Silence. Nothing but dead silence after the young trio concluded what had happened that day by the playground. The CMCs looked down in shame and guilt, but not as much as Apple Bloom. Apple Bloom felt horrible for the way she have acted and treated her friends for the past two weeks, especially for what she did to Sweetie Belle. Aside from what she did to her sister and Sunset Shimmer, hurting Sweetie Belle was Apple Bloom's deepest regret. She cursed herself for letting her temper and stubbornness got the best of her. She was thankful that Sweetie Belle only got a bruise and a few scratches from the fall, but the damage to their friendship was already done. If only she wasn't so stubborn and blinded with hate against Sunset, none of that ever happen. She wouldn't blame her two friends, especially Sweetie Belle if they decided to never speak to her again.
Even if it pains her deeply.
Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle felt just as awful about their own actions. Scootaloo still blamed herself for her own role with this mess. Stealing Rainbow Dash's and other team's secrets from lockers, accepting other secrets from random users and letting them take control of her and unintentionally started a witch hunt against Sunset... all because of her own stupidity. Sweetie Belle felt like she should've tried harder to stop her friends with their awful plan instead of letting it happen. But she also blamed herself for using Anon-a-Miss to get back at her own sister. Despite the terrible things Apple Bloom had done that night, Sweetie Belle felt guilty for using Apple Bloom's most sensitive topic against her out of anger. And after hearing Apple Bloom's "secret" earlier, Sweetie Belle felt even more guilty for bringing it up.
As for the two adults, the two stared at the trio with a mixture of shock and disappointment. Luna felt a huge amount of anger boiling from within her, but she was doing her best not to lash out at them. Instead, she just silently gave them a look which was as cold as ice. Celestia on the other hand, still had a calm, professional look on her face. However, there was also a small trace of anger and disbelief from within her eyes. What really shocked her the most was hearing how many people contributed sending secrets to Anon-a-Miss, all just for kicks. The scary part of all, she wasn't sure which one are from the students from CHS and which ones are from strangers! She made a mental note to investigate this issue at a later time.
Right now, she was going to focus on the main issue.
"Unbelievable," Celestia muttered, shaking her head in disapproval. "Just... unbelievable! Words cannot describe what I'm feeling right now, but I will say... I'm appalled to hear all the actions from you three... especially you Apple Bloom!"
Apple Bloom winced and shook from Celestia's hard tone. While Apple Bloom didn't blame her Principal for being so angry with her, but seeing a normally cheerful and nice Principal like Celestia acting so angry... scared her. Heck, she was scarier than Vice Principal Luna!
Celestia lingered her glare at Apple Bloom a little longer before she shifted her focus on to Scootaloo. "Where did you take Sweetie Belle after she was injured Scootaloo?"
"I took her back to my Aunts place and I asked them to help patching up her wound," Scootaloo answered.
"Did they asked you how it happened?"
"...yes," Scootaloo replied with some hesitation.
"And what did you say?"
"I... told them that she tripped and hurt herself while we were... playing basketball," Scootaloo responded lamely as she looked down at her lap. "I didn't want to tell them what really happened because I was still scared about the whole thing. I could tell that they don't fully believe me but they didn't push the topic and helped completely healed Sweetie Belle."
"...I see," Celestia said simple before turning to Sweetie Belle. "How is your arm feeling right now Sweetie Belle?"
"Um... my arm is feeling okay now, thank you for asking," Sweetie Belle said quietly.
Celestia nodded, silently relieved about the young girl's medical condition. "Did you mention your injury with anyone else?"
"...no, I didn't," said Sweetie with a sigh. "After Scoots' Aunts fixed my wound, I asked them not to mention this to my family. Up until we confessed to our sisters, I didn't say anything because I didn't want to worry them." She then sadly closed her eyes. "And also... I didn't want to get Apple Bloom in trouble."
The adults raised their eyebrows while Apple Bloom stared at Sweetie in shock. "So even after everything that happened, you still have some faith in your friend?" Celestia pressed.
Sweetie sighed again before opening her eyes and gave the adults her sad look. "I know it doesn't make any sense even after the way she hurts me like that... but I know Apple Bloom. She's not an evil person, she was making a lot of bad decisions while being so blind to everything that happened." She then rubbed her left shoulder where her wound was. "Plus... I deserved that... after saying those awful things to her."
"No Sweetie Belle."
Sweetie turned towards Apple Bloom, who looked so guilt ridden and was on the verge of tears. "If anythin'... Ah'm the one who deserved all that stuff you said to me about mah parents. If they're here and see me now..." Apple Bloom choked, letting a single tear leaked out from her eye. "...they'll be ashamed of me right now."
As the three crusaders stared at each other in sadness and Celestia watched the three of them with a neutral expression, it was Luna who spoke up.
"While I don't know for sure of how your parents feel if they're... still around," she began carefully, before staring at Apple Bloom with a deep frown. "But I will say that what you did wasn't right! It was bad enough with the things you had done to Sunset Shimmer, your sister and the student body with Anon-a-Miss, but injuring your friend on top of that!? I... have no words!" She then glared angrily at red headed pre-teen. "Just what do you have to say to yourself?"
Apple Bloom sadly bowed her head. "Ah have no excuse. What ah did was awful. Ah've been acting like a rotten apple to everybody, including mah best friends. Ah wouldn't blame them... if they won't be friends with me anymore after this."
Both Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo watched their friend with sad expressions. While they were still hurt after what she did for the couple of weeks, but they couldn't help but to be sorry for her too. They just don't know if they should go to comfort the young farmer or not.
After all, Apple Bloom isn't the only one who had hurt their friends.
"Well even so, what you did was unacceptable!" said Celestia with a slight edge in her voice. "Even if it was just a shove, violence is not tolerable at our school ground. But we'll discuss about your punishment later!" She took a moment to breathe through her nose to calm herself somewhat before she spoke to Apple Bloom again. "Now... what happened after your two friends ditched you?"
Apple Bloom let out a long sigh before she slowly looked up to face Principal Celestia. "Well... Ah didn't know it then, but at that moment... it was the beginning of mah wake up call. The next couple of days after our... fallout... things were getting much much worse from there...