One day at a time
Sunset groaned tiredly as her alarm clock blared loudly. She rolled around in bed and reached over, silencing the offending object. She sat up in bed and rubbed the sleep from her eyes, pulling her hand away and blinking a few times.
Sunset sat there for a solid minute, debating whether she should come to school today or not. She could easily call out, say she was sick and couldn’t come in, or offer no excuse at all, surely Principal Celestia would understand after… Anon-A-Miss.
Sunset frowned, her mood instantly made worse after thinking of that account.
It had been a full month since her friends' sisters framed her for creating an account and revealing everyone’s secrets. A full month since everyone instantly believed she was guilty. A full month since her friends, the girls Twilight entrusted to take care of her, thought she was guilty and abandoned her. A full month since the CMC admitted their guilt and were punished.
A full month since Anon-A-Miss, and it still hurts. Sunset blinked back tears and rubbed her eyes. No, no tears, not right now. She’d been crying too much as is, it was starting to get embarrassing. Sunset looked back to her clock: 7:47. She briefly continued debating whether to skip school today, sighing when she decided to come in. It wasn’t worth the make-up work…
She got out of bed and unplugged her phone, ignoring the cacophony of texts and missed calls, having gotten pretty good at that during Anon-A-Miss. She got ready for school, made breakfast, and made her way to the door.
As Sunset stepped out, she felt some buzzing in her backpack. Knowing what it was, the former Unicorn opened up her bag and took out the journal. She opened it up as she began walking to school, turning to Twilight's latest message.
“Good morning Sunset. Just… wanted to check in and see how you’re doing.”
Sunset took out her pen and began writing, not wanting to worry Twilight.
“Morning Twilight. I’m doing fine. Briefly thought about skipping school today, but I decided against it.”
“Oh that’s good Sunset!” Twilight's response was near immediate. “I’m so glad you decided to come in today. I know it hasn’t been easy for you.”
Sunset chuckled lightly. It seemed no matter what she did these days, Twilight was either proud of or glad for her.
It had been like this every day. Twilight wrote to her every morning and practically every hour. It was a little annoying, but Sunset was glad she did. Often Twilight was the only reason she bothered to crawl out of bed in the morning.
She felt a little guilty, knowing Twilight was taking time out of her no doubt busy schedule just to talk with her, especially since the whole reason Twilight started was because Sunset revealed she had considered suicide.
She hadn't expected the… terror on her friend's face when Sunset told her that. Or the bone crushing hug Twilight engulfed her in immediately after.
Sunset hadn’t even seriously considered it, it was just one of the random thoughts Sunset had during Anon-A-Miss. But it appeared that suicide, regardless of how much she had actually considered it, was deadly serious to her Alicorn friend.
“Yeah, it… things have been better.” Sunset looked both ways before crossing the street, looking back to the journal. “But I wasn’t Celestia's pupil for nothing, nothing’s gonna keep me from the joys of learning.” Ok, she was exaggerating her love of learning, but she knew that would put Twilight at ease.
“That’s what I wanna hear!” Twilight wrote excitedly, her next response taking a lot longer to appear. “Sunset, have you considered-”
“Twilight, I really don’t want to talk about them right now.” Sunset grimaced at that, immediately feeling guilty for snapping at her friend. “I’m sorry, I just… I’m just not ready to talk with them right now, and I don’t really want to think about it when I just got up.”
“Oh Sunset, it’s alright. I shouldn’t have brought it up so early.” Sunset sighed, thinking on how to respond.
“It’s not that I haven’t thought about it, and things have been… easier, I guess? But I just… it hurts Twilight.”
“I know Sunset, and I’m so sorry this happened to you.”
“It’s not your fault Twilight, but I appreciate it.” Sunset looked up and saw CHS not too far in the distance. “Listen, I need to get going. Talk to you later Twilight.”
Sunset was about to close the book, but saw that Twilight was still writing. “Sunset wait!”
“Yeah?”
“Have a good day ok? I’m always here if you need to talk.” Sunset couldn’t help but smile a little at that. Twilight always knew just what to say to cheer her up.
“Thanks Twilight, you have a nice day as well.”
“See you later Sunset, I love you."
“Oh, is that so?” Sunset giggled as she drew a doodle of a pony wiggling their eyebrows suggestively.
“Wha- you- you knew what I meant! Don’t make it weird!” Sunset laughed at how frantic Twilights handwriting became. “Goodbye. I love you. Platonically. Specifically as a friend. Not romantically. At all. Love you... Bye.”
And with that, Twilight stopped writing and Sunset closed the journal, a small smile on her face as she placed it back in her bag. It immediately fell when she saw the other students of CHS as she walked in, who in turn saw her.
Most averted their gaze when she looked at them, a complete reversal of what happened during Anon-A-Miss and the Fall Formal. Everyone looked at her with looks of guilt, embarrassment, or remorse.
‘Well, At Least they’re not glaring at me anymore.’ Sunset thought as she stopped at her locker.
Sunset input her code and opened her locker, rifling through her belongings as she heard someone call out behind her.
“Hey Sunset?”
Sunset instinctively flinched, relaxing when she wasn’t harmed or humiliated in some form, and turned around to face her unwelcome visitor.
There she found Lyra Heartstrings smiling at her nervously. “Hey! Uh, h-how are you this morning?” Sunset glowered at her.
“Fine.” She responded curtly, crossing her arms. This was nothing new for Sunset. It seemed every day someone would come up to her and try to apologize, explain themselves, or try to invite her out somewhere. In fact, this was Lyras 3rd (failed) attempt.
Lyra nodded. “Th-that’s good. You uh, get some sleep last n-”
“What do you want Lyra?” Sunset said in an annoyed tone, not in the mood for small talk.
Lyra stood there blankly for a moment before clearing her throat again. “Listen, I just… I wanted to tell you just how sorry I am for how I treated you during Anon-A-Miss.” She looked down at her feet, unable to meet Sunset's gaze. “I-I shouldn’t have thought it was you based on so little evidence… or push you to the ground that one time… or deface your locker… repeatedly.”
Sunset said nothing, looking down at the girl in front of her. “You wrote ‘Go back to hell Cuntshit Shitter’ didn’t you?” She asked in a steely tone.
Lyra flinched as if struck and stammered out her response.
“Y-Yeah. That-that was m-me. I’m really, really sorry I wrote that.”
Sunset merely hummed. “Good work on the rhyming, really made it stand out.”
Lyra shifted uncomfortably. Her eyes darted around as she tried to think of a way to change the subject. “Listen, me and Bonny were planning to grab a bite from Sugarcube Corner after school. You wanna come?” Lyra lifted her head, a hopeful smile on her face.
“Whatever.” Sunset said as she began walking away. Lyra looked confused, running after her.
“D-Does that mean you’ll come?”
“Sure.” Sunset replied in an uninterested tone.
Lyra perked up at that, looking excited. “Does that mean-”
“No.” Sunset interrupted her, knowing what she was going to ask.
Lyras smile immediately dropped. “But you said you’ll join me and Bonny. Surely you wouldn’t join us if you didn’t forgive us.”
“Twilight has been encouraging me to go out more. Just because I’m joining you and your girlfriend for treats doesn’t mean I forgive you.” Sunset declared as she rounded a corner.
Lyra huffed in a frustrated manner. “I’m sorry, how many times do I have to say it? It’s been a month Sunset!” Lyra nearly ran into Sunset as she stopped suddenly. Lyra stepped back when Sunset turned around with an angry glare.
“Did you forgive me a month after the Formal? How many times did I come up to apologize to you and your girlfriend? How many times did I try to apologize to everybody?” Lyra backed up as Sunset began walking toward her. “It’s not my job to make you feel better because you feel guilty.”
By now Lyra had her back against the lockers, Sunset in her face. A small crowd gathered to watch the confrontation. “W-what can I do?”
“Prove that you’re apologizing because you’re sorry, not because you feel guilty.” Sunset growled, waiting for Lyras response.
“What’s the difference?” Lyra asked, wanting to know how Sunset defined the two.
“Wrong answer.” Sunset pulled back, turning to leave. “Don’t bother apologizing again.” She said as she began walking away from Lyra. “I should’ve never saved you from the Sirens.” Sunset added bitterly.
Lyra gasped lightly at that, her eyes welling with tears. Even reformed, Sunset knew just what to say to hurt her. She quickly turned and walked away before anyone could see her cry, pulling out her phone and calling up Bon-Bon.
Sunset meanwhile walked into her first period class, Cranky Doodle turning to glare at the student who almost came in late, but his face softened when he saw it was Sunset. “Morning miss Shimmer, please take your seat.”
Sunset merely nodded, sitting in the front row so she didn’t have to look at the other students. The late bell rang and morning announcements came over the intercom.
Sunset looked down at her desk as she got ready for class, looking over when she felt someone prod her arm. Seeing he was trying to give her a note, she took it from him and gingerly opened its contents. “Heya Shimmer.” The note read.
Sunset guessed who it was immediately, recognizing the sloppy handwriting. Looking to her left, she saw Rainbow Dash all the way at the end of her row, waving to her sheepishly.
Sunset merely frowned in response and looked away coldly, leaving Rainbow with a heart broken expression. They both looked to Cranky Doodle as he started taking attendance
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Though she had a point about the apology. The difference between the two is one you know you messed up and trying to make it right even if takes forever. The other is because you feel bad and probably wouldn't bother trying if you didn't feel bad.
Very interesting start. There isn't a lot of Anon-a-Miss stories out there that took place after the aftermath from the original comic.
Looking forward to the next chapter!
11050939
True. Yet it’s clear Sunset went through so much pain; both physical and mental, that it will take more than a month for her to feel better, even with professional therapy. And right now; to quote Herb from Bojack Horseman, she’s not gonna be anyone’s prop so they can feel better.
11050981
Oh hey, didn't expect to see you here. I've actually read some of your stories before, including your own take on Anon a miss.
Glad to see you're reading my own story.
Ok, that’s actually a good one. Not gonna lie.
Why would they care if she forgives them? They’re not that close.
Here’s the thing, those are two different situations.
Wait, what’s the difference?
Why would that make her cry?
11051015
I was actually slightly inspired by that scene from Bojack. Sunset seems to be in a similar state of mind.
11050939
Well, you put it more eloquently than me. That was pretty much my thought process but I hadn't fully distinguished the two.
But it did seem like something Sunset would say after the school turned on her after everything she did to prove she had changed.
11051020
Oh cool! Glad you read them and I hope you enjoyed my stories!
And I really like your story so far. I'll definitely keeping track of it. Keep up the good work!
11051015
Yeah I thought she should a mental health doctor and not just a school counselor though they can help I believe if she should need meds to help her someone who can actually get them for her would be a good thing. She wasn't exactly welcome 100% by anyone and those comments that ended with no offense weren't probably helping her in the mental health department which got destroyed because of 3 selfish little girls.
This...is amazing, even for a first chapter!
I'm eager to see more of this!
11051116
You might get your wish, I should be finished with the second chapter tonight
11051138
This is so interesting, I'll stay tuned for more of it!
Keep working hard
Very interesting, I definitely want to follow this one and see where down the rabbit hole it takes us.
“Twilight, I have been going to the potty all by myself for months now; I’m starting to feel patronized.”
Right off the bat, I just wanna say, I really like the conceit of having colored text representing the characters’ text exchanges. That said, I initially read this on light mode, so the text was a little hard to see. If you keep running with that concept, may I recommend using darker colors for Twi and Sunnybunny? They’d pop out better against both the site’s backgrounds.
(On that note: The way you write Sunset and Twilight’s exchanges feels just a bit too artificial for what’s effectively real-time text messaging. Like they’re emailing back and forth rather than communicating in real time. Try playing around a bit more with that if you incorporate more exchanges like that into the story.)
Beyond that, well. Anon-A-Miss isn’t really subject matter that appeals to me as a reader, because stories following the premise tend to just devolve into author tracts, glurgey depression-porn, or revenge-porn for Sunset Shimmer. You know, either the story exaggerates the extent of Sunset’s bullying and sadness to 13 Reasons Why levels of nonsense, or Sunset’s righteous pony-rage becomes the driving point for every interpersonal interaction in the story.
And I kind of feel like this story is going in the latter direction (although there’s hints of the former with that moment of retroactive continuity, where Sunset apparently told Twilight she was suicidal)? The exchange with Lyra feels... to borrow the language I used before, artificial. It feels like a contrived situation to give Sunset as much license to be angry, and as angry as she wants, for as long as she wants. It’s less like dialogue between two characters, and more like dialogue between Sunset, and a training dummy who just has to sit there and take it.
Like, uh. I haven’t read the second chapter, but I’m willing to bet Sunset isn’t still joining them for desserts after all that.
Also:
...That... doesn’t... rhyme though?
What I’m trying to get at is: There are a lot of AAM stories on this site; as you note in your A/N, it’s a very overdone premise for a story. And stories that follow it tend to be cut from the same mold, you know? They might get a ton of upvotes and praise, but in the end, if you’ve read one, you’ve read ‘em all.
My question to you, and what I’d hope you ask yourself as you write, is what will make this one unique? How will it stand out from the dozens (hundreds?) of stories with identical premises? How will you avoid this being just one more AAM story among the multitude? It’s your first story, I know, and it’s helpful to trot down a well-beaten road when you’re just finding your way. Just, keep that in mind, okay? Challenge yourself to avoid AAM cliches, and do something fresh with the material.
On a final note, I appreciate the pace with which you’re writing, but I think this could have used another once-over from an editor; there are a lot of simple technical flaws that could be ironed out. Also, your second chapter’s title is missing a possessive apostrophe.
11051021
Lyra only saying she sorry to make herself feel better, to get rid of her guilt.
Add she goes, it been a month how long will it take for you to forgive me?!!
Wow!
She fubar badly, and the things she did really hurt her.
Sunset has apologized not to make herself feel better but because she truly regrets what she did.
Even though she may never be forgiven it seems.
In the end Lyra like everyone else drove a spike through Sunset's heart in believing no matter what she never be forgiven one mistake one silly frame up and she be hated and tossed aside.
Oof. Sunset must be in a pretty dark place if she legitimately believes that letting three genocidal maniacs brainwash an entire planet with their singing was worth it to prevent a case of cyberbullying. One can only wonder where this dark path will lead, as, to quote Nietzche, "he who fights monsters should see to it that he himself does not become a monster."
Honestly, I don't blame Sunset for not easily forgiving Lyra, or anyone, for the whole thing because like she said, it seems like they're just apologizing to make themselves feel better, not because they genuinely regret their actions. Whether or not that's true doesn't change how she's perceiving it.
11051729
But isn’t guilt the source of why people are sorry?
11051976
The important thing is why you have that guilt.
Anon-a-miss has changed the way I think about Equestria Girls. Once I start writing, "Anon-a-miss how I hate it" you will see how. Through the perspective of the most hated OC on Fimfiction.
Damn it's colder than Antarctica up in there
Sunset ain’t wrong here, everyone’s feeling guilty and wants to make that go away. Shimmer on the other hand worked her ass off to change how she acted, apologised without demanding un-deserved apologies and continued doing so for well over a year to make up for what she did. They on the otherhand attacked her verbally and physically for a month. To forgive let alone trust any of them is insanely hard.
Even worse is friendship is built on trust, her five friends all are far more guilty than the CMC because of this fact.
Thank you for the read, amazing writing!