This is the 27th chapter. I don't own the series of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.
Ponyville Confidential
Another day at Ponyville Schoolhouse had come to an end as the bell rang, a huge cluster of young ponies took their leave as they chatted amongst each other. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle came walking out of the schoolhouse slowly with sour looks on their faces.
"Can you believe Featherweight got his cutie mark?" Sweetie Belle grumbled. "Featherweight! Before us!"
The foals, except the 7 of them, were continuing to cheer for a young Pegasus named Featherweight, who had a light yellowish gray fur coat with moderate orange mane and tail with lighter streak, and moderate gamboge eyes. He recently had a cutie mark that resembles a feather.
Featherweight couldn't help but show it off to the others.
"Great cutie mark, Featherweight!" Snips said as Featherweight made his cutie mark sparkle in the sunlight.
"Looking good!" Snails added with a chuckle.
Sweetie Belle just stood in place while Scootaloo had already slumped to the floor on her stomach as they both sighed in defeat.
"I give up..." Sweetie Belle moaned.
It was then Apple Bloom arrived with a rolled-up newspaper in her fore-hoof.
"I got it!" Apple Bloom exclaimed as she jumped over them and tossed the newspaper to Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, which unrolls itself to reveal the news. "The answer to all our problems!"
"The Foal Free Press?" Sweetie Belle said, read aloud as Scootaloo gave Apple Bloom a skeptical look. "How's the school paper gonna get us our cutie marks?"
Apple Bloom took a deep breath to speak when..."
"Aunt Apple Bloom/Aunt Sweetie Belle! We have to go!" The voice of Apple Shine and Golden Charm called them.
"Move our caboose!" The voice of Granny Smith shouted.
"Uh oh, that's Granny Smith and Apple Shine." Apple Bloom said. "Gotta run!"
Apple Bloom then walked away, leaving the newspaper behind.
"Maybe there's something to this newspaper idea." Scootaloo states.
"Guess it's worth a shot..." Sweetie Belle said as Scootaloo stroked a page with her fore-hoof and picked up the newspaper with her mouth.
At the Carousel Boutique, Sweetie Belle and Golden Charm tore out a page of newspaper as they and Scootaloo crumpled up, used them to provide cushioning for some fragile items that Rarity and Kronk wanted to box and put into storage. The two fillies then checked their flanks, only to find them bare and made long faces ahead.
Next, they headed outside and started tearing up strips of newspaper to help a nearby bird build itself a nest. They give the bird a smile and then checked their flanks. Seeing their flanks were still blanks, they gave each other annoyed looks.
Then, they decided to use the remainder of the newspaper into making hats and then made a giant hat to use as a boat. They're literally sailing down a stream with Pinkie Pie, Rose Lotus, and Djali watching them float by. They checked their flanks and apparently, they're still blank. At the same time they're frowning, but the giant paper boat got too wet and started to sink into the stream.
Back at the treehouse, Apple Bloom was just sitting quietly reading the newspaper when Sweetie Belle banged the door open. She and Scootaloo were both covered in mud and wet strips of newspaper.
"Apple Bloom! Your newspaper idea was nothing but a big bust!" Sweetie Belle complained.
"We tried everything, from paper-mâché to making birds nests, and nothing worked!" Scootaloo added.
Apple Bloom just looked at them for a moment before she started laughing. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo both looked at other, puzzled.
"What's so funny?" Sweetie Belle asked as she and Scootaloo approached her.
"What I meant was, we should write for the paper!" Apple Bloom responds, using her newspaper to lightly bop Sweetie Belle and showing the poster of a photographer from behind. "We can get our cutie marks as journalists!"
Both Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo just glared before letting out a groan, plopping into their backs.
My Little Pony, My Little Pony
Ahhhh
My Little Pony
I use to wonder what friendship could be
My Little Pony
Until you all share this magic with me
Big adventure,
Tons of fun,
A beautiful heart,
Faithful and strong,
Sharing kindness
It's an easy feat
And magic makes it all complete
You all have my little ponies
Do you know all you're my best friends?
While a large cluster of young ponies left the school after it ended, Cheerilee made an announcement.
"Okay, class, see you tomorrow!" Cheerilee said. "Oh, for those of you who want to join the newspaper staff, stay here, because we're meeting right now!"
Cheerilee tapped the top of her desk to emphasize her point as sever young ponies stayed at their desks, including the CMCs.
"Cutie marks in journalism!" Apple Bloom said, looked at Scootaloo.
"Such a good idea." Scootaloo said smugly as Sweetie just smiled in agreement.
"Welcome, everypony." Cheerilee said. "Now, as you know, our editor-in-chief graduated last year-"
"Oh, oh, oh, ohohohoh!" Sweetie Belle said frantically, raising her fore-hoof in the air.
"Yes?" Cheerilee inquires.
"What's an editor-in-chief?" Sweetie Belle asks curiously.
"Good question, Sweetie Belle, I like those reporters instincts." Cheerilee said, making Sweetie Belle smile cutely. "The Foal Free Press is a student-run paper. I'm only involved as an advisor, so the editor-in-chief is the pony in charge, from choosing the stories to making sure it gets to press on time. Now, as I said, we have a new editor this year!"
While Cheerilee explains everything, the young ponies just smiled excitedly. Cheerilee then pointed to the door to introduce the new editor-in-chief. The door opened to reveal a certain filly who's none other than Diamond Tiara.
"Diamond Tiara?!" The young ponies exclaims in shock while Diamond Tiara hummed arrogantly as she approached the Cheerilee was sitting at.
"I'll leave you alone now to discuss everypony's assignments." Cheerilee said. "Have fun!"
Diamond Tiara just kept smiling, trying to look cute and innocent until Cheerilee closes the door. Then, she immediately switched her innocent look to an authority look.
"Alright, listen up!" Diamond Tiara said as she slammed her fore-hooves on the desk and then bucked the wall to make a large poster of herself appear behind her. "The Foal Free Press is a joke."
It got the young ponies puzzled of her respond.
"Nopony at this school takes it seriously!" Diamond Tiara said, ironically Truffle was reading the newspaper with glasses and a Fex Hat, got him confused when she said that. "Well I, the editor-in-chief in charge, am going to deliver us to newfound glory!"
As she raised her a fore-hoof in the air, there was a long pause when the other ponies just looked at her.
"Yay!" Truffle cheered softly as the other ponies looked at him.
Truffle had a light indigoish gray fur coat with dark grayish brown mane and tail, and grayish phthalo blue eyes. His cutie mark is a knife and fork.
"First things first, where's the staff photographer?" Diamond Tiara questions as she opened when Featherweight raised his hoof with a sheepish smile. "Get out there and document everything! I'll decide what's important!"
Featherweight then took his leave in a hurry and Diamond Tiara slammed the door behind him.
"The rest of you!" Diamond Tiara continued sternly as she headed back to the desk. "I want hard-hitting news and interesting think pieces. No more Namby-Pamby stories like last year's editor."
The other ponies just looked at her blankly.
"But Namby-Pamby was a great editor." A filly named Ruby Pinch said.
"Well, there's a new regime now, and I want juicy stories!" Diamond Tiara said as she firmly closes her notebook. "The juicer, the better! Now get out there and report!"
Diamond Tiara then bucked the wall to make her poster of herself roll up and then walked away. All but the CMCs then took their leave to go to work.
"Let's get out of here girls." Scootaloo suggests, having second thoughts about journalism. "Maybe we can try packing boxes again."
"But could be our last chance to earn our cutie marks." Sweetie Belle protests. "If we are really supposed to be journalists, isn't it worth a little grief?"
"I guess you're right." Scootaloo replied. "We can take a little bit of Diamond Tiara for a lifetime of cutie marks."
The three fillies smiled in agreement.
"C'mon! Let's go get out cutie marks!" Sweetie Belle said excitedly as she then swept a fore-leg horizontally with a wide smile on her face to emphasize the point. "My first story's going to be an exclusive interview."
Once Sweetie Belle made her way to the Carousel Boutique, wearing a grey reporters hat and had a notepad with her, she watched Rarity rushed about to do her work while Kronk gives her a helping hoof, and Golden Charm helped his mother taking care of Flora Heart. Sweetie Belle gives her sister and Kronk a smile and waved to get their attention, but Rarity and Kronk were too focused on the dress to listen. Rarity then grabbed an extra feather and put it in Sweetie Belle's hat, much to her annoyance. Sweetie Belle then leaned toward Rarity to get her attention, but then Rarity got an idea which got her smiled mischievously and made Sweetie Belle model the new outfit, causing her to blush with embarrassment.
However, Kronk and Golden Charm didn't approve of that as they shook their heads in disappointment.
"I saw a brand new next of baby birds the other day." Scootaloo said. "I bet our would eat up a sweet story like that!"
Scootaloo was then on a tree branch, interviewing the birds in the nest wearing the same hat as she wrote down her notes, but then she dropped her pencil and her notepad by accident. She tried to grab them, but ended up falling out of the tree. She did her best to hover, but then fell right into a large puddle of mud below. Scootaloo was still trying to hover, but only her back end was inches from the ground while her face was in the mud. The birds laughed at her, making Scootaloo glare and blush with embarrassment.
"Granny Smith has all sorts of great stories!" Apple Bloom said. "I reckon I'll do a piece on the history of Ponyville!"
As Apple Bloom spoke, she's sitting next to Granny Smith, who's telling her a story before pinching her granddaughter's cheeks. While Granny Smith knelt down to grab another book, Apple Bloom grabbed a book about the history of Ponyville. However, Granny Smith unintentionally bumped the book out of the way for her own choice. Apple Bloom gasped when she saw that book was filled with baby photos, including a picture of her with two diapers on and another during bath time. Apple Bloom tipped her hat over her head as she blushed from embarrassment.
The area where the school newspaper were created was located in an underground room of the schoolhouse with a few windows located near the top for air and circulation. Inside, Ruby Pinch and Truffle were busy working on typing up stories as Shady Daze was working with a rather clunky machine that was the schools personal printing press, which kept squirting ink as it churned and whirred. Diamond Tiara was at the main editors desk, sitting in a very tall executive chair. She's currently reading an article that had been submitted, but then quickly crumpled the newspaper up and tossed it aside as the CMCs walked up to her desk, wearing their reporter hats and saddlebags.
"I hope you've got something, because everything so far is unusable." Diamond Tiara said sternly.
The three fillies just looked at each other before presenting their articles to her.
"'Baby Birds Born?', 'Rarity's Hot New Hat?', Ponyville: The Early Years?'" Diamond Tiara exclaimed in disgust, tossed it aside. "Oh! I don't know what you call this, but it sure isn't news!"
The three fillies just looked at each other as they backed away a few steps after Diamond Tiara walks to them.
"We just...thought..." Sweetie Belle tried to explain, but Diamond Tiara won't explain.
"We want to help you impress Golden Charm for the articles!" Scootaloo intervened when Diamond Tiara stopped.
"W-What was that?" Diamond Tiara stuttered with a question, widen her eyes.
"We just thought the articles we come up would get you to impress Golden Charm, and hopin' you'd get close to him..." Apple Bloom told her nervously. "And...we didn't want to tell you about it..."
Diamond Tiara thought about it since she didn't tell the Irish colt about her being a new editor-in-chief, hoping it's a secret, but when the three fillies told her about the articles, she can make an opportunity to get close to him and not to disappoint him.
"Hmm...Alright, alright! I'll make an exception!" Diamond Tiara accepts, thought it over. "But next time, get something else on my desk by the end of the desk, and it better be juicy!"
And with that, she tossed all three of them and their notepads outside. While they're still dazed, their hats come flying out of the basement as well.
"Now what?" Scootaloo asks. "Do you know what I had to do to get the story?"
"Oh, you don't even wanna know what I had to sit through." Apple Bloom said with worry.
As she said that, Featherweight was quickly snapping picture after picture as the three fillies were recovering and zipped away. It was then two shadows were seen on the other side of the schoolhouse. Sweetie Belle slowly walked over to the shadows to investigate.
"Oh! Get it off me, Snails!" The voice of Snips said.
"Eh, you get it off me, Snips!" The voice of Snails complained.
Sweetie Belle peeked from the corner of the schoolhouse to see Snips and Snails were stuck together by their flanks in a big piece of sticky bubble gum. Snails was currently trying to pull himself apart from Snips, at the latter's expense.
"Aah! Stop it! You are making it worse! Nah!" Snips said, tries pulling the gum off with a fore-hoof, but ended up getting covered with it instead. "Oh great!"
"I'll get it!" Snails said as he grunted and bucked Snips.
Snips went off, but instead came back and smacking into Snails so the gum was now pasted against their backs.
"Aah!" Snips cried out.
"Get it off! Get it off!" Snails pleaded.
Sweetie Belle couldn't help but giggle to herself when she noticed Featherweight nearby.
"Hey, Featherweight, c'mere!" Sweetie Belle said, still giggling at that sight as Featherweight walked over to her. "Take a few pictures of this, then meet me during lunch."
Featherweight then ducked behind the wall and started taking pictures of Snips and Snails. Sweetie Belle then returned to Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, who'd just put their reporter hats back on.
"Girls, I have our story!" Sweetie Belle told them with a smile.
The next day, a spinning newspaper appeared to show a front page with Snips and Snails stuck in the bubble gum.
"'Snips and Snails in Bubblegum Veils!'" A filly named Noi said, reading the newspaper to another filly named Aura. "And that's when the biggest jokester in school really stuck his hoof in his mouth, literally!"
"The Foal Free Press is usually just boring news and stuff!" Green Daze replied.
"So funny!" Another pony named Cotton Cloudy said.
Some of the other young ponies were chatting with each other as they read the newspaper, many of them were sitting together in groups of three, except the 7 foals who are watching them in confusion. A few other young ponies were asking Snips and Snails to autograph their newspapers.
"Our mothers always told us we'd end up in the papers someday." Snips said to him.
"Yeah, and look!" Snails said. "We finally got the gum out!"
Snails laughed as he and Snips showed their flanks and tails, which were missing much of their fur due to being shaved and pulling the gum out. A picture was taken at the moment, which was later examined by Diamond Tiara, who's very impressed.
"Your column is a sensation!" Diamond Tiara said to them, making the three fillies smile as she looked out the window to watch the other ponies playing on the playground. "I don't want you doing news anymore. I want more columns like this. Columns about ponies and their private lives, the things they do when they think their alone. You three are my new gossip columnists! And I love the way you signed it! 'Gabby Gums'...That was a stroke of genius!"
After Diamond Tiara sighed and pointed at the new signature.
"We couldn't fit all of our names, so we decided to create one for all three of us." Sweetie Belle said.
"Well, I want more Gabby Gums! Nice work, girls!" Diamond Tiara said as she slammed her hoof against the desk, then turns her chair away from them.
"But we sure seem to have a gift for gossip!" Scootaloo states.
"If we can write a few more of these Gabby Gums columns, we'll earn our cutie marks for sure!" Sweetie Belle agrees as the three fillies cheered, jumped into the air and gave each other a high-hoof.
But a short time later, neither of the three fillies were feeling as confident as they sat a school table. Several pieces of crumpled up paper were on the table along with a cup of hot drink of some sort.
"Scootaloo? Do you have anything?" Sweetie Belle asks with a blank face and an annoyed tone.
"Nope." Scootaloo said with a bored look on her face she played around with a pencil on the table.
"Apple Bloom?" Sweetie Belle asks, turns to her.
"Sorry." Apple Bloom said with a sigh and a long face as she hoofed through her notepad.
"Let's face it." Scootaloo said. "Nothing very juicy happens at this school."
It was then Snips and Snails had put more bubble gum between them, they grunted as they tried and failed to un-stuck themselves from it, but just smiled to attract attention to themselves. Sweetie Belle just looks worried as Apple Bloom and Scootaloo looked at the two colts in annoyance.
"We're doomed." Sweetie Belle said as Apple Bloom and Scootaloo's ears drooped sadly in agreement.
Later at the Carousel Boutique, Rarity was using her magic to move some folded sheets of fabric across the room. Though, she had her eyes closed as she did so. Rarity suddenly tripped over something and tumbled to the floor, dropping and unfolding all of the fabrics she'd been carrying. Rarity turns her head to see that she had tripped over Sweetie Belle's saddlebag.
"Ohh, Sweetie Belle..." Rarity said as she used her magic to pick up the saddlebag. "Was she raised in a barn or something?"
Rarity gasped when the saddlebag opened and she noticed the rolled-up newspaper inside.
"Oh, you really shouldn't be snooping, Rarity..." Rarity said to herself, but curiosity got the better of her. "Oh, but it's so much fun, Rarity."
Rarity then gave into her temptation and grabbed the newspaper, starts reading it.
"Hello, what's this?" Rarity said, starts reading the article about Snips and Snails and started giggling. "Gum on the bum! Too rich!"
It was then Sweetie Belle came downstairs with an irritated look after hearing her sister laughing.
"Can you please keep it down with all that laughter?" Sweetie Belle said indignantly. "I'm trying to-Hey!"
Sweetie Belle blinked and then glared when she saw Rarity reading the newspaper from her sack.
"Bleh! I, I was just-"
"Are you snooping through my saddlebag?" Sweetie Bell demanded when Rarity puts the newspaper back on the saddlebag.
Rarity tried to hide the saddlebag behind her back with her magic as Sweetie Belle tilted her head from side to side to see it. Sweetie Belle then glared before she gave Rarity's horn a hard flick with her fore-hoof, making her drop the saddlebag.
"How dare you?!" Sweetie Belle said angrily, grabs her saddlebag.
"Oh, but Gabby Gums column is do funny!" Rarity said as she grabbed the newspaper started reading it again.
"You actually like the school paper?" Sweetie Belle asks surprisingly as Rarity walked by her sister.
"It's so much juicer than anything in the boring old Ponyville Express." Rarity said. "Could I borrow this to show my friends and my children?"
"Your friends would wanna read the Foal Free Press?" Sweetie Belle asks in disbelief.
"Oh, they'd just love Gabby Gums!" Rarity said. "Who is she, anyway? I've never heard of her before. Is she a new-"
Sweetie Belle then beamed with excitement before she ran out of the Carousel Boutique in a hurry and leaving Rarity no answer to her question about Gabby Gums. It wasn't long before Sweetie Belle found Apple Bloom and Scootaloo still moping at the school playground.
"We gave too quickly, girls." Sweetie Belle said as she came to a screeching halt. "Forget trying to squeeze stories out of this school. We need to expand!"
As the view showed the entire town of Ponyville, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo smiled excitedly as a camera flashed in the background.
"We can find all kinds of great gossips out there in Ponyville!" Apple Bloom said.
"We'll need to tell Featherweight to start working overtime." Sweetie Belle added as Featherweight was busy taking pictures of a ladybug.
"Sweetie Belle, you're a genius!" Scootaloo said as they made their way toward Featherweight.
Later on at the Ponyville market district, several ponies were busy walking and shopping when they're all startled by an ear splitting scream. Inside of the jewelry shop, the cake twins, Pumpkin and Pound, had started crying and screaming, leaving Mr. and Mrs. Cake worried as well as embarrassed. Especially when somepony captured the moment in a picture.
"'Pound and Pumpkin Cakes Trip to the Store Ends in Tears'!" Diamond Tiara read aloud as the three fillies stood before her desk again. "Gabby Gums comes through again!"
It was then Truffle arrived, clearly out of breath.
"The Ponyville news stand wants to carry the Foal Free Press!" Truffle informed her with a pant. "Ponies keep coming by and asking for it!"
"Send 'em 20 copies and if they run out of those! We'll send 'em 20 more!" Diamond Tiara instructed as Truffle smiles and quickly walked away to collect the copies. "You three are doing great job for this paper! Keep those columns coming!"
"This is great!" Scootaloo said excitedly as the three fillies shared another high hoof together.
As for the rest of the ponies continued their work in the basement, Scootaloo was busy talking as Sweetie Belle wrote things down in a sheet of paper. Apple Bloom then put the article into a box with the word IN on the label for the printing. Ruby Pinch and Truffle worked hard typing up the articles as Shady Daze was busy working on the clunky printer. As several newly printed newspapers emerged from the machine, Truffle tied them together by a rope and pulled out for delivery.
The second the newspapers were available, pony after pony started to pick them up and read them. Several of them were even reading the newspapers as they sat outside.
The 7 foals and Flora Heart were on their way to meet their mothers, Mario, and Kronk to the spa and relax, but they saw everypony around reading newspapers which confuses them.
"Dude, what's with all the newspapers?" Storm Hawk questions. "I haven't seen anything like this be popular in Ponyville before."
"I agree, not many would read news or anything related in between." Daylight agrees, raising her eyebrow.
Mayor Mare then walks out of the town hall to approach the foals.
"Kids, have you just said that you do not know what's been so popular around Ponyville right now?" Mayor Mare questions when the foals nodded at that.
Mayor Mare then pulls out a rolled up newspaper that she had and tosses it to them when Comet caught it with magic.
"There have been funny columns trending all over Ponyville and get this...Gabby Gums who is the pony who has been publishing these stories is from the Foal Free Press." Mayor Mare explains, which the foals were intrigued as they opened the newspaper and starts reading. "They've been doing a wonderful job with keeping everypony entertained with all of the gossip going around, that they just had to be expected to the Ponyville News Stand. I gave them authorization of allowing the foals to publish their stories out to all of Ponyville."
While Mayor Mare was speaking, the 7 foals and Flora Heart continues reading the newspaper and as they read it, they're slowly getting uneasy.
"To me, this should keep many more ponies occupied for the day and not have them be so dull." Mayor Mare said. "Wouldn't you agree?"
When the 7 foals finished reading the newspaper, they cringed at it as if they know that there's something wrong with all of the stories in it. They then look up to Mayor Mare in confusion.
"And...you're okay with this?" Comet questions.
"Of course." Mayor Mare replied.
"Yer okay with titles like, 'Epic Rainfall' or 'Cranky Doodle's Toupee Collection'?" Apple Shine asks.
"I know." Mayor Mare said with a laugh. "It's wonderful stories, isn't it?"
"Well...while some of these are true, but you do know that it's talking about the ponies private lives." Rose Lotus points out.
"All the more why it's interesting and great gossip." Mayor Mare states. "I mean, look at those well-abiding citizens over time."
Mayor Mare points at the direction which the foals turns to and sees Lyra Heartstring and Bon Bon laughing together at the newspaper that they're reading. They raise an eyebrow at this and looks at the newspaper that Comet's holding before handing it back to Mayor Mare.
"Sorry, we're not interested." Comet said bluntly as they nod with an agreement.
"Really? It's very interesting." Mayor Mare said surprisingly.
"Maybe for you, but we don't really like that kind of gossip too much." Daylight told her. "It's a bit too personal."
"Well, if you say so." Mayor Mare said with a shrug. "Where are you kids heading off to?"
"We're meeting our families at the spa to relax." Golden Charm told her. "They're expecting us to meet them there."
"Okay then." Mayor Mare said. "If you kids don't like Gabby Gums, then I won't judge you."
"Thank you and please...be careful of what you read in those newspaper." Winter Breeze warns her. "They all might not be for everypony."
"Will do." Mayor Mare nods as the foals left to meet up with their families at the spa.
But as soon as they left, Mayor Mare turns to a page that makes her gasp in shock.
"H-How did this into a newspaper?!" Mayor Mare exclaims in disbelief. "How did somepony know that I dye my mane?!"
At the Ponyville Spa, the Mane 7 and the 7 foals minus Rainbow Dash was enjoying their time together at the spa as Rarity, Twilight, Applejack, Spike, Mario, Kronk, and the foals are relaxing on the lounge chairs in various ways. Twilight reads the Foal Free Press with a crimp secured on a pink streak in her tail. Applejak lies in her belly with a blanket draped around her, spike has cucumber slices on his eyes while lying on his back, Mario was reclining a long chair on his back and reading a book based on previous Elemental Masters, Kronk was lying on his belly as well with hot stones on his back and a blanket over his flank, and Rarity in her bathrobe had a towel around her mane and is reading a copy of Gabby Gums while holding Flora Heart as Lotus looks at her. Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and the 7 foals are in the tub with their manes wrapped in towels.
"Oh, this is the life, isn't it, you guys?" Rarity asks. "The best hooficure I've ever had."
"Y-y-y-you s-s-s-said i-i-i-i-t, oo-oo-oh..." Applejack replied in a vibrating voice when a pony gave her a back massage.
"This treatment, I'll definitely feel for the next few days." Kronk said with a relief sigh.
"This is definitely a good life." Mario said contently. "Thanks for letting me come with you guys. I needed a break from the dojo and all that jazz."
"Hey, you're part of the group, Mario." Pinkie Pie said.
"Oh, Mario, where did you get that book?" Fluttershy asked while swimming to the edge.
"I got it at a bookstore on the other side of town." Mario explains. "It's got a lot of information that Master Wu's father and the Elemental Masters before us were able to beat the Serpentines and the Great Devourer."
Twilight giggled to herself, seeing how Mario was fond of the histories of Elemental Masters and Master Wu's father. She was sitting on the lounge chair next to him, reading her book.
"I don't know if I've ever been so relaxed." Spike said with a sigh of content.
"You guys!" Rainbow Dash shouts, bursts in the room.
Spike bolts upright with a yell as the cucumber slices pop off his eyes and land on Rainbow Dash's eyes as she gallops with a newspaper in her teeth that she sits down.
"The new Gabby Gums just came out!" Rainbow Dash said. "'The Great and Powerful Trixie's Secrets Revealed!'"
"We already read that one, Rainbow Dash." Rarity points out. "Come on, relax, have a hooficure, it feels amazing."
"Did you forget who you're talking too?" Rainbow Dash rhetorically questions as she pulls one of the slices off her face with her tongue and gulps it down. "The day I get a hooficure if the day I turn in my daredevil license."
"Oh stop it, Rainbow, how many times do I have to tell you that being girly doesn't mean you're awesome? Awesome girls like to feel pretty and cute too, remember?" Mario told her in annoyance, causing her to roll her eyes.
"Tomboy." Storm Hawk scoffs when his friends snickered a bit.
"Hey, watch it!" Rainbow Dash remarked. "Besides, I haven't read this Gabby Gums yet."
Spike then reaches in to grab the cucumber slice still on her eye.
"Well, do it quietly, will ya?" Spike said as he then opens her mouth and takes the one that she swallowed back out and puts it back on his other eye despite the fact that she just swallowed it. "Some of us are trying to unwind!"
"I like Gabby Gums too, but don't you think she can be a little mean?" Twilight asks with worry, reading a copy as Lotus Blossom put some more metal crimpers to style her tail.
"I certainly do." Mario agrees, continued reading a book.
"Mean? Try straight up snake in a grass!" Apple Shine retorted. "No worse, a double-crossin' sidewinder!"
"She's not a snake, Apple Shine, she's a hoot." Applejack told her daughter, reading a copy.
"No, Apple Shine is right, 'Celestia Just Like Us?'" Twilight agrees, reading an article and finds herself staring at a picture of Princess Celestia caught in the act of gorging herself on cake. "Gabby Gums doesn't value anypony's privacy."
"I might need to keep my window curtains closed whem I'm home or at the dojo." Mario said to himself.
"Oh, lighten up, darlings, it's nothing but harmless gossip!" Rarity said, continued reading a copy while Lotus Blossom finished her hooficure.
"Well yeah, gossip that can potentially be humiliating for someponies." Rose Lotus points out.
"Oh come on, Rosey, it's all entertaining to read." Pinkie Pie said as she surfaced from the spa pool and pulled out a dried up newspaper that has a picture of Mayor Mare and gray man dyer she's applying to cover her manes natural color. "I mean listen to this one. 'Mayor Not Naturally Gray!' The Mayor in a mane dying scandal? Who wouldn't wanna read that?"
"Popularity is no excuse for something that's personal and private to ponies." Kronk points out when Aloe appears to take the hot stones off of his back. "It could be funny for one pony, but very embarrassing for the other."
"I agree. I just can't help but feel sorry for the ponies featured in her columns." Twilight agrees as Lotus Blossom applies some polish onto her hooves.
"Are you kidding? Do you know how awesome it is to get your name in the paper?" Rainbow Dash asks with a smile.
"One that features one of your most embarrassing secrets?" Storm Hawks with his raised eyebrow when Rainbow Dash looks up and thinks to herself.
"Well...when you put it that way..." Rainbow Dash muttered.
"But he does have a point. When it's for a success, I agree with you, but when it's a failure or something embarrassing, you can't leave your house feeling like everypony is watching and criticizing you." Mario points out with an agreement.
Twilight turned to face him.
"Those ponies who did that to you when you lost your mentor are just a bunch of blowhards looking to tear you down for their own selfish intentions, Mario." Twilight said sternly. "You are a very special, talented, successful, and handsome pony. I'm proud to be dating such a loving, caring, and charming colt. You're very special to me."
Twilight couldn't help but blush afterwards. She might not be ready to admit she was in love, but she could at least let him know that he meant something to her. The other girls cooed and awed while Comet, Daylight, and Apple Shine smiled at that, Spike, Storm Hawk, and Golden Charm smirked quietly and Kronk chuckled.
"Thank you, Twilight." Mario said. "That means a lot to hear you say that. I'm glad our dates are bringing us closer and we're learning to cherish and value one another. Just like we're learning to cherish and value to our kids."
Twilight and her friends agreed, but she's grateful for the attempt to open with her feelings had gone well and she hadn't tripped over her tongue.
"Uncle Mario, I just hope you tell her soon." Apple Shine said in quiet tone which Twilight can still hear her. "Cuz' I can tell she likes you."
Twilight widens her eyes with shock, felt her heart dropped.
"I know, but I'll tell her soon. Not here." Mario told his niece in a quiet tone. "Besides, if Twilight has developed feelings for me. Then she'll tell me when she's good and ready, I'm not gonna pry that out of her. When she does me, I'll know it'll be from the bottom of her heart and it'll mean far more than if I ask her to tell me. I know I'll love her forever and I'll wait as long as it takes for her to say the same to me."
Twilight smiled as her eyes watered as she gave an inward squee of pure bliss. His words just melted her heart and was grateful nopony could see her face at the moment. Twilight was on cloud nine.
"Rainbow, why don't you join me in one of these delicious hooficures?" Rarity offers when Lotus Blossom was busy filing one of her fore-hooves.
"It's that good, huh?" Rainbow Dash asks hesitantly when Twilight rolled her eyes good-humoredly and smiles toward Rainbow Dash to tell her to go ahead. What they didn't notice was that Featherweight took a peek inside of a spa. "Well, maybe just one little hoof."
Rainbow Dash then walks over to an empty lounge chair next to Rarity and sits on her back stretched out. Lotus then attempts to give Rainbow Dash a hooficure, but every time she tries to get a file near her rear hoof, she twitches one or both of them out of the way. Rainbow Dash then chews her lower lip and shakes all over as if the file were a red-hot branding iron. Before its tip can make contact with her hoof, she jumps up off the chair with a yell and hovers above it.
"Forget it, I don't like ponies touching my hooves." Rainbow Dash said quickly as she flies back to the newspaper that she dropped on the floor.
"Come on, at least give it a try in the future." Mario said gently before continuing on reading.
"I'll think about it." Rainbow Dash replied. "Man...I'd love it if Gabby Gums did a story on me."
"She did one on me." Spike said casually.
"What?!" The Mane 6 exclaims, instantly gathered around Spike from that and their sudden attention scares the cucumbers off of his eyes and a cry from his mouth.
The 7 foals, Mario, and Kronk just shook their heads with an unamused look.
At the Ponyville Schoolhouse, the Cutie Mark Crusaders are seen in front of a desk in the printing room as the trio were the infamous Gabby Gums trying to sell out all of their gossip around Ponyville. They're being journalists for their school this year so that they can finally get their cutie marks, but in order for them to try and accomplish their feats, they have to follow the editor-in-chief who's none other than Diamond Tiara. They tried to publish some vague stories out to the school, but Diamond Tiara wasn't too happy with that type of paper, so the CMCs instead made some rude, yet funny gossip about someponies which Diamond Tiara opened up to and allowed them to continue publishing their columns around Ponyville.
Diamond Tiara sits in a high-backed chair behind a desk and has put the photo of herself on the wall. A layout table stands in one corner as Shady Daze squirts an ink into a printing press, and two other ponies, Ruby Pinch and Truffle are busy at the typewriters. The floor and the machinery are liberally besmirched with pigment, as are Shady and the apron he wears.
The CMCs place down a photo of Spike at the desk doing his best impression that involved him wearing a fez, velvet bathrobe, and pipe emitting bubbles.
"'Exclusive! Local Dragon Tells All!'" Apple Bloom said excitedly. "Spike opens up about Canterlot, naps, and his favorite jams!"
"It's our best column yet!" Scootaloo said proudly.
Diamond Tiara however wasn't too happy with that type of news.
"More like the worst column yet!" Diamond Tiara retorted as she jumps on the desk and glares at them. "Gabby Gums didn't become the biggest thing in Ponyville with Namby-Pamby stories like this!"
She throws the photo in their faces on the end of this and stalks out of the room angrily, leaving the CMCs wincing at their failed attempt.
"Yeah, she's right." Apple Bloom said with a sigh, looked at the article of Spike. "This column is a little softer than out usual gossip."
"Were you guys feeling guilty about all the gossip too?" Sweetie Belle asks in disappointment. "Like...maybe we could be hurting other ponies' feelings?"
"Yeah, I didn't wanna say anything because everypony loves Gabby Gums so much, but...I was sorta hoping we could start writing more stories like this one." Apple Bloom added.
"Me too." Scootaloo agrees.
Sweetie Belle then picks the photo in her mouth, drops it into the trash can, and addresses the others resolutely.
"If we're gonna get out cutie marks, we're got to give the ponies what they want." Sweetie Belle told them.
Each of them reluctantly raise their hooves before bumping them together, but they let out a slight moan that they had to continue their gossip on everypony.
The next day at Sugarcube Corner, the Mane 8 and the 8 foals excluding Rainbow Dash were all gathered around each other reading the Gabby Gums newspaper once again, but this time they started to have a different opinion on what they think of Gabby Gums newspaper as Applejack shows her friends, her daughter, her brother, and her godson a newspaper of her that's apparently of her snoozing under a tree.
"'Applejack Sleeping on the Job!'" Applejack exclaims, read aloud as she paced around angrily. "Can y'all believe this?! And this one: 'Big Macintosh-What's He Hiding?'"
She turns the page and shows a picture of Big Mac with Twilight's old Smarty Pants doll on his grip.
"Who the hay does this Gabby Gums think she is?!" Applejack continued.
"You know, I wouldn't say I told so, but..."
"Mario, don't even think about it." Applejack warns her brother angrily.
"...Told you so!" Mario said quickly, causing Applejack to whack him upside of the head with the newspaper. "Ow! Worth it!"
Twilight then brings up the article of herself pontificating over a book in the library.
"Listen to this one: 'Twilight Sparkle: I was a Canterlot Snob! A well-placed scaly source close to the prissy pony says Twilight Sparkle thinks Ponyville is nothing but muddy roads and low-class!'" Twilight said, read aloud as she turns to Spike angrily. "Spike!"
Standing at the front door, Spike is so surprised by her outburst that he yelps and belches fire over the paper in his hands and nothing is left but a charred ball.
"How could you say such a thing?" Twilight retorted angrily.
"How can you call Twilight a snob like that?" Mario asked sternly.
"Well, I didn't!" Spike said fearfully. "Gabby Gums made that up! I never said anything like that!"
"Hey! There's an article about Mario in here!" Pinkie Pie said, showed a picture of Mario wearing wrappings around his hooves in a fighting stance. "'Mario's teachers were low-lives after the Master of Nature was murdered without any evidence. Love interest Twilight Sparkle admits to dating him out of pity.'"
"What?!" Mario exclaimed as he grabbed the article and looked at it. "Okay, even I know dating part isn't true. Twilight confirmed that. But this was never supposed to be released in public! And nopony mocks Master Bolobo or Master Wu and gets away with that!?"
"This is what we're telling you everypony! Gabby Gums is nothing but a crazy and uncontrollable fool!" Storm Hawk said sternly. "She's posting what she wants so that other ponies can laugh at the gossip given and think that it's true!"
"Storm Hawk, please!" Rarity said. "She's just a harmless school pony engaged a little harmless gossip. You're making too big a deal out of this."
"Don't you get, Mom?! This is starting to affect everypony and you're saying it's no big deal at all?!" Golden Charm shouts.
"It's just entertainment." Rarity shrugs, reading the article.
"But think of the controversy! For all we know, they're all lies!" Twilight adds, got into Rarity's face. "Gabby Gums prints whatever she wants! She doesn't care reputation she destroys! 'Fluttershy Has Tail Extensions!'"
Twilight turns a page with her magic to bring up an article that shows Fluttershy with several red arrows pointing at her tail which appear to be rather longer than normal. Fluttershy got so mortified, that she silently sinks from view behind the edge.
"'Pinkie Pie is an Out-Of-Control Party Animal!'" Twilight reads aloud, turns another page of Pinkie Pie is standing in a full punchbowl with a lampshade on her head. A party is in full swing, but a horrified mare is trying to flee the scene.
"What?!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed as she immediately yanks the newspaper back to look at what Gabby Gums said in complete shock before crying. "It's true! I do have a problem!"
Pinkie Pie then drops the floor crying and Rose Lotus walks up to her and pats her on the head to calm her down a bit.
"Look at that. It's getting so bad it's hurting other ponies feelings." Comet said sarcastically with deadpan look as Twilight then reads another page and Applejack and Fluttershy read it along with her.
"Oh look! According to this one, the Cakes are breaking up!" Twilight said when the Cakes immediately zips in front of them as they hold a tray of cupcakes."
"We are?!" Mr. and Mrs. Cake exclaims with puzzled look.
"Now we definitely know that's a lie." Rose Lotus said.
A loud crash is then heard at the door which has just been knocked off the hinges by Rainbow Dash and a huge mound of papers she's carrying.
"Well, my life is officially over." Rainbow Dash said in a muffled tone. "Gabby Gums has made it to Cloudsdale!"
Rainbow Dash pulls out a newspaper that bears a picture of her during Lotus' attempt hoof-filing in the spa. However, she's smiling, suggesting that Featherweight either doctored it or snapped at just the right moment to capture that expression.
"'Rainbow Dash: Speed Demon or Super Softie?!'" Twilight exclaims.
"I grabbed as many copies as I could, but it was too late! I'm a laughing stock!" Rainbow Dash sobbed as she drops to the floor dramatically in distraught in the news.
"You've gotta be kidding me!" Mario said in annoyance. "You mean to tell me ponies are laughing at you just for...for being yourself? Just for being...a girl?"
Rainbow Dash looked at him with eyes filled with tears.
"I told you that you're the only pony who ever respected me as a lady!" Rainbow Dash sobbed as she cried harder as Storm Hawk and Mario comforts her.
"See Rarity? Do you see the point now?" Daylight asks. "This is all going too far that it's just straight up mean and humiliating."
"Honestly, you ponies have no sense of humor." Rarity said with a shrug when Kronk then walks to her with a straight up scowl look on his face.
"You won't be laughing for long when she posts an article on you!" Kronk said.
Kronk then uses his magic to turn a page, showing Rarity another page that has her on it. Rarity looks at it for a second before going wide-eyed to see herself, sprawled out on her favorite fainting couch and in full meltdown.
"'The Drama Queen Diaries.'" Kronk said, read aloud as he looked at Rarity with a glare. "Does that sound funny to see yourself like that?!"
"I'll...I'll...I'LL DESTROY HER!" Rarity shouts, leaned away from the newspaper and back into it. "She reprinted my diary! How could Gabby Gums possibly get access to my private diary?!"
"We're got to put a stop to this once and for all!" Twilight said, remembered something. "Sweetie Belle's on the newspaper staff. Maybe she knows who Gabby Gums is."
"I wonder if they're involved in this at all to be honest." Winter Breeze said with a ponder. "They did say that they're on the journal team for their school."
"Sugarcube, I doubt Apple Bloom would have the audacity to even post things about her own sister." Applejack states.
"And my sister would never associate with someone as beastly as Gabby Gums!" Rarity adds. "I resent you and your friends even suggesting such a thing, Winter! Why, she's the most innocent, most lovely-"
Rarity, Kronk, Golden Charm, and Flora Heart are now at the Carousel Boutique as she takes a look in Sweetie Belle's saddlebag and finds that she's hiding none other than...her diary.
"MOST EVIL PONY IN EQUESTRIA!" Rarity bellowed angrily. "How could my own sister be...Gabby Gums?!"
Rarity, Kronk, Golden Charm, and Flora Heart instantly rushes to her living area and kicks the door open to find Sweetie Belle on the floor looking at the notepad.
"Et tu, Gabby Gums?!" Rarity said darkly as Sweetie Belle gasped.
"You know?!" Sweetie Belle exclaims in shock, stood up instantly. "How'd you find out?!"
"The gilded pages of your betrayal!" Rarity replied angrily as she showed both the newspaper and her private diary.
"Oh, yeah." Sweetie Belle said with guilt, slight turns away.
"How could you do this to me?!" Rarity retorted. "You stole me secret diary and published if for all the world to read! Gossip can be a very hurtful thing. It is an invasion of privacy, just like when I snooped through your saddlebag. You didn't like that much, do you?"
"No..." Sweetie Belle answered, looked down to the floor.
"That's like a pot calling kettle black." Golden Charm told his mother.
"Quiet you!" Rarity remarked, turns back to her sister. "What is important is that you understand how your column makes the ponies you're writing about feels?!"
"I do understand, and we've all been feeling guilty, but we just want our cutie marks so badly!" Sweetie Belle replied as Rarity softens her glare and then puts her hoof on her shoulder.
"Do you really think that writing nasty things and making everypony fell horrible is your destiny?" Rarity questions.
"Well, when you put it that way..." Sweetie Belle replied, now knows what it must be done.
Sweetie Belle knew at this point that with Rarity knowing her, her son and daughter, her godson, and her friends as Gabby Gums, things were just going to get worse if they continue to do it. She told the others everything and they all knew that they couldn't be journalists anymore if they hurt everypony that they gossip about that involved their embarrassing stories. They decided to go back to the schoolhouse and announce their resignation to Diamond Tiara of their journals, but..."
"No!" Diamond Tiara yelled sternly. "I won't let you quit!"
"But the gossip we've been printing is hurting everypony's feelings!" Sweetie Belle protested when Diamond Tiara had her back against them as she pouted in her chair.
"Feelings?!" Diamond Tiara snorted as she turned to face them with her fore-legs crossed. "I don't care about feelings! Gabby Gums is my bread and butter, and I'm not gonna let you goody-two-horseshoes take that away from me!"
"We're sorry, Diamond Tiara, but we've made our decision." Sweetie Belle said firmly.
"Yeah, you can't force us to keep gossiping." Scootaloo adds.
Diamond Tiara scowls at that since the three fillies are making a valid point, but it soon shifts into a calculating smile, and she holds up a file over her shoulder.
"When you see these...you may not want to quit after all." Diamond Tiara said smugly when the folder is thrown across, spilling out three full-color photos when it hits the floor at their hooves. They suck in a disbelieving gasp at what they see next.
They're were embarrassing photos of them Sweetie Belle have been pressed into modeling duty in a peacock girl costume, Scootaloo was in a mud puddle underneath the birds nest, and there's a photo of a page in Granny Smith's album with a photo of a double-diapered baby Apple Bloom. When they each see these photos of themselves, they blush at those seeing that Diamond Tiara found out.
"I told Featherweight to document everything...and that's exactly when we did." Diamond Tiara boasted, pulled up the folder and the photos.
The CMCs sees Featherweight who's stuck his camera into the office through the open window and takes another shot.
"Gimme those!" Scootaloo demanded, tries to grab them when Diamond Tiara pulls it away from her.
"Sorry, girls, property of the Foal Free Press." Diamond Tiara replied with a smug. "And if Gabby Gums really does go into retirement, I'll need something to fill that empty column space."
The CMCs are shocked by this. Diamond Tiara is actually going through extreme lengths to keep Gabby Gums going, and if they stop...she'll blackmail them and expose their embarrassing photos to all of Ponyville to laugh at.
"Now get out there and bring me more Gabby Gums!" Diamond Tiara shouts, making the threat loud and clear as she returned to her chair.
The CMCs were now walking out in the meadows of Ponyville, trying to think about what they should do in order to either get out of their blackmailing situation or just try and get a column in general so they can't get blackmailed at all. However, the 7 foals and Mario were approaching them with angry looks on their faces.
"Hello, 'Gabby Gums'." Comet said, making the filles gasp.
"How did you-"
"Rarity told us everything." Daylight answered bluntly. "In fact, the entire town knows about how you three went around showing everypony around town the embarrassing stories of their lives."
The CMCs were surprised from that until Scootaloo spoke up.
"Don't suppose...you'd let us write a column on you?" Scootaloo said as they deepen their glares.
"You should ashamed of yourselves. The citizens around the town are just not going to be happy if they see you, they'll shut you out." Mario told them sternly. "All of these stories that you've been publishing have caused nothing, but damage to anypony that you gossip. Even in some cases, you've lied! Don't you three feel any guilty at all?!"
The CMCs all grew sad looks from that as they answer his question.
"Of course, we felt some guilt." Sweetie Belle answered. "I told Rarity the same thing."
"Then why'd y'all do it if you know that it ain't right to gossip?" Apple Shine questions.
"We joined the journal team 'cause we were so desperate to earn our cutie marks." Apple Bloom told her niece. "We didn't think it would some to this."
"We can understand you lassies want your cutie marks so bad in life." Golden Charm said. "And we obviously understand that you're trying all kinds of new things in order to get them. But going THIS far?! You all have your own reputations as Gabby Gums ruined already with all of this!?"
"We know and we're sorry." Scootaloo said. "Really, we are."
The CMCs then crouch to the ground in front of them, begging for forgiveness. They look down at the three fillies.
"Then why are you three even continuing this?" Winter Breeze asks with a sigh. "Everypony is just going to reject your offer at this point to get a column to publish."
"But we need one! Just one!" Apple Bloom said desperately. "Of anypony!"
"Ugh! Why are you fools so desperate?!" Storm Hawk shouts in annoyance. "Doesn't anypony else in your class thinks this is a bad idea?!"
"No...not really." Sweetie Belle said quietly, turns away.
"Don't you have an editor as well?" Rose Lotus questions. "What do they have say about it?"
"They're completely okay with it. So until now, we didn't think it would me much of a problem." Scootaloo explains. "And she loved the columns that we gave her."
"She? Who's this 'she'?" Mario asks, raising his eyebrow.
Scootaloo goes wide-eyed as she realizes what she just said and the other two fillies get a worried look as they don't know what they should respond with. Then, they turned around and get into a huddle for a second.
"What should we do?" Scootaloo asks in a whispered tone. "If we sell out Diamond Tiara, she'll sure have our faces spread across the whole town!"
"I don't know, but we're in a corner right now. The biggest conundrum ever!" Apple Bloom replied in a same tone.
"We have two options: A) Tell them about Diamond Tiara so that they can tell the whole town as well and then get blackmailed in the end. B) Lie about not knowing who the editor is and not get blackmailed at all." Sweetie Belle said.
"I don't know y'all, they're right though." Apple Bloom points out. "We've done too much already and we'll just make it worse if we do more."
"But we can't let our faces in those photos get shown." Scootaloo said.
"Hold on! Don't you think we should them about that too?" Sweetie Belle suggests, leaving Scootaloo confused. "They're an understanding ponies. Maybe instead of doing a column, they could probably help us with not getting blackmailed."
Apple Bloom and Scootaloo look at each other from that and smiled.
"True, they did nothing but help us out." Scootaloo agrees.
"And in the end, it works out for everypony." Apple Bloom adds. "We should tell them about Diamond Tiara and I'm sure we'll be able to be clear of those darn photos in the end."
"We can trust them." Sweetie Belle said. "I'm sure they'll think of something."
"Ahem. We're waiting..." Mario interrupts, cleared his throat.
The CMCs look back to see Mario and the 7 foals tapping their hooves on the ground impatiently and they looked at each other, nodded before walking up to them.
"Apparently...we haven't told y'all the truth." Apple Bloom explains. "We're not really the only ones who are deciding what should be published around in Ponyville."
"There's an editor-in-chief who actually is in charge from choosing the stories to making sure it gets to press on time." Sweetie Belle adds.
"We got a new one this year and...she's not really cooperative." Scootaloo adds.
"Let me guess, Diamond Tiara?" Comet guessed, earned a nod from the three fillies and now they finally realizes why they're making gossip articles because of her.
"She's been deciding all of this time of what gets published or not." Apple Bloom answered.
"Why that little!? Now it all make sense!" Storm Hawk said angrily. "Let us make a hunch and say that she's ordering everypony around to make newspapers for her own amusement and doesn't care about what she publishes as long as it's funny for her."
"That's pretty much the whole story." Scootaloo answered.
"Don't you girls want to stop this?!" Winter Breeze asks sternly. "Can't you quit if you don't want to work for her?"
"Of course, we want to quit! But we had a no way out!" Apple Bloom told her.
"And what do you mean by 'no way out'?" Mario inquires.
"Uh...she may have forced us in a way and now we're having to publish stories nonstop." Scootaloo said nervously.
"In what way?" Mario asks again which the CMCs were hesitant to answer that as they all look to the ground with nervous look. "Girls, we want to get you out of this, but we can't if you don't give us the details. Tell us, how is she forcing you to keep working with her?"
The CMCs took a deep breath before answering the question.
"She got some embarrassing looking photos of us from when we're trying to get some other columns to publish out there in the town and she threatened us that if we don't continue being Gabby Gums then she'd reveal those photos and get us exposed." Sweetie Belle explains which it got them shocked to hear that.
"We need to go and inform your sisters and our mothers about this!" Comet suggested.
"But how?" Apple Bloom questions. "With us being known as Gabby Gums, they'll for sure not even listen to us."
"Well...they'll listen to us." Comet told her.
Mario and the 7 foals let's all of their friends know to meet them at Sugarcube Corner. It involved them getting through some obstacles, such as Rainbow Dash sitting on a ton of rain clouds, Twilight putting a force field around the Golden Oak Library, getting Fluttershy to calm down and not cry, and even Applejack was reluctant to go with them after they mentioned Gabby Gums but if it's important, then she'll come along.
At the Sugarcube Corner, the Mane 8 and the CMCs are there as Mario and the 7 foals explained everything what was going on, why the CMCs kept posting the embarrassing stories about everypony, and the true culprit behind the whole Gabby Gums incident.
"So let me get this straight, these three have been in the journaling team and were forced to keep publishing those stories of us all cause of some bully at their school named Diamond Tiara?" Applejack summerized.
"That pretty much sums it up." Apple Shine answered when Rarity rushed up to her sister in shock.
"Sweetie Belle, why haven't you ever told me that this was all cause of some fillies scandal?!" Rarity demands sternly.
"We didn't think it would be a big deal until now." Sweetie Belle told her.
"And Apple Bloom, why haven't you told anything about it, either?" Applejack questions in a same tone as Rarity.
"Well...who would believe that ponies such a young age would be going over this limit all cause of Diamond Tiara?" Apple Bloom asks nervously.
"Me! I'm your big sister!" Applejack shouts. "We could've told Granny Smith, Ma, and Pa about this. We would've had the situation handled by now."
"This is bad, everypony." Twilight said with worry. "If Diamond Tiara went out of control like this, then we need to stop her before she embarrasses somepony else."
"It's not just somepony else, Mom. Diamond Tiara also blackmailed them." Daylight points out as Comet nods with an agreement.
"And if they don't publish a Gabby Gums post by tonight, it'll be over for them." Comet adds when the ponies gasp in shock as Rainbow Dash flies up to Scootaloo.
"Come on kid, you gotta pony up!" Rainbow Dash said. "Show those bullies who's boss!"
"Mom, we're not using brute force!" Storm Hawk told her, flies up to her. "Everypony around Ponyville needs to know about this, starting with Ms. Cheerilee."
"So, do you darlings have a plan?" Rarity questions when Mario and Kronk smirks at that.
"A great one! One that will settle Gabby Gums once and for all!" Mario answered. "We're not going to let Diamond Tiara get her way! She may think that she can sit back and watch Ponyville for her own entertainment, but a spoiled brat like that doesn't like what adults can do!"
"So, what do we do first?" Fluttershy inquires.
"I need you all to go and inform Mayor Mare that she should schedule a town meeting this evening near the town hall." Mario answered.
"Knowing that lass, she'll show up and hear about it." Golden Charm said.
"Well, what about us?" Scootaloo asks.
"You three are going to announce the true story of why Gabby Gums came to be. Including Diamond Tiara." Winter Breeze told her.
"What?!" Apple Bloom exclaims. "But if we say her name, she'll for sure expose us!"
"Don't worry, we won't intend to let that happen." Comet said. "We got this."
The Mane 8 nodded at that as the mares and Kronk run of the Sugarcube Corner so they can get the entire plan done. The CMCs were very nervous which they noticed it and goes up to them.
"I promise you girls that we won't let you get humiliated." Mario assures them.
The CMCs gave a smiles back to them as they exit the Sugarcube Corner.
At Ponyville Schoolhouse, Mario and the 7 foals were at the front door and knocks on it. Cheerliee opens the door.
"Oh, hello Mario." Cheerilee greets politely. "I didn't think I would see you and the children here today. Is there something you need?"
"As a matter of fact, we do." Mario replied. "We need to tell you about one of the students in your class, Diamond Tiara."
Cheerilee was confused at why they would ask her about of her students.
"Diamond Tiara? About what?" Cheerliee asks.
"We think you've given her a little too much authority." Daylight answered.
"What do you mean?" Cheerilee asks again.
"She apparently has been getting into some trouble as we've heard from three of your other students, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo that she's been forcing others to publish only what seems interesting to her." Mario explains. "You heard of Gabby Gums all across Ponyville right?"
"Yes, I did indeed also hear that it was of the three fillies that you speak of." Cheerilee replied.
"We need to tell you it's not entirely their fault." Apple Shine said. "You assigned Diamond Tiara as the editor-in-chief from what they've told us right?"
"Correct." Cheerilee nods.
"Well, she told them to post all of those stories that are embarrassing everypony out there." Rose Lotus explains. "The three made some other columns, but Diamond Tiara rejected their opinions."
"She didn't?" Cheerliee said with a gasp.
"Oh, but she did." Storm Hawk answered. "And not only that, they wanted to not take orders from her anymore and quit, but that fool did something that definitely breaks the school rules."
Cheerilee was listening as much as she could and at this point, she could tell what they're saying is very serious.
"Diamond Tiara blackmailed your students." Mario told her as Cheerilee gasps at that before getting a serious look.
"She's definitely in so much trouble!" Cheerilee said. "Thank you for telling me as soon as you could."
"No problem. But as far as we know, if Diamond Tiara is out of the job, she'll know that the CMCs sold her out." Rose Lotus told her. "Is there a bigger authority that we can seek out?"
"Actually, there is." Apple Shine said with a smirk, earned their attention. "There's certain somepony who can put Diamond Tiara in her place."
It got them realizing whom Apple Shine was talking about.
Later that evening, lots of ponies were gathered outside the town hall as the Mane 7 told Mayor Mare to hold a town meeting out in all of Ponyville and she was seen up on the stage, announcing what this meeting is about. Diamond Tiara is seen among the crowd of ponies with an irritated look on her face.
"This better be something good if it involved that all students in the school have to meet here." Diamond Tiara said. "Those blank flanks haven't even reached their quota on the Gabby Gums yet. When this is over, I'll probably have those photos published."
Mayor Mare then proceeds to give the crowd her explanation of why they're gathered there.
"I'm sure you all are confused of why we held such an abrupt meeting today here in Ponyville." Mayor Mare explains. "Surprisingly, this was actually appointed by Mario Star, Comet Stardust, Daylight Savings, Storm Hawk, Rose Lotus, Winter Breeze, and Golden Charm from what they have told me."
Diamond Tiara softly blows a raspberry at that.
"Well, this will be rich." Diamond Tiara said sarcastically.
"As you all know, we've been setting a lot of the Gabby Gums news around Ponyville and we've been getting different opinions." Mayor Mare continued as Diamond Tiara was intrigued. "It has indeed become scandalous, and I believe these three fillies who have been appointed me as well will tell us why."
Mayor Mare then moves aside after she walks to the side, the CMCs come up on the stage with guilty looks on their faces. Diamond Tiara got shocked to see them up on stage and the crowd wasn't happy at all to see them up on stage either since everypony knows of them being Gabby Gums.
"Hello, everypony..." Scootaloo said.
"It's us..." Apple Bloom adds.
"We're...Gabby Gums." Sweetie Belle finished.
The crowd starts to let out a little angry chatter and Diamond Tiara, who's in the crowd, smiled a little, thinking that the CMCs were selling themselves out.
"Yes, we're three little fillies and we're responsible for the publishing of all of the Gabby Gums columns." Apple Bloom admits.
"However, we didn't come here to say anything else humiliating...we want to apologize for the pain and embarrassment we've caused." Sweetie Belle adds.
Diamond Tiara goes wide-eyed from that and the crowd was also surprised to hear that.
"As the popularity of our column grow, we got swept up in hype." Scootaloo explains. "We knew that what we were doing didn't feel quite right, but we ignored the guilt because everypony seemed to want to read what we were writing."
"But in the end, all it did was cause others to get embarrassed from what we published." Sweetie Belle said.
"So, we're up here right now to not only apologize, but also reveal the true culprit of why we became Gabby Gums." Apple Bloom told them.
The crowd let out an intrigued chatter and Diamond Tiara growled as she knew who they were about to say and walked off.
"She was our editor-in-chief." Scootaloo said.
"And was the only one actually deciding what gets published out to Ponyville and what doesn't." Apple Bloom adds.
"When she admired our stories, we thought at first that we were doing a great job, but we've all been doing was invading everypony's privacy." Sweetie Belle explains. "Once we realized that what we were doing was wrong, we wanted to quit...but our editor-in-chief wouldn't allow that to happen."
"We'd like to say that our editor-in-chief and we hope that you're out there listening to what we were saying." Scootaloo adds, revealing a culprit. "Diamond Tiara! Forced us into making those stories by blackmailing us!"
The crowd gasps at that as the CMCs continue to speak.
"She threatened us to humiliate us ourselves if we didn't continue to do her demands." Sweetie Belle told them.
"We knew there was no way out of it, so we continued to look for columns so she wouldn't expose us to the entire public or all of Equestria." Apple Bloom adds.
"But that all stopped up until our friends came up and helped us out." Scootaloo said.
On cue from that, Mario and the 7 foals walked up onto the stage to then speak to the crowd.
"Listen up everypony, because of all of this drama going on now, do you see why it's not funny to laugh at someone's personal images?" Mario questions when the crowd of ponies all started to let out some confused chatter. "Gabby Gums was something that all of Ponyville agreed to and let's be honest here, you are all also responsible for us even making the announcement today."
Everypony in the crowd was surprised to hear that.
"It's one thing to laugh at a harmless joke that somepony makes, but for all of you to laugh at something that reveals everypony else's secrets is unacceptable. I mean some of you in this crowd right now have been published of some stuff that you don't think anypony should even know. You all allowed Gabby Gums to continue just for your own stupid entertainment, but then once you see yourself in the newspaper, it's not so funny to look at anymore, is it?" Mario explains when the crowd ponies looked at each other with guilt. "Look, next time when you all look at the newspaper, note the pony who's featured in it, if it's okay for them to be seen like that. This gossip has been too controversial and it's going to stop now. Our Gabby Gums would now like to say some final words to you all."
The CMCs then step up beside Mario and the 7 foals.
"From now on, we promise to respect everypony else's privacy, and we won't engage in hurtful gossip anymore." Sweetie Belle said.
"And all we can do is ask for forgiveness." Apple Bloom adds.
"This will be the official last thing that Gabby Gums posts to all of Ponyville." Scootaloo adds.
"We're sorry and we hope you all understand." The CMCs apologized.
There was a little bit of quiet for a second before the crowd starts to applaud for the apology that the CMCs, also known as Gabby Gums, gave. The CMCs smiled at that and so did Mario and the 7 foals as they brought all three of the fillies in a group hug. However, that's not the end as somepony is heard slowly, but sarcastically clapping their hooves and they turned to their right to see that it was none other than Diamond Tiara who had a cocky smirk on her face.
"Very nice apology, blank flanks. Very nice." Diamond Tiara said sarcastically.
Mario and the 7 foals turns to glare at her as the CMCs back up from her and she slowly walk towards them.
"You know if you three think about it, I actually gave you a chance for you to earn your stupid cutie marks, but look at it now." Diamond Tiara continued. "You blew it!"
"You weren't helping us at all." Apple Bloom retorted. "You were only using us!"
"What can I cay, I'm a pro at that." Diamond Tiara states with a smirk.
"And you've got one problem that you're gonna deal with, dog." Storm Hawk told her.
"And what will that be?" Diamond Tiara asks. "Because this is the second time you've humiliated me! I'll for sure get some dirt on all of you despite all of the confessions! I'll make it happen!"
"Make what happen exactly?" The voice of Filthy Rich asks in a stern tone.
Diamond Tiara froze up as hearing that voice as she turns around and the crowd of ponies backs up to reveal Filthy Rich. Diamond Tiara gasped in horror as who exactly she was just looking at.
"D-Dad?!" Diamond Tiara exclaims.
"Does that answers your question?" Apple Shine asks with a smirk of her own.
"Diamond Tiara, what do you think you're doing young lady?!" Filthy Rich shouts when Mario and the foals smirk at seeing Diamond Tiara is about to get some discipline.
"I...I was just..."
"You get down from that stage this instant!" Filthy Rich demands.
Diamond Tiara gulps from that as she did was she was told and walked up to her father. What was even more embarrassing for was that everypony was watching the whole thing.
"You know at first, I didn't believe that my daughter of all ponies would do something this outrageous, but after hearing what you just said in front of all of these ponies, I am extremely disappointed in you!" Filthy Rich scolds as Diamond Tiara's ears lay flat in guilt from that.
"B-But I was only..."
"I don't want to hear it!" Filthy Rich interrupts again. "Blackmailing three fillies! That crosses the line! You're grounded!"
Diamond Tiara was shocked from that.
"But-"
"Grounded! For a month!" Filthy Rich told her.
Diamond Tiara was shocked from that as she turned to the CMCs, who had innocent looks on their faces. She growls for a few seconds before letting out an angry yell and storming off in anger. Filthy Rich just sighs at her daughter as Mario approaches to him.
"Thank you for letting me know about my daughter." Filthy Rich thanked him, turns to Mario. "It'll definitely be a while before she has another party again or hang our with her friends."
"No problem." Mario said with a smile. "I'm sure Cheerilee filled you in with everything else?"
"Yes. She's kicked off the Foal Free Press for good and has a week of detention as well." Flithy Rich replied as he walks away to find Diamond Tiara.
The crowd around town hall simply claps for their bold actions as Mario and the 7 foals takes a respective bow at that before the CMCs run up to them.
"Wow! You actually let her father know about the whole situation as well?!" Apple Bloom asks.
"Eeyup, if Diamond Tiara was to try another angle, the only way out was to play her dad card." Apple Shine answered.
"You guys are smart when it comes to these things!" Scootaloo states.
"Well, we can't you three to be humiliated." Daylight points out with a chuckle.
The crowd around them then starts to disperse as they each walk away to either continue their evening or go home to finish their day.
"So, what do we do now girls?" Sweetie Belle asks.
"Now hold up, y'all. Before you get to try anythin', we've got a job for you three." Apple Shine told them as she gestures to a couple of empty recycling bins appear in front of them which made the three fillies frown.
"I don't get it." Sweetie said.
"Look, you three need a little bit of punishment as well for the whole Gabby Gums incident." Mario points out with a sigh. "So, just for the next hour, I want you three go around and find as many bottles or cans as you can."
"And while you're at it, find the articles that's been around here in a past few days." Winter Breeze adds.
"Aw man. Lame." Scootaloo groans, but Apple Bloom was upbeat.
"Don't worry you guys, maybe we'll get our cutie marks be recycling!" Apple Bloom declared as Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo perked up.
"Great idea!" Sweetie Belle agrees. "Let's get started right now! We'll get our cutie marks before we know it!"
As the CMCs run off with their recycling bin, with Mario and the 7 foals chuckled at their ambition.
"They'll never learn, will they?" Daylight asks.
"Nope." Comet told his sister.
"Those three do have a lot of potential in getting their cutie marks." Apple Shine states. "I wonder what they'll discover soon."
That's it for the 27th chapter.