"Sally," Smarts finally managed to spurt out, "I'm just wondering, why did you drop out of school? It's obvious that you know stuff, more than some graduates, even."
"You know," Sally said with a stern look on her face, "for my friend, you really don't know the first thing about me, do you?"
"You mean, you didn't drop out?"
"Not of my own free will. You know just as well as I do that I loved Ponyville High."
"Then, why did you leave?"
"I didn't have a choice." Sally replied sadly. "It all started around halfway through my sophomore year. I was by myself practicing my ninjutsu, when I saw Pumpkin getting harassed by a group of older stallions."
"Pumpkin? As in, the bakers' daughter?"
"Yeah. I didn't know her very well, and she didn't know me. I think she had a cold at that time, so she couldn't use her magic very well, if at all. Then, one of the stallions pulled out a knife and demanded for Pumpkin's handbag. She refused. They went after her with knives. At that point, I only did what I thought was right. I threw my kunai and shuriken and killed all of them. She saw me running to her with my knives, and she got scared and fled. It wasn't even three minutes until the police arrived. The evidence was that I, a teenage school filly, killed, in cold blood, no less, three fully grown stallions."
"But that's not fair!" Smarts blurted out, "You know you didn't mean to kill them, right?" but all Sally did was shook her head.
"Those three stallions had given me and my family so much grief. They robbed us twice, they kidnapped my little sister Sandra,"
"I didn't know you had a sister."
"Neither did anyone else. We never saw her after she went for a stroll in the park ten years ago. They also mugged my mom on multiple occasions, and it was them that messed up Mrs. Derpy's eyes in the first place. I knew fully who they were, what they did, and what they were going to do to Pumpkin. The police were right. I killed those stallions in cold blood."
"Then you should've told the police that!"
"You think they would've believed me? I already had multiple run-ins with the law, none of which were my fault. They, on the other had, had connections with the police in a more positive note. In the police's eyes, the stallions I killed were model citizens."
"That seems like it must have been a total hell for you."
"It was. I was to be monitored by a policepony at all times. At school, I was an outcast; I was always 'Miss Murder' in their eyes. Even Pumpkin turned away from me. I think it was that the event was so traumatic for her, her memory rewrote itself, and thought that I killed those men for just being there. I was depressed, and my grades slipped as a result. Eventually, the emotional pain was just too much for me, and I dropped out right after sophomore year. I was placed under house arrest until I was eighteen, and even then I was on their watch list. I can't leave Ponyville without the written consent of the mayor or Princess Celestia herself. That's why I couldn't visit you in your dorm, Smarts. I missed you so much."
"Then you shouldn't be here! I should be the one risking my life out here! Not you!"
"I don't think the police are gonna mind if I leave when the equivalent of an apocalypse is happening in Ponyville." Smarts noticed her eyes start to well up with tears, "Besides, you'd be long dead if it wasn't for me."
"Sally, I don't want you to be in any more danger. I think I-"
"Hold it right there, buster." Sally snapped back, "If what you were going to finish that sentence with something like 'love,' 'like,' or 'is enamored to' me, you can take those words and shove it right up your flank." Smarts felt something in his heart darken and break, and he felt a short wave of melancholy rush over him. "I'm sorry if I seem huffy, but it's been a long day, and I want to get to sleep. Now draw us some beds and a tent, pronto." He couldn't do anything but that. He drew a large tent, and two beds for each of them. They went in their beds and dozed off without another word.