"It's not what you think, Fluttershy," Sweetie Belle defended.
"Please don't tell the others!" pleaded Apple Bloom, clasping her hands together hopefully.
"This is all your fault, Apple Bloom!" Scootaloo added to the argument, staring knives into her friend. "I told you it was a bad idea!"
"My fault? We were all in this together!"
"It's a Christmas party! You should've known we were gonna get caught!"
Fluttershy stood amidst their angry shouts, watching the scene unfold in a state of shock. Of anyone she'd expect to be 'Anon-a-miss', these girls were not one of them. Or at least, not at first.
It all made sense now. The posts, the pictures, everything. They were the only other people capable of getting the sleepover pictures and Applejack's story. How had it slipped her mind for so long?
Fluttershy stepped into the attic, grabbed the laptop from in between the girls, and scanned the screen, intent on getting answers. Her eyes flickered wide as she read their most recent post, written no more than two minutes ago.
Christmas party? Ha! These losers can't get along for even ten seconds!
Attached was a photo of her four friends arguing in the kitchen. She squinted at it, still unable to believe what was going on. The whole time, she'd known Sunset would never be responsible for such a thing, and she'd been right.
"We never meant for it to go this far! Honest!"
Fluttershy's head snapped in their direction. "Do you girls know how much trouble you've caused? It's affecting more than just us; you've turned the whole school upside-down!"
"Fluttershy, we really are-"
"It'll take a lot more than an apology for you to fix this one." Fluttershy's disapproving glance cast darkly upon them, the anger that she felt bubbling inside her leaking into her words. The girls gulped as they nervously stepped away, off-put by Fluttershy's change in attitude and certain that they'd never hear the end of it.
"There you girls are. I've been lookin' all over for ya!" Applejack was standing on the top stair, a somewhat relieved look on her face that soon disappeared when she processed the situation. "What's goin' on here?"
Fluttershy didn't speak. Instead, she handed the laptop to Applejack, crossing her arms expectantly as she read through.
"Fluttershy, I know 'Anon-a-miss's' posts probably upset ya," Applejack said when she had finished, "but there's really nothin' we can do about it. For some reason, Sunset-"
"It's not Sunset."
"What?"
"Sunset's not 'Anon-a-miss'. Your sister and her friends have been framing her this whole time," Fluttershy explained.
"But...how could they? Sunset was the one who took all those pictures; my sis n' her friends weren't even there." Good point, Fluttershy thought as she turned back to them, raising an eyebrow.
Apple Bloom sighed. "Alright, alright. We did it, ok? We'll admit it. It's just...whenever you called on that first night, Applejack, it made me frustrated that...that you were spending more time with Sunset than with your family, 'specially 'cause of what she'd done In the past. So I created 'Anon-a-miss's' profile, hoping you'd kick 'er outta the group or somethin'. I had no idea all of this would come from it."
"...Scootaloo and I felt the same way," Sweetie Belle began. "When you all slept over at Rarity's, I stole Sunset's phone and downloaded her pictures and videos. Before we knew it, though, word had spread to the whole school. People started sending us other things to post, and it spiraled out of control from there."
"If ya'll were jealous, why didn't ya just come talk to us? It's a heck of a lot better than lyin'!" The three hung their heads in shame, unsure how to reply and worried that anything they had to say would only get them in more trouble.
Fluttershy carefully laid a hand on Applejack's shoulder, whose face softened as she sighed and said, "Look, girls. I know ya'll just wanted some attention, but what ya did ain't right, an' I'm sure Principal Celestia won't be too happy when she finds out." Their eyes widened nervously. "Now I want ya'll to get downstairs and tell everyone else the truth, ya hear?" Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle nodded as they shuffled out of the attic. Their older sisters were waiting for them in the kitchen.
"Alright, somebody tell me what's going on here," Rarity demanded, crossing her arms. She wore a rather agitated expression on her face and tapped her foot expectantly. Though the question was directed at all of them, her gaze was on Sweetie Belle.
After the story had been explained a second time, it was visible that everyone in the room felt remorseful and just as surprised as Fluttershy had been. "How long were you going to keep this from us?" Rarity asked, causing the girls to fidget anxiously. They had obviously never planned on them finding out at all.
Rainbow Dash was scowling. "I can't believe you'd do this, Scoots! Not after I'd considered you my honorary sister. I don't think you even deserve that title anymore."
"B-but Dash, I-"
"I don't want to hear it." She turned away from the now-quivering Scootaloo.
There was an obvious tension in the air as a silence settled into the room, but it was soon replaced with sadness. No one spoke—they didn't need to. Each of them were thinking the same thing.
Eventually, Applejack cleared her throat. "It's late; we should get some rest."
The girls, suddenly aware of the exhaustion that the past week's events had brought about, went to the coat rack near the front door to grab sleeping bags, pillows, and anything else they might need for the night. According to Pinkie, it was imperative that they each slept with one of the many stuffed animals that she had brought.
Fluttershy grabbed her backpack from the rack and pulled on the zipper, but it didn't budge. Confused, she tried again, yet it still refused to move. It must be stuck on something, she thought and tried it once more.
The zipper practically flew out of her fingertips as it unzipped itself. An undecipherable pink-and-brown object darted out of the backpack and whizzed past Fluttershy's head, causing her to shriek in surprise. The object wasn't in the air very long, though. After slamming into a wall on the far side of the room, it came to a stop and fell into a large box of apples. Sharing a bewildered look with one another, the girls ran over to the box and peered inside.
The cover of a worn, leather book stared back at them, the decal of a red-and-yellow sun glowing in the light.
"Fluttershy," Rarity said, "why do you have Sunset Shimmer's book?"