Gabby Gums Strikes Back.

Chapters

The New Gabby Gums
Here We Go Again
Secrets and Lies
Has There Been a Mistake?
Sinister
Secrets Unravel
How Can She Be Gabby Gums?

The New Gabby Gums

It was a warm, sunny day in Ponyville and Twilight Sparkle was out enjoying the sunshine. She was sitting in a cafe with her good friend Pinkie Pie, enjoying a lunch get-together that the two of them had been planning for a long time.

"Isn't this the best Pinkie?" said Twilight before she took a bite of her daffodil and daisy sandwich.

"It most certainly is!" said the excited pink pony. "I love hanging out with one of my best friends in the whole world!" Twilight swallowed her bite of sandwich.

"We really need to do this more often Pinkie, I look forward to these lunches every time we plan one."

The waiter came around with the check and Twilight placed eight bits on the table before the two friends left the cafe.

"So, are we going to the spa to see Rarity now?" asked Pinkie excitedly. Twilight nodded.

"We most certainly are," said Twilight. "Rarity said that this particular spa outing is her treat in celebration of a new line of dresses that she's selling to Hoity Toity. He seems to be buying a lot from her lately." Pinkie nodded.

"Yes indeedy doo!" she said. "Hey! I should throw her a 'you sold a lot of dresses to Hoity Toity' party!"

"Maybe you should wait a tad on that one," said Twilight. "She needs some down time after all of the effort she put into the new line of dresses." Pinkie seemed slightly put out by the idea of waiting to throw a party but she still had way more energy than Twilight did at the moment. She was most certainly looking forward to hanging out with more of her best friends.

"Is everypony going to be here?" asked Pinkie as the spa drew closer.

"Yep, although I think Rainbow is just going to hang out and talk. I don't see her going for another hooficure anytime soon," said Twilight. Pinkie gave a happy nod as the two of them entered the spa.

The bell over the door gave a delicate ring which alerted everypony in the room of the entrance of Twilight and Pinkie.

Twilight saw that everypony was already there, including Rainbow Dash.

"Twilight, Pinkie, so glad the two of you could make it. Did you have a good lunch?" asked Rarity.

"We most certainly did," said Twilight happily. "Or at least, I enjoyed it. I can't speak for Pinkie though."

"I thought that it was super-duper awesome to have lunch with one of my best friends in the whole world!" said Pinkie. "All six of us are still on for Wednesday lunch right?" The group gave an affirming nod before the spa workers led them into the main spa room and started their session.

Twilight remembered why she liked going to the spa with her friends.

True, she went often at the insistence of Rarity, but she always enjoyed herself. She was currently getting a hooficure while Applejack and Rarity were getting back rubs. Pinkie and Fluttershy were sitting in the hot tub while Rainbow lounged around on a bench.

Despite what Rainbow thought, hooficures actually were quite relaxing. It was like getting a hoof massage with a file. It was a pretty awesome feeling. Still, after the Gabby Gums Incident, Rainbow Dash refused to let the spa workers anywhere near her.

Ah yes, the Gabby Gums Incident. She chuckled to herself. It was one of those stories that was, to her anyway, amusing in hindsight, especially now that a year had passed.

To her surprise, Rarity picked up on her chuckle.

"Why, what's so funny Twilight?" she asked curiously.

"Oh, nothing really, I was just remembering Gabby Gums."

Immediately a decent amount of the happiness was sucked out of the room. Clearly her five friends did not find Gabby Gums funny in hindsight.

"I fail to see what is so amusing about Gabby Gums," said Rarity stiffly. "Those three deserved to be punished for what they did!"

"Rarity, I'm surprised at you!" said Twilight. "They were really sorry about it but it was just a situation that got outside of their control. They didn't know any better and when they did learn they couldn't stop it. Besides, they were being blackmailed, remember?"

Rarity seemed slightly mollified, as did her other friends.

"Those must have been pretty nasty photos if they were feeling so guilty but they decided that they had to keep going," admitted Applejack.

"Yeah," said Pinkie Pie with a nod. "As much as I hate it when ponies are sad, the one pony who didn't get punished enough was Diamond Tiara! I mean, blackmail is illegal no matter how much money your parents have."

"I'm just glad that the whole thing is over. I doubt that those three would ever even consider doing something like that again," said Twilight. The other five nodded in agreement.

* * * *

Twilight walked out of the spa with her friends. She felt as relaxed as she always did when she left the spa. She knew that she was too relaxed to do any work today and she felt like possibly taking a leaf from Spike's book and taking an afternoon nap.

"Well girls, today was wonderful and we must do it again. However, I must get back to the shop. I have a very important client coming in and commissioning a dress and I want to be there to greet her," said Rarity.

"Well, good luck," said Twilight. "I know you'll do--" Twilight's sentence was cut off by a piercing shriek. The six friends looked at each other and bolted towards the source of the noise.

They didn't have to look for very long. They saw Bon-Bon and Lyra on a bench together. Bon-Bon was being hugged by Lyra and she was sobbing uncontrollably into her shoulder.

"Bon-Bon, Lyra, what's going on here?" asked Twilight.

Lyra looked up at the six of them and Twilight was surprised to see fear in her eyes. She wasn't merely uneasy; she was legitimately scared, almost as if she had been told that she only had days to live.

"Lyra," said Twilight nervously. "What's going on?"

Lyra didn't answer, she merely pointed towards a newspaper that was lying on the ground next to the bench.

Twilight used her magic to bring it over to her and examined it. Her heart dropped into her stomach and her veins ran cold at what she saw.

"No," she said in horror. "No, this can't be happening again! This was supposed to be over! This wasn't supposed to happen again!"

"Twilight, what is it?" asked a very scared Rarity.

Twilight turned around to face her friends and held out the newspaper so they could see what was wrong.

They all gathered around and saw an article about Lyra and Bon-Bon on the front page. Applejack read the article aloud.

"Lyra and Bon-Bon, are two of the closest friends in Ponyville...or are they? Sources say that the two of them were seen arguing in front of the schoolyard last Tuesday morning. Lyra was heard to say "I hate you Bon-Bon and I wish that you were dead so that I wouldn't have to see you again," to which Bon-Bon reportedly replied with a phrase that I shall not print as it is not appropriate for younger readers. At this time, nopony knows what the fight was about but it seems that their friendship is over and that they have turned from wonderful friends into mortal enemies. More details will follow as I receive them," said Applejack.

"It's all lies," said Lyra. "We didn't fight at all, much less in front of the schoolyard. Besides, when was the last time you heard Bon-Bon say anything the least bit profane?"

"I still don't understand who would write somethin' like this. It's almost like somethin' that--" Applejack scanned the bottom of the page and gave a gasp of shock.

The article had been written by Gabby Gums.

Here We Go Again

The six friends stared at the newspaper that Twilight was levitating them with her magic. She was right; this was supposed to be over! There was no way that The Cutie Mark Crusaders would ever consider bringing Gabby Gums back! However, it seemed that the proof was right in front of them and it scared them.

"Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, you have to go find Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle!" said Twilight. "Rainbow Dash, you take Fluttershy and go look for Scootaloo. I'll go talk to the Ponyville News Office about who put this out. You can't publish newspapers in this town without a permit, so I'll go see if I can't figure out who did it that way!"

The other five ponies nodded and rushed off to go find the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Before Twilight left, she turned to Lyra and Bon-Bon. "Don't worry, we'll get Gabby Gums to stop once and for all!" she said. Lyra merely nodded glumly which only strengthened Twilight's resolve.

Twilight turned away from the two friends and ran as fast as she could towards the Ponyville News Office. She burst into the office and ran directly towards the front desk. "I need to speak with your boss right away!" she said to the receptionist.

The receptionist looked up from filing her front hooves and gave her a bored look.

"Do you have an appointment?" she asked.

"No, but this is an emergency! Gabby Gums is back in business!" said Twilight dramatically.

Whatever effect she thought that this wildly important piece of news would have on the receptionist, it was not what actually happened. Instead of turning white and letting her in, the receptionist merely gave her a bored look.

"Who is Gabby Gums?" she asked.

"She wrote a popular gossip column a year ago in some of the worst cases of libel that this town has ever seen but she stopped once the town turned on her. Now she's back and writing gossip again and I need to know who she is!" said Twilight desperately. The receptionist gave an irritated sigh.

"Look, I can't let you in to see Mr. Exley unless you have an appointment and seeing as how you don't have an appointment, I'm going to have to ask you to leave," said the receptionist with an awful air of finality. Twilight gave a groan of frustration.

"Fine," she said through gritted teeth. "When can I set up an appointment with Mr. Excee?"

"It's 'Exley'," said the receptionist before opening up a drawer in her desk and pulling out a large schedule book. She flipped it open to a middle page, that Twilight assumed was for today's date, and scanned it. She looked back up to Twilight.

"I can get you in at 4:00 tomorrow afternoon," she said. Twilight groaned in frustration.

"Can't you get me in any earl--"

"If I could I would have told you. It's 4:00 tomorrow afternoon, take it or leave it!" said the receptionist sternly.

"Fine, fine, I'll take it," said Twilight.

The receptionist nodded and made a note in the schedule. "Very good, have a good day."

"You too," said an irritated Twilight, but the mare didn't seem to notice her tone as she had already gone back to filing her hooves.

As she walked out of the news office, she found herself unsure of just where to go next. She had told her friends to find the Cutie Mark Crusaders, but she didn't know where they had gone to look for them. She decided that the best thing to do would be to start searching herself, and she knew just where to look: their clubhouse.

Twilight ran towards Sweet Apple Acres but was glad to find that after a few minutes, she ran into Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. She called to them and they landed next to her.

"Did you find Scootaloo yet?" asked Twilight.

"No, and we haven't seen any signs of the other two yet," said Rainbow Dash.

"Not to mention that we haven't seen Applejack, Rarity, or Pinkie Pie yet," said Fluttershy worriedly.

"I'm about to go to the Cutie Mark Crusaders' clubhouse. I imagine that the clubhouse is the first place that Applejack and Pinkie Pie looked, but at least we have a good shot of running into the two of them if we head in that direction," said Twilight. "Come on girls; let's nip this in the bud!"

The three ponies ran and flew towards Sweet Apple Acres and found themselves there in five minutes. They stopped briefly to explain the situation to Big Macintosh who accepted it with his usual calm demeanor.

The three bolted towards the clubhouse where they heard four recognizable voices coming from inside.

"You three, out of the clubhouse NOW!" said Applejack.

"B...but--" said Apple Bloom.

"I said NOW!" said Applejack.

Twilight was briefly taken aback. She had rarely seen Applejack so angry and it wasn't a sight that she enjoyed.

Slowly the three friends saw the Cutie Mark Crusaders file out of the clubhouse with their ears flattened and their heads low to the ground followed by a furious Applejack.

Applejack turned her eyes away from the Cutie Mark Crusaders and looked at her friends. "I caught them hunched over their little notebooks. They were no doubt writin' somethin' nasty about somepony or other."

"No we weren't, sis!" said Apple Bloom desperately. "Why in Equestria would we do somethin' like that again?"

"That's my question too," said Applejack sternly.

"We were writing more verses for the Cutie Mark Crusader's Theme Song, honest we were!" said Sweetie Belle. Applejack scoffed at them.

"A likely story!" she said.

"Now hold on a minute Applejack," said Twilight in an attempt to calm down her farmer friend. "Their story will be easy to check out, let me just get their notebooks."

Twilight used her magic to summon the notebooks to her and she scanned the open pages of each of the notebooks. When she was done, she glanced at the Cutie Mark Crusaders who seemed scared out of their little minds before she levitated the books in front of Applejack.

Applejack's eyes moved back and forth as she read the words on the pages of each notebook. As she continued to read, her expression softened. She finished reading and nodded.

"They were tellin' the truth, it is just song lyrics," she said. "Oh Apple Bloom, I'm so sorry I accused you three like that!" she said before pulling Apple Bloom into a big hug.

"It's okay sis," said a clearly relieved Apple Bloom. "I don't want Gabby Gums back either. I mean, the only way that I would ever do it again is if somepony was blackmailin' me worse than before. You know, like threatenin' our family or somethin' like that."

"Oh yeah," said Scootaloo. "I mean, it would have to be bigger than merely embarrassing pictures too. They'd really have to really mean business."

"But if that did happen, we'd totally ask you to help us unless we knew that we were being watched and we couldn't tell you if we really were doing Gabby Gums stuff." said Sweetie Belle.

Applejack let go of Apple Bloom and gave the three a big smile. "I know that you'd never do anythin' to hurt us intentionally. You three learned your lesson the last time." said Applejack before turning to her friends. "But that means that somepony else is writin' this stuff. Twilight, how did it go at the News Office?"

"I have an appointment scheduled for tomorrow afternoon," said Twilight. "We'll get to the bottom of this in no time at all."

The four friends went off to find Pinkie Pie and Rarity to tell them that they didn't have to worry about the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

It only took them about five minutes to find the duo. They caught them outside of Carousel Boutique and they told them what had happened. Pinkie Pie and Rarity were both highly relieved that the Cutie Mark Crusaders weren't to blame.

"Oh, I should have known that Sweetie Belle wouldn't have stooped so low in her quest for her cutie mark that she tried Gabby Gums again," said Rarity with a relieved smile.

"But that still raises the question of who is the one behind all of this," said Fluttershy.

"Well, I have my meeting tomorrow with the head of the News Office tomorrow at four. We'll get to the bottom if this soon."

The other five nodded in agreement and they were about to discuss what they were going to do next when they heard a commotion.

They looked around to see that a large crowd of ponies was moving towards town square. They were all chattering nervously. The mane six knew what they were all talking about without having to hear any of it: Gabby Gums had come out with a new issue.

The six immediately rushed towards the corner in town square where Gabby Gums used to put her papers out for distribution and sure enough, a fresh stack of newspapers had been placed on the corner.

A large number of Ponyville residents was circled around them, each wanting to see what the new Gabby Gums had to say, but still terrified about it at the same time. What if they were the topic of that issue?

The mane six pushed through the crowd until they were right next to the newspapers. They didn't examine them for the same reason that the rest of the crowd didn't touch them.

Twilight turned to the crowd and addressed them.

"Citizens of Ponyville, I know that you all have been hurt by Gabby Gums before, but I must ask you to ignore every issue that comes out! If we stop reading Gabby Gums, eventually she will stop writing articles! If we read these papers today, or indeed any day, then Gabby Gums wins, and she will keep going!"

"What are you going to do about those three beastly fillies that wrote these?" asked an angry voice in the crowd. The crowd gave angry cheers of agreement

"That's my sister you're talkin' about you numbskull!" said Applejack angrily. Twilight intervened in the conversation before it could get more out of hand.

"Believe us, the first thing we did when we found out that Gabby Gums was back was question the three of them. We can say without a doubt that those three are not the ones responsible!" said Twilight. The crowd did seem mollified at this. At the very least, they didn't seem to want to destroy the Cutie Mark Crusaders anymore. "Now," continued Twilight. "We all know that it is illegal to print and distribute newspapers in this town without proper permits from the Ponyville News Office. I have an appointment with the head of the office scheduled for tomorrow and I promise you that I will find out who did this!"

The crowd murmured in agreement. "What are you going to do about those papers?" asked another voice.

"I'm going to destroy them, and any that are published," said Twilight.

"But can we at least know who they're about?" asked another voice. "I mean, what is being said about one of us?" The crowd gave another murmur of agreement.

"If they are destroyed then you don't need to worry about it!" said Twilight.

"But I want to know when I've been spied on!" said yet another voice.

"Are we safe anywhere?" asked another.

"We're safe as long as we destroy every copy of Gabby Gums that comes along! Remain calm everypony, we are working on it!"

At that moment, Berry Punch pushed her way to the front of the crowd.

"I can't stand not knowing, I'm getting a copy!" she said hysterically.

All Tartarus broke loose at that point.

Berry Punch led the mad charge towards the newspapers and Twilight and her friends found themselves engulfed in a wave of irrational townsponies who were desperately trying to get their hooves on a copy of the latest Gabby Gums. Twilight's magic wasn't even enough to slow the onslaught and within seconds, the stack of newspapers on the curb was gone.

Twilight stood up and dusted herself off and looked into the crowd to see them all reading the papers with their mouths open and looks of horror on their faces. Berry Punch was crying hysterically.

"I'm not a drunk!" she said. "I don't even like alcohol, I would only ever drink Apple Family Cider, I swear!"

"We know that," said Dr. Whooves. "Gabby Gums makes up everything that she prints it seems. We'll get to the bottom of this."

Berry Punch nodded and slowly walked towards home. The crowd of ponies dispersed after a little while too, leaving Twilight and her friends standing alone on the curb. A solitary copy of the paper blew by them and came to rest in front of them.

Twilight didn't even want to look at it. She knew it was all lies anyway.

"What'll we do y'all?" asked Applejack nervously. "As long as Gabby Gums prints this stuff the townsfolk will continue to read it just to make sure it isn't about them."

"If they do that, whoever is printing this stuff wins!" said Fluttershy sadly.

Twilight sighed and flattened her ears. "My meeting is only eighteen hours away. Gabby Gums will pay for this as soon as I find out who she is!"

Secrets and Lies

Twilight Sparkle awoke the next morning and was immediately hit with a wave of dread when she remembered what the day likely held for her, and indeed all of Ponyville, more Gabby Gums articles.

It was not a certain thing of course as the townsponies would be on the lookout for anypony with a stack of newspapers, but if Gabby gums had managed to put out a large stack of papers yesterday; there was no reason that she couldn't today. Only two issues had been released and already the town was gripped in panic and fear. Doors were locked, the sales of curtains had risen exponentially the day after the first articles.

Yesterday's incident had taught Twilight something important. She learned that the town would read Gabby Gums as long as she continued to print articles just so they could see if they were the ones being attacked. Their innate curiosity would get the better of them every time it seemed and that really worried Twilight. Gabby Gums only had as much power as the ponies of Ponyville would give her and right now, they were giving her a lot of power. The solution was so simple though! All they had to do was ignore Gabby Gums and she would go away! Was that such a hard concept to grasp!? It seemed so to Twilight.

Twilight looked at the clock on her wall: 9:30 AM. She had slept in a little later than usual today and while it did make her body feel more relaxed, it increased the strain on her mind as she now had less time to complete all of the work that she wanted to do today.

She walked into her kitchen and poured herself a bowl of cereal and began mentally preparing for the events of today. The rational side of her brain told her that she was overreacting to this whole affair and that it would all be over by 5:00 today, once they talked to whoever was writing the new Gabby Gums articles. There wasn't even a real need to involve Princess Celestia in the matter unless there was evidence that the permits had been falsified, then she would feel that it was her duty to get involved. As it was though, when Twilight wrote her a letter telling her about how it had all been solved, then she would tell Twilight how proud she was of her that she was able to diffuse a nasty situation before it got out of hand.

Twilight sighed as she continued to eat her breakfast. Everything would be okay, she assured herself, and nothing would go wrong.

She cleaned up her breakfast dishes and walked out of her house. She had wanted to gather her friends for a meeting to discuss what would be done when Twilight's meeting revealed the real culprit behind the Gabby Gums articles.

She had asked her friends to meet her in the Ponyville park at 10:00 and to her delight, she saw all five of her friends lounging around the park while they waited for Twilight to arrive.

Rainbow Dash was bouncing a ball on her head and Pinkie Pie was eagerly watching every bounce as she kept her eyes on the ball the entire time. Fluttershy was watching in vague interest but Twilight noticed that she seemed a little uneasy today. Twilight could hardly blame her. The Gabby Gums article that had been directed at her had hit her hard and she had spent days inside of her house, crying her eyes out. Applejack and Rarity were having a hushed conversation, presumably about Gabby Gums, and they both looked very worried too.

The group looked up when they saw Twilight approach and they all ran up to greet her.

"Hello girls," said Twilight.

"Hello there Twilight," said Rarity. "It's so good to see you today."

"Have you five been waiting long?" asked Twilight. Applejack shook her head.

"RD and I got here about ten minutes ago and Fluttershy showed up a few minutes after that. Pinkie and Rarity were only here for about a minute before you arrived. Twilight nodded.

"Good," she said before leading her friends towards an open spot of grass on a quiet hill. She stood in front of her friends who sat down on the grass and addressed them. "So, as I'm sure you can imagine, I have called you here today to discuss the recent problem of the return of Gabby Gums. Now as you all know, I have a meeting at the news office in five-and-a-half hours to find out who received the permits to print and distribute Gabby Gums in our town. Until then, we need to protect Ponyville from more articles appearing! I mean, you saw how chaotic it got yesterday, the townsponies will read Gabby Gums for as long as she continues to print papers."

"What do you want us to do?" asked Applejack determinedly.

"We need to patrol this town and try to beat the townsponies to the latest edition of Gabby Gums! If we can find them and destroy any copies before the townsponies do, then we won't have a panic on our hooves like the one we had yesterday," said Twilight. The five friends nodded.

"Well, let's get to it then!" said Rainbow Dash.

Yes, lets," said Twilight. "Applejack, I want you patrolling the town square to see if Gabby Gums appears there. That's where the general area where the last two issues appeared so be on high alert."

"You got it!" said Applejack with a nod.

"Fluttershy, I want you to fly above the clouds and survey the Ponyville marketplace. I doubt that Gabby Gums would try to drop off her latest issue in a place that consistently crowded, but you never know."

"I can do that," said Fluttershy.

"Rarity, I want you to look for anywhere Gabby Gums could be able to print large amounts of newspapers and check those areas out. Ask workers in any stores that deal with printing if they remember if anypony printed Gabby Gums articles, ask Cheerilee if anypony has been using the school's printing press, and ask around large stores to see if anypony has been buying up large quantities of newspapers. Report to me if you find anything useful."

"Of course!" said Rarity.

Twilight sighed and walked up to Pinkie with a very serious look on her face and put a hoof on her shoulder. "Pinkie Pie, if ever there was a need for your Pinkie Sense, the time is now," she said dramatically.

"Well I--"

"The time is now," said Twilight in a dramatic whisper.

"I'll let you know if I get anything," said Pinkie. Twilight nodded before addressing the rest of the group.

"Alright girls, I'll be checking in on each of you periodically throughout the day," said Twilight before looking into the sky. "Now, it is exactly 11:00 which means that my meeting is in just under five hours! Let's move out and stop Gabby Gums!"

The other five ponies gave cheers of agreement and ran towards Ponyville to get to their stations.

The second they got there, they saw a large crowd gathered around a street corner with what were unmistakably newspapers in their hooves. Twilight gave a gasp of shock and tapped the nearest pony, Dr. Whooves, on the shoulder.

"Uh, is that a Gabby Gums paper?" she asked. The Dr. Whooves nodded glumly.

"Derpy found them about ten minutes ago on the corner. She tried to carry them away but she was seen before she could. A few ponies thought that she was dropping them off instead and they...well, let's just say that she was roughed up a bit," said the Dr. Whooves grimly.

"Like how bad?" asked Rarity nervously.

"Uh, bloody nose, a pair of black eyes and she might have cracked a rib. They were trying to get information out of her."

"They did this to DERPY!? One of the nicest and most innocent ponies in town!?" asked a horrified Rainbow Dash.

"The offending ponies were arrested right?" asked Twilight. Dr. Whooves shook his head.

"In the chaos, nopony really could tell who did what. Lyra only barely managed to pull her out of there before things got really nasty for her."

Twilight gave a frustrated sigh.

"I know that this isn't the best situation for everypony, but why in Equestria are they responding this way!? I get being scared and angry, but beating up Derpy just because she was at the wrong place at the wrong time is just too much," said Twilight angrily.

"I completely agree," said Dr. Whooves. "But you have to remember how bad it was for everypony last time around. When Gabby Gums is printing articles, nopony feels safe anywhere, even in the privacy of their own homes and now that it's happening again, I don't think everypony knows how to react to that. Besides, now that we're pretty sure that it isn't the little fillies that did it the first time; everypony knows that the intent is a little more malicious this time. I'll admit that I'm a little scared myself actually."

'Well, who did Gabby Gums write about this time?" asked Fluttershy. Twilight wheeled around and glared at Fluttershy.

"Fluttershy, we can't do that! If we start caring about what Gabby Gums is writing, then Gabby Gums wins!" said Twilight. Fluttershy mumbled an apology but in truth, Twilight could hardly blame her. Her curiosity was about to get the better of her too.

"We have a bigger problem than her 'winning' or 'losing," said Whooves grimly.

"What do you mean?" asked Rarity. Whooves sighed.

"The past two Gabby Gums articles were completely false, something that she just made up to get our attention. However, today's article...well, this one is completely true. I don't mean that it has elements of truth in it, it's completely accurate as far as we know," said Whooves. Twilight's eyes widened and she tore the paper away from Whooves and scanned it.

Filthy Rich has always been a prominent member of Ponyville society. He owns several businesses in the area and while we can all agree that he is a pompous jerk, he hasn't done anything truly despicable...or has he?

A key witness said that Filthy Rich was drinking last night after he heard that one of his businesses was on the road to failure. He got steadily angrier as the night progressed and empty hard cider bottles began to pile up. Tragically, he did hit a breaking point when his daughter Diamond Tiara, a student at the local Ponyville Elementary School, came home complaining about homework that she had to do.

In a fit of anger at Diamond Tiara's whiny attitude, he stood up and hit her twice, sending her crying up to her room with the beginnings of bruises forming. No word yet on whether or not justice has been brought upon him.

Twilight finished the segment and looked to see a photo that clearly showed Filthy Rich's hoof making contact with the back of his daughter's head. She looked up in horror.

"I don't know what disturbs me more," she said. "That filthy Rich did this or that Gabby Gums invaded the privacy of his home to get this. To get this picture, she practically needed to break into his house!"

"I personally think that the filly's injuries are the bigger issue right now, but that doesn't mean that Gabby Gums is off the hook," said Whooves. "What she did to get this is just as illegal as what Filthy Rich did. Now we know that Gabby Gums is perfectly willing to use illegal means to get her stories."

'Is there any way that this photo could have been altered?" asked Applejack.

"Yeah," said Twilight. "It's a pretty simple spell actually. I doubt that even a filly would have trouble with it."

"Uh," said Applejack nervously. "I know that Sweetie Belle is beginnin' to develop her magic. Could she--"

"No!" said Rarity sternly. "Sweetie Belle is in the clear with all of this!"

"I think it's a moot point anyway," said Whooves. "Rumor has it that the police have confirmed the story."

At this, Twilight gave an angry growl and ripped up the paper.

"Exactly!" she said angrily. "RUMORS! These are rumors and until they are determined to be truth, we can't make a big deal about them!"

She burned the scraps and stormed off.

"Where are you going?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"I don't really care if my appointment is for 4:00, I'm getting to the bottom of this NOW!"

The other five ponies looked at each other nervously and slowly followed the fuming unicorn towards the News Office. They heard a commotion behind them and they listened in to hear that the rest of the town seemed to be following them as well.

"She's going to investigate!" said one voice. "She's going to find out who Gabby Gums is!"

"Well then let's follow her!" said another voice. "I have to know!"

The town followed Twilight and within a few minutes, they arrived at the Ponyville News Office. Twilight burst through the doors and her friends followed while the rest of the town thankfully stayed outside, eagerly awaiting the potential reveal of the identity of Gabby Gums.

The receptionist looked up angrily when the six ponies walked in.

"What is the meaning of all of this?" she asked. "Your appointment is for 4:00, not now!"

"Lady," retorted Twilight. "If you wanna stop me from meeting Mr. Exely right now, you are literally going to have to call the cops on me. This is a Ponyville emergency! A newspaper that is being distributed is publishing vicious libel stories and already one innocent pony has been hospitalized so if you want to stop me, make my day! Otherwise, get out of my way!"

"What is all of the commotion out here?" asked a new voice. The six turned to see a brown Earth Pony with a newspaper cutie mark. "I take it that you wish to speak with me?"

"You're Mr. Exely," said a relieved Twilight.

"Indeed I am. What can I do for you?" he asked.

"I need to see your records of ponies who recently obtained a permit to print and distribute a newspaper in this town."

"Certainly," said Exely with a nod. He walked into his office and within a few minutes, he had brought out a thick record book. He put on his glasses and opened it up to the most recent page. "Now then, what is the name of this paper?"

"The New Gabby Gums," said Twilight. "We need to know who has the permit for it!"

"Well, it's not just one pony," said Mr. Exely as he close the book.

"There's more than one?" asked Applejack. Exely nodded.

"You see, it's actually three little fillies that have the permit: Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle. They are the owners and distributors of your questionable paper."

Has There Been a Mistake?

"What did you say Mr. Exely?" asked Twilight in a horrified whisper.

"I said that the three owners of your paper are Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom. They filled out the permits and as such they are the owners," said Mr. Exely.

"N...no, it must be some mistake!" said Applejack.

"Why is that?" asked Mr. Exely curiously.

"Well...I...uh," babbled Applejack. The truth was, them being Gabby Gums once more was certainly a possibility, however unlikely it was.

"They did it before, am I right?" he asked. "As a matter of fact, as they already used the moniker of 'Gabby Gums' in an official paper, they technically own the rights to the identity and as such, they would need to give written permission to somepony else who wanted to use it. Since I don't have that kind of paperwork and the permit is filled out in their name, as far as I am concerned they are Gabby Gums."

The six friends stood in silence for a few minutes before Twilight spoke up.

"Is there any way we can get the paper shut down?" she asked.

"Good gracious no. Unless you can prove that what they are printing is libel or these three willingly give up their permits, Gabby Gums can print as much as she likes without anypony stopping them. Freedom of speech is one of our rights here. Not to mention the fact that today's story wasn't actually libel, so it is technically illegal to stop her unless you can prove that she has done something illegal."

"But the photo she took of Filthy Rich hitting Diamond Tiara was almost certainly gotten by illegal means! She would have to trespass on their land to get it!" said Fluttershy.

"Cameras are amazing things these days," said Mr. Exely. "Unless it can be totally proven that she did something illegal, Gabby Gums cannot be legally stopped."

Twilight's ears drooped at the sound of this. It looks like the only thing that they could do right now was talk to the Cutie Mark Crusaders. However, there was still the issue of the crowd waiting outside. If they found out the identities of Gabby Gums...after Derpy, Twilight didn't want to think about it.

"Excuse me Mr. Exely," said Applejack. "Does this here place have a back door?" Exely raised his eyebrow.

"Well no," he said confusedly. "I do have a window in my office that--" without a word, Applejack ran into his office and dove out the open window. The six remaining ponies looked at each other confusedly.

"Okay... what now then?" asked Twilight to her friends.

"Well, I don't know," said Rarity. "The second we go out that door the crowd will ask us who Gabby Gums is and after what happened to Derpy today, they won't let us leave without telling them!"

"Do we lie?" asked Fluttershy.

'Who would we say it was?" asked Rainbow Dash. "They know that the pony is still in town so pointing the hoof at any townsponies would be accusing an innocent pony but pointing the hoof at outsiders...well, that's just not fair to anypony." Twilight sighed.

"It would seem that we are stuck," she said sadly.

"What do we do then?" asked Pinkie Pie.

"We've got to protect the Cutie Mark Crusaders!" said Twilight. "I'm still not 100% convinced that they are the ones behind it, but we have to talk to them at least before anything else."

"So should we go out there?" asked Rainbow nervously. Twilight nodded.

"I think it's our only option. They all had a sleepover at Applejack's farm last night and they should still be there if I know the three of them."

"Well, let's go then," said Fluttershy. The five friends said goodbye to Mr. Exely and slowly walked out of the office, receiving a glare from the receptionist as they did. They opened the door to the news office and were very disheartened by what they saw: what seemed to be the entire town of Ponyville was out there waiting to hear the news. When they saw the five of them they crowd immediately began talking amongst themselves before one voice called out.

"So, who is it?"

"Is it those ghastly fillies again?" asked another voice. To the horror of the five friends, The Mayor walked up to them and addressed the crowd.

"Fillies and Gentlecolts, I ask you all to be silent while Twilight announces the identity of Gabby Gums!" said The Mayor before turning to Twilight. "Well Twilight, are the Cutie Mark Crusaders to blame for Gabby Gums once more?"

Twilight froze. She didn't know what to say. She couldn't hoof an innocent pony but to implicate the Cutie Mark Crusaders after what the town did to Derpy...

"Well...I...I can't reveal the identity of Gabby Gums at this time. The situation is complicated and--" The town gave an angry yell.

"It is them, isn't it?" asked a voice in the crowd.

"Who else could it be?" asked another "They would certainly reveal the identity at any other time!" The crowd began to chatter angrily and it seemed to Twilight like the situation would be out of her control very soon. Thankfully, The Mayor spoke up to calm the crowd down.

"Fillies and Gentlecolts, may I have your attention please?" she said. The crowd quieted down. "Even though the identity of Gabby Gums is indeed the Cutie mark Crusaders, who obviously didn't learn their lesson from last time, I cannot allow vigilante justice to take place under my authority." At that moment, her face darkened. "Unless it produces results. Which it will."

Twilight and her friends gasped as The Mayor led the charge towards Sweet Apple Acres.

"We have to get there before they do!" said Twilight.

"But even if we do, how can we stop them?" asked Fluttershy.

"I don't know, but we have to do something!" said Twilight. "Come on girls, let's go to Sweet Apple Acres! Rainbow, you're the fastest of the bunch and I need you to go ahead of us and warn the Apple Family!" Rainbow Dash saluted and zoomed off towards the farm. 'Come on girls, I know a shortcut!" said Twilight.

The four ponies ran as fast as they could towards Sweet Apple Acres. Time was on their side as the crowd would move slower than the four friends would, but they wouldn't get there first by much.

As the farm came into view, the four friends saw Rainbow Dash talking to Applejack who was carrying a large case of some kind. To their surprise, she didn't seem worried at all about the incoming mob. On the horizon, they all saw the first signs of the crowd approaching, calling for the blood of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Twilight was very surprised that they had reacted so strongly to this. Anger she could understand, but this...this was something else entirely.

Within another minute, the four friends had reached Rainbow and Applejack. Applejack was calmly opening the case as the crowd drew closer. They would be there very soon.

"Applejack," said Twilight desperately. "What are we going to do?"

"I told the young'ns to stay inside the house for now and I'll get them later," said Applejack. She still looked bizarrely calm.

"But how are we going to stop the mob?" asked Fluttershy.

"Trust me," said Applejack. To Twilight's surprise, she had the smallest hint of a smile on her face.

The mob drew ever closer. Twilight could see the whites of their eyes as well as the look of fury that lay inside of it. The Mayor was leading the charge.

"Whatever you're gonna do, do it fast!" said Rainbow. Applejack's small smile widened and she began quietly counting down.

"Three...two...one." At one, the crowd went through the gate and was just a few feet away from the six friends. Applejack's face suddenly contorted into a look of pure rage and she reached into the case and pulled out a double-barrel shotgun. The crowd gasped and immediately stopped dead in their tracks. Applejack pointed the gun at The Mayor and addressed the crowd. "Now you listen here, I'd like to introduce you to my friend Sweetness! She's a twelve gauge, double-barrel Remington, Equestria's's top-of-the-line. I first met Sweetness in a sporting goods store in Appleoosa. That's right, Sweetness was born in Fillydelphia and I got her for about a hundred and nine, ninety five. She's got a walnut stock, cobalt blue steel, and a hair trigger."

The town stared confusedly at Applejack but they all had decided that they'd rather not meet Sweetness in person.

"Now," continued Applejack. "Sweetness and I both are aware of what Celestia called the 'Make My Day' law. It states that if anypony comes onto your property with the malicious intent to harm, they can see what it's like to meet Sweetness when she's angry and I can make sure it's the LAST thing they'll ever see."

The crowd stepped back a bit at this.

"So in conclusion," said Applejack. "ANY OF YOU BUCKING JERKS TAKE ONE STEP FORWARD; I'LL EXECUTE EACH AND EVERY MOTHER BUCKING LAST ONE OF YA!"

The crowd stepped backwards a few more feet before a visibly nervous Mayor spoke up.

"Well, clearly you and, uh, 'Sweetness' have made your argument, so here is mine: if the Cutie Mark Crusaders print ONE more piece of libel, I will have them arrested and I will give them the harshest sentence that I can, is that clear?" she said angrily. Applejack glared at her and nodded.

At that moment, one pony decided that she had enough of bargaining and that she would rather see the Crusaders punish now so she bolted towards the house. In a flash, Applejack wheeled around and shot at the ground in front of the pony. The bullet hit mere inches in front of the pony's hooves and the pony screamed and ran back into the crowd. The town was shocked to see that the bullet left what could only be described as a small crater in the ground where it had hit. Applejack looked at the pony that had charged.

"Well shucks, it seems that my aim was a bit off, wouldn't ya say?" she said. The pony whimpered and Applejack addressed the crowd once more. "I think you had all better just leave. I promise that I will have a talk with the Crusaders. So, if'n you'll excuse us," she said.

To the surprise of the six, the crowd did not move, but instead just stood there. Applejack gave them an angry look and she raised her gun up into the air and fired another round just above the heads of the crowd. The crowd immediately screamed and ran off. Within minutes, there was no indication that anypony had been there at all.

Applejack sighed and returned Sweetness to her case. "I had hoped that it wouldn't come to that," she said glumly.

"Uh, Applejack, what was that?" asked a shocked Rainbow Dash. Applejack looked at her confusedly.

"What do you mean? That was me 'n Sweetness runnin' an angry mob off of the farm."

"Yeah but, what's the deal with Sweetness?" asked Fluttershy. "I mean, look at that crater her bullet left!" Applejack rolled her eyes.

"Yeah well, when ya buy a gun for home defense, you don't want to get a gun that'll just tickle 'em when it hits."

"But there would have been nothing left of her head if you had hit!" said Twilight. "How accurate are you with that thing anyway?" Applejack puffed out her chest proudly.

"If she had been movin' twice as fast and was twice as far away and I wanted to hit her, we'd be cleanin' up pony brain and a headless corpse instead of talkin' about this!"

Before Twilight could respond, Rarity piped in.

"Oh girls, as interesting as Applejack and, uh, Sweetness are, I must insist that we focus on the bigger issue at hand. We need to talk to the Cutie Mark Crusaders!"

The other five nodded and they walked into Applejack's house. They found the Cutie Mark Crusaders sitting around the dining room table looking glum. To the surprise of the six friends, they each had their notebooks in front of them. They looked up when the six came in, but they quickly stared at the table when they saw who it was.

Applejack leaned Sweetness against a wall and sat down opposite the Crusaders. She had a grim look on her face.

"Now, would you three mind tellin' me exactly what the BUCK is goin' on here?" she said. At the profanity, the three Crusaders flinched but still stayed silent. "I had to go out there and hold back an angry mob and if I was havin' an off day, I woulda blown somepony's head off with Sweetness. We went to the Ponyville News Office today and the permit for the Gabby Gums paper was under the names of you three!"

"Well, we just thought that we were kind of close to getting out Cutie Marks last time so we...we thought maybe we could try again," said Apple Bloom shakily.

"Don't you three lie to me!" said Applejack angrily. "I know that ain't the reason that you three started this up again. So, why don't you tell me what's really goin' on."

"We...we can't," said Scootaloo. "It's none of your business!"

Applejack's mouth opened in shock and hung open for a second before she looked angrily at the three once more.

"How in the hay ain't it my business!?" she said. "It's my job to make sure that you three don't get hurt from this whole affair! That mob out there was callin' for your blood and they already beat up Derpy so bat that she ended up in the hospital when they saw her with a stack of Gabby Gums newspapers! I need ya to stop or you're literally goin' to get arrested for this!"

Sweetie Belle burst into sobs and Scootaloo tried to comfort her. Apple Bloom tried to steady her resolve.

"We can't stop! We gotta..." she started shaking in fear once more. "We gotta get our Cutie Marks, no matter what the cost is!"

"Are your buckin' Cutie Marks worth prison!?" asked Applejack desperately. "The whole town is after ya, are they really worth that kind of hatred?" Apple Bloom merely looked down at the table silently. Scootaloo shot Applejack an uneasy glance and she took her forelegs off of Sweetie Belle's shoulders and began writing in her notebook as quietly and quickly as she could.

Unfortunately for her, Applejack saw her at it and in a fit of rage, she stood up and grabbed her shotgun and pointed it at the three.

"APPLEJACK, NO!" said a horrified Twilight. Applejack ignored her and pulled the trigger. The notebook in front of Apple Bloom practically exploded when the bullet hit it, sending shredded paper flying anywhere. The three fillies screamed as Applejack cocked her gun and fired at Sweetie Belle's notebook and it too was obliterated. Applejack cocked her shotgun one more and fired at Scootaloo's notebook but only heard a 'click'. She was out of ammo. In a fit of rage, she overturned the table, sending Scootaloo's notebook flying into a corner.

The three fillies began crying hysterically and they ran upstairs to Apple Bloom's room. Applejack seemed ready to run up after them but she suddenly stopped in her tracks and just stood there. The six heard the door to Apple Bloom's room close and silence filled the room. Applejack turned around with a blank look on her face. She faced her friends and seemed to be about to say something when a cyan hoof connected with the side of her head, sending her flying backwards into the overturned table. The farmer pony looked up in shock to see a livid Rainbow Dash standing over her.

"HOW THE BUCKING TARTARUS COULD YOU DO THAT!?" she screeched. "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU'VE JUST DONE!?"

Applejack sat in silence, blood and tears running down her face.

"WHAT IF YOU HAD HIT THEM?" continued the angry Pegasus whose wings were flared out, making her look twice as large as she normally did. "WHAT IF A BULLET HAD RICOCHETED AND HIT ONE OF THEM!? THEY WOULD HAVE BEEN KILLED INSTANTLY, WHAT THE BUCK WERE YOU THINKING!?" Applejack continued crying but she opened her mouth to speak.

"I don't know," she said quietly. "I just...lost control. After the mob thing I'm scared Rainbow, I'm so scared."

Rainbow Dash seemed to regain some control, but she still looked ready to rip Applejack in half. After a few seconds, she turned around, left the house, and flew away. Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity (all of whom looked very angry as well) soon followed.

Twilight stayed and walked up to her crying farmer friend. She put a hoof on her shoulder and Applejack flinched but didn't pusher her away. In truth, Twilight was just as angry at Applejack as the rest of them, but she had decided to give Applejack a chance.

"Why?" she said quietly. Applejack looked up at her, fear and sorrow in her eyes.

"I guess I just lost my temper," she said. "I dunno, just seein' what those three are doin' not only to the whole town but to themselves as well...I just felt so helpless. When Scoots started writin' in that notebook of hers I just felt that I had to destroy them for their own good. I know that I shouldn'ta shot them. I just...I dunno."

Twilight nodded. True, she didn't even remotely see fear as anything resembling a justification for what Applejack had done, but then again, neither did Applejack. Regret was etched into every pore of her body and it showed.

"Applejack, what you did...I don't know how long it will be before the three of them forgive you, much less trust you again. It's going to take a lot of time for that to happen," said Twilight sadly. "And our friends...I don't even know when they'll even want to make eye contact with you again."

"NEVER!" wailed Applejack. "They'll never want anythin' to do with me after this!" Twilight wanted to comfort her, to say that she was being foolish and that her friends would forgive her for this...but in truth she really wasn't completely sure. Firing a shotgun at three helpless fillies was one of the worst reactions that Applejack could have had.

Twilight sighed and took her hoof off of Applejack's shoulder. She walked over to where Scootaloo's fallen notebook lay. It was open to the page where she had begun writing a few minutes ago. Twilight leaned down and scanned the page. All she saw were a group of numbers:

25-2-4-5-8-3-20-1-23-7-14-9-5-2-5-18-1-5-23-19-21-16-12-5-8

Twilight frowned and tore off the page in the notebook. She would definitely have to think about this further.

She walked back over to Applejack who was still crying where she had fallen. Twilight wanted to say something more, but she didn't know what she could possibly say that would make this alright. Instead, she turned around and walked out the door.

Author's note: I know that the anger levels and reactions in this chapter may seem out of character, but I must ask you to trust me at this time as I assure you that I know what I'm doing. Danke.

Sinister

Twilight's head was low to the ground as she dejectedly walked back to her library home. She had briefly pondered the thought of visiting each of her friends, but she decided that they each needed a little time to cool off after what had happened. In truth, Twilight herself needed time to cool off from what happened. Sure she seemed calm on the outside, but inside she was absolutely livid! Having said that, she felt that her anger was completely justified; Applejack had fired a shotgun at her little sister and her friends! What in Equestria made her even remotely think that was a good idea?

Twilight pushed it aside for now. Yes, Applejack did a terrible thing, but dwelling on it right now did nothing to help the situation. Besides, Applejack was suffering already. Self-loathing was far more damaging than outward loathing, even if Applejack had both right now.

Twilight sighed as she opened the door of the library. She was irritated to see that it wasn't as clean as she would have liked it to be. Clearly Spike had been lazy once again and had blown off his chores! "Spike!!" yelled Twilight. Her dragon assistant walked down the stairs from the bedroom. It seemed that he had been napping.

"You don't have to yell Twilight, the house isn't that big," said Spike in an irritated tone.

"Well, I wouldn't have to yell at all if you just did your job for once and cleaned up this rats nest of a house!"

"Well maybe if you didn't force me to do all of your stupid busywork so you could go hang out with your friends then...uh...I don't actually know where I was going with that," he finished lamely. Twilight rolled her eyes. She would deal with his laziness later. In the meantime, she still had to examine the paper that Scootaloo had written.

She placed the scrap of paper on her desk and scanned the numbers once more.

25-2-4-5-8-3-20-1-23-7-14-9-5-2-5-18-1-5-23-19-21-16-12-5-8

Hmmm...

25-2-4-5-8-3-20-1-23-7-14-9-5-2-5-18-1-5-23-19-21-16-12-5-8

Clearly the numbers had some kind of meaning, but what? Were they come kind of code? If so, who was intended to receive the message? It was obviously important if Scootaloo had decided to write it while Applejack was as angry as she was.

Twilight leaned in and noticed that about 2/3rds of the numbers were written with graphite that had smudged a little while the last 1/3rd had been written in graphite that had looked much sharper and newer. It seemed that Scootaloo had been writing this before their conversation with Applejack.

25-2-4-5-8-3-20-1-23-7-14-9-5-2-5-18-1-5-23-19-21-16-12-5-8

Okay, this was getting frustrating now. There were so many things that these numbers could mean! How in Equestria was she supposed to figure it out?

She heard Spike behind her and felt him looking over her shoulder. She had always hated it when he did that and as such, her irritation levels began rising.

"Alphabetical code huh?" he said. Twilight turned around and cocked her head a little.

"Huh?" she asked quizzically.

"Alphabetical code. You know, A equals one, B equals two, and so on." Twilight wheeled around and stared at the scrap of paper once again. Her eyes widened in happiness.

"Spike, you're a genius!" she said happily. Spike managed a smile at this but took it with humility for once and didn't rub it in that he had figured it out before Twilight did.

Twilight grabbed a quill and began deciphering the numbers.

25...okay, 25 was Y. The first letter was Y! She nodded and continued on. 2. 2 is B. Good.

As she continued, she found that it was coming easier now. Her quill flew across the page as number after number was deciphered. She smiled maniacally as began coming closer to the end. Boy she did love a good challenge for her mind sometimes.

When she finished, she smiled in accomplishment. What had once been 25-2-4-5-8-3-20-1-23-7-14-9-5-2-5-18-1-5-23-19-21-16-12-5-8 was now...

ybdehctawgnieberaewsupleh...

ybdehctawgnieberaewsupleh!? That didn't make any sense at all! She gave a growl of frustration, not just because Spike's tip had been a dud, but because she was now more lost than ever about what the numbers might mean!

She felt Spike looking over her shoulder once again but before she could turn around, Spike gave an interested grunt.

"Who wrote that note?" he asked. "Is this some sort of joke or is somepony literally in trouble?"

Twilight turned around and raised her eyebrow.

"Uh, what do you mean?" she asked.

"Wait, you haven't figured it out yet? It's so obvious though!" Twilight gave a frustrated groan.

"What do you mean!?" she asked angrily. Spike rolled his eyes and ran his finger across the letters. However, instead of going left to right, he went right to left. Twilight's eyes widened with joy when she figure out the code that Scootaloo had left. It was written backwards! "Spike, you're a genius!" she said once more. Spike gave a satisfied grin and went back to his work.

With renewed vigor, Twilight went about flipping the letters around. After a minute or so, she had it the right way.

helpuswearebeingwatchedby.

Help us we are being watched by. Twilight's eyes widened even more as she remembered back to a previous conversation that her friends had had with the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

"I don't want Gabby Gums back either. I mean, the only way that I would ever do it again is if somepony was blackmailin' me worse than before. You know, like threatenin' our family or somethin' like that."

"Oh yeah, I mean, it would have to be bigger than merely embarrassing pictures too. They'd really have to really mean business."

"But if that did happen, we'd totally ask you to help us unless we knew that we were being watched and we couldn't tell you if we really were doing Gabby Gums stuff."

There were those words again, 'being watched'. The Cutie Mark Crusaders were innocent! Twilight grabbed the paper and put it in her saddlebag and rushed off. She had to tell somepony!

She raced towards Sweet Apple Acres. Applejack had to be the first one to know that the Cutie Mark Crusaders were in the clear with this whole thing and that something else entirely was at play here.

She ran towards the farm of her friend, hoping that this piece of news would be the thing that helped Applejack redeem herself in the eyes of everypony. However, when she reached the farm she saw a sight that stopped her in her tracks.

A large crowd of ponies was at Sweet Apple Acres and they seemed to be cheering. Twilight bolted forwards and when she was close enough, she teleported inside the farm.

She appeared right next to Applejack who was standing in front of her house door with Sweetness in her hooves. She looked absolutely hysterical and was crying harder than ever.

"No!" she said. "I won't let you take them for this!" Twilight looked into the crowd to see The Mayor standing in front of everypony with a line of cops behind her. Beside the cops was a large police wagon.

"I told you that if they printed more libel then they would be arrested. They printed more libel so I am here to arrest them. It's as simple as that. If you want to stop us, we shall arrest you for obstruction of justice! We have a warrant for the arrests of Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle. You cannot do anything to stop us. We can seize your whole farm if you continue to try to stop us," said The Mayor.

Applejack continued pointing her shotgun at the crowd but that last threat severely weakened her resolve and she slowly lowered her shotgun. She suddenly became aware that Twilight was standing beside her and she jumped back a little.

"Twilight, help me!" she said desperately. Twilight didn't know what to do. Yes she had evidence that the Cutie Mark Crusaders were not the true villains in this event, but nothing that a court would see as admissible evidence. However, Applejack would and that was what mattered right now.

"Applejack," said Twilight gently. "I can't begin to imagine how hard this must be for you. You have to let them take the girls right now. I promise that they'll be safe."

"NO!" said Applejack and she raised her gun once more at the advancing crowd of cops. "They'll hurt 'em, I just know they will!"

"No they won't," said Twilight before she turned to the advancing wall of cops. "Do you hear that? You WILL NOT hurt the girls while they are in your custody. I am the personal protege of Princess Celestia herself and I can assure you that she will bring swift justice on anypony who harms a solitary hair on their heads!" The cops hesitated for a moment before advancing once more.

With tears in her eyes, Twilight placed her hoof on the barrel of Applejack's shotgun and slowly lowered it before moving Applejack aside.

The cops stormed Applejack's home and they heard a commotion from inside the house. Applejack moved to rush into her house to protect her sister, but Twilight blocked her.

"Applejack," she said sternly. "Do you remember what Scootaloo was writing? Well I took it home and deciphered it. It proves that they are innocent! They are not the real force behind all of this!" Applejack's eyes widened and she seemed to be about to say something but the door to her house swung open and a loud cheer rang throughout the farm.

The legion of cops exited the farmhouse escorting Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle towards the police wagon. They all had hoofcuffs on their forelegs.

Applejack nearly screamed when she saw her sister with hoofcuffs on her forelegs and she tried lunging towards the cops but she was held back by Twilight.

"Don't do it Applejack, you can't get yourself arrested too. You are no good to your sister sitting in a cell, I need you to help me with what I just found out!" said Twilight.

"No! If I get arrested too then I can be close to her! I can help her through this!" said a hysterical Applejack.

"No, they won't let you do that. They'd put you in a cell away from then and then we'd all loose! I need you to focus Applejack. I need you to focus!" said Twilight.

Applejack wrapped her hooves around Twilight's shoulders and pulled her into a tight hug and cried into her shoulder. Twilight pulled away from the hug after a few seconds. She stood up and walked to The Mayor.

"Madam Mayor," said Twilight angrily. "This is a simply libel case, are the hoofcuffs necessary? They're children for Celestia's sake, it isn't right!"

"I decide what's right in this town," said The Mayor simply before she turned around and walked away, satisfied that justice had been served.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders had been loaded into the police wagon and Applejack had run up to the back, desperate to see her sister one more time. She was stopped by two burly Earth Pony cops who gleefully blocked her path. Twilight angrily ran up to the cops.

"For goodness sakes, let her see her sister before you cart her off!" said Twilight. The two cops merely smirked at her. "Okay then Officer Jones and Officer Lou, I'll just begin writing my letter to Princess Celestia about you then." The two cops immediately jumped back and let Applejack pass.

Apple Bloom was trying her best to reach a foreleg between the bars of the police wagon in a desperate attempt to reach her sister.

"Don't let them take me!" she said hysterically as her hoof touched Applejack's.

"Don't worry Apple Bloom," said Applejack who was clearly very scared herself. "Twilight got Scootaloo's note and we know the truth now!"

"I don't want to go to jail!" she said sadly.

"It'll only be for a little while, Apple Bloom. Soon Twilight and I will prove that you aren't the bad guys in this situation and we can all be a family again!" said Applejack who had begun crying anew now. At that moment, the police wagon moved forward and the hooves of the two Apple sisters parted as the cart drove away.

"Applejack, help me!" said Apple Bloom. The large crowd of ponies began following the police wagon, cheering the entire time that Gabby Gums was finally being brought to justice. Applejack watched the police wagon drive away towards town and just before it was out of sight, Applejack ran towards the edge of the farm and shouted to the heavens.

"I'M SORRY APPLE BLOOM!!" she said before she could take the emotional strain no more. She collapsed onto the ground and curled up into a ball.

Twilight rushed up to her and tried to get her to stand up. Applejack wouldn't budge. Instead she only kept repeating herself.

"I'm sorry Apple Bloom. I didn't mean to do that. Please forgive me Apple Bloom...please forgive me."

Secrets Unravel

"Please forgive me Apple Bloom, I didn't mean to do that, please don't be mad at me, I didn't mean to, I didn't want to. Please forgive me Apple Bloom, please."

Ever since the arrests of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Applejack had not stopped asking Apple Bloom for her forgiveness. She just kept repeating the words to herself over and over again, despite Twilight's best efforts to snap her out of it.

"Applejack," she said to the inconsolable mare. "Applejack I need you to snap out of it. Carrying on like this will not help your sister at all so I need you to calm down."

"Please forgive me Apple Bloom."

"Applejack, come on!" said an increasingly frustrated Twilight. "I can't do this without you! I need your help!"

"No, no please don't take my sister! Take me instead, she didn't do anythin' wrong!"

Twilight gave a scream of frustration and looked around to see if she could do anything to snap Applejack out of it. She didn't see anything that seemed like it would work! What could possibly snap Applejack out of her shock in time to...then Twilight saw it: Sweetness.

With a small grin, she walked over to the discarded shotgun and picked it up. It was surprisingly heavy in her hooves but after a few tries, she managed to steady the gun and walk back over to Applejack. Twilight was not surprised to see Applejack still mumbling to herself. Twilight did feel sorry for the mare that was obviously just in shock, but they had a job to do!

Twilight pointed the shotgun a few feet to the left of Applejack's head. She hooked her hoof over the trigger and held her breath, fearing the results of what she was about to do. Her hoof squeezed the trigger.

BLAM

Twilight's ears immediately started ringing from the noise of the blast and the kickback sent the gun flying out of her hooves and her after it. She was flung back a few feet before tumbling around on the ground for a few seconds with constant yelps of pain.

When she stopped bounding around, she felt that her whole body was in pain. Her ears were still ringing and her forelegs were sore from when the kickback of the shotgun had sent it flying out of her hooves. She had banged her head a little bit and she now had a splitting headache to go with her damaged ears. She gave a disoriented groan and only vaguely became aware that she was looking at a set of orange legs standing over her.

Whoever was standing over her was saying something, but thanks to the ringing in her ears, Twilight didn't have any idea what it was.

"Huh?" she said woozily.

"Whtntrntionryadoon?" said the voice.

"Huh?" she asked once more, although her hearing was coming back.

"I said, what in tarnation were ya doin' Twilight?" asked a familiar voice.

"Applejack?" said Twilight.

"Yeah it's me," said Applejack in a half-angry, half-amused voice. "Why in Equestria did you fire Sweetness at me?"

Twilight sat up and looked at where Applejack had been laying. Sure enough, one of Sweetness' trademark craters was burned into the ground.

"I didn't want to hit you," said Twilight as she regained her other senses.

"Have you ever fired a real gun before sugar cube?" asked Applejack. Twilight nodded as she tried to get to her hooves. "When?"

"Just now, didn't you see me? I hit what I was aiming at on the first try, I'm a natural!" At this, Applejack actually managed a small smile.

"Okay Twilight, first off, you were aiming for the ground so yeah, you hit your target alright. Secondly, aimin' for me or not, you still coulda hit me!"

Twilight was on her hooves now and massaging a sore shoulder. "Well, how else was I supposed to snap you out of it!?" retorted Twilight. "I need your help Applejack, and you are no good to Apple Bloom as an emotional wreck on the ground!"

Applejack's smile instantly faded away and tears began filling he eyes once more. Twilight sighed and put a comforting hoof on her shoulder. "You have to be strong Applejack. You have to be strong for your sister."

"What are we gonna do Twilight?" asked Applejack sadly. "This situation seems just hopeless!"

"It's not hopeless! Remember Scootaloo's note? The girls knew that they were being watched and I'd bet the library that they know who is really behind all of this! Our best bet is to talk to them." Applejack nodded. "Now, I think we should round up the others before we do this. Celestia knows that we need all the help we can get!"

"But they'll still hate me for what I did!" said Applejack worriedly. "They don't want anythin' to do with me right now!"

"After hearing about what happened to the girls, I know that they'll want to help us! Besides, Rarity needs to know what happened to her sister," said Twilight. Applejack nodded once again and wiped her eyes.

"Alright Twilight, I suppose you're right," said Applejack. Twilight gave her a comforting smile.

"Come on, let's go save the Cutie Mark Crusaders!"

* * * *

Twilight and Applejack walked up to Carousel Boutique, each dreading the upcoming conversation. They stood in front of the door and waited for a brief moment.

Twilight turned to Applejack.

"Are you ready to do this?" she asked. Applejack shook her head.

"No, but I gotta do it anyway," she said glumly.

Twilight nodded and she pressed the doorbell. The musical chimes played throughout the shop, letting Rarity know that somepony had arrived.

The duo did not have to wait long and in a few seconds, the door was opened revealing a rather irritated Rarity. The second she saw Applejack, she tried to close the door but Twilight was ready with her magic and she held it open.

"Twilight, shut my door at once! I won't let that ruffian anywhere near my house!" said Rarity angrily.

"Rarity," said Twilight, we need to talk! The--"

"I have nothing to say to you until you break ties with Applejack so if you'll excuse--"

"The Mayor had the Cutie Mark Crusaders arrested today!" said Twilight.

Rarity's eyes widened and she stood in place with a look of utter shock on her face. Her mouth moved as if she was trying to say something but no noises came out.

"Another Gabby Gums article came out. I don't know when or who, but it caused The Mayor to have the girls arrested," said Applejack.

"M...my baby sister was arrested?" asked Rarity quietly. Twilight nodded.

"Scootaloo and Apple Bloom too," she said. a single tear rolled down Rarity's face but she still maintained her shocked look.

"W...when?" she asked.

"About 30 minutes ago," said Twilight. "They practically staged an invasion of Sweet Apple Acres to get them. The three were led away in hoofcuffs and driven towards the police station in a police wagon."

This news really seemed to hit Rarity hard and she began blinking very fast as more tears rolled down her face. Twilight stopped holding the door open and Rarity walked out of her home.

To the surprise of both Applejack and Twilight, Rarity wrapped her forelegs around Applejack and began quietly sobbing into her shoulder. Applejack awkwardly patted Rarity on the back and tried to comfort her.

"Hey, now listen here, it's lookin' bad right now and anypony who says otherwise is a darned fool. But you need to get ahold of yourself right now. Twilight decoded a note from Scootaloo that proves that the Cutie Mark Crusaders aren't the real force behind Gabby Gums this time."

At this piece of news, Rarity looked up at Applejack.

"They aren't?"

"No. It seems that whoever is behind all of this is blackmailin' them somethin' fierce. They're too scared to say who it is out loud and they think they're bein' watched."

"Well we have to go see them!" said Rarity who broke away from Applejack and immediately started galloping towards the police station.

"Hold on Rarity," said Twilight, using her magic to hold her in place before she could get too far. "We have to round up the other three before we do anything. I know that they'll want to hear about this!"

"Then let us not waist anymore time talking about this!" said Rarity desperately. "We need to save my sister!"

* * * *

Rounding up the other three was not difficult at all. They had each gone home after the events at the farm earlier that day as they had each felt that they needed time to be alone. When they had heard about the imprisonment of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, they each immediately offered to help in any way that they could and within an hour, the six friends were walking into the police station.

They were greeted by a bored looking stallion Earth pony who gave them a suspicious glance when they walked in.

"Hi, we are here to see Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo," said Twilight nervously.

"And you are?" said the stallion.

"We're a combo of her family and legal defense!" said Twilight.

"You're their legal defense?" asked the stallion.

"Yeah, that's right, we're their legal defense," said Rainbow Dash. The stallion sighed.

"Nopony tells me nothin'," he mumbled to himself. "Okay, I need you six to sign in here and I'll have somepony escort you to their cell. You are only allowed to stay for fifteen minutes as-per our rules of a non-appointment based visit. You must also surrender any weapons of any ind while you are here." He looked at the six and since they weren't wearing any clothes, he realized that this last tidbit was a tad foolish.

The six signed in and they were led towards the cell area by a slender unicorn mare cop. Rarity had to hold on to Applejack at times while they were being led towards the cells that held the imprisoned crusaders but Applejack was always there to steady Rarity.

After a minute or so of passing empty cells, they finally came to their destination.

The sight inside the cell was truly pitiful. The three were still wearing hoofcuffs and they each looked far more unkempt than they had that morning. Scootaloo had her forelegs wrapped around Sweetie Belle's shoulders. Sweetie Belle was crying but she had a blank expression on her face and she was resting her head on Scootaloo's shoulder. Scootaloo seemed to be having a lot of trouble keeping it together as well but she hadn't begun crying just yet. Apple Bloom was sitting on the bed in the cell, staring at the opposite wall. It was obvious that she had been crying, but it was as if she had run out of tears to shed.

When they three saw Twilight and the others approach the cell, they looked up at them. Twilight was heartbroken to see that not even their familiar faces brought even a glimmer of hope to their eyes.

Applejack was the first to speak up.

"Why are they still wearin' those horrible things? They're just foals for Celestia's sake!"

"We reserve the right to keep them on if we feel that it is necessary," said the cop simply.

"Why in Equestria would it be necessary!?" said Rainbow Dash angrily.

"That information is classified," said the cop smugly.

"Classified? No, we're their legal defense, we have a right to know why!" said Twilight. Apple Bloom spoke up now.

"Don't bother sis," she said blankly. "They'd just put 'em on again after ya left."

"Shut up in there!" said the cop, hitting the bars with her nightstick.

It took the strength of all five of the ponies to keep Applejack from ripping the cop's head off right then and there. As it was though, Twilight seriously considered letting Applejack go and joining in attacking the cop herself. Seeing the rage from Applejack made the cop take a step back for fear that the five ponies wouldn't be able to hold her back and she would be obliterated by the rage of the farmer pony in an instant.

She began backing out of the room entirely. "I'll just leave you all be. I'll be back in twelve minutes to end this little get-together." The cop left without another word.

The six friends turned back to the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

"Apple Bloom, are you okay?" asked Applejack worriedly.

"Do I look okay?" she asked.

"We're gonna get you three outta here!" said Applejack. "We'll sort through this whole mess and we'll get ya outta here!"

"I figured out your note Scootaloo," said Twilight. "What was the rest of it?"

"Note? What note?" asked Scootaloo. Twilight gave her a confused look.

"The note you made with the--"

"Twilight, I have no idea what you are talking about," said Scootaloo sharply.

"Sweetie Belle, Sweetie Belle can you hear me?" said Rarity desperately as she tried to reach out to her sister through the bars.

"Why wouldn't I be able to hear you?" asked Sweetie Belle blankly.

"Are you okay? Did they hurt you at all?"

"Well, they didn't hurt us," she said. Twilight picked up on the inflection.

"Who is behind all of this girls? We can't help you unless you tell us who is behind all of this!" said Twilight.

"Is it Diamond Tiara?" asked Rainbow Dash. "Is she out for revenge against you for the last Gabby Gums incident?"

The three fillies sat in silence for a brief moment before Sweetie Belle answered.

"It may or may not be more complicated than that," she said. Scootaloo nudged her and gave her a worried look. Sweetie Belle caught on and began staring at the floor.

"Is there anything at all that you can tell us?" asked Fluttershy.

The three sat in silence once more before Scootaloo answered.

"You're being hunted."

* * * *

The three fillies refused to answer any more questions after that and the six friends were soon escorted out of the police station. They were told that the trial for the Crusaders would be the following Tuesday and that they could only see them at designated times until then.

The six friends walked away from the station dejectedly.

'What'll we do y'all?" asked Applejack. "Whatever they think is goin' on has scared them to the point that they won't talk to us!"

"Should we bust 'em out?" asked Rainbow. Rarity shook her head.

"No, we'd be caught too quickly and then where would we all be?"

"I can use my Pinkie Sense to see if anypony is coming while we bust them out!" said Pinkie Pie.

"Girls," said Twilight. "We are not breaking them out of jail! We have to do this by legal means and that means investigating what we can for now and then trying to get them off during their trial!"

The idea to break them out quickly died inside the other five ponies.

"Now," continued Twilight. "I'm going to go through every law book that I can to see if there is a way out of this! In the meantime, I want you five to investigate anything you would even think is a lead in this case. I'll write to Princess Celestia and tell her what is going on."

"Um, Twilight, what happens if they are found guilty?" asked Fluttershy nervously. Twilight became very quiet all of a sudden and she stared at the ground as they walked.

"Uh, Twilight," said Pinkie. "What is it?" Twilight sighed.

"Well...if the Cutie Mark Crusaders are indeed found guilty, then they will be...sentenced to twenty years in prison."

The other five gasped.

"That long for a mere case of libel!?" said Fluttershy.

"That and breaking and entering. I mean, everypony knows that to get that photo of Filthy Rich, you would have to already be inside of the house."

"So what'll we do y'all?" asked Applejack.

"Like I said," said Twilight. "We just have to do our best to fight this thing!"

"I'll take Fluttershy and go over to Filthy Rich's house!" said Rainbow. "Maybe we can talk to Diamond Tiara about this whole thing!"

"I'll take Pinkie and Rarity to see if we can't find where these papers are comin' from," said Applejack. Twilight nodded.

"Sounds good girls," she said with a determined smile. "I'll go read up and see what I can find out about libel cases. Okay everypony, move out!"

The six friends split up and began their separate missions.

Twilight ran towards her library home to read up on law cases and to her surprise, she saw two ponies that she had never expected to see: Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara. The two fillies were walking past her house and quietly talking amongst themselves. Twilight dove into a nearby bush to listen in.

"So those stupid blank flanks got arrested did they?" said Silver Spoon. Diamond Tiara gave a haughty laugh.

"Yeah, you should have seen the looks on their faces when the cops came to get them. Oh it was truly a sight to behold."

"Still," said Silver Spoon nervously. "Isn't this a bit too far? I mean, they got arrested and this is--"

"That's the whole idea!" snapped Diamond Tiara. "You know how delicate this all is and we can't risk them blabbing to somepony. Frankly I'm surprised that they haven't already. They must be dumber than they look." Silver Spoon nodded.

"Are we supposed to go back there now?" she asked. Diamond Tiara nodded.

"Yeah, and if we don't hurry we'll be late so let's get going!" said the filly irritatedly.

Twilight's mouth dropped open when she heard this. So Diamond Tiara was the one behind all of this! All she needed to do was follow them to where they were headed and she could undoubtedly blow the whole thing open. She waited until the fillies were far enough away before she left the bush and slowly began following them.

The speed that the fillies were walking made the journey slow, but Twilight's resolve to save the Cutie Mark Crusaders kept her from doing anything foolish.

Twilight was surprised to see that the duo seemed to be heading to the outskirts of Ponyville, to the old industrial buildings. They must have set up the newsroom there! She soon saw that her suspicions were correct as Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon entered an old, abandoned factory not too far from the edges of Ponyville.

When she saw that they had gone inside, she bolted towards the door and walked into the factory as well. To her surprise, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were nowhere to be found. She looked around confusedly. Where could they have gone?

She simply decided to pick the main hallway and follow it until she ran into something. Thankfully the factory wasn't very large so it wasn't long before she came to a large doorway that seemed to lead to the main factory floor.

She pushed the door open and walked into the room. The room was filled with run-down machinery and Twilight suddenly felt slightly unnerved at the sight. She knew that ghosts didn't really exist...but if they did, it would be places like this where they would live.

Suddenly, the door behind her slammed shut. Twilight wheeled around and was about to use her magic to get the door open again when she heard hoofsteps behind her.

She turned around to see Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon grinning evilly at her. To Twilight's utter shock, someone else was behind them; someone that Twilight had never expected to see again. Her jaw dropped open.

"You!"

How Can She Be Gabby Gums?

Twilight's mouth hung open in shock as she saw the mare standing between Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.

"You!" she said in shock.

"Yes Twilight Sparkle, me. The Great and Powerful Trixie has returned to Ponyville!"

"What are you doing here!?" asked Twilight angrily.

"Isn't it obvious? Trixie is here to get her revenge on Ponyville for the way that they treated Trixie oh so long ago!"

"You're Gabby Gums!?" said Twilight. Trixie cocked her head.

"Well no, but I am the one behind her! Or should I say, I’m the one behind them. You see Twilight Sparkle, when I heard that I was featured in a Gabby Gums article, I rushed over to Ponyville and using my amazing magical talent, I procured a copy of the article in question."

"Oh," said Twilight "That's what you were doing." Trixie raised an eyebrow at this.

"What do you mean?" she asked quizzically.

"Well Pinkie Pie saw you walking down the street a little while ago and she tried to say hello but you didn't seem to notice her," said Twilight.

Trixie's jaw dropped.

"But Trixie was using a brilliant disguise! No mere mortal could have possibly seen through it! How did a mere earth pony manage it!?" said a shocked Trixie. Twilight shrugged.

"You know, it's just best not to question things with Pinkie Pie. I tried it once and nearly went insane," said Twilight.

Trixie's mouth hung slightly open and she stared intently at the floor. She was clearly deep in thought and she was muttering something to herself about something or other.

"Could she have...no, you need magic for that and she's just a...but if she could...no that wouldn't work either. Well she...no, no, no, still need magic to...I...Maybe if she invented...no that's silly, she hardly has any brain power at...but what if..."

"I'm telling you, you're just gonna go mad if you try to figure it out," said Twilight in a slightly amused tone.

"Enough of this!" said Trixie suddenly. "Trixie was telling a story!" When they heard Trixie yell, Diamond Tiara and Silver spoon flattened their ears and flinched back. Twilight looked at them interestedly but before she could think about it any further, Trixie started up again. "As Trixie was saying, she saw the article and it was clearly just vicious lies by ponies jealous of the awesome power of Trixie! However, as Trixie observed the town, she saw that they feared this 'Gabby Gums'. They didn't know how to stop her at all so she ruled the town in fear. Trixie really liked this idea but she wanted to be the one ruling the town with an iron hoof! Luckily for Trixie, she overheard the one you call 'Rarity' talking to her sister and that revealed to Trixie that she was Gabby Gums! Well, Trixie wasted no time in telling everypony that she met that the foal was Gabby Gums and the whole town turned on her and her friends! It was most marvelous."

"You told Ponyville that the Cutie Mark Crusaders were Gabby Gums!?" said Twilight in disbelief.

"Indeed I did!' said Trixie with a satisfied smile. “I knew that as long as their identities were unknown, they would continue to write the articles and Ponyville would continue to fear and despise them." Trixie looked as if she had suddenly become lost in thought and a dreamy look crossed her face. "You saw how they all turned on the foals Twilight Sparkle. It was a beautiful thing to behold. Trixie knew that Gabby Gums would be the instrument of her revenge from that moment on."

"What revenge!?" asked Twilight angrily. "You are the only pony to blame for the Ursa Minor incident...well, you and Snips and Snails."

"You cannot make a fool out of me!" said Trixie. "Trixie knows that you were all jealous of her amazing powers and you made Trixie fail!"

"I...w...huh? How did we do that? That aside, why would I be jealous of you? I'm the personal protege of Princess Celestia herself, what else could I possibly want?"

"You are jealous of Trixie!" screeched the unicorn. Twilight opened her mouth to retort but decided that it really wasn't worth it. Instead, Trixie continued her Con Mane villain-esque monologue. "Trixie bided her time, waiting for the ideal moment to strike! Trixie knew that she would have to wait if her scheme was to take full effect!"

"Okay," said Twilight, holding up a hoof. "Before you continue your silly monologue, can you please stop referring to yourself in the third person? It's getting unbelievably annoying and when you think about it, it just makes no sense at all. Who are you performing for!?"

Trixie scowled at Twilight. "You cannot tell me what to do!" she said. "As I was saying, I had to wait for my scheme to take full effect, but I realized that I needed something more to really get the ball rolling, so to speak. So, in a stroke of genius that ponykind has never seen nor will ever be seen again, I invented this!"

Trixie used her magic to summon a vial towards her. It held a dark blue liquid inside of it that really didn't seem all that intimidating.

"Uh, a new brand of blueberry juice?" said a perplexed Twilight. Trixie gave a smug grin.

"Of course you cannot figure it out. You don't even have a fraction of my brainpower!' said Trixie. Twilight tolled her eyes. At least she had stopped talking about herself in the third person. "This is my greatest invention! This will change all of Ponykind forever, this--"

"Would you just get on with it!?" asked a very irritated Twilight. Trixie scowled at her once more.

"Suffice to say," she began calmly. "I have been dumping this in the Ponyville reservoir for some time now with the help of these two fillies. You see, when this mix is added to water, it creates an effect that when drunk by ponies it strengthens certain emotions inside of them. In this case, anger and fear. Haven't you noticed that the townsponies have been acting a little irrationally lately? Have you found yourself getting angry faster, Twilight Sparkle?"

Twilight's jaw dropped. Trixie had been poisoning the town's water supply!

"How dare you!" she said. "How do you know that that brew doesn't harm the ponies that drink it? How do you know it isn't poisonous to foals or the elderly? How do--"

"Trixie really does not care," said Trixie blankly. "Trixie only cares that the town is angry and scared. Anything beyond that is irrelevant." Twilight felt her anger bubble up inside her. She pondered for a moment that this meant that the brew really did work, but she didn't want to focus on that right now. She fired up her horn and shot a blast of magic directly at Trixie. Trixie screamed and jumped out of the way but she was too slow to get away completely. The magic blast hit the vial that Trixie was holding and both the glass and the liquid inside evaporated.

Trixie's eyes widened in fear. "Get her! Don't let her hurt me!" she said. Twilight looked at her confusedly. How in Equestria did she expect Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon to protect her? They were only foals, they didn't--

At that moment, Twilight felt powerful arms wrap around her middle and she was lifted up into the air and thrown against the wall. The second she hit it, she felt a sharp pain as her shoulder broke upon impact with the wall. She screamed in pain but she still tried her best to get up. However, her assailant slammed a claw down on Twilight's broken shoulder, injuring it even more.

Wait...claw?

Twilight looked up and gasped at who she saw holding her down. She was in on it too!?

"GILDA!?" said Twilight in shock. Gilda let loose an evil laugh.

"Right on, dweeb. I've come back to Ponyville and I'm not leaving without Rainbow Dash!"

"I...what!?" said Twilight.

"I ran into Gilda here on the way to Ponyville. It seemed that she had been wronged by you six as well. She was more than happy to join me in my quest for revenge," said Trixie happily. Gilda leered at Twilight and gave her an evil grin.

"Trix here gave me the job of keeping an eye on those three pathetic foals just to make sure that they wouldn't do anything stupid!" said Gilda. "It would normally have been a boring job, but the looks on their faces every time they looked up in the sky and saw me sitting on a cloud, watching them, oh it was awesome!"

"So you're the one who has been watching the Crusaders!" said Twilight. Gilda cocked her head.

"Uh...yeah, isn't that what I just said?"

"With Gilda's help, it was no trouble at all to pressure these two here to join our cause! They proved most invaluable in helping us get rid of those nasty foals who were the original Gabby Gums," said Trixie. Twilight looked over at Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon and to her surprise, they looked scared. They looked very scared actually.

"What did you threaten them with?" asked Twilight angrily. Gilda pushed down on Twilight's shoulder a little more and Twilight gasped in pain.

"Oh nothing much, just the standard threat: I'll let the town destroy your families unless you help me," said Trixie. Diamond Tiara began to cry. "It seems that Diamond Tiara here didn't quite like Trixie's generous deal to spare her family from the chaos that is to come to Ponyville very soon so I had Gilda here...have a little fun," said Trixie. Gilda grinned at this.

"I normally don't hit foals, but that little brat was about to blow the whole thing! I made an exception for her," she said.

"And once we framed her father for it by making him drink cider and manipulating a photo so that it would look like he was the one who hit her, Diamond Tiara learned her lesson, didn't you?" said Trixie. Diamond Tiara tried to stem her tears but she seemed to be failing. Silver Spoon put her foreleg over her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her. "I SAID 'DIDN'T YOU'?" screamed Trixie. Diamond Tiara flinched away from Trixie.

"Y...yes Miss Trixie," she said through her tears. Twilight had never really liked Diamond Tiara very much. The way that she picked on the Cutie Mark Crusaders always really bothered her. But seeing how helpless and afraid she looked at this moment made Twilight feel overwhelming pity for her.

"Naturally I told the, what did you call them, "Cutie Mark Crusaders" the same thing and they simply dissolved in fear. Oh they were so easy to manipulate. A few bribes to the Ponyville News Office to Mr. Exely so that the Crusaders would be listed as the owners of The New Gabby Gums and we were in business," said Trixie.

"You wouldn't dare hurt their families!" said Twilight. As if to disprove her point, Gilda pressed down on Twilight's shoulder even harder. Twilight screeched in pain once more as she felt the bone crack a little more.

"Why in Equestria not?" asked Trixie smugly. "You saw what happened to Filthy Rich when nasty little Diamond Tiara tried to stop us, so why in Equestria wouldn't I do whatever it took to get my revenge?"

"We still need to deal with the orange one, Scootaloo I think her name is," said Gilda. Trixie cocked her head.

"Why?" she asked.

"She gave this one here a coded message telling her that they were being watched," said Gilda. Trixie's eyes widened.

"We shall make her suffer dearly!" she said angrily.

"Yeah," said Gilda. "And since she doesn't have any family that I'm aware of, I guess we'll just have to beat up Dash a bit in front of her before I take Dash back with me to Griffonia for good!" Trixie shrugged.

"Sounds good to me," she said. Twilight's eyes widened.

"Don't you dare touch a hair on her--"

She was silenced by a kick to the face from Gilda.

"Shut up now!" commanded Gilda. "The next one breaks your muzzle!" Twilight spit out blood before looking up at Trixie with nothing but contempt in her eyes. Trixie gave her a smug smile.

"I have wonderful plans for Ponyville Twilight. Suffice to say, I will continue publishing Gabby Gums each and every day. With the crusaders in jail, they'll begin to suspect each other of being Gabby Gums. Everypony in town will lose all trust in each other and when you combine that with my mixture, you only have to wait a short time before Ponyville tears itself apart completely!" said Trixie evilly.

"Go to tartarus," said Twilight spitefully which earned another kick from Gilda. Gilda was right; the kick did break her muzzle. Trixie smiled at Twilight's pain and she walked over to her, the smug grin still plastered over her face. Twilight looked up at Trixie and Trixie was beyond delighted to see genuine fear in Twilight's eyes. "What are you going to do with me?" she asked weakly.

Trixie looked at Twilight thoughtfully. "It's hard to say. There have been some brainwashing techniques I have always wanted to try out. Or, I could put you in a sort of private prison where nopony will ever find you. You would remain there until all of Equestria forgot about you entirely. Or I could just have Gilda snap your neck right here and now, do any of those appeal to you?" said Trixie. Gilda took her claw off of Twilight's shoulder.

"Whoa, you never said anything about killing anypony. You just said that I'd have to rough her up a bit!" she said worriedly. Trixie merely shrugged.

"I guess I'll decide after this is all over. I have great plans for Ponyville, Twilight Sparkle. I--" Suddenly, the wall closest to Trixie was hit with something and the force of the impact sent chunks of plaster flying at her. Trixie screamed and held a hoof in front of her face while she turned away to avoid getting hurt. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon screamed and hit behind a large crate.

When the dust settled, Trixie examined the wall. There was a gigantic hole in it and everything around the hole seemed to have been blown off. Trixie examined the hole in the wall.

"Is this...a bullet hole!?" she asked incredulously. Twilight felt a ray of hope inside of her. Gilda backed away from Twilight even more.

"Was that a warning shot or does the dweeb with the gun have really dumb aim?" she asked nervously. As if to answer her question, a second shot rang out and the three largest feathers on Gilda's head fell to the ground, severed by the shot. Gilda screamed in shock and ducked down. "Definitely a warning shot!"

Trixie was looking wildly around the room, hoping to find who was doing this.

"Show yourself!" she screamed. "Are you too much of a coward to fight The Great and Powerful Trixie!?"

At that moment, Twilight heard the most wonderful sound in the world: a shotgun cocking.

"So," said a familiar voice. "You have great plans for Ponyville huh? Well, Sweetness and I can't wait to hear all about 'em." Twilight, Gilda, and Trixie all looked towards the source of the noise and to Twilight's delight (but Trixie and Gilda's horror) she saw Applejack with a smug grin on her face and Sweetness pointed directly at Trixie's head, ready to erase it from existence. Trixie stared at Applejack in pure shock before she did her best to put on a brave face.

"How did you manage to find Trixie?" she asked. Applejack shrugged.

"Same way Twilight did: I followed somepony here, in this case, Twilight."

"You followed me here?" she asked before wincing in pain.

"I sure did," said Applejack with a grin. "As a matter o' fact, we all did. Ya see, the first thing we all thought of when you said to follow any possible lead was Diamond Tiara. So, we all went out lookin' for her together to see what we could find out. Turns out, somepony had seen her and Silver Spoon comin' this way and they also said that you were followin' 'em Twilight. Well, I rushed back to the farm to get Sweetness here and Fluttershy went back to her cottage to get...uh, what do you call your gun? Turtle?"

"Tortoise," said another familiar voice. In her pain Twilight couldn't quite figure out who it was so she just listened to Applejack.

"Right, Tortoise. Anyhoo, we all followed Twilight here to this here factory to see what was what. It's a good thing we held back a bit, otherwise you probably wouldn't have given your oh-so helpful and informative monologue. I reckon you only gave it because you figured Twilight wouldn't get outta here to tell anypony."

"Where are the others!?" asked Trixie.

"Well they just went to go get the cops and I reckon they'll be back any minute. Pinkie Pie's freaky memory skills helped her retain every single word you said so I imagine they got quite a lot to work with for ya. Until then, it's just me, Sweetness, and Tortoise holdin' ya back." Trixie scoffed at Applejack.

"How typical of you Ponyville cowards! You cannot face Trixie without hiding behind your weapons!" she said, doing her best to sound smug. Applejack merely widened her smile.

"Well, you have your magic to help you out and I got Sweetness so I think the odds are about even," she said.

"HA! Even you say? You underestimate the power of The Great and Powerful Trixie!" said Trixie as she fired up her horn. "Your pathetic gun is no--"

Once more a shot rang out. Twilight expected to see a headless Trixie fall to the ground but she was surprised to see that it was not Applejack who had fired. Instead, the wall next to Trixie was sporting a fresh bullet hole. Trixie looked around wildly once more.

"Who's there!?" she said hysterically. "Show yourself you coward!"

"Ya know," said Applejack. "My associate has every right to blow your head off if you try to fight me." Trixie was frozen to the spot. She had no idea what to do now. "You wanna know somthin' intrestin' about my associate?" asked Applejack. "I can shoot the eye out of a squirrel at 400 yards, but my associate could actually shoot my bullet out of the air if she wanted to."

"That's impossible!" said Trixie.

"That's what I thought too until it happened," said Applejack with a shrug before she continued on. "Now here's the deal: there is a large group of cops headed in this direction right now to come get you two. When we all figured out what was goin' on round here (thanks in no small part to your silly Con Mane villain monologue) we immediately went to go get the cops. I stayed here with my associate who we'll just call...oh what the hay; Fluttershy is the one with the sniper rifle up there."

"Oh, um, hi," said Fluttershy from somewhere in the shadows.

"The cops are on their way!?" said Gilda. Applejack nodded.

"Get ready to do a little time girls!" said Applejack happily. "Although in your case Trixie, I'd say you get life. Poisonin' an entire town's water supply is a little more than amazin'ly illegal."

Before Trixie could respond, a battalion of cops suddenly flooded the room and quickly arrested Trixie, Gilda, Diamond Tiara, and Silver Spoon. Applejack and Twilight both convinced the cops to let the latter two go as they had both heard Trixie say that she had blackmailed them.

* * * *

The next few weeks were some of the most interesting that Ponyville had seen in a while.

Twilight was taken away in an ambulance wagon and taken directly to the hospital. Her injuries were not amazingly severe although the doctors estimated a few month's recovery time for her.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders were promptly released from prison once it was proven that Gilda and Trixie were really the ones to blame and that they, like their classmates, had been blackmailed into doing whatever Trixie had wanted them to do. There had been a tearful reunion between Applejack and Apple Bloom and Apple Bloom promptly forgave Applejack for what she had done.

Exely was removed from his position and sentenced to eighteen months in Prison for accepting bribes that put the lives of three innocent fillies at stake. His secretary did not upset to see him go, if she even noticed that is.

The trials of Trixie and Gilda became the big scandals of the decade and the town drank up every detail of the case whenever they could get them. Their main source of information was a little newspaper called 'Gabby Gums Strikes Back', a paper that five certain fillies assured the town would only be around until the end of the trial.

In regards to them, the town of Ponyville had done their best to apologize to the Cutie Mark Crusaders for how they had treated them. The three fillies spent most of their time either at home or in their clubhouse. None of them wanted to be around anypony in town for a while. Applejack and Rarity had already begun looking for good therapists for the fillies and the townsfolk had started a collection to pay for their therapy expenses.

* * * *

Three months later

Twilight and her friends, as well as the Cutie Mark Crusaders sat in the courtroom, eagerly awaiting the sentences of Trixie and Gilda.

Twilight's shoulder and muzzle had healed very well over the past few months and she was at the point where she could take small foal-steps every now and again. Her muzzle was healed up to the point where nopony could even tell that it had been broken, even if it was a tad crooked.

Applejack adjusted her hat and shifted uncomfortably.

"When are they gonna get to the actual sentencin'?" she asked impatiently. "We've been waitin' here for hours!"

"Now calm down darling, I've just been told that it'll only be another few minutes before the jury is out. I imagine that it is merely an issue of which sentence to hand down. After all, guilt is not what is in question here," said Rarity. Twilight nodded and glanced over at Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow was staring intently at the ground and Pinkie Pie's forelegs were wrapped around her. The news that Gilda had been a part of all of this had hit Rainbow Dash hard. even after she found out that Gilda was a jerk these days, she had never expected her to go that far to get revenge on her friends. She had been hanging out a lot with Pinkie who was surprisingly good at listening to her problems and offering good advice on how to deal with it. Twilight leaned over to her.

"Are you feeling okay Rainbow?" she asked worriedly.

"No," said Rainbow blankly. "No I'm not okay. How could I be okay after hearing that one of my oldest friends was involved in something like this? I thought that I knew her and hearing about this is just...hard ya know?"

Before Twilight could respond, the twelve members of the jury filed into the courtroom. Everypony's eyes focused shifted from Trixie and Gilda, who were sitting at the defense table, to the jury. The judge addressed the jury.

"Have you come to a decision?" he asked. A member of the jury stood up.

"We have your honor. We find the defendants guilty as charged." The courtroom whispered amongst themselves and Twilight saw a single tear roll down Rainbow's face. The judge banged his gavel.

"Order in the court!" he said sternly. The crowd quieted down before the judge spoke again. "To the defendant Gilda, I hereby sentence you to ten years in the Canterlot Prison with the possibility of parole for two counts of vicious assault and conspiracy to blackmail." Gilda's head slumped down and she mirrored Rainbow Dash's pose. "To the defendant Trixie, I sentence you to life in prison without parole, also in Canterlot Prison, for the crimes of blackmail, libel, and the poisoning of an entire town of ponies with a mixture of your own design." Trixie's eyes flared up in anger but she held her tongue. The judge banged his gavel and Gilda and Trixie were taken away.

The crowd soon dispersed leaving only Twilight and her friends sitting in the courtroom. They sat in utter silence for what seemed like an eternity, each mulling over the events of the past few months in their heads. Each felt like they should say something, each wanted to break the uncomfortable silence that had fallen over them, but nopony knew what to say.

After a while, Rarity stood up and began to walk out of the courtroom. One-by-one, each of the ponies did the same. They slowly filed out of the courtroom, each hoping that their lives would get back to normal soon, but none believing that it would.