Characters / Hell and High Water

These are the characters involved in the fanfiction Hell and High Water. You may want to check out the character sheets of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic for much more information pertaining to the canon characters.

Protagonists

Sunset Shimmer/Queen Sunset Stanza

Our heroine, whether she likes it or not.

^{Click here to see her appearance post-chapter 6. Spoilers!} 

The main character and target of Anon-a-Miss. She's in over her head and full well knows it.

• Anywhere but Their Lips: Delivers a silent kiss to Rainbow's cheek before passing out for the night, after being assured by them that her still plotting revenge up until the climax of Rainbow Rocks was both expected and not a big deal.
• Awesome Moment of Crowning: Sunset is given this upon accepting Queen Crescendo's offer to become Queen of the Sirens. In which the deceased spirits of Maretonia cheer that a new Queen has been crowned, and their race still has a hope for survival.
• Becoming the Mask: Sunset admits to Rainbow that she never actually planned on atoning for any of her actions, much less becoming a better person, plotting revenge on the girls in the weeks after the Fall Formal. It was only during Rainbow Rocks that she realized that she actually enjoyed having friends.
• Distinguishing Mark: Gilda's crew left a burn scar on Sunset's left cheek in the rough shape of her cutie mark.
• I Am What I Am: Despite her claims against this, the appearance of a streak of blue in "Demonset's" hair implies that Sunset does accept that those powers and that form are very much a part of her.
• Meaningful Rename: After being crowned the next Queen of Maretonia, Sunset changes her last name to Stanza to fit both her new position and powers. It seems like a Sudden Name Change until she explains to Rainbow Dash that changing your name to fit your special talent isn't an uncommon action in Equestria.
• Modest Royalty: Even with her new clothing, Sunset's choice in garb remains casual, mainly swapping out the leather jackets seen in canon for a hoodie.
• Offered the Crown: This is the first of Queen Crescendo's terms for Sunset in exchange for saving her life.
• Reformed, but Not Tamed: Sunset still isn't the power hungry fallen student she once was, but Anon-a-Miss and everything afterward has her behave more like a snarky antihero as opposed to the openly kind-hearted do-gooder seen in canon.
• Reluctant Ruler: Remembering what happened last time, Sunset denies being worthy of such a position and asks why she would ever deserve such a thing. When she finally does accept, she does so out of a will to live and to make sure the Dazzlings aren't left to die.
• She Is Not My Girlfriend: Often uses this when teased about her friendship with Rainbow. Oddly, no one seems to buy it.
• Street Urchin: Briefly notes that she was an orphan before being taken in by Princess Celestia, and later admits that she's been homeless the entire time she's resided in the human world.
• Talking to Themself: Sunset has a short chat with her subconscious, taking the shape of her demon form, during a dream sequence. It warns her of what might happen if she doesn't learn to control her vast amount of dark magic.
• True Companions: With Rainbow Dash. Between being the only student in CHS to believe her innocence, sticking with her even after the beatdown delivered by Gilda and her goons, and now demons and cults bearing down on them, its hard to imagine them not sticking by each other.
• Unexpected Successor: Based on the Dazzlings' reactions, Sunset Shimmer was the last person they expected to become their new queen.
• Walking Spoiler: Given the events of Chapter 6.
• Wound That Will Not Heal: After the events of Chapter 6, she's left with a paler skin tone and hair, red now replaced with blue, and a sun-shaped burn scar on her left cheek.

Rainbow Dash/Marred Spectrum

Temper temper.

^{Click here to see her appearance post-chapter 6. Spoilers!} 

Athletic, competitive, short-tempered, loyal to a fault, and Sunset's best friend.

• Accidental Kiss: Happens when she and Sour Sweet run into each other for the first time, much to the horror of both.
• A Form You Are Comfortable With: When speaking to her subconscious, it takes on the form of Sunset, reasoning that Dash listens to her more than anyone else.
• Distracted by the Sexy: Rainbow's subconscious admits that they often get distracted from Sunset's Magi Babble by staring at her breasts.
• Emotional Powers: Rainbow's demonic form is triggered by feelings of anger. She becomes more powerful the angrier she becomes, but also begins to lose control in the process. She slowly gets better at this.
• For Want Of A Nail: Rainbow Dash decides to trust in Sunset's innocence, remembering both her friend's recent acts of kindness and what happened the last time she refused to swallow her pride and hear a friend out. This is in contrast to many other Anon-A-Miss fics, where Rainbow Dash is either a villain, or at the very least the one most unwilling to hear Sunset out, due to Flanderization of her brash personality.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Rainbow had always had a short fuse, but getting imbued with copious amounts of dark magic made it that much worse, with both her mother and Sunset being caught off guard by her newfound hostility.
• Lightning Bruiser: This being Rainbow Dash, speed is key. Becomes this literally in her demon form, being able to conjure lightning.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: While clearly lacking in some fields with her school work, Dash has shown on several occasions that she's nowhere near as stupid as others seem to think or her temper tends to portray.
• Secret Identity: Following Sunset's recommendation, she decides to use Marred Spectrum as her public alias.
• She Is Not My Girlfriend: Often uses this when teased about her friendship with Sunset. Oddly, no one seems to buy it.
• Talking to Themself: Dash takes her turn to have a talk with her subconscious after the Power Plant incident, with it taking the form of Sunset. They're unable to have an actual conversation about new demon powers however, instead constantly getting off-subject and squabbling with each other until they're shouting at each other to shut up.
  Subconcious!Rainbow: YOU’RE TALKING TO YOURSELF RIGHT NOW!
• Undying Loyalty: Towards Sunset, with the two of them being True Companions. Even when in a demonic rampage, she's unable to bring herself to harm Sunset in any way.
• Wound That Will Not Heal: After the events of chapter 6, she's left with a dullness in coloring and two scars across her mouth.

Canterlot High School

General

The Crusaders

The masterminds behind Anon-a-Miss.

General

• Bratty Half-Pint: Ruined Sunset and Rainbow's lives because they didn't like Sunset.
• Dirty Coward: Save for Sweetie Belle, they lie to avoid responsibility for almost getting two students killed.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Play dumb when caught except for Sweetie Belle.

Apple Bloom

Scootaloo

• Smug Snake: She has an appallingly low opinion of Rainbow, smugly declaring in Chapter 8 that she would have left Sunset by now. She says this after Rainbow and Sunset have been attacked and neither has showed up at school.

Sweetie Belle

• Know When to Fold 'Em: When called into Celestia's office she just tells the truth rather than lie.

The Humane Four

The remainder of Sunset and Dash's old friend group.

General

• Fair-Weather Friend: When Anon-A-Miss kicks off they don't stick around for very long.

Applejack

• Laser-Guided Amnesia: Forgot that her sister told Sunset her Embarrassing Nickname before Anon-A-Miss went up. With Sour Sweet having the Memory Stone, this may not be a coincidence.

Fluttershy

• Meekness is Weakness: She suspected that something was wrong with Anon-A-Miss when Rainbow sided with Sunset but was too afraid to speak up to the rest of her friends after seeing their anger.
• Shrinking Violet: It's Fluttershy, this trope is a given. See Meekness is Weakness to see how this bites her.

Pinkie Pie

• No Social Skills: You wouldn't think that this trope applies to her, yet here it is. Pinkie by and large, can brighten up a room with her parties, but when she is called upon to cheer someone up without one she is clueless because she only understands people, not individuals.

Rarity

• Laser-Guided Amnesia: Forgot that Sweetie Belle was in the house during the slumber party before Anon-A-Miss posted her secret. With Sour Sweet having the Memory Stone, this may not be a coincidence.

The Wondercolts Soccer Team

General

Fleetfoot

• Hypocrite: Certainly comes off as one when she insults Sunset just after hearing about her being attacked then backpedaling when called out on it.

Misty Fly

• Accomplice by Inaction: Feels this way about the attack of Rainbow and Sunset because she told them the team couldn't vouch for them when they could have done something to stop it.

Soarin

Graduated member of the team and owner of Clipper's Custom Guitars.

Spitfire

The graduated, previous captain of the team.

Surprise

The Sirens

The Species

Adagio Dazzle

Leader of the Dazzlings and second oldest living siren.

Aria Blaze

Argonaut and oldest living siren.

Sonata Dusk

The youngest of the sirens and seemingly the most innocent.

Queen Crescendo Avanti

Previous ruler of the sirens.

Queen Marea Opus

First siren and original queen.

Crystal Prep Academy

Starry Skies/Sunny Flare

Leader of the group encountered by Sunset and Rainbow. She was one of the three responsible for saving Sunset and Rainbow's life.

• Related in the Adaptation: Is Principal Cinch's daughter.
• Can summon throwing knives at will.

Nightshade/Indigo Zap

One of the Shadowbolts. She was one of the three responsible for saving Sunset and Rainbow's life.

• Related in the Adaptation: Is Soarin's sister.
• Can teleport at will like a unicorn in Equestria.

Blueball Blitz/Lemon Zest

One of the Shadowbolts. She was one of the three responsible for saving Sunset and Rainbow's life.

• Can wield lightning like Rainbow Dash, which also allows for her to run at impressive speeds.

Courier/Sugarcoat

One of the Shadowbolts and the girlfriend of Misty Fly.

• Has super strength

Night Glider

One of the Shadowbolts. Until recently, the newest student of Crystal Prep Academy.

• Related in the Adaptation: Is the sister of Fleetfoot
• Can make herself invisible for a short time

Sour Sweet/Sunset Shimmer

One of the Shadowbolts. Alpha Bitch of Crystal Prep Academy and Sunset's human counterpart.

• Alternate Self: Refers to Sunset as a 'bodysnatcher' in her confrontation with Rainbow Dash and Lightning Dust.
• Equal-Opportunity Evil: Sour Sweet has managed to acquire the same demon form as her pony counterpart.
• Evil Counterpart: To her Equestrian counterpart.
• Greater-Scope Villain: If dialogue in Chapter 17 is accurate she is the localized one having manipulated people with the Memory Stone for some time before the fic and may have been a driving force to Anon-A-Miss and the attack on Sunset and Rainbow.
• Large Ham: Being Sour Sweet, this is a bit of a given. Her also being human Sunset? It's even more so.
• Suddenly Shouting: This being Sour Sweet...

Canterlot Residents

Rainbow Blaze

Father of Rainbow Dash and retired athlete.

Daring Do

Mother of Rainbow Dash and world renowned treasure hunter.

Captain Lightspeed Barrage

Captain of Canterlot Police Department. She's spent the last year helping Principal Celestia keep the events at Canterlot High underwraps from the general public.

Villains

Tirek

Millenia ago, Tirek attempted to steal the magic of Equestria and take over the world. He was defeated when his brother, Scorpan, turned on him and saved Equestria. After escaping Tartarus 1000 years later, he was defeated once more, this time by Princess Twilight Sparkle.

Now he's been released by his master for one final shot at redemption for his past failures: the extinction of the Siren race.

• Big Bad: To the Sirens.
• The Dragon: To Bray, much to his annoyance.
• Thinking Out Loud: We're introduced to him giving his third monologue in the last hour.

Bray

Grogar's right hand man. Supposedly incredibly dangerous, and eternally on a mission to be taken seriously.

• Big Bad: To the characters as a whole.
• Clark Kenting: He's honest about his name, but Bray first appears acting as Crystal Prep's janitor. Its clear to the audience what's going on, but our heroes don't yet know of his connection.
• The Dragon: To Grogar.
• Evil Is Hammy: He's loud and speaks with an amusing accent.

Grogar

• Evil Counterpart: To Lumencia.
• God of Evil: God of darkness at the very least.
• Greater-Scope Villain: As the master of both Bray and Tirek, Grogar is easily this. Spoken of with fear and reverence by others, its shown that even Tirek desperately fears displeasing him.

Other

Lumencia

Creator of Terra and Goddess of Sunset's world. Mother of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.

• The Ghost: Has only ever been referenced by Sunset and Crescendo.
• Light Is Good: Safely assumed. Given who her counterpart is and what she stands for.