Rainbow Dash went as far away from the hospital as she could get. It was true that she had originally had the intention of going to the police station, but, oh, her conscience couldn’t take what happened in the waiting room back at the hospital.
She didn’t want to be reminded, and to admit to them all that yes, it had been her that had done all those things.
She slipped into a narrow alley, and there, she broke down in tears, slipping to her knees as she heaved and gasped, sobbing like she never had. She clutched her arms around herself.
“Oh, Su-u-u-” Her voice died out in her weeping.
Pinkie had spent the last couple hours since Rainbow had left, wondering what exactly that call had been all about. It had raised a lot of questions for her, but one thing over all, stuck out to Pinkie from what she had been able to gain from the strange conversation…murder…What had Dashie been talking about? What was going on?
She paced in front of the phone, debating whether to call Applejack back or not.
“Maud…What would you do? Should I call?...”
“You’re pressuring yourself. Pressure is an often peculiar thing. It can destroy, or it can perfect. When pressured by others to do something, it is often better not to listen, but rocks are different. Pressure can turn rocks into diamonds. We, as Pies, are like rocks. So give into the pressure, and make the call.”
"How are we like rocks?..."
"We rock."
“…You just convinced me Maud!” Pinkie picked up the phone and dialed Applejack’s number. It rang a few times before she answered.
“H-hello?...”
“AJ! You know how you wanted to talk to Dashie earlier today? I really, really, REALLY need to know what it was about…”
There was a long pause.
“I take it you haven’t seen the news recently…”
“News? News is boring, and they hardly ever have anything good to say.”
“You’re tellin’ me…” Applejack sighed.
“Pinkie…You should come to the hospital…”
“The hospital? Why there? Did something happen?”
“Pinkie, this is really something I’d rather not tell you by phone. Just come to the hospital.”
“O-Ok…Uhh, see you soon.”
As soon as Pinkie had hung up, Applejack redialed the phone.
Fluttershy had gone to the animal shelter after school, as was the usual norm for her, and since school was now out for two weeks, she had planned to spend even more time there. It had been going normally for her there thus far. She had been feeding the iguanas when her phone started to ring.
“Hello?”
“Fluttershy? Are you still at the shelter?”
“Oh, hello Applejack. Yes I am, I just got Rexy and Ruffles to settle down, and now I’m taking care of the iguanas.
“Do you think you could get someone else to cover for you for the rest of the day? You…uhh, you need to come to the hospital…”
“The hospital?” Fluttershy’s voice took on a tone of concern.
“Is something wrong?”
“You….You have no idea…” Applejack’s voice cracked. She sounded like she either had been crying, or was about to.
“Applejack…What happened?”
“Oh, Flutters…” Applejack’s voice then broke down, as the rest of her sentence came out in sobs.
“It’s more like what didn’t happen!” Fluttershy put a hand over her mouth in silent shock of hearing Applejack like this.
“I’ll be over as soon as I can.” Fluttershy hung up and put her phone away, before heading over to the front desk.
“Warm heart, can you find a replacement for me for the rest of the day? I just got a call from one of my friends, and it sounded urgent.”
“Go ahead Fluttershy, it isn’t often you ask to leave, so if you say its urgent, then it must be.”
Fluttershy thanked her and was on her way.
It had taken a while for Applejack to be able to recover from her last breakdown, but when she had, she turned to Sweetie belle.
“Sweetie…I think it’s only fitting that you should call your sister and tell her she needs to come here. And when she, Fluttershy, and Pinkie all get here, you three are going to tell them why we are all here.”
Sweetie Belle merely nodded silently as she took out her phone, and dialed her sister’s number, waiting for an answer.
“Hello?” Rarity’s voice came through.
“Hey sis…”
“Oh hello Sweetie. Is everything alright? You sound a bit down…I thought you were going to see your friends?..”
“I did…and I’m with them right now, but…”
“But?...” Rarity questioned.
Sweetie sighed.
“Sis, y-you need to come to the hospital.”
“The hospital??” Rarity’s voice immediately took on a tone of concern.
“Is everything alright Sweetie? What’s going on?”
“No, no, we are fine…” physically speaking…She thought to herself.
“But you do still need to come to the hospital.”
“Whatever for Sweetie?”
“I-it’s not something to talk about over the phone…”
“Sweetie, I insist you tell me why you’re at the hospital. What happened?”
“Sis…just…just come here…” Sweetie’s voice broke as she started crying.
Applejack sighed as she reached for Sweetie’s phone and put it up to her own ear.
“Rarity, get to the hospital now.”
“A-applejack?...What is going on? Is Applebloom in the hospital?”
“No, the three of them are fine. But things have happened that are not appropriate to discuss merely by phone. Just come to the hospital.”
“O-ok…I’m on my way.”
It wasn’t too long after, that Pinkie arrived at the hospital, and made her way over to where the others were.
“Oh, they’re here too?...” she asked when she saw Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo. All four present looked as if they had been crying not long ago.
“AJ….Would you please tell me why we’re all here?...”
“Just wait a while…Rarity and Fluttershy are coming too.” Pinkie nodded and sat down, feeling uncomfortable in the silence.
Rarity was about halfway to the hospital, when she just so happened to see Fluttershy walking along in the same direction she was headed.
She slowed the car to a stop, and poked her head out the window.
“Fluttershy dear! Do you need a ride anywhere?”
“Oh, Rarity. Well…I actually am on my way to the hospital right now. There isn’t anything wrong with me, I mean, but I got the strangest call from Applejack telling me to get there…”
Rarity just looked at her.
“You…You got a call too?”
“You did too?” Fluttershy repeated, concern evident in her voice.
“My sister called me…But she said it wasn’t appropriate to discuss by phone”
“Oh dear…” Fluttershy said quietly, scenarios running through her head of what could have possibly happened.
“Fluttershy, get in the car, we’ll get there in half the time.” Fluttershy obliged, and got in.
Upon arrival at the hospital, they made their way to where Applejack had told them they were. Fluttershy looked uneasily around at all the people as they walked the halls.
People in hospital beds, being wheeled around. People walking slowly, wheeling IV poles around with them. People in wheelchairs. People all ranging in differing ages from children to seniors. It was not an environment in which Fluttershy enjoyed being.
Fluttershy knew she couldn’t help everyone, no matter how much she wanted to. She was no nurse, had no degree or qualification whatsoever to work in a hospital setting.
Even working at the animal shelter, as much as she loved animals, she was no veterinarian. She would help in whatever way she could with minor injuries in animals, but her job mostly consisted of playing, feeding, and making sure the animals got the love they were deprived of before arriving at the shelter.
Seeing all the people at this hospital made her worry for what they could possibly be here for. Why did Applejack want them here, of all places?
Fluttershy was brought out of her thoughts when they approached Applejack, along with her sister, Sweetie belle, and Scootaloo, all sitting at a waiting area. But they weren’t the only ones there. Pinkie was also present.
“Pinkie?” Rarity asked. “What are you doing here?”
“I-I’m really not sure…” Pinkie replied quietly, in contrast to her usual bouncy self.
“Dashie was spending the night at my house when AJ called, wanting to talk to her. Afterward, she kind of just left, and I wanted to know why, so I called AJ back, and she told me to come here…” Pinkie left out the murder part she had heard Dash say on the phone. She didn’t want to bring that up.
Rarity turned to Applejack.
“Alright Applejack, Now that you have gotten us all here, I would very much appreciate if you told us why exactly it is, that we are in fact here...”
But before she could answer to that, a new voice spoke up.
“We are here, because I failed to see followed through, my first and foremost priority and responsibility as Principal...” Everyone turned to the source of this new voice.
“Ensuring the safety of my students.” Principal Celestia was standing off to the side, her voice solemn.
“P-Principal Celestia?...What are you doing here?” Fluttershy asked quietly.
“I saw a rather disturbing news story, as I’m sure you all did…”
Rarity slowly looked at Applejack.
“No, no, I don’t believe we have all in fact seen it…” She turned back to her principal.
“I only received a call to come here, not knowing why…Why are we here?...” She asked slowly, and cautiously.
“Rarity…” Rarity looked back at Applejack.
“I believe our sisters can shed some light on that.” All eyes fell on the crusaders.
Rarity looked at her sister.
“Sweetie?...” She questioned cautiously.
Sweetie was at a loss for words. With everyone in the room, including her sister, and principal, she simply couldn’t bring herself to fess up out loud. She instead opted to take Applebloom’s prior route. She opened up her phone and went to the Anon-A-Miss page. But before giving it to her sister, she spoke quietly.
“There…There really isn’t much to say. We…we messed up. Badly. We lied to all of you…and we should have told you this long ago. I won’t blame any one of you if you don’t forgive us…”
“Rubbish Sweetie, I’m sure that whatever you guys did can be fixed over time. We may be angry, but it cannot be anything that we won’t ever forgive…That I won’t ever forgive. We are family, and even if we weren’t related, family goes beyond blood. Everyone here, we are all family, and family always forgives.”
Rarity was too focused on Sweetie, that she didn’t even notice Applejack looking increasingly uncomfortable the longer she talked. It was like each word Rarity said was piercing into the inner most part of her soul. By the time Rarity finished, Applejack couldn’t take any more. Sniffling heavily and starting to sob, she abruptly got up, and left, entering a nearby bathroom.
Rarity looked toward the way Applejack had left, with confusion and worry.
“Was…Was it something I said?...” Sweetie sighed heavily, before, without another word, or even looking up, passed the phone to her sister.
Rarity took the phone hesitantly, and looked at the page.
She was silent for the longest time, trying to comprehend what she was seeing as realization dawned on her as she went through the posts, and saw at the top of the page that the user was in fact signed in.
“Sweetie….” She whispered, putting a hand to her lip.
“It…was all of us.” Applebloom spoke up, quietly.
Rarity continued scrolling through past posts, slowly coming to another realization.
“But if you three…then…” Her eyes widened.
“No…Oh gosh no…”She shook her head slowly.
Pinkie and Fluttershy were on the edge of their seats, whereas Principal Celestia had a pretty good guess at what was on that phone. Soon enough, Rarity did hand the phone over to Pinkie and Fluttershy.
About five seconds of silence passed before Pinkie reacted.
“WHAAT?!!!” She screeched, looking back up to the crusaders.
Fluttershy looked over Pinkie’s shoulder to see, and realized what was on the page, putting two and two together. She gasped and put a hand over her mouth.
“You GUYS!!” Pinkie threw her hands up in utter disbelief.
“What….How…WHY???”
“Excuse me, can we please try to keep the shouting down?” A nurse scolded.
“Sorry…” Fluttershy said quietly.
Pinkie just looked at the crusaders, expecting an explanation.
“We…don’t know why we did it. It was stupid…”
“Ya think??” Pinkie shot back.
“You let everyone’s secrets out, turned friends against each other, had the entire student body at each other’s throats! And for what?!” Pinkie demanded, before looking back at the phone.
“And why did you make this page look specifically like Sunset was doing it?! Do you have something against her??”
“We did….” Applebloom said quietly.
“Back when you guys were having your sleepovers, we…we got jealous that you guys were spending more time with her than with us…So we came up with a way to change that…” Applebloom confessed.
Rarity, Pinkie, and Fluttershy were completely dumbfounded by this information. Pinkie was the only one who found her voice.
“Are you freaking KIDDING me?? Everything that has been happening at the school has been the result of a petty bout of jealousy??"
"Wait... if you guys did this... how did you get Sunset's pictures?" Rarity asked.
"While you guys were asleep...I snuck in and got them off her phone..." Sweetie said quietly.
"S-Sweetie!.." Rarity gasped. "Why?.."
Sweetie didn't say anything.
Rarity suddenly got up and went into the same bathroom that Applejack had gone previously.
“Applejack?...” No answer.
I’m guessing you already knew…That is quite the stunt our sisters pulled…I never would have expected Sweetie to do such a thing….” Still no answer.
“C’mon AJ, say something.”
The stall door unlocked, and opened slowly, revealing Applejack with bloodshot eyes.
“We didn’t even give her a chance to explain herself.” Applejack said quietly.
Rarity sighed, knowing exactly what she was talking about.
“No…No we didn’t. The only thing we can really do now is go apologize to her. I…I am hopeful that in time…things can be mended.”
“That’s gonna be a lot harder than you think Rarity.”
“Well, of course I don’t expect her to forgive us right off the bat…”
“That’s not what I mean…”
“What…do you mean?...”Rarity asked slowly.
Applejack sighed.
“We should go talk about this with everyone else. This is something they need to know too.”
Rarity followed Applejack outside to where the others were. Things had gotten considerably quieter. Pinkie, and Fluttershy were still trying to comprehend that these three seemingly innocent girls had done this to all of them.
“To tell you all the truth,” Applejack spoke up.
“What you just heard from them,” she gestured to the crusaders. “Is only half the reason you’re all here.”
“You mean there’s more?...” Fluttershy asked worriedly.
Applejack nodded.
“It…It’s the reason I wanted us all to meet at the hospital.”
All eyes were on Applejack, awaiting an explanation. Principal Celestia just looked at the ground, already knowing what was coming.
“Rarity…do…do you remember the other day when Anon-A-Miss posted that thing about Dash?...” Applejack asked.
“Yes…” Rarity trailed off as she realized who it really was that had sent that.
She slowly looked at Sweetie, and the other two.
“Y-you guys sent that…didn’t you?...”
Tears continued streaming down Sweetie’s cheeks as she looked down, refusing to meet her sister’s gaze. Applejack continued.
“When Dash ran off…She went and did something really stupid…”
“Applejack…A-Are you trying to tell us that Dash attacked Sunset?!” Rarity asked in horror.
“Not exactly…But Dash definitely wasn’t the only one who had an embarrassing secret let loose about her…The other half of that secret belonged to Gilda, Dash’s old friend. Like Dash, she didn’t take the post well either. She, along with some other students were looking for Sunset. I guess Dash wanted to get back at Sunset without getting her own hands dirty, so…” Applejack sighed and shook her head slowly.
“…She gave them Sunset’s address, and gave them her own phone to contact Sunset, leading her to believe that we ourselves wanted to meet
up with her after hours at the school.”
There was absolute silence.
“She did what?...” Rarity whispered.
Applejack nodded sadly.
"Sunset went too."
"Surely she got away though..." Rarity tried convincing herself more than anyone.
"I mean, Sunset is more than capable of defending herself against a few punks...right?"
"Maybe a few...But try holding your own against thirty plus students." There were shocked gasps at that.
"T-Thirty...CHS students were in on this?" Rarity's eyes welled up with tears.
Applejack put her head down.
"They beat her...Badly."
Rarity put both hands to her mouth in horror. Pinkie and Fluttershy were too stunned to even react in any way.
"And I want to know EXACTLY why it did happen." Everyone jumped at the new unexpected voice.
Out from around the corner, emerged a very unhappy looking Twilight.