"And then ah told em, "ah'd sooner lick a sweaty jockstrap, Twice! an' maybe the second time it'd taste worse"
The entire table roared with laughter as Applejack regaled her friends with a story of her "delegations" with the flim flam brothers.
Currently, the five rainbooms, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow dash, and Pinkie Pie, had all congregated at "The Soda Club".
A small, independently owned and operated beverage shop belonging to a local cherry farmer by the name of Cherry jubilee, currently hosting a birthday party for one of their classmates sister, Ruby Pinch, to which the five were in attendance and were subsequently passing time waiting on their drinks, with some idol conversation.
"I for the life of me, still can't fathom how those two manage to stay in business with those kind of practices, I couldn't possibly imagine they'd have many repeat customers at the very least."
Rarity Interjected through her rather unladylike peels of laughter.
"Ah think calling picking up random garbage and selling it to people for three times its worth "buisness" is being a bit too generous Rare."
Applejack briskly declared, her gaze shifting towards the many patrons of the shop, seated at its many ruby tinted booths and tables. Some of whom were likewise attending the birthday, most notably applejack and rarity's respective sisters, Applebloom and Sweetiebelle, alongside their friend scootaloo.
The quintessential birthday girl herself was seated at one of the many booths with her mother, father, and sister all the while happily enjoying a plate of mini sliders with fries and exploring the applications of the new phone she had just recieved from her big sister.
Of course not everyone at the shop that day was attending, other had come from the next door laundromat to have some food and drinks while waiting for their clothes to finish washing, or from the gaming and comics store also nearby, to enjoy a snack while reading a comic, or to pick up quick meal for their D&D session.
"Now this right here's a business, fairly priced, set up in a high traffic area, and decent enough food too. Certainly a fair step above them two snake oil salesmen, that's for sure."
"Right, and I'm sure that's not bias at all from how they made you wear that banana suit that one time."
Rainbow replied smugly from across the table, smirking as Applejack's irritated expression served to prove her right.
Applejack opened her mouth as if to reply, before the door mounted bell gave a light "jingle", signaling the arrival of another customer.
The girls expressions immediately brightened as they recognized the figure of their friend, sunset shimmer, walking through the door.
"Sunny!!! over here Sunny!!."
Pinkie pie yelled enthusiastically as she waved at the orange girl, completely unaware of or unphased by the spectical she was creating.
Sunset smiled at her pink friends antics and quickly made her way over to the table, to the warm reception of all her close friends.
"Hey girls, you all here for the party?"
"Yupperooni! Berry invited us all to come to her sisters birthday, Glad to see she remembered to invite you too, it wouldn't have been nearly as fun if one of us got left out, alone, forgotten, left alone to stew in miser-."
"Actually Pinkie, I wasn't invited, I came here to talk to one of the employees."
Sunset replied, a slight hint of annoyance in her evident voice, though wiether its source was from not being invited or even told about the party, or pinkies lack of tact was far less obvious.
"oooooohh......weeell....i'm sure they just forgot."
Pinkie amended quickly, immediatly realizing that she might have let her mouth run away from her as per usual. Unfortunatly this rare moment of insight was cut short, as rather then ending there, she continued on trying to "reassure" Sunset.
"I'm sure they didn't decide not to invite you as a way to snub you or because they think little of yo-"
"Either way! we're glad you made it sugercube"
Applejack interrupted, gently attempting to steer the conversation away from the subject as Sunset's irritation became far more visable.
As if acting on some invisible cue, Rarity interjected, both to help dodge the uncomfortable topic and to voice a bit of her own curiosity.
"What exactly were you hoping to discuss with this employee you mentioned, darling?That is, if you don't mind us asking?"
Sunset gave a slightly unsure look in response, on the one hand she didn't really know how this proposed date would go, or even if he'd agree to it, and she hardly wanted to get the girls involved if it turned out to be nothing.
"I.....don't mind you asking Rarity, but if its all the same i'd like to keep it between me and Norman, at least for now."
"Who the heck is Norman?"
Rainbow question to no-one in particular.
Sunset pulled a light frown but otherwise said nothing, observing quietly, unnoticed by the rest of the group as they all started to puzzle over the familiar name.
"It certainly does ring a bell"
Rarity admitted, stroking her chin in contemplation.
Meanwhile, Applejack was similarly wracking her brain, her eyes squinting in deep thought, a hand to her temple and her other hand repetitively snapping in an attempt to recall whom the name belonged to.
"Ah got it!"
she said after a few moments of contemplation
"Normans the manager here, Cherry Jubilee's nephew, ah met him a while back when i'd taken a temp job for her."
"Oh yeah, Normal Norman"
Rainbow responded, causing Sunset to wince slightly at the unfavorable nickname, before speaking up again.
"Well, either way i'm gonna go settle something with him. Keep my seat warm, I promise I won't be too long."
Sunset waved goodbye to her friends, all of whom waved back(aside from pinkie who was currently heating up one of the seats with what appeared to be an over-sized hairdryer), before heading off in towards the "bar" already seeing two figures hunched over on the stools provided just in front of the counter.
One of the figures she recognized as Trixie, a rather self obsessed illusionist she regrettably knew from school.
The other was her ex-boyfriend Flash Sentry, Who, while less of pain then Trixie, was still a rather unwelcome audience to her little discussion.
In front of both of them she spotted Norman himself, tending the bar dutifully for his two patrons.
The bar itself was an odd little counterpart to the endearing "old timey malt shop" appeal found in the clean, ruby red tables and booths scattered throughout the shop.
Despite it's bright red countertop and ample lighting, the bar refused to surrender it's somber atmosphere, it's current occupants managing to maintain a contemplative silence, despite the celebration and antics of sugar high teens and pre-teens occurring, naught two feet away from it.
"What am I doing here?"
Trixie grumbled into her empty cup, breaking the oppressive silence of the lonely bar.
"Warming that stool, Drinking all my root beer, and from the sounds of it feeling sorry for yourself."
Norman offered dryly as he grabbed Trixie's cup and started filling it back up at the nearby tap. A tired expression was present on his face, not quite one of hostility or even annoyance with Trixie, but still very clearly lacking in sympathy and running out of patience.
Still, Trixie continued, oblivious or simply uncaring of the young barkeeps growing frustration.
"Trixie Should be producing musical masterpieces, She should be preforming feats of spectacular magic for adoring audiances! not entertaining peons at some brats birthday party!"
"Well if "Trixie" wants to get paid she'll swallow her pride and do some humble, and honest work. Some of us don't need accolades for every single thing we do."
"Easy for you to say! you're used to amounting to nothing!"
Norman flinched slightly at her comment, though it went unnoticed to everyone besides Sunset, who was currently seething with anger, and slowly beginning to remember why she didn't like Trixie.
where the hell does she get off telling ANYONE they amount to nothing, she should be grateful he's giving her pompous, blue, butt any kind of job in the first place, the ungrateful little-
"Excuse me ma'm, can I help you at all?"
Sunset was pulled from her mental rant by a nearby voice brimming with impatience, and after eventually tearing her gaze away from the scene, she came face to face with Normans cousin Chloe Commons.
Like Norman she was also an employee at her families soda shop, though she tended the many tables as a waitress rather then working the counter.
Her light lavander face was twisted into a frown, and her violet eyes fixated on Sunset with a, stern and unapologetic glare, usually reserved for murderers or people who drive too slow in fast lanes.
"Well actually, I was just waiting to talk to someone"
Chloe narrowed her eyes venomously, causing thick beads of sweat to roll down Sunset's neck as she wilted under the girls hostile gaze.
"I don't think my cousin has time to talk with you Sunset. As you can see from your gawking he's very busy with some of our paying customers."
The former unicorn winced slightly, both at her intentions being so clearly found out and at the clearly aggressive tone with which she'd been adressed. She had the distinct feeling any arguement she put forth would be immediatly brushed aside by the younger girl, still she fumbled to find a response, unwilling to give up after coming so far.
"Well I can see that....but I-"
"If you can see that, then you should have no problem holding off until tomorrow. My cousin is already worn out as is from planning this party, and i'm sure he doesn't have time to entera-."
"Hey, Chloe! mind getting me another coke float?"
Sunset flinched as Chloe whipped her head towards the bar, her long, chocolate brown hair coming an inch shy of smacking her in the face, as she searched for the source of this request.
The voice in question belonged to Flash Sentry, the up until now, silent barfly seated next to Trixie, currently holding up an empty glass and looking at Chloe expectantly.
The haggard young employee threw one last glare at Sunset before begrudgingly taking Flash's glass and going through the door at the back of the bar, presumably to grab some ice cream from the freezer. Sunset responded in kind, defiantly sticking her tongue out at the lavender girl as soon as her back was turned.
A light cough interrupted Sunset, and turned her attention back to Flash Sentry, who gave her a knowing wink (which she admitted probably wasn't intended to be as creepy as it felt to her) before glancing back at Trixie, currently talking to (or at) Norman about the undue hatred she'd had to endure after the battle of the bands, and how she'd been a victim of the dazzlings mind control as well as the scorn of everyone else involved, all of whom clearly envied her superior musical talents.
Meanwhile, Norman halfheartedly began to pour her another drink, all the while casting a disturbingly glazed look at a box of rat poison in dusty, cobwebbed filled bottom corner behind the bar.
"Oh, Sunset nice of you to drop by."
Flash announced loudly, causing Sunset to worry about his mental state. Thankfully Sunset was able to glean the true intent of Flash's overly loud statement as Norman quickly stirred from whatever grim fantasies he was indulging and turned to face her, his dreary expression giving way to a smile as he waved at the ex-unicorn.
"Heya Sunset, didn't expect to see you again."
Sunset smiled and waved back, before the implications of Normans statement sunk in.
"You invited me over here, remember Norman? why wouldn't I come by?"
"Yeah, but most people seem to just sorta....well.....I don't stick in their minds I guess. I half expected you to forget that we talked earlier today."
The statement left Sunset experiencing some odd combination of, pity, indignation, and disbelief. Sure she saw first hand that most of her friends didn't know who Norman was, but that was understandable,it was a big school and it wasn't like they'd been particularly close to him, at the very least it was certainly less ridiculous than the assumption that someone would forget someone the just met today.
Before she could respond however, Normans attention seemed to shift from her, to the distinctive sound of footsteps clacking on freshly polished tiles coming from just behind her.
"Hey Berry, Your sister enjoying the party?"
Norman greeted the newcomer happily, giving a short wave over Sunset's shoulder. Sure enough as Sunset turned to look behind, Berry Punch was there, frozen in her tracks, and nervously brushing the back of her head.
"Erm....hey......you, Nolan right?"
Normans face immediately fell, his former cheery expression disappearing under a heavy sigh and a light shake of his head.
"It's Norman"
He stated crossly, causing Berry to hang her head slightly in shame and embarrassment, as she hastily made an attempt to apologize.
"Sorry, I guess I just had a lot on my mind and I-"
"It's fine Berry, just tell me how the party's going."
Norman interrupted, giving a wave of his hand in an attempt to assuage Berry's tension.
Berry seemed to brighten considerably in response, giving Norman an affectionate smirk that Sunset admitted, might have made her jealous, if Berry hadn't merely a few minutes ago forgotten the name of the boy she was so suddenly making googly eyes at.
"Oh! Ruby's really enjoying the party, she was a little disappointed when she heard she couldn't have it at the skating rink. Buuuut I think the "Soda Club's" charming, diligent and might I add handsome manager managed to make it up to her."
Norman frowned and gave a light blush at Berry's none-too subtle tease, Berry herself giggling lightly at Normans reaction.
It was right at that point that "might have been jealous" became past tense, and subsequently Sunset had decided Berry needed to leave. However many unbroken bones she left with depended on how quickly she would get the message.
The ex-unicorn lifted a yellow fist to her mouth and coughed loudly, Pulling Berrys attention away from her jokingly flirty conversation.
"Well, i'm glad you two are catching up, but I was about to discuss something with Norman. So id very much appreciate it if you left, that is if you don't mind."
A slight tint of Sunset's older, "bullying" voice was present in her tone, and judging by her frightened expression and slight quivering, Berry was quite aware that "minding" wouldn't be the best course of action.
"Oh right, sorry I was just, playing around with my frie-"
Sunset's narrowed her eyes threateningly at the girl
"Y'know what, lemme grab my order real quick and i'll be out of your hair."
Sunset nodded in response as Berry Ordered herself a small meal consisting of hot dogs, chips and presumably an inordinate amount of preservatives and dashing back to her table.
As she watched Berry leave, she felt whatever jealousy she harbored towards the other girl wither away into depression and shame. She'd already made such great progress and here she was letting some crush drag her back down.
With a light sigh, she walked over to the bar and took a seat on the stool to the left of Flash, burying her forehead in her hands as the sombre mood of the bar washed over her.
Looking back towards her friends table, she noticed all of them leveling concerned looks at her, clearly looking to her for awnsers.
Near instantly Sunset felt a new wave of disappointment and shame overtake her as she sat in silence.
"I'm Sorry..."
she whimpered out quietly, unsure of whom she was saying it to, but feeling the need to say it out loud all the same.
"None of us are the ones you're gonna have to apologize to Sunny."
Norman stated plainly as he began dipping a corndog in cheese and called out the name of whatever poor fool ordered that monstrosity.
"Well, not about that I guess.But you know I've got plenty more to apologize for, especially to you."
Before she could continue, Norman held up his hand, requesting the former unicorn be silent, a gesture which admittedly agitated Sunset, but she complied regardless .
"I'm gonna stop you right there Sunshine, partially because I've got my own little admission to make, and also because I need to get this guy his food."
He said as he handed the horrific cheese and bacon covered mess to an off duty cop. Sunset Flash and trixie all gagged in perfect unison as they watched the older man take a huge bite of the heart-stopping abomination.
Almost near instantly, Norman began wiping his hands with nearby napkin and clicking his tongue disapprovingly.
"Ugh, suddenly I miss the days it was all just coffee and doughnuts with those guys. Anyways, back to my little admission."
Norman turned to face Sunset, lightly brushing a stray lock of chocolate brown hair out of his face. Almost Immediately Sunset felt her previous annoyance melt away as she imagined running her hands through his thick brown hair, despite her bitter struggle to hold onto her anger, if nothing else then for prides sake.
Silently she wondered what kind of secret he might be sharing. A tiny, almost humorous little theory formed in her mind that perhaps he might be confessing his own affections for her. Of course she found herself dismissing this theory almost immediately.
Yeah....right, I haven't exactly been the best of friends to him, he probably wouldn't want to start dating someone like me after all that, would he?
"For a while, after the fall formal...."
Norman looked away as he spoke, and sunset could hear the slightest hint of a frustrated sigh as he struggled to find the nerve to continue.
Sunset leaned closer, slowly beginning to wonder if her previous theory might have had more credibility then she previously thought .
"...Well, it's hard to say, but..."
Maybe he's has been feeling the same way about me,despite how I Treated him. Maybe this is my chance to make up for it all, and to be more open with him.
The former equestrian gave a small but still very genuine smile at the young manager, her heart glimmering with hope.
which, sadly, only made Norman's next words that much harder on the both of them.
"...I hated your guts"
Sunset blinked idly in a moment of non-comprehension and confusion before the weight of Normans statement slammed directly into her like the kick of a drunken mule.
Admittedly part of her knew it was silly to think Norman didn't feel resentment for how he'd been treated, even sillier to assume he'd also been harboring some secret crush for her.
But that did little to soften the blow she felt in knowing it for sure. She'd hoped that maybe he'd taken to her more than the others students at Canterlot high or at least that he'd be timid enough not to resent her too much for it, and that maybe she'd have a decent chance of avoiding the volatile subject altogether.
She looked over to Flash, who was busy directing a disapproving frown at Norman, who was currently choosing to ignore it as he spoke up again.
"I know you probably didn't want to hear about that, but I don't want you to go thinking you're the only one who needs to apologize."
"It's alright, I suppose I deserved it after all the horrible things I did."
Sunset said, with no small amount of uncertainty. Trying her best to appreciate the fact that he was coming clean, despite the fact that it was indeed not what she wanted to hear.
The young manager shook his head calmly in response to the former equestrian's admirable attempt to dismiss the statement, clearly not willing to leave his apology at that.
"With all due respect Sunny, you're completely wrong on both accounts, but i'm getting to that. Anyways, like I said, i'd still been pretty angry at you after the whole fall formal event.Did I believe you were genuine about turning over a new leaf? Maybe, but I really didn't care either way, for the most part it just, sort of felt good to be the one doing the tormenting.
Of course after the battle of the bands I didn't show it outright anymore, but it didn't go away either, and the minute Anon-a-miss or whatever started spreading crap to everyone I was probably one of the first people to start assuming you were up to it."
Norman looked down at the counter, his back hunched over as if the shame of his previous actions was physically weighing down on him.
"It wasn't until I saw you crying in the hallways, when your only friends in the world decided to turn their back on you, that I realized just how lonely you must have felt. Not just then, but ever since you came here. You arrived here on a planet filled with monsters on two legs, alone, separated from your family, your friends, everything that was familiar to you.
And here I was, a guy with a loving family, friends, a job, a generally safe and productive life, and I decided to torment you to make myself feel better. Because obviously I was the one who need to feel better in this situation."
Norman sighed in resignation and opened a nearby fridge, pulling out a glass bottle filled with an unnamed soda. After popping open the drink and taking a large gulp from it, he continued his explanation, this time gesturing with the bottle for emphasis.
"And around Christmas too, of course, that one time of the where we should be sharing happiness instead of scorn, and there we were, spending that time making a girl who doesn't even get to be "home for the holidays" miserable."
He took a moment from his irritated tirade to pause, both for breath and another swig from his bottle of mystery liquid, which Sunset was beginning to doubt was actually soda.
"We all focused so much on what you did or what you were trying to do, none of us ever stopped to think what we would do or what we did end up doing. I mean I couldn't honestly say i'd turn down the chance at power and fame or at least infamy, and that's before being stranded in a dimension filled with hideous man-beasts. Either way, you deserve an apology as much as anyone else does."
Sunset adopted a slightly contemplative expression in response to Normans speech, finding herself slightly conflicted in how to reply. on the one hand, she was happy that he wasn't still angry with her, and had decided to move past everything she'd done and give her a second chance.
On the other hand, she wasn't quite so sure his assessment was very accurate. Sure she was alone upon coming to the human world, but aside from the princess, whom she'd already distanced herself from when she came here, she'd already been alone beforehand.
Similarly she didn't really see humans as "hideous" or "monsters" as Norman assumed. Aside from some initial misgivings, she'd never seen a human as anything less than a pony, and she certainly didn't think any of her behavior was justified by them not being her own species.
Though she supposed it did make sense for his view of another species interaction with his own to be a little ignorant. Aside from humans there was no other sentient life on earth, so there was likely little frame of reference for them.
Either way Sunset decided not to debate it with him directly, there was nothing wrong with Norman feeling empathetic, and regardless of whether he was right or wrong, it was a sweet gesture all the same.
"Alright, how about a compromise?"
she finally said with a warm smile.
Norman raised an inquisitive eyebrow in response, but otherwise said nothing.
"We can both be sorry together, how does that sound?"
Norman immediately dropped his inquisitive expression and gave his own kindly smile in response.
"I guess that'd be alright."
The two remained silent,both of them taking a brief moment to bask in the glow of this new start.
Well, that wasn't so hard.Maybe this will work out better then I thought.
"So......I see the shop's doing well. You've been hard at work I take it"
Norman snorted at Sunsets comment, as if she'd just made some kind of witty remark or joke.
"Well, what passes for work here, I suppose. Mostly I just stand here at the desk, trying to keep the big scary expenses number low and the big juicy income number high. Aside from that I fill cups while people talk and occassionally pretend to listen."
He said dryly, further down the bar Trixie could be heard angrily grumbling something inaudibly into her cup.
"Speaking of which, you want anything Sunshine?"
Asked Norman as he gestured to the large menu behind him.
She hadn't thought about it before, but she was somewhat hungry. She'd had to skip lunch already thanks to an unfortunate oversight in her scheduling and she'd been hoping that she could have bought something at the concession stand during her date with Norman, which didn't seem to be an option any longer.
Tentatively, she scanned the menu for something that didn't completely disgust her, eventually ordering herself a small sandwich, chips, and a grape soda.
Norman nodded lightly and jotted down her order on a small notepad, the scratching sound of pen on paper replacing any conversation.
But rather quickly, another, far louder sound was there to chase off the ambient silence that had already begun creeping its way back into the bar.
The source of the sound was the main door to the kitchen, being slammed open, behind said door was a rather agitated Chloe, tray in hand, her violet eyes casting a harsh glare on Sunset, causing the ex-equestrian to recoil slightly.
Chloe's hostility drew a disapproving look from her cousin. Which, upon seeing she immediately relented, looking away from Canterlot high's former queen of mean and begrudgingly serving Flash his Coke Float.
"I'm glad you're here chloe, would you kindly go take this order to Bakin Bitz?"
Norman asked calmly, his tone making it abundantly clear that this was in fact not a request.
Chloe looked as if she was about to protest, but thought better of it, snatching the order from Normans outstreteched hand before giving Sunset another dirty look and storming off.
Meanwhile at the other side of the bar, a certain blue skinned illusionist had observed the scene silently, a cunning smirk forming on her face as she watched the lavender girl walk away.
Norman gave Sunset an apologetic look, before immediately giving her an apologetic statement to go with it.
"Sorry Sunny, she can be a little, overprotective at times."
"That's ok, I know how it can be with family."
Sunset reassured him, vaguely recalling Applebloom and Sweetiebelle's reaction to her spending time with their sisters.
"Either way, I'll have a talk with her about it, maybe ask Auntie Jubilee if she could say something. After all, can't have her acting that way around my friends."
Sunset could feel a slight flutter in her heart at the mention of the word "friend", admittedly she'd hoped for more then that, but it was a good place to start. And it wasn't as if, she had a lot of close personal friends aside from the Rainbooms.
A light cough from nearby broke Sunset from her happy contemplation, and sure enough she turned to see the source of was none other then Flash Sentry, who had until now, remained silent.
"So, Norman, haven't met up with you in a while, you've been seeing anyone?"
Norman, who had already finished off the last of his mystery beverage, was already in the process of aquiring another from the fridge when he'd heard Flash's inquiry.
He regarded the question with a smirk mild amusement
"Sentry, if you're coming out of the closet, let me congratulate you, but I don't play for that-"
"Don't be more of an ass then you usually are dude, just answer the question."
Flash interrupted loudly,doing his best to ignore Sunsets blush and Trixie's poorly concealed snickering.
"No, I haven't been seeing anyone since Blue and I broke up."
"Still holdin out hope you might get back together?"
"I'm not stupid Flash, I know it's through. Those....things made sure of that during the battle of the bands."
Sunset cast her eyes away from Norman as he ranted, knowing full well who Norman was referring to.
"Speaking of the Dazzlings, you happen to see them anywhere Norman?"
She asked tentatively
"Do you see filet-o-fish on the menu?"
"N-No, not really.."
"Then I haven't seen those tuna-heads, and for their sake I hope it stays that way."
Sunset grimaced, slightly taken aback by the rather cold response. However, before she could press the issue the door to the kitchen opened again, and once again, Chloe walked in tray in hand, still harboring an expression of distrust and general dislike towards Sunset, but otherwise remaining silent as she set Sunset's food down in front of her.
Sunset rubbed her hands in anticipation as she looked down at the 6-inch ham sub, having only now realized how hungry she was.
"
Thanks Chloe."
Chloe waved off Sunset's gratitude with a mild disinterest. Ignoring his cousins icy demeanor, Norman tentatively tapped a few buttons on the cash register and rang up Sunset's meal.
"That'll be five eighty nine."
Nodding In response, Sunset rummaged through her pocket in search of her wallet. Sadly, much to her increasing embarrassment, she found nothing. A quick check of her other pocket had reinforced her worry, as she found it too was vacant.
Unfortunately, she did a very poor job of hiding her stress from the rest of the bar, as the other patrons had all begun to stare at her expectantly, each of them likely coming to the same realization she had.
"I....guess I forgot my wallet at home."
Sunset cast her gaze downwards, and out of the corner of her eye she could see Norman do the same, both of them clearly off put by the situation.
"Well, y'know Sunshine, I wish I could give these sandwiches out for free, it'd certainly benefit the gentlemen over in the alley nearby...but..."
"It's fine, I wasn't hungry anyways."
No sooner had she spoken then her traitorious stomach had decided to loudly rumble in protest, causing her face to redden.
Norman once again gave a downcast look, scratching the back of his head and idly tapping his fingers on the counter.
Briefly she considered fleeing to her house to boil some noodles or warm up some leftovers before a sharp intake of breath snapped brought her attention back to the young manager in front of her.
"Alright look, I don't usually do this, but how about I open a tab. You'll get to eat today and you'll pay me back by the end of the week."
He wore a look of light trepidation on his face, clearly doing this rather begrudgingly, but still attempting to offer Sunset a way out of this predicament.
She immediately brightened upon hearing his deal, admittedly the food wasn't a huge issue for her, but it was a nice gesture regardless.
"Thanks Norman"
She said between large, onion-filled bites of her sandwich.
The manager smiled in response.
"Don't mention it."
He looked over his shoulder quietly, as if worried there might be someone listening in, before leaning over to Sunset and whispering in her ear.
"Seriously don't, i'd rather not be known for doing this sort of thing if you catch my drift."
Sunset nodded in response before making a gesture of "zipping" her mouth and throwing away the zipper....or key, she was never really sure what it was in that metaphor but she was throwing it.
Satisfied by her response, Norman returned to gulping down his questionable beverage before speaking up again.
"Why exactly did you want to know if I'd seen the Dazzlings?"
"Oh, well for one I wanna make sure they're not up to anything right now."
"And, aside from that?"
"Well, lately I've been finding....evidence that points to the Sirens not being the only thing thing that passed from Equestria over to here. And I was hoping, with how long with how long they've been around, they might know something about whatever else might be out and about here."
Norman raised an eyebrow skeptically, rather unsure of what to make of Sunset's new information.
"You think something else came through the same portal you and the Dazzlings came out of?"
she nodded before continuing to munch on her sandwich.
"Well, what kinda "somethings" are we talking about?
"I couldn't really tell you for sure, could be anything, changlings, manticores, sphinx, valkyries, Trolls, Wyverns."
"Sunset, I Know the Sirens managed to exist on earth for this long, but I seriously doubt this city could be hosting a parade of monsters like that without someon-"
Norman was stopped mid-sentence by a mighty rumble that shook the ground. The entire shop sat in stunned silence, some of the patrons murmuring about an earthquake. Suddenly another followed it, this time sounding closer.
The rumbles continued, growing louder and nearer with each passing moment. Until finally, as it had almost assuredly reached the door, it stopped, much to the relief of the shops many customers.
This relief was short lived however, as the silence so gave way to a loud crashing sound as the front wall was torn asunder by a giant, winged reptillian beast with gangly limbs.
Norman's eyes widened, pure unrelenting fear gripping him as he seized up like a deer in headlights.
"Sunset....if I ask what that thing is, would you be willing to lie to me and say it gives hugs or free candy or something."
Sunset, who was in a similarly jarred state, shook her head vigorously before glaring at the creature in contempt.
"Not gonna sugar-coat it Norman, it does nothing of the sort, That's a jabberwocky."
"You mean the one with jaws that bite and claws that catch!?"
"I'm afraid so, you stay here Norman, I gotta go figure out a game-plan with the girls."
Norman complied by quickly darting under his bar, pressing the Silent alarm underneath and praying that Sunset would be alright.
Meanwhile Sunset was in full-focus mode as she rushed over to her friends table, through all the screaming and panicing civilians, and called out to them.
"Guys, we've got an emergency."
"We can see that for ourselves Sunset, what is that thing?"
Rainbow replied exasperatedly.
"A jabberwocky."
"A jabber-whatnow?"
Applejack questioned.
"Y'know, jaws that bite, claws that catch, real bad news basically."
Sunset stated dryly
"So how on earth are we gonna stop it?"
"Well I think I might have a way, but I'll need some stuff "from home" First."
Meanwhile, at the other end of the table, Fluttershy's eyes widened as she stared up at the massive creature.
"Whatever you do Sunset I think you'll need to do it fast, look!"
Flutteryshy pointed up at the creatures claw to reveal what was in it's grasp, a rather terrified Berry Punch, Currently being waved around by the creature as it had already begun yelling out demands to some beat cops who had arrived on the scene.
Sunset's pupils shrank with horror as she saw the girl being shaken around like a ragdoll by the merciless reptile.
Deciding to take action, she cast a nervous glance to the creatures head to make sure it was distracted, before walking behind it and attempting to whisper to the hostage.
"Berry, don't worry, we'll get you out of here."
The young mulberry girl smiled groggily at her, clearly dizzy from being shaken about so violently.
Sunset felt the urge to smile back, before she was reminded of her earlier interactions with the girl.
"....And uh, also i'm sorry for snapping at you earlier."
"Oh, don't worry about that Sunset."
Berry replied, still retaining her groggy smile.
"I probably shouldn't have interrupted you when you were trying to talk to Norman, I'm sure it was important."
"Well, either way It hardly gave me any right to get so hostile with you, and I'd kinda hoped I'd already gotten past that kind of behavior."
"It's alright, nobodies perfect, and the fact that you're apologizing already means so much."
"Thanks Berry, and I promise, i'll try and make it up to you later, somehow."
"Well, if you wanna make it up to me..."
She gestured towards her giant scaly captor, who was still engaged in negotiation with the local police.
"Right, right I'm on it, Pinkie!"
Pinkie Pie stepped forward and gave Sunset a salute.
"You and the rest of the girls stay here and try to keep this thing from doing anything rash, I'm gonna go grab some reagents from the portal and try to cast a Vorpal enchantment."
"Oki doki loki."
Pinkie responded quietly, pulling out a megaphone and zipping over to the police blockade. Meanwhile the rest of the group gave a quick thumbs up before taking up their own places to try and help talk the creature down.
Nodding in confirmation, Sunset slowly began to sneak away from the monster and out the door, before frantically sprinting towards Canterlot high once she was sure she was out of perceptible range.
A thousand thoughts rushed through her head, most of them involved worrying about her friends, or wondering where the jabberwocky had come from and why it had suddenly decided to attack an innocent little soda shop and get itself cornered by law enforcement.
But among those valid and completely understandable concerns, only one managed to stick out to her for some odd reason.
I need to remember my wallet next time I go out.