It was now the next morning. Thoroughly exhausted after last night’s proceedings, the 6 friends stepped in through the front door of Canterlot High School. Pinkie yawned loudly, as if to hammer the point home.
“Ya sleepy, Pinkie?” asked Applejack.
“Never!” Pinkie retorted. “Parties give me my energy, parties are my...my...” she fumbled, hunting for the right word. “My something important!”
Suddenly, a voice called out in the crowd; “Piggly-wiggly!”
And then, everything happened at once.
A crowd materialised in the foyer, Applejack wheeling around in the direction of the voice. “What the, did somebody just say-?” was all she managed to get out, before a blur of yellow and red appeared from nowhere and spouted a stream of incomprehensible gibberish into her ear.
“Repeat that, would ya?” Applejack asked.
Once she had stopped panting, Apple Bloom repeated with “Sis! Sis! Ya gotta see this!” Before the older girl could protest, a smartphone was shoved in her face.
“Move it back a little, Ah can’t read it that close!”
Once the phone had been moved, Applejack saw what was on the screen in front of her. Her face shifted from surprise to confusion to anger as she read the MyStable post; “Did ya guys know when AJ was little she loved playin’ with her pigs?” she stopped. “Well, they weren’t mah pigs, but anyways.” She resumed the post. “Oh-Em-Gee? She sat in the mud fer hours! Her whole family calls her ‘piggly wiggly’ because she loves them so much! What a Pig!?”
She scanned down the post, and saw it had already been liked by 69 people, including, to her horror, Diamond Tiara! “When the flahing fuck did this go up?” she demanded.
“It were posted a few hours ago!” Apple Bloom replied.
Sunset peered over herself. “Who’s this Anon-a-Miss?” she asked.
“Her profile was created the same time as the posts,” Apple Bloom continued. “No clue who she is. She posted on your page, mah page, all ya guys pages-the whole school probably knows by now!”
Something about Apple Bloom’s behaviour felt off to Applejack. As if to accentuate the bizarreness of the situation, a multitude of people started shouting “Piggly Wiggly,” as well as making snorting noises.
She sighed. “Well, this ain’t gonna bother me. Ah can handle a little teasin’.”
“Fine,” Rainbow added, “but what about this ‘Anon-a-Miss?’ How did she know about your nickname?”
“And why would she-” Fluttershy started.
“Assuming genders, are we?” Sunset butted in
“And why would they post it online?” Fluttershy continued. “That’s just cruel!”
Maybe the Crusaders could help with this one.” Rainbow finished.
Applejack’s sense of unease grew. Could the Crusaders be snarled up in this?
Luckily, the bell went, distracting her train of thought. “Ah guess the questions are gonna have’ta wait till after school,” she concluded.
Sunset stepped over. “Let us know if we can help AJ,” she said.
“Sure thing, Sunset,” Applejack replied gloomily.
Most of the girls headed off in one direction, whilst the two Apple siblings headed in another. After a tense silence, Bloom spoke up. “So, this...Anon-a-Miss person,” she began.
“What about them?” Applejack snapped.
“Well, the only person who knew about your nickname was us an’yer friends,” Apple Bloom started.
“Exactly,” Applejack cut in. “Phone.”
Apple Bloom looked confused. “Sorry?” she asked.
“Phone,” Applejack repeated. “As ya pointed out, mah friends know that nickname. Given none of us turned our phones on or used a computer yesterday, that rules them out. Big Mac was out all evenin’ yesterday, and Granny Smith can barely use Microsoft Word, let alone the internet.” She paused. “As much as Ah don’t want ta believe it, we are left with only one suspect. You.”
Bloom looked frightened. “What would Ah get outta somethin’ like this?” she asked, with a quiver in her voice.
“Revenge, for me cancellin’ our evenin’ yesterday?” Applejack suggested. “Phone!”
“Right, Ah’ll hand it over,” Bloom replied, taking it out of her pocket and handing it over.
“Well that weren't so hard, were it?” Applejack told her. She tapped on Apple Bloom’s name to see which other accounts were linked to her name. Only one came up. The one she was currently on. “No accounts comin’ up, but it could be on a backup mail.”
“Why not send a message to Anon-a-Miss?” Apple Bloom suggested.
“Like what? ‘Hi, are ya Apple Bloom?”
“If Ah can have it back, Ah’ll prove to ya Ah’m not Anon-a-Miss.”
Applejack reluctantly handed the phone back, and navigated to the Anon-a-Miss account. Apple Bloom started typing, and sure enough the message appeared; Real funny comment you got there!
A few moments later, a response came back; Glad you enjoyed it!
Apple Bloom looked up. “Ah can’t be logged into 2 accounts at once, so if Ah was logged in as mahself when Ah sent the message, how could Ah have replied?”
Applejack sighed. “You’re off the list of suspects Bloom,” she said. “For now. But if it turns out you’re the one pullin’ this shit, you better pray to the Lord Almighty for forgiveness, cause you sure as hell won’t get none from me.”
Bloom nodded nervously, and walked away, bumping into Pipsqueak on the way. “What was that about?” he asked.
“Narrowly avoided a spankin’,” Bloom replied. “She thought Ah were Anon-a-Miss.”
“How could she?!” Pip exclaimed. “That post was horrible! You’d never write anything like that!”
Bloom nodded, and set off in the direction of class.
That evening, Applejack boarded the streetcar with Rarity. “Nice to be able to ride with ya,” she said.
“No problem dear, I’m so glad you were able to come.” Rarity gave her a smile.
“Yeah,” AJ sighed. “It’s been tough. It’ll be good to relax!”
“Are people still making fun of you?” Rarity asked.
“Oohh yeah,” Applejack replied. “Ah get oinked at in every class.” She snorted. “Well, phooey to them! Ah don’t care about a bunch of names, let’s just get our party on!”
“Sounds good to me!” Rarity exclaimed. The bell suddenly went for Songco Drive. “How convenient!” she exclaimed. “The journey lasted just long enough for us to give some expositionary dialogue!”
“Say what?” asked Applejack. But it didn’t matter, as she was through the door before anybody knew what had happened.
They stepped in to find Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy already there, in the bedroom. “Hello girls!” Rarity greeted.
“Hey!” Rainbow returned the greeting, whilst looking over Sweetie Belle’s shoulder to see what she was doing on her laptop.
“We were just chatting with Sweetie Belle,” said Fluttershy. “She was just telling us what she and her friends have been up to with the railroad they’re restoring. They repaired an engine all by themselves!”
“Don't we all know it,” Rarity groaned. “She gets it from her father.”
“Can I just say her Train Simulator custom routes are amazing?” Rainbow added. “I’ve already subscribed to 2 of them on Steam Workshop!”
“Yes, well,” Rarity answered, almost irritably, “I’m sure you’ve been lovely Sweetie, but isn’t it almost your bedtime?”
“What? Hey, no it’s not!” Sweetie Belle replied, as she was marched to the door.
“Come along, little sister!” Rarity intoned, in the patronising voice usually reserved for talking to small dogs or children. “It’s time for your big sister and her friends to spend time together!”
Sweetie Belle groaned. “Aw, come on! I can be cool too!”
Suddenly a voice floated up the stairs. “Are ya there, me hearties?” shouted a voice. And suddenly, there appeared a pirate, with a bird, and a very familiar outfit.
“Rottenbeard?” chorused the girls.
The boy removed his eye patch. “No, it is Captain Mash, here to sail the seven seas in search of gold!”
Another person appeared. “Treasure sounds good,” she said.
Applejack rolled her eyes. “Cozy Glow,” she groaned.
“Do you have a particular problem with her?” Fluttershy asked.
“Off to my room!” Sweetie Belle replied.
“Yar har!” Button called. He raced off in that direction, with Cozy in tow.
Rainbow spoke up. “Rarity, I don’t think that was really neccesary,” she said.
“Well, we want to do things we want to do, don’t we?” asked Rarity.
“You could have politely asked her to go, rather than shoving her out of the room!”
Pinkie broke the tension of the moment. “Alright, who’s ready for ghost stories? I got some creepy tales lined up!”
Sunset laughed. “You know Pinkie, if you just want to hear weird stories about beings in another world, I’ll consult my journal.”
“Please tell Twilight everything!” said Rarity. “In the meantime, let’s party!”
Firing up their instruments, the girls launched into a spirited rendition of an old classic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dq_92e2Yk_E
“Are you recording?” asked Rarity.
“I want to capture the memories!” Sunset replied.
“STAGE DIVE!” cried Pinkie, leaping off her drumkit and smashing into a vent. “I guess that works better when there’s a stage," she admitted.
Fluttershy laughed. “I think that’s the 6th door you’ve broken by dancing Pinkie.”
“Nope!” Sunset answered. “Twelfth!” She then peered a little closer. “Rarity, what are all these clothes?”
“This is just my closet of shame,” Rarity sighed. “It’s where I put the outfits I make or buy that turn out horrible.” She picked up a particularly hideous shawl. “I clean everything out and donate it to a charity drive occasionally. I probably should do so again.”
“What are you talking about? This stuff is great!” Pinkie laughed. “It’s the perfect material for my outrageous selfies. CHEESE!”
They tried on a series of increasingly horrifying outfits. “These are pretty funky clothes Rarity,” Sunset remarked, though whether she genuinely thought it or was being polite was unclear.
“Yeah!” Rainbow called. “Check me out!” She then saw an ensemble next to her; a pair of slacks with a blue T-shirt. “Hey, do you think this would work well for Scootaloo?” she asked.
“What’s it with you and Scootaloo?” Applejack asked.
“She’s the closest thing I have to a sister, so I kinda want to look out for her,” Rainbow deadpanned. “And I think she needs some new clothes.”
“Well,” Rarity interjected, “she is free to try it on, I suppose. I originally made it for Sweetie Belle, but it didn’t suit her.”
Some more truly ridiculous selfies were taken, but everybody went to bed. Sunset pulled out her journal and started to write.
Dear Twilight,
Only my third slumber party with the girls, and I already feel so much closer to everyone! I haven’t felt so loved, so accepted, in... well...ever! I feel like I finally have a family again. Without all of you to help and support me, I’d be-
Well, you know what I’d be!
Anyway, I should get some sleep. But I wanted to let you all know, before I do, that I love you all.
Your friend,
Sunset Shimmer.
Sunset walked into the halls next morning with a grin on her face and optimism in her heart. This was shattered when she rounded a bend...
...to see her friends with angry stares...
...and a certain redhead, bawling her eyes out.