Gabby Gums Strikes Back.

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."