The Setting of the Peaceful Sun

Needless to say, no one at the Apple family farm slept well that night, each Wondercolt waking up crying at least once, as well as waking up to comfort one of their sobbing compatriots. At one point Fluttershy begged to not go to sleep again, wailing that she didn’t want to see Sunset’s face again as she described the empty, joyless smile that was on the girl’s face as she slid backwards off the railing.

“Ah havta take Mac in fer his appointment…” Granny Smith drawled solemnly as she finished sliding on her winter coat. “We shouldn’t be gone too long. Ya’ll make yerselves at home, ya hear?”

“Don’t you worry, Gran. I’ll make sure Dash doesn’t empty your cookie jar.” the bags under Applejack’s eyes seemed to both bleed into one, and be separately countable with their numbers as the girl tiredly waved farewell to her kin.

“What about her booze? Is that off limits?” the farm girl’s whole body seemed to slump as she turned around to regard the form of Rainbow Dash, the girl laying spread eagle on the floor. “I just wanna drink till I don’t remember anything anymore.”

“Look, yer not the only one grievin’ her. Did ya forget how Rarity had ta literally rock ya ta sleep when ya woke screaming fer tha fourth time last night?”

“We all messed up, and we all want to forget yesterday, darling…” Rarity looked up from her sister, Sweetie Belle locking her arms around her older sister as she cried into the side of the older girl’s borrowed nightgown.

“But it doesn’t changed that it happened!” the athlete half yelled from the floor, her arms shooting up and flailing around. “And they started it!”

“How many more times do they have to apologize, Rainbow? No one thought that Sunset was gonna do that! Not them, not us- nobody! And we’re partially to blame for not listening to her in the first place!” everybody in the room was shocked silent at the sudden outburst from Fluttershy, the normally quiet girl being amazingly vocal as she tried to look at her childhood friend through tear filled eyes. “Maybe if we had actually been her friends! Maybe… Maybe she…”

Pinkie Pie grabbed a fresh handful of tissues and handed them to Fluttershy as the girl burst back into tears, her own eyes following suit shortly after.

“What are we going to tell Princess Twilight…?” she asked after blowing her nose. “She asked us to take care of her… And look at what’s happened…”

Everyone’s look shifted to shameful dismay as they realized just how much trouble they were going to be in.

“Now I wish the cops had been dispatched to the bridge…” Rainbow Dash muttered.

“Well maybe ya shouldn’t o’ mentioned magic, Dash.” Applejack facepalmed as she remembered the furious look Dash had when she had said that she had been chewed out by the emergency dispatcher for wasting their time before they hung up on her. “No one else knows that magic is real.”

“At least I didn’t mention how she was from another world… That would have gotten a whole different kind of spook to show up…”

“Or that she jumped because o’ us…” Applejack quietly added onto the athlete’s statement.

“Do you…” some of the groups’ eyes focused on Scootaloo, the girl literally banished to the corner of the room so as to prevent Dash from doing something incredibly reckless. “Do you think her body drifted far down-”

The scooter enthusiast was drowned out at wails of dismay, Rainbow Dash’s louder than everyone else's as she chastised the younger girl. “Seriously!? Are you really gonna say that right now Scoots!? I know you three saw her as the fucking devil, but-”

“Look, I’m sorry, alright!?” the girl said as she cowered further in her seat. “It’s just… What if she survived the fall…?”

“There’s no way she survived tha fall, let alone tha freezin’ water…” Applejack said firmly, calming the crowd. “As much as we all want her ta be alive, there’s just no way she could be…”

“So what are we supposed to do now?” Apple Bloom asked, looking to her older sister for guidance. “Should we call tha cops again?”

“Is it gonna make a difference at this point?” Rainbow Dash groaned as she fell back onto the floor roughly. “I mean… Sunset’s… dead…”

“We should at least make sure her body is found… I have no doubt that Princess Twilight will want ta hold a proper burial.” Applejack sighed as she slowly got up to her feet. “We should all probably be lookin’ fer our caskets…”

“What are we going to tell her…?” Sweetie Belle sniffled as she pulled away from Rarity for a moment. “What are we going to tell our parents…?”

“Look, I don’t wanna go to jail, okay?” Scootaloo stood up, only to freeze in spot at the glares she received. “My aunt’s are gonna freak when they hear about this!”

“Granny Smith said she was gonna break out her old belt tonight…” Apple Bloom preemptively started rubbing her backside, grimacing as she looked over her shoulder.

“Ya, and what about the fact that Sunset is dead because of the three of you!” Dash yelled as she sat back up again, pointing towards the three girls. “She jumped because everyone turned on her thanks to you three spreading everyone’s secrets around!”

“Ya, and you five abandoned her! Some friends you are, huh!?” Scootaloo screamed back as she flew to her feet, her blood boiling, ignoring the choice words the athlete shot back with. “We didn’t think she’d freaking kill herself over all this! She’s Sunset-freaking-Shimmer! The baddest bitch to ever walk the earth!”

“But that doesn’t mean she wouldn’t feel hurt when everybody turned on her.” Fluttershy said as she joined the standing party. “She lost everyone here! I even overheard her say that Princess Twilight wasn’t responding…”

“What? Why wasn’t Twilight responding?” Rarity asked, Fluttershy shaking her head in response. “I mean… that would mean she was completely alone here! The students all turned on her again, acting just like before the Battle of the Bands… No wonder she…”

“What are we gonna do…?” the dead, monotone voice belonging to Pinkie Pie asked. “I… I just wish Sunset was here still… So I could… So I could apologize for being such a… a meany pants…”

Applejack coughed, breaking the choir of gentle sobbing and soft crying. “We gotta call the cops, gettem ta search fer her body. After that, we explain the situation to our family members.”

“No…” a soft, defeated whine escaped from Scootaloo’s lips as she slumped into her chair.

“Then we contact Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna. They need to know as well.” the farmer finished slowly.

“And what about revealing Sunset’s innocence regarding Anon-A-Miss?” Fluttershy asked, holding her hands delicately.

“I doubt anyone would believe them right now.” Dash scowled as she continued to glare daggers at Scootaloo. “Those three did a right proper job of running Sunset’s name through the mud.”

“Oh, that’s rich!” the younger girl scoffed, throwing her hands in the airs. “Coming from you, and how you five treated her after the Fall Formal!? Twilight would be more mad you five most likely, considering Sunset tried so desperately to be your friend! I bet she lied every time that Twilight asked how you girl’s were treating her!”

Rainbow Dash could only clench her fist in defeat and look away, the other members of the Rainbooms sharing their own knowing looks of self disappointment. “We forgave her…”

“Not until the Battle of the Bands!” Scootaloo continued her assault, taking another step forward.

“At least we forgave her!” Rainbow yelled, her face growing purple. “Obviously you three didn’t, because otherwise you wouldn’t have thrown such childish fits about us spending time with our friend!”

“Do ya…” Apple Bloom’s voice was incredibly quiet as she looked down at the floor. “Do ya even deserve ta call her your friend?”

“After what we did… We deserve the same punishments as you three… Maybe even worse…” Pinkie Pie’s voice absorbed all emotion from the girls in the room, leaving only bitter regret to start festering.

“Ah’ll go call tha police…” Applejack muttered before making her way out of the room, leaving everyone else to sit silently.

~

“Yes, ma’am. No, it’s okay, our friend was overreacting. Thank ya ma’am, please call me back if tha team finds anything…” a soft click echoed through the empty air as Applejack set the receiver for the rotary phone back into its holder and bringing her hand back up to her face.

“You didn’t tell them the truth…” Applejack’s shoulders slumped even further at the sound of Rarity’s voice.

“Ah’ve been doin’ that alot o’ late…” the farm girl gave an exhausted sigh as she felt Rarity’s delicate hands press down on her firm shoulders, slowly massaging them. “Besides, tha less people that know about why that happened, tha better…”

“I worry about the girls… I dread to think about what Mother and Father are going to do to poor Sweetie Belle…” Rarity whispered as she paused her massaging ro lean in close to Applejack and wrap her arms around the girl.

“Tha belt is tha least of Bloom’s concerns… The least o’ all o’ our concerns…” Applejack shrugged free of Rarity’s embrace to turn around and face the girl.

“All of us… We’re all murderer’s, Rares… When word o’ that spreads…”

“Then we’ll just have to deal with it…” Rarity leaned forward and pressed her lips gently against Applejacks. “It’s the least we can do for what we did.”

“Ah guess…”

“We’ll have to do our best to clear Sunset’s name as well. It’s what she deserves, at the very least.” Rarity gave a sad smile as she ran a hand down her girlfriend’s cheek. “And we’ll probably have to defend our sisters…”

“If’n their not expelled over this…” Applejack's larger hand encompassed Rarity’s. “We should call the families…”

~

“Thank ya fer coming, Principal Celestia, Vice Principal Luna.” Applejack smiled as she hung up the coats of the two women. “We have… Some difficult things ta discuss.”

“When we heard that you had news about Sunset… Well, we should join everyone else. It seems like we were the last two to arrive.” the snow white woman gave an uneasy smile as she and her sister followed behind Applejack.

“Okay, everyone is here.” the farm girl announced as she led the two Principals into the large family room of the farmhouse. “Please feel free ta find some space somewhere, we’re a mite bit crowed Ah’m afraid.”

Applejack walked up to the impromptu “front” of the room before clearing her throat and getting everyone’s attention. “Thank ya’ll fer comin’ on such short notice. We have some things that’re needin’ ta be discussed. Now just ta make sure we’re all on tha same page, does everyone knows about Anon-A-Miss and tha recent happenings at CHS?”

“We don’t.” everyone in the room looked over towards Scootaloo’s aunts as one raised her hand, the other nodding in agreement.

“Do ya know what cyberbullying is?” Applejack asked, both women nodding in response. “Anon-A-Miss was behind a vicious attack of cyber bullying at CHS last week. And not only that, they were impersonating one o’ our fellow students, Sunset Shimmer.”

“Sunset Shimmer?” asked one of the aunts.

“Wasn’t she a massive bully at the school?” inquired the other.

“In the past, yes.” Rarity started before Applejack. “But she had reformed, and even helped the school out of a dangerous situation.”

“The reason we mention Anon-A-Miss first is to help set the groundwork. Ya see, Sunset was destroyed by all this happenin’, what with the school turning on her again after seeming to have finally forgiven her and-”

“Sunset jumped off of a bridge last night. Right in front of the five of us.” Rainbow said as she strode forward, shocked gasps escaping from the crowd of parents, guardians, and principals, while the younger girls all glared at her. “She killed herself because of Anon-A-Miss.”

“Could ya’ll calm down please? We have more ta say.” Applejack held her hands out as she pleaded for the adults in the room to be quiet. “Thank ya’ll. Now all the students believed Sunset ta be Anon-A-Miss.”

“Even us…” Fluttershy muttered softly.

“Yes. Even us. We all threw her away, without givin’ her a chance ta prove her innocence. We were her closest friends.” Applejack’s lips grew thin as she gazed down to the floor. “We killed her…”

“Ya’ll didn’t know she’d jump.” Granny Smith said, the other adults all agreeing.

“Ya, but we coulda stopped her!” Rainbow yelled angrily. “If we were really her friends- If we were there for her like we kept on promising, then maybe she wouldn’t have fucking killed herself!”

“May I add something?” Principal Celestia said loudly, holding up her hand as if she were a student, only standing once Applejack nodded. “Thank you. As most of you know, Sunset is from another world, where magic is real and the land is populated by talking horses. No, I am not on drugs.”

There were sad, self knowing chuckles through the room as everyone looked at Scootaloo’s aunts, the two women looking utterly baffled.

“Sunset had been the worst thing to ever happen to our school, and during that time Luna and myself did very little to prevent her actions. Just like now…” Celestia swallowed as she shifted around uneasily. “We also did nothing to help her during this event, foolishly believing that maybe it was nothing. Obviously we were wrong, and now a student is dead because of our inaction.”

“We are just as guilty as you are then, Miss Applejack.” Luna said as she stood up beside her sister. “But we must not let our guilt consume us yet. We must find whoever is behind Anon-A-Miss, and-”

“We found Anon-A-Miss.” Applejack’s statement silenced the crowd of adults that had slowly gained in volume in support of Vice Principal Luna. “Or rather they revealed themselves ta us.”

“W-What…?”

“Who is it?”

“Have you called the police on them?”

Applejack felt her sister start quivering beside her, the girl looking down with a sad, yet supportive smile before returning to the crowd that Rarity had silenced. “Anon-A-Miss destroyed everything Princess Twilight had created at tha school… All tha bonds o’ friendship, and camaraderie, gone. Anon-A-Miss also went’n destroyed everything Sunset Shimmer had done ta prove herself a better person…”

Applejack paused as she looked over the room. The adults were listening silently. The Rainbooms all stood together, Rarity and herself holding onto their younger sisters, while Scootaloo stood off to the side, as far away from Rainbow Dash as possible.

“Would Anon-A-Miss introduce them self.”

There were soft noises of disbelief as the three younger girls walked forward, each looking back to their sister uneasily, save for Scootaloo, who didn’t bother to look back at Rainbow Dash as the athlete looked away.

“We-We’re Anon-A-Miss.” they announced awkwardly, each of them trying to say it in unison.

The cries of shock, horror, and disappointed radiated from the adults, rocking the room as the three girls stood at the forefront, their eyes locked on the floor as they held hands with one another.

“We didn’t think she’d kill herself!” Sweetie cried out between quiet sobs, tears streaming down her voice as her squeaky voice cracked repeatedly. “We didn’t want her to! We just wanted to protect our sisters!”

“But why?” Celestia asked, her barely calm voice silencing the other clamouring voices. “Why would you do this? Had Sunset not changed? Had she not paid for her crimes? Why did you think your sisters needed protection?”

“Did you forget that she tutored the three of you, and countless other students? Or any of the other punishments she underwent?” added Luna as she shook her head, her arms crossed.

“...” was the shared, silent response from the three girls.

“I’m disappointed with the three of you…” Celestia said after a long sigh.

“Disappointed!? Is that all!?” one of Scootaloo’s aunties rose to her feet as she yelled at the woman. “A girl is dead because of them! And you’re just disappointed!?”

“Considering that I’m also to blame her?” Celestia raised a brow as she turned towards the woman. “Considering that you knew nothing about this? Anger is what lead to this point. They know what they’ve done, and I can see by the bags under each of their eyes that they didn’t sleep well last night.

“So yes. I’m not going to be let myself be angry about this situation. I will just be extremely disappointed in them… in myself.”

“Don’t you think that you’re not going to go free for this, Scootaloo.” the girl quaked as she listened to her aunt.

“You are going to have some serious explaining to do when we get home, Sweetie Belle.” Cookie Crumbles shook her head as she looked at her daughter. “Come along now you two, we’re going home.”

“Principal Celestia, can we talk ta you? This will only take a moment, Mrs. Crumbles.” Applejack interjected as Rarity and Sweetie Belle started to leave.

“What do you need, Applejack?”

“What are we going to do about this at the school?” Applejack asked softly.

“The school needs to know that Sunset was innocent, but if they hear that our sister’s were Anon-A-Miss…” Rarity looked down and watched as Sweetie continued to wipe away at her streaming tears.

“...We will discuss this more amongst ourselves and get back to you.” Luna said after a moment. “I think everyone needs some time to themselves.”

“Alright. Thank you again for coming. Ya really helped us keep things calm.” Applejack gave a small smile.

“Nonsense. You did quite well keeping things in order. Both of you.” Celestia smiled warmly as she rested her hands on the shoulders of Applejack and Rarity.

“Thank you…” Rarity gave a small smile as the older woman removed her hands. “We, er, should get going. Please keep in touch with Applejack, and she’ll get in touch with us.”

“I promise.”