After pictures from her phone get posted online, that human five confront Sunset with the information. After discovering that she and the others had very different ideas about how to confront her, Rainbow Dash finds herself defending Sunset from the rest of her friends.
Rainbow siding with Sunset didn't change all that much. Sunset was still successfully framed, Sunset still lost most of her friends, Sunset will still go back to being the most hated student at CHS, but she won't have to face any of it alone, and that will make all the difference in the world.
Meta stuff follows.
Let's talk about combinatorics.
There is one way for none of the five to remain on Sunset's side, there are five ways for one of them them to side with Sunset, there are ten ways for two of them to do so, there are ten ways for three of them to do so, there are five ways for four of them to do so, and there is one way for all of them to do so. Out of these thirty two possible configurations, almost every Anon-a-Miss story sticks to the first one.
I did a tally once upon a time and what I found was that 96.9% of possibilities were almost never explored, and 87.5% were never explored at all (no "almost" necessary.) These figures get rather more abysmal if you're looking at who did or didn't side with Sunset from the start. The rare stories that have one or more of the five side with Sunset tend to have the initial confrontation go down pretty much canonically, and then have someone have a change of heart later on.
So, in the interest of stuff, here's a thing where Sunset has someone on her side from the very start. Most of the first chapter was released two months early on my Patreon page, for subscribers only, as you might imagine.
Great chapter!
Poor Rainbow Dash
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Very well then.
Finally a good rainbow story. so I definitely can't wait to read more.
So is Scootaloo going to be the main ringleader of anon a miss not happy that dash is not on the outs with sunset
Interesting can't wait to see where this goes. I mean I am almost certain there's at least one where Rainbow believes Sunset is innocent. Have you read hell or high water?
Huh, a story where one of the group actually sticks with Sunset as opposed to all of them just immediately jumping on her. Interesting, curious to see how this goes.
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I am well acquainted with Hell & High Water. Rainbow realizes it isn't Sunset while the and the others are walking away from the confrontation, so she's with Sunset almost from the beginning and is, I think, tied for "Quickest to realize they made a mistake" with Applejack of Myriad Thoughts.
Hell & High Water is a branch-off AU of Dainn's story, which this isn't, and is deeply tied up in the extensive world building Uria has done over quite a few years. The plan is for this to remain closer to both the in-show canon, as it existed at that point, and the comic, with the key difference being that Rainbow stuck with Sunset, than Hell & High Water does.
Also, while Hell & High Water does provide one example of Dash siding with Sunset, on its own it does little to counterbalance the trend of, "Rainbow Dash is the worst of all," that's present in Anon-a-Miss stories. Of course, two good-Dash stories doesn't do all that much more (twice little is, in this case, still little) but it is more.
Mostly, though, I had a bout of inspiration on Apirl 13th and wrote most of this chapter, which means that this is something I can, theoretically, write, and (more recently) I was reminded that the "Dash is the worst" trend in Anon-a-Miss stories really does need to pushed back against.
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Fair enough. She doesn't get a whole lot of positive representation in those stories, the reason which I think is because not a whole lot of people relate to her and she's not as wildly perceived as supportive as the others.
I am still waiting for a fic showing Pinkie Pie or Rarity supporting Sunset but what are you going to do? Still looking forward to seeing where this goes.
Yeah Dash does tend to be the most dickish of the group in a lot of stories. If nothing else she’s the only one I know of to actually assault Sunset in any of these stores, with Applejack occasionally looking like she was going to before being talked down.
Huh, quite intriguing. I'd be quite interested in following this.
Curious, I'm interested in where this story will go.
I'm interested... Out of all of the Anon-a-Miss stories I've found, none of them had any of the girls siding with Sunset. It was instantaneous "blame the new girl in the group because she used to be a bad egg." Out of all of them, I always had one criticism. Rainbow Dash. Granted, EQG Dash doesn't represent the Element of Loyalty as much as Equestria Dash does... but it's still Rainbow Dash and she was clearly chosen as the EQG Barer of Loyalty. I do understand that siding with the many against the one, especially when that many is your friends, feels like the right "loyal" choice. But siding with the one who is being singled out for doing nothing wrong, and being clearly confused about it is showing TRUE loyalty. Being true to your friends, especially the ones that are wrongfully accused, is a sign of true character and growth as someone who is meant to be loyal.
It's interesting to see a positive Dash story in Anon a Miss. It's kinda sad as while I dropped interest to 20% in Ponies... I still occasionally stalk this site and look at what's there. I really really like the sound of this. Dash has beaten up Sunset on numerous occasions and is the first to usually hate Sunset. So this already gets a pass, I agree completely. 99% of the time, Fluttershy is the first one to realize and once she even spent most of the time playing detective.
And now that I actually read this thing instead of stalking it and looking at it.. my assessment is correct. This first chapter is pretty good. It makes for an exceedingly cruel one-shot as it is really good (if you dropped it now) I never read this comic. I hate the idea of the comic. But I love Anon a Miss stories. For a comic I never read... funny how life works isn't it? I usually love cathartic angry, yell at stupid fics but I gotta say, it's kinda nice reading one where Rainbow sticks with Sunset this time, especially as she is the asshole of the bunch. I love the irony that the asshole of the bunch takes Sunset's side.
I usually don't like stories where they become friends again (how do you bounce back from something like this... knowing that the instant "we" suspected you of turning evil again and then, suddenly, we realize the errors of our ways, lets be friends and pretend this never happened... is this how the real world works? It would be a huge uphill battle. The trust and innocence is gone) so part of me is hoping Rainbow and Sunset kinda lose trust with the others.
It's your story! But I love the "sorry, but we can't be friends" route. Even if it's MLP for friendship and forgiveness!
Wow, I had such a short comment originally, read the first chapter and decided I had more to say!
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I found some stories with some of her friends siding with her
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I would very much like to read them. I like the Anon-a-Miss stories all well and good, but c'mon. Princess Twilight asked them to look after her. (I just watched Equestria Girls again, so I know exactly what she said). Looking after her doesn't mean turning on her at the first sign of trouble. The movie with Wallflower is forgivable because of magic mumbo jumbo.
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There's a similar setup in Hell and High Water, and Capn-Tilfy's Anon-a-Miss stories have all the Rainbooms working together to uncover the origin of Anon-a-Miss.
Interesting. Let's see where this goes.
what fanfics all portray rainbowdash in a positive light in this scenario id like to read more
anyways GREAT start just please dont go overly grimdark like anonamis tends to do focus more on the friendship stuff
Well now; you have my attention. I read a story recently where Rainbow sided with Sunset, but the whole thing escalated into violence real quick, and was kind of a letdown.
I'm really excited to see how your take on the situation pans out.
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Hell and High Water, by any chance?
Oooo! Very nice, I love stories where friendship endures, and even more where Rainbow is actually good (too many authors spotlighting my favorite girls through a dirty lense). I'm looking forward to seeing more!
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I do believe that was the fic, yes.
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OK.
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The comic's actually better than its reputation. For example, they don't suddenly drop Sunset Shimmer like a hot potato the instance Anon-A-Miss shows up. Applejack actually sticks up for her when Apple Bloom tries to insinuate she's the one humiliating them, only when pictures that could only have come from Sunset's phone are published do they turn away from her. And even then it doesn't take much for them to listen to her later on.
Me, I hate Accusation Fics. Hate them with a burning passion. I despise the kind of Anon-A-Miss fic that forces the Rainbooms to groves before Sunset only for her to flip them off, or declare them unworthy of being friends. Especially since those stories conveniently ignore how what the Rainbooms did wasn't remotely as bad as what Sunset Shimmer did to them in the past (like attempted murder), nor that their lack of trust might have something to do with years of her systematically destroying their friendships with each other back in the day. Just once I would like to read a story where the Rainbooms are allowed to walk away with their own dignity intact, instead of getting stomped on because the writer has a hateboner.
So yeah, I'm... wary, regarding what I'll find in this piece here.
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I refer to my comment above. They didn't turn away at the first sign of trouble. Applejack sticks up to her. It takes photos from Sunset Shimmer's own phone to convince them—the CMC stole those directly.
I always love a good alternate Anon-a-Miss
Applejack had had phone showing - Applejack had her phone showing
Interesting, like others have said it isn't too often you find a fic where Rainbow is portrayed in a positive light during this situation. It's just too easy to have her be aggressive due to how self-centered she sometimes acts. So I'm really looking forward to seeing how you have this play out, how (if) you'll have Rainbow actually gain faith that her decision was the right one. Or if you'll have her stay questioning Sunset's sincerity. Or if Rainbow will put together the idea that there were others in the house at both sleepovers. Though her making the deductive leap that it was the little sisters, or little sister figure in the case of Scootaloo, who is responsible might be kinda hard.
Rainbow isn't getting it as bad as she did last time I read a story she was loyal in a time when she wasn't.
hmm this story has my attention. I pray it doesn't end to quickly or go overly grim with the sadness of the story so many Anon fics fall into that trap for some reason or the characters take so much of a 180 it feels like the wedding episode again.
I really don't like it when Rainbow is always the jerk. This is a refreshing anon a miss change. I can't wait to see where this goes :)
So, given that it's been discussed in the comments a fair amount, I figured I'd compile a list of Anon-a-Miss stories where at least one of the five is on Sunset's side before the true identity of Anon-a-Miss is revealed.
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The list, which is further down in this post, may interest you. Then again, it may not.
Ok, confession time. I haven't really read CapNTilfy's work.
Part of the reason I'm so focused in on variations of the Anon-a-Miss theme is that my depression has been taking away the ability to find pleasure in more and more types of fiction. Years ago, it was just that I could no longer enjoy books, and that was devastating in itself. Now it's much much worse. What I'm actually capable of enjoying has been slowly winnowed down to comparatively short things where I already know the setting, the characters, and the basic outline of the plot.
CapNTilfy's rendition of Anon-a-Miss hits two of those points, but "Not Just Any Old Continuity" is emphatically not short. It's over half a million words and counting. More than ten percent of that is in the Anon-a-Miss arc itself, and that arc isn't finished yet. (Though the Anon-a-Miss trilogy, with neither prelude nor aftermath, weighs in at only 26,386 words.)
I've occasionally glanced inside one of the stories, but when it comes to actually reading it, I just can't.
Depression sucks.
The reason for this little tangent is that yesterday, when I first got the idea to make this list, I took a look inside Anon-a-Miss: Confrontation and found that, while it's certainly true that all of the five stick with Sunset, it actually starts off just like this story: Rainbow is the only one willing to stand up for her. The difference, which is huge, is that in that story Rainbow is successful in convincing the other four.
That out of the way, let's move on to the story list.
Stories where at least one of the five stood by Sunset from the very beginning of Anon-a-Miss:
"Anon-a-Miss" Kills Her Accusers -- Yes, it is a spoiler that it belongs on this list. If you don't want it spoiled, you're just going to have to come across it on your own. All five of the girls stay friends with Sunset, but they pretend they haven't in order to get the CMC to confess in the most entertaining way ever depicted.
This story -- Where (and you should know this) Rainbow remains on Sunset's side and the others don't.
Anon-a-Miss: Confrontation -- This is the thing I just had a giant "I didn't realize this was a 'good Rainbow' story; I thought it was just a 'good five' story, which includes a good Rainbow by default without having her be any more loyal than the others" note about. Rainbow is right there with Sunset from the get-go, and she even manages to talk the others into believing Sunset too.
Given that I haven't done more than skim a scene or two, I don't really have much to say about it.
Stories where at least one of the five goes back to being friends with Sunset extremely quickly:
Hell & High Water -- The confrontation goes down more or less like it does in the comic. The one notable difference is that, instead of yelling at Sunset, Rainbow Dash refuses to even look at Sunset. Sunset's crying on the floor, the five are walking away, and Rainbow Dash realizes two things. The first is that Sunset is emphatically not acting the way she was when she was Sunset Shimmer, Queen of Canterlot High, bully. The second is that she's lost friends before because she assumed they were guilty and didn't think things through. From that point on Rainbow is on Sunset's side.
The story is an alternate universe take on Dainn's incorporating the extensive world-building and mythology Uria crafted over a period of years. It's violent, it's magical, and it's epic. That means that if you want a story that isn't violent, or that doesn't include magic as a driver of the plot, or is at a scale somewhat smaller than epic, it's probably not for you. Also if you don't like sirens.
Myriad Thoughts -- The confrontation goes down as in the comic, so does the part where the five abandon Sunset crying on the floor. During classes that day, though, Applehjack realizes that she may have been a little hasty. After school she talks to Sunset, listens this time, and believes her this time. Sunset becomes an Apple.
As the story goes on, others will come around. In fact, the story is in large part a series of character studies, examining why each of them believed Sunset was guilty, and how each of them realized she wasn't. That's not all there is in the story, though. For example, the last sentence of the previous paragraph is completely accurate. The story has Sunset becoming a member of the Apple family. I feel like that could be a deal breaker for some people, so you've been warned. The story also contains sirens. Magical shenanigans, however, are postponed till the sequel.
Stories where at least one of the five is on Sunset's side from the start of the story:
Fractured Friendship -- This is another of my stories. It starts with Sunset heading to Sugarcube Corner to try to convince the other's she's innocent, follows the comic pretty closely to just before the climactic reveal, and asks what would happen if that reveal never happened. As such, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy are on Sunset's side starting in chapter one and will stay there for the rest of the story. Assuming there is a "rest of the story". I say again: depression sucks. This is to be a story where magic is never brought to bear, the sirens do not appear, and insofar as there is violence it's fairly standard high school stuff (getting bumped in the hall, for example.)
Anon-a-Miss: Friendship Recovery -- In theory, this is about Fluttershy siding with Sunset immediately after the Sugarcube Corner confrontation goes badly. In practice, it's a prologue and a chapter long flashback, and it hasn't been updated since November of 2018. (Sounds kind of like one of my stories, given the previous sentence.)
Cadere a Gratia (Fall from Grace) -- In the first chapter, Rainbow Dash realizes Sunset is planning suicide; at that point Anon-a-Miss doesn't really matter to her. Unless there's something out of left field in chapter two, the big warning about this one is that it begins with Sunset attempting suicide.
Fun Time, Bad School Time ((Anon-A-Miss)) -- As of the first chapter, Fluttershy helps Sunset while the others are violently terrible to her. Note the "violently terrible" note also that I may not have read this, and if I have I've definitely forgotten almost everything about it.
Stories where one or more of the five switch to siding with Sunset at some later point in the story:
Empty Skies -- Fluttershy is the first to believe Sunset is innocent, but she's afraid to say anything because of how angry the others are. Empty Skies is all about having the Wonderbolts' human counterparts be the ones to support Sunset. With her whole team siding with Sunset, Dash is convinced next. She brings Pinkie Pie with her and because of that Fluttershy stops being afraid to say she believes Sunset is innocent.
Sunset Past the Horizon -- Fluttershy has her, "If you're not Anon-a-Miss, then who is," from the comic, which is usually omitted because it indicates that Fluttershy is, at the very least, willing to believe Sunset. We don't hear about Fluttershy again until after Sunset has arranged for a transfer to Crystal Prep. When Sunset and the five cross paths, the other four are jerks to Sunset, but Fluttershy gets worried about Sunset instead. The next chapter has her becoming a member of Team Sunset.
Seven Saviors -- When Sunset flees Sugarcube Corner she leaves her journal behind. Fluttershy picks it up. The tear stains on the journal have preserved palpable remnants of Sunset's anguish, which convince Fluttershy of Sunset's innocence.
Phoenix Redemption-- Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie come around eventually, but it's pretty late in the story. The other three are downright terrible straight through to the revelation the CMC are behind it.
The Winter Stars of Christmas -- The fifth chapter is called "The Return of Kindness", take a guess.
Stories where Fluttershy (it's only ever Fluttershy) wants to be on Sunset's side, but is unable to be
When Anon-a-miss Struck -- Fluttershy takes Sunset's side, but it took her too long to do so. The story is tagged
Suicide / Self HarmDeathandTragedyfor a reason. Sunset never learns Fluttershy sided with her, for she was already gone by the time it happened.When everything fell apart -- Same author as previous, a similar kind of ending, but in this case it's not that Fluttershy decides too late, it's that the others were actively preventing her from doing anything about her conviction that Sunset was innocent. Features death, but not suicide.
A Second Chance to Find Home -- Starts with Fluttershy getting talked out of being on Sunset's side. The other four do such a good job of convincing her Sunset is evil that the things Fluttershy says . . . well, Sunset has nightmares about that in multiple later chapters. Yet Fluttershy is still the one who's ready to believe Sunset is innocent, and will illegally check, copy, and distribute medical records to convince others of Sunset's innocence.
Sunset does not accept Fluttershy's support when the two finally cross paths again. Had the story been completed, Sunset would have forgiven Fluttershy, and Fluttershy alone, and the two would have become a couple. (But the story would, if I understood correctly, end before they actually went on their first date.)
Major warnings are that it's incomplete and has been for a long time, Jesus makes a cameo, which could be off-putting for some people, and it's constructed on a foundation of attempted suicide.
A liminal case (at best):
Reverse -- First, it would be useful to take a moment to talk about what this does with respect to Applejack and Rainbow Dash. The short version: they have their roles reversed then amplified.
To wit, Rainbow Dash is presented as the one who is the most angry, the most shouty, and the most threatening, even though that's actually Applejack's role per the comic, while Applejack is, by far, the more subdued of the physical pair, which is supposed to be Rainbow Dash's role, per the comic. From there, Rainbow Dash's angry/irrational/threatening level is ratcheted up, while Applejack's is toned down.
This is worth noting because Rainbow is, as per usual, singled out as being the worst of the lot while the other four are sort of a cohesive, one might even say monolithic, whole.
To be clear, everyone thinks Sunset is guilty, but the other four are willing to give Sunset a chance to defend herself in spite of the fact they've already decided she's guilty. So, basically, four of them are taking a position of "Guilty, but we'll let you try to change our minds," and the fifth is going with, "Totes guilty, let's give a beating." (She is not permitted to physically harm Sunset, however.)
So, why does this make the list if they all think she's guilty? Unlike in the comic, and unlike in almost every other Anon-a-Miss story, they try to give Sunset a chance, and they plan to actually consider what she has to say. This is the reverse story, though. (It's right there in the name.) Instead of taking that chance, which most every other Sunset desperately wanted, Sunset decides she doesn't want to have any dealings with people who decided she was guilty before they even spoke to her. The possibility of changing their minds isn't enough to to get over the sting of the initial situation. Sunset storms off. They follow. Things continue from there.
That list wasn't made in order, which is part of why some things have "Here are things you might want to be told about beforehand" warnings while others don't. The rest of the reason is that I'm low on sleep and not fully functional right now.
Some notes:
If you read the above list, you'll notice that there are other stories (plural!) that have Rainbow on Sunset's side. Pinkie Pie, Rarity, or a combination of characters* would be a better choice if I were going for uniqueness here, but that's not why I ultimately decided to publish this.
Outside of Rarity's "There's always room for more" at the end** Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash are the only ones to call Sunset family. They're the only ones shown considering that Sunset might be innocent. They're the only ones shown saying that they don't want Sunset to be guilty.
They still ultimately reach the wrong conclusion, and continue to believe that Sunset is guilty, of course. They do this because it never occurred to them to think about the CMC , and so they couldn't think of anyone but Sunset who could be guilty.†
I would argue (and indeed have argued) that Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash are the first two to believe Sunset is innocent at the end and quite possibly the only ones to believe it before the CMC burst in and confess. Notably Fluttershy is the first person to allow that Sunset might be innocent, and Rainbow Dash is the only one to offer a "Sunset didn't do it," theory. It isn't a particularly good theory, but that's not the point and, regardless, she was spit-balling rather than presenting a paper for peer review.
It's also worth looking at how they acted in the initial confrontation. Where Applejack was loud, threatening, and possibly even (very, very slightly) violent (depending on whether a specific gesture connected or not), and Pinkie Pie was downright cruel, Fluttershy's contribution was, while hurtful, far less mean spirited, and Rainbow Dash was tied with Rarity as the having the least hurtful words. Specifically, after Applejack finally comes out and says Sunset is Anon-s-Miss, the contributions from Rainbow and Rarity are both purely defensive; they don't attack Sunset at all. Finally, where the other three keep glaring to the end very end, Fluttershy simply closes her crying eyes, and Rainbow Dash focuses on comforting Fluttershy rather than rubbing salt in Sunset's emotional wounds.
Fanfiction seems to have rewarded Fluttershy for her conduct in the original comic. Not counting "Everyone sticks with Sunset" stories, there are eight where Fluttershy is on Sunset's side, and a further three where she wants to be. Rainbow Dash, whose conduct was at least as good as Fluttershy's . . . as of this being published, there are three stories where Dash is on Sunset's side (again, not counting ones where everyone is), and in one of those she only is because she realizes that Sunset is suicidal; there are a metric fuckton of stories where Dash is the worst to Sunset out of all of the five, often by far.
Interesting historical tidbit: Dainn chose Rainbow Dash to be the Judas of his fic because it was against type. Everyone knows that Rainbow Dash isn't the kind of person to do that sort of thing, so the fact that she does shows just how far things have gone. It's basically an instance of the trope "Out of Character is Serious Business". So many people followed Dainn's lead that, when it comes to Anon-a-Miss stories, "Will stab you in the back (and possibly beat you up for good measure)" has become Rainbow's character.
* As noted in the long description, there are 32 possible ways divide the five between "Sunset's our friend" and "No she's not" camps.
** This was clearly meant to refer to a group of ten people that included Sunset, but if one wants to get pedantic, it could be argued to refer to any subset of that group, and five hundred twelve of those subsets don't include Sunset. Don't get pedantic. Not here. Not on this point.
† The truth is that they should have been able to come up with three other names: Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack all had just as much opportunity a Sunset. That they didn't consider that shows that they don't consider Sunset to be a friend on the same level that they consider those three.
[Added:]
I left Shattered Trust off the list. Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie remain with Sunset beginning to end. Adjust the above numbers as necessary.
[Added, part 2:]
I hadn't started reading Born from Flames when I wrote the comment. Definitely a fic where Fluttershy thinks Sunset is innocent from Chapter 1.
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thank you
To be fair, Rainbow looked like Cyclops from X-men. So it's not like she looked stupid.
Wonder when the next chapter will be out
First you had my interest, now you have my attention.
Interesting concept, wonder what will happen next.
I like your portrayal of Rainbow Dash. Honestly, I think it's truer to her character than all the Rainbow-is-a-violent-jerk Anon-a-miss stories out there, which doesn't really fit her character (or even the comic, for that matter). I'd be interested in seeing where this goes
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Am I allowed to mention a Anon-A-Miss story where all of Sunset’s friends find out she was innocent too late. That story being:
One Mistake -- A version of the story where the Sugar Cube Corner confrontation goes horribly wrong, ending with Rainbow Dash (yes, this story is focused on her) accidentally causing Sunset to fall into a coma, and then finding out that Sunset wasn’t Anon-A-Miss, who makes a post at a time when Sunset can not, but due to Sunset being from Equestria, Rainbow is let off the hook by the police, even if she herself would prefer to be punished. Rainbow ends up having to deal with the consequences caused by her mistake, from being tormented by a demonic reflection of herself (known by the author as Chromatic Torrent), to being picked on by students.
The story isn’t complete yet, but (despite only being three chapters) it is worth a read in my opinion.