//------------------------------// // Prologue // Story: Finding Her Path in Life // by CoJoThom98 //------------------------------// Sunset Shimmer walked the halls of Canterlot High, with a slight skip in her step. Spring break had just recently finished and Sunset was eager to get the final half of the spring semester up and running. While her classes were enjoyable and she was achieving high marks in them, she was ready to play on the beaches, camp in the woods, and party at every festival this summer. Best of all, unhindered free time with her six best friends. When Sunset arrived at her locker, she hums a random jingle as she diddles with the pad lock. After unlocking it, she opens the door to find the inside contents untouched. Her locker is adorned with several décor items, such as small posters of her favorite games, a few motivational quotes written on note cards, and some random stickers. The inside of her door has seven individual pictures of Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Flash Sentry. As Sunset sets her backpack inside and pulls out her books, Sunset glances over at the pictures and notices the picture of Flash. She leans up against the locker next to hers and gazes at the picture. Ever since last year's trip to Camp Everfree, Sunset and Flash had begun to grow close once again. Unlike their previous relationship sophomore year, where Sunset only used Flash as means to elevate herself, they came together this time as mutual friends. At first it remained that way for a while, but with every walk down the hall, lunch, and coffee shop visit, Sunset's feelings began grow beyond friendship. While she wasn't 100% certain if the feeling is mutual, she could tell that Flash was also starting to feel the same way, he was always bad at hiding his feelings. It wasn't until a few months ago, at the beginning of the Spring Semester, that the two finally confessed their feelings for each other. The two had been dating again ever since. Now while Flash has been open about their relationship with his friends, Sunset is a different story. Her friends don't know about the nature of their relationship and she is hesitant tell them. Everyone already knows about the meltdown of their last relationship. What will her friend think if they find out she's been dating her ex-- "SUNSET," Pinkie cries from directly behind. Sunset lets out a high pitched shriek as she slams her locker in a panic. "Pinkie--I--you scared--what are you--," before she can form a coherent sentence, Pinkie grabs her arm and pulls her up the hall. "They just posted the announcement," Pinkie exclaims excitedly as she runs and screams with joy, all in one breath. "What announcement? What's going on," Sunset asks, trying to keep feet going the same pace as Pinkie's. As they turn a corner, they run down the hall towards the principals office, where Sunset can see the rest of her friends at the end of the hall gathered around the bulletin board outside the office. When they arrive at the end, Pinkie screeches to a halt, her shoes making a sound similar to that of a race car braking. Sunset, however, is launched face first on to the ground, a lot more momentum than she was expecting was delievered. The girls help Sunset off the ground, "oh my," said Fluttershy in her usual quiet voice, "are you ok, Sunset?" Sunset shakes her head, "I'm fine, at least I don't have to worry about getting coffee from the caf today." The girls give a small chuckle. "So what's this all about," she asked. "Look, look, look," said Pinkie as she jumped up and down, pointing at the bulletin. Sunset walked up to the board to see what Pinkie was pointing at. The poster was of four students huddled together, looking at the audience. They were all wearing light blue graduation gowns and caps with bright yellow lapels. Below them was text in a faded white box, it said "Seniors of CHS, graduation is just around the corner. Don't forget to order your cap and gown." Below that, in smaller text, "Please visit the counselors office for an order form." "Can you believe it," said Rarity, "only a few more weeks and we'll get to walk across the stage receiving our diplomas! We'll have finally graduated high school!" "I can't wait to start training with the Cloudsdale Wonderbolts," exclaimed Rainbow Dash, "They've got the best women's college soccer team in the entire nation!" "But not the best robotics team," interjected Twilight, "That honor belongs to the Manehattan Institute of Technology." "Uh, girls," Applejack said while pointing at Sunset, who was still staring at the poster. As Sunset looked over the poster again and again, her face projected a mixture of confusion and worry, Is this really happening? she thought. Applejack stretched out her arm and tapped Sunset on the shoulder. Sunset broke her train of thought and turned around to see her friends, who all looked a little concerned. "Are you ok, sugar cube," asked Applejack. "Well, I...umm," Sunset found herself at a loss for words. "Feeling a little nervous about graduation," asked Fluttershy. "I mean, I just never expected it to happen so...soon," said Sunset. "Of course it was going to happen," said Pinkie, "we can't stay in high school forever." "Sure did feel like we were," Sunset muttered under her breath. "Sure it's seems scary our lives are about to drastically change, but so long as you have a plan, it won't be so bad," said Twilight. Sunset then gazed down at the floor, looking like she was hiding something. "You do have a plan, right," asked Applejack. Sunset's face began to blush from a mixture of embarrassment and guilt. "I, well...um...no," she said. The girls faces changed to show confusion and shock. Before they asked why, Sunset already had her explanation. "I never set apart any time to actually think about what would happen after high school. The first three years I was here, I spent retaining my power base, my focus was entirely on being the top dog at CHS. This past year, between the countless number of life or death situations we've found ourselves in, post graduation planning never really came to mind. Also, I have no idea what I want to do, I know I want it to be more than just serving sushi or streaming video games but I don't have much beyond that." Sunset leaned up against the wall and looked back down at the floor. The six girls all began to look at each other, one by one a similar smile grew on their faces. A "we're all pretty much thinking the same thing" smile. Twilight stepped forward and put both her hands on Sunset's shoulders, "Well there's no time like the present to figure something out," said Twilight. "And it's not like you gotta figure this out on your own," said Applejack "Yeah, we're here to help in anyway we can," said Rainbow. "In fact," said Fluttershy, "why don't you come with me to the animal shelter after school? The little critters do miss having you around, and I can share with you what I plan on doing after high school." "We can each take a day to show you what our plans are," suggested Rarity, "it's better for you to get more than just one view." "I call dibs on tomorrow," shouted Pinkie. Sunset thought it over for a bit. Getting to know what all her friends plans are would give her a good idea on what to do. Plus, knowing them, she'll have plenty of opinions and views to draw from. It may be just what she needs. Sunset looked at her friends and delivered her answer, "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea." "It's settled then," said Applejack. "Hooray," said Fluttershy quietly, "let meet out front where the Wondercolts statue used to be once school is done." After nodding in agreement, the bell began to ring, signaling it was time for the students to head to class. The girls bid each other a good day and walked away to head to their first block classrooms. As Sunset walked to AP Literature, her mind began wondering about what life post-graduation is going to be. When she lived in Equestria, living an adult life seemed less scary. Unicorns who pursued magic either became magic teachers or researchers of new spells. Here though, living as a human adult seems a hundred times more frightening. Her entire life in the human world had been completely tied to CHS and her friends. What is she going to do once a big part of her identity is no longer apart of her? Sunset turned a corner to see Flash waiting just outside the classroom for her. Maybe sometime admiring his new haircut would take her mind off this graduation. "Hey Sunset," said Flash when she arrived, "did you see the announcement for graduation?" Crap.