The next morning
"Cause it's like I don't fit in at all," sang Casey, humming to himself a song from his childhood as he walked out of his bedroom with a towel around his neck, and his pouch carrying the rest of his beach-wear clothing.
After walking down the hall for a little bit, he stopped by the open doorway of the library, and made his way inside to find Twilight sitting comfortably in a reading chair, magically holding up a book in front of her that she was currently reading.
"Morning, Twilight… and um, also, I guess I'll see you later," said the young Earth Pony, and the young alicorn turned her head away from the book to smile back at him.
"Oh, good morning, Casey! Enjoy your day at the beach with Sunset and the rest of the girls," replied Twilight. "And let me know how it goes once you come back!"
Casey nodded his head, and made his way over to the Crystal Mirror, but before he entered it, the light-orange pony could have sworn for a moment that there was something different about the magical object. It seemed to be less…bulkier than when he first remembered seeing it after Twilight had helped him get out of virtual limbo.
Eh, probably just my imagination, thought Casey, now walking into the portal that would transport him across various dimensions, and as for Twilight, she was now reading the book with curiousity since the young princess was unable to recall when she had chosen to write so many things about an Earth Pony that was simply unknown to her.
#############
"I've got to get used to this," muttered Casey after he walked out of the portal, and he shook his head a few times. "Alright, now how do I get to-"
HONK! HONK!
Casey turned around, and saw Sunset waving towards him while sitting inside of a yellow-colored convertible vehicle that had red streaks on both sides. Huh, well isn't that convenient
"Got everything you need?" asked the bacon-haired teenager.
After placing his backpack in the back seats of the car, Casey made himself comfortable in the passenger seat, and gave a quick nod. "Uh-huh, all ready… to go… uh…" A sheepish smile appeared on his face. "You like pre… pretty... nice in your, um, beach outfit, Sunset."
"Aw, thank you," replied the former unicorn, both amused and flattered. "But you don't have to be nervous about it or anything."
As Sunset began to drive away from CHS, a slightly red-faced Casey gave a small shrug. "Yeah, sorry, I just… get like that sometimes when it comes to… um… so, what exactly does one do at a beach again? I've never really been to one in Equestria."
"Well, it just depends on how you feel once you get there," answered Sunset. "There's the open body of water to swim in, tons of sand to make sand castles and stuff with, a net for volleyball games… all that kind of stuff really, as well as whatever Pinkie has planned for the beach party."
Casey let out a chuckle. "I'm sure it'll involve lots of cupcakes… but hopefully not the ones with edible sunscreen in them - whoa!"
KAAAA!
Suddenly, a black bird that came from out of nowhere flew right past their heads, and after it was gone, Sunset told Casey that he could sit back up now.
"Thank you… sheesh, it was like that bird hated me or something."
Around half an hour later, after her vehicle was parked safely in the parking lot, both Sunset and Casey stepped out of the car to begin heading towards the nearby beach.
"So, where should I go in order to… you know, change into clothes more suitable for the beach," wondered Casey, with said clothing currently inside of his backpack, and Sunset pointed over at a nearby cabin.
"That's where the men's fitting room is, but before you do that, come so you can see us all take the photo for the yearbook," said Sunset, and Casey looked out towards the beach to see that her beach-outfit-wearing friends were already hanging out together, with a white camera drone flying around them in an attempt to take a picture.
"Your eyes do not decieve you," said a confident Sci-Twi, relieved that the mechanical device was finally working for the time being. "I have been succesful in creating a Selfie Sensing camera. It hovers into position whenever you're ready to take a selfie!"
As she laid back against a lawn chair, a confused Applejack asked, "Uh… what was wrong with doin' it the old-fashioned way? With our cell phone?"
Nearby, Rarity was asking Rainbow for her opinion on which of the four beach blankets she had laid out should they use for the photo.
"Uh, do you mean the white one?" replied Rainbow, pointing at two of them. "Or… the white one?"
Rarity scoffed at her friend's comment, and she rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Oh, honestly, darling! This one is toasted oat, and here is linen lamb's wool… we've also got ivory cream, and… well, I suppose that this one actually is white."
"Uh, yeah, which is what I said," said a laughing Rainbow.
At the same time, Sci-Twi's camera drone was still taking individual photos of the girls, and it ended up floating in front of an arriving Sunset, who became delighted after seeing it. "Oh, Twilight! You got the Selfie Sensor working?"
She posed for a photo with a big smile on her face, and there was a white flash, but it didn't come from the drone, which had zipped away from Sunset and was now hovering behind its creator, almost as if the machine was afraid of the pony-turned-teen.
"I, uh… didn't want to let an opportunity go to waste," explained a sheepish Casey, who was holding onto an instant camera, as well as a newly printed-out picture of Sunset posing. "I can get rid of it if-"
"No, it's fine, don't worry about it," replied Sunset, and she looked back at the others. "So, who's ready to take a 'best friends' picture?"
None of the girls said a word to Sunset, so she simply let out a chuckle, and crossed her arms. "Uh-oh, what did I do?"
A nervous Fluttershy went over to cower behind Applejack, and the farm girl looked over at Pinkie, who shrugged her shoulders in confusion, while everyone else was silently glaring at Sunset.
"Should we take the picture now, or do you all prefer to take a swim first?" wondered Sunset, while Casey became confused as to what was going on with her friends. "How's the water?"
Applejack let out a sarcastic chuckle, and she crossed her arms. "Well, I'll be… Sunset Shimmer, asking to be in our Best Friends picture? Heh, now I've heard it all!"
"Um… I'll just head on back to go and cha-" Casey began to say as he tried walking away, but Sunset turned to give him a look that meant 'wait just a sec' before going back to her friends.
"Am I missing the joke here?" She asked, looking from one girl to the other.
Rarity placed a hand on her hip, and replied to Sunset in a stern tone. "The only joke is whatever this is you're playing on us, acting all nice like you're our friend."
"And it's not funny!" cried Fluttershy, now standing up straight.
"Because you aren't nice," added Rainbow Dash, with a nearby Pinkie shaking her head in agreement.
"And we ain't friends!" finished Applejack.
"Wait… what?" Sunset couldn't believe what she was hearing, and Casey couldn't understand why the girls were being so mean to their friend.
Applejack raised an eyebrow, and pointed a finger at Sunset as she replied, "You got applesauce in yer ears or somethin'? I said that we ai - whoa!"
Deciding to go with the first solution that came to her head, Sunset grabbed onto the young farm girl's uncovered arm, and used the power that came from her geode to look through a series of memories in her friend's mind.
"But all I've ever done since being here is drive everyone apart. I don't know the first thing about friendship."
"I bet they can teach you."
The first memory that she saw was her apologizing to the girls after turning into a she-demon, but for some reason, only the past version of herself faded away while everything else remained the same.
My friends are gonna bring me 'round...
The second memory showed Sunset performing with the Rainbooms to defeat the Sirens, but she was gone from there as well in a matter of seconds.
"I'm sorry… I didn't mean for any of this to happen."
The third memory that Sunset saw herself disappear from was after Sci-Twi had given her apology for what she'd done as Midnight Sparkle.
"I'm sure that I can count on you girls to help her feel right at home."
"You sure can!"
After that was the memory of when she and the rest of the girls had decided to become friends with Sci-Twi after the young teen's transfer to CHS from Crystal Prep, but like all the others, Past Sunset suddenly disappeared into thin air.
"Thanks for helping me out, Applejack."
"Think nothin' of it! I've been lookin' for a reason to take a spin in the ol' jalopy."
"Who are you callin' a jalopy?"
The final memory was when Sunset had accepted Applejack's offer in helping her pass a driving test by practicing in Granny Smith's truck, with her past self suddenly vanishing from out of nowhere. She just wasn't in the picture for any of the memories.
Jerking her hand away from a bewildered Applejack, Sunset backed away in fear and deep concern as she realized what this all meant. "It… it's like I've been… erased!"
"...wow, this is heavy," whispered Casey, and he went back to drinking a bottle of soda that he'd taken out of his backpack while Sunset had been reading her friend's mind.
This has to be a nightmare, thought the bacon-haired teenager, now closing her eyes as she cried, "Wake up, Sunset! Wake up - ow!"
"Nope! You're awake," said Pinkie, who had pinched Sunset on her arm, and she did the same to herself. "Ow! Guess I am, too!"
"But… this doesn't make any sense!" cried Sunset. "I saw your memories, AJ, and I wasn't in any of them!"
Applejack crossed her arms, and asked, "Well, just how in the hay were you able to do that, if you don't mind me askin'?"
Sunset held up her geode necklace for all of her friends to see. "With this! We got these necklaces together at Camp Everfree, don't you remember?"
"Why is she still talking to us?" asked Fluttershy.
Rarity brushed Sunset's statement aside, and rolled her eyes as she touched her own geode. "Pfft! Oh,please, it's obviously just a cheap knockoff of ours."
Sunset's level of fear was starting to rise up a lot more. "Rarity, remember when I helped you out with painting the window display for Miss Hemline?"
"You did no such thing!" exclaimed Rarity, and she turned her head away from Sunset.
"How could… wait, paint… Pinkie!"Sunset looked over at the pink-haired teenager. "You remember that day you painted a portrait of me during art class at CHS, right?"
Pinkie shook her head, and replied, "I'd never paint something of someone that wasn't my friend!"
"But… but… Rainbow Dash!" cried Sunset, moving onto her next friend. "You saved me from being 'plant food' during the Tri-Cross Relay at the Friendship Games, remember?
"Uh, I'm pretty sure that you have no idea what you're talking about because that never happened," said Rainbow.
The next friend for Sunset to ask was Fluttershy, who was still standing behind Applejack. "What about the day that everyone took their pets to a shelter, but I didn't have one, so I agreed to let you help me find my own, and you showed me Ray?"
Fluttershy just shook her head, too afraid to speak, and the last friend that remained for Sunset to ask was Sci-Twi. "Twilight, you remember me, right?" Sunset felt her eyes almost starting to water up since the human version of Twilight was almost like a best friend to her. "We've been through so much together! Please…"
"I… only met you once," replied Sci-Twi, rubbing the back of her neck. "Back at the Friendship Games when you yelled at me."
"Doesn't anyone remember that I'm not a mean person anymore?" cried Sunset, and all of her friends shook their heads in response. "But… oh, wait a sec… Casey!" The light-orange teenager almost jumped after hearing Sunset shout out his name. "We all went into his world to help him fight off Mi - a giant dragon, remember?"
The memories of what happened on that day came back to Casey, and he nodded in agreement. "Yeah, she's right! Sunset told you all what to do and… wait, I mean, no she ordered… ok, never mind that! Twilight, you remember when I first talked to you and Sunset about it at your house, right?"
"I remember you being there, Casey," replied an almost regretful Sci-Twi. "But I don't remember Sunset being with us."
A nervous Casey gulped, trying to think of another memory for them to use, while Sunset was now feeling all kinds of terrible… until she realized that there was another friend who might remember her.
"I'll be right back!" She cried as she sprinted towards her car at the parking lot, and Casey quickly hurried after Sunset.
Once they had reached Sunset's vehicle, the bacon-haired teenager asked, "Casey, you remember stuff about me, right?"
"Yeah, of course," replied Casey. "But I don't know why none of your other friends can't remember anything."
"Well, you and the girls aren't my only friends," reminded Sunset, with thoughts of a certain alicorn princess entering her mind. "Did Twilight mention anything about being busy in Equestria?"
Casey thought about it for a moment before giving her an answer. "No, not really… she's probably still in the library, reading a book… why?"
A few moments later
Inside of her castle library, Twilight was still looking through the same thick-paged book from earlier, but just as she about to turn one of the pages, the young princess heard the activation sounds of the Crystal Mirror, and she looked away from the book to find her special somepony walk out of it.
"Well, you're back earlier than I expected," said a surprised Twilight, making her way over to him. "Everything okay?"
"Um, not exactly…" admitted Casey, and before Twilight could ask him anything, another pony stepped out of the portal.
"Twilight! Are we - whoa!" cried Sunset, who had been standing on her two hind legs, but she eventually went back to standing on all four of them, and the unicorn found herself stumbling a bit while trying to walk.
Luckily, Twilight was able to help her from falling, and once Sunset lifted her head back up, the yellow pony asked, "Twilight, this is going to sound crazy, but… are we friends?"
It didn't take long for the alicorn princess to answer. "Of course we're friends! Why would you-"
After hearing her say those words, Sunset embraced Twilight warmly with affection, and let out a sigh of relief. "You don't know how happy I am right now to hear you say that."
A smiling Twilight returned the favor by hugging her back, and as they did, Casey dug into his pouch to pull out his camera so that he could capture this touching moment of friendship.
CLICK!