Ten years after Twilight is crowned an alicorn princess, she is now the rightful ruler of Equestria. History repeats itself when she tasks her newly appointed student, Sunset Shimmer, to study the magic of friendship. But the road to redemption is a long and arduous one, and shutting yourself from others only makes it worse once they manage to break through. On top of that, something about all this appears to be bothering Sunset, and she herself cannot understand why.

But before Sunset confronts her inner demons and takes the first step towards the rest of her life, she must get to Ponyville first. On the train ride there, she meets an old friend.