“Do you think things will ever be normal again?” The female lead’s voice asked, staring up at her co-star.
“No.” The male lead said slowly, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and looking out at the world they had built together. “Things will be better.”
The camera panned out slowly, looking over everything they had accomplished over the course of the movie, before the screen faded to black and the credits began to roll.
The lights of the gymnasium were turned back on as the students began talking amongst themselves, gathering up their things to get ready and head home to begin their winter break properly.
“Anyone know where Twilight plum ran off to?” Applejack asked, turning to look at the girls sitting next to her.
“It is very unusual for her to have not returned by now.” Rarity spoke worriedly. “She missed the entire movie!”
“She has been gone an awfully long time. Maybe we should head out and find her.” Dash said, earning a nod from each of the girls in turn. Just as they were beginning to stand up, the hiss of a microphone blared over the speakers of the gymnasium, grabbing everyone’s attention. The student body turned their heads to look up at the podium as a familiar voice began to speak.
“Students of CHS!” Sunset declared, causing everyone to freeze in place. The last thing they had expected was yet another school announcement made by Sunset Shimmer, yet there she was standing before everyone, cocky smirk plastered on her face as ever. “I’ve come here today to give you an extremely important announcement.”
“Dang nabbit, what’s that girl up to now!?” Applejack growled.
“Hasn’t she been mean enough already?” Pinkie pouted, crossing her arms.
“Wait, is that Twilight over there?” Fluttershy asked, pointing over to the other end of the stage. Just behind the stage, working the controls for the project was none other than the Princess herself.
“As everyone here has been made very aware of, I started a little experiment last week just to see what would happen if the school had access to posting everyone’s ‘dark’ little secrets on the web. And as you all are also aware, it was a rousing success!”
That earned a couple of dark mutterings from the student body, the girls being the most unimpressed of all. Twilight couldn’t help but grimace, but trusted Sunset to know what she was doing.
“However, over the last three days, I happened to notice that no one was sending in any new secrets. Which was just a shame really, it seemed my experiment only worked if you all could send in secrets anonymously! Consequence-free shaming is a powerful tool at the end of the day, isn’t it? So, since my experiment has come to a formal end, I did the most logical thing I could do.”
Sunset’s hand lifted in a specific way that was Twilight’s cue to adjust the projector. She pushed the button Sunset had instructed her to push, and where the movie had been playing now showed an image of MyStable with the generic message ‘This page has been deleted’ on it.
“Anon-a-Miss has been deleted! After all, there’s no point in holding on to a website that won’t be getting anymore traffic, so I dropped it like yesterday’s garbage.” Sunset laughed.
This elicited a series of bewildered reactions from the students, causing them to murmur amongst themselves at the announcement. Even the girls were thrown off by this reveal. Anon-a-Miss had been Sunset’s entire leverage over the students, and she had just thrown it away?
“What’s she playing at?” Applejack asked confused.
“I don’t know, but I think we’re about to find out.” Rainbow Dash replied, watching Sunset carefully.
“Now I know this may seem confusing to a lot of you, but worry not, for I am going to clear up all of your confusion right now.” Sunset said with a devilish smirk. “For every end comes a new beginning, and so I present to you all-!” The projector updated once more, showing a brand new webpage that looked extremely similar to the last one, though this time the icon for the page wasn’t ambiguous at all. It was simply a picture of Sunset looking smug at the camera.
“Anon-a-Miss 2.0!”
There was a moment of silence as the students stared in horror at what Sunset was doing. Sunset flipped her hair at the reveal, leaning against the podium smugly.
“A thing of beauty, isn’t it? Though Anon-a-Miss 2.0 is a little clunky to say, so I tend to call this page ‘Sunset’s Confessions’ personally. And I think you’re all going to like what I have to show!” Sunset chuckled. “So let’s give this new website a proper grand reveal and drop the first couple of secrets live, shall we?”
“She wouldn’t-!” Applejack glared in horror.
“She IS!” Rarity gasped in shock.
“Oh no…” Fluttershy covered her mouth in fear.
“This time around though, the secrets are going to be a little different.” Sunset smugly smiled for her angry audience. “Instead of simply posting whatever laundry list of dirty secrets you all submit to me, these are going to be hand-chosen secrets I’ve had stored for a while to reveal! As such, I can pick any victim I want, any time I want.” Sunset’s smirk grew wider as she saw the audience tensing up, waiting for the shoe to drop on who the first victim was.
“So, let’s take a look at my first victim shall we? BEHOLD!” Sunset dramatically lifted her arm up to the screen, before glancing over at Twilight. Twilight smiled back, before tapping the button on the project, and the first page of the new site showing up.
There was a sudden shift in the entire audience, as anger was rapidly replaced with confusion and shock, their minds not fully able to process what they were seeing.
It was a picture of Sunset Shimmer, making a duck face into the mirror while her hair was a repulsive rats nest. It was one of the least flattering photos anyone could take of themselves. Ever.
“Look at this dweeb, have you ever seen anything more embarrassing in your life?” Sunset cackled, leaning cockily against the podium. “Just look at how awful her hair is! How stupid that pose is! She’s posing as if she actually thinks she’s attractive, as if this look is going to attract anyone! With photos like this lying around, you better believe she deserves to be humiliated in front of her peers! She should be ashamed to even show her face around here!”
Twilight pressed the button again, this time a picture of Sunset Shimmer outside in the rain showed up. She was completely drenched from head to toe, sitting in the middle of a slimy puddle that had formed in the cement, her hair splashed down and covering her face.
“Can you believe this idiot can’t even remember to bring an umbrella on a day with an 80% chance of rain? Who thinks to even go outside at a time like that? I managed to catch this idiot just as they slipped and fell, and now their embarrassment is here for all to see! If you think you can pull a fast one on Sunset Shimmer, you’ve got another thing coming.”
The atmosphere in the gymnasium was one of complete and utter confusion at this point. Their anger was gone and they were murmuring amongst themselves about what exactly it was they were seeing going on.
Sunset Shimmer was roasting herself?
Even the girls were unable to fully process what was going on. What was Sunset Shimmer doing? Destroying her own control over the school? Embarrassing herself in front of everyone?
It made so little sense that no one could say a word in response.
And one by one, embarrassing photo after photo came up on the screen, and Sunset would make snide and snarky remarks about herself, like she wasn’t seeing the same thing as everyone else.
There were pictures of her having food all over her face, of her doing particularly bad on a test, food caught in her teeth, her wearing absolutely ridiculously clothing, more bad hair days, covered in tar or dirt, the amount of embarrassing photos of Sunset Shimmer seemed endless.
And one by one, the students began to join in on the fun. It started off with a few chuckles, that began to grow into audible laughter, before soon the entire gymnasium was laughing at Sunset’s ridiculousness. Sunset couldn’t help but smirk and smile as she went on, seeing the audience laughing and enjoying themselves at her expense.
The final embarrassing photo was put up for display and promptly roasted before the image of the new Anon-a-Miss site was put back on the screen, and Sunset was just smiling happily for everyone.
“And with that, I suppose I can drop the pretense here, can’t I?” Sunset chuckled, looking over the audience before her. “Anon-a-Miss is genuinely and truly dead. The page was deleted from MyStable, and the only remnants of it will be the pictures you all submitted to it in the first place. And I’d honestly recommend that anyone who still has those photos to just… Delete them. There’s nothing to be gained from having leverage over each other, and true friendships won’t be fostered if we stay angry at each other.”
Sunset turned to look up at the new page, her icon of looking smug and evil standing in contrast to the embarrassing photos she presided over.
“I set up Sunset’s Confessions as a way to always remember this lesson.” Sunset said, turning back to the audience. “That we’re more than our secrets, more than the embarrassing moments in our lives. We live in fear of others finding out our most embarrassing secrets, but the truth of the matter is that you’re not alone. Everyone has something they don’t want others to know about, and you can’t live in fear of others finding out about them.
“It doesn’t matter if you got a bad score on a test, or wore a silly outfit, or had an embarrassing nickname as a child. What matters is that you’re able to laugh it off together with your friends, and show just how much you’ve grown as a person. And that if you want to make fun of someone for their dark secrets, that you should remember your own before you do.”
Sunset turned back to the projector, smiling as she looked up at the website she had created.
“And if anyone ever needs a reminder of this lesson, they can always come back to this page and see me at my most embarrassing, and remember this moment where I shared it with all of you.” Sunset turned backed to the crowd.
“And while at this point it probably doesn’t matter, I should at least inform you that I was never Anon-a-Miss. After Twilight came to the school and stopped me from being a raging She-Demon, I genuinely turned over a new leaf. I wanted to be a good person, to have friends and to not be hated by the entire school. And after the Battle of the Bands, I thought I had achieved that with everyone.” Sunset took a deep breath and slowly let it out.
“But Anon-a-Miss proved that a single instance of me doing good hadn’t meant that everyone had completely forgiven me. That there was still lingering resentment for the years of bullying I had done, and that it was easy to believe that I could simply fall back into being the person I had been just months ago. And I won’t deny that it hurt but… You also deserved the right to be angry at me.” Sunset closed her eyes, putting her hand up to her heart.
“I still remember those years I spent harassing this school. Bullying you all, blackmailing you, taking whatever I thought was mine simply because I could. You all put it up with me for so long, that it only made sense that a few short months wasn’t enough to forgive me for everything I’d done.” She opened her eyes and looked out at the audience with a sad smile.
“And I want this, Sunset’s Confessions, to be my way of making a proper apology. To all of you.” She scanned around the room, remembering all of the faces that she had hurt of the last few years. “For every single person I bullied, for every single person I harassed, or blackmailed. Sunset’s Confessions is my way of apologizing, for making amends for what I’ve done.
“Anon-a-Miss was a site that divided the school, much the same way I did back then. When I realized this, I knew I couldn’t let someone else have the kind of power over the school that I used to have. It was far too easy to hurt and control everyone over it, so I confessed to being Anon-a-Miss to put an end to the website. To put an end to them having control over people’s lives. So that at the very least, I knew this power wouldn’t be abused by someone I didn’t know.” Sunset shook her head.
“Anon-a-Miss is no more, and the person who created it has learned their lesson. It doesn’t matter who started the website, because in the end, we were all Anon-a-Miss. And it is my sincere hope that with the website gone, that we’ll all be able to return to these halls in the New Year, and just… Start over. With a clean slate.
“Anon-a-Miss brought out the worst in us… So let’s start the New Year right, by showing the best of us. Of all of us.”
With those final words, Sunset turned and walked off the side of the stage, leaving a stunned and quiet audience in her wake.
It didn’t matter anymore to Sunset if they forgave her or not. What mattered was that she had seen her plan to completion, and now it was up to the student body to figure out what they were going to do with her words.
“That was beautiful Sunset.” Twilight said with a smile, waiting for Sunset just outside the auditorium.
“Thanks Twilight.” Sunset chuckled softly. “I couldn’t have done it without you. You were there for me the whole time, and I don’t know where I’d be without you.”
“I’d do it again in a heartbeat.” Twilight said with a nod. “But do you think the school will be able to accept this?”
“I hope so.” Sunset said as the two of them began walking down the halls of CHS together. “I’ve done everything I can at this point, it's up to the students now. Just, hopefully they won’t despise me after all of this.” Sunset said with a shake of her head.
“I just want you to be happy, Sunset,” Twilight said sadly. “If you need me, I’m always going to be there to help you.”
“...Thank you, Twilight. Really, thank you.” Sunset chuckled, a fierce blush forming on her face at Twilight’s words. She probably could accept the whole school still hating her as long as she had Twilight by her side.
A small price to pay for love.
Sunset came to a stop outside her locker, opening it to grab the last few things she had stored in it to take home before she left for the holidays. She was looking forward to getting home at this point, maybe putting an icepack on her head or stomach, and just spend the next few days being lazy in front of her TV. This whole Anon-a-Miss incident had taken it out of her.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the scuffing of shoes against tile, causing Sunset to turn in the direction of the sounds. She let out a cry of surprise as a blur of pink came crashing into her, practically knocking her into the lockers as she was embraced by a tight hug.
“OH MY GOSH! SUNSET! I’M SO SORRY! I’M SO SUPER DUPER SORRY!” Pinkie cried loudly, tears streaming down her cheeks as she crushingly hugged Sunset. “I’m so so so SO SO SO incredibly super extra sorry! With cherries on top!”
“Gah! Pinkie!” Sunset grunted, struggling against the hug. “Difficult! To! Breathe!”
“Oops, sorry.” Pinkie chuckled softly, letting go of the hug to step back and wipe at her tear stained face.
“Uh… Hey there Sugarcube.” Applejack spoke up next, stepping up next to Pinkie. Sunset blinked and turned her head, noticing that all of the girls were standing there now, faces full of regret and sadness.
“Darling, I… I don’t understand what just happened.” Rarity spoke up, confusion etched onto her face. “You took the fall for Anon-a-Miss? To stop the school from fighting? Why on Earth would you do such a thing?”
“I mean… It worked, didn’t it?” Sunset chuckled, rubbing the back of her head. “I mean… Even you girls believed I was Anon-a-Miss, so what other choice did I have? My options were pretty much limited to either rolling with the punches, or trying to fix everything on my own. And hey, I did, didn’t I?”
“You shouldn’t have had to do it alone though!” Rainbow Dash grumbled, glaring down at herself. “We should’ve been willing to give you another chance… If you really weren’t Anon-a-Miss… Then… Everything we did was…”
“Why didn’t you give her another chance?” Twilight asked, genuinely curious.
“You… You weren’t there Twilight.” Fluttershy looked away, wiping at her eyes. “Anon-a-Miss was targeting us specifically, and it was exactly the way Sunset used to hurt all of us back then. Old wounds opened up and…”
“It’s okay girls, really, it is!” Sunset said holding up her hand. “I get it, honestly and truly I do. I may have ‘apologized’ for the years of bullying I did before, but I never really did anything to prove I had changed. While the Battle of the Bands had made us friends, it was clear that even then there was still some tension left in our friendships. And re-opening old wounds was just the same thing as me stabbing you all in the back.” She smiled comfortingly for her friends, who all looked ashamed that Sunset’s words spoke the truth.
“So… Here’s what I’d like to happen next.” Sunset said, putting on her best reassuring smile. “If you guys would accept, I’d really like to try being friends again. For real this time. A blank slate between the both of us. If you all can truly forgive me for bullying you all those years, then I’ll forgive everything that happened between us this week too.” Sunset held out her hand to shake with them.
“So, what do you say? Want to start over as real friends this time?”
The girls looked at each other for just a brief moment, before the five of them rushed forward and brought Sunset into a deep hug. Sunset blinked in surprise at that, but couldn’t help but smile as she hugged them back.
“I think that’s a yes.” Twilight chuckled as well, joining the hug for Sunset.
Sunset felt tears welling up in her eyes at the affection. She was just happy to finally have her friends back.
Or rather… To have real friends for the first time.