“Do you think Sunset is okay?” Lyra Heartstrings asked Bon Bon, who shrugged.
“I hope so. Even if she's really guilty, that's not a reason to beat her like that.”
“Go tell that to the bullies,” Octavia muttered to herself.
The three of them, with Vinyl, were sitting in the darkened bleachers of the gym, waiting with the others for the start of this surprise announcement. Some of them, having witnessed what had happened, had already had an idea. Others, completely ignorant, kept asking others for their opinions.
There were:
“Do you think it's Anon-a-Miss? Did they find out who did it?”
“No need to. It's that bitch of Sunset Shimmer. No doubt about it.”
“I wouldn't be so sure.”
Also:
“Did you hear about what happened in the halls?”
“No. What happened?”
“Sunset Shimmer got a beating from Dumbbell.”
“Ha! I hope he put her in her place.”
Octavia listened to them without really registering what was being said, too lost in her thoughts. Bon Bon and Lyra looked around, watching the students. Vinyl was lost in her world of music, one of her favourite mixes played through her headphones. They saw Flash and Derpy entering the room, electing the surprised looks and confused whispers from the students.
“Did you know Flash Sentry defended Sunset Shimmer.”
“What?! But didn't he hate her?”
“I don't really know what to think about the situation...”
“Do you think Sunset is really Anon-a-Miss?” asked Bon Bon.
“I don't see anyone else,” Lyra answered.
She turned to Octavia who nodded. She shook her head and felt a sudden flick on her temple. She grunted and looked at Vinyl who was frowning.
“What was that?”
Vinyl deepened her displeased expression and nodded negatively.
“Ah yes. You already pointed that out days ago. You don't think Sunset is Anon-a-Miss, do you?”
Vinyl softened her expression slightly but remained serious.
“Tell me. Can you see anyone else capable of doing all this?... No! I know it's hard to accept. Even I have begun to appreciate her. But open your eyes...” Octavia pleaded.
Octavia felt Vinyl's eyes pierce through her, but she showed no sign of discomfort. Only determination to defend her thoughts. It was Bon Bon who noticed the expression on the DJ's face.
“Doesn't sound like her?!” She paused. “Yes, but it could be a setup on her part to be attacked, couldn't it? That way, we'll suspect her less?”
Vinyl sighed a sad and irritated sigh. No need to try to convince them of Sunset's innocence. What a bunch of blind people. With weary gestures, she put her headphones back on her ears and found herself once again in a world without pain: her thoughts.
“Did I say something wrong?” asked Bon Bon, surprised that Vinyl suddenly decided to ignore them.
“Forget that, Bon Bon,” mumbled Lyra as she brought her friend's intention back to the stage at the back of the gym.
The spotlights came on, revealing principal Celestia and Vice-principal Luna. While the former seemed to be in control of her dark emotions, one could see that the latter was holding back as best she could from grabbing the microphone and giving the students gathered a quarter of an hour's worth of sermons.
Celestia took the floor.
“Usually I would have started an assembly by greeting you in the most dignified manner. But today, unfortunately, that will not be the case.”
Many murmurs were heard among the crowd.
“Silence, please,” Celestia exclaimed patiently. The students fell silent. “Good. To begin with, I will mention that lately, fights often break out in the corridors, which I remind you is strictly forbidden. Moreover, recently a student was injured in one of these fights. And that... I cannot tolerate it. From now on, any act of fighting will be punished more severely than before.
“And that may include expulsion!” Luna added.
“Also, if you ever witness a fight and do not try to intervene, you will be punished as much as the fighters. Because not intervening means that you pretty much approve of these barbaric methods.
Protests arose.
“It is not fair!”
“All you have to do is expel Shimmer and this mess will stop!”
“Yeah! He's right!”
“SILENCE!!”
The following protests died in the mouths of the resentful in front of the angry and cold look of the vice-principal. Celestia turned to her sister and saw that her face was ticking. To the others, it would have been a comical spectacle. But not for Celestia. She knew that coming from her sister, this kind of attitude was a harbinger of trouble.
“Luna, please calm down, I beg you,” implore Celestia, putting one hand on the microphone so that the students don't hear them.
“They don't know what they're saying,” she murmured angrily.
“Maybe they do. But that's no reason to take your nerves out on them.” Celestia coughed and spoke into the microphone again. “Sorry for that little interruption. Fine. Why do you say that expelling Sunset Shimmer would be the solution?”
“Because she's Anon-a-Miss!”
Celestia stared at the speaker.
“Do you have any proof, Miss Lulamoon?”
Trixie squirmed in her seat, uncomfortable with the principal's gaze.
“Well… because it's just like her to do that sort of thing.”
Other students began to support what Trixie said by whispering, "That's right; she's right; I agree!" Celestia watched Trixie carefully as she proudly bulged her chest, due to the support she was receiving.
“Just because it is her type doesn't mean she is the cause of it all. Also, this assembly ends on what I said earlier: all fights will now be punished even more severely than before. On that note, I wish you a good end of the afternoon.”
There was a veritable thunder of chair scraping as the pupils left their seats, mumbling incomprehensible things to their peers. Lyra was no exception.
“It's not fair, all this.”
Bon Bon gave her a friendly pat.
“Look on the bright side. With this, there will be almost no more fighting. No more getting caught in the crossfire.”
“Yeah.”
.
“There you go! You won't feel anything between now and tomorrow,” exclaimed Redheart as she finished dressing Sunset's wound.
“Thank you,”
Redheart gave her a tender smile. There was a knock on the door and Redheart opened it. A few seconds later, Flash, accompanied by Celestia and Luna, entered.
“Are you feeling better?” he asked, letting the three adults talk.
“A little better. Thank you... for earlier.”
“You're welcome,” said Flash, scratching the back of his head.
They remained for a moment in an awkward silence, vaguely hearing the adults talking about Sunset's injuries. Sunset, tired of the embarrassment in the air, decided to break the silence.
“Why did Ditzy and you defend me?”
“Because you didn't deserve it,” Flash answered immediately. “And even if you were really behind Anon-a-Miss, it's not fair to let you get beaten up.”
Sunset stared at the blue-haired guitarist, the last sentence still echoing in her head.
“You... you... you believe me?” the girl stuttered.
Flash laughed nervously.
“I'd have to be a real idiot to believe it was you. The old Sunset was sneaky, subtle and clever. You never would have let so much evidence point to you. But this... is a job badly done. How can people believe that?”
The faces of her friends appeared in Sunset's mind and she bowed her head.
“If only everyone could be like you.”
Flash frowned, thinking the same thing she was thinking.
“What exactly are you doing here?” Sunset added questioningly.
“Well, I was worried about you. And also because Principal Celestia asked me to come.”
“And why did she ask you to come?”
He shrugged his shoulders in ignorance.
“All right” suddenly came Celestia's voice. The two teenagers paid attention to him. “How are you, Sunset?”
“I'm fine, thank you.”
Celestia nodded.
“Do you remember what you told me this morning? I dare to hope that you will revise your words.”
Sunset took about ten seconds to find out what Celestia was talking about. When she arrived at school, she had told her about her meeting with Miss Bookbinder. Celestia had been difficult to convince, but in the end Sunset was able to come back to her flat. At least that was the plan. But with what she had just gone through, the principal might stop her.
“Sorry principal Celestia. But I stand by my decision. I've bothered you enough as it is.”
Celestia sighed. This girl was definitely too nice to others. It's hard to imagine that she ever ran this school before.
“That's what I feared. We can't force you to stay with us, alas. But because of this you will have to walk home and the Anon-a-Miss grudges might take advantage of this to beat you.” She turned to Flash, who stiffened. “That's what brings you here Flash.”
“Me?”
“Since you are one of the students who have a car, and who at first glance believes in the innocence of Sunset, I ask you if it would be possible for you to take her from her home and bring her back every day. I would feel more reassured that way.”
Sunset blinked twice as the information still registered in her head.
Flash reflects for a moment. He was going to have to cut out several things he did in the morning and in the evening, like helping his mother clear the table after the family breakfast or dinner, but it doesn't matter. He nodded with a smile.
“It can be done.”
“Beautiful. With that, we're going to have to ask you to leave. The school doors will have to close soon.”
It was only now that Sunset fully realised Celestia's words and what Flash had later answered. The blows Dumbbell had given her must have slowed her brain down considerably.
“What?”
.
A few minutes later Sunset found herself sitting in the passenger seat of the guitarist's car, morosely watching the landscape go by through the window. Flash watched her out of the corner of his eye, attention focusing on the bandaged wound on her head, before looking back at the road. Silence weighed on him. He wanted to start a conversation, but didn't know what to say.
“It brings back memories” she mumbled suddenly.
Flash looked at her and saw that she was staring with a sad smile at a small stain on the inside of the car where the co-driver's airbag was placed. Flash had a small laugh.
“Yeah.”
This stain had been caused by Sunset, on their very first date. She had accidentally spilled a milkshake in the car. She and Flash had spent 15 minutes cleaning it up and when Sunset was about to clean up the last stain, Flash told her not to do it, wanting to keep it as a souvenir. She burst out laughing.
That laughter. The laughter that came out of her mouth that day was full of joy, a surprising thing coming from her in the past; the same laughter that usually came out of her mouth the days after the Battle of the Bands. But now it had completely disappeared.
Suddenly the clouds roared and the rain began to fall. There was still silence, but this time it was not disturbing because everyone was lost in their memories. After a few blocks they arrived in front of the house that Sunset had rented to Miss Bookbinder.
“Wait!” exclaimed Flash as Sunset was about to leave the vehicle after whispering a faint thank you.
Sunset looked at him, confused. Flash took an umbrella from the back seat, got out of the car and came to stand in front of the passenger door, offering shelter from the incessant raindrops coming from the sky.
“Still a gentleman,” Sunset smiled and gave him a friendly elbow, walking with him towards the entrance.
Flash blushed.
They reached the doorway and after some reflection Sunset turned towards him.
“Before entering, I want to thank you once again for what you have done for me...”
“It was nothing.”
“... and also to apologize for the bad times I've put you through in the past.”
Flash put a hand on her shoulder.
“It's all in the past, don't worry. Besides, for me, you have already redeemed yourself by beating those three girls in October.”
Sunset smiled at him. The very first big smile she let appear on her face since the cyberbully account appeared. A smile that made Flash sad not to see on her face anymore. Flash smiled back at her. He noted the sudden change with the moody girl she had been the last two weeks. She had been empty, like a dead among the living. At that moment it was as if she was the living being and her surroundings, the dead.
Sunset took a sudden step towards him and with surprise, Flash suddenly felt the girl's lips against his cheek. There was a moment, during which Sunset laughed at his reaction before entering the house. Flash stood still for a few seconds, then gradually raised his right hand and gently touched her cheek where Sunset had kissed him. He caressed it for a moment before getting into his car and driving home, the little kiss still in his thoughts.
.
Miss Bookbinder continued sweeping. She had promised herself that she would clean the whole house for the redhead's return. After several minutes she heard a car pull up in front of the house. She looked out the window and saw Sunset getting out of the car with a boy she knew to be the redhead's ex-boyfriend. She waited a few seconds and laughed as she watched Sunset enter.
“What are you laughing at?” Sunset asked.
“Is he your boyfriend?”
Sunset turned red as a tomato.
“Who? Flash?” She laughed nervously. “No. Well, not any more.”
“Sunset. Sunset. You hide your feelings very poorly.”
“But since I'm telling you I don't have feelings for him!”
“Maybe now. But from the way you kissed him, it won't be long,” said Miss Bookbinder with a knowing smile before returning to the back of the house.
Sunset growled and climbed the stairs. When she reached the middle, she heard the doorbell ring. With another growl, she went down the stairs and opened the door. Her expression suddenly became worried and fearful.
In front of her were Applejack, Rarity and Rainbow Dash, sheltered under umbrellas.
The first seemed angry and tired. Rarity only seemed unhappy to be there. And Rainbow...
She let go of her rain cover and grabbed Sunset by the pass and started shaking her frantically.
“You... you...”
“Rainbow Dash... stop!” Sunset said to the athlete, feeling her head screaming in agony, still not fully recovered from Dumbbell's blows.
“Not until you stop, Anon-a-Miss.”
She stopped shaking the redhead and the redhead could finally see a flame burning in her eyes that meant only one thing: revenge.
“I'm going to make you pay. How dare you?”
“Dare what?” Sunset asked, confused and frightened.
“I'm telling you. It is one thing to publish things about me, but publishing things about Scootaloo was a line you shouldn't have crossed.”
“I... I've never done that.”
“Wait a minute. Let me refresh your memory.”
And she slapped Sunset who staggered and clung to the door frame. Rainbow was about to give another one but Applejack stopped her.
“Stop it, Dash. Don't become like her.”
“How can you say that? After what she did to Applebloom...”
“I with AJ, Rainbow,” said Rarity in turn. “Leave her alone; she doesn't even deserve attention.”
Rainbow took a deep breath of air before she walked away from Sunset and turned her heels. Applejack and Rarity, after a quick disappointed glance at Sunset, joined her. And Sunset stood there, watching them pull away. After a few steps, Rainbow stopped and turned around.
“If I were you, I wouldn't go back to Canterlot High. No one wants you there,” she shouted to the redhead.
From the distance, Sunset heard clearly the slap that Rarity generously gave to the girl resounding in the air. But even that little scene didn't console her. Tears fell again and she closed the door.
“Sunset Shimmer?”
Miss Bookbinder suddenly ran to her.
“I heard voices and... why are you crying?”
Sunset didn't answer.
“It was them, wasn't it?” she said, noting the mark of the slap on the redhead's cheek.
Sunset nodded her head. Bookbinder growled.
“Let them think what they want. Like me, they'll finally understand that you're innocent.”
What the young woman didn't know was that Sunset now doubted it.
.
Applebloom, along with her two best friends, watched Sunset being insulted by disgruntled students with a grimace.
“Don't you think they're getting a bit too strong with words?” remarked Scootaloo.
“Ha, you think so?” Sweetie Belle asked sarcastically as she watched a fashion fan called Aqua Blossom openly insult the redheaded "bitch" after Sunset managed to avoid a can of paint intended for her and send it to the sender, i.e. to Aqua Blossom.
“Yes.”
They walked past the two girls who were shooting at each other, imaginary flashes of lightning crackling between them.
“Don't you think that today... Sunset is like... on the counter-offensive?”
“Ah. You noticed it too?” asked Applejack's little sister.
“Everybody noticed it,” said Sweetie Belle, hearing bursts of voices exploding in the corridor they had just left. “We don't know why, but today she is defending herself, responding to scathing provocations... I even saw her getting ready to attack Curly Winds two hours ago, if Mrs. Harshwhinny wasn't passing by at the time.”
“Yeah. You might say she's not letting it happen anymore.”
They entered the cafeteria, crowded with students insulting each other and arguing.
“Don't you think we've gone too far?” Apple Bloom asked.
“Of course we did. But we had no choice,” Sweetie Belle mumbled sadly.
“Don't you think we should stop?” asked Scootaloo.
“Yes, but if we stop now, at the same time Sunset starts to pull herself together, it's only going to get worse, isn't it?”
“You're right,” said Sweetie Belle, looking at the table where her sister and her friends were sitting and the one where Bon Bon, Lyra, Octavia and Vinyl were sitting; the only tables where there was no discord.
With their lunch trays in their hands, they sat down at an empty table and began to eat without a care in the world. Scootaloo observed their surroundings. They had got what they wanted, but was it worth it? No. The answer was as simple as that.
.
“That bitch!”
This sudden swearing startled Applebloom as she closed her locker for the last time that day. She turned to the source and saw a group of five students talking.
“She will pay for this!”
“Calm down, Gilda. Remember what the principal said. Fighting equals suspension or expulsion. And Dumbbell has already had a taste of it.”
Dumbbell growled and Score laughed. Gilda ignored them.
“On the first day of the holiday, I'm going to give her a personalised gift.” With a sadistic smile she took out (Applebloom shuddered) a penknife and placed it right in front of her face. “She won't forget it.”
Applebloom was so fast that she was just a red blur to the group as she passed by. She passed her friends waiting for her outside without a word and continued towards the suburbs of the city. She ran as fast as she could, and didn't stop to breathe until she reached her destination: the house of Sunset. Her friends reached her a few seconds later.
“Damn it. How fast are you running?” Sweetie Belle asked, almost collapsing to the ground.
“Okay. You... owe us... an explanation, Applebloom,” said Scootaloo.
Applebloom, too panting, gave them a brief summary of what she had heard.
“It's barbaric,” mumbled Sweetie Belle.
“I'm going to tell the truth to Sunset. We're the ones who got her into this mess. We watched her get attacked and didn't react, but I'm not going to sit on the side-lines now.
And without waiting for her friends again, she walked over to the landing and pressed the doorbell. Nobody came. She rang the bell again. Still nothing. After two minutes, Applebloom had had enough and punched the door with her fists.
“OH-OH!! IS ANYONE THERE?!”
“I don't think so, Applebloom.” said Scootaloo.
Applebloom ignored her and looked through the mail slot and saw that the house, despite the sun still shining, was plunged into darkness.
“There's no one there,” she grumbled.
“That's what I said. Anyway, Gilda said she would only act on the first day of the holidays, away from the teachers. Which means we still have many days to warn her. We have plenty of time.”
Applebloom just sighed and watched the mist coming out of her mouth.
.
The next day, Thursday, came slowly like a snail for Applebloom who wanted to talk to Sunset as soon as possible. She was in such a hurry that she skipped breakfast, much to Granny Smith's dismay. Without a word as to why she was doing this, she put on her boots and walked out of the house, taking the road to school even earlier than her sister did. A record. Early, too early even, she arrived in front of Canterlot High, whose glass doors were still locked, and sat down on the steps. She waited for half an hour and the earliest students began to arrive. Normally Sunset was one of them, always arriving in the fifth, even during Anon-a-Miss; but after the twentieth, which was Applejack, there was still no sign of the redhead. Which worried her a little.
“Is everything all right Applebloom?” asked Applejack, sitting next to her.
“It's all right. I'm just waiting for someone. I have something important to tell her.”
“Ah! I was worried about you when you left home like that. Guess I was worried for nothing. Goodbye, sugarcube”.
She got up and left to join Pinkie Pie who had just arrived, near the Wondercolt statue.
She waited and waited. Still no sign of the girl. In the meantime the front yard was gradually filling up. The air was cold. So was the atmosphere. No greetings. No hugs between friends. Only distrustful looks. She spotted Sweetie Belle, arriving with Rarity, and waved at her. As quickly as she did this morning, Sweetie Belle left her sister and went to Applebloom.
“Have you talked to her?” she asked.
Applebloom shook her head.
“Alas, no! She still hasn't arrived.”
“Hasn't she? But usually she always arrives early and there…” She looked at the watch on her phone. “... there are still ten minutes before the start of classes.”
“Maybe she's late?” suggested Scootaloo when she came out of nowhere. “What?” she added in front of the surprised and terrified looks of her friends.
“Nothing, nothing,” said Applebloom hastily, trying desperately to calm her heartbeat. “Don't ever do that again.”
“Don't do what?”
“Come like this and talk into our ears. It's creepy,” says Sweetie Belle, a hand on her heart.
Scootaloo ignored the remark and gave Applebloom a serious look.
“Couldn't they have acted earlier?”
“Maybe they could have. I'm not hiding it from you girls, I'm worried,” Applebloom confessed.
“Me too!” admitted Sweetie Belle.
The bell rang and they exchanged a worried look.
“I hope she's all right,” Applebloom muttered.
.
Sunset watched the students enter the school building, hidden behind a tree, her eyes lingering on her friends who were laughing among themselves. She wanted to look at the school that had been like a second home for her all these years, perhaps for the last time. It reminded her of her time as a student of Princess Celestia. She sighed, thinking of the alicorn. How she regretted her words of long ago. Shouting at her mentor and insulting her when all Celestia had done was protect her... she was a complete idiot.
A tear fell on the ground as she came out of her hiding place and headed towards downtown, more than ten kilometres away. She got off the bus half an hour later. Knowing what she had to do, she wasted no time going to the mall. She visited several shops, buying what she would need for what she was about to do and endure.
She came out two hours later with several bags and a large, sturdy backpack and waited. Finally, a bus arrived at her level and she was literally knocked down by Spitfire when the teacher get out of it.
“Sunset Shimmer? Shouldn't you be in class?”
“Normally yes, but I, er... I have access to my flat again and... I have to arrange some things. I already told principal Celestia (and Flash) that I will be absent.”
“I see.”
Sunset had a nervous laugh. Of course, she didn't say anything to the counterpart of the Princess of Equestria but only to the guitarist.
“Yes... By the way, thank you for Miss Bookbinder.”
Spitfire made a dismissive gesture with her hand, as if she was chasing away an unwanted fly.
“It was absolutely nothing to put her in her place, please. I'll leave you. I've got a date with some people.”
She walked towards the entrance to the centre and stopped one last time to shout something.
“Don't let Anon-a-Miss do this to you. You are stronger than her. And don't forget that there are people who care about you.”
And she disappeared into the crowd.
A little late to say that, Sunset thought bitterly as she got on the next bus.
.
The evening came quickly. All day long Sunset's phone had been ringing and buzzing. She ignored it, not wanting to waste her afternoon reading hate messages.
Sunset stopped in front of a dumpster and after a few seconds of reflection, she threw her plastic bags into it, putting away what was in the backpack she had bought. Suddenly her phone vibrated with a different ring tone. She took it in her hand and watched the screen display an incoming call. When she saw the name, without thinking, she crushed the phone with her boot and threw it in the dumpster with half of her empty plastic bags and went back to her job: putting her newly acquired things in her bag.
.
“Are you going first?”
“No way!”
“Come on. You are the bravest.”
“Not this time, unfortunately.”
“Sweetie Belle?”
Sweetie Belle refused.
“It was your decision, so let's go.”
Applebloom swallowed her saliva and looked through the window of the Sugarcube Corner, watching her sister and her friends brooding. Earlier, having seen no sign of Sunset all day, she had announced to her friends that she was going to confess. They were shocked and tried to talk her out of it, not to keep blaming Sunset but to protect themselves from others.
“In that case, let's confess it first to the principals,” she had said at the time.
They had gone to Celestia's office and confessed in great detail the purpose of the Anon-a-Miss profile and its origins. In other words, Celestia was ready to break something, and Luna kept getting agitated, as if she was holding back from strangling them. Both of them had announced that they were going to have to make a public apology in front of everyone, which they didn't mind, as long as they were out of the students' clutches, which Celestia had granted them.
After that, they went to the café they were standing in front of to confess their crime to their sisters. They were nauseous about it.
“Let's do this...”
Applebloom pushed the door open and the bell rang. The Rainbooms, the only customers present, straightened their heads to give them a curious look.
“Applebloom? What are you doing here?” asked Applejack.
“We've come to tell you something...”
“We?” Fluttershy repeated interrogatingly.
Applebloom looked over and saw that Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo hadn't followed her. She looked at the front door and saw them hiding in the shadows.
“Come on, come on!”
The two girls approached cautiously.
“Hi Rainbow/Rarity!”
“Scootaloo/Sweetie Belle?” exclaimed Rainbow and Rarity respectively.
“You want to tell us something,” Applejack repeated, confused.
“Yes,” replied a trembling voice that Applebloom recognized as her own.
Applejack looked at her friends who shrugged their shoulders in ignorance and sighed.
“So, what is it?”
Applebloom swallowed. She opened her mouth but no sound came out. This frustrated her and she burst into tears. Soon Sweetie Belle imitated her, feeling the same uneasiness. Even more confused than before, the group then watched Scootaloo, expecting her to suddenly cry too. She was uncomfortable too but she wasn't going to water the floor.
Scootaloo swallowed her saliva, picked up the phone that Applebloom handed her and entered MyStable. Words weren't enough. Proof was needed. After logging into the account, without a word, she handed it to Applejack who took it and looked at the screen.
The next five seconds felt like centuries for the three girls, waiting fearfully for the farmer's reaction.
“I confess I don't understand. What does it mean?”
She gave them the phone back and when they saw what was on the screen, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle looked at Scootaloo just as confusedly, who didn't understand anything.
“What?”
She picked up the phone and froze. Instead of displaying the Anon-a-Miss account page, the phone displayed a video of pigs dancing salsa in white tutus.
“Oops, sorry.”
She exited the video and now displayed Anon-a-Miss and put it on the table for all to see.
“You've got to be kidding me?!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash, her voice getting lost between anger and confusion.
“Tell me that's a joke, Sweetie Belle.” Rarity exclaimed, her eyes never leaving her sister's trembling body.
She lowered her head.
“I'm sorry, Rarity.”
Applejack looked at Applebloom with flames in his eyes.
“Applebloom...” she grunted hard.
Applebloom avoided her gaze like the plague.
“Scoot?”
Scootaloo bit her lip when she heard Rainbow say her name and turned her back. There had a chair scraping, screaming, and soon, Scootaloo found herself face to face with Rainbow Dash's angry face.
“What the hell were you thinking? Do you realise how much you have hurt us, the teachers, the school and...”
Rainbow suddenly stopped talking. A realization hit her hard in the face. She remembered how tired, weak and... scared she was. Her fear when she went to confront her in the last few days.
“... and Sunset.”
This name, even if whispered, echoed in the empty café. Rainbow let go of Scootaloo and turned to her friends with the same expression of horror as they had.
“What have we done?”
“We have to call her.” Fluttershy exclaimed.
Applejack wasted no time and took her phone. She scrolled through her contacts and stopped on Sunset one. She lingered on the many messages the redhead had sent, claiming she was innocent but that Applejack had decided to ignore. She shook herself mentally and pressed the "call" button. She waited a few dozen seconds but nothing.
“She didn't answer.”
“Try again!” encouraged Pinkie who also had her phone in her hands, texting at top speed. “Maybe she's in the shower.”
Applejack nodded. She tried calling her again.
All eyes were now on her. Again, nothing. Frustrated, she tried again, unaware that when she had called her the first time, Sunset ignored the call and threw her phone away. As Applejack and Pinkie tried to call their friends, Fluttershy leaned over to the children.
“Why did you do this?”
“We were jealous of the time you spent with her,” Applebloom replied. “You were completely abandoning us. You were with her all the time. We couldn't spend any more time together.”
“Wait a minute! Are you telling us you did this because you were jealous?” Rainbow Dash recapitulated. “It's just...”
“... mean,” Applejack continued coldly, who had given up trying to contact the redhead. “Are you even aware of everything your account has done?”
“We are aware of it. But we never meant for it to go off the rails like this,” Sweetie Belle defended herself.
“Now we know how Anon-a-Miss discovered my nickname and our other secrets. But what I don't understand is how did you find out about the other students?” Applejack asked.
“They told us themselves.”
“Excuse me?” asked Fluttershy.
“They started sending messages,” Applebloom explained. “Messages with secrets about their friends. Like you, they thought it was Sunset...” She noticed the Rainbooms' guilty looks. “... and they forced us to publish them or else they'd come after us... well, Sunset.”
“It's beyond words,” Rarity remarked. “They give secrets and laugh about them but then get angry when theirs are displayed. And on top of that, they threaten and then blame it on Sunset.”
“Conclusion: all Canterlot High School is the bad guy and the good guys are Sunset and the few who believe in her innocence” said Pinkie, chin on her chest. “And unfortunately, we're on the wrong side this time,” she ends with tears in her eyes.
They remained silent for a moment, dealing with everything Pinkie had said. It was hard to admit but she was right. They couldn't imagine all the pain Sunset had had to endure over the past few weeks. And they who had witnessed these moments when she was beaten and didn't intervene…
Applebloom laid a shy hand on Applejack's.
“Applejack? Do you... hate me?”
Applejack closed her eyes.
“No. I'm just angry. Very angry. But I'll admit that if any of this happened, it's half our fault. If we hadn't neglected you like that, none of this would have happened.”
Applebloom gave her a sad smile and Applejack wrapped her in her arms.
“Rarity?”
Sweetie Belle didn't have a chance to prepare for the deadly embrace her sister gave her.
“I guess if I hadn't kicked you out of my room like I did, that is, brutally, you wouldn't have done that, would you?”
“No, I wouldn't.”
“And I also imagine that you took the pictures of Sunset when we were all asleep?”
Sweetie Belle nodded her head in shame.
“We are both to blame, Sweetie Belle. So to answer your unspoken question: no, I don't hate you. I think you just wanted to spend more time with me?” At the nod, Rarity had a sadistic smile on his face. “Well, just so you know, from now on you'll be my model.”
Sweetie Belle shivers. She had already had this role before and it had been hell. But she preferred it to being pushed away. She hugged her sister back.
Scootaloo moaned when she felt a fist hit her shoulder. She looked at Rainbow Dash.
“Saturday. Nine thirty. Running two kilometres. Will you be ready? I warn you, it will be your punishment.” said the athlete with a smile that didn't hide any grudges.
Scootaloo smiled and bumped her fist against Rainbow's.
“Whenever you're ready.”
Pinkie and Fluttershy exchanged a small smile as they looked at the girls and their elders. They left them in each other's arms for a few moments before breaking the apologetic mood.
“Excuse me for interrupting, but what about Sunset?”
Applebloom pulled herself away from her sister's embrace.
“I forgot. Yesterday I heard Gilda say that she was going to take care of Sunset with...” She shivered “... a penknife.”
“WHAT?!”
“BUT WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY THAT EARLIER?”
“Sorry, I forgot. Gilda said she would only do it on the first day of the holidays. When I heard that, I decided to tell Sunset this morning.”
“Aaah! So it was Sunset you were expecting this morning?” Applejack asked.
Applebloom confirmed.
“But she didn't come. You must have noticed that. And that worries me.”
“Me too,” said Rarity, getting up. “Maybe she stayed at home. I don't know about you, but I'm going to her house immediately to apologise. It can't wait.”
Without waiting for them, she put on her winter coat and hurried outside.
“Wait for us, Rarity!”
Unable to contain themselves, they literally ran to the redhead's house.
They were expecting reproaches and even a friendship that had broken down for good, but if that was the price they had to pay to make her hear their apology, then so be it. They were going to take the time they needed to win her friendship again, which in the end they did not deserve. After the Battle of the Bands, it was a whole new facet of Sunset that they had discovered. She had become an extremely caring person, solving their problems at the cost of getting new ones for herself and never asking for anything in return; she had also become kind and caring. Clearly, they did not deserve a friend like her, not after what they did.
They were not at all expecting the sight of a car and two police officers chatting with a crying Miss Bookbinder, with Principal Celestia and her sister desperately trying to calm her down.
“What's going on, Vice-Principal Luna?” asked Fluttershy as she reached her height with the others.
Luna, recovered from the sudden fear Fluttershy had caused her, prepared to answer but was interrupted by the piercing voice of Miss Bookbinder.
“Please find her. I beg you, please find her.”
“Calm down, Miss,” said one of the officers. “Don't worry. We'll do it.”
Bookbinder sniffed and buried her head in her hands. Celestia turned to the officer.
“That will be all, I think. Thank you for coming Shining Armor.”
“It was a pleasure Celestia,” Shining Armor replied. “Don't worry about it. We'll find her. Come on Cold Freeze.”
He got back in the police cruiser with his teammate and soon disappeared into the night.
“What's going on?” Fluttershy repeated.
Luna didn't answer. She handed them a piece of paper that Applejack read aloud. It was a letter.
“Miss Bookbinder found it in Sunset's room.” Luna said.
Dear Miss Bookbinder,
I begin this letter by saying that I thank you for allowing me to come back to this flat, even if it didn't last. You have even been so kind to me over the last two days that even a simple word could not express my gratitude. You have been like a big sister to me all these years, I want you to know that.
Secondly, I am also telling you that I am leaving your flat because I will not have a clear conscience knowing that you are harbouring someone with a target on its back like me. Maybe one day, when they don't hold back any longer, some students who were victims of Anon-a-Miss will come here and attack me. That's why I can't stay. I have to move so that they don't come at me. So I would like you to tell Principal Celestia and the school staff that I thank them for supporting me. It meant a lot to me.
I am finishing this letter to tell you that I am leaving town. There is nothing to keep me here any longer. No safe place to sleep, no job to earn money and most of all... no friends.
Thank you again for everything you have done for me. I wish you a good life and a Merry Christmas.
Sunset Shimmer
Applejack looked up at with tearful eyes her friends, who had the same expression as she did.
Sunset Shimmer left town. And it was because of them.
.
From the top of Canterlot Hill, a small hill that overlooked Canterlot City, Sunset Shimmer looked down on the sleeping city. Completely unaware of the suffering it would cause, she turned and left, leaving this city and her past behind.