Reversal of Fortune: Chapter 23: The Devil Wears Tiaras

(Scene Change: Backstage, Royal Woods Pageant Hall, 8:00 PM)

As Lola adjusted her angel outfit, Lexi Rose pompously walked past her and challenged, "Top that," causing Lola to glare at her as she took in the crowd's applause for Lexi's performance. As Lexi walked past Lola, she noticed someone in a squirrel costume waddle onto the stage.

When Lexi saw the costume, Lexi elbowed Lola to get her attention and asked her, "Hey, who let the mascot in? We've gotta get security!"

Lola took note of the costume and gasped. She told Lexi, "That's no mascot… that's… LINKY!" She immediately ran over to the costume, scooped it in a tight hug, and screamed, "MY GOOD LUCK CHARM! YOU'RE BACK! OH, I KNEW YOU'D COME BACK FOR ME!" However, when Lola remembered that it was Lincoln who came back after abandoning the family, her face contorted into a glare as she scolded him, "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN THE LAST FEW DAYS? OUR PETS WERE KILLED EVER SINCE YOU WENT MISSING! SO! MUCH! BAD! LUCK! NOW, GET BACK IN YOUR SEAT, MY SHOW'S ABOUT TO START!"

Lexi winced watching the display, but both Lexi and Lola were quickly shaken up as they heard Donnie Dufresne say, "Now, for our next performance, please welcome Lindsay Sweetwater!"

As the audience applauded for Lindsay, the person in the costume suddenly said, "Lola, could you let me go? I've got to perform."

Lola was so stunned by the feminine-sounding voice coming from the costume that she babbled out incoherent noises, "I… E…. E." However, Lola quickly caught herself babbling and regained her composure. When she did, she hysterically laughed, "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!", causing the other pageant contestants to immediately run over to Lola and asked her worriedly, "Lola, what's going on?"

When Lola completely ignored them due to her hysterical laughter, the other pageant contestants immediately turned to the stage and saw the squirrel costume-clad Lindsay walking towards the stage. They immediately started snickering amongst themselves, exchanging whispers of "Disqualified!", and, "So childish!" To them, Lindsay's costume had all but disqualified her from the Little Miss Angel Pageant.

Meanwhile, as Lindsay Sweetwater continued to walk to the stage, the lights dimmed, and a spotlight was shined on a door at the center of the back of the stage. Next, a string instrumentation began. As it began, Lindsay opened the door and waddled to the stage in a squirrel costume with the spotlight shining on her. Many of the audience members gasped at Lindsay's costume choice. The Loud sisters themselves started to burst into hysterical laughter at the costume waddling onto the stage before Rita and Lynn Sr. quickly silenced them with a glare.

In spite of this, Leni whispered to Lynn Jr., "Totes cute," to which Lynn Jr. responded, "Totes lame."

After taking two steps on stage, Lindsay took the squirrel costume off and cast it to the side, revealing her outfit to the world. Said outfit caused the audience to gasp in awe. For Lindsay's performance, she styled her orange hair with a cowlick, and wore a white dress with a gold-colored "A" in the Ace Savvy font style lapelled over her heart. Her angel costume also had white and gold wings attached to the back of her arms and shoulders. Attached to her head was a white halo with gold cards suit symbols embroidered on it. Each side of the halo had all four cards suit symbols.

As the string instrumentation built up to the dropping of the beat, Lindsay rushed over to the squirrel costume, and turned around so she was facing the audience with a concerned, protective look. When the beat dropped, she cradled the squirrel costume in a hug while lipsyncing to the opening lyrics of Céline Angélil & K. Rob's song, "I'm Your Angel":

No mountain's too high for you to climb
All you have to do
Is have some climbing faith, oh yeah

Lindsay then stood up and pranced around the stage with some balletic moves as the first verse continued, drawing applause and murmured compliments from the crowd:

No river's too wide for you to make it across
All you have to do
Is believe it when you pray

As the last line of that stanza blared through the speakers, Lindsay rushed back to the discarded squirrel costume and got back on her knees to meet the suit at eye level and put her hands on its shoulders. As she did, she made sure she was facing the audience while she lip-synced the hook, occasionally putting her hand to her heart as she did so to emphasize certain words:

And then you will see, the morning will come
And every day will be bright as the sun
All of your fears, cast them on me
I just want you to see

While lip-syncing the chorus, Lindsay proceeded to caress the costume's head and face gently and tenderly while also balling up her fist like she had seen some of Becky's favorite singers do in YouClip recordings of their concerts:

I'll be your cloud up in the sky
I'll be your shoulder when you cry
I hear your voices when you call me
I am your angel

Linda, Paige, and Becky, who were watching the performance live, cried tears of joy and pride at Lindsay's performance. The Rosato family, who were also in the audience supporting their twin daughters, Janie & Julia, also sniffled as they watched this display. As for the Louds themselves, they watched Lindsay's performance with blank, bored faces:

And when all hope is gone, I'm here
No matter how far you are, I'm near
It makes no difference who you are
I am your angel
I'm your angel

As Céline sang the last "angel" of the chorus, Lindsay tightly hugged the costume before kissing on its "cheek". Lindsay then mimed wiping tears off the costume's face as she tearfully lip-synced the first part of the next verse:

I saw your teardrops and I heard you cry
All you need is time
Seek me and you shall find

Lindsay miming wiping tears off the costume's "face" grabbed Lori's attention. Before the next part of the verse started, Lindsay took the costume's "hand", guided it to stand up alongside her, and pulled it into a slow dance where she mimed singing to the costume:

You have everything and you're still lonely
It don't have to be this way
Let me show you a better day

Backstage, Lola, who was watching the whole thing, had just recovered from her hysterical laughter when she told Cheryl, "She's dancing with the squirrel suit now? This is pathetic… I'm going next to show her how it's really done." As Lindsay continued to waltz with the costume, she leaned in to whisper to the costume the lyrics of the hook:

And then you will see the morning will come
And all of your day will be bright as the sun
So all of your fears, just cast them on me
How can I make you see?

Lori would become fully enraptured by the performance when Lindsay returned to stroking the "fur" on the top of the costume's head, as if she was stroking its hair, as she sung the first line of the second rendition of the chorus:

I'll be your cloud up in the sky

Next, Lindsay twirled the costume around as she lipsynced:

I'll be your shoulder when you cry

Lindsay then picked up the costume and spread out its arms and legs, as if to mime a lady doing the same when she jumped into a man's arms, before gently lowering it down as she lip-synced the rest of the first part of the chorus:

I hear your voices when you call me
I am your angel

As the second part of the chorus played, Cheryl told Lola backstage, "I-I don't know. I-I don't think it's…"

Lola immediately hissed at Cheryl, "I don't care what you think. I care about what I want. And what I want is to be on that stage NOW!"

Cheryl groaned, "Oh dear," before meekly telling Lola, "Alright… alright… I'll see what I can do."

Lola's face contorted into a smile as she told Cheryl, "Thank you," as Cheryl walked off to tell Donnie that Lola was ready to go next:

And when all hope is gone, I'm here
No matter how far you are, I'm near
It makes no difference who you are
I am your angel
I'm your angel

As Céline sang the last "angel" of the chorus, Lindsay took the costume's right "hand", wrapped her right arm around its back, and walked alongside it towards the front of the stage as she "assured" the costume:

And when it's time to face the storm
I'll be right by your side
Grace will keep us safe and warm
And I know we will survive

As the first part of the bridge ended, Lindsay briefly looked down and off to the side, as if she was unsure as to whether she should do what she had planned next. Lindsay then stunned the audience by tenderly looking at the costume, gently stroking the side of its face, taking off her taped halo, and taping it onto the costume to make it appear as if it had the halo above its head instead of Lindsay:

And when it seems as if your end is drawing near (End is drawing near)
Don't you dare give up the fight (Oh no)
Just put your trust beyond the skies

Lindsay's display caused the crowd to stand up and roar with approval. Lori, Leni, Lucy, Luna, and even Luan, sniffled at the display. The rest of the Louds' eyes widened at Lindsay's gesture and at the roar of the crowd, as Lynn Sr. whispered to Rita, "Wow, I think Lindsay might have it this time."

Rita whispered back, "Never count out Lola, honey."

Lindsay paid attention to none of that as she pulled the costume into a tight hug while miming the first stanza of the chorus:

I'll be your cloud up in the sky (Ooh!)
I'll be your shoulder when you cry (Cry…)
I hear your voices when you call me
I am your angel (Your angel…)

As the final rendition of the chorus began to play, Paige, Becky, and Linda started singing along. Upon hearing the voices of her sister and mother, Lindsay looked towards the crowd in astonishment. Her astonishment would grow when the Rosato family joined the Sweetwaters in singing the second part of the chorus:

And when all hope is gone, I'm here
No matter how far you are, I'm near
It makes no difference who you are
I am your angel (I'll be, I'll be here…)

As the chorus continued to play, the rest of the crowd sans the Louds began to join in to the point where the entire crowd's voices drowned out the PA system. A proud Lindsay decided to roll with the momentum of the crowd and give her full attention to tenderly caressing, hugging, and kissing the costume as she let the crowd sing the rest of the song:

I'll be your cloud up in the sky
I'll be your shoulder when you cry
I hear your voices when you call me (I'll hear your voices, I'll hear your voices)
I am your angel (I am your angel)

As the chorus played on, the crowd was practically screaming the song's lyrics. Lynn Jr. shouted, "Oh BROTHER! THIS GIRL STINKS!", but her rant was drowned out by the crowd's singing. Meanwhile, Lisa observed both her family and the crowd around her, shook her head, and murmured, "Poor emotional humans."

And when all hope is gone, I'm here (When all hope is gone)
No matter how far you are, I'm near (How far you are, I'm near)
It makes no difference (I hear your voice) who you are
I am your angel (Your angel, Angel…)

In the chaos, Lori immediately broke from the cheering crowd and yelled, "LINKY!" She tried to run to look for Lincoln on her own before Rita quickly yanked her back. Lori whispered loudly, "Mom? WHAT THE HELL?!"

Rita snapped back, "What's the matter with you Lori?! We've still got Lola's performance to watch!"

At that, Lori sighed and slumped back into her seat in disappointment while the crowd continued to sing along:

I'll be your cloud up in the sky (Cloud in the sky there…, your shoulder to cry…)
I'll be your shoulder when you cry
I'll hear your voices when you call me
I am your angel
I'm your angel

When the song ended, the entire crowd gave Lindsay a rousing standing ovation that lasted for nearly a minute. Lindsay took the costume's hand and gave the crowd a bow. Afterward, Lindsay made the costume's head give the crowd a bow, which drew even more raucous cheers, before walking back to the stage holding hands with it.

Meanwhile, backstage, the cheering of the crowd had only served to send Lola into another fit of rage. As Lola wrestled against her wires, Cheryl tried to calm Lola down, urging her, "Lola, you've got to get ready for your performance, honey!"

Lola seethed, "LINDSAY IS THE DEVIL! THERE'S NO WAY THE CROWD COULD CHEER FOR HER THIS LOUDLY WHEN SHE'S DANCING WITH A USELESS SQUIRREL SUIT! JUST SHUT UP AND DO YOUR JOB, CHERYL!"

Cheryl replied, trying to calm Lola down, "OK, OK!", before continuing to work on setting Lola's wires up properly.

Meanwhile, just below the stage, Skippy, Winston, Giggles, Polly Pain, Roxanne, Lexi, Janie, Julia, and Peppy were panicking.

Skippy worried, "Oh no!"

Peppy cried, "Lola just ruined everything!"

Lexi fretted, "What are we going to do?!"

Janie, a fair-skinned girl with a braided dirty-blonde ponytail and a blue dress, pointed out, "We don't have enough time to set Lola's prank up!"

Right as the group of co-conspirators were panicking, Lindsay met them backstage. Her look of triumph turned into one of concern when she observed the panicked looks on her co-conspirators' faces as she asked, "What's going on?"

Julia, who looked like Janie except in a green dress, explained, "Lola wants to do her performance now!"

Lindsay gasped before asking, "Now?!"

The rest of Lindsay's group nodded, causing Lindsay to briefly mutter to herself, "Shit, shit, shit." To make matters worse, Donnie could be heard on-stage announcing to the audience, "There's been a change in schedule, and our next contestant is going to need some extra time to get set up. So we're going to have a little intermission. Feel free to get up, stretch out, go to the bathroom, do what you need to do."

After Lindsay and the rest of her allies heard this, they groaned while Lindsay put her hands on her head and dropped her face to her chest in defeat. Roxanne saw this and tried to comfort Lindsay, "It's OK… we've still got time."

Lindsay muttered sadly, "No, no we don't. All eyes are going to be on Lola now, so we can't surprise her." She then sighed before whimpering, "Why did I think this was a good idea?"

Winston rushed over to Lindsay's side and tried to comfort her, "It's OK. There'll be other pageants."

Lindsay looked up at Winston and told him, "I know, but I wanted to get her today! I wore a goddang squirrel costume for this! And it's all about to go to waste! For nothing!" She then slumped down and told her friends, "Go home or get back in your seats, or just stay back here, however you came here, guys. Lola's got us beat… again."

Lindsay then heard Lola yell, "COME ON GUYS! LET'S GO!"

Lindsay moaned, "Our only hope now is if Lola somehow messes up herself. Which she won't because let's face it, the girl's a pro."

As they watched Lindsay curl up in the fetal position in defeat, the rest of Lindsay's co-conspirators rushed over to comfort her.

Peppy tried to assure Lindsay, "It's OK!"

Polly Pain encouraged Lindsay, "You tried your best!"

Lindsay whimpered, "What's the use? That's not good enough… especially with Lola. We need results, and we failed. I failed. And I'm sorry, guys."

While most of Lindsay's co-conspirators were by her side comforting her, Giggles had slunk off into the distance, getting ready to go home herself. Just as she was about to walk down the steps leading away from the stage, Giggles saw a rat scamper onto the floor. The rat squeaked to get Giggles' attention. When Giggles locked eyes with the rat, the rat quickly looked over to the tensile wires that Lola was strapping herself to for her performance. Looking back at the rat, Giggles realized that the rat had an idea, and a devious smirk grew on her face.

(Time Skip: 5 minutes later)

As the rest of the audience filed back into their seats, Donnie walked out to introduce Lola Loud. Donnie said, "Thank you, thank you." Donnie then began, "Now, introducing…", as everyone in the audience except the Louds groaned, while the Louds beamed with anticipation and pride.

(Scene Change: Backstage)

As Donnie listed off Lola's numerous accomplishments in pageantry, Giggles walked back onto the stage. When Lindsay and her allies saw Giggles rejoin them, Polly Pain asked, "What's going on? I thought you were headed home."

Lindsay added, "Yeah," before telling Giggles, "Don't waste your time watching Lola win yet another pageant."

(Scene Change: On Stage)

Donnie continued, "and 3-time winner of the Little Miss Angel Pageant… Lola Loud! With her interpretive dance… 'Over the Rainbow Bridge.'"

While the Louds cheered for Lola, the rest of the audience, with the exception of the Sweetwaters and Rosatos, politely applauded.

The curtains opened to reveal a spectacular yet crudely drawn setup of the sun hiding behind fluffy, white clouds, topped off with a blue background stapled to the wall. Leaning against the wall were beautiful cut-outs of rolling green hills, complete with a massive rainbow that spanned the entire stage. The rainbow itself seemed to be drawn with steps and banisters to make it look like a rainbow bridge. Scattered across the stage were cutouts of trees, dogs and cats. To top off the field-like stage design, a big, soft, green carpet mat was draped across the stage floor to look like grass.

As if the drawn beauty of the props wasn't enough, the dimming of the lights and the spotlight shining on Lola served to highlight the jaw-dropping beauty of her angel outfit. Like Lindsay, she had a solid gold halo in place of her tiara. While it was taped to her forehead, the stick holding the halo up poked out of her head, giving the impression that the halo was floating above her head. Lola's normally silver pearl necklace had been swapped out for pearls of solid gold, which went better with her pristine white dress. Her angel wings were even more prominent than those of Lindsay's. Lola's angel wings were so large that they practically reached her knees at the bottom. To help her with her movement, Lola had decided to wear a slightly shorter dress than she would normally wear, as her white dress extended to her ankles. Below her ankles, Lola was wearing white and gold ballet flats. Lola looked even more pristine and pure than Lindsay, and she made it momentarily seem like she would restore the normal order of things in the Royal Woods pageant circuit.

As beautiful tin whistle music began to play in the background, Lola began to float down gracefully from the roof, with backstage wires, levers, and gears attached to every part of her body. This caused Lindsay to groan once more in defeat as the crowd gasped in awe and wonderment at Lola's grace. However, just as Lola's feet were about to touch the mat, a rat nibbled on the wire attached to Lola's back, causing her to be jolted upward before hitting the ground with a sickening "thud". The crowd winced at that, and backstage, the thud was loud enough to shock Lindsay out of her defeated stupor.

Being the professional she was, Lola got up almost immediately even though the wire was straining to hold Lola's weight. She got up just in time to tell the audience, "Every angel falls, but that just makes the rise more beautiful." The whole crowd, except for the Sweetwaters and Rosatos, erupted with applause at Lola's composure. Lola then flew across the stage as the first verse of the song began:

Every night in my dreams
I see you, I feel you
That is how I know you go on

The grace, athleticism, & body control Lola exhibited wowed the crowd. Even though Lola could clearly feel the wires being pushed to their limit, Lola managed to "fly" to the left side of the stage. After doing so, she then walked up to the dogs and cats and lovingly and tenderly stroked it as the next part of the first verse blared through the PA system:

Far across the distance
And spaces between us
You have come to show you go on

Lola's gesture to the cardboard cutout pets briefly shocked Lana before she crossed her arms and glared at her sister for what she believed was fake sympathy. Back on stage, the wires carried Lola upwards, where a miniature harp floated down towards her. Lola caught the harp in her hands and mimed playing the first part of the chorus as she "flew" over the "field", impressing the crowd even more:

Near, far, wherever you are
I believe that the heart does go on

As the second part of the chorus started, the tensile strength of the wires holding up Lola and her harp began to wear, thanks to the rats' chewing. Lola felt the wires begin to strain under her weight, but gnashed her teeth to give her the strength and focus to continue to stay upright while playing the harp:

Once more, you open the door
And you're here in my heart
And my heart will go on and on

As the song's second tin whistle instrumental played, Lola decided to descend to the floor straight downwards, thinking it would keep the wires in place. Once Lola had safely landed on the ground, she paused for a split second before starting to fly over to the right side of the stage with her harp to "comfort" the animals on that side of the stage as the second verse began:

Love can touch us one time
And last for a lifetime
And never let go 'til we're gone

Unfortunately for Lola, the rat-induced reduction of the wires' tensile strength combined with the speed that Lola tried to fly across the stage at to produce embarrassing results. The wires broke under the force that Lola was putting them under, which also caused the lever and gear functions that kept them stable to also go awry. As a result, Lola went from an upright position to facing the stage flat on her stomach, which didn't help when the harp's wires also broke and landed on her head. At about the same time that Lola's wings curled back into her back, the sharp edges of the harp's lowest strings landed on Lola's head, partially shaving her hair off and leaving her hairstyle completely disfigured. Lola quickly recognized the position she was in and tried to turn herself upright to resume the performance. However, as she moved further to the far right side of the stage, the wires broke, causing her to bounce cartoonishly every time she tried to get back in the air and float towards the stage's far side:

Love was when I loved you
One true time I'd hold to
In my life, we'll always go on

The reaction of the audience turned from shock to mild mocking chuckles. To try to save the performance, Lola tried to float back to the center of the stage. But at this point, the strength of the wires had been so worn down that Lola continued to bounce 2-3 feet off the ground as she tried to make it back to the center of the stage. As Lola grew more desperate to save herself, she ended up tangling the wires onto several other stage lighting equipment, causing lighting and props to fall from the roof and break as the second rendition of the chorus began:

Near, far, wherever you are
I believe that the heart does go on (why does the heart go on?)

The volume of the crowd's mocking laughter grew as Lola's control over her movements lessened. As the cycle of Lola helplessly flailing and falling came to an end, she found herself suspended upside down about 2 feet above the ground. And as if that wasn't enough, a few rats began to scamper onto the performing area of the stage, causing Lola to let out an ear-piercing, disgusted yell:

Once more, you open the door
And you're here in my heart
And my heart will go on and on

Lana gasped in sympathy for her sister and yelled out, "DON'T WORRY! I'LL SAVE YOU!" Her parents and older sisters tried to stop her, but Lana easily overpowered them, hurdled over the legs of the rest of the patrons seated in the same row, and ran to the stage as the song's third tin whistle instrumental played.

By the time Lana arrived on stage, the first line of the final rendition of the chorus played as Lana desperately tried to shoo the rats away from her twin sister, "SHOO! SHOO!":

You're here, there's nothing I fear

Unfortunately, as soon as Lana arrived on the stage, the rats got a whiff of her scent and were immediately attracted, causing hordes of rats to scamper onto the stage to surround Lana:

And I know that my heart will go on

There were so many rats that they started knocking down some of the props that had been set up. When the audience saw the stage start to become overrun by rats, they started panicking and screaming, "OH MY GOD!", and, "EEEWW!":

We'll stay forever this way

As rats continued to swarm the stage, many audience members began to beeline for the exits. Meanwhile, Lindsay and her group of co-conspirators snickered as they watched Lola's performance unravel. Lindsay whispered cheers of, "Yes! YES! YESSSSSSS!":

You are safe in my heart and
My heart will go on and on

As the song's climax came to an end, Lindsay and her allies mockingly applauded Lola, "Bravo! Bravo!", while laughing at her.

Winston snarked, "10/10!"

Skippy whispered, "BEST SHOW EVER!"

Giggles punned, "Talk about When Rats Attack!"

Roxanne mocked, "Have fun with your new friends, Lols!"

Lexi applauded while jeering, "Encore! Encore!"

As the cheers of Lindsay's friends grew louder, she quickly shushed them, reminding them, "We don't want her to hear!"

Roxanne was about to ask why before Lindsay and her allies heard total silence in the pageant hall. A few seconds later, the cellphones of Lindsay and all of her allies rang in unison.

When Lindsay picked up her phone, she noticed "Mom" as her caller ID. She pressed the "answer" button and answered, "Hello?"

Linda fretted, "Oh my god, honey! Are you safe?! There was a massive rat attack on stage!"

Lindsay scoffed, "Yeah, yeah, Mom, I'm fine."

Linda breathed a sigh of relief, "Thank God", before instructing Lindsay, "Meet us at the van. We'll stand outside so you can find us."

Lindsay put on her best distressed face and told Linda, "I don't know… Mom… I need a few moments to process this."

Linda gasped before assuring Lindsay, "We'll be right there, honey!"

Lindsay sniffled, "OK," before hanging up the phone and exchanging knowing smiles with her co-conspirators.

Meanwhile, the pageant judges glared at Lola and Lana, who were groaning in pain. Donnie hissed at the twins, "Who? Did? THIS?!"

The twins pointed at each other immediately, and exclaimed, "It was her! Uh… she did it!" The twins then began blabbering incoherently, gradually increasing their volume, until they yelled at Donnie, "IT WAS SABOTAGE!"

The judges were even more flabbergasted at the twins struggling to claim responsibility for the sabotaged pageant than the sabotage of the pageant itself.

As soon as Lindsay walked on stage alongside Becky, Paige, and Linda, she flashed Lola a smug grin that only she could see. Lola seethed and growled in rage before pointing and yelling at Lindsay, "IT WAS HER! LINDSAY SWEETWATER! SHE RUINED MY PAGEANT!"

As the judges' irate gazes turned to Lindsay, she quickly and confidently defended herself, "Uh… I don't know what she's talking about. I was backstage the whole time, except for when I performed."

Lola roared back, "THAT'S THE POINT! ONLY SOMEONE WITH ACCESS TO THE STAGE COULD HAVE DESTROYED MY WIRING AND SENT ALL THOSE RATS ONTO THE STAGE!"

Despite the judges' intensifying glares towards Lindsay, she maintained her composure and insisted, "Again, I don't know what that girl's talking about. If anything, I think Lola sabotaged the pageant. I mean, how else do you explain Lana, her twin sister, coming in mid-performance, and attracting more rats onto the stage? As far as I know, that's illegal according to the pageant rules!"

Paige murmured in agreement, "Mm-hmm. Definitely Lana."

Becky added, "I saw her running on stage. I was in the audience!"

Jessie Rosato, the mother of Jenny, Girl Jordan, Janie, and Julia, concurred, "And it wasn't just her! Where were the parents?! How could the Loud parents let their kids run wild like that?"

Linda exclaimed, "Yeah, their oldest one, Lori, distracted my daughter when she was performing, too!"

In response, Lori gasped before glaring at Linda and muttering under her breath, "Traitor." As the Sweetwaters and Rosatos quickly blamed the Louds for Lola's sabotaged performance, the rest of the pageant contestants came out on stage to besmirch Lola's name.

Janie claimed, "That dirty little cheat was working with her twin sister to put rats on the stage for my performance! Those two brats can't keep their animals under control!"

Julia concurred, "Yeah, mine too!"

Roxanne accused, "I saw Lola sneaking rats into the dressing room!"

Lola gasped before seething, "Why, Roxanne, you little…", before Lexi added, "I bet she worked with Lana to schedule her performance earlier so no one else could perform!"

Diana Sherwood then scolded, "Trying to win a pageant by making sure no one else can perform? Wow… that's low. Even for you, Lola."

Lola blushed while defending herself, "What? But I didn't…"

Peppy quickly interrupted, "Save it, Loud. We know how low you'll stoop to win a competition."

A little girl with long, red hair, an orange tiara, orange heels, and an orange dress with a white sash named Chelsea Chase, yelled, "Yeah!", as the rest of the beauty pageant's contestants came out to shout and yell in agreement, demanding something be done about Lola.

As the judges listened to the mass outcry against Lola, they briefly glared at the girl before huddling in private to discuss what to do about her.

Donnie asked, "You think we should check the security footage?"

One of the other judges, a blonde-haired, fair-skinned woman wearing a bluish-green jean jacket over a reddish-purple turtleneck named Jessica Borutzki, added, "I don't know. You know, Lola's been a real brat to me all these years! To all of us!"

Another judge, a fair-skinned, reddish-brown-haired man with a short beard named Chris Sabini, countered, "I don't know… this girl maybe just had a bad pageant. Plus, it was her twin sister that ran on stage. What if we just banned her?"

As Lindsay observed the judges deliberating whether to kick Lola out, she approached the judges sniffling and crying crocodile tears. When Chris saw Lindsay's tear-stained face, he asked, "What's wrong, little girl?"

Lindsay sniffled, "Oh… nothing. It's j-j-just…", before sniffling some more, "L-L-Lola L-Loud's b-b-been a b-brat t-to m-me all these years, a-a-and a-all b-because I-I w-w-wanted t-to b-be h-her…", before wailing, "FRIE-HE-HE-END!" She then hugged Chris' legs and begged, "Oh, she's such a meanie!"

Jessica sadly looked at Lindsay and tried to reassure her, "There, there, it's OK."

Lola's jaw dropped at Lindsay's crying, but Lola began truly seething when she saw Lindsay pull out her phone and sniffle to the judges, "T-t-there's s-something I-I need to show you. I-It's about L-Lola. A-and t-t-trust me, i-it'll b-be i-important in making your decision. W-w-whatever y-you decide, I'll be OK with it."

Lindsay then wiped the pretend tears off her face as the judges traded glances after taking Lindsay's phone. When the judges pressed the play button, the first thing they saw was Lana, Luan, & an apparently fully-dressed Lola evilly grinning in the dark as they released a couple of dozen rats into the dressing room. The next clip showed a bunch of kindergarten-aged girls and their mothers running away from the dressing room screaming underneath a "Little Miss Easter Pageant" banner.

In the next clip, Lynn Jr. begged Lola as she carried a pink duffle bag into the pageant's dressing room, "Lola, you don't need to do this! You always destroy these girls!"

Lola put her finger to her chin, tapped it in thought, and said, "Hmm…", before telling Lynn Jr. quietly, "You know what Lynn, you're right."

Lynn Jr. bragged, "I know I'm right. Now hand the itching powder bottle to me."

When Lynn Jr. turned to see Lola digging through her pink duffle bag and pulling the itching powder out, she proudly held her hand out and smiled at Lola. However, in a split-second, Lola turned around, flashed a sinister smile at Lynn Jr., and yelled, "LYNN, THINK FAST!", before spraying the itching powder on Lynn Jr.'s outstretched hand and face.

Lynn Jr. yelled, "AUGGGHHHH!", before seething at Lola, "Why you little…", and then yelling, "GET BACK HERE!" When Lynn Jr. turned around to give chase to Lola, she saw that the dressing room door had already been shut. As Lynn Jr. resorted to practically punching the door to get her attention, the other contestants in the dressing room huddled in fear next to their parents, giving Lola the perfect opportunity to strike. She sprayed the itching powder on every one of her competitors' dresses to make each grain of powder look like a "sparkle."

The video then cut to another clip a few minutes later, where screams could be heard behind the dressing room door.

The judges gasped at the video, immediately pressed pause, and glared at Lola. As they stormed towards Lola, Lola gulped as Jessica scowled, "Well, well, well… it looks like this is all the evidence we needed."

Jessica then pressed the "replay" button on his phone so Lola could watch the video as well. After Lola finished watching the video, she insisted, "What?! Someone faked that! I swear, nerds these days and their video editing technology, heh heh."

However, the judges remained unmoved, with Chris proclaiming, "Lola Loud, you're officially banned from all pageant circuits in Royal Woods, Oakland County, and the State of Michigan!"

Lola's jaw dropped in shock as she gasped before yelling an ear-piercing, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!", that could be heard outside of the pageant hall. Lola cried so loudly that everyone in the room had to cover their ears to spare their hearing. After that, she immediately growled at the judges and tried to punch Chris, but Chris blocked the punch with a firm grip on her hand. At that, Lola sniffled, "Y-y-you t-touched m-me. B-b-b-bad t-touch. I-I'm g-g-going t-to t-tell m-my m-mommy a-and d-daddy!"

However, none of the judges bought Lola's lie, with Donnie snarling at Lola, "Sorry, that's not going to cut it. Not here. You are done. Finished. Finito."

Jessica then added angrily, "Yeah! And that goes for the rest of your rambunctious family!", causing the Louds to gasp in mild offense.

Finally, Chris told Lola, "And for the fact that you've cheated, or tried to cheat, your way to victory in at least three pageants… which we know of, all your pageant wins are hereby forfeited and vacated. You will be required to return all your pageant trophies to the Royal Woods Pageants' office within 30 days."

When Lola heard Chris' punishment, she immediately ran to the judges' table and flipped it over before grabbing a chair, hoisting it over her head, and trying to throw it at Chris. She then tried to throw the other 2 chairs at Jessica and Donnie. Fortunately for the judges, all of the chairs missed them. But by the time Lola picked up the next chair, she started running over to Lindsay Sweetwater. The Louds and Sweetwaters, who initially winced and decided to back off and fear, gasped before running over to try to restrain Lola from hitting Lindsay with a chair.

As they did, Lola bit down on Lucy's arms and taunted her, "How do you like that, you little vampire?"

Biting Lucy allowed Lola to break free from the Louds' and Sweetwaters' grip and throw her chair at Lindsay. Fortunately, Lindsay sidestepped the chair, making it tumble to the stage. After throwing the chair, Lola was immediately restrained by the rest of the Louds, while the Sweetwaters looked on with arms-crossed glares.

Rita begged Lola, "Come on, sweetie, let's get you to the hospital!"

Lola, continuing to push back against her family, yelled, "But Mom!"

Lynn Sr. tried to convince Lola, "Come on, sweetie. Your face doesn't look so good, and we need it to get better for your next…", before Lola interrupted him, "Wake up! It's over!"

Lynn Sr. sighed, "You're right, sweetie. But you're still my little princess! Now let's get that face fixed up."

As the rest of the Louds dragged Lola away from the stage, Lola saw Lindsay smugly crossing her arms and glaring at her. When Lola saw this, she gasped before screeching, "It was you, WASN'T IT, LINDSAY?"

As Lindsay continued to smugly glare at Lola, Lola shrieked as the Louds dragged her away, "YOU'LL REGRET THIS DAY! I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE! NOT JUST ON YOU, BUT ON EVERYONE HERE! AND THAT INCLUDES YOU THREE, LISA, LANA, AND LUAN! ROYAL WOODS WILL RUE THE DAY THEY EVER MESSED WITH LOLA LOUD! RAAAAAAAAAH!"

As Lola was led away, Lindsay coldly waved, "Bye-bye, Lola." A lot of the other pageant contestants joined in giving Lola mocking goodbye waves as she was led away by her family.

Closing A/N: BOOM! Lola's pageant career is over! Since beauty & manipulation are Lola's ultimate pride and joy, I realized that for the Sweetwaters' revenge on Lola, they would have to target both. Plus, Lindsay would want personal revenge on Lola so she could be Royal Woods' beauty pageant queen. Big shoutout, again, to my boy Saccharine for helping me pinpoint the finer details of Lola's humiliation.

A/N 2: Regarding the Rosatos, Jennifer, Janie, & Julia were named after similarly-aged characters in some Jordancoln fics I read. I don't remember where I got the idea for Julia from, but I do remember one fic where it mentioned Girl Jordan had twin younger sisters in Janie and Julia. Jessie was named after Girl Jordan's mom in heavy5commando's fics.

A/N 3: I decided to use Donnie Dufresne (pre-transition) instead of Dana Dufresne (post-transition) because I've already got a character named Dana in this fic (Leni & Lori's canon friend). I feel like I didn't need two.

A/N 4: The videos that Lindsay shows the judges were intended to be the secrets Lindsay told Lincoln in "A Tattler's Tale." So there you have it… Lola has been revealed as a cheater!

And now, for the best of the reviews (haven't done this one in a while):

- eyowtiqrup: I've been getting chapters done fast because I set myself a 14,000-word limit on any document I write. It's more or less been evening out to 2 chapters a pop. So by the time I release 1 chapter, I've already got the next one about half-done.

- Grant: Thanks!

- Sparkletina: Rusty's beatdown happened outside of school property (at Tall Timbers Park), so Principal Huggins doesn't punish them for it. As for the Sweetwaters not telling Lincoln about the deaths of the pets, Linda Sweetwater tells Lincoln during their car ride back to the Sweetwater Manor in Chapter 19. I edited Chapters 15 & 19 to account for those details. As for the idea of Lincoln mocking all their hobbies and interests and posting it on the internet, thanks! I'll keep that in mind!

Will Lola ever regain her former beauty? How will the Louds respond? How will Lindsay respond now that she's finally on top? Find out next chapter on… REVERSAL! OF! FORTUNE!