It was another simple working day in the Iron Hammer...
Star Twinkle and Steel Hammer stored away their tools and were about to end their work.
“Another day, well spent!” Steel Hammer said overly enthusiastic, making it almost look like as if he just started his day.
Star Twinkle, on the other hoof, was glad that his work was finally done and that he could go home to relax.
But when he saw how three familiar fillies walked up to him and Steel Hammer, he instantly feared the worst.
“Oh, no!
It's Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo!
Please, tell me that they don't want me to join on another hunt for a Cutie Mark.
I rather want to go home now!”
He quickly tried to come up with some excuse but before he knew it, the Crusaders already stood right in front of him with excited faces.
They were all wearing reporter hats and had notebooks in their hooves.
Star Twinkle was thinking what this get-up was supposed to mean and how it would affect him, though it was painfully obvious for somepony who wasn't completely stressed out right now.
“Well, hello there, Cutie Mark Crusaders,” Steel Hammer greeted cheerfully.
“What are you up to, this time?” Star Twinkle added a little annoyed as he walked up to the three fillies, knowing that they somehow would get him into some annoying trouble with their search for a Cutie Mark.
“We are researching some stories for our school paper,” Apple Bloom replied while waving with her notebook in one of her hooves.
“Oh,” Star Twinkle reacted surprised.
“That actually doesn't sound dangerous or crazy, unlike most stuff that you attempt,”
“It's just that we have to hurry!” Scootaloo said.
“Yeah, it might be our last chance to get our Cutie Marks!” Sweetie Belle added, frustrated.
“Last chance?
What are they even talking about?” Star Twinkle thought confused.
“Star Twinkle, can you believe that Featherweight got his Cutie Mark before us?” Apple Bloom said also frustrated.
“No, I can't...
Mainly because I have no idea who that is...” Star Twinkle replied in disinterest.
They may take this whole “getting a Cutie Mark” as serious as always, but at least they chose something normal and not dangerous where Star Twinkle had to worry about them.
He bit into the sour apple and asked if he could help them in any way but thankfully they declined.
They were working for the school so there was no way that he could help anyway.
Star Twinkle would lie if he would say that he wasn't relieved to hear that.
They walked off again in search of a story and left the two ponies with their work.
“They sure have lots of fun,” Steel Hammer said as he waved the three fillies goodbye.
“Yeah...” Star Twinkle replied bored.
“I'm sure you have a lot of fun with those three,”
“Fun” is not the word how Star Twinkle would describe all the annoying things that they made him do in order to get a Cutie Mark.
Of course, Star Twinkle figured that he was harsher to them than they deserve.
He only spent time with them like this, once or twice in a week so it could be worse.
“Don't you think it's a little weird that a full grown stallion hangs around with three fillies to find his special talent?” Star Twinkle asked with narrowed eyes.
“You are never too old to have fun!
Besides, it's nice to see how you decide to find your special talent,” Steel Hammer said with a proud smile on his face.
“Oh...yeah...” Star Twinkle replied hesitantly.
This might wouldn't have been the best time to tell him that he was pretty much dragged into all of this by those three.
But Star Twinkle was not bothering about that anymore.
He was a member of the Cutie Mark Crusaders...
And he was a full grown stallion while they were all little fillies...
Those were the facts.
It was not like he was made fun of because of that.
Not anymore...
Everypony in Ponyville, by now knows the Cutie Mark Crusaders and naturally, about Star Twinkle.
He was probably the only pony left who thought that it was weird.
A little while later in the Cutie Mark Crusaders Clubhouse...
Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo actually managed to write a decent article for their school and decided to show one issue to Star Twinkle in order to get some more feedback.
“Snips and Snails Bubblegum fails?” Star Twinkle read out loud confused.
“Well, what do you say?” Sweetie Belle asked while she, Apple Bloom and Scootlaoo waited excited for an answer.
“It's funny, I guess...” Star Twinkle replied while still scanning through a newspaper that the three gave him to read.
“You said you wrote that?
But it says it was from somepony named Gabby Gums,” he pointed out.
“That's us!” Apple Bloom replied.
“Pretty cool name, huh?” Scootaloo said proudly, raising her head in the air.
“But you have to promise us to keep it a secret, okay?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“I won't tell anypony...” he replied almost absent-minded.
“Pinkie Promise?” All three of them said unison with puppy eyes.
Star Twinkle sighed.
There would be nothing for him to gain by telling anypony about that anyway.
Although, he didn't understand why they would keep their identity a secret in the first place.
But on the other hoof, he didn't understand much about this stuff either so he Pinkie Promised.
“I won't lie,
or else I fly,
stick a piece of paper in my eye,” he said while making the traditional Pinkie Promise gestures.
They explained that this paper was a huge success at their school and of course, they wanted the opinion of one of their fellow Cutie Mark Crusaders member as well.
Star Twinkle admitted that their story was actually the only one that kept him interested a little.
It was also good to hear that they were successful with their writing.
“Do you have any idea about your next story?” Star Twinkle asked in order to make them know that he is interested in their new “Hobby”.
But instead of showing enthusiasm and answering Star Twinkle's question, they hesitated and looked at each other puzzled.
“We are working on that!” Sweetie Belle replied, in an attempt to end this conversation.
“Yes!
We get you the next issue when it's ready!” Scootaloo added, quickly picking up what Sweetie Belle tried to do.
“That is why we need to go and write the next one!” Apple Bloom added, as well.
They seemed to be really eager to end this conversation as quick as possible.
They all smiled at Star Twinkle, making it really obvious to him that something was wrong.
Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo kept on smiling but Apple Bloom seemed like she was waiting for a reaction after her words before from her two friends
“Like, right now!” She said to them annoyed.
They quickly realized that Apple Bloom wanted them to go with her and write the next article.
After that, they quickly left the clubhouse and left Star Twinkle confused.
“Wouldn't it be better to write the article...here?” He wondered after watching them literally run away from him and the clubhouse.
He didn't bother to question they action anymore further since they actually already wrote a successful article.
As long as they didn't bother him too much with that, he was completely fine.
Maybe they actually get their Cutie Mark from this, which would be more than enough reason to be happy for them.
He just hoped that if they failed, that they wouldn't be too upset.
But, to his surprise, only a few days later, the name Gabby Gums was known in all of Ponyville.
Instead of only writing for their school, the newspaper expanded throughout the whole town for everypony to read.
Of course, Star Twinkle read some of those articles as well.
One morning, shortly after he woke up, he opened his door to pick up the newest newspaper that lied in front of his door entrance.
He took it inside, closed his door and began to read the first page.
And as expected, it was an article from Gabby Gums.
“The Great and Powerful Trixie's Secrets Revealed?” He read out loud surprised.
“How do they know anything about her?
I don't think she ever visited this place again after her last visit...” He wondered while thinking how the Cutie Mark Crusaders came up with this story.
He flipped the page and tried to find another article to read.
“Celestia Just Like Us?” He read out loud while looking at a picture of Princess Celestia eating a slice of cake.
Once again, he flipped the page over and read out another headline.
“Mayor Not Naturally Gray?
These articles are really going into some privacy...
What are those three doing?” Star Twinkle said in concern, hoping that Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo wouldn't get into troubles with their articles.
A few more days later...
Star Twinkle kept an eye on the articles in the last few days and noticed how they became more and more mean towards everypony.
Every ponies most important or embarrassing secrets got revealed through the paper.
He didn't found any article about himself so far, and other ponies secrets didn't interest him so he didn't think about it too much but he got concerned that Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo got a little to carried away.
He decided to ignore the newspaper and kept on going without worrying about it too much.
That way, he wouldn't be embarrassed if somepony read an article about him.
It was not like other ponies were just walking up to him and confront him with one of his embarrassing secrets.
At least, that's what he kept telling himself.
Later, on the same day, Star Twinkle was on his way to Sugarcube Corner.
His friends decided to invite him to this place.
Apparently, the girls wanted to talk with him about something.
On his way, he couldn't help but see other ponies staring at him and giggling behind his back.
Star Twinkle mostly tries to avoid eye contact with everypony while walking down the road but he could clearly tell that they were laughing at him.
While continuing his walk, he stopped near a window for a moment to check if there was something in his face or his mane, only to find out that everything seemed normal.
However, that didn't answer the question why everypony was laughing at him.
He quickly increased his walking speed to avoid any more contact with other ponies and wanted to be inside of Sugarcube Corner as soon as possible.
After finally arriving, he became a little calmer again and opened the door relieved.
When he entered, his friends waited in the room, filled with newspaper and some bad mood on everyponies face.
“What's going on here?” He asked right away.
Applejack wasted no time and showed Star Twinkle a picture of her in the newspaper.
“That's what is going on!” She said enraged.
“Applejack Asleep on the Job!” Is what the headline said with a picture of Applejack taking a nap under one of her apple trees.
“Or how about this one?!” She said as she flipped the page, revealing the next headline.
“Big McIntosh – What's He Hiding?” The headline said, with a picture of Big McIntosh on it and some kind of doll that looked strangely familiar to Star Twinkle.
“Let me guess...Gabby Gums?” Star Twinkle figured.
Apparently, not only Applejack but every other pony also made an appearance in the newspaper and was featured in an article by Gabby Gums.
But not in a good way.
The articles were not exactly covering the truth and only served to make everypony look bad.
And his friends were not safe either.
The articles they were featured in, were all spreading lies and weren't true at all.
From Twilight being a snob that thinks that Ponyville is just a low-class place to Pinkie Pie being an out of control Party Animal, the last one making Pinkie Pie bursting out in tears and admitting her problem.
Rarity seemed to be the only one who wasn't bothered by all of this, even going so far of defending Gabby Gums and claiming that it was only harmless gossip.
It made Star Twinkle think if Rarity was aware of Gabby Gums being partly her sister.
In truth, he was just not interested in all of that because it didn't concern him.
However, he did struggle to not tell who Gabby Gums was.
Not only would it bring the three ponies into trouble, but it also would make him break his promise.
He did expect that something like that would happen eventually.
It was just too good that the Cutie Mark Crusaders had success with their articles without causing any problems.
With the group being in a bad mood, Star Twinkle figured that he had to tell the Cutie Mark Crusaders how their articles affect everypony.
But before he could even think about his next action, Rainbow Dash entered the room with a giant pile of newspapers on her back.
“Well, my life is officially over. Gabby Gums has made it to Cloudsdale,” she said frustrated as she dropped the pile of paper on the ground.
Twilight grabbed one of the newspapers and read one of the headlines out loud.
“"Rainbow Dash: Speed Demon or Super Softie?"” She read pointing at a picture with Rainbow Dash on it, where she was about to get a hooficure.
“I grabbed as many copies as I could, but it was too late! I'm a laughing stock!”
“I don't think there is anything wrong with getting a hooficure,” Star Twinkle said in an attempt to calm Rainbow Dash down.
“I didn't have a hooficure, I just-” but she paused in the middle of the sentence after looking at Star Twinkle for a second.
She then was about to laugh but tried her best to keep it in as much as possible.
“What?” Star Twinkle asked because of Rainbow Dash's obvious reaction.
“Nothing!” She replied, her hooves covering her mouth in order to not laugh.
Eventually, she couldn't help it and fell to the ground and laughed like she never did before.
The other girls could only give each other concerned looks because of that.
For a pony who claimed that her future was over, a minute ago, she sure was having fun all of the sudden.
Much to Star Twinkle's dislike who couldn't take it anymore.
“Alright, that's it!
I've been laughed at by almost everypony today!
What is so funny?”
The girls seemed to have the answer, they were obviously struggling to tell him and avoided eye contact.
Eventually, Rarity stepped forward and explained.
“It might be because of this, darling,” Rarity said before she gave Star Twinkle another newspaper.
He grabbed it and began reading the headline of the page that Rarity showed him.
“Star Twinkle and a whole new world?” He read out to himself before his eyes widened in shock after inspecting the picture below.
It was a picture of him inside of Canterlot Boutique, wearing a colorful dress made by Rarity.
He remembered that moment.
Rarity needed to take some measurements of a new dress but the girls were all busy and couldn't help her at that time, so Star Twinkle had to be the one to help her out.
Of all the times you could have taken a picture, this was probably the worst.
Not only that but just the thought that the Cutie Mark Crusaders would have done that to HIM, the pony who was defending their secret, made him really angry.
Twilight picked up on Star Twinkle's reaction and tried to convince Rarity how Gabby Gums is slowly ruining everyponies private life.
Still, Rarity claimed that her friends don't have any sense of humor and that they shouldn't take it too seriously and flipped through some pages of her paper.
“So she tweaks a few ponies every now and then, maybe they deser–“ She suddenly gasped in shock after she saw a picture of her in one of Gabby Gums articles lying on a sofa in an overly dramatic pose.
“I'll destroy her!” She said angrily after finally admitting Gabby Gums true nature.
“"The Drama-Queen Diaries"... She's reprinted my diary! How could Gabby Gums possibly get access to my private diary?!” She asked in shock and confusion.
Of course, Star Twinkle knew how that was possible...
It became harder every second to not spill out the beans in front of everypony.
However, Twilight had the idea to ask Sweetie Belle since she was on the newspaper staff.
“If they would found out themselves, then I wouldn't break my promise, right?” Star Twinkle kept telling himself, hoping that they would put the pieces together.
“My sister would never associate with anyone as beastly as Gabby Gums! I resent you even suggesting such a thing, Twilight!” Rarity replied, defending her little sister.
It was understandable that Rarity would deny that Sweetie Belle would be part of Gabby Gums in any way.
He could almost not believe it himself, either.
“And in order to prove that, I will go and do some...research...” Rarity added before she left Sugarcube Corner with an angry expression on her face.
The rest of the group left one by one shortly after.
It left a bad taste in Star Twinkle's mouth to know the identity of Gabby Gums, but not being able to tell anypony.
He was in a really difficult situation, right now.
He didn't want anypony to feel bad appearing in the articles, but he also didn't want to sell out Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo.
He was just hoping that everything would calm down eventually.
It somehow did...
Some days later, everypony knew that the Cutie Mark Crusaders were Gabby Gums.
He figured that Rarity somehow found out about it from Sweetie Belle and told everypony about it.
This could actually be the best thing that could happen to him right now.
Now he didn't have to worry about telling his friends about them anymore.
Also, the articles seemed to stop so everything should be fine again.
Still, with all the ponies out there laughing at him, it was no longer safe for him to go out for a few days so Star Twinkle decided to stay home, whenever he had the chance.
It might be boring but at least nopony was laughing about him.
One day, after everypony knew about Gabby Gums identity somepony knocked on Star Twinkle's door.
He figured that it was only a matter of time until somepony was visiting him.
Whether it was his friends who were worried or somepony else who would just knock on his door to make fun of him.
There was only one way to find out.
He opened the door and saw three little fillies standing in front of him.
All of them with their head lowered in sadness.
“Hi, Star Twinkle,” Sweetie Belle said accompanied, with Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, all of them frowning and looking at the ground with sad faces.
“Well, this certainly is awkward,” Star Twinkle thought while giving the girls an angry expression and waiting for whatever they had to say to him and already planning to close the door immediately after.
“You probably read the article that we wrote about you, right?” Scootaloo started.
“Uh huh...” Star Twinkle replied, not changing his expression one bit.
“We know that you are angry with us but...
We just came to apologize,” Apple Bloom added.
“You are the last one in Ponyville who we haven't apologized to yet...and we know that you won't forgive us like everypony else...
But we still wanted to apologize...” Sweetie Belle added further, making the three of them lower their heads even further in sadness.
Star Twinkle had to think about her words a little.
He still was angry but he also felt sorry.
He didn't want to though.
It was the perfect reason to be angry right now.
However, what Sweetie Belle said before made him think.
“Everypony else?
Everypony in town is angry with them?” Star Twinkle wondered, changing his expression from angry to a thoughtful one in an instant.
“Sorry to bother you...
We know that you don't want to talk with us so we are just gonna leave again...” Apple Bloom said before she walked off with the others.
All three of them were clearly regretting their actions and felt bad about it.
The articles they have written were not fun but hurtful.
It was only naturally that everypony would be mad at them.
“Yes...
I am mad...
And I don't want to talk with you...
Like everypony else...
Everypony would be mad if somepony would reveal their secrets or if somepony would write an article with lies about them...” he thought while looking at the three ponies walking away from him.
He was well aware that they were feeling bad but he was also angry about the article and that they hurt his friends.
However, he knew that he couldn't just stand there...
He let out a huge sigh before he realized what he was about to do next.
“Unfortunately...I'm way too far away from being Everypony,” he thought in frustration.
“If everypony is angry with you...” Star Twinkle started, getting the attention from the three ponies.
“...Then we better come up with a plan to make up for that again,”
Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo looked at each other confused and were surprised by how calmly Star Twinkle was talking with them.
“We?” Scootaloo asked confused.
“Aren't you angry with us?” Apple Bloom asked, addressing the obvious.
“Well, I would be a terrible member of the Cutie Mark Crusaders if I didn't help you right now...” He replied, somehow trying to make it sound a little more distant and forced as if he was still trying to come off as angry.
But before he knew it, the three ponies rushed to him and jumped at him, throwing the Earth Pony on the ground and hugging him in the process.
A reaction that made Star Twinkle feel a little uncomfortable.
“Alright!
That's enough!” He said while they still happily hugged him.
However, they didn't let go.
They were probably too relieved that there was actually somepony who was not angry with them that they couldn't believe it themselves.
And after a while, Star Twinkle wasn't bothered anymore and let them.
Later in the Cutie Mark Crusader Clubhouse...
The three fillies explained the situation to Star Twinkle in the Clubhouse.
Apparently, they did try to stop writing more articles, but there was still one more thing that was in their way.
“So if you don't continue to write more articles, Diamond Tiara will publish some embarrassing pictures of you three?”
“Yeah...” All three of them replied in unison.
“What should we do, Star Twinkle?” Scootaloo asked frustrated, causing Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle to look up to him as well.
It was actually a similar situation that he was in before.
They could either, continue and hurt every other pony or...
“Do you regret what you did to everypony?” He asked, avoiding their question.
They all nodded and looked at him desperately and in regret.
This reaction was all he needed.
“Then you probably already know what you should do...” he said in a surprisingly serious tone.
They looked at each other for a moment and seemed to have figured out what he was getting at and he could tell that they didn't like it.
But they have not supposed to anyway.
Star Twinkle couldn't believe that he would give an advice like that.
He was asking something of them that would probably too much to handle for him if he was in their situation.
But it had to be done if they wanted everypony to forgive them.
On the next day...
The Cutie Mark Crusaders did give Diamond Tiara an article to publish but instead of their regular gossip articles, it was an open apology to the citizens of Ponyville where they openly revealed their identity, even though almost everypony was aware of that already.
They made sure to deliver the paper to everypony by themselves with Star Twinkle accompanying them to make sure that every pony would at least listen to them.
Of course, everypony hesitated to even look at the paper but as soon as they saw the sad faces of the three fillies and Star Twinkle's serious look on his, they realized that they were sincerely sorry and gave them the chance to explain.
From this point on it was basically walking from door to door and apologizing to everypony in town.
It was annoying for Star Twinkle and he didn't know exactly why he was accompanying them but felt like as if those three needed some support so he might as well went with them.
It ended up being a really long day but after they were done, nopony in Ponyville was angry with them anymore which was a great accomplishment.
The pictures of the Cutie Mark Crusaders were released eventually, but they didn't care anymore and were glad that nopony was mad about them anymore.
And Star Twinkle was happy for them too, mainly because there was no more danger for more embarrassing articles about him.
With that thought in his mind, he went to the Iron Hammer on the next day.
“I'm so glad that everything returned to normal again...
I wasn't laughed at on my way to work so far so I guess everypony already forgot it...
So it would be best if I never mention everything about that dress or that article anymore...”
He entered the workshop and quickly saw Steel Hammer, trying to hang something on the wall.
At first, he wanted to greet him but he tried to figure out what he was doing and kept quiet for a moment.
But the moment he figured it out, his eyes opened wide and his face was in shock.
Steel Hammer was hanging a picture of Star Twinkle wearing a dress on the wall.
The same picture that was in the article.
“Steel Hammer!” Star Twinkle shouted in anger at his boss, causing Steel Hammer to turn around in surprise.
“Hi there, Star Twinkle,” he replied in a casual manner.
“Why are you hanging this picture on the wall!?”
“I always wanted to hang a picture of my employee on the wall,” Steel Hammer replied.
“I don't mind that but why did it have to be that one!?”
“It's the only one I have so far...
You don't like it?” Steel Hammer asked, clearly oblivious to Star Twinkle's embarrassment.
“No!
Get it off!” Star Twinkle quickly replied angrily.
“How about just for today?” Steel Hammer offered.
Star Twinkle couldn't believe that they would have that conversation.
He knew how stubborn Steel Hammer could be and put a hoof on his face in annoyance.
“Fine!
But get it off at the end of the day!” Star Twinkle demanded in annoyance.
Steel Hammer smiled happily and agreed to Star Twinkle's demand who only returned an angry glare to him.
They then both stood there for a moment, staring at the picture as if it was hypnotizing them.
“The dress looks good on you,” Steel Hammer complimented.
Star Twinkle didn't know what to think about that and was not interested in an annoying argument and gave a quick answer.
“It was strangely comfortable...”