Later that morning, Apple Bloom arrived to school after her brother dropped her off by the entrance. As Apple Bloom walked down the halls, she let out a loud yawn. She felt tired for staying up most of the night, setting up the Anon-a-Miss' MyStable account. Her tiredness were almost wiped away when she heard some snickering from other students. When she looked around, she noticed everyone was looking at their phones with amusing smirks on their faces and gossiping with each other involving her sister.
Apple Bloom smirked internally, pleased that her efforts were working. Pretty soon, her sister and her friends will arrive and notice all the teasing towards Applejack. They will soon put put two and two together and will think that it was Shimmer who spread Applejack's secret. Then they will kick Shimmer out to the curve and Apple Bloom will finally have her sister back.
Her plan was foolproof!
Apple Bloom eventually spotted the Rainbooms in the middle of the hallway with confused expressions, especially Applejack as students were mocking her by saying 'oink' as they walked passed her. It was time to put the final nail in the coffin. Apple Bloom took out her cell phone from her pocket and quickly logged out of Anon-a-Miss account and then logged back into MyStable as her own account. Once she was all set, Apple Bloom put on her most alarmed expression and then ran up to her sister.
"Sis! SIS!" Apple Bloom shouted, getting their attention. "You gotta see this!" She then shoved her phone towards her sister. "LOOK!"
Applejack took Apple Bloom's phone and read the recent post from Apple Bloom's page. As she read the text, Applejack's expression changed from confusion to shocked.
"'Did you guys know when AJ was a kid, she loved playing with her pigs? OMG! She sat in the mud for hours! Her whole family calls her "Piggly Wiggly" cause she loves them so much! What a PIG!'... WHAT?!?"
"It got posted a couple of hours ago!" said Apple Bloom, answering to Applejack's unspoken question.
As Applejack spluttered in shock, Sunset jumped in with narrowed eyes. "Who's this "Anon-a-Miss"?"
"Her profile was created the same time as th' posts! No clue who she is!" Apple Bloom explained while not looking at Sunset's eyes. "She posted on your page, my page, all of you guys' pages! The whole school probably knows about it now!"
The gang continued to hear a lot of 'oink' noises from other students who walked passed Applejack. Apple Bloom noticed her big sister's hurt expression but ignored the guilt feeling in her stomach. She silently hoped that Applejack will suspect Shimmer to be the one who released Applejack's embarrassing secret. After a minute of silence except for the 'oink' noises in the background, Applejack handed the phone back to Apple Bloom.
"W-well, this ain't gonna bother me," Applejack said with a sigh, much to Apple Bloom's astonishment. "I can handle a little teasing."
"Well fine, but what about this "Anon-a-Miss"?" Rainbow asked with a deep frown. "How did she know about your nickname?"
"And why would she posted online?" Fluttershy added with her sad expression. "T-that's just cruel!"
Suddenly, the school bell rang, signaling everyone that classes were about to start.
Applejack sighed again. "Ah guess the questions are gonna have to wait 'til after school."
Apple Bloom's eyes narrowed when she saw Shimmer placing her hand on Applejack's shoulder with a caring expression.
"Let us know if we could help AJ," she offered.
"...sure thing Sunset," Applejack replied quietly.
After they each gave Applejack their support, the Rainbooms went their separate ways to their own class, leaving Apple Bloom and Applejack alone in the hallway. Apple Bloom seethed at Shimmer's back. It would seemed that her plan to frame Shimmer wasn't working. In order for her sister to think it was Shimmer, she just needed to give her a gentle push towards that direction.
She quickly dropped her anger expression and then cleared her throat to get her sister's attention.
"So... this "Anon-a-Miss" person," Apple Bloom began casually.
Applejack grunted and gave Apple Bloom her annoyed expression. "What about her?"
"Well... the only people who knew about your nickname was us an' your friends," Apple Bloom pointed out. "You sure you didn't tell anybody else?"
"Positive," Applejack answered with an unsure expression. "What're you getting at, Apple Bloom?"
"Well," Apple Bloom began thoughtfully. "Sunset only heard the story last night... and the colors on Anon-a-Miss's page are the same as Sunset's hair..."
"APPLE BLOOM! How could you!" Applejack snapped angrily before looking away. "Sunset's my friend!"
Apple Bloom raised her hands in defense. "Okay, okay! Just a thought!" Apple Bloom said quickly, before she turned and walked away. "I'll see you after school."
Apple Bloom took a few steps towards the hall and then she stopped and looked over her shoulder. She watched as her oldest sister walking away from her with her back slumped in sadness. Apple Bloom couldn't help but to feel guilty for putting her sister in that position, but her mind kept convincing her that her sister could handle it and that her efforts to frame Shimmer will be all worth it in the end.
...would it?
"Apple Bloom!"
Apple Bloom turned to see her best friends, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo running towards her. Judging from the looks from their faces, they appeared to be both alarmed and in distress.
"Scoots and I were just on MyStable!" Sweetie cried as soon as she and Scootaloo approached Apple Bloom. "Some person called themselves "Anon-a-Miss" and posted this cruel message about your sister!"
"Yeah! And almost everyone in school were mocking her!" Scootaloo added. "Did you know anything about this?"
Keeping up with her act, Apple Bloom sighed. "Yes... I knew."
Sweetie Belle checked at her phone again and frowned deeply. "That post is awful! Who could've done something so mean?"
Scootaloo furrowed her eyebrows. "Do you think it could've been Sunset?"
Sweetie Belle thought for a moment before she shook her head. "I... don't think so. I know she did a lot of bad things in the past, but this just seems too obvious to be her."
"I guess," Scootaloo relented. "As much as I dislike Sunset, but this just seems too easy to assume it was her. Normally she would've caused trouble without leaving anything that leads back to her. But in this case, the colors and avatar used on this... A-noun-or-Miss or whatever is almost similar to Sunset's as if someone was purposely trying to paint her as the culprit."
Sweetie held her chin in thought. "Well if that's true, then who's the real culprit?"
As she was watching her friends interacting with each other, Apple Bloom was in deep thought. She was surprised that even her best friends didn't think Sunset was Anon-a-Miss, despite that they didn't like her either, but at the same time she was also proud of them for having such smart friends and giving others the benefit of the doubt and not easily fooled like the other students. However, this still put a damper on her plans. Her post about Applejack wasn't enough to convince most people, including the Rainbooms and her friends that Shimmer was the culprit. She just needs to do one or more embarrassing posts about the Rainbooms in order to finally cast suspicion on Shimmer. But in order to do that, Apple Bloom would have to do something very risky.
She was going to need some help.
"Girls..." Apple Bloom began, getting her friends attention. "There's somethin' Ah have to tell you..."