Gray Sky has quite a simple morning routine, though some may find it odd. Insane, even.

All lyrics have been slightly modified due to the rules of this site.

The war is finally over. We ponies have lost. Our plan to convert humanity into ponies has failed. Hundreds of thousands are dead. Homes destroyed. Our nation is shattered and near annihilation. All because we underestimated humanity and their refusal to become like us.

I alone now hold the fate of my people in my hooves against the humans who want nothing more than to destroy us for the so called atrocities we have committed against them. I've lost my friends one way or another. My family. My fellow Princesses.

I have but one duty and that is, reluctantly, to see that we are shown mercy.

I'm just afraid of the cost. Or what I will learn from this.

Based on The Conversion Bureau series.

Pre-Read by bahatumay and Chaotic Note

Edited by Biker_Dash and wlam and Bemmo

Please Help Out The NegotiationsVerse TV Tropes Page

It has been one year since Starlight Glimmer graduated and ventured out on her own to teach others the friendship lessons she learned as Princess Twilight's personal student. Now, unexpectedly, she's coming back to Ponyville for a visit, and everypony is excited about it. Well, everypony that is, except Spike. But why?

[description slightly updated 10/10/22]
What if Applebloom hadn't admitted to being Anon-a-Miss when she did? What if Sunset took the situation to extreme measures? And what if the Crusaders never stopped posting…?

This is the story of the aftermath of what might have happened, Sunset's recovery from the trauma of abandonment and resulting depression, and the road towards healing and forgiveness. This is also the story of why Anon-a-Miss continued to function long after the intended purpose was completed. There will be roadblocks, detours, and maybe even engine troubles, but through friendship, Sunset's wounds may yet be mended. However… as the one behind the wicked veil of anonymity continues to wreak havoc, who else will be hurt due to her desire for vengeance? Why does she seek it, and for what is it sought for? When the collateral damage inevitably collapses under its own weight, Sunset will not be the only one bearing scars.

[END OF PLOT SYNOPSIS & HOOK]

/x/x/x/

Third person. Present tense (flashbacks are in Past tense). Rated T rather than M as there is no explicit sex or graphic violence. Profanity tag may be pushing the rating a bit (frequency of F bombs was reduced in editing). Sex tag for discussion of sexual activity (both heterosexual and homosexual) and implied nudity. Suicide / Self Harm tag for failed suicide attempts, mentions of past attempts, discussion of cutting, and for descriptions of scars. Contains cannabis mention and implied use (not enough to justify tagging Narcotics but enough to mention). Also contains minor character death (of an OC, in a flashback, off-screen), medical trauma, mental illness, and some depictions of homophobia and the usage of slurs.

TL;DR reader discretion is HIGHLY advised. Feel free to contact me personally if you have any questions about exactly what method of suicide attempts are depicted in case certain types may cause you harm. I don’t want to trigger anyone if I can help to prevent it. (I am using ‘trigger’ here in its medical context.)

It has been pointed out to me that there are some inconsistencies concerning the timeline and canon. I will mention that here to spare you further confusion. This takes place in a light AU I call my EEGC (Extended Equestria Girls Chronology) which consists of multiple fics set in the same universe and timeline. In it I have changed, among other things: Twilight gave Sunset the journal in the events of the first film, the Anon-a-Miss incident occurs within weeks of the first film and long before the second, the OTHER Twilight & Sunset are ‘altered’ and ‘taken care of’ respectively, and the Human World and Limbo are now the same location. These changes were made because the EqG canon is literally impossible otherwise, given the events of the show (and has only grown MORE impossible in time).

Thank you all for getting me featured repeatedly!
Thank you for the likes, comments, and favorites!
Thank you especially for the constructive criticism!

It wasn't the first step that caused a problem for Zephyr. It was where those steps led. This is a story about how I think the episode "Flutter Brutter" should have ended.

This story is a sequel to Look In The Mirror To Find the Truth

Featured August 18, 2019

After her six week suspension, Sunset returns to Canterlot High School. Applejack's forgiveness and friendship have given her a new lease on life and a new mission: to try and make it up to the students of CHS.

But to say that her return to CHS isn't well-received is an understatement. Everywhere she walks, Sunset is treated with hostility, scorn, and quite a bit of torment.

Even Applejack's friends are somewhat divided by her return. While Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Fluttershy are convinced that Sunset has changed by Applejack, Rainbow Dash chooses to avoid Sunset entirely. She even starts hanging out with the members of CHS' track team rather then her own friends. The very team that harassed Sunset during her community service.

However, one mysterious student holds an especially severe grudge against Sunset. With his/her attacks on Sunset being sadistic, cruel, and threatening to her physical and mental well-being.

Will Sunset escape her predicament? Could her salvation lie with the least likely person?

This story is a sequel to Look In The Mirror To Find The Truth, and the second part of my Sunset's Steps series.

WARNING: This story features blackmail, offensive language, sexual assault, fights, and heavy drama.

You can read the other stories in chronological order.

Look In The Mirror To Find the Truth-Completed.

Live By The Sword-Completed.

Working Girl Sunny-Ongoing.

The Downfall of Sunset Shimmer: An Anon-A-Miss Story-Ongoing.

What Happened to Sunset's Family?-Ongoing.

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.

You're drenched in sweat and ennui. She's fighting the enemy, and you're fighting depression. Stuck forever in a nowhere town, you try to rise above inertia, but you only end up feeling useless. You're always feeling that way.

"Feeling That Way"/"Anytime" are two popular Journey songs from their breakout album Infinity, often played back to back on the radio.

Highly recommended by Present Perfect!
Featured in the Royal Canterlot Library!
Four Stars on Louder Yay!

Background: source
Pony: source

After being framed for something she didn't do, Sunset Shimmer is is bullied, shunned, and alone. She meets three people who will almost certainly be bullied, shunned, and isolated because of something they didn't do.

Their names are Adagio Dazzle, Aria Blaze, and Sonata Dusk. They are human teenagers who don't know magic is real, this is their first time in Canterlot, and they're transferring to CHS. They have no idea what they're getting into.

At another time, Sunset might have been the one person who could convince the student body that these three were not the Dazzlings. Right now, no one will listen to her.

The four of them have each other, but being associated with Sunset marks Adagio, Aria, and Sonata as suspected cyberbullies, and being associated with them marks Sunset as an evil monster (again.)

No idea what you should expect regarding updates.

It's like this: I realized that, if I set out to write the beginning of this, I probably could. Given that my depression has been generally stopping me from writing anything, it took that opening and started writing. I wrote for five and a half hours straight. That sort of thing isn't likely to happen twice, not until my depression is under better control at least. Also, I have no plan.

Updating doesn't require a marathon writing session (or a plan), though, so it could be that I'll have an update soon. Or it could be that I stall out and it's stuck sitting where it is for ages before I manage to update.

Why This Exists OR Credit Is Given

At some point after Cojo5536 suggested that Sunset meet the human Dazzlings in a forum post, I mentioned that River Road once commented on how much Dazzling Doubles by icecreammac resembles an AaM fic and referred to Cojo's idea as "crossing the streams".

(I haven't read _Dazzling Doubles_ myself.)

After about three hours of that marinating in my head, I decided to start writing. Mostly, as noted above, because times when I can write tend to be rare.

For those who might wonder, the cover art is my own creation based on a screen capture from Rainbow Rocks,

Shiva wasn't a freedom fighter or a revolutionary. She was just a normal wolf-dog, happily living her life as a beloved pet. Then, forces beyond her threw her into a strange new world with a strange new body.

With cruel talking ponies out to get her.

Alone, confused, and with a magic she doesn't understand as her only defense, Shiva must wage a one-wolf battle to escape a land apparently out to enslave her, all while the forces that protect this new nation do all they can to catch her.

How far will these ponies push the wolf? And how far is she willing to go to maintain her freedom in a world that seems desperate to make her a beaten and broken slave?

Inspired by Misunderstandings by The Rogue Wolf and Drawn with the Night by Dan_S Comments.

Both a character experiment involving my OC Shiva, and a plot experiment that borrows the plot beats from "Of Scales and Fur - Shiva," my (likely horrible) attempt at an upcoming original novel. Feedback is greatly appreciated.

Shout out to Ang Auronheart for the cover art.