Chapter 38: The Butterfly Effect
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Twilight opened the door to Dorm 49, the studious inside the room along with Vanellope and Rarity. She came face to face with Amy and Cream. The Element of Magic worried that this might have something to do with her best friend, but she kept that a secret.
"Oh...hey girls!". Twilight greeted in enchantment. "Have you spoken to my sister yet?".
Neither Amy nor Cream ever had the idea that the very person they were trying to stay as role of vice-principal was the studious' sister. Twilight soon simplified that.
"Have you spoken to Cadence yet? Sorry, I didn't tell you two that she was my sister all along. I guess I was forgetting to tell you both, hehe".
"We tried, and we failed. She is just too focused on leaving. We have 3 days to do it too, one of them being today".The pink hedgehog explained.
"Wonderful! That will give us plenty of time to try and convince her!". Twilight soon noticed something strange. Where was Team Rose's Power Type member? She briefly peeked behind, but to no avail. "Where is Sticks? She's normally with you right now".
That gave the two mobian friends an exchange to each other. She wanted to think about what she was doing alone. But then again, there was Lola who could be at her location any minute now. At least that's what the badger thought. They turned back to Twilight for answers, agreeing to let the leader speak of it.
"She has so much negative energy in her that she wanted to think about this alone. I feel sorry for what she has to put up with. I mean, she is a member of both our team and your team".
"There must be something that would make her feel better about the situation". Cream added.
"We have two disputes going on at the same time, one is feeding directly to her". Twilight explained. "She has hate directly at Lola for her to hurl at because of what she didn't do".
"It was placing a can opener in her dorm, right?". Amy asked.
The Element of Magic nodded.
"We can't have a rampart badger roaming in this academy if your friend is in danger! We need to try and let Cadence out of her despair, then we can figure out how to amend their friendship".
"It's not the first time she has ever dissed on a friend during our journey. Do you want to come inside? Rarity and Vanellope are discussing this with me".
"It would be an honor!". Amy obliged to the suggestion, walking in as Cream followed behind her like sisters. The fashionista and the mint green surprise were scattered around the dorm, all with the motive of bringing Vice-Principal Cadence's problems to rest. Twilight closed the dorm door, unaware that it was going to be open again soon.
"We still don't have a clue if any of the popstars are coming yet". Vanellope lifted her legs from resting on her top bunk. She was the only thing towering above all of the girls.
"Give it time, dear". Rarity answered. "Surely, the other girls must be doing something to gradually fix the issue as hard as this one".
"Sunset and the rest are somewhere in the academy right now, presumably the library".
"What are they doing in the library at a time like this?". Amy wanted to wonder, the time striking towards eight in the evening.
"The library closes later on a Friday than any other day of the week, apart from Saturday". Twilight added. "It's almost 8:00 PM so they have an hour left".
Just then, the door suddenly opened the reveal Lola, Fluttershy and most surprisingly, Wallflower Blush. All three were trying to fix the issue, with slow progress actually being made.
"Hey girls!". The Element of Sportsmanship greeted with eyes glanced toward her and her little team.
"Lola, darling!". Rarity responded with delight. "Have you emailed them like I asked you to on the phone?".
"It's all in the go-ahead! DJ Candy agreed to return back to the academy! Smurfette got tangled up in her schedule to midly forget she had to email Countess Coloratura! I bet she's doing it now! Now all I have to do is wait for a response from Songbird!".
"That's great, Lola!". Amy remitted what was left of hope at this point. "It's better than trying to convince Cadence in her office! She kept the process of leaving edged into her mind!".
"Great! Now we can actually fix this long-standing issue!". Vanellope jumped from her top bunk bed and walked over to the Element of Sportsmanship. She wanted to get something off her mind just recently. "Can I borrow you for a minute, Lola?".
"I just got back! Why do you need me?".
"It's nothing personal. I found the perfect time to explain it to you".
"Um...okay...". The bunny scanned the room briefly before retracting back to the 8th member. "Where should we have our talk?".
"The closet...Now go...". Vanellope signaled her and Lola to quickly move inside and close the door to avoid the girls overhearing their conversation. This was something serious if Vanellope of all girls was giving a little time to talk about this with the bunny. She normally doesn't do things like this. The thought merely threw Lola off and she began to listen.
"Trunchbull is behind the onslaught of disputes, I swear!". She softly turned stern.
"How could it be her if she was not involved in this episode?". Lola kept her ears open for the information.
"Shhh...". The mint green surprise wanted to keep this confidential. "Taking from my experiences with Sticks and her vent crawling, I heard a strange sound coming from them as I sat alone in the dorm yesterday".
"You crawled through those dirty vents by yourself?!".
"Shush!". Vanellope eased the pressure on Lola's sudden yelp.
"Sorry".
"So anyway, I followed the sound with my ears to the source of the problem. That's when I came across Trunchbull's office, her little machine she used to spook Cadence's room was turned on, or so I thought it was".
"So...let me get this straight...Her machine could levitate items now instead of projecting ghosts like what she did a few years ago?".
"Apparently, yes".
"I have in my mind that machine picked up the can opener and took it to her totem shrine. She used her one good option to frame you".
"Oh man...". The 7th member held her head, having the real evidence now. But will Sticks buy it? "Now I know it wasn't me, Trunchbull's machine accused me of putting that can opener on Sticks' totem shrine. I feel so sorry for myself. I feel bad for the things I had to endure".
"I can reassure you she'll take it". Vanellope lifted the bunny's head slightly up, her eyesight facing the mint green surprise. "It's going to be tough, okay?".
"Yeah...". She softly spoke the one word before she regained confidence rapidly. "I feel like it's a huge risk to go talk to her right now. We better keep this between the two of us, Van".
"Right!". The 8th member nodded, the two of them walking out of the closet. Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy, Amy, Cream and Wallflower glanced toward them.
"Do you feel better now, Lola?". Rarity broke the deadlock of the long, awkward pause.
"Yeah, thanks, Rarity...". The bunny kept calm, showing a smile to emphasize her hope despite the truth. It wasn't her after all, but Vice-Principal Trunchbull all along. I guess she began using it to frame Sticks as of recent.
"Are you going to contact Smurfette if she has emailed Coloratura yet?". Fluttershy asked the bunny girl.
The Element of Sportsmanship suddenly remembered what Fluttershy mentioned. She almost forgot through the hardships she was trailing through. She rummaged through her skirt pocket and pulled out her phone. Dialing Smurfette's number, the 7th member held it up to her ear and awaited the 9th member to respond. After short while, the line picked up, a soft, smurfy voice began to echo out.
"Hey, Lola. What's up?".
"Smurfette, have you emailed Colaratura?".
"Yeah I have! I wanted to not disappoint you! Do you want me to come back to Dorm 49? I'm currently hanging out with Sunset Shimmer and the other girls in the library".
"It will be lovely to spend more time with your sister. Just don't worry about me, hun".
"Why? What happened?".
"It's best if I don't speak about it for now".
"Okay. So I guess I'll see you once I get back in the dorm?".
"Sure thing-". The bunny's answer was cut off as the 9th member remembered something.
"There's just one thing I forgot to mention". Smurfette's words signaled the beginning of the worst. "It's not good news".
Smurfette looked over to Bulk Biceps and Soarin having a conversation about Lola - the very girl she was on the phone to.
"I...". The blonde-haired smurf's tone became soft, like a whisper. "...somehow overheard Bulk and Soarin talk about you. I think I heard the word 'Doll' thrown in there somewhere".
Lola quietly gasped and bit her fingers with the other hand. This wasn't good news. The other girls in the dorm could hear it wasn't good news by the way Lola changed her emotion.
"Bulk Biceps and Soarin?!". She frantically asked. "Why are they talking about me like that?!".
"I honestly don't know, Lola". Smurfette shook her head, signafying a bad omen about to occur. "Vexy heard it too as the clock slowly ticks toward 9 PM".
"But how is this possible?! Is Trunchbull behind this?!".
"Why do you always assume every bad problem that we come across always revolve around Trunchbull one way or another?".
"Because she hates us!". Lola continued biting her fingers in fear. She could feel her stomach slowly turn over as she felt sick from anticipating the worst.
"Well, I think Sticks spoke to almost everyone at this academy and said that you moved your can opener to her totem shrine!".
Lola knew that it was time to get seriously personal about this confrontation.
"That little brat...!".
"Are you okay, Lola? You don't seem to feel so good in my eyes".
"Can you cut off, please? I gotta' go investigate this alone". The bunny was keen to find out if this was real or not.
"As you wish". The blonde-haired smurf girl hung up her phone, just in time for the Element of Sportsmanship to tuck her phone back inside her skirt pocket as she quickly rushed out of the door. She was going to find Sticks and confront her about telling her story to all of the academy. She wanted to give her a piece of her mind, and with good reason too, the badger mentioning the word 'Doll' for the students to insult her with. The other girls, primarily Rarity and Fluttershy feared for her mental stability, the once calm and most vocal Harmonizer becoming severely provoked by the second most vocal Harmonizer. This might become a war between words.
That's the end of this chapter. Lola hearing about Vice-Principal Trunchbull's machine accusing her of placing a can opener in Sticks' totem shrine, and the bunny hearing that the badger spoke to almost the entire academy about her story, at least that what both Lola and Smurfette thinks. What will happen next? Read on to find out. Please review.