Shock struck the Rainbooms dumb as they processed this new info, staring amazed at the trio confessing in front of them. They had realized that it hadn’t been Sunset, but hearing the truth still struck them all. Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash in particular were hurt to learn that the betrayal of secrets and the targeting of their friend had been perpetrated by their own family, or those they considered family. It was a worse blow than their aired secrets had ever caused.
“Listen we know we screwed up,” Scootaloo managed to get out, though her usually boisterous tone was more subdued, “but that’s not important right now.”
“Like hell it isn’t!” Rainbow Dash shouted, her rage at both the little daredevil and herself seeping into her words. “Do you know what kind of trouble you’ve caused? What you’ve done to Sunset not to mention the rest of the school?”
“Well, it’s going to be worse if we don’t hurry,” Apple Bloom interrupted in a voice bordering on panic. “I overheard Gilda and her goons were looking for Sunset after school. They said something about planning to put an end to Anon-A-Miss once and for all.” The statement resulted in a visible shiver to running up the three younger girls at what their fate might yet be when the truth of Anon-A-Miss got out.
“We need to find Sunset now!” Pinkie cried and seemed to materialize a magnifying glass seemingly from nowhere and began searching the area for clues.
“Where do ya think she woulda gone to?” Applejack asked removing her hat and scratching her head.
“Home?” Sweetie Belle offered, trying to be helpful.
“Nah,” Rainbow said with a shake of her colorful head. “Isn’t her loft the other direction?” The comment was affirmed with silent nods by the rest of the Rainbooms.
“A friend’s house?” Scootaloo said, though the moment the words left her mouth she wished desperately that she could get them back. Her comment earned her a mix of looks from those around her ranging from heartbroken to pure spite.
“Wait that’s it,” Rarity called out, “I know where Sunset went.”
“Oh, that’s great, Rarity,” Fluttershy piped. “Um…where is she?”
“Simple, darling. She is…” Rarity paused for a bit of dramatic tension before her big reveal, “at a friend’s.”
“Um, Rares,” Applejack said, rubbing guiltily at her neck, “after this whole Anon-A-Miss mess, the whole school’s been out for her hide. Heck, even before that she didn’t really have anyone outside of…us.” The truth of the statement hit the girls again killing whatever renewed energy they’d had a moment ago.
Finding her resolve once again, the elegantly coifed girl began again, “Yes, while this whole affair has left poor Sunset bereft of but a single friend in the world, you are forgetting that that is merely this world. Sunset still has at least one friend in another.”
“Twilight!” the other Rainbooms chorused.
“Oh, Oh, Oh,” Pinkie said waving her hand frantically in the air like a kid who’d just heard someone was looking for cupcake taste-testing volunteers. When she’d gotten enough eyes on her she opted just to start into one of her usual Pinkie tirades, “But if Sunset goes back home to her magical pony world, she might decide she likes it better there where people/ponies aren’t being mean and nasty to her all the time and where people/ponies might not know about her whole raging she-demon episode and can actually make real friends, possibly even the pony us-es who are just like us, but don’t have any grudges against her that would cause them to abandon her not to mention Princess Twilight…”
The rest of the morale crushing rant was cut off by a cyan hand covering her mouth. “We get it, Pinkie. We have to hurry, so let’s go!”
A muffled, “Okey Dokey Lokey” could be made out from the still covered mouth as the Rainbooms and the three behind Anon-A-Miss all rushed for the school.
When the army of eight girls neared Canterlot High, it was Pinkie and her magnifying glass that spotted the first sign of trouble.
“Girls, we have a situation here,” the pink girl said as she indicated the trampled snow near the alleyway as well as the red spots flecked across white.
“Oh my,” Rarity breathed with a shocked hand covering her mouth.
“Oh, dear,” whispered an increasingly worried Fluttershy. “Somebody must be hurt.”
“Yeah, and I’m hopin’ Ah’m wrong about just who that is.”
Rainbow didn’t hesitate any longer, and raced down the road toward the school following the path of the heaviest footprints and praying they would lead her where she needed to be. Someone was in trouble and needed help. She wouldn’t let anyone else down today.
Canterlot High wasn’t that much further and Rainbow Dash being the star athlete that she was, covered the distance in no time. What she found when she arrived soured her mood even further. There, lounging on the front steps of the school, was Gilda and her crew. Though they were each nursing their own injuries, the smug satisfaction in the looks on their faces won out over the pain. Then Rainbow spotted it. Lying on the stairs in the middle of the gang like some kind of trophy was a familiar-looking leather jacket. More disturbing still was the blood that adorned it.
“Hey, Rainbow Crash, long time no see,” Gilda called when she spotted the rainbow maned girl heading toward her group. “Where are your little friends at, or did you finally decide to ditch those losers again and come hang out with us? You’re a bit late to the party, but I suppose you can always join in on our victory celebration.”
“What did you do?!”
“Got rid of the Demon bitch,” Gilda said with a satisfied grin. “Not that she needed much help leaving. Think she was planning on going already. We just made sure that she doesn’t think about coming back.”
Rainbow’s vision went red, but before she could launch herself at Gilda, a strong arm gripped her shoulder to stop her.
“Whoa there, girl.” Applejack met Rainbow’s eyes. Emerald met rose and the look was enough to communicate volumes. Finding Sunset was the priority. Then they would make sure Gilda and the rest were taken care of. Shifting her gaze, the farm girl glared at the bullies. “Now, where’s Sunset and what exactly did y’all do ta her?”
“What do you care, hick? The demon is gone and now things can go back to the way they should be. Gilda moved to put on the prized leather jacket herself, but it inexplicably vanished from her hands in a blur of pink, as Pinkie rematerialized behind her two friends as the others had finally caught up.
“Taking things that don’t belong to you isn’t nice,” the cotton candy girl reprimanded.
“And this jacket most certainly is not yours.” Rarity took the jacket from her friend and flinched a bit at the sight of the blood on its lapels.
“Only going to ask this once more,” Rainbow Dash started, her eyes narrowing as she balled her fists, “where…is…Sunset?”
Seeing the look in the eyes of the five girls who had wielded magic strong enough to bring down monsters now being turned on her, Gilda reconsidered her position. “Fine, whatever. She made a break for it and we lost sight of her. Dumbbell chased after her and says and I quote, ‘She ran into the statue.' Don't know if that’s magic or just more proof of Dumbbell living up to his name, but she ain’t here and I doubt she’ll be coming back.”
Rainbow Dash was ready to resume what Applejack had stopped when a small voice called out from the Wondercolt statue.
“Um…girls, over here.”
Taking the chance that the distraction brought, Gilda and the rest of her crew made a break for it. Rainbow and to an extent Applejack wanted to pursue them until they saw the worried look in the animal lover’s eyes. The Rainbooms found even more blood in the snow in front of the statue’s base.
“We have to go after her,” Rainbow said.
“Ta Equestria?” Applejack removed her hat and ran a hand over her hair. “Listen, sugarcube-”
“No, AJ, we screwed up. We screwed up big time. We were supposed to look out for Sunset. Princess Twilight trusted us to help her and what did we do? We abandoned her and left her to the wolves over some lousy frame job.” The Crusaders, who had been quietly seeing the damage they had caused, flinched at the athlete’s words. “We have to try.”
The brash girl placed her hand on the stone prepared to go after the girl she’d let down, but as she pushed on the cold surface, it doesn’t give.
“What’s wrong? Why won’t it work?” Rainbow began to pound on the plinth with her fists.
“Maybe she doesn’t want to see us anymore.” The voice was low and sad, not at all what you’d expect from the normally bubbly Pinkie Pie. “It’s not like we were very good friends.”
The weight of those words struck each of the girls with the force of an oncoming train. Princess Twilight had said they represented the Elements of Harmony. A force for good and magic that they had used to save the world twice. But when faced with a non-magical conflict, one that could have been easily resolved if they had acted like they were expected to and embodied their elements, they had failed that test, and Sunset had been the one to pay the price. The girls all raged through a torrent of emotions but each finally settled in the same place; utter despair.
Fluttershy was soon brought out of her introspection by the journal clutched in her hands. The reminder of the friend that was gone was beginning to vibrate.
“Um…girls.”
Though soft, silence still hung in the school courtyard and her friends were able to hear the note of alarm in her voice.
“Do you think it’s a message from Sunset?” Pinkie asked trying to push a bit of hope into the question despite how she felt.
“I’m surprised she’d want to talk to us,” said Rarity as she dabbed her eyes with a handkerchief, trying to clear away some of the mascara streaks.
“Maybe it’s Twilight,” Rainbow started.
“Yeah, probably wants ta tell us off for bein’ such lousy friends.”
“Girls,” the shy girl redirected their attention to the still vibrating tome in her grip, “I don’t think it’s a message.” The vibrating continued to intensify so much so that it jumped out of Fluttershy’s hands. Before she could bend to pick it back up, the book began to shoot off magenta-colored sparks.
“What’s happening,” Scootaloo called to Rainbow Dash, stepping in front of her two friends to shield them from the threat.
“I don’t know,” the older athlete called, “It’s never done this before.”
Suddenly the book shot out rays of magenta light that struck each of the Rainbooms encompassing them in a similarly colored aura. The girls screamed in fear, though the magic, as it surely must be, did not seem to be hurting them. Just as quickly, the rosy light stopped and reversed course. As it did so, the auras shifted colors, matching those they had taken on in their ponied up forms and that light too was pulled with the other energy to be reabsorbed into the sun marked book.
There was a moment then and the lights finally faded. It seemed the journal had taken in all it could, but the moment passed swiftly, broken by an explosion of rainbow light. The girls had seen it twice before and wielded its power to save the world. This time, however, they were only witnesses as the book shot the multi-colored pillar of light into the air.
When it finally ended, it was Rainbow Dash who carefully approached the book. It was still giving off a few magenta sparks and a bit of rainbow-tinted smoke. As she gingerly reached for the book, she was surprised that despite its scorched appearance, the book itself was not hot. As her friends gathered around her, Rainbow carefully opened the journal only to find it full of blackened pages.
“Ah guess they didn’t want ta talk ta us after all,” Applejack stated in an eerily somber tone.
“No,” Rainbow shouted. “I’m not letting it end like this. Rarity, give me a pen.”
Following the demand dumbly, the fashionista produced the requested implement and handed it over to the sporty girl, who promptly snatched it out of her hand and began frantically writing on the ashy pages.
“Rainbow,” Fluttershy started, putting her hand on her childhood friend’s shoulder to try and calm the athlete.
“No, Shy,” Rainbow growled. “We have to fix this.” Her tone would have come off angry to anyone who hadn’t known the rainbow-haired girl as long as her shy friend had. Fluttershy could tell Rainbow was barely holding back her own tears at this point.
“I don’t think we can fix it,” Pinkie stated, her voice was so distant, so unenergetic, that one might mistake her for her sister Maude. When the others turned to the normally bubbly girl they saw that her hair had straightened, falling like a curtain and hiding much of her face. Even her normally bright coloration seemed to have faded to a sad grey tone.
Rarity was shocked out of her grief by the change in her friend’s demeanor. “What do you mean, darling?”
“Don’t you remember back during the Battle of the Bands? When Twilight showed up she said she managed to force the portal open using the magic of the linked journals she and Sunset had."
“Yeah, so what?” shot Rainbow.
“What she means there, sugarcube,” Applejack sighed, “is no journal, no portal.”
“Well, not exactly.” The comment was quiet, and as all eyes darted to the butter-skinned girl as if urging her to continue, she promptly retreated behind her hair. “Oh, um…I was just thinking that the portal still might open as it did before…but…”
“But what, Shy?” Rainbow grabbed the smaller girl by the shoulders seeming to want to shake the rest out of her.
“Um, there was a timeframe, remember. The portal only opened every thirty moons.”
“What the heck does that mean?”
“It means we’re not going to get the chance to try and apologize for at least another two years,” Pinkie finished in her Maude-like monotone.
What members of the Rainbooms who weren’t already in tears broke down at that news. The three Crusaders soon joined in realizing the pain that they had caused not just Sunset and their sisters, but the whole school, and now there was no way to make up for it.
When the tears had finally subsided, it was Applejack who took charge. “Come on you three. Let’s see if the principals are still here.”
“What are we supposed ta tell ‘em?” sniffled Applebloom.
“The truth,” Applejack said. “It’s high time the whole school realized what happened.” This prompted a sob from Sweetie Bell who was being comforted by Scootaloo. “Not just what you’ve done, but what they did as well. Now, come on.” She started herding the trio back into the building followed by the rest of the Rainbooms with each casting a final, regretful look at the base of the Wondercolt statue, and remembering the poor girl they had hurt who lay beyond.