”Sunset Shimmer Please report to the principal’s Office!”
Sunset looked up from the paper she was working on, having just been recently assaulted with spitballs and erasers, which were stuck on her hair and leather jacket, got up and put everything into her book badge before walking out the room with a nervous expression.
===
Principal Office
“Your what!?!?”
Sunset said loudly as principal Celestia stared at her, with her hands bound on her desk, with her fingers interlocking, a deep gaze of frustration and slight anger in her voice.
“You’re expelled. Your actions have made it clear that you haven’t changed. I want you out of my school before you can tear it down any further and to make sure you can’t seek sympathy from princess Twilight Sparkle we are denying you from keeping your journal.”
Sunset looked at Celestia, ready to argue for her innocence's, mouth agape before shutting it, lowering her head in defeat as the soft movements of papers are shifted on the desk, the sound of a rolling chair moving slightly loudly filled the empty silence before the same voice of a disappointed Celestia spoke up.
“Have a nice day.”
Sunset slowly walked out of the school with her bag, and lack of journal, of essential’s staring down at the concrete floor before making her way to the statue it wasn’t known yet to all but a single student was put to keep her from using it. Before she could start crying openly, she bumped into a teen who was guarding the portal from her. The teen spoke, their feminine and tomboyish voice catching her attention.
“No way! You don’t deserve to go home to Equestria to be a monster there! You deserve to be stuck her without your magic and lies!”
Rainbow Dash yelled at Sunset before making her run off to the left and far out of sight and off to the city’s northern suburbs.
===
Downtown Suburbs
Sunset didn’t know or even cared how long she ran from the school, her eyes watering and tears flowing down her cheek as she looked around the suburbs for a place to stay, when a large neon light flashed in her sight which caused her her to shield her eyes before going into the front door of the building. The neon light’s label was,” The Drunken Horse” which was fitting for a public bar to be named as, rather than something dumber.
===
Entering the pup, Sunset saw that it was mostly empty save for a single bartender working behind the counter, washing cups and taking notes. Walking up and gently sitting down at the stool at the bar, the bartender looked up, and to be absolutely surprised by who it was. The bartender who was a senior student that Flash Sentry, her boyfriend, talked about during time of his troubles and became a beacon of goodness, was called Tonic Embers.
Tonic spoke up, looking at Sunsets sad face while cleaning a large mug that was far too big to be really used, with a bit of concern and surprise.
“Sunset? What are you doing here?”
After waiting a minute, Tonic listened to Sunset explain the situation and most recent expulsion from school. After taking a breath and collecting herself, Tonic placed the clean mug back onto the counter before staring into her eyes and responding.
“Sounds like hell.. do you want a drink? It’ll be on the house.”
Sunset looked at Tonic before nodding, placing her arm on the counter before rubbing it softly while tonic began to pull out a few bottles of non alcoholic beverages which made Sunset raise an eyebrow. Before Sunset could ask, Tonic gave her the answer to her question, while still pulling out a couple more items from below the counter.
“Alcohol is served between seven through ten o’clock. It’s only four thirty and alcohol is not what you need, even though you might want it to be, I rather drink something non-alcoholic to drown out my sorrows. Because let me tell you something that happened to me when I chose to drink rather than talk it out..”
Sunset nodded, wiping the tears off her face as Tonic began to mix a sprite with crushed ice and a small squirt of cherry syrup in a metal cup before pouring the contents into the mug, adding a cherry on top as a extra design to the drink.
Tonic was going through a rough break up with his girlfriend at school three years ago because a rumor came out that he was seeing a certain teen, that had a lot of potential of running her family’s farm while at the same time had a beauty that most men would never see, and even claimed to have hugged her, now while hugging her may have been true it was not because of cheating but more of getting advice on growing a small garden in his small apartment. The fact that he got dumped before the prom left him in an emotional state that left him depressed and suicidal, but instead of killing himself he began to cut his forearm as a way to relieve stress and anxiety. After cutting he would start lashing out at his family which one day caused his grandmother to have a heart attack after berating her on how she was, which was very painful to recall, that it divided the family from him and marking him as the black sheep in the family. Afterwards Tonic got to work cleaning his apartment and worked on saving his barely alive plants before seeking part-time work.
Sunset looked at Tonic before looking at the drink with a frown before mentioning that she made the rumor on him however she received a response that wasn’t immediately clear.
“I know..”
Sunset looked up at Tonic as he placed a hand on her forearm, looking into her eyes as to make sure she wouldn’t look away before he continued.
“I spent many months hating your guts and wanting revenge but… once I saw you with your friends and seeing you completely different.. i realized that you were scared… scared to lose… scared to be alone… so that’s why I forgive you. Not because you’re in a bad emotional state but because you need to hear from me that I forgive you.”
Sunset smiled as Tonic smiled back at her, before grabbing a tv remote and turning on the news. The News broadcast was very interesting to say the least.
“Breaking News, A internet gossip troll known as Anon-A-Miss has been terrorizing the Canterlot high school through revealing dirty secrets from unknown sources. Witness reports say that the perpetrator was recently expelled from the school yet the secrets kept continuing to spread. Looks like they had the wrong one…”
Sunset smiles at that, taking a sip from her drink as Tonic began to wipe the counter with a clean rag, which made him speak up.
“It’s funnier that it’s obviously Applejack and Rarity’s Sister”
Sunset looked at Tonic with wide eyes, with her mouth opened before responding.
“How…!? How do you know…!?”
Tonic smirked, bringing up his phone with the mystable app and scrolled through the posts showing off zero secrets of anything that related to Sweetiebell and Applebloom.
“If you add this then the fact the first two posts are both personal information of Applejack and rarity than it really narrows it down to them. So I’m on your side and I can try to get you un-expelled if you want me to try….”
Sunset looked at Tonic, smiling as she felt relieved that someone was not only on her side but willing to try and help her get into school. So with a large smile and a big swig of her drink, sunset responded.
“Let’s do it!”
