Applejack emerged from the statue shakily, placing a hand on her head to collect her thoughts and recover. She looked down to the numerous papers she was holding in her arms, sifting through them aimlessly. “Guess Ah have some more homework to do… thanks Twi.”
Her phone dinged and Applejack reached into her pocket and pulled it out, looking over the screen.
Sis <3:
Granny said I can help Diamond Tiara
at her garden after school. You can call
Granny and Diamonds dad to confirm
I ain’t lying
You better not be Missy
I don’t wanna hear that you lied right
after what you pulled Saturday
Applejack realized that might’ve been too aggressive, perhaps Apple Bloom deserved the benefit of a doubt.
I’ll work out the details with her father
Don’t think this is an excuse to goof off though
You can have some fun with your friend, maybe
even dinner depending on when we pick you up
But no dessert and no going into Diamonds room
to look at teen magazines or whatever it is you
tweens do
Sis <3:
I figured
I’ll see you later sis
See ya Bloom
Applejack stared at the screen awkwardly.
I love you
She sighed. Why was that so much harder to do now? Well, she knew what the reason was. But that didn’t stop her from feeling ashamed of herself.
Applejack lifted her head up and saw Lyra and Bon-Bon hanging out near the front. Her eyes narrowed and a frown grew on her face. ‘Perfect timing.’ She needed to have a ‘talk’ with the two girls for what she learned Saturday.
Applejack put her phone away and marched up to the two girls.
“So?” Lyra perked up and looked over as Bon-Bon walked up to her. “How did everything with Derpy go? Did you recruit her?”
“No.” Lyra admitted sadly.
“No?” Bon-Bon looked surprised. “Why not? Was she more difficult than you thought?”
“No, in fact we talked things out. I apologized and she said we could be friends again… with some conditions.”
“Then why didn’t you recruit her? Your entire plan required Derpy to convince Sunset right?”
“I couldn’t.” Lyra laid her back against the wall. “Turns out, she and Sunset are trying to become closer friends. If this fails, not only will Derpy lose a friend, but Sunset will lose one of the few people she trusts.” Lyra crossed her arms. “I couldn’t do that to either of them. It was better to leave Derpy out of it.”
“What’re you gonna do now? It’s unlikely Sunset will run for Princess.”
“I don’t know.” Lyra sighed. “Could run anyway. If I win I could make a big apology speech to Sunset.”
“She might appreciate that, though she’ll still be expecting you to make restitution. Also undercuts the school trying to prove to Sunset they do accept her. Though, I’m not sure that was your responsibility anyway.”
“Yeah, well, maybe by that point she’ll have mellowed out a bit. Derpy has that effect on people… by the way, Derpy wants to see you next.”
“Me?” Bon-Bon recoiled a bit. “She doesn’t want to see Octie?”
“Octie kicked her out, I’m sure she’s angriest at her.” Lyra was quiet for a moment. “By the way, don’t give her muffins as an apology gift. I already tried that.”
“How bad were they?”
“Gee, thanks.” Lyra scoffed. “Nice to know my girlfriend has so little faith in my baking skills. They would’ve been fine if you helped a bit.”
“You know I’m taking a break from baking after what that bitch wrote about me.”
“Don’t call my sister a bitch.” Lyra and Bon-Bon looked over as Applejack stopped a few feet next to them, an annoyed glare on her face. “Ah know what she wrote about yah was… damaging to yer reputation. But Ah won’t let yah insult her like that.”
Bon-Bon sighed and rolled her eyes. Seems everyone had an annoying habit of showing up right as she said something insulting. “I’m sorry AJ. I know she’s a kid and all, but what she wrote nearly ended our relationship. I don’t exactly like her right now.”
“Just don’t let me catch you calling her a bitch again, otherwise...” Applejack trailed off, letting the implication hang in the air.
“So, why did you come over here? I doubt you can sense when Bon-Bon insults Apple Bloom.” This earned Lyra an annoyed look from Bon-Bon.
“We need to have a little talk about Saturday.” Applejack frowned. “And how you kicked Derpy out of your group during Anon.”
Both girls groaned. “Can we do this another time?”
“We just had our own awkward conversations with them individually.”
“We’re kinda Sunset and Derpyd out right now.”
“No.” Applejack answered simply, taking a step forward. “Yah made my friend cry. Yah knew better than to bring up anything involving Anon with her, but yah did it anyway. All she wanted was to drink a milkshake with yah, yah had no right springing that on her when she was making an effort to hang out with people for once.”
“Ok, in our defense-”
“Not to mention how yah treated Derpy.” Applejack interrupted. “She’s the sweetest thing ever, wouldn’t hurt a fly if it bit her, but yah kicked her out?” Applejack growled angrily. “Ah know Ah of all people shouldn’t be condemning yah for kicking out a friend, after all Ah did the same to Sunset, but all Derpy was doing was defending Sunset! Doesn't that seem a tad extreme?"
“We also thought she revealed my secret.” Lyra explained. “One of our friends thought she was working for Sunset and proposed kicking her out to teach her a lesson about being loyal. We were going to take her back if she confessed and apologized, honest.”
Applejack frowned. She would’ve done the same if Sunset confessed and begged for forgiveness. Seems they were more alike than she thought. “Your friend, it was Octavia right?”
The girls shook their heads. “It was another one of our friends. It wasn’t Vinyl either, so don’t try yelling at her.”
“You don’t need to defend me, girls.” A girl with a posh accent called out. The entire group looked over as Octavia walked down the steps of the school. “I appreciate you trying to spare me from Applejack's wrath, but I can handle myself.”
Octavia climbed down the rest of the steps and stopped in front of Applejack, who only glowered at her. “Yes, regretfully, it was my idea to kick our dear friend Derpy out of the group."
"And what's yer excuse? Ah had evidence, even if rather flimsy, that Sunset was behind Anon-A-Miss. Couldn't somebody else have revealed Lyra's secret?"
"In hindsight, yes." Octavia nodded her head in agreement. "But at the time we were both outraged and paranoid. Our friendship was already strained with Derpy due to our constant arguments about Sunset's guilt."
"Seems to me that the same applied to Vinyl, why didn't yah suspect her?"
"Because I never told her." Lyra called out. "Her and Octie were the only ones of our group that didn't know. Mostly because it never came up. So Derpy was the only remaining suspect."
"Then why didn't yah suspect Bon-Bon?"
"Excuse me?" Bon-Bon gasped, offended by the accusation. "You really think I'd embarrass Lyra and jeopardize our relationship for, what, a laugh?"
"Ok." Applejack held up her hands in defeat. "Admittedly that was a little rude. But the fact remains that yah hurt Derpy based on very little evidence."
"We know, and we are sorry. We are trying to work things out with her right now, much like you are with Sunset I presume." Octavias shoulders slumped. "If it's any consolation, our group was split in half because of it. Time Turner left with Derpy and Vinyl was angry and broke up with me."
"Hold on Octie, let's not be rash." Bon-Bon declared walking up to Octavia. "She said she needed a break from you, not that she was breaking up with you.”
“She hasn’t said a word to me since the… incident. I don’t think she wants me back.” Octavia looked off to the side trying to look aloof, but one could see tears welling in her eyes if they looked hard enough. “Which is entirely her decision. I only have myself to blame.”
Applejack's previous anger faded and now she just felt awkward. ‘This wasn’t how this was supposed to go. Now everything’s just weird.’
“Well, maybe that’s normal. She doesn’t talk much, right?” Applejack offered
“She still talked to me from time to time. She’s giving me the cold shoulder right now.” Octavia explained. “Which is really awkward back home.”
“Really? Ah thought she was mute this whole time.” Applejack hummed in surprise. “Ah ain’t ever heard that girl say a word.”
“So did we when we first met her. Lyra jumped the first time Vinyl spoke to her.” Lyra slapped Bon-Bons arm softly in retaliation. “She’s a woman of few words.”
“Interesting…” Applejack ruminated on what Vinyls voice must sound like, before quickly remembering why she was here in the first place. “Wait, why are we talking about this? Ah’m mad at ya’ll!”
“That may be, but I believe you’ve said everything you needed to.” Applejack looked over to Octavia. “You yelled at the three of us for abandoning Derpy, I’m not sure there’s much for you to add.”
“She also yelled at us for making Sunset cry.” Lyra said casually
Octavia snapped her head over to the two girls. “You what?”
“They were pestering Sunset on Friday and made her break down at Sugarcube Corner.” Applejack explained, then watched the three girls have a silent conversation with each other entirely through expressions, which was bizarre to watch. Applejack cleared her throat to gain the three girls' attention. “This is starting to get awkward, so Ah’ll finish up.”
Octavia gestured for her to continue as they all watched Applejack.
“Yah two.” Applejack looked at Lyra and Bon-Bon. “Leave Sunset alone for now. If yah make her cry again, we’re gonna have a problem.” She turned to Octavia. “Yah have a lot to make up to Derpy for. Now Ah know Ah have no right to be casting stones, but Ah had evidence and Derpy is a sweetheart that would never do something like that. It’s awful yah ever suspected her of betraying her trust.”
“In hindsight that’s true, but we had no other leads. Still don’t in fact.”
“Well, who else knew yer secret?” Applejack turned to Lyra.
“Well, Derpy and Bonny were the only ones in our group that knew.”
“And there’s no way my siblings knew beforehand, I never openly discussed something like that with them. So unless they got it from her or Derpy…” Bon-Bon added.
Applejack was quiet for a long moment. “What about yer own siblings Lyra?”
“My siblings? No way!” Lyra smiled confidently. “My sister’s in elementary school and can barely work a computer, and my younger brother…” Her smile faded. “Well, he’s in 6th grade so he doesn't go here but… oh my god, do you really think it was him?”
“Maybe.” Applejack shrugged. “But Ah learned how surprisingly treacherous a younger sibling could be, so maybe it’s best yah talk to him.”
Lyras breathing grew shallow and she crossed her arms angrily. “I’m going to kill him…”
Applejack nodded and turned to leave, stopping suddenly. She turned around and held up her index finger to Lyra and Bon-Bon. “Make Sunset cry again-”
“And we’ll have a problem. We got it AJ, we’ll give her space.” Bon-Bon answered. “You have a nice day.”
Applejack hummed in acknowledgement and walked away, leaving the three girls all alone. “Now.” Octavia turned to her friends. “What was it you two called me out here for? Surely it wasn’t to be yelled at by Applejack.”