As he expected, Axle was still being given stern glares as he walked into his form room at CHS. Upon his entry into the room, the room went so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Taking his seat, Axle could still feel the glares burning into his back.
"Morning people," he said with a smug smile, "How are we all today?"
"Shut up, Axle!"
Axle turned to who was speaking.
One on the 'cool' kids. Damn teenagers, don't realise how pathetic they can be at times.
"Something the matter?" he asked.
"Stop pretending you haven't done anything wrong!" the student yelled back.
"I don't know what you're talking about, I only said good morning."
"You know what you did!"
"Then please enlighten me because I do not know what I've done that would warrant this hostile environment."
"There was no need to speak to Sunset like you did yesterday! She and her friends were only trying to be friendly!"
"True, and I answered a question with a straightforward answer and that, for some reason, upset them."
"You were rude," a different student answered, a girl this time, "We were there, we saw what happened."
"How was I rude? I just stated that I'd be going home because I live there, they were the ones that stormed off in a huff."
"Because you were rude!"
"No, they just acted like the silly little girls that they are!"
"Don't call them-"
"WHAT IS ALL THIS SHOUTING?!"
"Miss Harshwhinny!" the same female student yelped in fear.
Everyone looked over to see the form tutor walk in, considered the strictest teacher in the school by students and teachers alike; even more strict than Vice-Principal Luna. Striding over to the group with an air of authority exuberating around her, she stopped in front of the group instilling a small sense of fear in them. To Axle however, she reminded him of his old geography teacher. Someone you messed with at your own peril.
"I asked a question," Miss Harshwhinny repeated sternly.
"We were having a difference of opinion regarding an incident yesterday in the canteen," Axle replied.
Miss Harshwhinny walked up to Axle and eyed him for several seconds before speaking again, "You must be Axle Rod."
"Yes ma'am," Axle replied, "I started yesterday, but only at second period. Vice-Principal Luna gave me a tour of the school during registration and first period."
"Yes, Principal Celestia informed me of the situation. As much as I admire your manners and courtesy, I do not like however, shouting in my classroom. If you have want to have an argument, save it for the playing fields, not in here. Understood?"
"Yes ma'am."
The admonishment of Axle, a new student, brought a small amount of glee to the other students who watched on stifling giggles.
"And that goes for yourselves also," Miss Harshwhinny said sternly, directing her attention to the arguing group, immediately wiping the smiles off of their faces, "Is that clear?"
"Yes Miss Harshwhinny," the chorused fearfully.
"Good, now take your seats; registration will be starting shortly and I have some important things to get through and I will not tolerate delays."
The students grumbled as they took their seats, as Miss Harshwhinny walked out of the room. As she approached the door, it opened.
"Good morning Miss Harshwhinny."
"Good morning Sunset."
Fuck no. Don't tell me we're in the same form group.
As the door closed, Sunset came to a dead stop and the bright, warm smile on her face disappeared when she saw Axle. In its place was a cold, hard glare colder than a Crystal Mountain blizzard.
"You're sitting in my chair."
"Good morning to you too."
"Don't start being rude again."
"Says the one who greeted me this fine morning with 'you're sitting in my chair'."
"But you are sitting in my place!" she replied, scowling.
"If you want me to move, all you have to do is ask."
"You should have asked if anyone was already sitting there before you sat down."
"These lot could have said something," Axle replied, pointing at the other students.
"You could have asked them!"
"Look! It's clear that we're not going to see eye-to-eye on this, and it's clear you're too pig ignorant and bad mannered to ask politely, so I'll save you the painful task of asking and I'll just move."
Axle stood up, grabbing his bag, and moved to find another seat.
"Is there any seat here that isn't taken?"
Everyone immediately pointed to one seat in particular.
My spidey sense tells me there's a different reason they've pointed to this seat.
Despite his suspicions, he went over to the seat and sat down, noting the snickers coming from the other students, including Sunset.
"Something amusing?"
"Oh nothing," replied Sunset.
Axle ignored the continuing snickers from the other students and waited for registration to begin. The form room slowly began filling up which included the return of Miss Harshwhinny who was now sat at her desk sorting out papers. From Axle's position, they had the familiar look of consent forms, though what for he had no idea. There was idle chatter amongst the class as they waited for the bell to ring, and as they did the door opened once more to reveal another student.
"On time this morning, Miss Lulamoon?"
"Trixie endeavoured to be on time today."
As Trixie walked towards her seat, she noted Axle sitting in the seat besides hers. As she approached her seat, she could hear the snickering and stifled giggles of the other students.
Trixie bets that they have tried to set him up.
She sat down and immediately stunned the room into silence when she extended her hand.
"Trixie welcomes you to CHS."
"Pleasure, I'm Axle," he replied, taking her hand and shaking it.
"Trixie heard you had an encounter with some rude students yesterday," she said, glancing a harsh scowl in Sunset's direction.
"You could say that."
"Well, Trixie is sure she won't make the same mistake."
Before the conversation could continue, the bell rang signalling the start of registration. Once it finished ringing, Miss Harshwhinny got straight to business and went through the register.
"A full house today," she said, "Good, it saves me from having to explain it again or getting one of you to only relay half of the message."
She picked up a stack of papers from her desk and began placing them on the desks in front of each student.
"These are consent forms the IT department have asked to be handed out to each student in your year. Apparently doing it themselves is too much to ask, but anyway, you need to get these signed by your parents or guardians if you wish to visit the new Simulator World just prior to Hearth's Warming Break."
As she approached Trixie and a unsettled looking Axle, Miss Harshwhinny spoke again.
"Mr Axle Rod, I'm aware of your situation and I've been told you are exempt from requiring consent on this occasion."
"What kind of situation?" the same girl student from before demanded to know.
"A special kind of situation called 'Mind Your Own Damn Business'."
"Why you-"
"ENOUGH!" bellowed Miss Harshwhinny, her short fuse blown, "Any more arguments and the entire class will be in detention!"
Nothing like the threat of detention to get students to behave.
Miss Harshwhinny went back to her desk and sat down, "Moving onto the next issue, on the last day of term there will be a Hearth's Warming Party where all students are invited to attend. There will also be a performance by the Rainbooms and festive attire is strongly encouraged."
Cheers erupted around the room much to Miss Harshwhinny's annoyance, though she did nothing to stop it. As the cheering died down however, one student voiced a different opinion.
"Sounds rather boring actually, and who would call themselves 'The Rainboom's'? Sounds like some Gay Pride Band."
Everyone looked to Axle and there was no shortage of annoyed looks, the only exceptions being Miss Harshwhinny, who looked mildly amused; and Trixie who looked positively delighted.
"Excuse me?!" Sunset spat incredulously.
"Save the arguments for later Miss Shimmer," Miss Harshwhinny said.
Sunset reluctantly complied, but stared daggers at Axle along with the rest of the class, except for Trixie.
"He called our band WHAT?!" an incredulous Rainbow screamed.
"He said it sounded like a Gay Pride band," Sunset answered, "I swear he's just asking for trouble."
"Well when I see him at lunch I'm gonna pound his face!"
"That's not very nice," Fluttershy timidly added, "We might have gotten off on the wrong foot but that doesn't mean we should hurt him or be mean ourselves."
"Fluttershy's right," Rarity added, "Maybe we did overreact a little and certain individuals did themselves no favours following him when he did his shopping."
"You followed him too," Rainbow Dash replied, "We all did."
"We all walked into town which just happened to be where he was going," Rarity replied, "But three certain individuals, who shall not be named, then followed him around a supermarket and watched him doing his shopping from behind shelves and displays."
"Yeah that was kinda dumb," Sunset replied, rubbing the back of her neck, "Good thing I don't shop there."
"My parents do," Rainbow replied, "It's gonna be awkward when I'll have to tell them when I can't go in with them on Saturday."
"Will they ground you?"
"Ground me? Hah! More like they'll celebrate my 'First Ban From a Supermarket!'"
"Yer kiddin'?"
"Nope. Deadly serious."
"We're getting off topic," Sunset said, "We need to decide on what to do with Axle."
"Maybe we should force him to accept our friendship?" suggested Rainbow firmly.
"We kinda tried that," Sunset replied, "Look how that turned out."
"Maybe I should throw him a party and guilt trip him into accepting our friendship?"
"Maybe we should just leave him alone?"
At that suggestion everyone looked to Fluttershy who soon began feeling herself grow smaller as many pairs of eyes looked down upon her.
"Whatd'ya mean 'Shy?"
"We'll, maybe he just doesn't want to be friends with us. We didn't exactly have a good introduction."
"Fluttershy's right," replied Sunset, slamming her fist into her other palm, "We should let him be and if he does become our friend, then he becomes our friend; and if he's not interested.....then fine."
"But why wouldn't he want to be our friend?" Pinkie screamed.
"It could be any number of reasons. Maybe Princess Twilight would know?"
"You could always write to her darling, if anyone help then she can."
"And what if she can't?" asked Rainbow.
"Then Axle's a lost cause."
Everyone looked to Sunset with a mix of shock and horror, prompting Sunset to flail her arms in the air, "Oh, come on! It's a joke! If the Princess of FRIENDSHIP can't help him then who can?!"
"We can," replied Fluttershy, "We helped you, didn't we?"
Lunch time once again rolled around and Forte, having the foresight to bring his own lunch today to avoid running into the girls. Rather than go to the canteen, he went to the auditorium to have his lunch in peace and quiet. Unfortunately, the room wasn't as vacant as he anticipated as he saw the very people he had hoped to avoid.
"For fuck's sake," he muttered.
Unfortunately for him again, the acoustics of the hall made him quite audible to the girls.
"Such uncouth language!"
"Oh, piss off Madame Almighty! I came here in the hopes I'd avoid you girls but it seems I can't even have that!"
Before the girls could answer, Axle began to leave.
"Axle, wait!"
He turned around to see Fluttershy running at him.
"Please don't leave."
"Why not?"
"We were about to start band practice, you can watch if you want to."
"You mean your band that, by the name alone I would avoid like I would a bullet?"
"There's nothing wrong with my band's name!"
"OUR BAND!"
Fluttershy turned back to Axle, "Please don't leave, it would be nice if you could give us your opinion."
"Why do you want my opinion?"
"We know the other students like our songs, but we don't know if you do."
"Does it matter?"
"I suppose not, but would it really hurt to listen? Just once?"
"Fine," Axle huffed, "But if I don't like it you can't hound me for it, I'm entitled to my opinion."
"That's OK, thank you anyway," Fluttershy replied giving Axle a sweet smile and a hug, surprising him.
Axle returned the hug, "OK, OK, just keep this mushy stuff to the minimum."
"Now you're talking sense," Rainbow said aloud, "Come on girls, let's do, 'Perfect Day For Fun'."
The girls took their positions on stage whilst Axle took a seat from the side, making himself comfortable a few feet in front of the stage. Within a few moments they began playing.
Oh, aw aw oh, oh, oh, aw oh uh
Oh, aw aw oh, oh, oh
Looking forward to some fun
Knowing all our friends will come
'Cause we're here to spend the day
Everybody come and play
Let's all pick a meeting place
And we're gonna have to race
Everybody follow me
This is where we're gonna be!
With my best friends, though we're different
We feel like we still belong
And every day it makes our friendship strong
Let's go find some games to win
Everybody's joining in
'Cause we're having such a blast
Doesn't matter win or lose
When we always are amused
My friends stand out in a crowd
Having fun and laughing loud!
With my best friends, we can depend
They will always follow through
It's a perfect day for fun when I spend it with you
Oh, aw aw oh, oh, oh, aw oh uh
Oh, aw aw oh, oh, oh
Taking photos with my friends
Never want this day to end
But the time is going fast
So come on and make it last
Get the band up on the stage
Doesn't matter what your age
Hear the music, now's your chance
Everybody start to dance!
With my best friends, though we're different
We feel like we still belong
And every day it makes our friendship strong
With my best friends, we can depend
They will always follow through
There's a guarantee for fun when I spend it with you
Whilst the girls cheered at the end of their song, Axle just remained seated and motionless, showing no sign of emotion as he finished eating his sandwich. Their playing though had drawn a crowd of passing students who had entered the auditorium and began watching the girls. Once the song had ended they erupted into cheers.
"Rainbooms Rule!"
Feeling energised by the applause, Rainbow took the mike off of Sunset, "Hey there CHS! Are you ready to rock?!"
The students all began cheering and hollering, filling the auditorium with a cacophony of teenage wailing, much to Axle's displeasure.
Fucking kids these days.
"'Friendship Through The Ages' guys!" Rainbow bellowed.
Nothing stays the same for long
But when it changes doesn't mean it's gone
Time will always get away
As it leaves behind another day
Things may come and things may go
Some go fast and some go slow
Few things last, that's all I know
But friendship carries on through the ages
Things may come and things may go
Some go fast and some go slow
Few things last, that's all I know
But friendship carries on through the ages
Been around for a long time
Rocking out hard 'cause I'm in my prime
Maybe it'll change further down the line
But my friendship carries on through the ages
Every single style has something
Different it can say
There's nothing wrong with being unique
And special in your own way
Maybe you wanna be a pop star
Get your fifteen minutes of fame, wha, ah! Ah, oh!
That won't last forever
But friendship remains the same, ah-oh, oh!
Things may come and things may go
Some go fast and some go slow
Few things last, that's all I know
But friendship carries on through the ages
But friendship carries on
Things may come and things may go
Some go fast and some go slow
Few things last, that's all I know
But friendship carries on through the ages
But friendship carries on
Ohhh-oh, carries on...
Once more the girls cheered, oblivious to the lack of applause coming from Axle
"Come on guys," Rainbow called out enthusiastically, "Let's do 'Shake Your Tail'!"
We've just got the day to get ready
And there's only so much time to lose
Because tonight, yeah, we're here to party
So let's think of something fun to do
We don't know (we don't know) what's gonna happen
We just know (we just know) it's gonna feel right
All our friends are here
And it's time to ignite the lights!
Shake your tail 'cause we're here to have a party tonight
Shake your tail, shake your tail
Shake your tail 'cause we're here to have a party tonight
Shake your tail, shake your tail
So what you didn't get it right the first time
Laugh it off, no one said it is a crime
Do your thing, you know you're an original
Your ideas are so funny that they're criminal
Ohhh-ahh!
We've just got the day to get ready
And there's only so much time to lose
Because tonight, yeah, we're here to party
So let's think of something fun to do
We don't know (we don't know) what's gonna happen
We just know (we just know) it's gonna feel right
All our friends are here
And it's time to ignite the lights!
Shake your tail 'cause we're here to have a party tonight
Shake your tail, shake your tail
Shake your tail 'cause we're here to have a party tonight
Shake your tail, shake your tail
Shake your tail 'cause we're here to have a party tonight
Shake your tail, shake your tail
Shake your tail 'cause we're here to have a party tonight
Shake your tail, shake your tail
Shake your tail 'cause we're here to have a party tonight!
Once more the auditorium filled with teenage wailing and cries of joy that lasted for several seconds until dying down. Once it did, Fluttershy walked to the edge of the stage and looked down to Axle, who had still not moved form his seat.
"So, Axle?" Fluttershy started to ask with a hopeful smile, "What did you think?"
Axle looked around at all the happy faces, eagerly awaiting his answer. Axle stood up and approached the stage, standing in the centre, just in front of Sunset.
"That....was fucking dreadful."
"I don't know what to say, other than that I am sorely disappointed in the both of you."
Sunset and Axle looked at one another, blooded tissues sticking out of their noses and glaring daggers at one another.
"I honestly expected better from both of you. You're both behaving like little children squabbling over toys, not the young adults that you are."
"I'm older than I look," quipped Axle.
"I did not give you permission to speak, young man!"
Ouch.
"Now, I'm prepared to let you both off with a warning but if I hear any more reports of you fighting one another, then further action will have to be taken. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes Principal Celestia," Axle and Sunset chorused in unison.
"Good. Now, you're both excused."
They both left the office and the moment the door closed they turned to one another, their tempers flaring to boiling point almost immediately.
"You just have to be a jerk, don't you?"
"It's not my fault you can't accept differing opinions."
"You described our music as 'ear-bleedingly awful' and an 'insult to anyone blessed with the gift of hearing'."
"So?" Axle replied with a shrug of his shoulders.
An irate Sunset pointed a finger right into Axle's face, almost poking him, "You have a serious attitude problem."
"That's rich, coming from you."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Sunset snarled.
"Weren't you a bitch for several years before the Fall Formal?"
"A bitch?!" Sunset repeated with gritted teeth.
"Yeah, that would be an accurate description considering the things you've done."
"Why you little-"
Sunset raised her hand ready to smack Axle, only for the door beside them to suddenly open, revealing Principal Celestia.
"Is there a problem?" she asked.
"Problem?"
"You have your hand in the air, Miss Shimmer."
Sunset looked to her hand, "Oh that, it's nothing."
"Nothing?"
"Well, I was...we were thinking about what you said and we decided to hug and make up."
"It doesn't look like you were going to give each other a hug."
"We were just about to," Axle replied.
"Yeah," Sunset added, "We were just about to."
"Then what are you waiting for?" asked Principal Celestia.
Sunset and Axle looked at one another awkwardly and moved closer to each other. With great reluctance, with forced movements on both sides they embraced each other in a hug that lasted several agonising seconds.
After they let go, they stood slightly apart and put on a fake smile each.
"I feel so much better," Sunset said, "I'm glad we put all of that nasty business behind us."
"Me too," added Axle, "I'm sure we'll become the best of friends."
"I'm delighted that you have both very quickly put your differences aside," Celestia replied with a smile, "I'm sure Princess Twilight would be delighted."
Twilight? Princess? This could be what Shining meant when he referred to those sealed reports. I might have to do some digging around.
"Now," Celestia continued, "Off to lessons before you're late."
"Yes, Principal Celestia," they chorused again.
Once Celestia went back into her office and shut the door, they two squabbling teens once more glared at each other.
I just had to have food tech with Sunbitch last, didn't I? Couldn't make it through the rest of the day without seeing her.
Axle and Sunset stood at the workstation next to each other with their arms folded and scowling at one another.
"I don't know why we had to be paired with you of all people," she whispered venomously.
"The feeling is mutual," Axle whispered back.
"And all because you had to be rude."
"I wasn't rude, I was straightforward. You asked me what I thought about your crappy band and you hit me on the nose with a symbol."
"You deserved it for causing Fluttershy to cry."
"Did you enjoy your trip to the supermarket last night?"
Sunset suddenly went quiet and her eyes reduced to pinpricks, "What?"
"Had a run in with store security, didn't you? Along with Applejack and Rainbow Dash. As I understand it, the three of you now have a twenty eight day ban from the store."
"How did you know about that?!"
Axle smugly tapped the side of his nose.
Before Sunset could continue the conversation, or smack Axle in the face, Granny Smith called for attention. Everyone watched with interest as she gave a demonstration in how to make chocolate cake, made to look easy with her experienced hands. Granny Smith was a brilliant teacher who had been teaching at CHS for a long time. She even taught Mr and Mrs Cake.
After the demonstration was over she sent the students to their workstation to make their own chocolate cake. Each pair were given enough ingredients to make a 8 inch cake.
Axle and Sunset about starting making their chocolate cake, and only because circumstance forced them too. They measured out the correct ingredients and got to work. Whilst Sunset was buttering a round cake tin, Axle was breaking dark chocolate into a pan to melt down followed by butter and cold water.
Whilst Axle was overseeing the chocolate melting and beating eggs and buttermilk together in a bowl, Sunset mixed self-raising flour, plain flour, baking powder, light muscovado sugar, golden caster sugar and cocoa powder into a large bowl, and began mixing it with her hands to get rid of any lumps.
Once the chocolate mix had melted and the egg mix was mixed, they poured them in with the flour mixture and began to mix until the mixture was well blended with a small runny consistency. Once this was done they poured the mix into the cake tin and placed it into the oven to bake.
Whilst everyone's cakes were baking, Granny Smith had the class do some questions out of their food tech textbooks in which Axle proved utterly hopeless whereas Sunset excelled.
"Struggling with the questions, Axle?"
"Stop implying I'm stupid! Just because I'm no good at this doesn't mean I lack intelligence."
Looking up to Sunset, he was expecting a smug smirk but instead saw she was genuine in her question.
"I was being serious; if you're struggling, I don't mind helping."
"I'll be fine, but thank you anyway."
A momentary look of concern crossed Sunset's face. Axle's behaviour, his facial expressions familiar to one who has experienced hardships like herself. As much as she would have liked to know more, the classroom was neither the time or place; and Axle didn't seem to be in a very talkative mood at the moment, especially to her and her friends.
Before the cakes had fully baked, they still needed to make the ganache.
Sunset this time broke some more dark chocolate into a pan, poured in some double cream and added some golden castor sugar. Whilst Sunset was doing this, Axle carefully cut the baked cake horizontally into three layers.
The chocolate ganache now mixed, Sunset sandwiched the layers together with a little of the ganache and, with a devilish grin, poured the rest of the it over the cake. Axle and Sunset watched with delight as the chocolate mix fall down the sides complete covering the cake. Sunset spread the mix evenly with a palette knife, and with immense satisfaction sprinkled a generous amount of large chocolate curls to finish the cake off.
Axle and Sunset looked at their chocolate masterpiece. Just looking at it would cause anyone to salivate.
"You've done this before, haven't you?" asked Axle.
"I....had someone teach me."
"Your mother?"
Sunset didn't immediately respond.
"I suppose you could say that," she finally replied after a few seconds.
Axle didn't need to be an expert in psychology to realise it was a sensitive issue for Sunset and decided to hold off from probing further.
I know I could do without nosy people asking unwanted questions.
The practical session had finally finished and everyone's cakes were now on display for all to see. Looking around the room they saw the cakes of everyone else, Granny Smith going around the room giving an assessment on each pair's cake and was so far satisfied with what she saw. But when she saw Axle's and Sunset's her eyes almost bulged out.
"Oh my, that is without doubt one of the best lookin' cake ah have ever seen. You two make a sweet couple together."
"Sunset did most of it," Axle replied, "She knows what's she's doing, I don't."
"Well that's mighty honest of yer."
"I won't claim credit for something I did little to contribute to."
"Ah appreciate that young'un, ah'll be sure to tell Principal Celestia."
The sudden ringing of the bell signalling the end of the school day was met with quiet cheers from the class.
"Well anyway, y'all have done excellent work today. Ah'll be sure to tell Principal Celestia about yer hard work. Now, cut yer cakes into halves put them into tins to take home. I'll see y'all again on Thursday."
Sunset and Axle did as Granny Smith said and after taking off their aprons and putting their coats on, walked out together with the other girls.
"That was definitely an enjoyable lesson," Sunset said with a smile on her face.
"For you, maybe."
The pair walked out of the room and to the school main entrance and saw the rain was now falling and walked outside, stopping just in front of the statue.
"Well it's been another good day but I must be going, I have my tea to cook."
"Don't your parents cook it for you?" Sunset asked confused.
"I'll see you tomorrow Sunset," Axle replied, walking away.
"Wait! You didn't answer my question!"
Rather than chase Axle down the street and demand an answer, Sunset decided get out of the rain and head off home instead, which was located in the opposite direction.
"I could really do with a raincoat. I'll have to ask Rarity if she can make one."
After a twenty minute walk, she approached her home. An abandoned Sugar Mill on the outskirts of Canterlot. The area is relatively safe but still not the sort of place you'd want to be alone on a night. Sunset however, had no other choice. Despite all she had been through with her friends, they were still unaware of her living conditions.
She couldn't afford her own place and for reasons she's still not sure, when she passed through the portal her pony ID also changed into human ID. After running a few checks she found out there wasn't a human version of her in this world. One less problem to deal with she thought at the time. Having a human version of her could have caused problems. She did expect a lot of questions from the authorities though when her details weren't on the computer database. Fortunately, a computer glitch occurred shortly before her arrival and her details were 'reapplied'.
Why they didn't question where she lived surprised her though. She just gave them the correspondence address, and surprisingly yet again it was enough.
She made her way into the abandoned building to some old office rooms. There was no heating or running water available. The only water she had was in bottles with the water taken from school, and whenever she had to shower she had to use the showers in the school gym. Her only way to keep warm was to wrap herself in several blankets and her sleeping bag. But at times even that wasn't enough. With winter fast approaching, she had already started to feel the cold night air.
Despite feeling sad and alone again, she was still in the mood for the cake she baked earlier with Axle.
It was a damn good cake.
She didn't eat it all though. She decided to save the rest for another night. She managed to get some homework done before it became too cold to concentrate before getting to sleep. She made herself as comfortable and warm as possible and despite the pounding rain, managed to get to sleep fairly quickly.
Clutched in her grasp close to her chest was a photo frame. The photo inside was of a young Sunset with Princess Celestia on her first birthday as Celestia's student. The young filly had a beaming smile as she unwrapped a present containing a large, heavy looking spell book with a smiling Celestia looking on.
As Sunset slept, a single tear rolled down her face.
"Why does everyone have a family but me?"