Sunset reached out her hand to silence her alarm clock, wondering why she decided to wake up at 8:00 on a Saturday.
She was going to go back to bed before she saw a sticky note on her alarm clock. Sunset groaned, cursing her past self for making so much work for her, then grabbed the sticky note and tiredly read it.
‘Get up lazy ass! You promised to help out at SAA at 9:00!’The note read.
“Oh… yeah.” Sunset laid against her pillows for a second, wanting a few more precious seconds in bed, then jumped out.
She took a shower (knowing it didn’t matter anyway as she was probably gonna get covered in sweat and grime), got dressed (not even bothering with her leather jacket), ate breakfast, and got in her car. She wrote a quick good morning to Twilight and told her she was going to be running some errands today so she wouldn’t be able to write to her as much, having not told her about working with Applejack.
She felt guilty lying to the princess like this, but she didn’t want to have a long conversation with Twilight when all she was doing was doing some chores for Applejack.
“Applejack…” Sunsets brows knitted together. Out of all her friends, Sunset probably had the most complicated relationship with her. On the one hand, Applejack was the most mature of their group during Anon-A-Miss and it’s fallout. On the other, she lied to Sunset's face about her being family and was related to the mastermind behind Anon-A-Miss. Though, the latter was hardly Applejack's fault.
She supposed she was least angry with Applejack, not that really meant much. She was snapped from her thoughts when her phone alarm went off: 8:30.
Sunset sighed and started her car, not bothering to see if Twilight had written her back, and drove off.
As she drove, she couldn’t help but remember yesterday’s events. She looked embarrassed as she remembered how she broke down in front of the entire cafe, how Sunset didn’t notice everyone staring at her beforehand she wasn’t sure.
Hopefully Lyra and Bon-Bon knew better than to bother Sunset from now on. She didn’t have to worry about fake apologies and inviting her out to places. Maybe they’d tell everyone else to back off and she wouldn’t have someone come up to her each and every day, it was starting to get annoying.
She was surprised to find that she had finally reached Sweet Apple Acres, not realizing just how lost in thought she really was. She looked at her car's clock and saw it was 8:59. “Hm, made some good time.”
Off to the side, a certain someone with a red bow was keeping a lookout. Apple Bloom couldn’t help but smile when she saw Sunset's car pull up. “Phase three complete.” She ran away before Sunset could see her and found Applejack. “Sis!”
Applejack turned away from the pigs feeder and looked at Apple Bloom. “Yeah Bloom?”
“Sunset’s here, she’s pulling up into the driveway.” Apple Bloom declared as she came to a stop.
“Now, how in tarnation would yah know that if yah were doing yer chores?” Applejack asked in an unamused tone.
“A-Ah wasn’t, but Ah had a good reason to! We can’t just leave Sunset to wander around aimlessly until we realize she’s here.” She marched up to Applejack and grabbed her arm. “Yah should go and greet her!”
“W-what?” Applejack pulled back, anxiety creeping in. “Why can’t yah do it? She went up to yah remember?”
Apple Bloom panicked, trying to think of a clever way to convince Applejack. “Ah’m Anon-A-Miss, remember? She doesn’t wanna see me. ‘Sides, she did say she wanted to eventually talk with yah, how can yah do that if yah can’t even greet her?”
Applejack took a moment to think before sighing in defeat. “Guess yah have a point there.” She let Apple Bloom pull her along, needing her sister to practically force her to walk in case she got cold feet.
When they neared the house, Apple Bloom let go and urged her sister to walk the rest of the way. Applejack took a moment to collect herself and began walking towards Sunset's car.
When Applejack was far enough away, Apple Bloom smiled and hid behind a wall, keeping an eye on the two of them. “And commence phase four.”
Sunset herself returned her car off and got out, locking it behind her. She turned and saw Applejack, her frown deepening when she saw the cow girl.
Applejack stopped a few feet away, trying to will herself to greet Sunset. “Mornin’ Sugarc-” Applejack stopped when Sunset gave her a small glare. “Sunset, Ah’m glad yah decided to help out today.”
“Good morning to you as well, Applejack.” Sunset said a little too politely for Applejack's taste. “I did promise to help out, it’d be dishonest if I didn’t show up. I wouldn’t want that, after all I know what it’s like to have dishonest friends.”
“Right…” Applejack winced at that not so subtle jab at her character. She maintained her composure and reminded herself why Sunset was here. “So, for right now Ah want yah to feed the cows and horses. Yah remember where we keep the feed dontcha?”
Sunset nodded. “Not unless you moved it.”
“Good.” Applejack gave her a small smile. “After yer done, come find me and Ah’ll give yah yer next set of chores.”
Sunset nodded, rolling her eyes at Applejack's smile and walked off. The cow girl's smile faded at Sunset’s hostility. She had expected some overt resentment from the redhead, but not this much, considering Sunset was the one who suggested this.
Applejack decided to ignore it and walked back to finish feeding the pigs. They’d get to talking later.
“How in the hell are we going to get Sunset unbanned from the Fling?” Lyra asked as she applied her makeup while Bon-Bon tiredly brushed her teeth next to her, still wearing her robe.
“I dunschno.” Bon-Bon said with her toothbrush in her mouth. "Waitsch tul Minday?
"We don't have a lot of time Bonny." Lyra looked at the girl next to her. "That's two days of not doing anything, and if she's still banned regardless, then it's two days wasted."
Bon-Bon stopped brushing her teeth and rinsed her mouth. "Well then what do you suggest Lyra? We go to Principal Celestia's home and ask her nicely to unban Sunset?"
Lyra perked up at Bon-Bons suggestion. "That's a great idea! Thanks Bonny!"
Bon-Bon looked confused. "That was sarcasm. You're actually going to bother the Principal on the weekend?"
“I’m sure she’ll understand when we tell her our plan. This is probably what she had in mind before we left yesterday.” Lyra declared as she carefully put on her hair band.
“Still Lyra, doesn’t it seem weird to bother Celestia on the weekend?” Bon-Bon asked as Lyra made her way out of the bathroom. “Plus, we don’t even know where she lives.”
“You don’t know where she lives.” Lyra looked at Bon-Bon smugly from the doorway. “I do.”
Bon-Bon looked confused and tried to decipher if Lyra was joking or lying to her face. “How would you-”
“I’m gonna leave you to take a shower.” Lyra waved her off as she closed the door. “Toodles!”
“What? No! We’re not done talking about this Lyra!” Bon-Bon huffed in annoyed frustration as Lyra closed the door and walked off. “You’re gonna tell me how you know the Principal's address! You hear me!”
Apple Bloom stared at Sunset and Applejack nervously. It had almost been three hours and things weren’t progressing as fast as she had hoped. The two older girls only interacted with each other when Sunset asked for another chore, they weren’t working together like she had hoped and Applejack wasn’t taking the initiative.
There was only one thing for her to do: get Sunset to take the initiative instead. She took a deep breath and walked towards Sunset, who was currently tending to the cows.
“Sunset?” She asked when she was close enough, the older girl turning towards her with a guarded expression. “Ah noticed AJ needed some help clearing the field, but yah and Ah both know she’s too stubborn to ask for help.”
“So, you want me to ask her instead, cause you know she’d be unable to say no to me, right?” Sunset guessed as she turned her body towards Apple Bloom.
“Um, well, Ah guess.” She thought for a second. Sunset was here because she didn’t want the farm to lose any business, if she maybe played up the importance of Applejacks job… “We were going to plant some new crops over there, and the faster it’s cleared the faster we can get to planting them... It’d be a great help to the farm.”
Sunset was quiet for a few moments. “Fine.” Was all she said as she stood up and marched towards Applejack.
Apple Bloom waited till Sunset was out of earshot. “Commence phase five.”
“Hey.” Applejack turned to see Sunset was a few feet behind her. “Need any help?”
Applejack was about to say no, but realized this was probably Sunsets way of easing into a conversation. “Uh, sure.” She handed her an empty bag and some gloves. “Right now we just need to clear big sticks and debris from the field so they can run a lawnmower over it later.”
Sunset nodded, pulling on her gloves. “Alright.”
The two girls worked in an uncomfortable silence together, just picking up whatever sticks came their way and barely even looking at each other. After half an hour Applejack was sick of it and decided to get the ball rolling. “So, what’ve you been up to lately? Ah’ve noticed your gaming channel has been a bit quiet.”
“Just haven’t been in the mood to play much. I honestly don’t want to play at all but I don’t want to worry my fans.” Sunset shrugged. “Didn’t know you watched.”
“Of course, Ah try to keep up with all my… friends.” Applejack winced lightly, but it didn’t seem Sunset took any offense, not that she seemed particularly invested in the conversation really. “Ah’m not a big fan of those gaming doohickeys, but yah got some moves girl. ‘Specially liked it when yah kept rolling around in a panic when that one boss ambushed yah in, uh, what was it? Born of somethi-”
“Born of Blood.” Sunset quickly interjects. “It was Born of Blood.”
“That’s the one.” Applejack chuckled. “Yah screamed yer head off when he jumped through the wall.”
Sunset seemed mildly offended. “Hey, it was a very scary werewolf. It’s freaking skin was flayed off and he was like twenty feet tall.”
“It was a game! It can’t hurt yah.” The two than had a pseudo argument as they collected sticks, slowly morphing into trading childish insults, which turned into Sunset trying to convince Applejack to play games which the cow girl stubbornly resisted.
Before either of them knew it, an hour had passed and it was lunch time. The two headed back towards the house, both of them with small smiles on their faces. For a second, it almost seemed like they were just two friends hanging out, that Anon-A-Miss was nothing more than a bad dream.
“Thanks again for helping out Sunset, Ah really appreciate it.” Applejack said, looking to Sunset.
“It’s no big deal really, it’s a shame the other girls were too busy to help though.”
Applejack gave Sunset a strange look. The other girls weren’t too busy, she just hadn’t asked them. She shrugged and decided it wasn’t important. “Yah know, when Apple Bloom said yah wanted to talk during our work, Ah had expected it to be a lot more serious.”
“Apple Bloom said I wanted to talk while I was helping out?” Sunset tilted her head, her smile fading. “I didn’t think I gave off that impression.”
“Impression? She said you outright told her.” Applejack's smile also faded.
“Told her what?” Sunset said in a steely tone, coming to a stop.
Applejack also stopped in front of the red head. “She said yah went up to her and offered to help on the farm a bit, said yah hoped we’d get to talking.”
“I didn’t… say that.” Sunsets face hardened. “She told me the girls were busy and you needed an extra pair of hands.”
“What?” Applejack's face joined with Sunsets, hardening as they slowly realized what Apple Bloom did. “None of the girls are busy, and if we really wanted extra help we’d just call Big Mac back from his deliveries. We almost never need anyone else helping out.”
The two girls stared at each other for a long moment, both coming to the same conclusion about a certain red headed pre teen.
“APPLE BLOOM!” They both yelled.
I don't know why, but it reminded me of a scene from "Ice Age"
Wow! Three chapters in three days! You're really on the roll!
It seems that Apple Bloom’s "plan" appears to be working. Somewhat, but working.
Aaand now she's in trouble! I've been expecting that. But still...
And oh boy... while I'll commend Lyra for her determination, but something tells me that her visit to Principal Celestia is going to be messy.
Anyway, great chapter!
11055853
Yeah, that probably won’t be happening anymore. I was striking while the iron was hot, I think it might be time to work on one of my other projects. A recursive fanfic of a very obscure fimfic I loved that stopped updating than was taken down.
Maybe if she was more upfront it would’ve worked better, but who knows?
Celestias definitely gonna poke holes in her plan. Which totally isn’t me trying to save face after someone pointed out how much manipulation there was in the plan.
11055847
Which scene?
11055847
Manny and Diego: SID!!!
Amazinggg!!! Your on a roll :0
Poor Apple Bloom XD
But for Lyra's plan.... idk. Won't it just bring bad memories for Sunset? And even if she's unbanned, she might get suspicous and not turn up at all.
11051799
Here's the thing: There was enough potential in those 48 pages for millions of fanfictions. No wonder we can't move on
11055878
I think both me and her will have to do a balancing act to make the plan work. I will make it clear that the grand gesture doesn’t solve everything immediately, but it’ll be a good start.
Dang, were there really only 48 pages?
Whelp didn't take long for that landmine to get set off.
11055880
Wasn’t exactly a highly intricate lie
11055867
Hey, I understand. I'm still looking forward to the next chapter whenever it's ready to be updated.
Good luck on your other project!
Well, Applebloom just got a couple more weeks, maybe months, tacked on to her grounded-ness, but at least her plan worked. It got them talking. And that's the first step to forgiveness for both parties.
11055868
This
Manny: Where's the baby ?!
Diego: You lost it ?!
Both: SID !!!!!!!!!!!!
11055879
From what I can gather,
YEP
11055712
In a sense, yes and no. The crown both magnified her inner darkness and warped her thoughts.
The story overall is good, but the grammar seems to be slipping somewhat. There's large numbers of apostrophes missing when they are needed. For example;
This should read;
There's also a bit of an issue with overly long sentences.
(... So, Apple Bloom, does Phase Six involve getting found out? Because if it does... um, congratulations?
In any case, the plan had better initial results than I expected. Even with each of them pursuing different things there was at least... conversation. The query, then, is if all potential progress is undone by Apple Bloom's fabrication. Will Sunset hold that she was brought in under false pretenses against Applejack as well as Applebloom, and/or make her see things as tainted?
Either way... I enjoyed seeing the Bloodborne reference. Made me grin, love that game, glad to see Sunset plays it. Look forward to seeing Lyra's plan backfire and blow up... and learning how she knows where Celestia's house is.)
Man this story is great! I love it!
11055894
Not really because all they talked about was the farm and her which doesn't fix the problem at the heart of it all. Because they gave up on her she can't trust anyone besides twilight who didn't give up on her. Forcing them together doesn't change anything if the problems keeping them apart aren't worked out.
And thus the other shoe has hit the ground. Lets see if Bloom's actions are going to make things worse.
11055912
Really? I thought she was already like that.
11055921
I always did suck at punctuation... and run on sentences.
Well Apple Bloom's plan had better results than I thought it would since it at least got Applejack and Sunset talking. Still she's gonna be in a train load of trouble now that they realize she lied to them and schemed behind their backs again. Lyra's determination is commendable but I don't see her plan working out well either.
11056101
It's a source of much debate.
11056108
I'm glad to say the story is otherwise very good.
11056194
Still to this very day?
11056237
Yes.
Commence phase six - run for the hills!
Ha! Called it.
11056155
Not really because they never discussed the problem between them. Applejack is doubting herself and sunset feels that if anyone had truly trusted her they wouldn't have held her past against her and would have believed her when she said she was not guilty. Unless these issues are worked out then nothing will really change.
11056243
Do they have any evidence or proof?
Huh. I really didn't think it would be that easy.
Don't you think you are overacting? Applejack benefited from your help, and you both had a good time. No need to make a big deal out of everything.
Yesh, she was trying to do a good thing for once. Cut the kid a little slack.
11056690
She might get some slack when they hear her reasons for lying but she probably won't get off Scott free.
I think Lyra seems to be forgetting that you can't exactly recover from calling someone "Cuntshit" by saying you didn't mean it - seriously, it's like those YouTube videos where these edgy jokesters do dumb shit to people and claim "IT'S JUST A PRANK BRO" when they get caught out
Lyra just needs to come to terms with the fact that she 100% meant what she said and she reacted impulsively because she still harbored a hefty vengeance against Sunset and just needed an excuse to let it out, even after the Sirens, and I hope to god Bonnie and Celestia can help her see that and help her try to work those feelings out rationally and carefully instead of stubbornly rushing right into it
(also Bonnie and Lyra really need to properly sit down and talk about the whole "Cuntshit" thing rather than Lyra purposefully avoiding it entirely as if that isn't the whole crux of the issue)
11057161
What are you talking about?
11056670
I don't know
11057182
I asked if there was any proof the crown corrupted her.
11056059
They still talked. Talking shows progress. Progress means good.
Busted!
11059997
Yeah but if they never work out the issues then it still keeps them from being friends again. And sunset is too nice for the silent treatment to those who are talking to her.
11060006
Out of curiosity, have you read any of the other Anon-a-Miss stories? In each of them, Sunset is treated like the scum of the earth by her friends because of rumors caused by Applebloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle because they're jealous of her spending more time with their sisters than they are."
11060089
Yeah all the finished ones and I'm working on one of my own but i having writers block.
11060093
The feels are real. But anyway, yeah. Sunset is treated like garbage by her own friends, who she was trying to earn the forgiveness of in the first place all because three jealous girls started rumors. It takes less than that in the real world to drive kids to suicide, let alone girls who are needlessly cruel to each other in school. Being framed for spreading highly damaging rumors by not just your new friends you've been trying to gain the forgiveness of but the entire student body, who all start treating you like you're less than the scum on their shoe and ostracized from everyone because of it, you'd be pretty depressed. And that's one of the leading causes of suicide. Sunset goes through that exact situation in all of the Anon-a-Miss stories.
I'll admit, not the outcome I was expecting. Still, maybe this'll be good for them, in the short term at least.
11056690
There's a slight problem with that last one: Applebloom lying to AJ and manipulating people to get her way is what started all of this in the first place. Sure, Applebloom's heart is in the right place this time, but no one else knows what she's trying to do.
Look at it from AJ and Sunset's perspective: Anon-A-Miss happened because Applebloom couldn't be bothered to at least try to talk to her sister about everything. Now, Applebloom has cooked up another scheme that, like before, has her lying to her sister and trying to manipulate people into playing into her plan. In their eyes, Applebloom has learned nothing.
11062604
That's fair. It's hard to remember to view Applebloom in the context of Anon-a-miss. Largely because the comic takes so many liberties with her character.
It's like the writer only consulted Ponyvile Confidential and One Bad Apple and nothing else.
11056155
Same thoughts as you:
Lyra is good intentioned but it won’t work that well and I’m glad they got mad at Applebloom together because that’s a better outcome then what I pictured
And the plan just backfired this is not going to end well