This chapter takes place the following day after reading Applejacks letter. The next chapter picks up during the same day and time as this one is taking place.

Principal Celestia sat in her office chair, her eyes flitting between staring out at the parking lot and glancing over at her clock. The time read 7:00 am. Officer Brushed Jade was just getting up to leave with Eventide's file in her hand as she said, “Don’t worry, Celestia. I’ll find your daughter. I'm not closing this case till I bring her home to you.”

“Thank you, Jade. I know I'm asking a lot of you.” Celestia's eyes finally settled on the parking lot, or more specifically, settled on the statue that dominated the front of the school. “But you're all I have now. You are the only one that I can trust to keep her file open till we find her.”

Getting to the door, Jade said, “I won’t give up till I know for sure, but I need to know something before I go. If I should find out that she's deceased--”

“No matter how you find her, please just bring her home to me one way or another,” Celestia said, turning around with a sad look in her eyes. “I can’t go on any further not knowing anymore, so please, just find my daughter and bring her home so that I can have peace.”

Jade was about to leave Celestia’s office when she got a call on her cell phone. Quickly answering it, she said, “Hello, this is Officer Brushed Jade.” Celestia could see Jade's face and mood instantly change as the person on the other end spoke. Jade hung up and looked at Celestia, angry surprise on her face. “Celestia, this is going to be very hard to hear, but you should know that Dumbbell somehow got out of jail. I’ll have three squad cars here in a little bit, but I doubt he’ll come back here. Still, I need to make sure Vinyl's safe from that animal.”

“Great!” Celestia scoffed bitterly as she snarled. “Vinyl is currently at the hospital. Can you send an officer over there to check up on her? I’ll bring Octavia to you after the announcement.”

“I will, and I'll protect the two of them as best as I can. Now I need to get going.”

Brushed Jade left Celestia’s office, calling for the squad cars to show up at the school, just as Luna led Applejack and her friends to her sister's office.

“Principal Celestia, who was that police officer?” Twilight asked. “I recall seeing her when Sunset was taken to the hospital, but I don’t recall her name.”

“Her name is Brushed Jade, and she is helping me to find someone close to me. Now if you don’t mind, I need to deal with a more important matter at hand.”

Re-entering her office and sitting back down in her chair, Celestia looked at a file on her desk with Trixie’s name on it. She read through it, then set it back down as she heard Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom all enter her office, accompanied by their sisters, their sisters' friends, and Luna.

“Thank you all for coming at such an early hour,” Celestia began sternly, locking eyes with Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle. "I know classes don’t start until eight, but we need to make sure that you three are ready to tell the student body what you did. Afterwards, I am sorry, but you three will be facing expulsion for your actions." Turning her attention to her sister, she continued, “Luna, please make sure to call Trixie’s mother and ask if Trixie really is sick. I want to hear it from her mother; Trixie didn't exactly sound sick.”

Swallowing hard, Sweetie Belle said, "Do we really have to be expelled for what we did? I mean, can't we just be suspended for say three or four days?"

"I'll call her, Celestia. As for your question, Sweetie Belle, no, you cannot be suspended for three or four days," Luna began sternly. "What you three did with that website caused nothing short of pain and heartache, not just for the entire student body but for your sisters, as well. Besides that, once you do come forward with what you three have done, you'll become a target for any students that want to seek revenge."

"My sister is right, Sweetie Belle. Please, all of you, listen to me closely." Celestia got up from behind her desk and walked over to Sweetie Belle, staring coldly into the young girl's eyes. "Canterlot High School has more than one thousand students. You cannot expect all of your teachers or your sisters to protect you three all the time while the three of you are here. We simply do not have the faculty for it, not to mention any hostility you meet off school grounds."

Irritated, Rainbow said, “So what are we supposed to do, just kick them to the curb and hope everything works out for the best!?”

“No, Rainbow. Celestia and I talked about this on the way home from Applejack's farm last night,” Luna began. “We have been able to pull in a few favors and have found three separate schools for your sisters to go to. However, only one of those schools is nearby. The other two are in different states. We will also discuss this further once your parents get here in a few moments.”

“But Vice Principal Luna, Ah don't wanna go to a different school than Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. They're my friends,” Apple Bloom protested.

“You know, you three are bucking lucky that this is all you're getting,” Twilight snarled bitterly, holding her arms over her chest with a dark look in her eyes. “There's no telling what would happen to you In Equestria for what you've done to Sunset and everyone who's ever loved you, so cool it with how your principal should or shouldn’t punish you!”

“Twilight,” Celestia said softly, seeing the hurt in Twilight's eyes, “please take Fluttershy, Pinkie and yourself outside of this office.” Opening her middle drawer, Celestia took out a set of keys and handed them over to Twilight. “These will open up the woodshop classroom so you can take care of what Sunset asked of you in her letter to you.”

Taking the keys, Twilight replied. “Fine. What am I allowed to use while in that classroom?”

“Only the handheld tools. No power tools of any type, especially the bigger pieces of equipment. Got it?”

“I understand.” Twilight looked at Pinkie, saying, “Pinkie, please take me to your locker so I can destroy the Demon’s, Heart.”

Pinkie swallowed hard while she quickly led Twilight and Fluttershy to her locker. Opening the locker, she handed over the Demon’s Heart, saying, “I hope you're able to get rid of this thing. I'm sorry I didn’t say anything sooner.”

Everyone noticed as Ms. Dash, Mr. and Mrs. Belle, Granny Smith and Big McIntosh all started to enter the school, each looked saddened. Twilight looked at Pinkie, saying to her while the group passed them by, “I know you didn’t mean to keep this from us, Pinkie. You more than likely didn’t know what it was or what it could do until Applejack read Sunset's letter.”

Getting back to the principal's office with the Demon’s Heart in her hands, Twilight stood outside of the office with her two friends while she, Pinkie and Fluttershy all listened in on the conversation taking place within the office.

“Manhattan!?” Sweetie Belle could be heard yelling out in anger. “But that's a twenty-one-hour drive from here! And just when am I supposed to leave anyway?”

“At the end of next week. I'm sorry, but that's where you are going, Sweetie Belle,” Mr. Belle was heard saying coldly to his youngest daughter. “I know it's very far from here, but that is the only state that we have family in, so don’t make this any harder than it is already!”

“And what about me?” Apple Bloom asked. “Where am Ah goin'?”

Big MacIntosh said sternly, “You’ll be goin' to Appleloosa to stay with cousin Braeburn and his kin. And don’t you make a fuss, neither, 'cause we ain't budgin'!”

“But Appleloosa is so far away! It's, like, an eighteen-hour drive from here!” Applebloom yelled back in anger. “You can’t do this to us! We don’t wanna break up our friendships, and we don’t wanna lose our families, either!”

“Then perhaps you should have thought about that before making that account!” Mr. Belle hollered back to Apple Bloom. “You three should be grateful that you didn’t get sent to jail for what you did to Sunset. Do you think her parents are happy with the outcome of the trial? This is the only way to keep you three safe! Principal Celestia's right; there's no way your sisters can protect you three all day, every day, so stop making this harder than it already is.” Mr. Belle took a moment to calm down before continuing. “We are doing what is best for each of you. None of us wants to get a phone call saying that you three are in the hospital, put there because one or more of the students here decided to get revenge on the three of you for what you each did!”

“This hurts us as much as it hurts you, Sweetie Belle, but we have little choice in this matter,” Rarity said, clearly choking back a sob.

Applejack said, “We don't, either, Apple Bloom. Granny, Big Mac, and Ah stayed up all night talkin' about this. The Belles are right; it's the only way ta keep ya safe. Besides, Ah’ll come visit when I get the chance, and you can come back after you're eighteen. What you do then is up to you, but till then, this is our decision ta make. Got it?”

“Yeah, Ah got it." Apple Bloom's voice was bitter. "Ah got that none o' Y'all give a haybale about me or my friends!”

Twilight, having heard enough, very quickly reentered the office just as Applejack snapped, “Apple Bloom, Y'all are sorely asking for--”

“Applejack,” Principal Celestia bitterly stated while Twilight quietly stood behind Applejack, “you had better not finish that sentence, because if you hurt your sister while in my presence, you, too, will find your butt out of my school faster than you can say, ‘Next of kin.’ Do I make myself clear?”

Gulping, Applejack nodded her reply just as Fluttershy and Pinkie also came in, taking a stand behind one of their friends to show their support to them.

“Now, with that being settled, that only leaves Scootaloo,” Luna sad cooly. “Where is she supposed to go?”

“Cloudsdale, the next city over from this one,” Ms. Dash began sadly. “It's only a five-hour drive from here, so she'll be close, and they have a good school there called Raincloud High. She'll be living with my sister Rosy Bloom and her husband Clear Skies. Cheerilee’s twin sister Cherry Blossom is the principal there, and I've come to know her well over the last fifteen years or so, and she has agreed to make sure that Scootaloo will stay away from any and all computers while she is attending school there.”

“And that ain't all,” Applejack began coldly. “Ah called Braeburn and told him about what ya did. He put a password on his computer, one that he assured me he won’t give you. Ah'm sure that the rest of our friends' families did the same.”

“Indeed,” Rarity began. “I called our family and told them what was going on, too. They also agreed to secure their computer.”

“As did Rosy Bloom. I'm sorry, Scootaloo, but you can’t be trusted right now around a computer. When you turn eighteen, then you can do as you please, but until then, you’ll have to settle for an old-fashioned phone--I doubt Rosy will let you keep the one you have--or snail mail until you see Rainbow again. That is if she wants to see you.”

“That's right,” Principal Celestia said sternly. “None of them will be allowed near any computers. Even their phones will be confiscated to be returned at the end of each school day. I have already discussed this with the principals of each school. They wanted to know why we are transferring them, and I told them the reasons. As such, each principal agreed to this punishment.” As the girls grumbled but otherwise kept quiet, Celestia put an end to the conversation and turned to her sister, “Luna, is everything ready for these three to confess to the student body?”

“Yes. We have the stage all set up. All they have to do is go out on stage and confess everything in front of the entire student body.” Luna turned her attention back to the three girls sitting in front of her sister. “Once this is done, you three will have to leave school, so I will escort you to your lockers so you can clean them out.”

As the girls rose to head to the auditorium, Scootaloo nervously asked Rainbow, “W-Will you come see me, Rainbow?”

“Yeah, I will, after I get my driver's license.” Looking at her mother, Rainbow continued, “I don’t want Mom spending all that money and gas to get me back and forth from there.” With a light sigh and roll of her eyes, she continued, “I also need to get a job too to help pay the bills; your little stunt took almost everything we had in savings, kid. But don't worry, I'll still come see you.”

Everyone left Principal Celestia’s office. As Luna led the three girls down the hallway towards their lockers, Twilight sighed, saying, “Well, that's that, then. I'm going to go to that classroom to destroy the Demon’s, Heart.” Turning to Pinkie and Fluttershy, she finished, “you two can come with me if you'd like.”

“I-I'll go with you, Twilight,” Fluttershy said just barely above a whisper. “Besides, I think you could use a friend to vent to right now; you still look very upset.”

An hour later, students started to pile into the school. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo all headed to the auditorium stage, with Twilight showing up a few moments later. Fluttershy and Pinkie found their seats, as did Rarity, Rainbow, and Applejack. Each of their family members also sat nearby.

“Did you do it, Twilight? Is the Demon's Heart destroyed?” Celestia asked softly, concerned as she, too, got to the stage to set up the microphone and a large screen projector. “I want to make sure that it can never be used again.”

“Yes, it is. That thing won’t bother anyone else again. I have what's left of it in my backpack. But we're not out of the woods yet. It was already used on Sunset, so who knows what's going to happen? In her letter, she said it was supposed to pulse like a real heart, but it didn’t pulse at all when I carried it to the classroom. In fact, it felt cold and brittle, leading me to believe that whatever magic it had was no longer contained within it.”

“We'll worry about it later. Now, I have student body announcement to attend to.” Looking out to the students as they piled one by one into the auditorium, Celestia continued, “I have placed a few chairs up here. You may use one if you wish, Twilight.”

“Actually, before you turn the microphone on, may I speak with Luna?”

“Of course.”

Celestia headed off towards the back of the stage, while Luna headed up to a podium. Twilight was about to speak when Luna cut her off. “I know what you are going to ask me, and I fully agree that we need to tell my sister about Eventide. However, I must ask that we wait until after her meeting with the school board, which will be in two days. I know this has not been easy for you, Twilight, but she--”

“You're right, I have not enjoyed it at all, Luna. I don’t like keeping secrets from my friends.”

“I understand fully, Twilight. I, too, don’t like doing this, but it must be done. We need Tia ready with a clear head on her shoulders for when she faces the school board.”

“Is it really that bad?”

Luna looked over to her sister, watching her sister give her instructions to the three girls, saying to Twilight as she kept her eyes on Celestia, “Twilight, she could lose her job or, worse yet, be dismissed permanently from all teaching positions within the state. The mess those three girls caused is causing a legal backlash from everyone affected by Anon-a-Miss. The school board is going to want someone to blame for this, and that person will more than likely be my sister.”

“That's not fair at all! Your sister didn’t do any--”

“You're right; she didn't. She didn’t deny access to that website when she should have done so,” Luna interrupted, finishing her preparations for the assembly, “nor did she punish anyone that was posting the threats against Sunset’s life on that website. While the Anon-a-Miss account will be fully shut down after today, it's still too late as far as the school board is concerned.”

Twilight saw in Luna a sadness that she had only seen once in her lifetime. Not liking what she was seeing, Twilight began, “But how is that fair, Luna?”

"It isn’t fair, Twilight, but the fact remains that my sister should have done something--anything--but she didn’t. All she had to do was take control of her students, yet she let her trusting personality get the better of her, and look at what that cost her.”

“I know what it cost her, but still, there has to be something I can do to help with this.”

“I am afraid that this time, my sister must face this alone. While you and I want to help, I don’t think we can.”

Twilight took her seat, shaking her head in anger. Luna headed over to the three girls, saying to them from they stood on stage, “Alright. We will wait until eight-thirty, then you three can start your confession. You’ll have a lot of upset students out there, so no running your mouths off when they start to call you out on this, got it?”

“We got it,” the girls said in unison.

Shutting off the lights, a spotlight fell to the girls as Luna, Celestia and Twilight gave a nod to the Crusaders as they began to address the crowded auditorium. Scootaloo began, saying, “Students at Canterlot High School, I know many of you think that Sunset was the one that set up the Anon-a-Miss account to spread everyone's secrets. But...But we're here to say that it was actually us that did that, not Sunset.”

An incredulous silence fell over the audience, before one student shouted, “Yeah right, kid! You three couldn’t have done it.”

Apple Bloom took the microphone from Scootaloo, saying, “But we did do this, and we can prove it." Apple Bloom hesitated a little, taking the time to build her courage to cross the point of no return. "Principal Celestia, please come out to the stage.”

Celestia, Twilight, and Luna all headed out to the front of the stage. Celestia handed over a phone, saying nothing to Apple Bloom. Quickly taking the phone, everyone watched as Apple Bloom snapped the principal's picture, fiddled around on the phone a bit, and waited.

Almost immediately, everyone’s phone within the auditorium started to either beep or ring loudly.

“Holy shit, it really was them!” A student yelled.

“But Sunset did this! We all know that! How could they possibly have done it!” another one yelled out.

“We set up the account and framed Sunset, and while it wasn't our intention, she ended up taking her own life,” Sweetie Belle said, then continued, looking down, “We are so sorry for all that we did to CHS.”

“You three are dead!” Lightning Dust yelled getting up from her seat. “When we get our hands on you, no one will recognize your bodies!”

Luna pointed to Lighting Dust, saying into her radio, “Bring Lightning Dust to my office.”

Within a few moments, Lightning Dust soon found herself surrounded by security guards and escorted out of the auditorium. Rainbow got up as well, following the security guards. The floodgates were open, though, and Luna watched from the stage as students began to yell out obscenities and threats.

“That's quite enough!” Luna said into the microphone. “This has been a trying time for all of us, and I understand your anger, but you will not retaliate against these three girls. This Anon-a-Miss situation has hurt enough people already. And don't think I won't get security in here. We've made sure to call in as many as we could, and quite a few are unhappy with working on their day off. I wouldn't test them." As the auditorium quieted down, Luna continued, "That's better. Now, before we end this, I need the following students to come to my office: Spitfire Angel, Lunar Jewel, Sugar Rain, Shadow Dancer, Snow Glacier, Misty Fireheart, and Midnight Star. As for the rest of you, you have thirty minutes to talk to us and ask what you'd like, then it's off to class.”

Each of the seven students got up, all heading out of the auditorium followed by the security guards. Handing the microphone back to Sweetie Belle, Luna headed off the stage, as well.

Celestia took the microphone from Sweetie Belle, saying, “Effective immediately, you three are hereby expelled from Canterlot High School. Please follow the security guards, as they will escort you three off of school campus.”

With their heads bowed low, the three teens followed the security guards to the front doors of the school. Celestia spent the next few moments quelling any disruptive students and answering their questions. Pinkie, meanwhile, got up and headed towards the newsroom. Getting there a few moments later, she sat down at a desk and began to write. Once finished, Pinkie quickly looked over her work, then tucked it into her backpack and headed to her first class.