“W-what do you girls want to tell me?” Sunset asked a bit nervously
“That we were wrong,” Rarity answered, her voice cracking. “We want to apologize to you in person for falsely accusing you of being Anon-A-Miss.”
“I…” Sunset trailed off, she always hoped for this moment but now that it was here she was lost for words. She cast a glance at her Equestrian friends who excitedly whispered to her to say yes. “Will Applejack be there?”
There was a pause before Rarity answered.
“Yes.”
“Then I’ll meet you all there,” Sunset said.
“That’s wonderful, darling,” Rarity said, happy and relieved that Sunset agreed to meet them. “We’ll see you shortly,”
“Looking forward to it,” Sunset said with a small smile before hanging up.
“This is so awesome!” E-Rainbow Dash said, barely able to contain her excitement.
“Thank you, girls. This wouldn’t have happened without your help,” Sunset thanked her Equestrian friends, who knows if she would’ve convinced her human friends of her innocence without them.
“That’s what friends do,” E-Rarity said with a smile.
“I can see why Twilight trusted your human counterparts with teaching me about friendship,” Sunset said with a sad smile.
The Mane 5 enveloped Sunset in a hug which she happily returned, the glow from the journal broke the moment as Sunset checked what Twilight had written.
“Sunset, how would you like to proceed with this information?” Twilight asked.
“I’m going to meet with the Rainbooms and tell them what we’ve found,” Sunset wrote.
“Do you think they’ll believe you?” Twilight wrote.
“I’m not sure but I believe they will,” Sunset answered before smiling. “Especially since their counterparts convinced them of my innocence.”
“That’s wonderful!” Twilight wrote.
“Rarity even called from Pinkie’s phone to meet them at The Sweet Shoppe,” Sunset wrote.
“Are you nervous about meeting them?” Twilight asked.
“A little, I’m just glad that I’ll have my friends back,” Sunset responded.
“Make sure to let them know how much their actions hurt you,” Twilight wrote. “They have to learn from this incident and become better friends.”
“I’ll be sure to let them know exactly what I felt after their betrayal,” Sunset assured Twilight before closing her journal.
Twilight closed her journal and let out a content sigh.
“Did something good happen, honey?” Night Light asked.
“Yep, my friend Sunset was able to convince her friends of her innocence,” Twilight told her father before letting out a yawn, with the identity of Anon-A-Miss solved and Sunset’s human friends believing she is innocent now, and Spike’s condition improving; Twilight felt relief. “Mom?”
“Yes, dear?” Twilight Velvet asked.
“Do you think you can take over Spike’s treatment?” Twilight asked, her eyelids becoming heavy.
“I would be happy to,” Twilight Velvet said with a smile.
“Thanks,” Twilight thanked her mother before she laid her head down next to Spike and fell asleep.
Twilight Velvet’s horn lit up as she added her magic to the dome before Twilight’s magic faded, Night Light used his magic to pull the covers over Twilight and Spike. They smiled as they watched Spike and Twilight snuggle against each other.
The Rainbooms waited inside The Sweet Shoppe for Sunset Shimmer to arrive, they were nervous but Applejack was more nervous due to hitting Sunset. The farm girl contemplated on what she was going to tell her former friend, she actively insulted Sunset more than any of her friends. The sound of the door chimes caught their attention and they saw Sunset enter with her fellow Equestrians. The Rainbooms all stood up and faced the Equestrians.
“So what do you want to talk about?” Sunset asked, her expression neutral.
“Sunset, darling. We want to apologize for the horrible mistake we did of accusing you of something you never committed,” Rarity apologized with tears in her eyes.
“We’ve been horrible friends,” Rainbow Dash said, looking ashamed. “We should’ve given you a chance to explain yourself.”
“I’m so sorry for hurting you, Sunset,” Fluttershy cried.
“You’re not a secret stealer!” Pinkie cried, her hair deflating.
“Sunset, ah…” Applejack tried to find the words to say to Sunset. “Ah’ve been such a fool, ah refuse to see the truth even as my counterpart pointed out how Anon-A-Miss just isn’t your style. Ah said some harsh words that ah can never take back,” tears ran down the sides of Applejack’s face. “Ah’m so sorry Sunset, yah is a better friend than ah’ll ever be, and yah proved it when yah took that punch for my counterpart. Anon-A-Miss didn’t just expose mah embarrassing nickname, it exposed what a terrible friend ah was.”
Sunset watched her former friends tearfully apologize, they all looked very remorseful for their betrayal. But even so.
“Do you have any idea how much your betrayal hurt me?” Sunset asked, her anger rising as she balled her fists. “You all called me family and treated me as such, I was the happiest I have ever been in a long time but then you threw that away! Did it ever once occur to you that I was being set up, how obvious it looked that Anon-A-Miss was me?” Angry tears welled up in Sunset’s eyes as she glared at her so-called friends, she closed her eyes and calmed herself down. She opened her eyes to look at her former friends with disappointment, her gaze then focused on Applejack.
“Was it all a lie? Did our friendship, did I mean anything to any of you? I can’t trust anything you say,”
The Rainbooms were hurt by Sunset’s words but it was more painful for Applejack as Sunset directed it towards herself, her counterpart was right, Sunset would never believe a word she says again.
“I accept your apology and I’ll give you a chance to make it up to me,” Sunset said as she wiped her tears, the Rainbooms faces lit up at hearing this.
“Thank you, Sunset,” Rarity cried as she blew her nose on a napkin.
“You won’t regret this,” Rainbow Dash said, a big smile on her face as she wiped away her stray tears.
Applejack sobbed as she wipes away her tears, she was not going to let this second chance go to waste.
The mane five smiled at each other, happy that they managed to save their friendship and now it was up to their counterparts to earn back Sunset’s trust and become true friends.
“Listen, girls, we figured out who Anon-A-Miss is,” Sunset brought up.
“Who is it?” Rarity asked.
“Who’s the varmint that played us for fools?” Applejack angrily asked.
“You girls aren’t going to like this,” Sunset regretfully said as she looked at Rainbow, Rarity, and Applejack. “It’s Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo.”
“What?!” Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash shouted in shock.
“But why would Sweetie Belle do such a thing?” Rarity asked in disbelief, how could her sister be Anon-A-Miss?
“That’s what I’d like to know,” Sunset said as she frowned. “But the proof points to them, Applebloom said Applejack’s nickname over the phone and the next day Anon-A-Miss shows up, Sweetie Belle was the only other person that was at Rarity’s sleepover, and Scootaloo had the opportunity to take a photo of Rainbow’s failed test since the junior soccer team has practiced with the senior team.”
“Our sisters pulled a similar stunt like this,” E-Applejack spoke up. “Except they used the school newspaper and published lies about everypony in Ponyville.”
“You girls really have experienced this before,” Rarity said sadly.
“It’s unfortunate,” E-Rarity said, sighing sadly. “Let’s hurry and find them so we can put a stop to Anon-A-Miss once and for all.”
“Ah think they’re hanging out at mah house,” Applejack said.
The girls quickly left the Sweet Shoppe and made their way towards Applejack’s house, Anon-A-Miss has nowhere to hide now.
“Okay, we’ve got several secrets that are ready to be posted,” Applebloom said as she and her friends are in her room, she looked at her smartphone, looking over the secrets as well as the commentary she was going to post.
“Applebloom, maybe we should stop,” Sweetie Belle suggested.
“What?! Why?!” Applebloom asked in shock.
“Because this is getting out of hand,” Scootaloo said. “We were only supposed to separate our sisters from Sunset and we did that but now we’re posting everyone’s secrets and the whole school is at each other’s throats!”
“Not to mention that our sisters are back together with Sunset,” Sweetie Belle said sadly.
“That just means we gotta keep trying,” Applebloom said with a frown.
“Will you listen to yourself, Applebloom. You’re becoming obsessed,” Scootaloo said.
“Ah thought we all agreed that we needed to do this?” Applebloom said as she glared at Scootaloo.
“We did but not anymore,” Scootaloo glared back. “It’s over, Applebloom.”
Applebloom gritted her teeth, she refused to give up. She looked at her phone and was tempted to press the post button when the door suddenly opened, Applebloom was so startled that she dropped her phone. She tried to catch it but only pushed it towards Diamond Tiara who had entered the room.
“I got it,” Diamond Tiara said as she reached down to pick up the smartphone.
“Diamond Tiara no!” Applebloom said as she tried to get her phone back but she was too late as Diamond Tiara’s eyes widened when she looked at what Applebloom was doing.
“Applebloom, is this what I think it is?” Diamond Tiara asked as she showed Applebloom the Anon-A-Miss page.
“Yah see…” Applebloom trailed off, trying to come up with a good excuse but when she saw the glare in Diamond Tiara’s eyes she sighed in defeat. “Ah’m Anon-A-Miss.”
“We’re Anon-A-Miss,” Sweetie Belle corrected.
“But why?!” Diamond Tiara raised her voice. “Do you realize what you three have done?”
“We did, which is why we want to put an end to Anon-A-Miss,” Scootaloo said before looking at Applebloom.
“Applebloom?” Diamond Tiara raised an eyebrow at her girlfriend. “Does this have something to do with your sister spending less time with you?” Applebloom’s silence told her it was, Diamond Tiara sighed as she walked to Applebloom and placed her hands on her shoulders.
“Applebloom, you have to let go of your grudge against Sunset.” Diamond Tiara pleaded, her tone soft. “How much are you going to hurt your sister to ruin her friendship with Sunset?”
Applebloom’s eyes widened she had almost forgotten how much her sister and her friends were suffering because of her, she had always justified it as a necessary evil to get rid of Sunset but maybe Diamond Tiara and her friends were right.
“Trust me, Applebloom. This isn’t worth it, it’ll come back to bite you,” Diamond Tiara pleaded.
Applebloom looked into her girlfriend’s pleading eyes before looking at her friends, she started to have second thoughts about posting the secret.
“Maybe Anon-A-Miss has gotten out of hand,” Applebloom said, she took her phone back from Diamond Tiara and deleted what she was going to post. “Yah were right Scootaloo, ah have become obsessed.”
“Then let’s stop this now and come clean,” Sweetie Belle said.
“Our sisters are going to be pretty mad at us but maybe they’ll be less mad if we confess instead of them finding out it was us,” Scootaloo said.
“That does sound like the better option,” Diamond Tiara agreed. “What do you say, Applebloom?”
“Let’s do it, Ah’m tired of stressing out about whether or not we’re found out,” Applebloom said.
Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo nod and they all made their way out of Applebloom’s room, as they walked down the stairs they heard the front door open followed by a familiar voice.
“Granny, we’re home!” Applejack’s voice echoed around the house.
Applebloom suddenly felt very nervous, her resolve quickly crumbling as she heard approaching footsteps. She felt someone take hold of her hand and turned to see a smiling Diamond Tiara, that seemed to give her strength as she squeezed her hand. She saw Applejack enter the room and when she spotted her she frowned, Applebloom guessed she figured out who Anon-A-Miss is.
“Applejack, ah-” Applebloom didn’t finish as her eyes widened in shock when she saw a second Applejack enter the room followed by the Rainbooms and their counterparts.
The CMC was stunned to see two of each of the Rainbooms.
“Applebloom,” Applejack said her sister’s name.
“There’s somethin’ we want to ask yah,” E-Applejack said as she crossed her arms.
The CMC’s attention soon focused on the last person to enter the room, Sunset Shimmer who had a frown on her face.