//------------------------------// // It's my fault // Story: In a time of need // by Small Muffin //------------------------------// Fluttershy walked out of Sugercube Cornor, and began her walk home. After Princess Twilight left them, the table was covered in an uncomfortable silence that she just couldn't take anymore. As she walked past the window where her friends were seated, she gave them a weak smile and a wave. Pinkie gave a wave goodbye, Rarity simply smiled, Rainbow Dash was looking down at her phone, and Applejack was... not there. She felt a hand on her shoulder, and saw Applejack behind her in the reflection of the window. "Oh... What s it?" she asked nervously. "Just thought Ah might as well walk with you," Applejack replied, "This ain't the time to be on our own." "I guess not," Fluttershy replied. The two girls removed their gaze from the glass window, and began walking down the snow covered street together. "What the hell happened this last week?" Applejack asked. Fluttershy didn't reply, "Why'd I do it?" she asked glumly. "It wasn't just you AJ," Fluttershy replied, "we all... misjudged her, an-" "Then why'd WE do it?" Applejack interrupted, "Ah mean, sure, maybe some of the other students still held something against her, but we didn't, we were her friends! So why the hell did we do it!" AJ asked, "Why didn't we believe her?" "...Applejack..." Fluttershy began. Strangely, she sounded quite, freightened, of all things. "Flutters, ya alright?" Applejack asked. "...Can I... Ask you something..." Fluttershy asked. "Uh... Acourse. What is it?" Applejack replied. "Well... Promise you'll tell me the truth." "What kind of promise is that? You know I ain't no lier!" AJ replied. She had to admit, she felt a bit insulted by that. "Well, ok..." Fluttershy came to a stop, and took a deep breath, then another, then another. "Yall sure you're alright, Shy?" AJ asked, stopping just ahead of her. "Did you... Did you really believe it was her?" Fluttershy asked nervously. "What..?" Applejack asked. "Well, I mean, did you really think it was Sunset that was doing this?" Fluttershy asked, "Because I..." "You what?" "Well, did you?" Fluttershy asked for a third time. "I..." Applejack sighed, "Ah did, I don't know why, but I did think it was her." "That's what I was afraid you'd say..." Fluttershy mumbled. "Well, actually, Ah think I do know why," AJ continued. "It's just like Twilight said, we've all known her as a manipulative bully who always gets her way for about three years, and a friend for a few months." she sighed, "And probably cus it was easier to blame her than it was help her." "wlididbelevhr..." Fluttershy mumbled weakly. "What was that?" "I'll tell you, but... Well actually it doesn't really matter right now so there's no point in..." Fluttershy blurted out at a much faster pace. "Fluttershy!" The girl stopped her rambling. "Just calm down, and tell me." Applejack put her hand on her friends shoulder reasuringly, "This is about earlier, ain't it?" "Um..." "When we were reading Rainbow's text, you said something about what you'd done, didn't you?" AJ asked. "You... Heard that?" Fluttershy asked nervously. Applejack nodded. "I ain't gonna judge you or nothing, Ah'm not proud of what I've done either, but keeping it to yourself ain't gonna help nobody." She gave a smile, in a attempt to make Fluttershy feel more comfortable. "So, is there anything you wanna say?" "Well... Okay," Fluttershy replied nervously, before taking a deep breath. "I believed Sunset was innocent!!!" Shy said. Applejack removed her hand from Fluttershy's shoulder, as her face twisted in confusion as she processed what her friend had said. "Huh..? You... You knew she was... Why didn't... What!?!?" "Well, not at first. I mean, initially, yeah, I thought Sunset was to blame, but, after... I, I just knew it wasn't her." "You knew she was innocent?" Applejack realized what Fluttershy had said. "Well, like I said, it wasn't until I-" "How did you? W...How???" Applejack asked. Fluttershy walked over to a nearby shop wall, and sat down, resting her back on the wall. "It was, um..." "Yeah," AJ walked over and sat next to Fluttershy, "How did you figure it out?" she asked. "It was," Fluttershy began, "it was when Anon... those three girls I guess would be more appropriate now we know who it was, put out that thing about me, two days ago..." "You mean about you and Angel Bun-" "Yeah, that," Fluttershy interrupted, a slight blush of embarrassment appeared on her face, "Well, when that was let out, I... I snapped at her..." "Yeah, Ah heard about that, how 'Fluttershy stood up to Sunset'," AJ replied. "It's something I'll never forgive myself for..." Fluttershy mumbled as she recalled the events, and told AJ what had happened. Two days ago. Fluttershy stood in front of her open locker, with an embarrassing blush on her face. Sunset was stood behind her, trying to talk to her. "Fluttershy, I'd never do this, you know that, right?" "Go, away, Sunset..." Fluttershy mumbled, "Haven't you done enough to me by now?" "But It's not me! I swear!" Sunset replied. The most recent Anon-A-Miss post had been about Fluttershy, and it was quite a personal one. Did you know Fluttershy showers with her pet rabbit, Angel Bunny? I mean, I know she's an animal lover and all that, but if you ask me, that's a little to far on the creepy side of things. Classes had just ended, and people were now flooding out of their classroom, and a couple of people decided to pass a quick comment as they rummaged through their own locker right next to Fluttershy. "Isn't that the girl who showers with her bunny?" "She does what?!" "Yep. Haven't you seen the most recent Anon-A-Miss post?" "She showers with her pet rabbit? Oh come on, that one can't be real!" "Well, every single one of her posts so far have been true, and do you see the look on her face?" "Don't say that, she'll look over at us." "Good point." Fluttershy began quietly sobbing in her locker. "Why would you do this?" "Fluttershy, I'm not doing this, please just hear me out!" "I thought our friendship meant something to you Sunset..." she sobbed. "Was this all you wanted? To find out personal things about us and spread them around, all just for laughs?" "Of course your friendship is important to me!" Sunset begged. "You five girls are all I have..." "Then why are you doing this?!" Fluttershy asked. "But I'm no-" "Well I didn't tell anyone else about... You know... So of course it was you!" Fluttershy yelled into her locker. "We were in the cafeteria when you told me that! Someone on a nearby table must have overheard you..." Sunset said. "Someone from the nearest table?" Fluttershy replied, "So you're saying it was one of the younger students? Like Button Mash, or Applebloom?!" "Fluttershy, listen to me!" Sunset cried. I'm not really sure why, but when she said that, I lost it with her... "Listen to you?!" Fluttershy began. her hand started shaking angrily. "You want me to just listen you!? Well I have!!!" she slammed her locker shut, angrily, "For three whole years I listened to you, I did whatever you wanted me to Sunset, without question!" she yelled. "F...Flutter...Shy..?" Sunset stepped away nervously. Fluttershy's yelling had attracted the attention of the entire hallway, even the teachers popped their heads out of their classrooms. "For three years, I was your own little bullying bag. You hurt me, assaulted me, and downright humiliated me for the last three years, AND I'M NOT TAKING IT ANYMORE!" "Is that really Fluttershy?" one person asked. "You go girl!" another said. "And even after all this time..." Fluttershy continued, as her trembling hand slowly clinched into a fist, "THIS is your idea of revenge? This is PATHETIC!" Fluttershy spun around and grabbed Sunset's shirt, "YOU'RE PATHETIC SUNSET SHIMMER!!! WE ALL KNOW IT'S YOU SO WHY DON'T YOU JUST DISAPPEAR, AND... Never... come... back...." Fluttershy froze on the spot. The girl in front of her was trembling and crying with nothing but fear. Sunset was actually... afraid of Fluttershy, just like she was before. Everytime Sunset would demand something from Fluttershy, or would pick on her for whatever reason, Fluttershy would look just like Sunset did now. Truely, and utterly terrified. It was right there. That was the exact moment I knew this wasn't her doing... but it was to late. "Sun...Set..?" Fluttershy's grip on Sunset's shirt weakend, quickly followed by Sunset who threw Fluttershy's hand off her shirt. "Fine, have it your way," Sunset cried before bolting down the hall as fast as she could. "So you see, Applejack? I'm the reason she ran away, I know it!" Fluttershy cried. "That's nonsense," AppleJack replied uneasily, "It's not your fault she ran away, it's all of our fault..." Fluttershy got up off the ground, "But I told her that she should just disappear! If I didn't say that, maybe she would have been in school yesterday..." she took a deep breath, "Please don't tell the others about this, Applejack. Please!" Before Applejack could reply, Fluttershy broke out into an immediate sprint down the street. "Wait, hold up!!!" she shouted, but Fluttershy had already turned a corner, and was out of sight. Applejack however, still had an unanswered question in her head. One that had been there since Fluttershy said she believed that Sunset was innocent. Why didn't she try to convince her friends that Sunset was innocent?