Anon-A-Miss No More · 11:57pm Dec 25th, 2015
Well, just like the original, it seems my adaptation of the Equestria Girls Holiday Special has met with mixed reception. I'd best explain myself a bit, eh?
First off, I wrote this from the perspective that it would work better between the events of the first two films rather than after "Rainbow Rocks". From what I'd established thus far in the Quiververse, however, I didn't have to change all that much to improve it's placement - I'd already established Sunset's message journal in "Six Nights", after all. I still went ahead and set it between the two films, however, if only because that would be the only place to fit it into my timeline.
As for my choices in storyline, well, try to be open to my perspective?
Sunset's forgiveness - In my mind, Sunset's always been good at figuring people out and making guesses about what they do. It served her well back when she was the Queen Bee of Canterlot High, and it was her best asset in derailing Rarity's bid for Spring Fling Princess. She hasn't lost the knack, and between that and the wounds still being fresh, she knows why her friends did what they did. Maybe she's forgiving them a little too quickly, but she's not about to start hating them for acting on their instincts. It helps that they actually apologized in this version, whereas in the original, they really didn't. Still, them shunning her will hurt for some time to come.
Trixie - Pony!Trixie knows how to hold a grudge. I doubt it's different with her human counterpart. She was among those who Sunset took control over at the Fall Formal, and I doubt she's about to forget it. Plus, as said in story, she thinks that Sunset got off light for what she did. Perhaps I went a little too far, I don't know, but I feel like I really needed to get the point across. Mind, given time, things can still change, but it won't change overnight.
Crusader Cruelty - Honestly, I don't know if they got off light for everything that happened. Yes, they engaged in cyber-bullying and framed Sunset for it, partly due to jealousy and partly due to thinking she got off light for her actions at the Fall Formal. That said, Sunset almost took them with her when she tried to end it all - the realization that they almost died because of their actions has got to be some sort of punishment. As for two months versus six of detention, well, they did come forward and give Principal Celestia the list of e-mail addresses for everyone who submitted secrets, and that's ignoring the punishments they're getting from their families. That's got to count for something.
I'm not saying the complaints aren't without merit. I won't deny, I didn't think this one through quite as much as I thought I had. My plan was simply cover everything that didn't have substantial changes in the first chapter, then spend the next few going through what was different, try not to bore the audience and still tell a complete story. I did plan on there being lingering consequences, however, and those will be shown over the course of my next story focusing on Sunset, "A Shimmering New Year", and in "Rainbow Rocks: Quiververse Remix", but those are going to be a while in coming.
Still, I'm glad that folks did enjoy it, and I feel like the story did what it set out to do - Sunset's built bridges with the Crusaders, and I've laid a little more groundwork for stories to come. I've just got my fingers crossed that I'll be able to get those out in a timely manner.
Okay, since I'm the one that's leveled the majority of the complaints, I feel that I should respond to this. Before I begin, however, I'd like to give a brief disclaimer. I tend to be blunt when speaking my mind about things I have an issue with, often to the point of unintended rudeness. Just stating right now that, if anything here sounds like an accusation or personal attack, that is purely unintentional on my end, and I apologize in advance.
Another thing that needs to be said, in order to truly understand my responses. As far as I'm concerned, guilt is not an acceptable substitute for punishment. If someone does something wrong, they should have to pay for it, whether they regret their actions or not.
EDIT: To explain why I feel this way, let me give an example. Let's say that you, by accident or by design, break someone else's dinner plate. You can apologize for this. You can be sincere with that apology. You could even feel terrible for what you did. But none of that changes the fact that the plate is still broken, and the only way to make it right is to either fix the plate somehow, or pay for a replacement.
That said, on to my responses.
Re: Sunset's Forgiveness - I see where you're coming from here, and frankly, my issue isn't with Sunset forgiving them per se. It's more with the Rainbooms facing no negative repercussions for abandoning Sunset. Of course, actually showing that Sunset's still carrying scars from what they did in the story, rather than just saying so in the comments, would have also made this more believable.
Re:Trixie - The scene with her in chapter 3 didn't feel like it was meant to show Trixie still held a grudge. It seemed far more like you just had her be an ass just for the sake of having someone be an ass. Of course, it doesn't help that she was threatened with a punishment worse than anyone else's just because she didn't believe the Crusaders were really Anon-a-Miss. Your comment in the Author's Notes section, "Trixie's escaped karma for now, of course, but it catches up in its own, unique ways.", doesn't help either. With this, it sounds like you were intentionally demonizing Trixie rather than just showing she still holds a grudge, and carries an implication that she's going to be punished for not believing the Crusaders.
Re: Crusader Cruelty - I'm going to have to go off on a tangent for a bit to fully explain my position here, so bear with me. In the original, my issue with the Crusaders' punishment wasn't with the length of their detention, but with the fact that that's the only negative they faced. We have no indication that the school's scorn shifted from Sunset to the Crusaders, rather than just fading entirely, we have confirmation that their sisters hold no hard feelings towards them for what they did, and in the end, they still got what they wanted. Here, while they didn't really get what they wanted, they still face no consequences other than some manual labor and a mere third the detention time they served in the original. I suppose it could be argued that, since the Crusaders ultimately failed in their mission (or rather, went farther than they intended), a lighter punishment is acceptable, but that they're still getting off without any ill feelings directed towards them still doesn't sit right with me.
Unfortunately, this still doesn't address my two biggest problems with the story - the Rainbooms' double standard, and the agreement with One Bad Apple's message.
Re: Rainbooms' Double Standard - In short, that they harbor no resentment whatsoever towards the Crusaders after admitting to being Anon-a-Miss (and, by extension, being the ones who humiliated them), and admitting to intentionally framing Sunset for it, is hard to believe on its own, even if you go by the reasoning of "family forgives family". Add in that they were perfectly willing to abandon Sunset just on some suspicions, even though they claim that she was like family to them, and their lack of anger towards the Crusaders for their actions goes from merely unbelievable to being the height of hypocrisy. That is, unless the Rainbooms were lying about seeing Sunset as family, which if true would open up a whole other can of worms.
EDIT: I know this problem also exists in the original. But that doesn't excuse the fact that it wasn't fixed.
Re: One Bad Apple's message - I'm going to keep this short, as otherwise, the rant here will probably be as long as the entire rest of this post. The Tl;dr version is: Fighting back against a bully does not make you a bully yourself, nor does it make you as bad as one. As someone who has been bullied a lot as a child, and has tried literally everything to deal with it, I can say with absolute conviction that fighting back is the only method of dealing with a bully that has any real chance of success.
Okay, rant over.
3643189 The disclaimer is appreciated, and welcome. And your response didn't come across as rude at all. If anything, it's quite reasonable, and I thank you for elaborating upon it.
And you're right; feeling guilty for doing something shouldn't be punishment for the misdeed. I'll keep that in mind.
I do plan on doing more to show Sunset's scars from this in a later story. Alas, as for repercussions for the Rainbooms, it'll be a little while yet before I come up with anything that won't make Sunset come across as petty and cruel.
It wasn't my intention to demonize Trixie, nor was it my desire. Clearly, I could've written how things went better - I get the feeling that editing the assembly a bit would probably help smooth that out.
I'm planning on having the Crusaders see more consequences for their actions in later stories, though again, I might edit this one a bit with that in mind.
As to the double standard...okay, yeah. I definitely need to see about addressing that in a later story. I wish I could say that I saw it when writing this - I thought I had acknowledged some anger with the initial reveal - but it seems I could've done better with it. Live and learn.
And I agree, fighting back against a bully doesn't make you a bully yourself, or as bad as one. I was bullied a lot when I was younger too; had to deal with assholes like that from preschool all the way to my junior year of college, with middle school being particularly bad. Fighting back wasn't even an option after a while, as it looked more and more like I was the problem rather than the bullies. The message I was trying to convey here was that the Crusaders were wrong to be cruel towards Sunset as, while she'd been horrible to their sisters in particular and to the student body at large, she'd been punished for her crimes, and that they'd ultimately been worse to her than she'd ever been - as stated in-story, she hadn't gone so far that someone tried to commit suicide over it. Again, probably something that I should've been smarter about how I wrote it.
Anyway, thank you for your comments. I'll take them into account for the follow-ups to come.