Ch 16 - Hope
Sunset walked slowly down the street, her hands in her pockets. She enjoyed this kind of weather; it was fresh and crisp, but not so cold that it was unbearable.
A car slowed down next to her, and she turned to see a familiar face behind the wheel.
"Hey." Flash Sentry greeted, giving a small wave.
"Hey." Sunset answered, nodding her head.
"You heading somewhere?"
"No where in particular."
Flash nodded towards the empty front seat. "Hop in."
Even after a year had passed, Sunset would never forget the smell of the inside of Flash's car. He always kept a bottle of cologne inside the car door, which he sprayed inside the car so it would always have that "new car smell."
"Remember when we would just drive around the city like this?" Flash asked after the long silence began to grow uncomfortable.
Sunset smiled in spite of herself. "Yeah. And one time the car broke down and we had to call your mom to come pick us up."
Flash laughed. "I remember that. She was so pissed."
"And when she came to come get us, she was wearing a teddy. A teddy. And no robe or anything. I thought you were gonna die on the spot."
Flash's face turned beat red as he continued to laugh. "Oh my God, I can't believe you remember that. You've got a sick mind, Shimmer."
"Hey, it's not my fault your mom decided to go out in public in nothing but lingerie." Sunset pointed out in mock offense. "I could see her thong!"
"Gross, Sunset! Now I'm never gonna get that image out of my head!"
Laughter filled the car for a minute or two, then it slowly tapered off into silence again.
"Those were good times...." Flash said absentmindedly.
Sunset sighed, then turned to gaze out the window. "Yeah....."
"Look, Sunset...." Flash said awkwardly. "I want to say I'm sorry. And not just for...you know." His gaze flickered momentarily towards her bandaged head. "But for everything. What you said... you were right. What I did, it was a dick thing to do. I should have just been honest about how I was feeling from the start. It would've saved us both a lot of grief."
"I didn't exactly make it easy for you." Sunset conceded. "When you started avoiding me....I think I knew at that point it was over. I just didn't want to admit it."
"I'm kinda surprised you didn't blackball me." Flash said.
Sunset cocked an eyebrow. "Are you kidding? You're Mr. Clean. I couldn't find a speck of dirt on you if I tried."
Flash gave her a pointed look. "That's bull, and you know it."
Sunset turned her head to the side in contemplation, and then asked, "Flash....did you think I was Anon-A-Miss?"
Flash considered his words, then answered, "At first...yeah. But then I thought about it. I mean really thought about it. And it just didn't make sense. After all you went through, why would you purposely sabotage your reputation and friendship just to post a couple of stupid pictures? Unless everything had been an act.....and you hadn't changed at all. "
Sunset nodded, accepting his answer.
"Of course, even if you hadn't changed, it still didn't make sense." Flash continued. "I mean, when you did all that stuff, before the Fall Formal, you were more subtle. We knew it was you, but we could never prove it, since you had either gotten someone else to do the dirty work, or blackmailed or threatened everyone into silence. If it had really been you, you would have made it look like one of the other girls had posted the pics, or left the profile page completely blank so there'd be no clue as to who it was. That profile, it was pretty obvious that it was made to look like you created it. All that was missing was a neon sign pointing at your head."
"I appreciate your honesty." Sunset said solemnly. She spotted a familiar house over the horizon. "Pull over, okay?"
Flash slowed the car down and pulled off to the side. As Sunset opened the door, he stopped her. "Wait. Don't forget this."
He reached into the backseat and pulled out a familiar looking book....her journal.
Sunset smiled and took it. "Thanks."
"Hey....can I ask you something?"
"Yes?"
Flash paused, then asked, "When we were together....was any of it real?"
Sunset sighed and stared her ex directly in the eyes. "I really cared about you, Flash. I never lied about that."
Flash watched as Sunset closed the car door and walked down the street and out of sight. He then shifted the car into reverse, made a U-turn, and drove away in the opposite direction.
Sometime later, Sunset tiptoed quietly downstairs so as not to wake anyone in the Shy household. She turned on a lamp, opened her journal, and began writing.
Twilight? You there?
Sunset? Yes, I'm here! Are you okay?
Relatively speaking. I thought about what you said, and I think I'm going to stay here for the time being.
Oh? So you made up with the others, then?
Honestly, I'm still kind of on the fence on that. But I don't want to give up yet. I want this to work.
Sunset paused, then added.
I've also decided to get help. Professional help.
........
That's good. I'm glad, Sunset.
Hey Twilight? Thanks for being my friend.
As Twilight's reply appeared, she noticed that there were spots blurring the ink in some places.
Of course, Sunset. And I want you to know that whatever you decide to do with your life, whatever choice you make, I will support you any way I can.
Thanks, Twilight. Goodnight.
Good night, Sunset.
As Sunset closed the journal, she looked out the window to gaze at the clear night sky. For the first time in a long time, she truly believed that things were going to work out fine.
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Twas nice while it lasted, hopefully you will give us a sequel.
I predicted this would end in forgiveness. Was I right? Sorta, but not really. I'm glad this didn't end in tears and death or whatever dark place these sometimes go, but I'm also glad to know that things will never be exactly as they were and that it is more or less up to us to decided the concrete ending on what happens after.
What I was right about was that this was gonna be a damn fun ride to the end. Oh yes it was, and it's nice to see another completed story on the list. So congrats mate, on both an excellent tale and a TV Tropes page. Glad to have my early expectations proven wrong.
A good end, and one which leaves an opening for a sequel if you want to write one, which I would love to see.
Love it. Please write a sequel to this.
Bit of a bittersweetending, but still better than a lot of the Anon-A-Miss fics.
Congrats on getting a Tv Tropes page, by the way.
Please do write a epilogue and a Squel if possible.
7541693 It's not on the TV Tropes page, though. I don't see it.
7541822
What do you mean?
What a ride! Another good Anon-A-Miss story.
I would like to read an epilogue or a sequel to this story, but otherwise, it's all up to you.
7541822 I provided the link on my blog.
Hope that helps.
I am working on my own Anon-A-Miss story. It's a twist on the normal stories.
I enjoyed this. Quite a bit in fact.
I'd love to see a sequel, there's a lot of exploration that could occur.
Or not, and leave it as a "and life goes on" ending. It does work well after all.
7541869
Oh when will it be out?
Well done. Good story.
This was nice while it lasted, I loved this story.
Would love to see a sequel, or epilogue, but I would be completely fine if we didn't get one.
7542184
Soon stuck with a song.
Not fond of forgiveness fics and all, gonna go somewhere. Hell if I know.
This sums up Sunset's dilemma perfectly, IMO:
7542992 In order for an episode like that to work, you either have to have the mane 6 not talk to her or have rainbow be an asshat and ignore them. Both are out of character, therefore they lose out of the gate
7543855 A perfectly good zombie plot, and they wasted it on another forced "friendship lesson."
I'm sorry, but if you have to trick or scare your friends into learning a lesson, then it's not the same as them learning it by themselves, and it makes you look like a giant prick.
Hm.
That was a good drama. I liked it. I really liked that the cast here felt alive, with their flaws, vices and virtues.
May I suggest to poke a few other episodes? Say, 'Want It, Need It' ?
7563637 It's not on this site anymore. For some reason the author took it down.
It's since been moved to archiveofourown.org
It's also on fanfiction.net
7563740
Stay tuned for the next chapter of "Life Goes On." You'll see.
clap
7602547 Actually.....no they didn't. At least, not in THIS fanfic.
In this fic, the CMC are just three very immature young children who threw a temper tantrum because they didn't get invited to a slumber party, and threw together a piss poor plan to get back at their sisters for "hurting" them, and to get them to hang out with them instead of Sunset, without any regard for Sunset's feelings or the feelings of their sisters.
They had no idea the Humane 5 still had issues with Sunset. They just thought their plan was that clever, when in reality anyone with a brain would realized just how badly things were going to end for them.
7602597
Oh, I see.
I admit, I did know they didn't want things to get tha bad, but at the idea, the thought of it didn't pass their heads.
7541693
Emphasis on "bitter"; Sunset and the Humane 5's friendships are still in shambles, as are the CMC's relationships with their sisters. I woulda much preferred a happy ending.
Holy crapbaskets. I may be late to the party on this, but I just finished reading. This was fantastic! Chilling and heart wrenching, yes, but satisfyingly realistic, addressing a lot of the major problems of the original material. Bravo, hattafan. Bravo.
7743288 Yeah, I actually already found and read it a while ago. Thanks though.
7752956 ......You like my story.....because it pisses you off.....
Ummmm.....okay......glad you like it.
Very good story, loved it! Looking to reading the sequel!
Well that was a good binge read!
So, this story is a decent shot at dealing with the aftermath of the Anon-a-Miss incident. I enjoyed the way the different characters bounced off of each other, and I especially appreciate the attempt to portray a more realistic outcome of the betrayal of trust.
That's not to say there aren't flaws, though. I think Twilight was the biggest one. Half the time, it felt like she was being used as a proxy to say the things you wanted to say to them. I'm not saying that that's what your intention was, but that's how it came across to me. Especially when she was chewing out the human CMC. When she did it to the Rainbooms, she likened the whole thing to the events of Equestria Girls, which was new information, and an interesting parallel. But unless I missed something, nothing new came up when she was yelling at the CMC. I kept asking myself "why is this happening? How does the story benefit from this?". I understand that Twilight was angry, but I feel there needs to be more to it. Moreover, I'd already started to feel sympathy for the CMC, with their sincere regret and disproportionate retribution from other students. Having them be chewed out at that point just wasn't satisfying.
Then the Dazzlings showed up for some reason. Presumably to gloat, fine, that's a decent motivation. The problem is, they just end up rehashing the same basic points that had already been established, and that thing with Flash being photographed went nowhere and had no point to even being in the story. Overall, it left a pair of chapters that felt like a chore to read through, because I kept saying to myself "Yes, I know all of this already, the characters all know this already, let's get on with the plot".
Minor nitpick: Spike didn't really need to be here. I mean, I like Spike, I'm one of the first people to question when he doesn't show up, but he really adds nothing here.
The overall foundation of this story is really good, and I like what I've read of the sequel. Sunset's pain comes across really well, and I feel for her from beginning to end. The ending is appropriately bittersweet, but with the possibility of healing in the future. I just think some parts of the story could stand to be trimmed, is all.
7879866 Thank you for liking my story, and for your constructive criticism. I will try to keep your comments in mind for future stories, so as not make the same mistakes.
7922519
Hahaham, yeeeaaah... I'm everywhere
A wonderful ending to this story, not too ermergerd I forgive ya but not too Fuck this shit I'm out! either, so nicely done!
And a sequel?
Count me in
7997813
My comment wasn't so much about what they did, but why they did it.
The CMC were being ignored and didn't get invited too the slumber party.
Maleficent got mad because she didn't get invited to the king and queen's wedding
8044610
Very true, very true.
8046984 because no one believed Sunset, but it does draw parallels with a ponyville confidential
After finishing:
s2.quickmeme.com/img/64/643235de6a5ef4ad0fea6881703d32a86bbed834a0ea6dbfc4fa29fa46c9b74f.jpg
7450061 Do you not like the CMC?
8167101 It's not a matter of me not liking them.
In the comic, the worst they got as punishment was a few months detention, and everyone forgave them almost instantly.
8167495 Oh. That makes a lot more sense.
Amazing fic, an excellent plot and a proper ending.
And after I'd read it, two music themes comes to my mind:
For the begining:
And for the epilogue:
8333229
here* Gives the bad girl Sunset plusie.
What a interesting fic, thanks. Just found out there is one-shots story after it, great!
8480452
The name wasn't revealed (I hope it can be cleared at the sequel) but I'd bet it was Lightning Dust.
I hope you make a sequel. Despite what the CMC did, I don't want their childhood to be a living hell. And I most certainly do not want the bond between Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo to be permanently destroyed. And when you start it, can you please add it the anon-a-miss group.
What are these anon-a-miss events!
8632560
It's from the MLP comic Equestria Girls holiday special 2014