Author's Notes:

i've got some scrawled out notes that i can put in these authors notes, now that chapter 3 is out. The thing is, Chapter 1/2/3's notes were smaller than all the rest, so I couldn't put them up to see yet.

I'm too lazy to upload it to imgbb right now though so im just gonna do that in chapter 4's authors notes

Anyway, hopefully, you enjoy the chapter, hit the comments section to let me know what you think. I've got some plans that I'm gonna carry out here. Nothing too crazy, so don't worry about anyone dying a horrible death or anything -- but I still have some plans that I'm gonna carry out.

alright, that's that. its ya man, my keyboard doesn't register 50% of what I type, therefore grammar.ly is a necessity, and ill be back with another chapter either before Sunday or way after Sunday. heading to Texas to visit family so idk if I'll be writing a bunch.

Sunset sat comfortably in her bed, covered from the waist down with a heavy, fuzzy blanket. The quiet blow of her house's heater running and the quick tapping of keys were the only audible sounds, apart from the occasional passing car. The brightness of her laptop's screen lit the bedroom just enough to see her surroundings, but not their more minor details.

She opened Mystable on her browser and typed into the site's search bar: "Anon-A-Miss".

Two accounts by the name "Anon-A-Miss" popped up. The first was created recently and was active with three-hundred and fifty-nine followers and five posts. The second one was created around a year ago, but its content and follower count were unavailable due to the account's deactivation.

"That must be the old Anon-A-Miss account..." Sunset thought, staring at it for a moment as she thought about last year's events. Even after forgiving her friends for abandoning her when she needed them, it was still a painful memory.

Her friends...

"I'm sorry but you did this to us. Tell whatever secrets you want, but we don't have to listen."

Her classmates...

"Secret stealer."

"I can't believe she did that."

"Traitor."

Her friends almost left her for good...

"Hey! Get out!"

"Yer not welcome here, Sunse--"

Sunset snapped out of her chain of bad memories. She had something important to focus on, and dawning on the past was a waste of time. She dragged her cursor over the active account's name and pressed down on the bottom of her trackpad.

The page displayed was designed differently than the old account's page. The account that was run by Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo was designed to look like Sunset was the one running the account, but this page's design was unique. It was almost like whoever was running the account was trying to make "Anon-A-Miss" completely anonymous. No subtle framing, no specific students targeted, it was just an account posting CHS's secrets for whatever reason they were posting.

The account's bio read "Guess who's back?" implying that the account's owner knew about the original events regarding Anon-A-Miss. The account's posts were all secrets, save for the first post that Sunset had shown to Applejack. The account's header was it's profile picture over a black background, emphasizing the image. It was almost as though the owner wanted people to identify the image as Anon-A-Miss rather than a green, winking face giving you thumbs up.

"Alright, time for the... reading," Sunset thought, less than excited to look at the posts made by the account. Up until now, she, as well as a few of her other friends, had refused to read anything posted by the Anon-A-Miss account. However, as much as she wanted to leave the secrets in the posts be, reading them could potentially help identify the person behind Anon-A-Miss.

^{Posted 11 Hours Ago}
Anon-A-Miss
Do you dumpster dive often, Dew Droplets?
^{4 Photos Attached -- Would you like to view them?}

"Wait."

Sunset's heart sped up after she viewed the images attached to the post. Four pictures of the girl digging through trash, taken in three different locations, of Dew Droplets, one of Sunset's old bullying victims. Sunset treated Dew Droplets similarly to how she treated Fluttershy before Twilight showed up from Equestria.

The problem with these pictures is that Sunset had seen them before. She had taken the pictures.

She dragged two fingers down the laptop's trackpad, scrolling down on the page.

^{Posted 6 Hours Ago}
Anon-A-Miss
What a fitting name -- Duke Justice!
^{2 Photos Attached -- Would you like to view them?}

"Oh no."

Two photos of another CHS student, wearing a fairly nice outfit, but covered in bird droppings. These photos were also taken by Sunset before her redemption.

Her pupils dilated. All of Anon-A-Miss's posts, save for their first, were blackmail material that Sunset had collected before the Fall Formal. These were from her old flash drives... they were from her. These posts were from her destroyed blackmail collection.

"Secret stealer."

"how can you do this???"

"What kind of monster."

"Too many secrets."

Sunset shut her laptop -- almost slamming it shut. She placed it on the floor just beside her bed, and let herself drop backward, her head hitting her bedpost.

"Ruined my life."

"Thief."

"We trusted you, Sunset!"

Sunset sat idly, the memories rushing back to her head. The photos were from her old stash of blackmail. Whether or not she thought she destroyed it all, the content was still somehow accessible to someone. Her content. It's her fault. Her fault. Her fault. Her fault. Her fau-

"Sister, there is an issue that we should discuss."

Principal Celestia looked up at her sister, who stood before Celestia's desk. The rumble of students passing from classroom to classroom could be heard from the halls of the school, as the bell had just rung for the end of second period.

Celestia had been contemplating before Luna entered her office, most likely about the same thing she had shown up to talk about. "I've been hoping to discuss such with you as well if we're thinking about the same subject," she stated, clasping her hands together. "You're welcome to sit."

"Yes, thank you," Luna sat in the chair across from Celestia's, crossing her arms. "I figure it's a good time to discuss this uprising "Anon-A-Miss" situation."

Celestia sighed. "I'm afraid so. I hope it doesn't become an annual occurrence, and that this timing is just a coincidence."

"Surely it is a coincidence -- who would want to bring this mess back every winter?" Luna placed her hand under her chin, thinking about the rhetorical question. Obviously, it made no sense for someone to bring back the account once a year, but what if no other explanation could be reached?

"Luna, last year we failed to take action. Thankfully, the situation solved itself, but we did nothing to intervene," Celestia said, a tinge of sorrow in her serious tone. "We shouldn't make the same mistake this time."

"Yes, of course. We should try to identify the student running the account."

"Well, yes," Celestia began, pausing to think about how to word her clarification. "but first we should focus on putting a stop to the spreading of information."

"Identifying the student will stop the flow of information quickly, I think you'll find."

"But which will take longer, Luna? Stopping the flow, or stopping the student?"

"Stopping..." Luna thought for a moment. It was clear that the student should be stopped and punished, but Celestia's priority seemed to be stopping the chaos before the creator. Which would take longer, though?

"Luna, let me explain my priorities. I want to put a halt to the access students have to the Anon-A-Miss account. Doing so may not stop the account from posting, but it will keep students from seeing the posts. If the students don't see the posts, how will such negativity spread?"

"But how can we block access to an account? In case you don't recall, we don't control MyStable, sister," Luna said, confused about how such an action could be carried out.

"Not MyStable, but we do control this school's network," Celestia said. "We can use a web monitoring program to block connection to MyStable. Anyone connected to this school's WiFi won't be able to use the site."

"So you're proposing that we block all access to MyStable within our school's premises?"

"Yes, exactly."

"Celestia," Luna stared at her sister questioningly, "that may solve the problem during school hours, but won't the students still have access to MyStable outside of school?"

"Yes, they will. But it will certainly slow down the speed at which these posts are shared and spread around. By about six hours, depending on the day," Celestia explained. "Five hours on Mondays."

"But the flow won't be stopped, will it? Just slowed."

"But it's action. We could choose not to do it, and focus on other actions now instead. But as of now, that's the quickest and most effective action we can take," Celestia said, poking the tip of her finger on each emphasis. "After that, we can focus on taking other courses of action -- whether it's further slowing the spread of information, or identifying the culprit."

"I can't really argue with that," Luna said, just as the warning bell rang. "Just keep in mind, as soon as we identify the account's owner, we can shut it all down completely. The spread of information, the posting, everything."

"I'll keep it in mind."

"I'd love to stay and chat, sister," Luna said, standing up from her chair, "but I'm substituting for Harshwinny today."

"I'm aware. We can discuss the situation further during lunch."

"And after the students are gone, of course," Luna said, opening the office's door. "I'll see you then."

"Good luck with subbing," Celestia waved her sister farewell with a smile as she exited the room. "You'll need it to keep the students quiet about Anon-A-Miss..." she muttered to herself.

"Hey Sunset, you feeling alright? You seem a bit off-game today."

"Uhh - wha?"

While students around the cafeteria blabbered on about Anon-A-Miss's latest post, Sunset's friends were all focused on her. Bags a paler shade of her skin hung under her eyes, bloodshot around the corners. Sunset had been struggling to focus on anything all day due to her state.

"Yeah, Rainbow's right. Y'all seem a bit, uh, tired to say the least."

"Tired?" Sunset darted her burning eyes to Applejack. "Well, maybe a little bit."

"A little bit? Sunset, you almost fell asleep in math. Did you sleep at all last night?" Sunset looked at Twilight and thought up a response to her question.

"Yeah, I slept. I had trouble getting to sleep though. I could have used a bit more, I guess."

"What was the matter? Too cold? I would be delighted to whip up a new blanket for you if you'd like, Sunset," Rarity offered.

"Ooh, were you out on a super-secret spy mission to identify and locate an evil billionaire who built a giant shark to take over the world with, and put a stop to him before he could put his evil plan into effect, in an epic adventure with action, excitement, and romance?" Pinkie asked, progressively getting closer to Sunset, going as far as to lean over the table.

"Sick, I'd watch it," Rainbow quipped from the side.

"No, Pinkie, I'm not actually a secret spy," Sunset said, giggling at the thought. "I just kept myself up thinking about stuff."

"About Anon-A-Miss?" Fluttershy asked. "I've been thinking about it too. I worry that people are going to assume it's the girls again."

"Oh, no way," Rainbow cut in, "I already posted tagging all my friends that Scoots and the others are innocent. I think AJ and Rarity did too, right?"

They both nodded.

"I've been thinking about..." Sunset stopped herself. She can't tell them where the secrets are coming from, or else they might blame her again. She couldn't handle being left alone again. It can't happen. She couldn't let it, she couldn't handl-

"About what?" Applejack asked, breaking the moment of silence.

"Oh, just about who it is," Sunset said, saving herself.

"Hey, I've been thinking about that, too," Rainbow said after swallowing a piece of her apple. "Imagine if it was like, Principal Cinch, but she's all old and wrinkly and hunched over like Emporer Palpatine, trying to exact her revenge on us for ending the Friendship Games in a tie?" She said, snickering.

"Isn't she already old and wrinkly like Emporer Palpatine?" Pinkie added, earning a good laugh from the rest of the girls.

"Yeah, good point Pinkie. But seriously, It's gotta be someone, right?" Rainbow said, leaning back in her chair. "Someone who knew about Anon-A-Miss in the first place, duh."

"Well, certainly they'd attend CHS, right? I couldn't imagine an outsider being so well aware of the situation -- it was rather contained within our population," Rarity said. "Though of course, we all know people outside of CHS, it wouldn't be hard to believe that someone else knows about it."

"I know I told Granny Smith about it, but she ain't one to spread a ton 'a news like that. Big Mac might'a told someone about it but I wouldn't know for sure," Applejack said. "I could ask him if y'all want, maybe he could bring some insight."

"I don't see why not," Sunset said, "In fact, we should ask whoever might have spread the news outside the school. That's a good place to start."

"On it! I can tag everyone on MyStable!" Pinkie said, pulling her phone out without a second thought. It was surprising to the other girls how quickly she was typing away.

"Hey, now, don't get yerself targeted or anything, now. I'd just ask people through private messaging if I were you," Applejack advised. "That's certainly what I'll be doin', anyway. I dunno if Anon-A-Miss is watchin' us or anything, but I sure don't wanna find out."

"Applejack's right, we don't know who all Anon-A-Miss is keeping an eye on. If they're posting secrets about people, we should be careful that we aren't their next victims," Rarity said. "I'm certainly not trying to get watched by Anon-A-Miss."

Sunset winced. Anon-A-Miss didn't even have to watch, did they?

The girls sat, contacting friends and acquaintances for a few moments before Pinkie gasped, hit by an epiphany.

"What is it, Pinkie?" Rainbow responded to the gasp.

"Anon-A-Miss is someone who probably knew about the original Anon-A-Miss situation when it was all happening, right?" Pinkie said, tugging her hair.

"Yeah," Rainbow said.

"Someone that might want revenge, right?" Pinkie continued, pulling her hair harder.

"Yep, probably," Applejack said.

"SOMEONE THAT HAS BEEN TO CHS, RIGHT?" Pinkie said, her hair stretching out to reach the length of her arms, defying physics.

"Mmhmm..." Fluttershy hummed.

"MAYBE SOMEONE LIKE THE DAZZLINGS!" Pinkie said, letting go of her hair to stretch her arms to finish the buildup to her idea. Her hair snapped back into place like a fresh balloon.

"Woah... you're right! They just left CHS before Winter, so maybe they heard about it from social media! Like, keeping tabs on us to plan their revenge?" Rainbow said.

"Goodness, it seems crazy, but it's likely! Perhaps we'll be their next victims whether or not we do post about identifying Anon-A-Miss publicly!" Rarity said, eyes wide. "But where could they possibly be?"

"That's a good question, Rarity. We ought'a find out, don't we, girls?" Applejack said to the rest of the table, who nodded and replied in agreement.

"Good thinking, Pinkie!" Twilight said as Pinkie beamed.

"What can I say? Detective Pinkie Pie strikes again!"

"How about after school, we start askin' around about where the Dazzlings might be?" Applejack suggested. "Once we figure that out, we pay 'em a visit."

"Sounds like a plan! I've got pictures of them to help aid our search!" Pinkie said.

"Awesome! We'll find them in no time, I bet!" Rainbow said, pointing finger guns in the general direction of the group.

"Yep, we sure will!" Sunset said, feigning enthusiasm. The sooner they found them, the sooner she had to explain where the secrets were coming from. A part of her wanted to believe that her friends would understand, but after they abandoned her last year over the Anon-A-Miss situation, she had deep-rooted worries. It sat in her gut like a fifty-ton weight, and she couldn't get rid of it no matter how hard she reassured.

Her past wasn't today, but her past's tools were. And someone had them. They wouldn't exist if it weren't for her.

"They'll know sooner or later, just tell them now."

"The sooner they know, the sooner they'll turn their backs on you."

As the girls talked about the search for the Dazzlings, Sunset continued to argue with herself. She was as close to speaking up about it as she was slapping herself for even considering it, but she ultimately decided to let it wait. Even if saying something was the right thing to do, she wasn't ready to.

Not even close.