the punishment for the crime, second getting the full time in “juvie”, and last will get double the-”

“It was me!”

Shocked gasps tore through the Rainbooms as Applebloom shrugged off Applejack’s hands and walked forward, a look of defiance in her eyes as she stopped and looked up at the tall, woman with mesmerizing green eyes.

“Ah’m Anon-A-Miss. Not Sweetie, not Scoots. It was all me.”

“Bloom…” Applejack said softly, reaching out towards her sister in shock, praying that her sister was just playing some sort of cruel joke on her. Instead, the girl slowly turned back, her teary eyes stuck looking at the floor, unable to meet the gaze of the stetson wearing farmer.

“Ah’m sorry, AJ.” the girl whispered softly, her eyes shut tight as she balled her fists. “Ah’m so sorry…”

“She’s *hic* lying!” Sweetie Belle called out from the floor, looking over at her friend as fresh tears started to stain her cheeks, her voice cracking in time with her hiccups and sobs. “I’m part of this too!”

“Sweetie! This is not the time to be joking like this!” Rarity whispered quickly, trying to grab Sweetie and pull her close, the girl struggling as she tried to break away, eventually doing so and staggering over to Apple Bloom.

“We’re Anon-A-Miss.” Sweetie managed to get out, wiping away her tears as she looked at Chrysalis square in the eyes.

“This is sweet and all, but I’m still waiting for the last little “Miss”.” Chrysalis said, her evil grin growing ever more into the look of a vicious predator, her gaze slowly traveling over to the small brown girl with magenta hair, her head staring down at the floor.

“...Scoot…?” Rainbow whispered, her hands shaking even as she held onto the girl, her eyes mere pinpricks as she tried to stay focused on the quiet form of Scootaloo before she started to chuckle nervously. “Th-they’re joking… ri-right? No way- Come on, Scoot! There’s no way you could be Anon-A-Miss! Tell me this is all just a big misunderstanding!”

Scootaloo stood there in silence as Rainbow Dash started to shake her, growing ever more violent and forcing Applejack to come over and seperate the two of them when she noticed the dark look coming to the athlete's eyes.

“C’mon, Dash…” the farmer said, forcing her larger and more muscular frame onto the spritely speedster, squashing all forms of physical struggle. “C’mon…”

“Damnit, Scootaloo! Tell me your fucking lying!” tears were flying from the cerise eyes of the contained Rainbow Dash. “Scootaloo!”

The girl stood there, her shoulders hunched even as her body started to give small, barely noticeable quakes, before she slowly trudged over towards her friends, each step matching in time with the ever more desperate ravings of Rainbow Dash. She stopped when she stood beside her friends, looking up at Chrysalis and softly whispering…

“We’re Anon-A-Miss…”

Chrysalis’ grin grew deeper and almost maniacal as she stared at the three girls, the self-disappointment of Apple Bloom, the sorrow of Sweetie Belle, the pure look of defeat and emptiness of Scootaloo, all of them seemed to feed her, to make her swell ever larger before the three girls.

“God damn is this job satisfying!” the woman yelled, clapping her hands as she spun around to look at Celestia, her back turned to the crowd. “You’re gonna have to step up your game, lover, if you want me to even feel a fraction fo what I just felt now!”

“Chryssi, perhaps now is not the time for this?” Celestia said softly, trying her best to calm the elating woman down.

“I’ll fucking say!” Rainbow yelled, Applejack starting to struggle to contain her. “Ha ha! Good, FUCKING JOKE, Celestia! Intimidating these young girls into-”

“Shut up…” Rainbow grew deathly silent at Scootaloo’s barely audible whisper, the girl hunch further as her hands grew tight enough to threaten to draw blood. “It really was us, Dash…”

Applejack let out a sad sigh as she felt Rainbow Dash fall limp, like a marionette with its strings cut. She could barely hear the girl breath, and doubted that much could be done to bring the athlete back to her senses. Instead she focused on looking at Apple Bloom, her gaze growing steely as she stared intently at her sister.

“Bloom. Is this true?” she asked, watching as the girl remained staring forward, obviously unable to meet the disappointed gaze of her elder sister.

“Swear on the big stump out back…” the girl said, Applejack feeling her knees buckle slightly at the girl’s admission, causing her to stagger back against the door and drop Rainbow Dash harshly onto the floor.

“Sw-Sweetie! Whatever could have ever given you an idea such as this!?” Rarity could barely formulate the words as she stared at her sister, the girl the only one actively sobbing it appeared as she looked back Rarity. “Why…?”

“I didn’t want Sunset to hurt you again…” she said softly, her eyes red and cheeks raw from her crying. “She made you go to such a dark place before, Rarity… I didn’t want to lose you…”

“But why would you resort to telling such horrible secrets…?” Fluttershy asked, walking over to help Rarity remain standing, arriving just in time to catch the near fainting girl. “Why did you blame Sunset…?”

“She got off easy.” Scootaloo said evenly, sounding almost robotic as her gaze stayed locked on the floor. “She causes everyone to fight, destroys the front entrance and brainwashes everyone, and she gets told to make friends? You five may have decided not to stand up for yourselves, but we weren’t going to take that insult standing down.”

“Insult?” the people in the room could swear they heard the sound of a balloon or tire deflating as Pinkie Pie’s hair seemed to grow more and more slack, more and more limp. “What do you mean, insult?”

“She got a slap on tha wrists! How is that fair fer everythin’ she did!? An’ then you actually decide ta include her in yer group an’ kick tha three o’ us out! Aren’t we yer sisters? Yer family!?” Apple Bloom managed out of grit teeth, the girl shaking in anger.

“Fer fuck’s sake, Bloom!” Applejack roared as she shot to her feet, slamming her arm through the wall behind her with a loud crunch before bringing it back out. “Is that what this’s all about!? Us goin’n deciding that maybe, just maybe, Sunset actually deserved a second chance!? Is us tryin’ ta include her in something that wrong!?”

The room grew silent again after Applejack’s outburst, the girl growling in a mix of fury and disillusionment as she turned her gaze to look at the other two girls.

“An what about tha two o’ ya? What did you possibly gain from scapegoatin’ o’ Sunset!?”

“If I may interrupt for a moment.” Luna said, walking forward with a stern look. “I suggest that the five of you return to class, now. We shall be contacting the parents and guardians of these three girls to discuss the consequences of their actions.”

“So now you just want to kick us out!?” Rarity shot back up, worry spreading across her face at a rapid pace. “But they’re our sisters!”

“They’re not mine…” Rainbow said as she slowly got up, her gaze boring into the back of Scootaloo’s head, the girl seeming to notice somehow as her shoulders drew up ever further to shield her. “Not after what they've done… They deserve to be locked away after the shit they’ve done…”

“And what about the five of you… Did you not fail in regards to what was asked of you?” Chrysalis spoke up again, an indescribable look on her face as she loomed over the five older girls. “I know about Twilight and all of this “magic business”, she explained to me herself, as well as the fact that she asked you to look after this Sunset Shimmer girl. And given the state she was found in that night, and what happened to her? I think the five of you have some real thinking to do. Now I suggest you leave. It’s time for the real adults here to talk.”

The five girls responded in a mix of anger, shock, and sorrow at the woman’s declaration, before standing up and making their way to the door, Rainbow Dash throwing the door open before slowly storming through, followed by Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, both of them looking back into the room as Rarity and Applejack stood and solemnly watched their sisters, the pair nodding and leaving the two grieving sisters to try and catch up to the beyond distraught Rainbow Dash.

“Ah’ll, uh… Ah’ll fix the wall…” Applejack said lamely, not even able to look at Principal Celestia or Vice Principal Luna, the two of them shaking their heads before Celestia made her way towards the microphone on her desk, picking it up and starting to speak into it.

“Would Granny Smith please come to the main office?”

***

“MUDDAFUGGIN NARWHAAAAAALS!” Sonata screamed as she dumped yet another armful of stitched facsimiles of the aquatic creature onto the cashier’s till, the young looking boy giving a nervous smile as sweat started to roll down his temple. Fireside gave a nervous smile as Sonata started to dash back into the shop dedicated to her favourite creature to grab more goodies.

“Sorry about this…” she said quietly, rubbing the back of her head. “I don’t suppose you get a commission or something?”

The boy gave a sad smile as he shook his head before returning to swiping yet more of the stitched narwhal dolls through his scanner.

“You can thank us later!” Aria announced herself by shouting at Fireside, and annoyed look to go with her equally tired voice. “I just save you from having to deal with the Rain-Tards again.”

“Were they still stalking me and Sonata?” Fireside asked, looking around Aria and noticing Adagio shaking her head as she looked behind her shoulder.

“Still?” her orange haired sister asked, looking at Fireside in concern. “We thought we saw them when we came in, but I was too busy trying to chase Aria down and strangle her with her own pigtails.”

“I would more likely strangle myself trying to fit that- Guh!” Aria doubled over as Adagio delivered a nasty looking shiver to her crude sisters stomach.

“I wouldn’t worry about them anymore, Fireside. We sent them on their way.”

“GIVE ME ALL THE NARWHALS!” Sonata could be heard laughing maniacally from the back area, causing all three of her sisters to give tired sighs.