The atmosphere was so thick, you could have cut it with a knife. Sunset could feel the anger radiating off several of her friends. “Hey girls,” she started. “What’s...going on?”
“Sunset,” said Applejack, her eyes like daggers and one of her hands locked around Apple Bloom’s wrist in a grip of pure malice, “have ya lost yer phone recently?”
“No,” Sunset replied. “It’s right here. Why?”
“Then how do ya explain this?!” Applejack snarled, showing her a MyStable post. To Sunset’s complete lack of surprise, it was Anon-a-Miss. But what did surprise her was the contents of the post.
It had a caption reading OMG-whatta buncha doeks! Hahaha! And attached as images and video files, were the pictures and videos Sunset had taken last night!
“What?!” Sunset exclaimed. “How did they get hold of our pictures?”
“They’re not our pictures, Sunset,” Applejack continued. But then Apple Bloom piped up.
“It weren’t me,” she whimpered.
“Shut up!” Applejack yelled. “You don’t have any right to speak from where I’m standin’.” She looked back to Sunset. “They’re yours. All those pictures and videos were taken by you.”
“Wait, what?” Sunset stammered. “I’ve had my phone on me the whole time! How could she-!?”
“Yeah, how did she?” Applejack retorted. “How did those images end up there? How did she know about ma nickname?”
There was a deafening silence. Then finally somebody spoke. “It’s obvious Sunset,” Applejack continued. “Yer phone’s been hacked!”
Sunset swallowed. “Celestia help me,” she whispered.
“Furthermore,” Applejack continued, “Ah did a little research about how MyStable accounts work. Turns out ya can set automated replies to all accounts. And Ah noticed somethin’ odd about Anon-a-Miss. All of her responses up to this point have been precisely the same. It’s got an automated reply.” She then dragged Apple Bloom forward. “Blowin’ her argument yesterday outta the water!”
Sunset looked back at the post. “Apple Bloom doesn’t look the sort of person who’d know how to hack phones.”
“But that don’t explain mah nickname!” Applejack exploded. “Ah already ruled the rest of us out, Big Mac weren't in, Granny Smith ain’t even on MyStable...so it has to be Apple Bloom!”
“You absolutely sure nobody overheard it at some point?” Rainbow asked.
“Positive!” Applejack replied. She looked back at Apple Bloom, as if she were about to throttle her. “Ah think you have an apology to make!” She shoved her forward, right into Sunset’s face.
“It weren't me!” Apple Bloom protested.
“You’ve blown yer last chance,” Applejack growled. “Yer in fer the punishment of a lifetime when we get home.”
“Applejack, stop!” Sunset shouted. “Apple Bloom didn’t do this.”
“Do Ah have apple sauce in mah ears or somethin’?” AJ quizzed. “Because all the evidence points to this little shit!”
“Just like all the evidence pointed to me skipping your bake sale out of spite?” Rainbow asked. Applejack looked back in an expression of shock.
“I’m amazed you fell for this,” Sunset laughed. “Look closely at the post and the way it is set up. It’s meant to look like somebody doing a frame job to convince people I’m Anon-a-Miss. And Anon-a-Miss has Anon-a-Messed up!”
“What do you mean?” Fluttershy quizzed.
“It certainly has the look of a fake account,” Sunset explained. “The formatting is completely wrong, the characterisation is non-existent, and several of the posts clearly haven’t been proofread!” She paused. “This person is clearly doing it on purpose. It’s trying to make everybody think somebody is framing me, to throw us off of the scent!”
“That still don’t clear Apple Bloom though!” Applejack replied.
“I’m not finished yet,” Sunset continued. “Read the most recent post carefully. “Whatta buncha doeks.” She laughed. “I mean, what the fuck?!”
“Language!” Rarity harshly replied.
Sunset ignored her. “Firstly, Apple Bloom doesn’t type in the way she speaks. Just look at her account!” Applejack took a quick look, and saw this was true. “And, the obvious typo in the middle of the sentence. Whoever typed this is clearly not used to using a QWERTY keyboard. These are mistakes Apple Bloom simply wouldn’t make!”
Applejack sighed. “Sorry, Sunset,” she said.
“I’m not the one you should be apologising to,” Sunset replied.
Applejack knelt down. “Sis, do ya forgive me?” she asked.
Apple Bloom looked into her big sister’s eyes. “Yes,” she replied, and they embraced.
Rainbow spoke up. “I hate to interrupt the reunion, but we have a bigger issue to deal with. How did they get the data on Sunset’s phone?”
“There are two possibilities,” Pinkie suggested. “Either a remote kick, or plugging a phone in via a USB cable.”
“A-remote kick?” Fluttershy asked.
“In soccer, kicking somebody on the shin intentionally is called hacking!”
“Ugh, can we just stay on topic?” Rainbow snapped. “Who else was in the house yesterday?”
“Well,” said Rarity. “There were us, but we can rule ourselves out. Then there were Button Mash, Cozy Glow and... Sweetie Belle,” her face went completely pale.
“Where were they last?” Sunset asked.
“They should be in the cafeteria,” Rarity said. “They often go there before lessons start.”
“Please be gentle on them,” Fluttershy asked.
“Oh, don’t worry, I intend to be,” Rarity grimaced, as she headed off down the corridor. “Anon-a-Miss? I’LL DESTROY HER!”
The cafeteria was bustling, as it normally was in the morning. Sweetie Belle and Button Mash had just come in. Sweetie was checking the news on her phone, and swiped over to MyStable.
Button, meanwhile, took up his position on the piano, bashing out some old tunes, with Cozy Glow singing in Welsh: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2gXLvr2oDs
Sweetie Belle clicked on the comment section, and started responding to the Anon-a-Miss comment. That’s really mean! You do realise you’re hurting people, right? Her finger hovered over the button, ready to send.
Suddenly, her phone vanished from her hand, the piano stopped, a very surprised Button Mash was hurled into the chair next to her, and her cheek exploded in pain.
Sweetie Belle put her hand onto her face, and looked up...into the face of Rarity, who looked to be absolutely furious.