Equestria Girls Holiday Special

"Happy Holidays" is the first story in the My Little Pony: Holiday Special comic series and first, and so far only, to be set in the Equestria Girls universe. The story centers around the girls as they realize Sunset Shimmer lives all alone. Not wanting her to spend the holidays alone, they plan to have a series of slumber parties with her as the guest of honor, but when the Canterlot Movie Club grows jealous of the attention she's receiving, they begin to harass her on social media by revealing private information.

This is the comic that spawned the Anon-a-Miss meme. For more about that, see

Solicit
''It's holiday time at Canterlot High! Sunset Shimmer is still getting used to life on campus, and her new friends. When mean rumors start to circulate, all signs point to Sunset as the source. Will she be able to find the true meaning of the holidays and clear her name?''

Story
It's winter in once again as  and Sunset Shimmer walk to CHS together. Applejack muses about how much she loves the holidays, but Sunset is completely unenthusiastic. The teenager reveals that she hasn't been home for the holidays in awhile, and even when she did live back in Equestria, she didn't have a good relationship with her parents. Despite her lonely home life, Sunset isn't to bummed out and insist that she has the girls now, so she'll never be truly alone. Despite this, Applejack texts the other girls to plan a special slumber party for Sunset for the holidays.

The plan went over with the girls swimmingly and before long, Sunset and the others were at Pinkie Pie's house having a party. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy played video games while Rarity braided Sunset's hair. All throughout the time, the girls were having a great time with one another, eating pizza, doing fashion things, the works. Applejack received a call from Apple Bloom late that night, however the call quickly became an argument between the two sisters with Apple Bloom calling her "Piggly Wiggly". Applejack explained the nickname, when she was a baby girl, she played with her pigs for hours, which coined the embarrassing nickname.

Later that night, all the girls went to sleep except for Sunset Shimmer, who wrote a heartfelt message to Twilight Sparkle about how much she loved her new life in Canterlot.

The following day, the girls walked to school together, as they got to the grounds, Applejack was caught off guard by a student calling her "Piggly Wiggly". Apple Bloom informed her that someone named "Anon-a-Miss" posted her nickname on MyStable, a social media website. Although annoyed by this, Applejack decided to let it go and went about her day as normal. Apple Bloom tried to pin the blame on Sunset, which angered Applejack. On another day, Applejack stepped into Rarity's car as they drove to her house for another slumber party. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were already there. As they were chatting with Sweetie Belle, Rarity forced her little sister out of the room so that only her and her friends were together. With her out, Pinkie Pie tried to tell scary stories, but since Susnet Shimmer was actually from a world with monsters, she wasn't scared. Later, Pinkie, Dash and Fluttershy started singing a song while Sunset tried to record them, but was interrupted by Pinkie Pie's "stage dive".

Her dive broke a door, the twelve door she's broken by diving, but in the process the girls came across Rarity's "hall of shame", a section of bad fashion ideas that were since rejected. The girls decided it be a fun idea to dress up in said outfits to play and take outrageous selfies with one another. Afterwards, all the girls went to sleep with the exception of Sunset Shimmer who once again wrote to Twilight telling her how much she loved her new life.

The next day, everything took a turn for the worse. When she went to school, the girls shunned Sunset, believing her to be behind the Anon-a-Miss account. As it turns out, Anon-a-Miss leaked the aforementioned selfies online and worst yet, they were all taken from Sunset's point of view. Sunset tried to plead her case, claiming she would never hurt any of them, but the girls didn't listen and berated her once again, causing her to break down crying in the hallway as the other students merely walked past her.

More secrets were being posted, though not only about the girls and soon, the entire school was at each others throats. Otherwise good-natured students such as and groups of friends fought and argued. Mobs of students roamed the school harassing one another, spreading chaos and hatred wherever they went. Sunset and Twilight discussed whether or not the Windigos existed in the world or not, but neither knew. Twilight's only advice to Sunset for the situation was to stay strong, remember who she was, and to find her true family. The next day, Sunset was knocked over by other students, who surrounded her and taunted her until she was on her knees crying. Remembering what Twilight told her, Sunset took her journal and ran.

Apple Bloom saw her in this state and felt immense guilt for what she did.

Sunset ran all the way to Sweet Shoppe to be with her friends. Although they told her she wasn't welcomed, Sunset refused to leave and instead handed them the book. Upon realizing that since Sunset wrote to Twilight about the situation, it was unlikely she actually did it and did truly love the girls, they decided to believe that she didn't do it and instead questioned who actually did. Before they could come up with an answer, the Canterlot Movie Club entered the shop to tell the girls that they were the true culprits. As it turns out, they were incredibly jealous of all the attention Sunset was getting and wanted payback, but never wanted it to go this far. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom were reduced to tears after realizing what they did and Sweetie Belle energetically hugged Sunset to tell her that she was truly sorry. Sunset forgave the little girls.

The girls learned a valuable lesson as well, that they were neglecting their sisters/protege by not allowing them to join in any of their events, so for the holidays, Rarity and the others invited the Movie Club to stay with them. Together, the Girls, the Movie Club and the enjoyed the holidays together as Rarity mused that no matter how big families become, theirs always room for more.

Characters
Other characters:

Objects

 * Phone
 * Magic journal
 * Guitar
 * Computer
 * Internet Browser
 * MyStable
 * Game console
 * Magic Drive Racer VI Deluxe

Consumables

 * Popcorn
 * Pizza
 * Chips
 * Apple
 * Cookie
 * Pie
 * Muffin

Vehicles

 * Car
 * Fluttershy's car
 * Rainbow Dash's car
 * Rarity's car

Events

 * Christmas
 * Anon-a-Miss incident

Occupations

 * Student
 * Musician
 * Vampire
 * Princess

Species
Races:
 * Human
 * Pony
 * Alicorn

Creatures:
 * Rabbit
 * Windigo

Magic

 * Hateful magic
 * Cross-dimensional communication
 * Ghost

Concepts

 * Social Media
 * Bullying

Debuts

 * Windigos in the Equestria Girls universe

Major events

 * Christmas

Minor events

 * Pinkie Pie and Rarity both hosted slumber parties, with Applejack hosting a Christmas party

Continuity

 * This comic features many small cameos from characters introduced in "Equestria Girls", usually using the same artwork from them here, despite how out of place it looks.

Minor credits

 * Licensee: Hasbro
 * Special thanks: Erin Comella, Robert Fewkes, Joe Furfaro, Heather Hopkins, Pat Jarret, Ed Lane, Brian Lenard, Marissa Mansolilo, Donna Tobin, Michael Vogel and Michael Kelly

World building

 * It's revealed that Sunset Shimmer lives alone and had a bad relationship with her parents.
 * It's revealed that Rarity, Applejack and Sunset Shimmer and presumably the rest of the girls consider each other family rather than friends, with Big McIntosh, Granny Smith and the Canterlot Movie Club seeming to share the same sentiment.

Reception
Reception of the comic has been quite split. It's often rated very highly on websites such as Amazon and Comixology, which are based off user votes. On both sites, it currently has a 5-star rating with many reviewers stating it's a colorful and fun story. Among the fanbase however, the comic is mostly infamous for spawning the "Anon-a-Miss" craze, which as of 2018, is still going strong.

Anon-a-Miss controversy
Given the controversial nature of the stories main theme - cyberbullying, the comic was quite polarizing in the fanbase. Some felt that Sunset's friends turned on her to fast, and others felt that the Movie Club got off scott-free without any consequences. Perhaps due to its nature as a one-shot based off Equestria Girls, the perceived writing fumbles were much more apparent among the greater fandom, which rarely pays any attention to the comics to begin with. Others however looked past those perceived flaws and instead praised the book for its message about love and family, with the girls coming to the realization that family isn't flesh and blood, but the ones who you love, and they love each other.