Northern Spy sat at the kitchen table across from the little girl, no young lady with puffy red eyes that said she had been crying. They both tried to ignore the sounds coming from somewhere else in the house involving Apple Munchies as Granny puttered around the kitchen and making go on motions to him behind Apple Bloom's back. Finally he asked, "So... Where to begin?"

"Granny said y'all would be tell'n me the truth if'n when you dun finally showed up." Apple Bloom said as she looked down at the table.

"That depends," He said as he got up and poured himself a cup of coffee. "The truth isn't just black and white sometimes. Sometimes it likes to hide in the grey areas between the two. Take the pork roast in the oven. You live on a farm and know exactly how it became a pork roast, but if you asked your friends to tell you how it became a pork roast from start to finish they would tell you it was bought at the store in a little white package and covered in plastic. The thing is, you know the real truth. How it was born a piglet to a sow in the stall with all of it's brothers and sisters. How it grew up happy playing in mud and eating swill to become big and fat, but happy. How it had little piglets of it's own before taking a trip in a truck with it's brothers and sisters to a place it knew fear for the first time in it's happy life and how it died and was butchered to feed your friends families. You know all this and how your friends families would go hungry without it, so you don't fill in the blanks and let them enjoy the clean truth while keeping the real dark truth to yourself. Why, because you know the whole truth will hurt them and it is just easier for everyone to pretend they don't know the real truth somewhere in the back of their minds."

Sitting back down, he added cream and sugar before taking a sip and then continued. "The clean truth is you are an Apple, but there is a deeper, dirtier truth and you have to decide if you really want to know or not. So, I'm asking you, do you really want to know the whole truth or do you want to be happy with the clean truth?" He asked her as he put down his cup and taking off his jacket to reveal the shoulder harnesses with two of his eight guns on him. He made a show of pulling two guns from his jacket pockets and removing the clips and ejecting the bullets from the chambers and catching them in mid air before placing them on the table. "Before just blurt out that you want to know, I want you to be absolutely sure you really do want to know." Leaning forward he pulled out both sun-nosed revolvers from near the small of his back and preceded to make two rows of bullets on the table before putting them down. "I want you to consider that your sister, Applejack, bugged me for months when she was your age for the absolute honest truth until Granny told me to tell her everything. Needless to say she has never asked me for absolute honesty ever again and knows that the nice, clean truth from me is good enough for her." Taking another sip of coffee, he then reached down and pulled out his hold out guns strapped to his ankles and removed the thin shot shells from the derringers and placed them on the table. "Now, knowing that no matter which ever truth you want, you will still be an Apple afterwards I want you to promise me that if you want the absolute truth that you will not change your mind after hearing some, but will listen to everything all the way through to the very end." With that he pulled out his last two pistols and removed the suppressors on them before removing the clips and ejecting the bullets in the chambers and laying them on the table. Then he looked her in the eyes, his eyes, and asked, "So do you want to know the absolute truth, no matter what, or can you be happy with just knowing that you are an Apple born and raised?"

She thought about it for a few minutes as he drank his coffee. Finally she said, "I'm wanting tah know who I really am and I promise tah listen tah everything y'all have tah say, no matter what." Behind her Granny Smith's shoulders slumped.

The Pie family ignored a quietly sobbing Pinkie Pie standing in the corner of the kitchen without any clothes on as they ate. Her ass and backs of her legs black and blue from the strap Igneous kept draped over the saw horse in the basement. Cloudy Quartz frowned to herself thinking Igneous was too soft sometimes when it came to the old truth, 'Spare the rod and spoil the child. Spoil the rod and spare the child'. Her own mother would have caned Pinkamena until she had a row of bloody stripes on her ass before making her stand in the corner holding bags of rocks in each hand and the threat of caning her legs too if she dared lower them. Some may call it child abuse, but the results spoke for themselves since Limestone wouldn't dare sneak out, get drunk, and steal a car ever again and Maudileena stayed strictly within the legal parts of the internet and would never dream of dabbling in the so called 'Dark' web ever again.

She then looked at her other child. Poor Marble was drinking her soup, but she could tell her youngest was having trouble keeping it and her pills down. "Does thou wish for one of thy protein or probiotic shakes instead?" A shake of Marble's head told her no so it wasn't as bad as she thought.

"If thee need to lay down for a while so thy stomach can settle before finishing thy meal, thou may and I will set it in the microwave for thee." Igneous told her before she glanced at Pinkie and he added. "It shall not count towards Pinkamena's time and she will be allowed to eat at the counter after we are done and she has cleaned the kitchen, but she will still have to wear her shame and the shame she has brought on this family as her only clothing until it tis time for her to leave and return to school." With that she nodded and he stood up and put her soup in the microwave while Cloudy Quartz helped her to her bedroom since she was so weak from this latest round of treatments, but the doctors had called the other day with the news that she was accepted for testing a new gene therapy, that if it worked, would cure her once and for all.

Kissing Marble on the forehead after helping her lay down, Cloudy Quartz couldn't be happier despite the trials they had been through. From Limestone's extensive physical therapy as a toddler to Marble actually living to see her second birthday. God had given them four miracles that had taken them out of everything they had known and she wouldn't have it any other way.

Sunset hadn't known what to expect when they arrived back at the Sirens home after Aria had texted that she was cooking tonight, but the veritable feast of homemade vegetable, fish, and chicken Chinese and Japanese food had been the very last thing she would have guessed.

"Oh boy, we get to play 'Psychoanalyze Aria' again." Sonata yelled as she looked at all of the food.

"What?" Sunset asked.

"Aria is temperamental and bottles up things a lot, but when she cooks like this it's easy to tell what's bugging her." Adagio said as she grabbed a plate and a pair of chopsticks and began loading it up before sitting down at the kitchen table.

"I do not." Aria grumbled.

"Oh look, you made shrimp and chicken egg foo young with your special dipping sauce." Adagio said as she held up a piece of the egg foo young she had just dipped in the sauce. "You only make that when you're conflicted between your whole 'I'm a bad ass loner who has made Nazis cry for their momma's so don't fuck with me' attitude and meeting someone who has reminded you how lonely being immortal really is."

"Also she made Dandan noodles which means she can't decide if she wants to just be friends or jump her bones in the dirtiest, hours long 'screaming her name so loud the other side of the city knows her name' fest possible." Sonata pointed out before eating some of the Dandan noodles.

"Umm... what does the tempura mean?" Sunset asked as she tried a piece.

"Nothing and don't listen to them." Aria said defensively. "I just.... decided to wow everyone with my cooking is all."

"Tempura usually means she ran into someone from our past that is a good enough friend for us to let them know the truth about us." Adagio said. "It reminds her of the third time we made it to Japan and Koemi introduced us to Aiko. Aiko and Aria became good friends by going on a legendary drinking spree that emptied five different towns of all their rice wine."

"It would have been six, but they passed out halfway there." Sonata added. "Also you might want to know that that is Fugu your about to eat and if she didn't get it just right it will kill you." Sunset quickly put down the piece of sashimi she had been about to eat.

"It's safe Sunset, it's kawahagi, thread-sail filefish." Aria grumbled. "You can't get puffer fish here at this time of year and I'm not going to risk it now that we're mortal."

"Okay." Sunset said before taking a bite.

"Fugu or Kawahagi means that she is worried about one of us getting upset over some one or she knows there is going to be some kind of drama because of them." Adagio said.

"Fine, I ran into Presto Lulamoon today and invited his grand daughter to the party tomorrow with the promise of not leave her alone with Sonata." Aria finally gave in and said.

"Okay, I can see how any grand daughter of Presto's could catch your attention. Especially if she is cute and acts like he did when he was younger and developing his stage persona to hide her anxiety or vulnerability, but how does inviting her to the party equate to drama." Adagio said as she ate.

"Ooh, maybe it has something to due with her making takoyaki since she only makes octopus balls when she thinks we've done something that might be causing more trouble than we thought. Like the time I started choking while eating octopus because of one of the suckers on the legs." Sonata said before popping one of the balls in her mouth and eating it before noticing Sunset eyeing her own with a little bit of worry. "Don't worry Sunset, these have minced octopus in them so their safe."

"Hmm... So the grand daughter of a stage magi... " Adagio started before stopping as it hit her. "No fucking way! Of all the over the top, egotistical... And we put THAT out there as Kijo to knock that 'My shit does smell like roses' attitude out of her once and for all and we didn't even see the signs that she was covering up how bad it hurt her."

"Huh?" Sonata asked as Sunset began choking on her drink as she suddenly remembered Trixie's last name and everything else just clicked into place for her.

"TRIXIE IS PRESTO'S GRAND KID AND KIJO JUST LET EVERYONE KNOW THAT HER PARENTS USE TO MAKE HER DO VIOLENT, HURTCORE KIDDY PORN SONATA!" Adagio yelled at her.

"So what, we just release some of the damage control files on her and put her in a much better light." Sonata said as she tossed another octopus ball in the air and caught it in her mouth.

"WHAT DAMAGE CONTROL FILES?" Sunset yelled as soon as she had enough air to do so.

"Well if you had actually looked at all the stuff Dig Deep dug up for you you would know that there was a lot of stuff, especially on those labeled flash drives he gave you." Sonata said after she finished eating the octopus ball. "They have names like the Good, the Bad, the Ugly, This Is Just Silly, No Fucking Clue, Discord and Screwball's Greatest Hits Volume 1, 2, 3, 4, &5 (those are really funny and me and Aria show up in them a few times), the Worse, and I Quit. By the way he retired to Florida and I Quit is mostly just some strange old cases he did for a tabloid that he never solved and a letter saying it was all yours if you want the headache." She paused to take a drink before continuing. "I've mostly just used the Bad and the Ugly drives, but I thought we should have something in case we changed our minds on someone so I have things from the Good and This Is Just Silly on stand by as Damage Control. I mean we only went after vice principal Luna because her and her sister would get in the way, but I can release how she adopted two orphan girls off the street, plays video games with sick kids at the hospital, and gave up one of her kidneys to save a kid at Crystal Prep's life just to undo some of what we did."

"Okay." Adagio finally said after absorbing what Sonata had told them, "One, what do we have on Trixie and two, what is in the Worse?"

"Well Trixie puts on free magic shows for children in the hospital and at the orphanage as well as at a senior citizen home and donates blood once a month. Oh, and she donated her hair twice in the last three years to locks for love. That should undo a lot of the damage." Sonata said. "As for the Worst, well there's at least 12 members of the Apple family that are in there including a very dirty politician, a serial rapist, and a prostitute. Then there is the Student Counselor Zecora, her father was a dictator who is a convicted war criminal and her mother testified against him as part of a deal to get her and her kids brought to the U.S. Turns out she was smart enough to make copies of a lot of incriminating information over the years including maps showing where the mass graves were and copies of the photos of people being dumped into them. Pretty much stuff like that, but nothing directly involving anyone at school and we all agreed that it had to be something directly affecting someone at school and 100% true. That's why I put up the one about Apple Bloom's birth certificate and not the photo of Big Mac carrying a passed out Braeburn in drag out of the gay bar down town to make it look like Big Mac was gay instead of just picking up a drunk cousin."

"Okay, so how long until you can do damage control for Trixie?" Aria asked.

"It depends on if the program is done compiling a list of possible suspects for Anon-a-miss." Sonata said as she filled her plate back up.

"Wait, your working on figuring out who Anon-a-miss is?" Sunset asked.

"Yeah." Sonata said. "I figure Anon-a-miss wouldn't post anything on their self, but that meant it was a list of 212 students out of 450 so I then wrote a program that is working out a list of most likely to least likely based on a lot of things including access, opportunity, etc. Dependent on the fact that Anon-a-miss didn't just post something on themselves, is just one person, and isn't a staff member it should give us the best 25 suspects.

"So when can we find out?" Aria asked.

"I'll go get my laptop." Sonata said as she got up and left while yelling, "And don't steal my Octopus Balls!"

Rarity walked into the kitchen after a long day and saw the mess, the dirty pots and pans, and a smiling Sweetie Belle sitting at the table with what might be considered dinner if you squinted hard enough. No, it was still charcoal and that only made her headache worse. Thankfully she had picked up a deep dish pizza on the way home and said, "As wonderful as that may be, I think we'll let the animals have a nice meal for once and enjoy this instead." Thank God Sweetie loved pizza so much or she would have to eat That.

"Rarity! What happened to the side of your face?" Sweetie Belle asked as she looked at the bruised side of Rarity's face.

"Rainbow Dash got in a fight with one of Sunset Shimmer's new friends and I got hit with a stray napkin holder." Rarity said as she scraped the 'food' on to one plate and set it outside the kitchen door.

"Who'd want to be Anon-a-miss's friend?" Sweetie Belle asked as innocently as possible.

"Would you believe the Dazzlings, but birds of a feather and all that." Rarity said as she got out some clean plates and gave Sweetie some pizza. "Did Mom and Dad call to say when they would be back."

"Dad said they would be on the first flight home from New York City after the ball drops in Time Square." Sweetie told her.

"Then I say we have a movie night tomorrow since something is going on with the Apples after what that horrid Kijo posted." Rarity said.

"Yah!" Sweetie Belle squealed causing Rarity's headache to cause her to wince. With a look at the mess she would have to clean up she knew it was going to be a long night.

Principal Celestia sat at her kitchen table with Superintendent Radiant Hope and her husband Sombra King as they ate together after dealing with this latest mess. Northern Spy was a god send taking Harshwhinny's place teaching history and Zecora Zebra had an art degree and was willing to teach the art class. Legally what Nurse Redheart and Coach Iron Will did as two consenting adults and how her sister had paid her way through school meant the PTA could kiss her ass since the lawsuit would be costly on top of everything else, which Sombra King had explained to them at the emergency PTA meeting with an eight digit figure that had made all of them flinch with how much the three of them could sue the school for if they tried.

No, the biggest problem was the only replacement for Cranky. What he did was completely legal since it happened in Kentucky with her parents legal consent and she hadn't been his student at the time and the Canterlot school system was one of the few school systems without any rules about teachers dating and marrying students, but damn it all if Dr. Time Turner Whooves marrying the now Mrs. Derpy Brighteyes Whooves wasn't causing all sorts of hell. Married just over a week and it took Sombra an hour to explain to the PTA and the school board why the newly weds would be a bigger nightmare than firing Redheart, Iron Will, and Luna even if they tried to change the rules so they could fire him and that the law was on their side since the marriage was legal and the law was clear that all the other states had to legally recognize it. There was nothing they could really do, especially since he was the only science teacher available right now. Then someone had suggested just closing the school and it took another half hour to explain why, since Crystal Prep was a private school, Whitetail Woods couldn't absorb 450 students all at once and because someone had brought up school vouchers to send half of them to Crystal Prep and that even then the two schools couldn't take that many no matter how you juggled the numbers, even after most the Diamond Dawg Boys had been arrested or killed.

In the end they finally pounded it through their thick heads the best they could do was allow it and monitor the situation for now. Thankfully Cranky had confessed and explained that only the first couple of batches had been made in the school and turned over everything including the locations of half a dozen labs as part of a plea deal so the school lab should be ready for them to use a week or two after school started again if the police didn't find anything else or Anon-a-miss and/or Kijo didn't strike again.

Author's Notes:

Yes, Northern Spy was trying to warn Apple Bloom off, but some people will not let go of something even if it meant they would be happier not knowing. He was Granny Smith's last ditch effort to save Apple Bloom from the pain of knowing since Northern Spy the hitman is a scary person and even that failed since a young teenager thinks they are adult enough to handle real adult subjects.

'Spare the rod and spoil the child' and 'Taking someone behind the wood shed' are both from the harsher method of child discipline in the past and it struck me that the Pies would be in favor of it. As for calling Maud that, her in cannon full name is Maudileena Daisy Pie and Cloudy Quartz has referred to Pinkie as Pinkamena in the show it makes sense that she would think of her eldest daughter by her real name as well. Finally on the Pies, what is wrong with Marble will remain unnamed, but it is genetic, painful, deadly, and gene therapy is her only chance to live a full and happy life. Marble hides how much pain she is in from everyone so as not to worry them and is so quiet because her voice often gives it away.

My god, how I missed playing with the girls and their interactions with each other. I love the ideal that someone as temperamental and tends to bottle things up like Aria would have a tell for when something is really bothering her like cooking and Adagio and Sonata both have had centuries to figure out what everything means when she does. Sunset is still trying to find her place amongst the three former immortals and knows she is like a little kid at a table full of adults sometimes, but she is slowly working herself out of wallflower mode like she did at the police station. Only it takes time to find her footing amongst them and easier to just ask questions until she does. Also the Damage Control Files are one of the four major things that marks Kijo different from Anon-a-miss. The four are everything has been chosen for maximum impact, pin point targeting, and 100% accuracy, and has a way to minimize the damage, with the exception being outright criminal activity, later if it needs to be.

Also Dandan Noodles are in the top ten of spiciest foods and Sonata eats them as if they were nothing.

As for 212 students out of 450 not having anything posted on them, well just think about it. The crusaders were posting things piece mill as they came in and if it wasn't something really bad. So it stands to reason there was a bottle neck that limited the flow of information as well as there just not being any usable dirt on some of them. I'm actually being generous with how much 3 girls could have done before Christmas break since it is very unrealistic to believe they would waste their break with Anon-a-miss.

I wanted to do something directly with one of the older and younger sisters as a quick look into what was going on and Rarity and Sweetie Belle felt like the best fit.

I figured Celestia, Radiant Hope, and Sombra eating together as Celestia's thoughts gave an outline of what was happening with the school was a good way to handle this particular situation without adding more chapters between here and the party, the second wave, and the return to school. I swear I should have just jumped into the return head first, but no, I had to get clever and add in all these bits and pieces and duct tape things into place first.