“Come on, just try it once. I know you’re gonna love it,” Sunset spoke in a husky voice, leaning in close to Twilight who was blushing furiously.
“I… I really shouldn’t…” Twilight said hesitantly, biting her lip nervously.
“Come on Twilight, you just gotta… Experiment a little,” Sunset said lifting her hand up. “Don’t you trust me?”
“Mmmm… I… I mean... It really is tempting…” Twilight smiled hesitantly, her hands squeezing into fists.
“Here, just… Open your mouth, and let me do. All. The. Work.” Sunset whispered huskily, licking her own lips in return.
“Aa… Aaaaa…” Twilight moaned softly opening her mouth wide enough for Sunset. The sensation hit her tongue first, a burst of flavor swirling around as her mind began to melt. “Mmmmmm…”
The gooey pizza melted against Twilight’s tongue, followed by the spicy taste of pepperoni. A delicious blend of flavors she hadn’t expected to taste nearly half as good as it actually was.
“See? I knew you’d like it.” Sunset grinned deviously, placing the rest of the pizza slice in Twilight’s hands.
“I mean… I knew I was going to like it, but I was trying to avoid it.” Twilight chuckled softly, wiping a napkin against her mouth. “On my first day in the human world I accidentally ate a hamburger not knowing what it was. I was just grabbing whatever I saw that looked good in the cafeteria, and it wasn’t until after that I found out it was meat. I was a little mortified.”
“Yeah, I understand what you mean. It was kind of hard to adjust to eating meat at first for me too.” Sunset smiled, taking a bite of her own slice of pizza. “But in the end I was won over for two reasons. The first being that it's awfully expensive to live a ‘purely vegetarian’ diet over here for whatever reason. The second being that… Well, meat just tastes good, ya know?” Sunset swallowed her bit of pizza and licked her lips, looking over at Twilight. “Humans are naturally omnivores as well, so it's easier for them to get certain nutrients from meat anyway. I ended up doing a lot of research on the subject, if for no other reason than to clear my conscious from eating meat.”
“It certainly would get you a few strange looks in Equestria,” Twilight said with a smile, helping herself to another bite of the pizza.
“Good thing we’re not in in Equestria then.” That earned a round of giggles from both of the girls.
A gentle breeze wafted through Sunset’s highrise apartment, her heater working overtime now that it had more than one guest to keep warm on a cold winter’s night. Sunset and Twilight were both dressed comfortably in their warm pajamas and having a fun conversation over a box of warm pizza that Sunset had ordered. Combining all of that with the gentle snowfall outside the window, and it created the perfect atmosphere for a fun sleepover with friends.
Even if Twilight was the only friend Sunset had at the moment.
“You know… I never really noticed how much quieter it is without the girls around.” Twilight murmured softly, pulling her knees up to wrap her arms around them. Her eyes fell to the snowflakes falling outside the window, just enraptured by their slow descent. “It used to always be like this before Celestia sent me to Ponyville. Long, lonely nights in my tower just… Studying. I used to think friends were such a waste of time because, ‘why socialize when I can study?’” Twilight shook her head with a sigh.
“It’s funny the kind of situations you find yourself adapting to.” Sunset shook her head, leaning against her couch. “When I was first stuck here in this world, the first thing I had to do was find shelter. Of course, I stayed in the library for a bit, but, for someone trying to be the true ruler of Equestria, not only was that rather humiliating, but it was easy to get caught sleeping there every night.”
The memories of her early days were not happy ones. Days of misery and being uncomfortable with the reality she found herself in… It really didn’t do anything but help fuel the bitterness and anger she had felt back then.
“So once I had my footing, I started searching for a place to stay. Homeless shelters and soup kitchens were an okay start, but having lived in Canterlot I was never satisfied with their conditions. So I ended up getting whatever job I could get to save up enough money for a real place to live.”
“Sounds like it wasn’t easy.” Twilight said, turning her attention back to Sunset.
“That’s especially true when you’re still getting used to a new body.” Sunset said, lifting up her hand and twiddling her fingers. “I swear I can still feel the grease burns from working fast food.” That elicited a small giggle from Twilight, which made Sunset smile.
“I got fired from plenty of those jobs, while I also just straight up quit others. Like hell I was going to keep working for a guy who thought I’d look better all dolled up, you know? I was there to do a job, not be his eye candy.” Sunset rolled her eyes. “But that was sort of the problem with the kinds of jobs I could afford to get, you know? Without any proper documentation everything I did was technically under the table, and so not only was the job pool limited for me, but anytime something went wrong, I was the first to get cut.”
“I couldn’t imagine having to deal with all of that…” Twilight murmured, trying to imagine herself in that situation. “How did you manage?”
“I eventually found a stable job at this sushi place in the mall. Half of the workers there are on expired visas, and at least two others are there just as undocumented as I am. They let me work part time when I’m not busy with school, and the pay is surprisingly good.” Sunset chuckled a little, brushing her hair behind her ear. “It was just sort of one of those things where people with similar hardships found each other and wanted to help each other, you know? They even helped me find this place for rather dirt cheap and helped me spruce it up a little.”
“Did they help you get the motorcycle as well?” Twilight chuckled.
“A little. They took me to a good used-vehicle dealership and I managed to get a good deal on that. It also helped that I was a ‘cute girl looking to buy a hog’ as well.” Sunset chuckled at that. “Humans can be surprisingly gullible if you give them a cute wink.”
“I do believe that’s a lesson Rarity has tried to impart several times.” Twilight giggled.
“What can I say? Men are slaves to their hormones.” Sunset said a little smugly, eliciting more giggles from them both. “But yeah, that was pretty much how I spent the first year or so of my life in this world. Once I had a stable living situation, I set my eyes on making myself the Queen of the school. I figured it would be good practice for when I finally took over Equestria, and of course that led to many lonely nights over the years focusing only on that one goal.” Sunset turned to look out her window.
“And honestly, I was just starting to get kind of used to the idea of actually having friends to hang out with at night… But I suppose things are just back to the way they were before the Battle of the Bands.”
Silence hung in the air after that, Twilight watching Sunset from her spot. The redhead seemed so distant, so lost in thought. She didn’t like it when she saw Sunset this way…
“What are you going to do once this is all over?” Twilight asked, scooting closer to Sunset.
“Huh?” Sunset broke from her thoughts, turning to look at Twilight.
“Are you going to be able to forgive the girls for leaving you like this? I know I’m not exactly happy with the way they’ve been acting myself…”
“What are you talking about Twi?” Sunset asked with a smirk. “I’ve already forgiven them.”
“You…” Twilight blinked at that. “You have?”
“Of course. I mean, yeah, it hurts like hell to have them accuse me of betraying them, but like… I also get it, you know?” Sunset lifted her hand and twirled it around. “I spent years destroying their friendships. Years of me stuffing Fluttershy in a locker, of making Pinkie think no one liked her parties, of calling AJ southern stereotypes to her face, of making Dash toxic to the people around her, of humiliating Rarity in front of the entire school. All of those memories are still fresh in their minds, as its only been like, two month since the Fall Formal. And everything Anon-a-Miss is doing is basically the same type of thing I did to them back when I ruled the school.” Sunset shook her head.
“So if I was in their shoes, seeing all of our embarrassing secrets being spread around to humiliate us, in the exact same way I had for years? I’d assume I’d have reverted to my old ways as well, unless there was some honest to goodness proof otherwise.” Sunset sighed leaning back against her couch. “It’s not an easy pill to swallow, but I get it. Trust once lost isn’t easily regained.”
“That’s… Surprisingly mature of you Sunset.” Twilight said, a little impressed.
“I wouldn’t call it that.” Sunset chuckled. “More like ‘realistically pragmatic.’ I just thought about it from their perspective and I pretty much would have reached the same conclusions. The only reason I wouldn’t is because I have the knowledge to know that I’m not actually Anon-a-Miss, something they don’t have outside of me just saying I’m not. Which is just, really flimsy evidence given our past. At the end of the day, we really haven’t been friends for all that long…”
Twilight was quiet at that, unsure of what to say in response to that. Other than the hum of the heater, the only sounds that could be heard was the winds outside. The two sat in silence for a little longer, before Twilight let out another sigh.
“I really should just try talking to the girls at least. I’m sure if given the chance, I could get them to see reason…”
“Well, we already talked about that earlier today, didn’t we?” Sunset sighed, sitting up on the couch and leaning over, lacing her fingers as she stared out at nothing in particular. “Besides, I’ve already announced to the whole school that I was Anon-a-Miss. At this point, trying to convince them is only going to make them think I’m somehow threatening you into cooperating with me. Not that I would even know where to begin to make that work.”
“Hey! That video you made almost worked!” Twilight countered.
“Hardly!” Sunset laughed. “You immediately talked to the girls about it and got them working together. A video that would’ve devastated a normal teenage girl had you using it as momentum to unite the entire school together in a single day. You underestimate how little blackmail works on you Twilight.”
“What if we filled them in on your plan?” Twilight tried again. “What if we told them this was all part of your ploy to catch the real Anon-a-Miss? I could show them the journal and everything! They’d have to believe that!”
“Even I can already feel a headache starting to form just from trying to explain that without any proof.” Sunset groaned, rubbing her temple. “No, the easiest thing to do right now is to just continue on the path I’ve chosen. You already know how everything ends if the plan works, it’s just a matter of actually catching Anon-a-Miss.”
“And if the plan doesn’t work?” Twilight asked seriously. “If you go through all of this, make yourself school enemy number one, and you never find out who Anon-a-Miss is? What then?”
“Then…” Sunset paused as she thought about it. “Then… I guess I just move back to Equestria.” She shook her head, looking at Twilight. “I mean, I’m not exactly ready to face Celestia again, but you’d be willing to offer me a place to stay in your castle, wouldn’t you?”
“Of course!” Twilight said, practically jumping at the offer. “I have like, a MILLION empty rooms with only Spike living with me! I could probably house half of CHS if I wanted to!”
“And I bet you would too.” Sunset laughed at that. She let out a sigh as she looked up at the ceiling. “I know I’ve said this before but… I’m glad you’re here Twilight. I can’t imagine dealing with all of this on my own. I probably could’ve, but… I’m glad that at least one person believes me.”
“You’re not the person you were when we first met Sunset.” Twilight smiled comfortingly, placing her hand on top of Sunset’s and gently squeezing it. “I admit, I wasn’t here for the years you were bullying the girls, but even I can see how much you’ve changed. The Battle of the Bands made that abundantly clear. The magic of friendship wouldn’t have worked if you didn’t believe in it yourself.”
“...Thanks Twi. I needed to hear that,” Sunset said with a smile, gently squeezing Twilight’s hand back.
The next morning of CHS came all too soon, and though Sunset dreaded heading back to school that day, she knew it was necessary. The previous night had been one that Sunset hadn’t realized how much she’d needed it until she was standing in front of CHS once again. Spending time with Twilight had given her the reassurance that what she was doing was the right thing, and that she was going to make everything better for everyone.
Plus, it had just been nice to spend time with a friend again. Something she hadn’t realized she had missed as much as she had until it was gone.
Sunset now stood in front of the school, just preparing herself for what was about to happen inside. She needed to prepare herself for another volley of angry glares, hurtful comments, playing it off as if she was the baddest girl in the whole school…
The thought of it all upset her stomach, but she knew it was necessary.
“Hey.” Twilight’s voice broke Sunset’s concentration, Sunset turning to look at her best friend. “I’m here if you need me.”
Twilight’s voice was so genuine, coupled with that soft smile of hers, it was nearly enough for Sunset to want to forget the entire stupid plan and just do whatever Twilight wanted to do next.
“I appreciate it Twilight, but we need to stick to the plan, alright?” Sunset forced a smile to her face, adjusting her scarf for emphasis. “We spend the day investigating and we smoke out Anon-a-Miss. That’s what we agreed on.”
“Yeah, I did agree to that… Though I still don’t like having to lie to the girls like this. It just feels… Wrong…” Twilight shook her head.
“Well… I guess just… Think of it this way,” Sunset said comfortingly, placing a hand on Twilight’s shoulder and offering her a smile, “once I walk inside, I’m going back to being the Sunset you knew when you first met me. It won’t really be a lie if you’re upset with seeing how much I’ve regressed.”
“...You were pretty awful back then.” Twilight winced a little, not wanting to offend Sunset with the comment.
“Exactly, I was,” Sunset said with a nod, “just pretend you’re here to try and stop that Sunset Shimmer from ruining the lives of the school again, and you’ll be alright.”
Twilight’s face showed that she wasn’t exactly happy with that plan, and it tore Sunset up a little inside to see her friend that way, but what other choice did they have? Sunset was in too deep to turn back now, and the sooner they could solve this, the sooner they could put this all behind them.
“Alright Twilight, game face on.” Sunset spoke up, not wanting to linger on the moment anymore than she had to. She turned away from her friend and gave her cheeks a quick slap, feeling the tingle in her flesh waking her up some. Her eyes drooped a little and a smug smirk fell onto her face. As she walked into CHS, she felt exactly the same way that she used to when she ran this school.
She immediately found her strut, her hips moving side to side like she owned the place, head held high, and her eyes scanning for weakness amongst her prey. Students in the hallway turned to look at her in surprise, going quiet as she walked by. They cowed away from her to their small social circles, or what was left of them, and most made way for her so she had no reason to stop and interact with them.
It was almost sad how easily the school had fallen back into the same song and dance routine that had plagued it for so long. Her years as Queen Bee really never had faded from the halls, had they?
“What are you looking at?” Sunset growled at a freshman. The young boy yelped before jumping into his locker, slamming it shut on himself.
She forced the smirk back onto her face as she kept walking. She wasn’t even sure why she’d done that, just that it fit with who she remembered herself being. She hated every moment of being the walking bully again, but what else was she to do?
Right now all she needed to do was wait for Twilight to make her move. The waiting was probably the hardest part, knowing full well what was about to happen. She simply tried to distract herself by making her way to her locker, and just keep herself distracted by ‘looking’ for something inside of it. She didn’t have anything she needed in there, it was just something to keep her mind occupied.
“GUYS!” A students voice cried out in the distance. “TWILIGHT’S BACK!”
And there it was.
Instantly the student body began to rush their way towards the entrance of the school, ready for their walking savior to save them from this mess that Sunset Shimmer had brought down upon their heads.
Sunset took a deep breath and let it out slowly, closing her locker as she stood there staring at it. She knew it was coming, she knew what she needed to do next, she knew exactly how this would all play out.
It didn’t make the next part any easier though.
“Sunset Shimmer.” Twilight’s voice spoke up from behind her, sounding none-too-happy. A stark contrast from the voice she’d talked all night with, the one who had been hopeful and optimistic that everything would work out.
That was exactly what Sunset had told her to do, and yet there was an awful wrenching in her gut that hated hearing Twilight of all people sound that way to her. It was one thing when it was the girls hating her, it was another entirely when it was Twilight.
Sunset turned to face the girl, noting that behind her stood her five former friends, and behind them was the rest of the gathered student body.
Gathered together to fight a common enemy, but still hiding behind Twilight.
How terribly noble.
“Well well, Twilight Sparkle! To what does this humble school owe to see your presence again?”
“You know very well why I’m here Sunset!” Twilight spoke up, doing her best to sound intimidating. To her credit, if it wasn’t for the slight crack in her voice, Sunset might’ve actually believed it.
But Twilight was playing her part just as Sunset had asked, so Sunset would play her role in turn.
“I have no idea what you’re on about, Princess! I’ve been a perfect little angel since you left!” Sunset said with a flick of her hair and an evil glint in her eye.
“Playing with everyone’s trust and secrets isn’t what friendship is about Sunset!” Twilight said, stomping her foot for emphasis. “What happened to the bond you girls had during the Battle of the Bands? The one that let you defeat the Dazzlings? Why give that all up for… For whatever this is!?”
Twilight sounded just as bewildered as she should, since what she was saying was rather ludicrous, and that should have been obvious to anyone watching the scene. Why would Sunset give up her friendships and bonds, the people she was starting to see as family, just to humiliate them in turn and isolate herself? What possible reason would she have to make the whole school hate her again?
She had none, because it had never been her doing it in the first place.
But here they were, stuck in this ridiculous situation anyway.
And so Sunset just stuck to her plan, playing off like this was her evil scheme all along.
“You really DON’T get how things work around here, do you?” Sunset chuckled, leaning forward mockingly. “You’d think after two trips to the human world, you’d at least have some understanding by now!”
Twilight’s eyes widened at that, almost as if she hadn’t been expecting Sunset to clap back like that. Sunset couldn’t help but wonder if she was laying it on a little thick? She didn’t want to insult Twilight, but if she didn’t make this sound good, people were going to think she’d lost her touch as a bully. And if they weren’t afraid of her, then everything would just devolve back into anarchy.
She couldn’t let that happen.
“Let me lay it out for you Twilight. Humans are simple, pathetic creatures that are run by their emotions. You dangle a piece of meat in front of them, then they start chomping at it like rabid dogs.” Sunset shook her head as she spoke.
“I ruled this school, and then you united everyone against me. You made a plea to their emotions and they answered you. Then, within just a few days, I appealed to their emotions in the opposite way, and they completely fell apart. So in the end, what did we gain from booting me out of the top spot? Absolutely nothing.” Sunset snickered as she tucked her hair behind her ear.
“So, I simply showed everyone who the real ruler of this school was, and one that won’t simply ‘abandon’ them when it seems convenient. They had all forgotten what they were, and so I simply reminded them. If no one had submitted a single secret to that website, none of this would be happening.”
There was an undeniable truth to what Sunset was saying, but even she didn’t believe the dribble coming out of her mouth. She just needed them to believe it.
“So what now Princess? You come at me with a big ‘friendship speech’ and we put this all behind us?”
“I’d certainly like that…” Twilight said, a little too genuinely. Sunset felt a pang in her heart, hating how miserable Twilight sounded. She hated putting her friend through this, and she needed to end it before either of them broke character.
“Well, I’m afraid that won’t be happening this time.” Sunset turned her head away, crossing her arms. “I haven’t updated the webpage in two days now, and as long as everyone is following my rules, it will stay that way.” She turned her back to the crowd as she finished speaking. “So stay as long as you like this time, it won’t make a difference. Perhaps then you’ll see why I am the way I am.”
And with that, Sunset walked away from the group, already starting to hear the whispering murmurs of the crowd about the altercation.
Sunset quickly turned a corner, making sure she was out of sight, before running down the hall for the bathroom. She slammed her way inside, before grabbing hold of a sink, running the tap, and splashing cold water onto her face.
She gripped the sides of the sink, breathing heavily as she forced herself to calm down.
That had been a lot harder than she had thought it would be. She was but moments away from breaking down while talking to Twilight that way, and the whole plan would’ve gone up in smoke.
It had been one thing to deceive her friends, they already thought she was a bad person so it wasn’t much more to twist the knife a little more into her own back.
It was another thing entirely to see Twilight like that, looking at her like she was evil, like she was betraying every lesson of friendship Twilight had tried to impart upon her. Even if it had simply been acting, it had been rough.
Sunset wiped at her eyes, taking another deep breath as she lifted her head, looking at herself in the mirror. Her eyes were a little more red than she would have liked, and she looked like she had just ran a marathon. The cracks in her mask were already starting to form and she had to put a stop to them before her mask crumbled into dust.
She wasn’t sure how much longer she could keep up this facade. When she had thought up this plan she was certain she could handle it, but being in the thick of it now, she wasn’t nearly as sure. She just wanted everything to be over with, to go hang out with her friends again and simply enjoy the holidays together like they’d originally planned to. Not fuss about with trying to keep the school from tearing itself apart, or solve the mystery of who was framing her for dumping everyone’s secrets.
She desperately, desperately needed a clue…
At that exact moment, her phone pinged with a notification, and her brain almost refused to process it.
She reached into her pocket and pulled it out, quickly unlocking the front screen and staring in disbelief at the updated Anon-a-Miss site.
Twilight Sparkle FAILS to stand up to Anon-a-Miss!
Attached to the post was a video of the argument in the hallway that had just happened. The angle of the video was clearly from behind Twilight, but Sunset couldn’t remember for the life of her who had been standing there. She could see limbs of two of her friends in the shot, meaning it had been part of the student body, but with the way the camera zoomed in on Sunset, there was little chance of determining who had taken the video.
One thing was clear though, whoever had taken the video was Anon-a-Miss themself. There hadn’t been any time to process and send the video to someone else, so it could have only been directly uploaded from the user’s phone.
“Ugh… Why didn’t I pay more attention to who was standing behind Twilight…” Sunset groaned, letting her forehead hit the mirror and just hold herself there, feeling like a complete idiot for missing that.
Obviously it hadn’t been one of the girls, as none of them had had their phones out at the time. Plus the likelihood of them calling out Twilight for her failure was just abysmally low.
There was just enough doubt in who took the video to let people think that Sunset had gotten one of her ‘minions’ to take the video, and that she had orchestrated the whole thing. This wasn’t about to convince anyone that she wasn’t Anon-a-Miss.
This was, however, a chance. It wasn’t much, but Anon-a-Miss had let their hand slip and show that they were still interested in the website, and still uploading to it. So she still had a chance to catch them in the act.
She vowed to the girls, and especially to Twilight, that she was going to catch Anon-a-Miss.
Caught the punchline in the opending and I hope the girls see the video and notice the forced acting
Excellent chapter! I look forward to more
Ah yes. school life in a fucking nutshell right there.
Don't miss it at all.
Holy shit though, that fast? Something tells me the Crusaders are going to deliberately get sloppy with their stuff, to try and clear Sunset and out themselves.
That opening few paragraphs was a delightful troll for all of us SunLight shippers. Masterfully played.
As a deconstruction of the Anon-a-Miss tropes, this has been really good so far. Especially Sunset's forgiving her friends, because, really, she was awful to them for a long time, and their wounds are still fresh. I think so much of the reaction to the original story, and why we see so many stories lump so much vitriol onto the Rainbooms is that we know Sunny's innocent, and can feel sympathy for someone being bullied for something they didn't do.
Oh Sunny. Playing the villain is going to hurt so much, isn't it. Stay strong. You've charted your course, so see it through to the end. Good hunting.
Oof, that's a heavy burden she bears.
I wonder how long it takes the students to realize Anon-a-miss, Sunset or not, is just a vehicle for their own petty strife. That "you all sent me these secrets" thing to really come into focus and make them realize they need to be better people in general, not just hide behind the thin veneer of decency in day-to-day life.
If this was before RR, that line of reasoning would work. The problem is that Rainbow Rocks was partly about countering that sort of mentality. Jumping to conclusions and not trusting their friends was what let Sunset so easily tear them apart in the first place. If they had honestly tried talking things out, Sunset’s plan would’ve failed. Then Rainbow Rocks happens and the same thing is happening, except this time they really are doing what the others are accusing them of. Rainbow had a horribly overinflated ego, Applejack was being an asshat for the sake of being one, everyone was sidelining Fluttershy, and Rarity’s and Pinkie’s interests did interfere some with the band as they didn’t communicate well. They were tearing each other apart by the end until Sunset stepped in (when she was being sidelined more than Fluttershy). They were to at least some extent doing what they accused each other of, but Sunset convinced them to stop fighting and actually try to talk things out (and in a way, see from the other perspective). Anon-A-Miss is them falling for the same thing they did in EqG 1 except even worse (as Sunset was tearfully denying it was her) after EqG had them work through issues they actually were causing. Still, this is Sunset, she’d forgive pretty much anything, especially if she can find even the slightest way to take any blame or come up with even the slightest justification for someone’s actions. It makes sense for Sunset to use this reasoning for forgiving them, but it’s not that solid in universe.
This chapter was fun. Sunset hamming it up was entertaining and does give a good set up for the student body to start working through some of it’s issues (though maybe calling them out for blindly following you or Twilight when trying to stay on top wasn’t the best idea...). The heavier stuff was well done to and I can’t wait to see where it goes. The fake out in the start was pretty fun as well (especially with the fun detail that Twilight was doing something that’d be uncomfortable for her, though she and Fluttershy both grabbed green burgers in the first movie, not the brown ones).
9783349
You pretty much summarize the entire issue with Anon-a-Miss to begin with, and what they should have done with the story to begin with.
Set it before Rainbow Rocks. That was literally all they needed to do to fix damn near every issue the story had. But it wasn't, so I gotta work with what I got and make sure everything still feels justified in the end heh
9783355
9783349
To be fair in the original comic the only ones who believed Sunset was Anon-a-miss were those who didn't know her on a personal level so their anger makes sense and the humane 6 only abandoned Sunset in a fit of anger after some very damning bit of evidence made itself known and then after calming down, they were willing to hear Sunset out and resolve things.
It's the fan-fics that tend to exaggerate everything to such horrible extremes which to be fair was the whole point of the original fan-fic and then everyone else just proceeded to use that one fic as the base for each story that followed.
9783355
From what I remember hearing, the original intent was to place it before RR. However, the person making the comic was working on three comics at once (with this one being double length) and the writer/artist forgetting that the journal was introduced in Rainbow Rocks. When he realized it, there wasn’t enough time to change the Twilight bits, so it was shifted forward to post RR. That would also explain why Twilight never even offered to show up. A combination of deadlines and too many projects meant it couldn’t be changed in time.
Still, placing it before Rainbow Rocks doesn’t help it much for me. The school has no issue being back on the Sunset hate train (including the CMC) and Sunset’s friends are more distant and ignoring her compared to how they acted in the comic. Placing it before RR only punts the problem forward in the timeline.
9783373
Not quite, in the comic the only person to accuse Sunset before her friends was Apple Bloom. It wasn’t until they decided to yell at her in the hall (after the second secret, using a method that was used against them before) that everyone thought it was her. They were essentially the first and they did so in front of other students. Then instead of trying to stop the account or do anything, they yelled at Sunset and say around moping until Sunset solved the case solo. Plus, the whole other people sending in secrets and the scene where Sunset’s crying on the ground while everyone is yelling at her (with some being excited for the next post) were all in the comics. Even Sunset trying to confront her friends and them yelling at her at the cafe happened, only Sunset managed to get through to them by invoking Twilight. She was also extremely vulnerable right until she saw Twilight’s last message in the last big group yelling scene. Sure the violence level is often jacked up in the fics, but that’s common throughout pretty much all fanfics.
9783246
it will take them a hell of a long time to realize the farce. I predict Apple Bloom and the CMC will sabotage themselves at some point because everything grew too chaotic. In a moment of rage, they will accidentally out themselves and Sunny will pull an "Ah ha, Gotcha" on them. The pride goeth before the fall.
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The CMC have never been referred to as the "Cutie Mark Crusaders" in the human world. They gone by several other names using that acronym though.
And Rainbow Rocks was stated to have taken place like 6 months after the first movie.
You played us well in the beginning of the chapter. I was so convinced Sunset & Twilight were gonna make-out!
Have to wonder if posting that was a solo decision. Doubt they would have had time to discuss it especially given the crowd.
9783486
Actually not true! During the Choose Your own Adventure shorts of them doing a play, at the After Party they got referred to as the Cutie Mark Crusaders!
Here is proof from their official channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgMgJcR_3Zw
Why not think back to the first two secrets posted - photos involving Applejack and Rarity? Those were done during sleepovers, where there were six people - wasn't there? Wait, there had to be a seventh at both, since both Applejack and Rarity have family. Could it be...?
Twilight, doesn't this remind you of "Gabby Gums"? Practically the same thing's happening - secrets are being maliciously spread by school students - except it's not a local newspaper, but an internationally-available website. Maybe you should see if the coincidences end there, or if they continue on - like who's doing the muck-raking.
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This isn’t like Gabby Gums though. In that one, everyone enjoyed it in the beginning, even Snips and Snails. It was only after others had their turn that they started taking issue with it. It wasn’t even a mistake that spiraled out of control, it was outright blackmail when they refused to do anything similar after the first papers. In this case, it’s a deliberate attack on the students, from the very first post. It’s also specifically targeting Sunset, trying to sabotage her.
Man, it is a damn good thing Sunset no longer revels in domination, considering how easily CHS's students can be pulled apart.
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That would remove Twilight from the story entirely though, and one of the key and best elements of the story was Twilight being a pillar of support for Sunset.
Loving this so far, it's a really nice twist on the classic story. I can't say I don't enjoy the masochistic versions of these stories, but this one has it's own charm.
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I stand corrected.
Still going strong and I'm glad it's updating so much!
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Vapid drama is quite easy to write about. Writing a story built around guile takes far more talent.
It is more interesting to see Sunset embrace her bad rap and acknowledge her past decisions rather than just simply lie around in misery waiting for some "savior" to pull her out of her woe.
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My version of Anon-a-miss:
Sunset: I have dirt on so many of you that's far worse than anything Anon-a-miss has posted, so unless Anon-a-miss comes forward from this transparent attempt at framing me, I'm going to start releasing some of it to interested parties including but not limited to the principals and the police. You all know who you are. This is war, Anon-a-miss, and unless you want to see lives and careers ruined, you'll come forward.
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Uh, that's not exactly a wise thing for Sunset to do.
Doing that would only throw gasoline into the fire. And admitting she has dirt on everyone would draw a lot of bad attention to her, especially since blackmail is a serious offense.
I really like this story. It is great to see the focus being on convincing the student body that they actually ARE responsible for the bullying going on instead of just whoever anonymous is. Submitting material to anonymous is actually an encouragement of bullying and is in fact worse than the bystander syndrome that schools preach to students to try and make them not tolerate bullying and take a stand against it, because unlike the bystander syndrome where you let bullying happen in front of you they are cheering the bullying on. I actually really like how Sunset is choosing to fight it here. Is it dangerous? Oh yeah. Could it backfire? For sure. But it does put real responsibility on the students for their participation. So I just really like this story so far. Good work.
I like this. I like this a lot. More please!
I was very confused until this, I'll have you know!
It was a bit amusing, though.
Well, she did pass the Crystal Empire 'test'. She places less importance on her own interests when needed.
...
Shipping?
Nah, I won't be gullible, on account of the fact that if Twilight winked at me, I'd keep over in a dead faint.
All I’m thinking about before I read this is how Sunset is going to pull off the best “no u” I’ll ever see
Lol. While reading through there "confrontation" All I could think of was this:
I don't know why, but I really like that you've made Sunset and Twilight not be vegetarian in this. Pacing is still spot-on, and Sunset's emotions really come across well. Can't wait for the next one!
So far, so good, I'm really looking forward to this one, it's rare to see an original Anon-A-Miss story, can't wait to see where you're going.
As to the whole pizza scene, hilarious, definitely had my mind going places where it shouldn't, and like the meat explanation. That said it did seem a touch off by treating pizza like a forbidden food, or that was the impression I got. Considering that pizza is basically vegetarian unless you top it with meat, and Equestria has cheese, I would think pizza would exist there, heck, the roots of pizza is basically food served on an edible plate. Still, that scene is hilarious.
Nobody:
Literally No one:
Me:
That’s it. Best AaM fanfic ever. We’re done here, pack it up! The award’s already won! This scene alone has trumped all others! Fare thee well! The standard has been set higher than ever before!
The reverse is true: the fewer people, the harder a heater needs to work; you are thinking of an air conditioner keeping a room cool with more people
Just a little nit pick - in case you do a broken heater as part of the story
Okay, I know I’ve been making all sorts of stupid comments in my attempt to show my entertained reactions mixed with humor, but I really have to say this:
I REALLLY like the way you write Sunset acting as a villainess again.
Sunset faking her villain role in this story is written more faithfully to the source than most fanfiction I read on this site, which allows me to enjoy your story similar to how I enjoy the show and shorts. It’s really refreshing to read something like this.
Gotta say, I've never read a Anon-A-Miss story since I thought they were overused and written somewhat the same. But this story is very interesting and the fact Sunset forgives the girls sets the bar very high for me.
Also side note, am I to assume Twilight and Sunset's relationship will become more than just friends?
So, Sunset's plan is to throw Anon-A-Miss off mentally?
You know, if Sunset hadn't set up the false confession, this could have worked wonders. She could just turn to her friends and say, "Yes. What possible reason might I have? Anyone? Can anyone at all offer a motive for me ruining my own life?"
I want to make something clear: I really like this take and I look forward to more. But it works about as well as the original comic in terms of actually happening. I just don't see Sunset convincing Twilight to go with this over actually talking to their friends. Mind you, Twilight could be hard-pressed to convince Sunset to go that other route, but Sunset said herself: This plan depends on Twilight, and I don't see her ever opting for it when far less harsh alternatives are on the table. And we already know she proposed some.
Okay, with that off my chest, I am looking forward to more... though I am even more deeply disappointed in the human CMC than before given that immediate post-confrontation post.
Ok, I'm going to make a massive comment about a character who isn't even in the story, and may never be, and, even though it's almost entirely written I kind of feel like I need to address what is there first in order to be allowed to do that.
So here's me talking about stuff that's actually on the page.
Looks like I'm the only one who didn't like the beginning of the chapter. I've seen it done too often, and I don't even think I found it funny the first time. The rest of it was solid, emotionally powerful, and well written though.
That's something that I wish more people thought about. Twilight wasn't there, and doesn't have any evidence of Sunset's innocence other than Sunset's own word. There's a distinct possibility that if Twilight tried to stand up for her, the result would be people hating her for tricking/corrupting/blackmailing the two time savior of Canterlot High.
It's far from a certainty, but it's a possibility that should be considered.
The follow through on this, where we see Sunset suffer through her planned confrontation with Twilight blow for blow, was executed so very well.
I'm guessing that Twilight already has a better understanding of why Sunset was the way she was than she did before this, and that that understanding is only going to grow.
A student body is never in complete lockstep. When it looks like it is, it just means the dissenters aren't speaking up. They probably all do believe that Sunset is Anon-a-Miss, given that she openly confessed, but I have to wonder whether Sunset really was as out of sight as she thought. Not everyone would have rushed out to see Twilight, after all.
(And now I'm trying to remember if CHS has windows on the classroom doors, because if it does there's no way she could have verified that no one was watching that sprint.)
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Yeah, this.
When it gets cold, you can offset your heating bill by bringing in some more biological heaters. In certain circumstances, it also works if you don't have a heating system in the first place. And that second version is even a band name. Chilly? One dog. Cold-cold? Two dogs. "Oh God, oh god! We're all gonna die"? That's a three dog night. (Supposedly.)
For non-canine examples, go to any crowded enclosed space. A convention, an Orange Line train, whatever. They're always too hot, because people are heaters and AC can only do so much so fast.
All of that being said, Sunset could be taking a triage approach to heating her apartment. If she sealed rooms off so that she wouldn't have to heat them, and has opened one or more of them up so she'd have space for a guest, that could definitely make the heater work harder. (It could also not do that, because there are a lot of variables.)
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I've heard it said that the reason the comic feels so much like a pre-Rainbow Rocks story is because it was originally intended to be that, but I've never quite believed it for precisely that reason. The general set up, and many of the details, may fit better at an earlier time, but the journal is too central to the story as written for me to believe the story was ever intended to happen without it.
The comments here mark the first time that I've heard someone say both that it was intended to be pre-Rainbow Rocks and that it was always intended to have the journal. Specifically Blazeblast4's comment that the writer had gotten mixed up and thought that the journal was in use between Equestria Girls and Rainbow Rocks. That makes a degree of sense. Sunset certainly had the journal the whole time, so the only detail one would really need to forget is that Sunset didn't attempt to use the journal until the sirens showed up.
If Sunset had been using it before that, and the comic were set between the first two movies, you'd get the same plot, a reason that Twilight didn't come over (they thought the portal couldn't be opened until 30 moons had passed), and significantly fewer continuity problems. (Of course, a lot of problems would remain either way.)
Changing Twilight's scenes to be in the Castle of Friendship instead of the Golden Oak Library would be a significantly easier fix, once the mistake was realized, than rebuilding the whole story from the ground up.
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It might not be explicitly stated, but I'm pretty sure other fics have that too.
I know for sure at least one does, because there's one that I wrote. (Well, I wrote the first chapter, at least. Still trying to write the rest.) Fractured Friendship begins with Sunset having already forgiven the girls, classing what they did as a screw up rather than a betrayal, and so forth.
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To an extent, that has been done, but only to an extent.
Fine has her skip the threatening and simply release (almost) everything as part of her epic flounce. Mind you, she sends two students to the emergency room first, so that might not be what stands out to most readers.
How Anon-A-Miss Mucked Up has Sunset banking on her past reputation to make Anon-a-Miss give herself up with nothing but a threat. ("Herself" because that was Sunset's assumption.) She doesn't mention anything specific, though. The threat, which includes profanity, is delivered over the school's PA system with Celestia's permission, which is kind of . . . odd.
Not Very Anon-A-Miss has her pull out all her old dirt, and be prepared to use it (though not as a threat) but end up winning so quickly she doesn't really have the chance. Also, it's worth knowing ahead of time that the concept started as a comedy but became serious, and that's left some tonal friction.
So, none of it's actually what you described, but some things share certain elements.
Something that's always bugged me about Anon-a-Miss stories is Trixie. (This will wrap back around to the actual content of the chapter, but it may take a bit. I'll understand if no one reads it.)
When Sunset accuses her in the original comic, that makes sense. Trixie had basically declared herself the enemy of the Rainbooms at the end of the Battle of the Bands, when everyone else was singing (figuratively) their praises. If one doesn't pull in the Dazzlings, Trixie is, based on motive, the prime suspect. Everything after that, though, was all wrong.
In the space of two panels, comic-Trixie is reduced to a wannabe villain who enjoys chaos, conflict, and strife for it's own sake. That puts her, ethically, as the worst villain in Equestria Girls so far. Granted there have only been two sets of villains at that point, and one of those was a set of one. Also, in all ways other than ethically, she doesn't even rate as a villain. She doesn't have power, and so she never tries anything. (Not counting trapping the Rainbooms, because she was under the influence of the sirens.)
On that ethical front, though, Sunset did what she did because she wanted something. She was working toward a goal and trying to be the ruler of the school in the meantime. Being a jerk and making people miserable wasn't an end in itself. The sirens liked all that stuff, but that's because it was their food, and even then that wasn't enough motivation for them to make CHS tear itself apart. They needed the promise of magic, and with it the restoration of their powers, to make them actually do what they did. Comic Trixie just wants things to be bad for their own sake; she's what the Joker would be if never did anything but watch from the sidelines.
After giving her, "I wish I were Anon-a-Miss, but without a cause," bit, she twists the figurative knife by pretending to believe Sunset is Anon-a-Miss when she clearly doesn't, quickly recapping the false accusations against Sunset, and --as her a parting shot-- praising Sunset for doing all the things she doesn't actually think Sunset did.
Neither animated version of Trixie is anything like that, especially given that there's no magical mind control going on (comic-Trixie does not have the Great and Powerful Alicorn Amulet, and the sirens aren't in the picture.)
And that's it. It ends there. No one speaks or thinks of it again. Thematically, that's a huge missed opportunity both because of how Sunset was acting the same as the Rainbooms (she made a false accusation with no solid evidence to back it up) and how Sunset acted differently (Sunset approached Trixie when she was alone, so there was no audience to hear the accusation and start spreading the news that Trixie was behind Anon-a-Miss, and Sunset believed Trixie when Trixie claimed innocence.)
In terms of character building, it leaves Trixie as fundamentally different from what we'd expect of her, and an unrepentant asshole as well. The CMC stopped being Anon-a-Miss when they looked around and realized what they were doing. In contrast, Trixie looked around, realized the consequences of what Anon-a-Miss was doing, and reacted with, basically, "This. Is. Awesome!"
That's the original comic, which was full of fail on nearly every page. What bugs me, re:Trixie, about Anon-a-Miss fics is that precious few even attempt to rehabilitate that presentation. Several actually make her worse.
The reason I'm thinking about all this right now, is that Sunset just masterfully pulled a massive feat of showmanship, and if there's anyone in the school who would appreciate that for what it was, my money's on it being Trixie.
I could practically see the scene in the bathroom going like this:
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The top 0.1% of comments control 8% of this website's likes.
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Probably never. Look how long we've had SJWs.
The plot thickens!!
Though perhaps Sunset should look a little more carefully at the ANGLE of the video. If the Crusaders are short enough, it could be a big tell, or at least narrow it down to freshmen. Then again she probably would think it's someone higher up on the food chain. At first I thought she suspected the Crusaders...but now I think she's overlooked them due to their connections with their siblings. That whole Innocence By Association.
I AM rather curious as to how this mess will be sorted out, as well as if anyone else will be submitting videos, since the "Rule" has been broken. Then again it was Anon-A-Miss and not a normal student so....
The
ladySunset's not for turning!9788009
Fair point, but there's just one teeny tiny problem with that. Oh, you wanna know? Well have you ever heard of Entitled Femi-Nazis? or the stupidly entitled branch of SJWs? i think those are the ones you should be targeting, not the entire movement as a whole.
Hahaha qué buen engaño 🤣
Now I know this is a fantasy world. Affording a studio apartment on minimum wage jobs is hard enough to believe, but a Hog?!
And in real life that would have done them in right there. The Metadata would identify whose phone it came off of.