It was a bright, sunny day in the city of Canterlot. In the park, children played and joggers jogged while listening to their tunes and a group of six girls were setting up a picnic at one of the tables.
Fluttershy was helping Rarity and Pinkie Pie set the table and put out the food while Applejack and Rainbow Dash were competing to see who could do the most push ups. Meanwhile, the newest addition to the group, Sunset Shimmer, shyly stood apart from the rest of them and quietly observed what they were doing. The former bully and she-demon was unsure of what she should be doing. While these girls were technically her probation officers and were supposed help her learn the magic of friendship, there was still some distance between her and the five of them. After all, she had spent the previous two years scheming and driving their friendship apart which cultivated with them blasting her with a magical rainbow friendship laser at the fall formal. How would you treat someone who turned into a demon and tried to take over the world? As Sunset pondered this, she was interrupted by a cheery voice:
"What ch'ya thinking about Sunset Shimmer?" asked Pinkie who had managed to sneak up on Sunset while she was deep in thought. Sunset jumped in surprise but relaxed a little when she saw who it was.
"Just.. wondering when Twilight's going to get here." Twilight Sparkle was, ironically, the one Sunset felt most comfortable with.
"She texted me earlier." Applejack approached them with a grumpy looking Rainbow Dash. "She got caught up with something so she's gonna be a little late."
"Oh" was all Sunset said with disappointment. The other girls gave each other worried looks. They were aware of the distance between Sunset and themselves and that Sunset shared a history with Twilight, though they didn't know the details. Could that be the reason Sunset was slightly more relaxed with Twilight around? Rainbow decided to hit the nail on the head.
"Look Sunset, during fall formal week, we may have sorta..." Rainbow paused as she tried to find the right words for it, ""Found" a picture of you and Twilight as kids." Sunsets eyes widened at this which prompted Rainbow to continue, "When we asked Twilight about it, she said you to used to be friends as kids, and that you knew the Principals, but didn't want to tell us what happened." Rainbow stared directly into Sunset's eyes as she made her request, "I don't suppose you might want to tell us what happened." After catching a look from Fluttershy she softened her eyes, "That is, if you don't mind. It's totally cool if you don't want to talk about it right now." Sunset pondered these words for a few moments bore letting out a deep sigh.
"No, I thinks it's time you girls knew what happened between Twilight and me," She took and a deep breath and averted her eyes,"...and how I managed to drive away the only friend I ever had." They all sat down at the picnic table and leaned in towards Sunset, listening intently as she began her tale.
"Well, it all started about ten years ago, at magic school tryouts."