//------------------------------// // i - Strike One // Story: The Path of Absolution - Punishment // by Morningstar1337 //------------------------------// In the editing room of the Foal Free Press, Diamond Tiara could see the sun just starting to rise. "Where are they? They should have been here 5 minutes ago!" "But it's only 7:00," said an ink-stained blue colt. Just as soon as the colt had finished speaking, the Cutie Mark Crusaders burst through the door. "Stop the Presses!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed. "But they haven't even started yet," said the blue colt. The three fillies handed Diamond Tiara a manila folder. She glared at them. "You're lucky I'm nice." She opened one of the drawers and took out another manila folder and moved toward another room. "You're not gonna print it now?" Apple Bloom was worried. The three Crusaders knew that the folder their editor took out could lead to their ruination, just as well as they knew that the column they wrote would lead to their absolution. "Why should I?" Diamond Tiara grew suspicious. "I read the last columns you gave me. And I'm sure that this column is full of nice juicy gossip." The pink filly waved the folders. "You can go now, Gabby Gums." Apple Bloom, Sweetie belle and Scootaloo left the room, ashamed at the moniker of "Gabby Gums" they took while working at the press. Under the anonymity of that name, they wrote terrible things. Things that turned them from harmless, if over-enthusiastic, fillies looking for their purpose in life, into the town's unfettered sociopathic gossip-mongers. "You think Diamond Tiara would actually read it?" Apple Bloom said as they headed to their classroom. "No way," Scootaloo said. "We made sure we were late enough that she wouldn't have the time to read it, right?" "I hope so," Sweetie Belle sighed. "We have to make this right somehow." Meanwhile in the editor's room. Diamond Tiara opened both folders. The first one had some pictures depicting the three Crusaders in various embarrassing situations. The second one was the one those same fillies handed her. She adjusted her Tiara. The 3 fillies she hired to worked for her gossip column wouldn't dare betray her, not as long as she can print those pictures. She began to read the letter. The pink filly was shocked. The column was an open apology the town. She read every line, every detail. "They'll pay for this!" she growled. She noticed a typewriter nearby and thought to herself. 'If you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself.' The Cutie Mark Crusaders left for recess, still hoping that the town would accept their apology. They approached a small lean pegasus who was taking pictures of everything. The pegasus looked at the fillies and left without a word. "That's strange," Sweetie Belle said. "Featherweight hasn't flown from us before." "I wouldn't be surprised, given how everypony else feels," Scootaloo said. They looked around the playground and saw other that fillies were having fun. And saw that every mare and stallion that so much as looked at them gave glares of disapproval. The populace hated their guts, and they knew it. Well, everyone except maybe the other ponies working on the Foal Free Press. By now they knew the paper would have reached every part of Ponyville, Cloudsdale, and Canterlot. Eventually recess was over and the fillies finished their school day. On their way home, they saw a mare with the paper and a phone. She was complaining about how cold it was, for some reason, but the fillies decided not to eavesdrop. Eventually they went their separate ways. Apple Bloom went home to Sweet Apple Acres, despite the name, the mood around the farm was bitter. She saw her sister kicking some apple trees and noticed that she was kicking them so hard that the branches fell off along with the apples. "Applejack?" Apple Bloom said, her yellow body slightly shaking in fear. "Is there something wrong?" Applejack moved her orange legs to another tree to get some more apples. "Nope." She then took the apples and went to another field. The small filly stroked her red mane and pink bow in confusion. She considered asking her again but she knew that Applejack wouldn't talk to her, not anymore. She knew that yesterday the identity of Gabby Gums had been exposed. She had noticed something in the trash and looked inside. It was the Foal Free Press. Apple Bloom took the wadded paper from the trash and read the gossip column. She could not believe what she was reading. She took the paper and went to get Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. Scootaloo trotted on a small path. Normally Rainbow Dash, the orange pegasus' idol, would be training nearby. But she was nowhere to be found. On the bright side, she wouldn't be drenched by rainwater. She noticed a sign on the ground near a copy of the Foal Free Press. The newspaper was in a case for some reason. The sign read, "If you happen to use the name 'Gabby Gums'' Get out! I don't want to see your faces anywhere near here anymore!" She saw some tears on the sign. She heard a thunderclap. "But it was just sunny a few seconds ago," she thought. She looked up and there was a small storm cloud over her head. "Figures." She tried to read the paper which was turned to the gossip column. In her shock, she went to find her the other two crusaders. Rarity was busy creating a snowsuit when she saw Sweetie Belle enter the Carousel Boutique. "What do you want?" Rarity said. "Um, did you get the paper?" Sweetie Belle sheepishly asked, knowing full well that it was unlikely that Diamond Tiara would print their apology. "Of course I did," Rarity said. She used her white horn to levitate the paper and rolled it up into a scroll, then dropped it in front of her similarly-colored sister. "So, um... got any new customers?" Sweetie Belle asked, though not expecting a response. She knew that Rarity was the one who found out that she and the other Crusaders were Gabby Gums. Rarity was still putting the ensemble together. "Well if you must know, I got a request to create the most fabulous winter wear. And I absolutely need to be alone," She said. Sweetie Belle noticed a picture on the wall with her sister and her friends on it. She felt even more regret upon seeing it. Since she found out that their column drove Fluttershy to tears, and Twilight to seal off the Library from the rest of town. "By the way," Rarity said. "You better get some more blankets. The pegasi say that a large cold front is passing through the Unicorn Range and you might need them just in case." The white filly was confused. She said, "but why are the pegasi scheduling a blizzard this early?" "They didn’t, the weather team are looking over it to see why it’s treading so far from the north." Rarity said, "I have to go. I have to meet with my friends tonight." She then went out, turning the open sign on the store afterwards. Sweetie Belle was worried a bit about the weather. She took the paper and read the gossip column. She went through every page and said, "My word." She was shocked by what was written in place of their apology letter. Too shocked to notice the picture of herself in one of Rarity's designs. She went out to see Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. The Cutie Mark Crusaders met up and went to their clubhouse. There they began discussing today's paper. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle noticed that Scootaloo was wet. The three began to place the copy of the paper that Apple Bloom brought on the table and began to double check it. The gossip column read, "The Truth Behind Gabby Gums." at the top of the column. "Dear Ponyville, I'm sure by now you know that 'Gabby Gums' is actually three fillies: Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo. And we would like you to know that we don't care. We know you want the scoop and we know you want it now. So mark our words: We will leave no stone unturned, no trash can un-dived, and we will not rest until we bring you the latest scoop on all Ponyville. And to show we mean business, here's some dirt on ourselves." There was a picture of Scootaloo covered in mud at the top of the page, with a picture of Sweetie Belle in an odd outfit at the middle and one of a baby Apple Bloom at the bottom. "This is a disaster! There's no way we can show our face here now," Scootaloo said. “That’s convenient,” Apple Bloom snarked. “I suppose you knew about the blizzard?” Sweetie Belle said. “Well at least the school will be closed for the next few days,” Scootaloo said. “It will give us time to think up how we can fix this mess,” Apple Bloom said. The three fillies began brainstorming until the night fell; they left the house shivering from the frigid breeze of the night. In the Evening, Applejack and Rarity went to Sugarcube Corner, then a certain blue pegasus flew down to the the entrance. “Are they coming?” Applejack said. Rainbow Dash went inside the bakery. “Yeah, I managed to get Fluttershy to stop crying. She should be here in a few.” “What about Twilight?” Rarity walked near the counter of the bakery. “Do you think she’s coming?” “I don’t know. She has a force-field over the library,” Rainbow Dash said. “I asked Spike to give Twi the message though.” Just then Pinkie Pie bounced in from another room. She had a copy of the paper in her mouth and a somewhat angry expression. She tried to smile, “Alright, is everypony here?” “Not yet,” Rarity said. Applejack looked at the gossip column. There were hints of betrayal and confusion in her eyes. “I just can’t believe this, I never thought that Apple Bloom would do something like this.” Twilight Sparkle was lowering the barrier to her Library. “Spike, can you make sure no intruders can enter while I’m gone?” “Of course,” Spike said. Twilight then left for the bakery. On the way to Sugarcube Corner a white pegasus approached her. “Excuse me miss, but do you know where Cloudsdale is?” “Sure.” Twilight’s lavender body slightly shivering from the cold of night. “Just leave Ponyville and head north.” She noticed that her cutie mark was a storm cloud with the sun partly above it. “I have an urgent matter to attend there.” “Is it about the snowstorm?” The pegasus was about to take her leave. “Indeed. Thank you for the directions.” Twilight found the snowstorm itself strange. Normally pegasi control the weather in Equestria. She decided to worry about it later and meet her friends at the bakery. In a few minutes Twilight Sparkle met up with her friends in the bakery. She saw the newspaper on the counter. Twilight said, “So what’s going on?” Rainbow Dash handed her the paper and she read the column, her blood boiling with every word. “What?!” She was downright furious. “Calm down, darling,” Rarity said. “Calm down? Calm down?” Twilight said, as her mostly dark blue mane began to burn a blazing bright orange. “How can I calm down. I must make barriers for Ponyville. They must not invade ponies’ privacy anymore.” She dropped the paper and tried to run out but bumped into Fluttershy as she opened the door and tripped. Her mane had cooled off and returned to its usual blue, with pink and purple streaks. “Um, is everything okay?” Fluttershy asked. “No,” Rainbow Dash said bluntly. She took the newspaper off the floor and gave it to Fluttershy while Rarity was helping Twilight up. Applejack and Rarity were a little concerned. They weren't sure if they could trust the town’s citizens to be near them at the moment. Twilight stood up and said, “Sorry, got carried away.” “Alright y’all,” Applejack said. “I talked with Rarity before this and I think we need to get out of town for a while.” “But why?” Fluttershy said uncomfortably. “We need to talk with the Cutie Mark Crusaders about this and I don’t think we can do this here,” Rarity said. “Considering the previous ‘Gabby Gums’ articles this is highly unusual even for them.” Twilight read through the paper and noticed that it was done by a typewriter, well except for one piece that seemed to be ripped out of another paper. “I just think we need to get out of Ponyville for a while and soon,“ Applejack said. “What?” Pinkie Pie said. “I have to go help the Cakes for their entry into the national baking competition next week. Do you know how hard it is to make a cake as delicious as...” “So when are we leaving?” Rainbow Dash said. She was feeling a little enraged that she has to spend time with the three who forever ruined her reputation. “I just don’t know.” Applejack said. The group eventually left the room having nothing further to discuss tonight.