The now much emptier room fell into silence except for the quiet sobs of Fluttershy after the group left. All of them were lost in thought about what they had done and the consequences of it. For some of them it was “just” the loss of a friend and the feeling their betrayal left, but for others, it would have a much bigger influence on their life.
Principal Celestia moved from her position at the wall and took her seat behind her desk. She watched the gathered girls for several minutes to let them gather their thoughts before she sighed. "So," she began, gathering the attention of the room, “do you have any questions left after your little chat with Sunset? Otherwise, I would ask you five to leave and return to your classes."
At first, no one said anything, until Applejack stepped forward. "Hold on a second. What do ya mean 'leave'? Ah won't leave mah sister alone!"
"Neither will I," Rarity added, stepping forward. Rainbow Dash just stayed away from Scootaloo, not saying anything.
Celestia looked into their eyes, her fingers steepled in front of her face. "I never said they would be alone, but what I'm going to discuss with them is nothing I can or will discuss with their sisters. Your parents and guardians have already been informed, and they are on their way."
This caused the three freshmen to huddle closer together. While being summoned by the principal with everything they did was already bad enough, the thought of facing their angry parents was terrifying.
"I... I see," Rarity said, biting her lip. "Could we at least stay until they arrive so that our sisters are not alone?"
Celestia stayed quiet for a moment before she spoke again. "Very well, I will allow you three to stay if you wish, but I think it would be for the best if Pinkie Pie sees to it that Fluttershy gets home to calm down."
They all looked over to the sobbing girl Pinkie was still holding. Pinkie herself nodded. "I’ll get her home. Don’t worry," Pinkie said while rubbing her friends back. Slowly, she began leading the girl towards the door, which Rainbow opened for them. Pinkie nodded in thanks and left the room with Fluttershy. Instead of closing the door, though, Rainbow Dash kept it open while she looked at Scootaloo with a neutral face.
Scootaloo gulped. She wasn't sure which face was worse: this one without any emotion or the angry one from earlier. "R-Rainbow?"
Rainbow kept staring before she sighed. She turned and left the room without saying anything, closing the door behind her.
No one said anything for a long moment, before Celestia, knowing full well how much the athlete meant to the girl, sighed. "I'm sorry to say it like this, but this is what you get out of Anon-a-Miss, Scootaloo. You have no one to blame but yourself."
Scootaloo simply stared at the door, her eyes growing wet. She didn't even notice when Sweetie Belle hugged her. Rainbow Dash had left her behind. All she had wanted was to spend more time with Rainbow.
Instead, she just drove her away.
~*~
Shimmer ran through the school hallways, not caring about anything. She had started to run almost immediately after leaving the office, giving no warning. "Sunset, wait!" she heard Twilight shout from somewhere behind her, but she didn't care. Right now, she only wanted to get away from this place and the girls that caused her so much harm.
She finally reached the main doors of the school and burst through them, nearly falling down the short stairs. She came to a stop beside the Wondercolt statue that held the portal and, panting from her run, rested with one hand against the cold stone. Soon after, she heard the door open again and the rapidly approaching footsteps.
"I... I'm sorry for running," she said between breaths, not looking at them. "I just had to get away from them."
A hand came down on her shoulder. "It's alright," Twilight said. "After everything that happened, it's no wonder you didn't want to be near them."
Looking over her shoulder, Shimmer saw Sunset and her parents standing behind Twilight, giving her comforting smiles, but Vice Principal Luna was nowhere to be seen. "Twilight," Shimmer began quietly, "what did I do wrong? I tried everything to show that I’d changed, that I'm not who I used to be, but... it wasn't enough. I don't know what I did wrong."
Twilight grabbed Shimmer’s arm and pulled her into an embrace, which Shimmer returned after a moment. "You did nothing wrong, Sunset. Even when everything was new to you, you tried. You may have made a few mistakes on your way, but with each one, you learned how to be better. It wasn't any different for me when I learned how to make friends."
She let go of Shimmer to look her in the eyes. “If it’s anyone’s fault, it’s either the girls’ for not trusting you or mine for trusting them too much. I should have known that they’re not like my friends back home just because they look like them."
Shimmer smiled. "Thanks, Twilight. You’re the best friend I could ask for."
Northern Star stepped forward and put a hand on Shimmer’s shoulder. "Now, then, I suggest we go home now. You look like you desperately need some rest, and I will make sure you get it." She turned towards Twilight. "Princess, would you like to maybe spend the night at our house? I'm sure Shimmer would appreciate it if she has as many friends around as possible right now."
"I think it's a great idea," Sunset said. "We could watch some movies and just sit around and talk. It’ll be my first sleepover since moving here!"
"That sounds great," Shimmer said with a smile. "What do you say, Twilight?"
Twilight blinked in surprise before she thought about it. "Well, I think I could manage to be free until at least tomorrow. I just need to return home first to let Spike know that I’ll stay longer." Seeing the questioning looks, she continued. "Spike’s my assistant. Secretarial duty is one of his jobs."
"So, it seems the evening is planned out," Desert Sunrise said. "Just send a message to Shimmer when you’re coming back. I’ll come by and pick you up."
"Thank you. I won't take too long," Twilight replied. She gave Shimmer a last smile and hug before disappearing through the portal.
Shimmer stared at the portal for a while in silence until Northern Star placed a hand on her back. "Well, let's go home. You look like you need a long rest, and I will not accept 'no' as an answer, young lady."
Shimmer couldn't resist laughing. "Yes, ma'am," she said before she walked along towards the car.
~*~
The silence in Celestia's office stretched on for what felt like forever. No one spoke, and the only movements came from the occupants shifting in their seats or stretching while they waited in silence. Celestia herself sat behind her desk, her chin resting on her intertwined fingers. She could have spent the time working through some documents she needed to finish, but she knew that she just would not be able to concentrate.
Rarity had her back turned to Sweetie Belle as she looked out of the window, ignoring her sister, who looked down at the floor, completely miserable. Applejack was doing the opposite, sitting on a chair looking directly at Apple Bloom at all times, anger and disappointment written all over her face and directed at the girl, who couldn't stand looking into her big sister's eyes.
Celestia felt the most pity for Scootaloo, who had pulled her legs up and buried her head in her knees. She was the one who had lost the most at this time. While the other two were in as much trouble as she was, they at least still had their sisters. From the look she saw in Rainbow Dash's eyes, Celestia doubted that the athlete would forgive the girl for what she did.
A beep followed by Luna's voice coming from the intercom on her desk broke the silence. "Celestia, they’re here."
Pressing the button, Celestia answered, "Thank you, Luna. Give me a minute to get ready." Releasing the button, she focused her attention on the gathered girls. "Now, I need to ask Rarity and Applejack to leave, but before you go: Rarity, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, are your parents and guardians aware of the magical events going on since the Fall Formal?" All three girls shook their heads. "I see. If possible, I want to keep it that way. The fewer people outside school know about magic and the portal, the better. So, I will try to work around the subject, just so you three know and don't say anything compromising." This time, the three freshmen nodded. "Thank you. Now, I would appreciate it if you two would send your parents in on your way out."
"Of course," Rarity replied before she and Applejack left the room.
A minute later, the door opened again, but before Celestia could say anything, the woman that entered had already crossed the distance between her and her daughter.
"Sweetie Belle! Are you alright? Are you hurt?" Cookie Crumbles asked, her hands gripping the girl’s shoulders while she looked her over. Sweetie Belle only shook her head, not looking into her mother's eyes.
Granny Smith walked in soon after, followed by another woman who Celestia recognized as Scootaloo’s aunt Lofty. While Granny stepped beside her granddaughter, the woman went immediately to Scootaloo's side. "Scootaloo?" Lofty asked carefully, one hand on her niece’s back. "What's wrong? Did something happen?"
Celestia chose that moment to clear her throat. "Thank you for coming so quickly, and I can assure you that none of them has been hurt. In fact, the reason I called you is not because of something done to them but because of something they did."
That got the attention of the two younger women, who looked at her in surprise. "What do you mean? My Sweetie Belle would never do something that would warrant for me to be called," Cookie Crumbles stated, not noticing Sweetie Belle sinking lower in her seat.
Lofty looked at her niece for a moment. "While I admit that Scootaloo tends to get into trouble, I agree with Cookie."
Celestia shook her head. "There’s a first time for everything. I will explain everything that happened." She looked over at the elderly woman. "Granny Smith, as part of the faculty, is already aware of everything." Celestia sighed. "Now, before I start, did you hear anything about Anon-a-Miss over the last two weeks?"
"I think Rarity mentioned that name at one point, but I don't know what it means," Cookie Crumbles said with a shrug.
"I see. This might take a while, but I will try to sum it up," Celestia said. She told them everything she knew about the first appearance of Anon-a-Miss and the account’s offenses without saying who the culprit was or were. When she finished, she was met with different reactions.
Granny Smith looked down at her granddaughter in disappointment about everything Celestia listed. Apple Bloom occasionally looked up into her eyes, only to avert her gaze immediately upon seeing the elder’s expression.
Scootaloo still had not moved much besides setting her feet back down. Her aunt had a serious expression on her face.
Cookie Crumbles was shocked upon hearing everything, her worried grip around her daughter strengthening. "That's horrible!" she said. "Who would do something like this?"
"Yeah..." Lofty muttered, her eyes wandering down towards her niece. Celestia could see that she had realized where this was going. "Who would? Anything to say, Scootaloo?"
Scootaloo continued staring at the floor. "It's us," she mumbled. "We’re Anon-a-Miss…"
Lofty sighed and shook her head upon hearing her niece’s words, while Cookie Crumbles looked like her world shattered. "That can't be," she said. "This must be a misunderstanding! Sweetie Belle would never do something like this!" Sweetie Belle shrank even deeper into her seat.
"I'm afraid not," Celestia said calmly. "Sunset Shimmer managed to record them talking about their plans by leaving her phone behind, hidden beneath a park bench she sat on prior to talking with them. And their reasons for doing it: petty jealousy and a misplaced sense of justice."
The two women looked confused. "What does that mean?" Lofty asked.
"These three were jealous of how much time Sunset Shimmer was spending with their sisters and Rainbow Dash, so they framed her as the one behind Anon-a-Miss so that her friends would abandon her," Celestia stated. "They started everything by publishing secrets of their sisters, ones that Sunset was one of the few to know and just learned about. They even stole photos she took from her phone to incriminate her further." Celestia closed her eyes. "Sadly, they succeeded. Nearly everyone believed it to be Sunset and gave her a very hard time, including her former friends."
Looking at the girls, she narrowed her eyes. "But that was not enough. They wanted to punish Sunset for who she used to be. You see, Sunset used to be, to put it lightly, a bad person. She blackmailed, threatened and humiliated other students to get her way, and she did it right under our noses. While the rest of the school feared her, I and the rest of the faculty only saw her as a kind and polite student.
"After an incident that happened at the last Fall Formal, she realized the error of her ways and tried to be better in our judgment of her. Needless to say, the rest of the students were not kind to her. They blamed her for nearly everything that happened to them, no matter if she was even present for it or not. My sister and I looked through every claim and decided her punishment. Most of it has been kept between us and Sunset to honor her right to privacy. The rest of the students only knew about her detention. These three decided detention wasn’t enough and used Anon-a-Miss to ‘punish’ her by doing more damage than Sunset ever did before."
Cookie Crumbles stared in disbelief at her daughter. "I... This is... Sweetie, why didn’t you ever say anything? Why didn’t you talk with Rarity about this, or me?"
"I tried," Sweetie Belle mumbled, "but Rarity never listened, and you were always busy."
Cookie's eyes widened. Now that her daughter mentioned it, she remembered her trying to talk with her a while ago, only for her to wave it off, saying she had no time. "Sweetie... I'm sorry. I should have listened to you."
"What about you, young lady?" Lofty asked her niece. "I don’t remember you trying to talk to me or Holiday, so what do you have to say for yourself?" Scootaloo only looked at anything except her aunt. Lofty sighed. "We’ll talk about this later, and don't think your parents won't hear about this! You’re in a lot of trouble!"
Celestia cleared her throat, drawing the attention of the two women. "I'm afraid that isn’t everything. I haven’t even gotten to the worst part." Both of them stared at Celestia in disbelief. "The aggression did not stop at the school borders, and Sunset Shimmer has been assaulted outside of school as well. In an attempt to get away from everything, she left town for a few days with her last remaining friend by her side. She hoped that with her gone, everything would calm down and return to normal, but she was wrong.
"As unbelievable as it sounds, another girl and her family moved into town at that time, and the girl is the spitting image of Sunset. They even share the same name."
"You must be kidding," Lofty said. "That can't possibly be true. What are the odds of something like that happening?"
"Nearly nonexistent," Celestia admitted, "but apparently, it’s still possible. I expected you not to believe me, so I took a photo of both today, with their permission." She took out a picture of the two girls which she printed out earlier and passed it over. "Granny Smith and the girls can also vouch for this; they all saw or met both of them."
"Darn tootin', Ah can," Granny Smith said with a nod. "Was quite a surprise to see the two o’ them, but it's true."
The two women stared at the picture and the identical girls it showed, the only differences being their clothes and hairstyles. With no other knowledge, they would have thought of the girls as twins.
"This is incredible," Cookie Crumbles whispered before she pointed at the bruised Shimmer on the picture. "I assume those injuries are from those assaults you mentioned?"
Celestia took a deep breath. "It's more complicated than that. One very misguided student took a picture posted by Anon-a-Miss very personally, personally enough to 'take care of the problem once and for all.' In this case, with a knife."
Both women stared at Celestia in shock. "You can't be serious..." Lofty said. "She attacked them with a knife... because of a picture?"
"I'm afraid so," Celestia said. "This student has always been very... difficult, but even I never imagined she would go this far for such a reason. But you don’t need to worry; she has been arrested this morning after another assault, and she won't be able to cause any more trouble."
Celestia's eyes hardened at the culprits. "Nonetheless, you three are going to be made responsible for her actions, as well. I assume that the police will contact you as soon as they are done with their investigations on the Anon-a-Miss page and link the account to you."
"What?!" the three girls exclaimed at the same time, their eyes wide in shock.
"Wh-Why?" Apple Bloom asked shakily. "We had nothin' to do with what she did!"
"That doesn't matter. You three are the ones who started everything," Celestia replied. "Without your actions, that student and all the others would have had no reason to harm either of them. That means you will be held at least partly responsible for their actions. You’re lucky that you’re still minors, so the punishment will be light, but it will still be severe for your parents, who have to pay for any compensation that will be decided."
"Don’t think that’s all you’ll have to worry about, young lady!" Cookie Crumbles said angrily to her daughter, who flinched. "Your father and I will decide on your punishment later."
Celestia waited as Lofty and Granny Smith berated their charges similarly before she spoke up again. "That is all I can tell you so far regarding the situation outside the school business, but I'm sure it won't be long until you hear more yourself." She leaned back in her seat and looked at the three girls. "Before I address the last reason I called you, there is one question I have regarding Anon-a-Miss. I can see how you got those secrets from Applejack, Rarity and Rainbow Dash, considering your connections to them, but how did you manage to get your hands on all the other secrets you posted?"
The Crusaders sank deeper into their seats, all eyes fixated on them and waiting for an explanation.
"We only got those three by ourselves," Sweetie Belle said quietly. "We got the others from students who sent them to the Anon-a-Miss page so that we could post them as we did with the other ones."
"We didn't know what to do, so we posted them," Scootaloo added. "We never thought it would escalate like this."
Celestia blinked, before she slumped back in her seat, pinching the bridge of her nose. Every time she thought it couldn't get worse, the universe showed her how much it hated her. “Sunset will snap when she hears about this. They sent in those secrets only to chew her out afterward for ‘posting’ them.” Celestia knew that not every single student could have been in on this, but those who did are still such hypocrites that it gave her a migraine.
"I assume those messages are still available on the Anon-a-Miss account?" she asked, receiving nods from the girls. "Good. I will contact the police later to see if I can receive a list of those students so that they receive their punishments." She narrowed her eyes. "Just like you."
Apple Bloom gulped. "Wh-What's gonna happen to us?" Besides her, Granny Smith shared a look with the other two women, before she shook her head sadly. She had been part of the faculty long enough to know what Celestia had to do.
Celestia sighed. "Girls, you truly messed up this time. Not taking into account anything that happened outside school grounds, you are responsible for the biggest case of bullying CHS has ever seen. You framed an innocent girl and spread private pieces of information of countless students, which caused strife throughout the entire school. Many students got into arguments and fights, which led to multiple injuries. Students also caused damage to school property during those fights and by defiling lockers, and not just Sunset Shimmer’s, either.
"Spreading those pieces of information also caused mental damage to several students because of the nature of them. Over the last two weeks, I received seven transfer requests from students who couldn't stand to stay after you posted their secrets, and I'm not sure if the number won't increase over winter break."
The Crusaders stared at the floor, slowly sinking deeper into their seats with each part of their screw-up the principal pointed out.
"You didn't care enough about anything going on to reconsider your actions. And don't even try to argue that you didn't know!” she snapped when Scootaloo looked up and opened her mouth to defend them. “There is no way that you didn't notice the toxic environment and the fights going on everywhere on school grounds that you caused."
"You have been given two chances to confess—once after Shimmer warned you, and a second time when we called out and even said that we know the identity of Anon-a-Miss—but you did nothing, showing how much you cared about anybody else."
Celestia shook her head. "It took you two weeks to cause way more damage to this school than Sunset Shimmer did in years before the Fall Formal, and it will take much longer than another two weeks before those wounds heal.
"Taking all of this into account, there is only one course of action I can take." Celestia paused to take a deep breath. "Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, you are hereby expelled from Canterlot High School."
Celestia watched as their eyes widened and the color drained from their faces upon hearing her judgment, but none of them said anything. Granny Smith looked at the floor, shaking her head, while Lofty ran her hand down her face. Cookie Crumbles was the only one willing to fight.
"Principal, is that really necessary?" she asked. "They messed up, yes, but they’re still young, and it's their first offense, as far as I know."
Celestia shook her head. "I'm afraid there is nothing I can do. Under different circumstances, I would bend some rules to give them a lighter punishment and a second chance, but that is just not possible here. With the police involved, it's only a matter of time until the school board hears about this and demands that I take action. Superintendent Sombra might be an old friend of mine, but there is only so much he can do."
She looked around at everyone present, her shoulders sagging. "I'm sorry that it had to come to this, but I'm unable to help you any further."
The room fell into silence until Lofty spoke. "Guess there’s nothing we can do. Thank you for informing us of the situation, Principal Celestia. Can I assume that this was everything?" Celestia nodded. "Then, it's time for us to go. Come on, Scootaloo. We need to clean out your locker, and I have to make some calls."
"Yes, we have to do the same," Cookie Crumbles said quietly, still processing everything that happened.
The two women, along with their kids, said their goodbyes and left the room, leaving Celestia with Apple Bloom and Granny Smith. Granny moved to Celestia's side and let her hand rest on the woman's shoulder.
"Tia, there’re no hard feelin’s between us. Ah know that ya woulda let ‘em stay if ya could."
Celestia smiled. "Thank you, Granny Smith."
Granny nodded before she turned towards her granddaughter. "Now get up, missy. We got a lot ta talk about back home."
Apple Bloom nodded, and soon after, the door closed behind them, leaving Celestia alone, but not for long. Minutes later, the door opened, and Luna looked inside.
"Celestia? Are you alright?"
The woman sighed before answering, "No, but I’ll manage. Just... give me a few more minutes before you send in those troublemakers from the assembly." Luna nodded, but before she could close the door, Celestia spoke up again. "Oh, and please remind me later to call Sunset Shimmer and to talk with the police."
Luna looked at her sister in concern but nodded again before closing the door. Sighing, Celestia slumped back in her seat. “This is going to be a long day,” she thought.