This is a recap for the My Little Pony: Equestria Girls fanfic Hell and High Water. Be aware that while these summaries aren't incredibly detailed, they still have unmarked spoilers for all the story's major events. This wouldn't be much of a recap page without them, and part of the purpose of this page is to be a refresher to those who haven't read the fic in a while. After all, no one wants to excitedly read the first new chapter in months only to realize that they've forgotten what happened last time.
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Chapters 1 - 5
- Light the World Up for Just One Day — Rainbow Dash and Sunset Shimmer are True Companions, playing video games at the former's house the morning after the latter had once again spent the night. Between good-natured barbs and the sharing of personal worries as they prepare to head into school for the day, Dash receives a text from Applejack about a meeting to be kept secret from Sunset. At school, the groundwork is laid for the Anon-A-Miss plot as Scootaloo is desperate for Dash's attention but finds herself apologetically rebuffed; she seems to take it well until Sunset tries to join the conversation. Like in the comic, the Sunset-less meeting is meant to discuss the holiday break, the group deciding to plan several consecutive sleepovers to keep the bacon-head company. The chapter ends with Pinkie excitedly rushing off to tell Sunset the good news.
- Will You Rail Against the Dying Day? — The first Anon-a-Miss secret drops after a sleepover at Applejack's house; Apple Bloom reveals that Applejack's embarrassing childhood nickname of "Piggly-Wiggly" is now public thanks to someone called Anon-A-Miss, which she privately tries to convince Applejack of being Sunset. That evening, the girls have their second slumber party at Rarity's home, with Sweetie Belle being refused entry: three guesses as to the next target. The next day, the girls confront Sunset about being Anon-A-Miss and cut her out of their lives, much to her confusion and sorrow. However, as they leave her to wallow in tears, Rainbow realizes that her best friend wouldn't suddenly pull a Face–Heel Turn and goes back to reaffirm her loyalty and trust towards the former villain. Sunset is incredibly grateful, while the other girls now feel betrayed in their own right.
- You Can Give Your Broken Heart to Me — The Cutie Mark Crusaders, particularly Scootaloo, are enraged that their plan to separate Sunset from the others wasn't 100% successful, so aim to find more dirt that can pull Rainbow away from Sunset. As the day goes on and Anon-A-Miss continues to spread secrets, Rainbow tries to comfort Sunset in the aftermath of their friend group once again breaking apart, assuring Sunset that she'd rather lose several friends over losing a single, wrongfully accused one. Rainbow shares her belief in Sunset's innocence with the rest of her soccer team, and a poorly-timed Anon-A-Miss upload only increases her faith in her friend, even as Sunset admits that Anon-A-Miss likely got most of her information from old data caches Sunset hid around school. With the duo's bond as strong as ever, Scootaloo decides that it's time to use some of the more volatile secrets she's gotten a hold of as a last resort.
- Who's Gonna Question What Goes On In the Middle of the Night? — Walking home from school, Rainbow tries to grill Sunset about her living status while the latter dodges the question to talk about her life back in Equestria. The two are then confronted by Gilda, who believes that the two are running the Anon-A-Miss account together and attempts to violently persuade them to delete the page of its latest secret, which ousted both her and Rainbow as lesbians, though they manage to escape the encounter with little damage. An hour later at Rainbow's home, as they attempt to figure out who could be behind Anon-A-Miss, Sunset gets a text message from Fluttershy claiming that the others want to talk to them at the school gym. When Sunset and Rainbow get there, they discover that it was a trap set by Gilda: the duo is attacked by dozens of their peers and are knocked out as Gilda explains what the next stage of their punishment will be.
- I'll Spread My Wings So Take My Heart — Rainbow regains consciousness in an abandoned building, where she's violently cut up by Gilda while other students beat up Sunset with a branding iron in the other corner of the room. Satisfied with their work, Gilda and her lackies leave our heroines to bleed out on the floor. The duo assess each other's damage and huddle together for warm, desperately hoping for some sort of miracle. One comes in the form of some Crystal Prep students who decided it would be a good night to scope out some abandoned buildings; discovering a comatose Sunset and a barely breathing Rainbow, they call the police and an ambulance. Rainbow Dash finally succumbs to her injuries and passes out while desperately calling out for Sunset, while Sunset ends up dying when the doctors try to revive her... wait, where are you going? You see these other folders, right?
While in limbo, Sunset ends up conversing with Crescendo Avanti, Queen of the Sirens. From the ancient spirit, not only does Sunset learn that sirens aren't evil (rather, they're a race of
Iron Woobies more than anything else), but that the Dazzlings are the Last of Their Kind, and that destroying their pendants equals species' extinction. That is, unless a new siren takes the throne and saves their lives. After being convinced of her worth, Sunset chooses the new name of Sunset Stanza and becomes the new Siren Queen, returning to the land of the living.
Chapters 6 - 10
- You're Gonna Sing the Words Wrong — Sunset awakens, now sporting paler skin and different colored hair thanks to the effects of dark magic, as well as a shiny new heart pendant and a journal containing the history of the siren race. This naturally freaks out all the medical staff, but Sunset uses her newfound Magic Music abilities to mind control them; first to discover Rainbow's whereabouts and second to make everyone at the hospital forget they were even there. Speaking of Rainbow, she was looking at life as a vegetable, so Sunset gives her a dark magic makeover to heal her as well. The duo walk out of the building to encounter Rainbow's father, to whom they explain everything that has occurred over the previous two days. Rainbow's father takes in Sunset after getting the teenager to admit she's homeless, and the chapter ends with Sunset and Rainbow agreeing that they'll find a way to get back at Gilda.
- Sometimes I Give Myself The Creeps — While dreaming, Sunset has a conversation with herself, represented by her demonic form who has grown really tired of our heroine's denial and self-hate. After getting through to Sunset that she isn't a separate evil entity, but just a manifestation of what she believes to be her worst qualities, Demonset pushes Sunset to learn how to properly harness and utilize her new dark magic abilities in order to avoid a repeat of the Fall Formal. Waking up, Sunset realizes that getting revenge is a bit lower on the list of "important things to do" than saving a race from extinction, so she and Rainbow (now with the nickname Marred Spectrum) hunt around for the Dazzlings, eventually finding Aria at a soup kitchen. Meanwhile, the Shadowbolts visit the hospital to learn that Sunset and Rainbow were allegedly never there, and decide to get in touch with the Wondercolts soccer team to get answers.
- You Make Your Mistakes But Its Never Too Late — Sunset and Rainbow go to the Dazzlings' apartment and start healing the sirens, starting with Adagio, though their new appearances mean that the sirens have no idea that their saviors are their former adversaries. The Shadowbolts and the Wondercolt teams manage to get in touch with Rainbow, who explains what happened, but makes them swear secrecy to it. Adagio overhears this conversation and manages to piece together the duo's true identities, though tensions are eased when its made clear how much Sunset and Rainbow want to atone for their actions. Meanwhile, the Rainbooms and the Crusaders brush off the two's absence at school as no big deal.
- There Ain't A Cloud In Sight — After Sunset recaps the situation, the Dazzlings have a private conversation wherein they decide that they will pledge their loyalty to their new queen. After a bit of a Take That! at the cheesy nature of the Dazzlings' defeat, a few digs at the xenophobic nature of ponies, and a slight crash course in siren culture, the group exchanges information and promises to meet up again at a later time. Sunset and Rainbow make their way to meet with the soccer team to get them up to speed and alert them that they plan on transferring to Crystal Prep. After that, they return to Rainbow's home, where her mother (in this fic's universe, Daring Do) has come home. Sunset tries to give the family space to catch up, but Rainbow insists that Sunset have dinner with them instead of hiding in the bedroom, assuring her that she's part of their family now.
- Now You Can't Tell The False From The Real — The chapter starts with a news report about how a mysterious forest fire from six months prior has still gone unexplained. Sunset and Rainbow head down to Canterlot High, where Principal Celestia easily acquiesces to an expedited transfer process; after being told about the attack, she urges the duo to take things easy, but Sunset is adamant that they're fine. Their next stop is Crystal Prep, where they learn that the Shadowbolts have had their own run-ins with magic, but as soon as they leave CHS, the school becomes swarmed with police activity investigating the attack. While Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie are utterly horrified upon learning that their old friends nearly died, Rarity and Applejack are less so. Elsewhere in the school, Scootaloo also learns about the assault and expresses regret, revealing to one of the Wondercolts that she's a member of Anon-A-Miss.
Chapters 11 - 15
- I'll Be Your Ghost, Your Game, Your Stadium
- Trouble Will Surround You, Start Taking Some Control
- No Squealing, Remember That It's All In Your Head
- Howling Ghosts They Reappear in Mountains That Are Stacked With Fear
- Hello Again Friend of A Friend
Chapters 16 - present
- I'm Just as Real as, I'm Just as Dangerous as You, So Know You'll Find
- Here Comes This Rising Tide
- And These Little Things Define You Forever
Bonus Chapters/Stories
- Sorry, Not Sorry (April Fools Outtakes) (Chapter 16.5)
- Alone Together
