Apple Bloom ignored the large amounts of profanity and hateful notes scribbled on her locker in permanent marker as she dialed the combination. She had long since stopped reading it or trying to wash it off.

She had also accepted that this was going to be the norm for her from now on. She knew she had no one to blame but herself; you couldn’t just go around airing other people’s dirty laundry and not expect some of the stink to rub off on you. It didn’t stop it from hurting though.

Opening her locker, she noticed some of her books were missing, including one that contained an assignment that was due today. She supposed she could tell Mr. Doodle that her assignment had been stolen, but she doubted he’d believe her. No one at school trusted her anymore. Not the students. Not the staff. Not even her own siblings.

Thoughts of Applejack filled her head, and she tried to swallow back tears as she remembered the look on her sister’s face when she’d revealed the truth over two months ago; shock, hurt, anger….and absolute betrayal.

“Apple Bloom….what is this?” Applejack asked as she scrolled down Apple Bloom’s phone, her face slowly morphing from worried confusion to horrified outrage. “What the hell is this?!”

Apple Bloom flinched, but stood her ground. Taking a shaky breath, she said softly, but firmly, “We’re Anon-A-Miss. Not Sunset.”

As Applejack slumped back against her seat, trying to comprehend this information, Pinkie Pie had taken the phone from her limp hand and held it up so the others could see. Their expressions mirrored Applejack’s.

“This…is a joke. Right?” Pinkie Pie beseeched, a nervous grin slowly spreading across her face. “Please….please tell me this is just some horrible prank.”

But even as she asked, she knew from the solemn faces of the three girls in front of them that it wasn’t. The grin slid completely off her face and her hair made a deflating sound as it went limp, and she too slumped in her seat.

“Why?” Rarity asked, her hands shaking. She turned to the three girls, her beautiful face contorted in anguish. “For God sakes, why?!”

The girls bowed their heads in shame. “It was mah idea.” Apple Bloom said. “Ah was upset that you were spendin’ more time with Sunset than with me. Ah’m yer family, AJ. Yer supposed ta spend Christmas with yer family. When y’all sent me away, I was so mad. Ah posted that thing about Piggly Wiggly as soon as Ah hung up. Ah thought that, if ya thought that Sunset did it, ya wouldn’t wanna hang out with her anymore. And…” Apple Bloom glanced at Applejack, “Ah wanted ta git back at y’all fer sendin’ me away.”

Applejack clenched her eyes shut, her pain clear on her face.

“I felt the same way.” Sweetie Belle added. “That night at our house, I snuck into your room and took Sunset’s phone when everyone was asleep. I posted the photos.”

Rarity buried her head into her arms.

“But afterwards, things got outta hand.” Scootaloo continued. “People started sending us stuff, asking us to post it. We didn’t know what to do, so….we posted it.”

“We never meant fer things to go this far. We’re so sorry.” Apple Bloom said, fisting a tear from her eye.

For several minutes, no one said anything. Then, slowly, Rainbow Dash stood up and walked in front of the three girls.

“Let me see if I got this right,” she asked, her voice deadly calm. “You posted our most private and embarrassing secrets, made us laughingstocks of the entire school, framed Sunset, and turned the school completely on its head…..because you didn’t get invited to a freaking slumber party. That’s what you’re telling me.”

Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom blushed, unable to meet Rainbow Dash’s cold gaze. Even though they had come to this conclusion themselves, having it said out loud by someone else made them realize just how stupid their whole plan was.

“And what about you?” Rainbow demanded Scootaloo, her voice shaking slightly. “What’s your excuse, huh?”

Scootaloo stared at the floor, feeling lower than dirt.

“You kept saying you were gonna help me with soccer…. And you never did. When Sweetie and Apple Bloom told me their plan, it…it made sense…” she said lamely. She looked up, a small guilty grin on her face. “It….seemed like a good idea at the time.”

Whatever answer Rainbow was expecting, that was obviously the wrong one. Scootaloo’s right cheek and jaw exploded in pain as she was knocked to the floor. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were by her side almost instantly. Scootaloo looked up through blurry eyes to see Applejack and Pinkie Pie gripping a furious Rainbow Dash by the arms.

“Dash! Have you lost yer cotton pickin’ mind?!” Applejack scolded.

“She’ll thank me for it!” Rainbow snarled. “Maybe next time she’ll think twice before she ever does something this stupid again!”

“What on Earth is going on here?” Mrs. Cake demanded as she and her husband emerged from the kitchen. It was nearly closing time so Sugarcube Corner was nearly empty save for the five teenage girls and the three pre-teens. But even so, this was a respectable establishment and she didn’t appreciate people screaming like banshees in her bakery.

“I’ll tell you what’s going on!” Rainbow Dash yelled, wrenching her arms free. She pointed at Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo in disgust. “These three are nothing but secret spreading, backstabbing, lying little brats!”

The three girls in question looked like they’d been punched in the stomach. Scootaloo began to openly sob, her tears making her sore cheek hurt even worse. She had known Rainbow Dash would be angry, but she hadn’t expected this.

“Now see here, Rainbow Dash.” Rarity admonished, standing up. Angry as she was, she wasn’t about to let anyone badmouth her sister. “What my sister and her friends did was petty and foolish, but that was simply uncalled for.”

“Don’t defend them!” Rainbow bellowed, turning on Rarity. “Petty? Foolish? No Rarity. Petty is locking yourself in your room because your parents won’t buy you a car. Foolish is spilling soda on your new shirt. What they did was vindictive and cruel. They knew that spreading those secrets would hurt us, and they did it anyway! This is something I’d expect from Diamond Tiara, or Trixie! Hell, even when Sunset pulled this crap, she never-”

Rainbow froze, a look of horrified comprehension dawning on her face. All five friends shared the same thought.

“She was telling the truth.” Fluttershy whispered, tears streaming down her face. “She tried to tell us, and we wouldn’t listen. We….we all turned our backs on her.”

Fluttershy buried her face in her hands and cried. Pinkie patted her back, her own eyes filled with tears.

Rainbow gripped her multicolored hair in her fists, then went to go stare at the wall next to the door.

Applejack’s eyes fell on the second phone on the table, and realized for the first time that it looked really familiar.

“This is Sunset’s phone.” She whispered. But the others heard her, even Rainbow, and they all turned to stare at the decimated object.

“How did it git like this?” Applejack asked Apple Bloom sternly, holding the phone up.

Apple Bloom quickly gave a summarized version of what she saw that morning. Applejack’s mouth set in a firm line as she made up her mind.

“We need to find her. Now.” The others nodded in agreement. Pinkie whipped out her phone.

“Pinkie, you cain’t call Sunset. She don’t have her phone.” Applejack said wearily.

“No. But several of my contacts do. I’m rounding up a search party.” Pinkie said as she scrolled through her contacts. “It’s a big city and we’ll need all the help we can get. I know some people that owe me a favor.” She tapped a number and put the phone to her ear. “Mr. Cake, is it ok if we put a missing poster in the window?”

“Of course.” He said, his face pale. He turned to his wife. “I’m gonna call the police.”

“That won’t do any good, dear.” Mrs. Cake shook her head. “According to Apple Bloom, she hasn’t been missing that long. The police won’t be able to do anything until 24 hours have passed.”

“Then what are we waiting for?” Rainbow asked, slinging her bag over her shoulder. “Let’s move out.”

As one, the five friends grabbed their things and headed for the door. Pinkie was shrugging her coat on as she spoke on the phone.

“Applejack…do…do you hate me now?”

Applejack paused, then sighed. She turned and knelt down to her sister’s level.

“Apple Bloom…you’re mah sister, and Ah’ll always love you. No matter what.” Applejack placed her arms on Apple Bloom’s shoulders. She eyes turned hard and she leaned in. “But when we git home, Ah’m gonna wear yer hide out so badly you’ll hafta sleep standin’ up for a week. If Granny don’t beat me to it.”

She stood up and then pulled out her phone. “Do y’all mind watchin’ these three until Big Mac comes n’ gits ‘em?”

“It’s no problem.” Mrs. Cake said, looking sternly at Apple Bloom and her friends. She really expected better from those three.

As Applejack texted her brother, Sweetie Belle timidly approached Rarity. “Are you gonna wear my hide out, too, big sis?”

“We’ll discuss this later, Sweetie Belle.” Rarity said stiffly.

Scootaloo rubbed her arm nervously as she tried to get Rainbow to look at her. “Rainbow…I-”

“Scoots. Don’t.” Rainbow said, waving her hand as if Scootaloo were a gnat she was trying to swat. “Just don’t.”

Pinkie Pie hung up and stuffed her phone in her pocket. “Alright. They’re meeting us near Platinum Avenue. Let’s move, people! GO GO GO!!”

With that, the five friends charged out the door into the cold night air to search for the sixth, leaving three heartbroken and remorseful girls and two nervous adults behind in the empty bakery.

In the end, Applejack had made good on her threat. Well, actually, Granny had. For an old lady, she could sure hit pretty hard. Apple Bloom’s bottom felt sore just thinking about it. But not nearly as sore as her arms and legs were from doing all those chores.

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo got it pretty bad too. Sweetie Belle’s parents had donated her computer to charity, saying that she couldn’t be trusted with it if she was going to be a “hateful gossip monger.” Scootaloo’s dad ran over her laptop with his truck. And her phone. And her TV.

All three girls had gotten their Christmas presents confiscated, and had only been allowed to attend the Apple family Christmas party so they could help clean up afterward.

But none of that compared to what they had to face at school. When they had revealed their identities as Anon-A-Miss at the school assembly the morning following their confession to their sisters, the auditorium had exploded in fury, and they had been pelted with anything the students could get their hands on – books, pencils, food wrappers, soda cans, backpacks, wads of paper – Diamond Tiara had even thrown her tiara at them, which nearly hit Sweetie in the eye. They only stopped when Principal Celestia threatened everyone with a month’s detention.

Celestia herself took it much better than they thought she would. While she made no attempt to hide her disappointment, she had agreed to be lenient, since this had been their first major offense and they were genuinely remorseful for what they had done. Their punishment was still heavy, but anything was better than being expelled, right?

Of course, once school started backed up, expulsion had begun to look like paradise. They were about as welcome at Canterlot High as the Black Plague. All three girls became immediate targets, with Apple Bloom getting the worst of it, since she had been the ringleader behind the whole Anon-A-Miss fiasco.

Their sisters and their friends had tried to intervene on their behalf, but they couldn’t be everywhere. And even then, it seemed like they were only doing it out of obligation; Rarity and Applejack made it clear that they were still mad at them, and Rainbow Dash refused to speak to Scootaloo at all.

I wonder if this is how Sunset felt, Apple Bloom thought. She knew the former bully had gone through similar treatment shortly after the Fall Formal.

Sighing, she closed her locker and began to walk dejectedly to class.

“Hey, Apple Bitch!”

Apple Bloom took a deep breath and slowly turned, mentally bracing herself.

There stood three aggressive looking older girls, including a familiar looking one in the middle with white hair and purple highlights.

“I’ve got something for you to blog about.” The middle one growled, cracking her knuckles.

Apple Bloom clenched her eyes shut.

“Ok, Apple Bloom. Just lie back and keep the ice pack in place.”

Apple Bloom did as Nurse Redheart asked. Honestly it wasn’t as bad as she thought it’d be, and the pain in her eye had already begun to subside.

“Now, are you sure that there’s nothing else you need to tell me?” the nurse asked for the fifth time.

“No ma’am. It’s like Ah said. Ah tripped an’ hit mah head on th’ edge of a door.” Apple Bloom monotoned. What could she tell her? No one had seen the attack, and she didn’t even know the names of her attackers, just that they were older than her.

Besides, this is nothing compared to the damage I’ve caused.

Nurse Redheart shook her head sadly. This was the third time this week alone that Apple Bloom had come to her office due to some “accident.” What she and her friends did was wrong, but she didn’t deserve this. Unfortunately, she couldn’t do anything about it unless Apple Bloom told her specifically that she was being bullied. All she could do was patch her up and send her on her way.

“Hey, Bloom.”

Apple Bloom turned to see her friends, and apparently they’d not had a much better morning than her. Sweetie Belle had a gigantic purple stain on her shirt front from where someone had “accidentally” spilled soda on her. Scootaloo’s lower half was covered in dirt and mud and she had a nasty looking gash on her knee from where she had “tripped.”

“Ok Scootaloo. Let’s take a look.” Nurse Redheart sighed, gesturing for her to sit down. She turned to Sweetie Belle. “And you?”

“I have a stomachache.” Sweetie shrugged.

She was obviously lying, but Nurse Redheart gestured for her to sit down anyway. As she went to get some bandages and antiseptic for Scootaloo’s leg, Apple Bloom sat up and removed the ice pack, revealing a very large black eye and a swollen bruised cheek.

“Yeesh. You look terrible, Bloom.” Scootaloo commented.

“Look who’s talkin’, Chicken Legs.” Apple Bloom smirked. She knew Scoots hated being called that.

Scootaloo stuck her tongue out at Apple Bloom, and Apple Bloom made a face back, and soon, all three girls were snickering.

Apple Bloom couldn’t help but smile. These next coming school days may be utter hell, but at least she didn’t have to go through it alone.

Author's Notes:

So...yeah. Apple Bloom and her friends didn't get off scot free.

More to come.