//------------------------------// // I - A Broken Apology // Story: The Path of Absolution - Forgiveness // by Morningstar1337 //------------------------------// In the editing room if the Foal Free Press, Diamond Tiara can see the sun just starting to rise. "Where are they? They should have been here 5 minutes ago!" "But it's only 7:00," said a blue ink-stained colt. At this moment the Cutie Mark Crusaders had just arrived. Sweetie Belle exclaimed "Stop the Presses!" "But they haven't even started yet." said the blue colt. The three fillies handed Diamond Tiara a manila folder. She glared at the three fillies, "You're lucky I'm nice." She opened one of the drawers and took out another manila folder and moved toward another room. "You're not gonna print it now?" Apple Bloom was worried. The three Crusaders know that the folder their editor took out could lead to their ruination, just as well as they knew that the column the wrote would lead to their absolution. "Why should I?" Diamond Tiara grows suspicious. "I read the last columns you gave me. And I'm sure that this column is full of nice juicy gossip." The pink filly waved the folders. "You can go now Gabby Gums." Apple Bloom, Sweetie belle and Scootaloo left the room, ashamed at the moniker of "Gabby Gums" they took while working at the press. Under the anonymity that name they wrote terrible things, things they turned them from harmless if over-enthusiastic fillies looking for their purpose in life into, as for as the town was concerned, unfettered sociopathic gossip-mongers. "You think Diamond Tiara would actually read it?" Apple Bloom said as they headed to their classroom. "No way," Scootaloo said. "We made sure we were late enough that she wouldn't have the time to read it, right?" "I hope so," Sweetie Belle sighed. "We have to make this right somehow." Meanwhile in the editor's room. Diamond Tiara opened both folders. The first one had some pictures depicting the three Crusaders in various embarrassing situations. The second one was the one those same fillies handed her. She adjusted her Tiara thinking that the 3 fillies she hired to work for her gossip column wouldn't dare betray her, not as long as she can print those pictures She began to read the letter. The pink filly was shocked. The column was an open apology the town. She read every line, every detail. She said in fury "They'll pay for this!" She noticed a typewriter nearby and thought to herself "If you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself." The Cutie Mark Crusaders left for recess, still hoping that the town would accept their apology. they approached a small lean pegasus who was taking pictures of everything. The pegasus however looked at the fillies and left without a word. "That's strange," Sweetie Belle said. "Featherweight hasn't flew form us before." "I wouldn't be surprised, given how everypony else feels." Scootaloo said. They looked around the playground and saw other fillies were having fun. And saw that every mare and stallion that so much as looked at them giving glares of disapproval. The populace hated their guts, and they knew it. Well everyone except maybe the other ponies working on the Foal Free Press. By now they knew the paper would have reached every part of Ponyville, Cloudsdale, and Canterlot. Eventually recess was over and the fillies finished their school day. One their way home they saw one mare with the paper and the phone the mare was talking about layers for some reason but the three fillies decided not to eavesdrop. Eventually they've gone their separate ways. Apple Bloom went home to a Sweet Apple Acres, though despite the name the mood around the farm was bitter. She saw her sister kicking some apple trees and noticed that she was kicking them so hard that the branches fell off along with the apples. "Applejack?" Apple Bloom said her yellow body slight shaking in fear. "Is there something wrong?" Applejack moved her orange legs to another tree to get some more apples, "Nope." She then took the apples and went to another field. The small filly stroked her red mane and pink bow in confusion. She considered asking her again but she knows that Applejack wouldn't talk to her, not anymore. She knows that yesterday the identity of Gabby Gums has been exposed. She had noticed something in the trash and looked inside. It was the Foal Free Press. Apple Bloom took the wadded paper into the trash and read the gossip column. She could not believe what she was reading. She took the paper and went to get Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. Scootaloo trotted on a small path. Normally Rainbow Dash, the orange pegasus' idol, would be training nearby. But now she is nowhere to be found. On the bright side she wouldn't be drenched by rainwater. She noticed a sign on the ground near a copy of the paper. The newspaper was in a case for some reason. The sign read "If you happen to use the name 'Gabby Gums', Get out! I don't want to see your faces anywhere near here anymore!" She saw some tears on the sign. She heard a thunderclap. "But it was just sunny a few seconds ago," she thought. She looked up and up a small storm cloud over her head. "Figures." She tried to read the paper which was turned to the gossip column and in shock went to find her the other two crusaders. Rarity was busy packing up some luggage when she saw Sweetie Belle enter the Carousel Boutique. "What do you want?" "Um, did you get the paper?" Sweetie Belle sheepishly asked, knowing full well that it was unlikely that Diamond Tiara would print their apology. "Of course I did," Rarity asked. She used her white horn to levitate the paper and rolled it up into a scroll, then dropped it in front of her similarly-colored sister. "What's the luggage for?" Sweetie Belle asked thought not expecting a response. She knew that Rarity was the one who found out that she and the other Crusaders are Gabby Gums. Rarity was still putting the luggage together. "Well if you must know, We're going an a little retreat to Manehatten with our friends. It's been a stressful week, no thanks to you," She said with some venom in her voice. "Rainbow Dash already left to cheer up Twilight and Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie and Applejack are finishing their duties at their homes." Sweetie Belle felt even more regret when she heard Twilight and Fluttershy's names. Since yesterday she found out that their column drove the latter to tears, and the former to seal off the Library from the rest of town. "By the way," Rarity said. "During the trip me and Applejack are going to speak with her relatives there." The white filly was confused. She said, "But why am I going?" "Well I talked with our parents over this but I think it would be best if you and your friends..." Rarity didn't know what to say next. She was the one who blew the whistle on Gabby Gums and yet she was one of the rare few that didn't treat her sister as badly as the rest of the town. "...I think it would be best if you three stay away from Ponyville for a while." Sweetie Belle was shocked. She had lived in Ponyville all her life. She could barely fathom the thought of moving. Rarity said, "I have to go. I asked Big Mac to help with the luggage." She then went out, turning the open sign on the store afterwards. Sweetie Belle wondered what could had been written to make moving a viable option. She took the paper and read the gossip column. She went through every page and said, "My word." She was shocked by what was written in place of their apology letter too shocked to noticed the picture of her in one of Rarity's designs. She went out to see Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. The Cutie Mark Crusaders met up and went to their clubhouse. There they'd began discussing today's paper. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle noticed that Scootaloo was wet. The three began to place the copy of the paper that Apple Bloom brought on the table and began to double check it. The gossip column read, "The Truth Behind Gabby Gums." at the top of the column. "Dear Ponyville I'm sure by now you know that 'Gabby Gums' is actually three fillies: Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo. And we would like you to know that we don't care. We know you want the scoop and we know you want it now. So mark our words, We will leave no stone upturned, no trash can un-dived, and we will not rest until we bring you the latest scoop on all Ponyville. And to show we mean business here's some dirt on ourselves." There was a picture of Scootaloo covered in mud at the top of the page, with a picture of Sweetie Belle in an odd outfit at the middle and one of a baby Apple Bloom at the bottom. "This is a disaster! There's no way we can show our face here now," Scootaloo said. "Maybe that wouldn't be a bad thing," Sweetie Belle whispered. She hasn't told her friends about the move yet. "Beg pardon?" Apple Bloom said. Sweetie Belle began explaining that they, their sisters, and their sisters' friends are all going to Manehatten to discuss the possibility of moving there. The other two were shocked though none more shocked than Scootaloo. "What do you mean we may be moving?" The orange pegasus said in the midst of a panic attack. Apple Bloom began to calm down Scootaloo. "Did she said when?" "Not yet," Sweetie Belle said. "But it's likely to be tomorrow." The three are feeling a little anxious. They knew that they have to make it to those we wrong before they leave Ponyville forever. They considered several options until the nightfall.