Snow had fallen throughout most of the night. Rainbow, her mother and Scootaloo had gotten home an hour before a large snowstorm hit. The entire city of Canterlot was blanketed in thick, heavy snow that Monday morning, making it difficult to walk in, something that Sunset didn’t really mind all that much. She loved to walk through the snow. The sound of it crunching under her boots and the smell of it made her mind rest easy.

Sunset had been up for most of the night thinking of what to ask Rainbow when she saw her next. Most of her thoughts were dwelling heavily on what Rainbow did with her while the two spent their time together at the mall. The casual touching of their hands, the uncertainty in Rainbow's eyes, the softness of Rainbow's smile to her. It all kept Sunset up throughout most of the night. Sunset hadn’t told her yet that she was crushing on Rainbow and wasn’t sure if she should. Something to think about later.

Getting to CHS, she saw Applejack walking towards the doors of the school. Sunset called out to her, waving her hand to get her attention.

“Hey, AJ, hold up for a second. I want to talk to you.”

Applejack looked behind her after taking a hold of the cold, steel door handle to see Sunset was just coming up behind her. Offering her friend a pleasant smile, Sunset came up to the door as Applejack opened it and held it open for Sunset to pass through. Slightly tilting her hat back, she smiled back to her friend as she watched the happy redhead go through the doors of CHS.

“Howdy, Sunset. How're y’all doing today?” Applejack said, happy to see her friend.

“Good, and yourself?” replied Sunset with a happy smile on her face.

“I’m doing good. Say, you didn’t happen ta see Apple Bloom anywhere while you were walking ta school today, did ya?”

“Apple Bloom?” Sunset looked at Applejack with a raised eyebrow. “No. I take the bus to school, remember? Why do you ask?”

“Ah went to wake her up this mornin' but found she was already gone. I thought she might've walked here with you today and Ah didn’t know you always take the bus.”

“Yep, I always take the bus when I come and leave school. But, in case you're wondering, I do sometimes take walks. There's a park, oh, I would say eight, maybe ten, blocks from here. I like to go there after school to sit and read or to feed the ducks in the pond.”

“Wait, yer not talking about that park with the man-made pond that has that yellow fence in the back of it, are you?” Applejack replied.

“Yeah. You know of it?”

“Yes, Ah sure as tootin' do. Ah take Apple Bloom there all the time when dodgeball season is up and runnin'.”

“Dodgeball, huh?” Sunset replied with a slightly raised eyebrow. “You know, I never actually played that game, AJ. Perhaps you could--”

"Teach ya? Why, sure thing, but can we head inside now? It's actually gettin' a little chilly out here for me.”

Sunset laughed and nodded to her friend, happy to have someone as wonderful as Applejack in her life. Applejack was one of the first people to forgive Sunset for her actions at the Fall Formal.

The two headed into the school and proceeded to go to their lockers. As Applejack passed a group of students standing next to the boys' bathroom, she heard someone call out to her, “Hey, Piggly Wiggly”

Spinning around on her heel, she said, “Who said that!?”

All she got back was a lot of laughter. Turning back to Sunset, her friend offered her a simple smile as they continued towards their own lockers.

“Ah could've sworn I heard someone call out my nickname,” Applejack muttered to herself.

“It was more than likely your imagination, AJ.”

“You heard that?” Applejack's asked, slightly surprised.

Sunset smiled warmly to her friend as they both came to their lockers. She looked at her locker, then over to Applejack.

“Hey, don’t worry about it.” Sunset placed her hand onto Applejack's shoulder. “Yes, I was able to hear that. Didn’t I tell you that I have really good hearing?”

Sunset opened her locker and put her backpack away. She then reached into it, taking out her history book and a notebook. Applejack also put her backpack away into her own locker. The two were just about to leave when Apple Bloom came running down the hallway, yelling out as she got closer to them, “Applejack, you need to look at this!”

“Why in tarnantion are you runnin' in the hallway, Apple Bloom?”

“Never mind why,” replied Apple Bloom, thrusting her phone into Applejack's chest. “Just take a look at this.”

Applejack took her sister's phone and looked at the screen, her face going almost white when she saw what was displayed.

Hey, did you all know that when Applejack was little, she used to follow her grandmother around while doing chores. According to her, she got into the pigpen one day and played with the pigs for hours while her grandmother laughed herself sick. Her family now has called her ‘Piggly Wiggly’ ever since.

Below were several comments:

What a pig!

I knew she was an animal!

Ha Ha Ha! I bet her grandmother makes her do it just for fun!

Applejack stammered on her words as she held Apple Bloom’s phone in her hands, pure shock and dismay on her face.

“How the--What the--”

“It got posted a couple of hours ago,” Apple Bloom chimed in.

Pinkie came up behind Applejack, curious over why Applejack and Sunset where standing around in the hallway instead of heading to class. Looking over Applejack’s shoulder, she saw what Applejack was looking at. Before she could say anything, however, Applejack asked what she was about to.

“Who’s this Anon-a-Miss person?”

Applejack and Sunset, as well as Pinkie and Apple Bloom, all failed to see Rainbow and Fluttershy coming down the hallway with Rarity in tow.

“Hey, AJ, did you--” Rainbow called to them as she got up to them. “Oh, I take it you already saw the posting, then?”

“Darling are you going to be alright?” Rarity asked.

“Yeah, I’ll...be alright, you guys,” Applejack replied, her head hung low. Suddenly perking up, she continued, "Yeah, I'll be fine! I ain't gonna let a little teasing get to me. I can handle some teasing."

“Okay, AJ, that's fine and all, but what about this Anon-a-Miss person? I mean, like, how did this person know about your nickname?” Rainbow said. Her anger dripping off each word, she spoke, “I mean, to post something like that online? Come on!”

“And why would she post it for all the world to see it? That's just, well, cruel, don’t you think?” Fluttershy said. “It doesn’t make much sense to me why anyone would want to be that cruel to you, Applejack.”

Before anyone else could say anything, the school bell rang out, signaling the start of classes. Applejack turned to leave, but she stopped when Sunset reached out, placing her hand onto her shoulder and saying kindly to her, “Let us know if we can help you, AJ.”

“S-Sure thing, Sunset. Ah’ll let ya know if Ah need anythin'.” Applejack looked down, shrugging slightly. “Ah guess the questions'll have to wait till after school, y'all.” She looked up at Sunset, who smiled back to her.

Sunset replied kindly, “Alright, take care. We'll see you outside in front of the Wondercolt statue later on today, then.”
Everyone turned to leave the hallway except Apple Bloom, who remained behind to talk with her sister before taking off for her own class.

“Applejack, can Ah ask ya something?”

“As long as you make it fast, kiddo. Ah gotta get my rear end to class too, ya know.”

“This'll only take a second.” Apple Bloom sighed lightly. “Who'd ya tell about yer family nickname?”

“What're you gettin' at?” Applejack replied.

“Well, if you told someone, then they could've set up this whole thing ta cause trouble fer you. So, who'd ya tell? Ah mean, other than yer kin, who else knows about that nickname?”

Applejack, closed her eyes, thinking of the people she had known in her young life that actually knew about her nickname. Opening her eyes, she couldn’t think of anyone who would want to hurt her.

“Ah only told Sunset about it when we were at the sleepover together. But Ah don’t think she did this, Apple Bloom.”

“Are ya sure ya didn’t tell anyone else but her, Applejack?”

“Positive. Wait, what're you sayin'?”

“Well, the sleepover was only two days ago, an' the colors of the Anon-a-Miss page match her hair. An--”

“APPLE BLOOM!” Applejack yelled out angrily. “HOW COULD YOU?” Applejack took a breath to calm down. “How could ya think such a thing about Sunset? Sunset's m' friend! We're Apples. We don’t go around sayin' stuff like that.”

“Okay, okay! Sheesh, it was just a thought, that's all.”

“You best get yer rear to class right now, missy.”

“Fine!” Apple Bloom headed away from her sister, stopping to look back at her. “Ah’ll see you after school, AJ!” Apple Bloom called back to her sister.

Applejack headed to class, took her seat, and began what was about to be a really long day for her.

The next several hours ticked by slowly. Applejack would head from class to class, getting oinked at or hearing others call out to her as she passed them by in the hallways of CHS, “Hey, there goes Piggly Wiggly!”

As her day came to a close, she felt relieved to be leaving CHS. Getting outside, she found each of her friends standing in front of the Wondercolt statue. All of them were there except Sunset, who was busy in home ec, helping a teacher clean up and get ready for the next day. Applejack took off her backpack, dug out her phone, called her brother to pick her up from school, and leaned against the statue’s base, waiting for Big McIntosh to show up. While she waited, unwanted thoughts started surfacing, and try as she might, she couldn’t shake the thought that maybe Apple Bloom was right about Sunset.

Her little sister came out a few minutes later, a slight smirk on her face. She knew from the expression her sister shot her that the seeds of doubt had been fully planted.

Next Chapter: Thursday (Edited by Icecreammac) Estimated time remaining: 21 Hours, 30 Minutes