"Twilight?" Spike asked the empty library upon returning to it. "Twilight, you here?"
He began toward the backroom where she had last been, but was stopped by the unicorn herself as she entered the library from the front door. Spike spun around to face her, quickly becoming a bit offset by the scowl she wore.
Somewhat nervous, he said, "There you are Twilight! Where have you been?"
Twilight Sparkle held up a bottled inkwell with her magic as answer, glancing to it as she said crossly, "You took so long getting my ink that I had to go get it myself. Yet, I didn't see you at the shop, or anywhere between here and there. It's like you just disappeared."
Spike scratched at his nose, his eyes set to the floor as he said, "About that: have you heard anything about Rainbow Dash and Applejack lately?"
Twilight looked back to Spike, perplexed by his seemingly random question.
"Rainbow Dash and Applejack? What do you mean have I... oh!" Twilight chuckled, waving a dismissive hoof. "Surely, you aren't talking about that one rumor that they're—"
"Twilight, it isn't a rumor." Spike interrupted, sounding more blunt than he'd intended.
Twilight's grin faded for a moment, but was quickly replaced by a similar smile, albeit one that looked a tad forced.
"Oh. So, they really are—"
"Yes, they are." Spike interrupted once more, setting sharp eyes on Twilight. "I talked with the two of them just a little while ago. You aren't mad with them, are you?"
Twilight shook her head, chuckling at Spike's question and asking, "Spike, why would I be mad at them?"
Spike raised an eyebrow, clearly stunned by the answer.
"You mean you aren't mad? Not even a bit weirded out?"
With a shrug, Twilight said, "Everypony is entitled to their own interests."
"Really?" Spike asked, wagging a claw at her. "It doesn't bug you at all?"
Twilight sighed, setting the inkwell on a nearby podium and coldly saying, "Spike, that's a little insensitive, don't you think? Just because Ponyville is in its own little tizzy doesn't mean you or I have to throw a fit over something so small."
Spike scratched at his temple, unable to grasp why Twilight was taking the news so well, then started. He grinned, finally coming to a conclusion that explained Twilight's opinion.
"So, what did you hear about them, exactly?" he asked.
Twilight frowned at the question, but put a hoof to her chin in thought nonetheless, answering, "Well, let's see. What I heard about them was pretty vague..."
As the class took their seats, Diamond Tiara kept a snide smirk turned to Scootaloo.
She glanced to Silver Spoon, whispering to the gray filly, "Pretty bold, Spoon. I was at the top of my game out there, but you just had to cut me off."
"Yeah, whatever." Silver Spoon muttered, paying Diamond Tiara no mind as she looked to the front of the room.
Diamond Tiara scoffed at Silver Spoon's response, but she said nothing, instead simply glaring at her friend for a moment before looking to the front of the room as well.
Diamond Tiara gave Silver Spoon a quick sideways glance, then whispered, "Where's Cheerilee?" Silver Spoon answered only with a shrug, much to Diamond Tiara's annoyance.
A few moments later, Cheerilee waltzed into the classroom, smiling brightly.
"Hello class! Have a nice recess?" She greeted.
Cheerilee was answered with a response of nearly unanimous positivity, but four of the students remained quiet.
"Glad to hear it!" she chimed. "Now, on with the lesson."
Cheerilee turned to the chalkboard, resuming her teaching from where she had left off. Scootaloo, however, was immediately more focused on scribbling down a message on the piece of paper on her desk. She crumpled up the note, then looked to Silver Spoon.
"Now, who can tell me—" Cheerilee's question was cut short as she turned to face the class, due to Scootaloo throwing a wad of paper at Silver Spoon. "Scootaloo!"
Scootaloo shrunk, quickly mumbling, "Sorry, Ms. Cheerilee. Won't happen again."
Cheerilee walked to Silver Spoon's desk, holding out a hoof to the gray filly, firm as she said, "I'll be taking that."
With flush cheeks, Silver Spoon relinquished the note, which she hadn't even been able to read. Cheerliee took the crumpled note back to her desk, unraveling it. Scootaloo bit her lip as Cheerilee scanned the message scribbled on the paper, the teacher's annoyed scowl quickly turning to an appalled glare.
"Scootaloo!" she shouted as she turned her glare to the pegasus filly. "Of all the things you could have said through passing notes, you say this!" Without looking at it, Cheerilee slammed a hoof on the wrinkled paper.
Diamond Tiara shot Scootaloo a puzzled glance, then raised a hoof, calling out (before Cheerilee acknowledged that she had a question), "What does it say, Miss Cheerilee?"
Cheerilee swiped the paper off her desk, giving it a quick once over before looking to Scootaloo and asking, "Would you care to read this aloud to the class, or should I?"
Scootaloo blinked at the question, then rubbed at her neck as she muttered, "Uh, no. You go ahead."
Cheerilee nodded, saying, "Very well. Let's see here..."
"Oh, I see," Spike said, crossing his arms.
In his mind, he was sighing with relief.
"It didn't seem like that big a deal, so I didn't think to talk to Applejack or Rainbow Dash about it," Twilight said, glancing to the door of the backroom. "Well, now you know what I know. If you'll excuse me, I have important business to get back to."
Twilight took a single step toward the door she had set her sights on, only for Spike to step in front of her with an upraised hand.
"Hold up," Spike said, enticing a puzzled raise of the brow from Twilight. "Rainbow Dash and Applejack actually need a favor from you. That's why I came here asking you about them."
"Favor? What favor?" she asked, bewildered.
"Even if you say it isn't a big deal, Applejack and Rainbow Dash are taking everyponies' reaction to their secret kinda hard." Spike began, this time enticing a frown from Twilight.
"Well, I knew Ponyville was worked up over this, but are you saying that Applejack and Rainbow Dash are actually catching harassment?" Twilight asked.
"That's exactly what I'm saying," Spike answered, Twilight stomping a hoof in anger, "and they seriously need help. I told them I'd see if you'd be willing to lend a hoof."
"Of course I'll help them!" resolutely declared Twilight. "But why couldn't they just ask me themselves?"
"Actually, they're trying to hide from... well, everyone." Spike answered, sounding a bit grim upon realizing how bad the predicament had become. "They're both getting hit pretty hard by whoever they see on the streets, so they've decided to lay low."
"What?! They've actually been forced into hiding?" Twilight asked in fury.
Spike nodded solemnly, enticing a growl from the unicorn.
"This is hoofing ridiculous!" she began toward the library's front door, calling back to Spike, "I'll take care of this, Spike. Thanks for getting the message to me."
Spike watched Twilight stomp through the door and slam it behind her, then sighed when she was gone, whispering to himself, "Thank Celestia she doesn't have all the details."
It took a good minute for Cheerilee's class to quash their fits of laughter and regain composure, the message she had read to them proving to be a lot funnier than the teacher would have guessed.
"Well, Scootaloo?" Cheerilee asked, tossing the note onto her desk. "Care to explain yourself?"
"I... um..." Scootaloo mumbled.
Scootaloo's cheeks took on a significantly richer shade of red with each step Cheerilee took toward her. She tried to speak, but only incomprehensible muttering escaped her lips.
Diamond Tiara, after taking a long moment to stare at Scootaloo in disbelief, slammed her hooves on her desk, shouting, "What the hell, Scootaloo?!"
Diamond Tiara's outburst triggered a chorus of stunned gasps, Cheerilee included among those who couldn't believe their ears.
"Diamond Tiara!" Cheerilee yelled, hurrying over to Diamond Tiara's desk, eyes wild as she stared down the glowering filly. "We do not use such atrocious language in this classroom!"
Despite every eye in the class being turned to her, along with being faced with Cheerilee's fury, Diamond Tiara responded in a collected, almost casual tone, "Well, excuse me for being a little upset. For Scootaloo to accuse Silver Spoon of something like that just because her hero is a fraud just isn't fair."
"Now wait just a second!" Scootaloo shouted, pointing at Diamond Tiara. "You can't talk that way about Rainbow Dash!"
"And you can't talk that way about Silver Spoon!" Diamond Tiara retorted, pointing to the note Cheerilee had left on her desk. "I know you're all broken up over Rainbow Dash being a total loser and all, but that's no reason to point the hoof at Spoon."
Bewildered, Cheerilee asked the two of them, "What in Celestia's name are you two talking about?"
"Make her stop, Ms. Cheerilee!" Scootaloo shouted, glaring down the earth pony as she responded with a raspberry in Scootaloo's direction.
"It's precisely what the note says, but in regard to Applejack and Rainbow Dash." Silver Spoon muttered, giving Cheerilee cause to look perplexed.
"What? What are you talking about... oh!" Cheerilee chuckled, walking to the front of room. "Is that what this is all about? That silly little rumor surrounding Applejack and Rainbow Dash?"
"It isn't a rumor, Ms. Cheerilee!" Diamond Tiara shouted. "It's the truth!"
"Prove it!" Scootaloo snapped, giving Diamond Tiara cause to roll her eyes.
"Don't believe me? Silver Spoon can tell you. We heard all about it." Diamond Tiara chided, nodding to Silver Spoon. "Right, Spoon?"
Silver Spoon glanced to Diamond Tiara, then set about to studying her desk.
"Yeah, I guess," muttered Silver Spoon.
"'Yeah, I guess?'" reiterated Diamond Tiara and Scootaloo simultaneously, the first sounding aggravated and the latter sounding smug.
"Yeah... I guess," Silver Spoon repeated, rubbing at her neck.
Cheerilee laughed at this, saying, "Girls, please. This really isn't something you should be concerned over."
"Well, Apple Bloom is Applejack's younger sister," observed Diamond Tiara in as snooty a fashion as possible. "I think she should be a little concerned for her loser sister."
"Hey! Shut up!" Apple Bloom barked, face reddening as she rose out of her seat.
"Apple Bloom, take your seat," commanded Cheerilee, sounding more tired than angry. "And that's enough out of you, Diamond Tiara. I won't have you slandering the friends and family of your classmates any longer."
Scootaloo and Diamond Tiara both responded with a harrumph as they crossed their forearms and rested them, along with their heads, on their desks.
"Um... what rumor, exactly?" asked a colt from the back of the room, sounding thoroughly confused.
"You mean you don't know?" asked Silver Spoon, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Diamond Tiara in unison as they turned to face the inquirer.
"... no, I don't," he mumbled, looking a bit discomforted by the eyes that had settled on him.
"Really, Featherweight, it's no big deal," Cheerilee said, already giving Diamond Tiara cause to protest.
"No big deal?" she scoffed, shaking her head. "Rainbow Dash and Applejack are a total laughing stock, and that's no big deal?"
"I'm so confused..." muttered Featherweight.
As Cheerilee was about to speak, Diamond Tiara spun around, her back hooves on the seat of her chair and her front hooves on the back.
"Let me explain it to you, Featherweight. It goes a little something like this."
"No, no, no, absolutely not!" Rarity answered with a flourish of the hoof. "That is simply unacceptable!"
Twilight groaned quietly at Rarity's response, mumbling, "But it's just a little harmless memory wiping."
"Um, but, what if you accidentally erase the wrong memories? N-not that I'm saying that you would do that, but still..." Fluttershy "argued."
"Fluttershy is right! Such action is barbarous, unnecessarily risky, and quite rude. We'll not have you draining brains, Twilight," Rarity scolded, enticing Twilight to sigh with frustration.
"Fine. No mind wipes. What do we do then?" Twilight asked, glancing from Rarity, to Pinkie Pie, to Fluttershy, and back to Rarity.
"We have to approach this rationally," suggested Rarity. "If this rumor truly is just that, a rumor, then we should have no trouble dispelling it."
"Uh... small problem there," Twilight said, pawing the ground with a sheepish smile. "It isn't."
"It isn't... isn't a rumor?" Rarity asked, slightly tilting her head in confusion.
"Spike talked with Applejack and Rainbow Dash before hoof, and, from what he said, it's really true," Twilight answered.
"Oh, I see... w-well, in that case..." Rarity began, only to trail off as she paced to and fro.
"Where are they now?" Fluttershy asked.
Twilight raised an eyebrow, stroking her chin in thought.
"That's a good question," she said. "I don't know where they're at now. Spike said they were hiding, but he didn't say where."
Fluttershy nodded, clearly a bit disappointed by the answer.
"Oh, okay," she mumbled.
Suddenly, Rarity announced, as if succeeding in an epiphany, "I know just what to do! First, it is imperative that we find Applejack and Rainbow Dash." Rarity turned to Fluttershy, an expectant gleam in her eyes, and said, "Fluttershy, you know the skies better than the rest of us. Where would Rainbow Dash hide if she was trying to avoid everypony?"
Fluttershy sucked in a terse breath, lips pursed in what appeared to be thought.
"Um... she might hide out in Cloudsdale. Maybe."
"Excellent! You'll search Cloudsdale, then," Rarity chimed, sounding confident. "Twilight, Pinkie Pie, and I will speak with the Apple family in hopes of locating Applejack."
"What do we do when we find them, then?" Twilight asked, intrigued.
"If we can convince them to stand by their decisions and come out of hiding, then they'll surely win back the respect of Ponyville," Rarity explained, which seemed to provoke a low, dubious hum from Pinkie Pie.
"I don't think you're going about this the right way," Pinkie said, enticing a flabbergasted expression on each of her friends' faces.
"Well, what do you suggest?" Rarity asked, sounding the slightest bit defensive.
Pinkie nodded curtly, proclaiming with gusto, "You know what they say: 'the only way to draw the crowd away from the cake is with a bigger cake!'"
"Who said that?" Fluttershy asked, still looking a bit confused.
"I did!" Pinkie answered, stamping a hoof triumphantly. "And I intend to deliver!"
She spun around, trotting away from the group.
"What is she doing, exactly?" Fluttershy mumbled, glancing to Twilight.
"Judging by that cake oriented allegory," answered Twilight, "I'd wager that Pinkie intends to sacrifice her own social well being for the sake of Applejack and Rainbow Dash's."
"Oh... shouldn't we, um, stop her?" Fluttershy asked, glancing from the quickly disappearing Pinkie Pie to Twilight.
Rarity and Twilight exchanged glances, then looked to Fluttershy, saying in unison, "Um..."
Fluttershy frowned at their answer, enticing Rarity to elaborate with, "If Pinkie Pie wishes to nobly sacrifice her social well being for Applejack and Rainbow Dash's sake, then who are we to stop her? Besides, Pinkie knows how to properly take teasing and joking in stride."
"Rarity's right!" added Twilight. "We'll carry out our plan, and Pinkie will carry out her's."
"... okay," Fluttershy mumbled, hovering just above the ground. "I'll go look for Rainbow Dash, but what if she doesn't come along?"
Rarity put a hoof to her chin, brow furrowed in thought.
"Well, try reasoning with her. Rainbow Dash will surely come along if you explain the plan to her."
Fluttershy stared in silence at Rarity, looking a little less than sure of her instructions, but finally said, "Alright. I'll go see what I can do."
She took to the skies, flying out of sight.
Rarity nodded to Twilight, saying, "We should start our search by asking Granny Smith or Big Macintosh where Applejack could be."
"Right. Let's get to it!" Twilight declared, Rarity and she breaking into a gallop toward Sweet Apple Acres.
Featherweight leaned back in his chair, his expression indicating that he didn't know what to make of Diamond Tiara's explanation.
"Well that's... uh..."
"It's freaky, that's what it is!" Diamond Tiara snapped, giving Cheerilee cause to glare at her.
"That is judgmental and prejudiced, Diamond Tiara," Cheerilee reprimanded. "I will not stand for any one of my students talking about anypony in such a way."
Diamond Tiara turned to Cheerilee with a scoff, forelegs crossed as she quipped, "What are you gonna do? Give me detention?"
"What a great idea! One week's worth should suffice," Cheerilee stated in earnest, giving Diamond Tiara cause to gasp with disbelief.
"B-but—"
"No buts! One week of detention!" Cheerilee shouted, turning Diamond Tiara's disbelief into anger as the filly shook with rage.
"Ha! You so deserve it!" Scootaloo shouted triumphantly.
"One week's detention for you, too!" Cheerilee snapped, cutting short Scootaloo's enthusiasm. Cheerilee glanced to Diamond Tiara, then back to Scootaloo, then, with a heavyhearted sigh, said, "I'm sorry. I don't like to get angry at my students, but you two have been causing trouble all day."
"But—" cried Scootaloo and Diamond Tiara in unison.
"No buts!" Cheerilee snapped.
She breathed a quiet exhale, then returned to the front of the room, donning a look of concentration, "Let's see... ah! Alright, class. Who knows when—"
Cheerilee's instructing was interrupted by the school bell. Cheerilee frowned, disappointed that so much of the school day had been chewed up. The school foals, however, were elated to dash out of the classroom.
"Don't forget your assignment! It's due tomorrow!" Cheerilee called out to the wave of departing students.
She watched them go, then stepped between the door and the two fillies who had tried to tiphoof their way out.
"Not you two. Please, go right back to your seats."
Diamond Tiara and Scootaloo both groaned, but didn't object to their punishment. They trudged back to their seats, then fell face first onto their desks when once had seated themselves.
"This is so not fair," the two of them mumbled.