Friday had come with three emails posted to the Anon-a-Miss account. Scootaloo was a little apprehensive to share that she and Apple Bloom where the ones behind the account. Scootaloo sat at a table during the school's lunch hour, with Apple Bloom sitting across from her. Both looked over their phones, each happy to see that the two had already gotten another email for their Anon-a-Miss account, boosting the total emails that day from three to four.

While looking over her phone, Scootaloo didn’t see Sweetie Belle setting down her lunch tray in front of her. Sweetie Belle looked from one to the other as neither of her two closest friends said ‘Hello’ to her. Sitting down at the table next to Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle noticed what was on Apple Bloom’s phone. As Apple Bloom pressed the send button, Sweetie Belle said, “I can’t believe you're actually sending stuff to that Anon-a-Miss person, Apple Bloom.”

Looking up from her phone, Apple Bloom smirked, then looked over to Scootaloo, saying, “Should we tell her, Scootaloo?”

“Tell me what?” Sweetie Belle asked.

Scootaloo set down her phone, put it to sleep, then looked at Sweetie Belle with a dead serious look to her eyes, a look that even Apple Bloom didn’t like.

“If we tell you something, Sweetie Belle, you gotta promise us that you won’t tell anyone else about it.”

“Uh, okay. What are you two going to tell me?”

Both Apple Bloom and Scootaloo exchanged glances before they both said in unison, “We’re Anon-a-Miss.”

Sweetie Belle started to laugh. She only stopped laughing when she noticed the unamused looks on Apple Bloom's and Scootaloo's faces. Clearing her throat and looking at both of them, Sweetie Belle swallowed hard. “You're joking about this, right? Please. Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, tell me you’re joking about this.”

Both Scootaloo and Apple Bloom looked at each, then back at her before Apple Bloom handed over her phone, replying, “It’s true. Ah'm the one that told Scootaloo about my sister's nickname. Then, together, we talked about it, and on Sunday, Ah posted it. Monday is when Ah met with Scootaloo before Applejack showed up, and she gave me the courage ta go through with it. We planted the seeds of doubts about Sunset Shimmer.”

“ARE YOU TWO NUTS!?” Sweetie Belle exclaimed, her eyes going wide. “Why in the world would you both do something so selfish and stupid!?”

“Hey!, Keep your voice down,” Apple Bloom chided, looking around as all eyes suddenly fell upon the three of them. “We don’t want anyone ta know about this, let alone fer our sisters ta find out about it.”

“Yeah. Besides, all we're doing is trying to get Sunset to leave our sisters alone so that we can be a family again,” Scootaloo said, not taking her eyes off her phone.

Crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at her two friends, Sweetie Belle said sternly to both, “I have a good mind to report you both for this. What you two are doing is selfish and wrong.”

Glaring back at Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom also crossed her arms over her chest, replying coldly to her friend, “Ah, but you won’t report us, will you, Sweetie Belle? Because if you do, Ah'll post what Ah have on yer sister.”

Swallowing hard, Sweetie Belle stammered on her words to Apple Bloom. “W-What do you have on Rarity?”

Apple Bloom leaned back into her chair and smiled as she slid her phone over to Sweetie Belle. Feeling very confident, she said, “Press the picture button and bring up the picture retrieval page.”

Sweetie Belle did so, pressing the button and bringing up the photo retrieval page. She saw, to her shock, a picture of her sister. Rarity was at a party, the normally very ladylike girl holding a bottle of beer in one hand and a joint in the other. The date on the photo showed it was from the previous year. The party was clearly at Applejack's farm.

While Sweetie Belle looked over the photo she began to tremble. “How... How did you get this, Apple Bloom?”

“You recall Ah was sick that day. Well, Ah snuck out of the house and took some photos with my phone. Ah couldn’t believe it when Ah saw your sister more wasted than last week's casserole. So, Ah took the photo, waited for a few days, showed it to her, and made a deal with her. She could either get herself help, or the photo could be sent to her mother. Now, before you think or even consider deleting that photo, Ah have at least six other copies of it stashed in a private place. So, are you in or out?”

Looking back up from the phone to Apple Bloom, then to Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle gulped hard, something that her two friends clearly picked up on. She tentatively set down Apple Bloom's phone, letting out a rough, hard, cold sigh as she said, “I’m sorry, Apple Bloom, but I am out. I don’t want any part of this.”

“Be that as it may, so long as we have that photo, you're gonna keep quiet about our...let's say 'extra credit', Sweetie Belle. Otherwise, we'll send that photo to the Anon-a-Miss site, and your sister will have a world of trouble to deal with,” Scootaloo said with a wicked smirk on her face.

“You know what, you two make me sick! I'll keep your secrets about the whole Anon-a-Miss deal for now. But if you go through with this, if you actually post this on that site, my friendship with you is over! Got it?”

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo both looked at each other. Each had a worried look in her eyes. Sweetie Belle got up from the table, taking her uneaten lunch with her. Scootaloo watched with sadness in her eyes as her friend wiped away a tear from her own eyes. Apple Bloom turned to her and said bluntly, “This is all your fault, Scootaloo. If you didn’t actually threaten her like that, we wouldn’t have risked our friendship with her. This whole Anon-a-Miss deal was supposed to be to get Sunset out of our sisters' lives, not to wreck our friendship with Sweetie Belle!”

“Me!? You're the one who had the damn photo on your phone!” Scootaloo exclaimed, her eyes going wide with shock. “I may have threatened her and all, but you're the one that took that damn photo.”

Looking back at her friend as they both watched Sweetie Belle take a seat at another table not far from them, Apple Bloom sighed while Scootaloo smirked. Feeling confident, Apple Bloom said as she picked up her apple juice taking a sip from it, “She’ll come around. You’ll see. Besides, Ah'll be more than willing to give her the copies of the photo that Ah have on her sister. Ah'm sure we can use something else on Rarity that only Sunset would know about.”

“You do understand that if you had posted that photo--”

“Which Ah wasn’t gonna do at all.”

“But if you had actually gone through with it, not only would you have wrecked Anon-a-Miss before we actually get anything really good but you also would have cost us our best friend. And besides, Rarity is nobody's fool. She would’ve known right away that photo would not have been taken by Sunset, because Sunset wasn't even friends with her back then. So really, who were you trying to fool: yourself or Sweetie Belle?”

Looking down at her tray of a half-eaten salad and ham sandwich, Apple Bloom sighed as she said grimly, “Ah was trying to keep us from getting into trouble about this. But that doesn’t matter now, does it?”

“No, it doesn’t. Now we need to find some way to get her on our side about this without Sweetie Belle going to her sister or, worse yet, Principal Celestia about this.”

The two finished their meal, got up, and headed over to Sweetie Belle's table. Seeing that she was alone, both of them sat down in front of her. Apple Bloom cracked a smile, while Scootaloo sat in front of Sweetie Belle with a sad look on her face.

“Sweetie Belle, can...can you forgive us for threatening your sister like that?” Apple Bloom asked softly.

Sweetie Belle remained silent for several minutes before she looked up at both of them. By the look on her face, she was still upset by her friends' actions towards her. She picked up her fork, poked at her mashed potatoes a few times, then replied, “I don’t know. You both hurt me by going after my sister like that.”

Scootaloo sniffed. Wiping away a tear from her eyes, she said softly to her friend, “We both are really sorry, Sweetie Belle. We didn’t mean to threaten your sister like that.”

“Don’t you two ever threaten my family like that again.” Sweetie Belle lowered her head. “I will keep this between us. I don’t really like Sunset either, but that doesn’t mean I want to hurt her like how you two are doing.”

The lunch bell rang, and all the students started heading to class. Sweetie Belle got up and left for class, getting there several minutes after exiting the lunch room. She saw Sunset in the hallway and wanted to talk to her, but remembering her promise to her friends, she stayed silent.

Scootaloo and Apple Bloom both got to their own classes, and the rest of the day was spent with both completely unsure if Sweetie Belle really was going to keep her word to them or not. When the last bell rang for the day, both Scootaloo and Apple Bloom headed outside to see both of their sisters standing outside next to the Wondercolt statue. Applejack could be heard saying, “What in tarnation was that idiot Flash thinkin', doin' that to himself!? Ah know his break up with Sunset was bad, but ta sink that low to do somethin' like that? Really?”

“I don’t think we should show this to Sunset. It would only upset her. She may not love him anymore, but I doubt she wants to see or hear that he's going to be in the hospital for a while,” Rainbow said coldly.

“Yeah, Ah agree. Ah don’t wanna upset her, not with us spending the weekend together with her.”

“Yer gonna be spending the weekend with Sunset, Applejack?”

Applejack's eyes went wide when she heard her sister's voice. Gulping softly, she slowly turned around to see both Scootaloo and Applebloom standing behind them.

“Uh, yeah. We were gonna tell ya both, but we, well, we--”

Both Scootaloo and Apple Bloom shot their sisters cold, hard looks as they said in unison, “Go ahead. Spend all the time you both want.”

Looking down, Rainbow rubbed the back of her head, then approached her sister who took a step back from her. Rainbow noticed this. Thinking she was still upset with her over the missed swim meet, Rainbow tried to play it cool.

“Hey, squirt, listen. So, about this weekend, I know I was supposed to watch over you and take you to a movie and all, but I can do that after my sleepover with Rarity and Sunset, alright?”

“Fine, Rainbow. You just go ahead and spend all the time you want with her. See what I care about it. I’ll just get mom to take me. It's no big deal.”

“Really?” Rainbow beamed a happy and relieved smile. “That's great, and it's cool that you're not upset about this, either. So now, all we gotta do is tell Sunset, and then our plans will be all set.”

“Uh, speaking of Sunset, where is she?” asked Scootaloo as she looked around. “I don’t see her outside.”

“Ah think Ah might know where she is and how she slipped out without anyone seein' her. You three go ahead without me. Ah’ll call Rarity for a pick up. Ah think this is somethin' Ah need to deal with on my own.”

“Uh, you okay, Applejack?” Rainbow said, looking at her friend with concern in her eyes. “You look a little worried.”

“No, Ah'm fine, Rainbow. Ah just need some one-on-one girl time with Sunset. Besides, Ah think Ah might know what's botherin' her. Y'all have been worrying about me, yet none of you bothered to see how she looks at you, Rainbow, or ta see the pain in her eyes whenever she's around ya.”

“Just what's that supposed to mean?" Rainbow raised her voice as Applejack started walking away. "Applejack! Applejack get back here!”

Applejack walked off without another word to her friend. As the snow crunched under her feet, she heard Rainbow exclaim loudly, “Damnit, Applejack, this isn’t the time to be stubborn!” Applejack simply smiled to herself as she walked away from the school towards the park, hoping that Sunset was there.

Getting there forty-five minutes later, she found Sunset sitting on a bench, looking down at her journal. Applejack approached the bench. The crunching of the snow beneath her boots caused Sunset to look up from her journal. She looked back down when she saw Applejack. A tear slipped from her right eye, trickled down her cheek, and splashed on the cover of her magic journal. Applejack knelt down in front of her friend, laying a gentle hand onto her shoulder as Sunset closed her eyes. Applejack let out a sigh.

“Ah think you and Ah need to have ourselves some friendship time, Sunset. Mind if Ah join ya?”

Next Chapter: Secrets about Sunset (Edited and Titled by Icecreammac) Estimated time remaining: 21 Hours, 13 Minutes