Book one of "Who We Become".
Sunset always knew that she was destined for greatness, but she never dreamed of how great she could become. Not until she had seen it - the mirror had shown her as an alicorn. Ignoring Celestia's warnings, Sunset goes l...
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Why did Rose Petal have to talk with her anyway? Didn't she realize that Sunset had already been lectured by the overnight staff? Couldn't she just leave her alone? God knew that none of the caretakers took as much interest in her as Rose did.
But she had known what would happen from the moment that she had seen the overnight caretaker pick up the bottle. The broken glass was bad, but Sunset could explain that. The cut would even serve as a distraction. It was deep enough that she was taken to the hospital and received four stitches in her right palm, and everyone assumed that would be enough to teach her a lesson.
But the alcohol? That was another story. While her caretakers didn't press too much about the mirror, they simply wouldn't leave the alcohol alone. After six hours and a hospital trip, she was still trying to figure out how to explain it. It wasn't like she could even use the awful 'I'm just holding it for a friend' excuse, because she didn't have any friends.
Her careful control over what the adults at the orphanage knew about her was gone. Sure, they knew she skipped school sometimes, and once or twice she had been caught shoplifting a few small things. But the bigger stuff? The drinking, the manipulation, the general apathy towards every aspect of her life? She had been very careful to keep that hidden. As far as anyone could tell, she was a genuinely nice girl going through a rough time because of childhood trauma and puberty.
But now she had jeopardized all that, since her drinking habit was decidedly not within the confines of normal puberty behavior. And so, she found herself sitting across from Rose Petal and staring at the floor. Rose had asked her to explain herself, and was fixing Sunset with an expression that read 'I'm waiting'.
"I didn't mean to break the mirror."
"Well, I should hope not."
Sunset winced at the tone. "I had a, uhm... I was angry." It was better to blame mood swings than to ever admit she still regularly had nightmares, and admitting to the hallucination was completely out of the question. The last thing she needed was to be treated like she was crazy. "I threw a book, but I didn't mean to hit the mirror, that was an accident."
Rose waited a moment, as if contemplating her response. "And why, exactly, did throwing a book seem like a good idea in the first place?"
"Like I said, I was angry." Sunset lifted her head a little so that Rose could see her eyes, but she still didn't look directly at her. "I'm really sorry, I promise I'll be better, and –"
"Sunset," Rose interrupted gently. They had barely started the lecture, and she was already beginning to sound more exhausted than angry. "I'm not worried about the mirror. I'm worried about you. Why are you so angry? Why won't you come talk to me when you're having problems?"
"I..." Sunset found herself at a loss for words. Taken off guard, she forgot to maintain her carefully controlled body language and found herself looking directly into Rose's eyes. She had to turn away, there was too much hurt there. "I'm sorry..."
