It was early morning. Celestia hadn't even risen the sun yet. The streets of Ponyville were empty and clean. Not a single soul could be seen or heard as the wind blew across the quiet lanes.
The Ponyville Gazette remarked that Ponyville was a great town for ponies who wanted to just to rest without worry in the sleepy night. They weren't wrong. Most of the time.
This time however, a loud, persistent banging rang throughout the entire town. Lights switched on and ponies looked out sleepily and indignantly to find the source of the disturbance.
"Rainbow? Rainbow! Get out right now!" cried out Twilight as she banged on the door of the building that Rainbow Dash was hiding in.
"No!" came the muffled reply.
Twilight groaned explosively. With her were her friends Applejack and Pinkie Pie. Applejack looked on with concern while Pinkie Pie chuckled and snorted with laughter.
"Twilight? Ah' think it would be best to, er, let her lay down for a bit," said Applejack.
"Lay down?!" Twilight rounded on Applejack now. "She's probably in my bed right now!"
"Oh yeah, right." They looked up at the tree that was the library, where Twilight lived, and back down at the door.
"Oh come on out Dashie. It'll be all right!" said Pinkie Pie with a rather large smile.
"Oh Pinkie Pie, go away!" cried out Rainbow Dash. "All of you go away! I want to be by myself!"
Twilight looked livid. Applejack could almost see the line of smoke that appeared on her horn. She quickly stepped in.
"Um, Rainbow, this is Twilight's home. Maybe it wouldn't be a good idea to, um, have some alone time in her house."
No answer. Applejack nervously looked around her.
"That's it!" cried out Twilight. Without warning, she bucked the library door. Of course, it stayed shut. Instead of trying again, Twilight turned around and simply blasted the door with a beam of magic. The door was literally knocked out of its hinges and flew across to the other side of the library, knocking over dozens of books. She ran in and stood in the middle of the library, steaming.
"Rainbow! Come on out, right now!"
"Found her!" said Pinkie Pie. She was pointing to a branch over Twilight's bed. Rainbow Dash was lying on the branch, her back toward them, holding what looked like a copy of the Ponyville Gazette.
"Come on Dashie! Get out of there already! Let's go do something else fun! This place is way too musty for a party. I mean, the first time, it had to be done, 'cause of Twilight and everything, but now..."
She rambled on as Twilight climbed the stairs, fuming, closely followed by Applejack. She reached the top and yelled, "Rainbow! Get down here right now!"
When Rainbow proved still recalcitrant, Twilight seemed to have had enough. Her horn glowed as Rainbow was surrounded by an aura of magic. Twilight shifted her away from the branch and simply dropped her. Rainbow Dash didn't even respond to the intentional fall and continued staring at the Gazette. Twilight stepped up to her.
"Twilight. Ah' think you gotta let it go now. Rainbow Dash doesn't seem like herself right now," said Applejack nervously.
"Nonsense! Get up right now!"
Twilight stepped over her, grabbed the newspaper, and pulled it out of her hands. To her utmost surprise, Rainbow Dash was crying. Tears streamed out of her purple eyes as she bit her lower lip. She suddenly reached up and grabbed Twilight around the neck and pulled her in for a close, tight hug. Twilight struggled to free herself as Rainbow Dash sobbed. Applejack stood nearby, torn between amusement and sadness. She had never really seen Rainbow cry, and although she could use it to taunt Rainbow for forever, she felt remorse and pity for Rainbow. What on Equestria could have made her like this?
As Pinkie continued on and on about her most recent parties and the ponies whose birthdays were coming up and local townsponies stuck their heads in curiosity, Applejack looked at the newspaper that had slid out of Twilight's still struggling hooves. She grabbed it, jumped on Twilight's bed, and flipped to the front page. The top headline was: Wonderbolts Shamed! The sub-headlines read "The Blank Mare strikes again as she uncovers the worst conspiracy in the National Advanced Team Flying Competitions in history!"
As she read, Rainbow Dash finally let go of Twilight all of a sudden. Twilight jumped out, stumbled backward from the force, and bashed her head against the wall. She fell down dizzily. Rainbow then turned to Applejack and jumped on her for another hugging session.
"Sweetheart, get off. Ah' know you're upset, but let's talk about this."
As she said this, she struggled against Rainbow's death grip, not helped by the fact that she was strong. However, she proved more successful than Twilight did and had her pincer grip broken by the time a procession of curious ponies, Pinkie Pie, and Spike climbed up the staircase.
"Twilight!" exclaimed Spike, and he rushed over to help Twilight, who was still rather dizzy. Rainbow Dash immediately turned toward the window to prevent the crowd from seeing her tears while Applejack stood up.
"Um, could y'all leave? We have to, er, talk to Rainbow Dash about something," she awkwardly said.
"Come on everypony. Party at Sugarcube Corner! Come on!" said Pinkie Pie as she pranced all over the floor.
At this point, Twilight seemed to have recovered. She shook her head and stood up. "All right, everypony. Nothing to see here. You should all head back home."
"Yeah, but we should all head to Sugarcube Corner, because Mr. and Mrs. Cake's got a huge new recipe worked out, and..." rambled Pinkie, as the ponies all headed back out. As they headed out, Twilight used her magic to fit the door back on to cover the hole.
As soon as the doorway was covered again, Rainbow Dash immediately began tearing up again.
"Spike! Get a tissue or something," said Applejack.
"Right!" said Spike as he went downstairs.
"Okay, okay. What's this all about?" asked Twilight as she came back up the stairs again.
"This," replied Applejack, and she tossed Twilight the newspaper. Twilight stopped it in midair with her telekinesis. She read the front page and her eyebrows raised in shock.
"Rainbow..." began Twilight, but Rainbow Dash waved her down. Spike came up with a tissue and handed it to Rainbow Dash.
"Thanks," she murmured as she wiped her eyes.
Meanwhile, Twilight was perusing the article with extreme speed. Her pupils seems to speed across her eye at light speed as she read it, her lips curling down in disdain as she read the article.
"This is all stupid. 'Cheating,' 'defying the very ethics of pony nature,' 'just another example of extremism in pony competition,' 'demonstrating an immature desire to win.' All nonsense," she said as she folded up the newspaper.
"It's all true though," wailed Rainbow Dash. "She's got records of some hidden conversations between them, straight-up interviews with known affiliates of the team who all say they have been cheating, statements from the officials of the NATFC League, everything. She's got everypony who's important and who's trustworthy."
"This can't be right," said Twilight as she walked up to Rainbow Dash.
"It is though. Spitfire even confessed to it," said Rainbow Dash.
"She confessed to it?" asked Applejack.
Rainbow Dash nodded and sighed.
"Ah' bet this is all a load of tosh. This 'Blank Mare' character probably set these ponies up to it," said Applejack.
"Doubt it," said Twilight, looking at the article again. "It says here they have statements from a total of 5 volunteers of the team, 3 of the organizers and directors, 10 NATFC officials, 2 psychologists, 1 Canterlot official, and Spitfire herself. She has pretty much everypony she could think of that would be credible and important in a scandal like this."
"She could've tricked them," said Applejack stubbornly.
"Possibly," said Twilight. "Although I don't think that's a possibility. Bribing, blackmailing, tricking, and even manipulating them would be easily detectable with a large source as this. Besides, I'm pretty sure that it would take too long for this Mare to do."
"She probably has a whole team," reasoned Applejack.
Twilight said nothing. Applejack would probably continue on this for a long time. She was extremely dedicated to her friends, and she would definitely support Rainbow Dash at a time like this.
"Don't Applejack," said Rainbow Dash. "I've already decided it's true. Let's face it, she's got, like, 21 ponies who all say that they're guilty, and she also got Spitfire to confess as well."
"I still say they're innocent," said Applejack.
"Well, it says here that this 'Blank Mare' reporter has been successful in the past. All her accusations turn out to be true. She's gotten a lot of ponies in trouble because of her writing. I doubt that this time would be different. This time, it looks like she has a lot more sources than usual," said Twilight.
The three became silent, while Spike hovered in the background. The sun rose as they all remained motionless, each lost in their own thoughts. Suddenly, a knock came on the door, which instantly feel upon the floor. The sound all brought the ponies back down to earth and Applejack and Rainbow Dash both stood up.
"Spike, could you go see who that is?" asked Twilight.
Spike rushed downstairs.
"Rainbow, you feeling all right? Need anything else?" asked Twilight.
"No, it's fine. Thanks for asking. I should go, I mean, I have some important weather duties to do. See you all later."
She walked up to the balcony to take off. Twilight and Applejack walked back down to the first floor.
"I have a priority-one letter here for a Miss Twilight Sparkle," said a mail pony, who was holding up a rather bulky looking envelope.
"Oh, thank you," said Twilight and she pulled it toward her and opened it. A rather large packet and a letter slid out.
"Good day to you, ma'am," said the mail pony, and he walked out. Spike, with difficulty, grabbed the door and placed it back over the doorway. Meanwhile, Twilight and Applejack read the letter. It went something like:
To a Miss Twilight Sparkle,
The Society for the Betterment of Baltimare is pleased to announce that we have successfully launched a petition to call for bipartisan legislation in order to solve the economic situation in our city. We are happy to announce that we have received over a 1000 signatures from ponies within the city and would like to extend the petition to member ponies existing in residential areas outside of Baltimare. If you wish to, please sign the petition and send it to the following address:
The Society for the Betterment of Baltimare Headquarters
1337 Main Street, Baltimare, 20556
We appreciate your past support for our cause and would like to extend a word of thanks to those who don't live in our city but still choose to support us. If you are looking for a travel opportunity, you may choose to visit our fair city of Baltimare for a 30% reduction on all hotel stays and participating restaurant orders.
Sincerely,
Bright Seeking, Manager of SBB
Blueberry, Treasury of SBB
Lightstring, Honorary Member of SBB
and White Party Candidate for S6, FD
"Um, Twilight, what's this?" asked Applejack.
"Oh, nothing much," said Twilight, with the air of a pony who didn't want to talk about things. She rolled up the letter and the packet and began walking upstairs, Applejack following her.
"Oh, come on Twilight. You can tell me," said Applejack.
"Applejack, it's nothing important," said Twilight.
"Oh come on, ah' can keep a secret," said Applejack.
"This coming from the pony whose Element of Harmony is Honesty," said Twilight.
"You have a point there," conceded Applejack, as Twilight flattened out the packet on her desk and began looking through it. "But think about it," she continued on. "If ah' was honest, which ah' am, and ah' tell you ah' can keep a secret, shouldn't that tell you that ah' would keep it?"
Twilight did admit that there was a point in that. And Applejack was capable of lying to the point where he prevented Pinkie Pie from knowing about the secret birthday party they had planned out for her.
"Still, it's nothing important. I just signed up to be a member of the Society for the Betterment of Baltimare, that's all," said Twilight.
"Why would you do that?" asked Applejack. "You live in Ponyville last time ah' checked."
"Yes, but I wanted to help Baltimare. You know the state it's in," said Twilight, as she read the long list of names in the petition.
"Eh... Not really," said Applejack.
Twilight sighed. "It's just in a really bad state. Ponies are actually becoming homeless there. Some don't even have enough to eat."
"Now that's just ridiculous," said Applejack. "Baltimare has a large apple orchard. My aunt Apple Fritters runs it. How could they be hungry?"
"Speaking of Apple Fritters, she is in a bit of a tight situation. You must know she is trying her best, but there's just too many ponies to feed," said Twilight.
"How do you know her?" asked Applejack.
"Oh, I've met her. I've also met with several Council members and Bright Seeking. They all must value my input," said Twilight.
"Wait, ponies from Baltimare have been coming up all that way to visit you?" asked Applejack.
"Well, yeah," said Twilight, as she closed the petition and placed it down. "They all seemed to like the stuff I come up with."
"Like what?" asked Applejack.
"Well," said Twilight as they walked back down to the first floor. "I helped organize a couple of their meets and helped come up with a year long schedule for their aims and courses. Just stuff like that."
"So all that time you've been stuck up here, you've been helping ponies off in a distant city instead of spending time with us?" inquired Applejack.
"Well, yes, but please don't think badly of me. I do still remember all of you, so no worries," said Twilight as she brought down a large book on economy. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some work to do. I need to do more research on economy, sign that petition, research some more on the effects of light on magic, and then go to lunch with Fluttershy."
"Right," said Applejack. "See you later."
"Bye," replied Twilight, as she climbed up the stairs with her book. Applejack opened the door, which promptly fell to the ground again.
"Ah'll take care of that!" called out Applejack, as Twilight sighed.