The detention room in Canterlot High School was the most hated and feared room in the entire school. It was an old classroom that had fallen out of use a few years back, and had been refitted to be a place to specifically punish students for any wrongdoing that merited a detention. This reputation alone earned it the nickname of 'Room 101', as it was where the deepest and darkest fears of students came true. Or so ran the rumour, as students were prone to hyperbole, but still is was not a place you wanted to go. Whilst there, you would be set work created with the sole function of wasting your time, answering ridiculous questions such as 'why is grass green', or having to write out positive and optimistic quotes such as “The sinister, the terrible never deceive: the state in which they leave us is always one of enlightenment. And only this condition of vicious insight allows us a full grasp of the world, all things considered, just as a frigid melancholy grants us full possession of ourselves. We may hide from horror only in the heart of horror" (Thomas Ligotti). Not entirely surprisingly, the comparisons made to the works of George Orwell were many and regular, with the place often being compared to a Soviet era re-education camp.
It is in one of those sessions that we find ourselves now, and Mr Cranky Doodle was busy setting up the room for its next group of victims. Sorry, I meant 'delinquent students'. He set the board up, and wrote the names of the students who were in today, shaking his head as he wrote down the names of the Crusaders. Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle had always been such delightful students; hard working, friendly, resourceful, even if they could get a little too excitable and noisy for his taste.
"Those girls have had all that society and money can give them," he sighed, as he continued pacing about the room with his face in a permanent scowl of disappointment. "But it clearly wasn't enough. Those three felt it needed to turn the entire place upside down, only because their sisters wouldn't play with them."
There was a loud buzzer, indicating that he was to let the students in. He walked over to the door, and opened it. The usual suspects like Dumbbell and Score wandered through, and several other students for whom it was clearly their first time, judging from the looks on their faces. Then came in the Crusaders, all of whom looked completely depressed. Apple Bloom's face was long, and she looked odd without her bow. Sweetie Belle was dressed differently to normal, wearing a pair of pants, and a blue shirt with a green hoodie, presumably another of her sister's creations. Her face was equally morose, and her eyes were devoid of any expression. Scootaloo's clothes were torn, but this wasn't a surprise. Most of the staff knew they were being attacked, but without visual evidence of it happening there was little that could be done. Besides, if the word around the staffroom was anything to go by, those three deserved it. And this was exactly how Cranky Doodle felt.
As the students sat down, none of them saying a word and placing their bags next to their desks, Cranky walked over to the front board and pointed to a clock. "You have one hour to complete the work in front of you. There is to be no talking when you are here, or when you leave the room, or else I'll hold you back another hour. Begin."
Sweetie Belle looked down at the paper before her. Today, there was a quote to analyse, namely "the only thing neccesary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." The irony of the remark was not lost on the freshman, who rubbed her eyes at the fresh tears. The evil being inflicted upon her and her friends was only possible because good people in the school did nothing. But that wasn't going to change any time soon. Their names were tarnished for the rest of their lives, and this would only change with them going to their graves.
She had thought that God cared, and she had prayed night and day for someone from up high to intervene and end their pain. But she suspected the man upstairs had simply forgotten about her, and that she was stuck in this state of hell for eternity. Not to mention these itchy clothes were making almost impossible to think straight, but Rarity had, for some inexplicable reason, prevented her from wearing her usual outfit today. Maybe it was a punishment, to have to wear the most uncomfortable clothing on the planet in order to remind her every moment of her alleged sins. But enough. She had to start analysing this quote, as she would have to for years from now on. And her friends would have to do so as well. It may be hell, but at least she wasn't going through detention class on her own. Far from it.
In that moment, she thought briefly she could hear Apple Bloom crying. She turned her head to see her friend with tears in her eyes, and when she saw the quote she had been given she could see why.
"Whatever you do they will love you; even if they don't love you they are connected to you till you die. You can be boring and tedious with sisters, whereas you have to put on a good face with friends."
Applejack hadn't loved Apple Bloom, irrespective of what she had done. Indeed, she almost treated her like the spawn of Satan it seemed. It was equally true for Sweetie Belle, with Rarity going out of her way to be nasty, and Rainbow Dash had refused to talk to Scootaloo, which had crippled her self-confidence. Oh well. They had to grit it and bear it.
Then suddenly, there was a knock at the door.
"Come in!" boomed Cranky Doodle.
The door opened, and in stepped... Cheerilee? What was she doing here? Scootaloo noticed this, and looked over in surprise, not saying a word.
"Cheerilee?" Cranky asked in surprise. "What're you doing here?"
"That's Mrs Collins to you," Cheerilee replied coldly. "Instructions from Principal Celestia; Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle are to be transferred to the library, effective immediately, to see out the rest of the detention period. They are to bring all items with them, including pens and work."
Cranky looked surprised, but nodded his head. "Very well. Get's these three ruffians out of my hair anyways." He indicated to them. "You heard her; go!"
Desperate to escape this room, the Crusaders gathered their personal belongings and got up, heading out of the door as fast as they could before it closed behind them. Cranky Doodle sighed. "Well, that makes my evening a little more enjoyable," he said, before noticing the looks on the faces of the other students. "What are YOU looking at? Get back to work!"
In the corridor, Cheerilee led Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle toward the library, but stopped when Sunset arrived down another corridor.
"I see phase one of the plan succeeded?" Sunset asked.
"Yes," Cheerilee replied. "Now to get to the back of the school."
"What's going on?" Scootaloo asked, confused. "I thought you were taking us to the library."
Cheerilee looked back at them with a smile. "Detention is off, girls," she replied. "You three are going somewhere else." And they set off again through the corridors toward the back of the school.
Around the back of the school, near the streetcar stop, is the school car park (or the faculty lot, as Luna insisted on calling it). This had once been used by teachers quite extensively, but following a series of parking violations mostly involving lorries dropping off school yearbooks, the car park had been closed off for most uses, and it was now only for emergency access which needed a special permit. Outside, in the car park, sat a small blue car, with working lights and a boot.
"Is that your car, Miss Cheerilee?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"Indeed girls!" Cheerilee replied. "And I'm acting as your getaway driver."
Sunset stepped over to the passenger side, and waited while Cheerilee unlocked the doors.
"Nice car," Apple Bloom commented, as she looked around inside the well-maintained interior and at the unscratched paintwork. "We only have a beat up old Chevrolet two-tonner back at the farm."
"Oh?" Cheerilee asked. "Which year?"
"1955 or 1956, we ain't sure," Apple Bloom replied. "Now Ah know precisely what they invented the term 'jalopy'* for..."
The girls got in, with Sunset riding shotgun at the front, the Crusaders on the back seat, and Cheerilee in the driving seat. Not many of the students had driving skills, as the public transport in the town more or less made the need for a car redundant. Cheerilee started the engine, and they set off down the road and took a left. They drove for a few minutes, the homes and businesses rolling past them in a small blur, until they pulled up on the drive of Scootaloo's home. The garage door rolled open automatically, and Cheerilee drove in, the door rolling shut behind them automatically.
"Nice to see this old Hatchback's still got it," she smiled, as she turned the engine off and got out. Opening the door for the Crusaders, they walked in through the door after Cheerilee unlocked it, and they went into the kitchen, which it linked onto. "Can I get you girls anything to drink?" she asked. "Feel free to go in the living room if you want!"
A few minutes later, Cheerilee, Sunset, Scootaloo, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were all sitting in the living room with drinks. Cheerilee and Sunset had taken coffee, whereas the Crusaders had opted for soft drinks. Sweetie Belle in particular seemed to be valuing her drink very much, which baffled Sunset somewhat.
"I don't mean to sound ungrateful," Sweetie Belle asked, "but why are you being nice to us?"
"Well, three girls who have been framed deserve some kindness, don't they?" Cheerilee replied.
"So, ya think we didn't do it?" Apple Bloom asked, somewhat stating the obvious as was her custom.
"We don't think you didn't do it," Sunset answered them, her voice full of conviction. "We know you didn't do it."
The three girls looked at one another in confusion. Then it dawned on them.
"Somebody believes us," Sweetie Belle whispered. Before anybody knew what was happening, she flew across the room and hugged Sunset tightly. "Thank you! You have no idea how much this means to us!"
"Believe me, I know," Sunset replied. "Whoever is behind this mess is hell bent on destroying not only my life, but yours as well, and even all we have tried to build at Canterlot High. This has to be stopped, and it has to be stopped now."
"If only Applejack had the sense ta see the light," Apple Bloom said quietly, before shifting in her seat and shouting out. "Ow!"
"Are you alright?" Cheerilee asked.
"It's just mah butt, never mind," Apple Bloom replied.
Sunset looked seriously at them. "This mess is an extremely serious one, and if it goes on it could lead to more heartbreak, or somebody doing something they'll regret for the rest of their lives. I know whoever is doing this is an old enemy of mine in the school, but that doesn't particularly narrow it down. But nobody at the school had the politeness to ask you your side of the story, not least the Principals whom, I have to say, I have a very low opinion of at the moment. So tell me girls, what happened that day when you logged onto your account in the library?"
Scootaloo nodded. "It all began when we tried logging on in the morning..."
Scootaloo and her friends walked through the corridors that morning, heading towards the library.
"I can't wait to see if we've got any replies on yesterday's post!" Sweetie Belle said excitedly.
"Yeah!" Apple Bloom added. "Ah bet folks found it a real hoot!"
"Let's just be careful where we log on," Scootaloo told them. "To be honest, some teachers don't like students using social media in the library."
They walked into the library, and headed over to one of computers. Sweetie Belle sat down. "Shall I do the honours?" she asked.
"If you want," Scootaloo replied. Sweetie Belle logged into her school account, and brought up MyStable. She clicked over to the login page, and typed in their user name; Canterlot Movie Club.
She then clicked down onto a lower panel, where the password text box was located, and typed in the password; We'llMakeOurMark. She then hit 'log in'.
What happened next would shock them greatly.
When the page came up, it was not their own. It was Anon-a-Miss!
"What in the?" Apple Bloom asked. How had this happened? Their page had been fine the previous day! Had somebody hacked their account? Their horror was compounded when the page posted a message, which popped up on screen showing a picture of them with the following message below it; It Was Us.
A moment later, an audio file began playing;
“Well?”
“We got two of them away.”
“That’s less than half! I wouldn’t exactly call that a smashing success, Scootaloo!"
“OK, OK! I’m working on it, OK? We need a new strategy if we’re going to get the other three!"
“That’s gonna be a lot of work. Like sluggin’ up a steep hill.”
“This ought to do it”.
As people began reacting to what was on their phones, they looked over at the Crusaders. Scootaloo's face had gone totally white with shock, and the other two girls had terrified expressions on their faces.
"So it was you!" a large, muscular student boomed. "You pieces of shit! We'll hammer you for this!"
Sweetie Belle simply screamed, and ran for her life out of the library and into the corridor, her friends tearing after her a moment later. But other students were waiting for them, as they ran into the corridor on which Principal Celestia's office was located. There were several students waiting for them.
"Time to suffer for what you did, you bastards!" roared one of them, a girl whom Scootaloo quickly identified as High Winds, one of the athletes. She grabbed Scootaloo and slammed her into a locker, leaving a sizable dent in it.
"No!" Scootaloo cried out in pain, as this student ripped some of her hair out. "You don't understand! We-"
"Decided to wreck the school for no fucking reason!" High Winds retaliated, before punching Scootaloo repeatedly in the gut.
Meanwhile, another student had pinned Apple Bloom, and raised his fist ready to strike. "Hey, Apple Bitch!" he snapped. "Here's something to blog about!" The impact slammed into her forehead, right next to her eyebrow.
"Get offa me!" the farm girl cried in desperation.
Elsewhere, students were throwing milk, eggs, and paint at Sweetie Belle, which splashed all over her clothes, leaving her jacket, shirt and skirt an indescribable mess of colours. Her jacket, in particular, looked as though it had gained polka dots, which was not the intention.
"Not so fun when it's you, eh?" a student laughed.
Sweetie Belle had never felt so humiliated in her life, and simply collapsed sobbing, repeating "it wasn't us," over and over.
"What in God's name is going on?" boomed the voice of Celestia. She looked furious.
"These three did it!" another student shouted.
"Get off to classes now," the Principal roared, "and get some icepacks from Nurse Redheart." She then looked at the Crusaders, who had by now accumulated a variety of injuries, ranging from bruises to winding. "You three have a LOT of explaining to do."
Sunset simply looked in shock. "Animals," she said. "And I'm the horse here. It's no wonder they're so easy to manipulate; the slightest hint of betrayal and they are all at each other's throats."
Cheerilee looked at the Crusaders. "I believe we know what happened next; they found some older secrets on your phones as well as some others that were yet to go up."
"They weren't there the previous day!" Apple Bloom exclaimed. "Ah don't know where they came from!"
"But instead of questioning the situation, the Principals simply took the path of least resistance," Sunset sighed. "Seriously, why would an experienced, clandestine cyberbully suddenly and for no logical reason log on to a public computer and bring their planned uploads with them on a phone? It makes no sense."
"And now our sisters and parents don't even trust us," Sweetie Belle said sadly. "All over something we didn't do."
"Don't worry, I believe you," Sunset replied. "The thing is, Cheerilee and I want to hunt Anon-a-Miss down. Would you want to join us in that effort?"
Scootaloo looked determined, putting her drink down. "That bastard not only ruined my life, but the lives of my friends and my mom. Count me in."
"If it uncovers the truth, Ah'm in," Apple Bloom added.
"I can help find the source," Sweetie Belle said. "I'm good with computers. Such a shame I no longer have my own, or any of my things, for that matter."
"Ah, yes," Sunset said with a wry smile. "They sold them all off to an anonymous buyer."
"Is that funny?" Sweetie Belle asked.
Sunset reached behind her, and held up a miniature 4-4-0 with tender attached. "I believe this belongs to you," she said.
"JUPITER!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed, running over and hugging Sunset. "Thank you so, so much!"
"We've got your PC set up in the spare room," Cheerilee said. "Whenever you're ready, we can get cracking."
A few hours later, Sweetie Belle had got changed into her usual clothes, as she felt most comfortable doing work in those. Sitting at her PC, she was working her way through the code on the Anon-a-Miss page. Sunset had her laptop open and was working her way through the same files.
"Er, Sweetie Belle, do you mind if I ask you a question?" Sunset asked.
"Sure, go ahead. We won't be able to access the old account for a minute or two yet."
"Do you always wear the same jacket, shirt and skirt?"
The younger girl looked over. "I have a few duplicate copies. Rarity made several pairs as a test of her sewing machine's settings lock, and it seems to have worked. Besides, I like them. Probably why Rarity has locked them away in her wardrobe."
Sunset wasn't entirely surprised. "So, she punishes you by not letting you wear the clothes you like? Seems rather petty to me."
"I was basically a slave in my own home," Sweetie Belle replied sadly, glancing back at the lines of code on the screen. "Still not finished yet. Anyways, I needed to be on-call for modelling work at all times, as well as the sessions dragging on for hours."
"Sounds like Rarity can be pretty pensourious when she wants to be," Sunset sighed.
"What?"
"Opposite of generous," Sunset replied. "Sorry, but I grew up in the Canterlot Royal Court, where we used archaic language all the time." She paused for a moment. "Did she also subject you to 'etiquette lessons'?"
"Yep!" Sweetie Belle answered, her voice sounding annoyed. "You would not believe the sheer number of tea parties she hosted, all with long, boring lectures about 'how to act like a lady' and other crap like that. Frankly, she's a complete hypocrite, as the way she acts towards those she dislikes is pretty much the opposite of what she preaches."
"Aren't we all a bit hypocritical in some ways?" Sunset asked. "I try my best to be a good person, but I'm terrified of slipping back to being the old bully."
"You're not that anymore, Sunset," Sweetie Belle replied, with a smile on her face. "Thanks to you, Button Mash opened up about his feelings to me, and furthermore you helped us with all that schoolwork. I'd say you're one of the best people in the school at the moment."
"Thanks Sweetie Belle," Sunset smiled. "You've moved the heart of old bacon hair here."
"No problem," Sweetie Belle answered. "But I haven't even told you the funniest bit yet. When Rarity ran out of tea one time, she sent me to get another teapot. So I went away, and when I arrived in her room I dropped it."
"By accident," Sunset said wryly.
Sweetie Belle nodded. "The look on her face was worth it, not to mention it ruined one of her silly dresses." There was suddenly rumbling. "Well, I'll go ask for something to eat."
In another room, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom sat around Scootaloo's model railroad. Truth be told, it was actually a collaborative project between Scootaloo and her father, who wasn't around at the moment. As a result, she usually had it to herself. Today, they were engaging in a shunting challenge to move the most rolling stock.
"That's it!" Scootaloo said, as Apple Bloom gingerly moved the austerity tank engine forward. "Just buffer it up to the trucks slowly. That'll engage the couplings and let you move the trucks into an adjacent siding."
"Thanks fer the tip," Apple Bloom replied, as the engine rolled smoothly into the trucks and stopped, the couplings engaging as it did so. "So, yer ma believed you were innocent from the very start?" she asked, as she reset the direction control on the iPad used to operate the layout.
"Yes she did," Scootaloo replied. "She knew us doing something like this would be out of character, and saw straight through the conversation that was posted as fake evidence."
"Yeah," Apple Bloom sighed. "Who'da known that they'd use a conversation about a Train Sim custom scenario, of all things?"
"If only Celestia and Luna had listened," Scootaloo replied sadly. "Speaking of which, how did your folks take it."
Apple Bloom suddenly looked panicked. "Ah don't wanna talk about it," she said suddenly. Just then Cheerilee entered.
"Hello girls!" she said with a smile. "Sweetie Belle just came in asking for something to eat. Shall I put dinner on? I've got some pizza in the freezer."
"Sounds good!" Scootaloo replied.
"Thanks fer bein' so nice ta us, Miss Cheerilee," Apple Bloom replied, before suddenly losing her balance and falling flat on her bottom. "Ow!" she cried.
Cheerilee rushed over. "Apple Bloom, are you quite OK?" she asked.
"Ah'm fine, honest!" the younger girl replied.
Cheerilee's face hardened. "Apple Bloom, you're a terrible liar. Something is clearly bothering you, so can I please take a look?"
Apple Bloom stood up, and dropped her jeans and underwear so Cheerilee could clearly see. The older woman gasped in shock, as the girl's rear was covered in bruises and scars.
"Where the hell did you get these?" Cheerilee asked, horrified.
"Applejack spanked me," Apple Bloom said quickly.
"How many times?" When there was no response, she asked again. "HOW MANY TIMES?"
Apple Bloom shuddered slightly from the volume. "Ah don't know. Ah stopped countin' after 10. She was so insistent Ah needed one, as if mah punishent weren't already enough."
"That's simply barbaric," Cheerilee said, disgusted. "Nobody should ever hit a child, least of all a sibling. Stay there, I'm going to get you an ice pack to sit on." She exited the room, and came back a moment later, putting it down on a cushion.
"Can Ah at least get some of mah dignity back?" Apple Bloom asked. "Ah'd rather not stand here half-naked."
Cheerilee nodded, and Apple Bloom covered up the injuries again, before taking a seat.
"Well, that were awkward. Where were we again?"