//------------------------------// // Truths Revealed // Story: Myriad Thoughts // by Tale Swapper //------------------------------// The six girls sat in a circle, back in their old school hangout. The Rainbooms poster which had been on the wall had been ripped down- as soon as Rainbow had seen the defacement, she'd torn it down, swearing under her breath to put up a new one, "20% more awesome." After the girls had come across Pinkie and Sunset behind the stage, Rainbow had run to speak with Celestia, and every girl had skipped class for the period. Flash Sentry stood in near the doorway, having already shooed away two sets of inquisitive- and one group of angry- students from intruding on the Rainbooms. After hunkering down in the music room, each of the girls had slowly but surely gathered their thoughts. Pinkie Pie had her head on Sunset's shoulder, quiet hiccups the only sound she made. The party girl looked tired, and her face was covered by her hair- slightly curled locks still dangling around her face. The girl she leaned on looked nearly as bad, though much more alert- Sunset had had an emotional roller coaster over the last four days, and was looking pretty bedraggled. The despair, fear, and pain she'd carried was nearly spent, but she was still anxious- her friends might have been back at her side, but the rest of the school still wanted her head- and she lacked the proof to prove her innocence. Fluttershy was the most conflicting of the figures in the circle. There was still an odd undercurrent within her- a strength she'd only previously shown when angered beyond reason. But her shoulders were bent forward- she'd released her burdens, and the quiet smile on her face as she petted Angel Bunny showed the relief she felt at finding her equilibrium, lost so long ago. Of the whole group, she seemed the most calm, but it was a spent calm- most of her energy having fled with her outburst Saturday past, or expended in calming the near-hysteric Pinkie. Rainbow Dash's posture was stiff, and she was gazing into the distance, still muttering under her breath. A stranger would have thought her expression merely stoic, but the other Rainbow Dash across the portal, and her friends around the room, knew the truth. Each smack of Rainbow Dash's palm into her other hand spoke of anger at herself, her mutterings were of impotent threats against an invisible enemy, and her lack of action spoke of her rage at the situation. Rainbow was pissed, but lacked a proper target for her anger. Rarity scribbled in a notepad, not her ordinary sketchbook. The scratching of her pen only paused when she gripped her temple, and the red marks starting to form on her hand and forehead spoke of her concentration. There was no drama, no fainting in the face of the situation this time- she seemed to be more concerned with figuring out the next move than her normal histrionics. No clothes would solve this issue- Rarity's design skills were being pulled in a different direction. Of the group, only Applejack seemed normal. Having been the first to realize her mistake, and the one whose revelation had shook her the least, she'd come to terms with her demons long before the others. Although the last week had been stressful, she'd already relegated the situation, in her mind, into the category of "Family Troubles"- and as an Apple, she was well versed to handle those. Her brow was furrowed slightly, but her thoughts rested on problems, not guilt or wrath. Rarity was the one to break the silence, snapping her notebook closed. "Girls, I've gone over the facts. Rainbow Dash" she motioned to the athlete, whose head rose at her gesture, "pointed out that although the web page bears Sunset's silhouette, it does not have any of the wit nor subtlety we expected from the old Sunset. Applejack recognized it as the tactic we'd seen her use before, turned back upon her. I recognized the conflict of why Sunset would do this- there's no purpose to Anon-A-Miss beyond petty vengeance." Applejack looked across at Rarity. "What are you gettin' at, Rares?" "Sunset had the means, opportunity, but no motive. We've recognized that, as we know Sunset's old plans and her real self well enough to know why our current troubles make so little sense." Rainbow scowled, coming to her feet. "No one else knows her well enough to know the truth easily, though- no offense, Flash." He nodded in assent. "Umm..." Everyone turned to look at Fluttershy. "If Sunset's been staying with Applejack these last few days, couldn't we just have the Apple family say she wasn't posting secrets? I mean, she didn't have access to a computer for a few days, right?" "Three problems, Fluttershy." Everyone turned to look at Flash, who was frowning at his phone. "First, Dash and I talked about that Friday night. It's possible to queue up posts to be published later. Second," He frowned even more. "Anon-A-Miss' posts slowed down on Saturday, and they didn't post anything on Sunday. I don't know why, but it looks like whoever it was just decided to stop being Anon-A-Miss- or like Sunset was hiding her activities." She shrugged off the glares directed at him. "I'm not saying she did, just saying it could look like that. Third, most of the school's not exactly rational right now- they want someone to hate. I don't think we could convince everyone she's innocent without help- or the actual culprit." "Wait, we?" Rainbow spoke up. "Flash, don't get me wrong, I'm glad for the help. But why are you including yourself in this?" Flash shook his head. "Sunset and I talked earlier. She doesn't deserve this- and as soon as the real culprit is found, and their reasons are aired, we can finally put things back to normal." Outside the room, three heads listened to what was going on inside. The CMC listened to their older siblings debate what should be done. As one, the three girls turned to one another. "Ah know what we should do," Apple Bloom began "But it ain't my decision alone. You heard what they're sayin' in there. We all know just how bad it's gotten. So- what do we do?" "Will coming forward really fix the problem?" Sweetie Belle spoke next. "I mean, the secrets are already out there. Stopping Anon-A-Miss might not add any more fuel to the fire, but..." "Can we hide it, though?" Scootaloo spoke next. "Can we live with it if we never tell- if something happened to Sunset? Or even if nothing happens, can we stand what we've done? Can we fake innocence around Rarity, around Rainbow, around Applejack, and Flash?" "We gotta decide. Do we tell our families, tell Celestia, and own up to what we've done? Or do we hope they never find out th' truth?" Apple Bloom finished. The girls stood silently for a moment, then each looked at each other. Each made their choice. The Rainboom's debate ended with a knock at the door. Flash glanced out, then frowned. He swung the door open. "Scoots? Apple Bloom? What are you doing here?" "Cause... we gotta confession to make. A couple, really, but I- we- need to say this." Apple Bloom looked around the room, at six confused faces- and Sunset's look of dawning realization. Applejack spoke, puzzled. "Bloom, what are you-" she was cut off by Sunset's throat clearing. Looking behind her, she saw the red-and-gold haired girl shift Pinkie off her shoulder, and motion for Apple Bloom to continue. The redhead cleared her throat, and continued. "A little over a wee ago, we were meetin' in Flash's basement. Sweetie and I were talkin' and we got upset about how you weren't spenin' as much time with us." More and more of the faces around the circle were beginning to shift from puzzlement to understanding, and then to anger, or in two cases, disappointment. "We knew some stuff, and Sweetie got pictures of Sunset's phone. We put what we had together... and we made the Anon-A-Miss page." Rainbow, predicably, was the first to break the silence. "Scootaloo! Why would you- just to get more time with-" "No. I wish it was that simple." Scootaloo's voice was tight, even as she felt Flash's glare bore into he back of her head. "I... wanted Sunset to..." She cut her voice off. "Payback for what I did to Flash." Sunset guessed, pinching the brow of her forehead. "And petty jealousy. That's it? That's why you tried to ruin my life?" "Ah'm not sayin' we were being smart- or had a good reason." Apple Bloom said softly, her voice thick with guilt. "But that's why we're here." She looked up, guilt evident in her eyes. "Sunset- Ah'm sorry. Ah didn;t know what you were goin' through, but Ah shouldn't have done it anyway." She looked away. "Ah hurt both mah sisters- and nearly lost one before Ah got to know her. Yah might never forgive me, but-" "Save it, Bloom." Applejack's voice was harsh. "We're gonna have a long talk about this- and Ah know Granny's gonna have somethin' to say to you." Rarity's voice cut through the end of Applejack's speech. "And where is my sister?" Her voice crackled with a hard anger. "I see she isn't with you. Is she not willing to face me?" Scootaloo spoke up. "Yeah- but she's got a different job. She didn't want to talk to you- so she's gonna go tell Principal Celestia." Sweetie Belle sat in the chair in front of Celestia, who was glaring at her coldly, her sister watching from behind her. "So let me get this straight. You three got jealous, decided to frame Sunset, and started by posting a few secrets. You do know that's cyber-bullying, right?" "Yes, Principal Celestia." Sweetie Belle glanced down at her feet. "Better that we get in trouble than something happen to Sunset- or worse. We know we're going to get in serious trouble for this." "Then why come forward?" "Wait." Everyone turned to look at Pinkie Pie. "So, you took stuff from Sunset's phone and shared around family secrets for the rest. That doesn't explain where you got Bon-Bon's secrets, or Topsy Turvy's. or Soarin's, or anyone else's stuff! Where'd you get all that stuff?" Scootaloo grimaced. "After we posted a few things, people started sending more stuff in to the Anon-A-Miss page. We posted some of it, because we thought it might be a good way to isolate Sunset." "That's the other reason we had to come forward, though. We didn't post the really bad stuff." Apple Bloom explained. Everyone froze. "Really bad stuff?" Rarity enunciated. "Those pictures you posted were horrid! And most of the rest of it was worse!" Flash spoke up next "What do you mean, really bad stuff, Scootaloo?" Celestia leafed through the printouts in front of her, her gaze harsh. "This is..." "I know." Luna watched Sweetie, sitting out in the main office, even as the sisters conversed within the Principal's personal office. "Some of those things are barely gossip, but others..." "Blackmail material. Putting some of this stuff out there could ruin careers, or ostracize people from the school entirely. But I'm not talking about the secrets themselves." Luna glanced back at Celestia, whose furious visage twisted as she looked over one exchange. "Some of the names here- friends trying to betray friends- or worse- under anonymity." "So, not just punishment for the CMC?" Luna spoke. "I assume there will be a little clemency, since they came forward on their own accord?" "Only a little, Luna. They were willing to frame Sunset, cause emotional damage, and put her life at risk. As first offenders, they'll receive limited punishments- but not too limited. They need to be shown- as does the whole school- that this is not acceptable. But theirs aren't the only heads going to roll for this." She looked up at Luna. "I know you want to play bad cop this time. Call an assembly for this afternoon. Give me some time to go through all this, and we can hopefully make certain no one gets passed over for punishment." She looked donw at the documents. "I'm glad we won;t have to jump through any more hoops to find Anon-A-Miss- but we still need to bring this mess to a close. Decisively." Luna grinned, then turned back to the door. Opening it, she found that Sweetie Belle had been joined by her two friends- and the seven older teens. Rarity was glaring down at her shame-faced sister, while Applejack held Apple Bloom by the shoulder. Rainbow Dash and Flash had Scootaloo between them. As one, the ten students turned to face the vice-principal. "All of you, come in. We have a lot to discuss." Luna said.