It had been too long since Sunset had experienced this sensation; the few seconds between worlds where she was not a human, or unicorn, but ethereal. In barely a moment, she knew her backpack would become a saddlebag, but she wasn't sure about her suitcase or guitar case. As soon as her vision adjusted to the psychedelic effects of the portal, she saw the end, the glowing white oval that she was rapidly closing in on. As she took in her next breath, she felt her entire body tingle, and gravity slowly took effect again. She opened her eyes, and found herself standing on her hind legs, wobbling for a moment before regaining her balance, and softly dropped onto all fours.
She gasped with an open-mouth smile when she saw what was in front of her.
"SURPRISE!" The occupants of the Canterlot Castle dining hall. A half-dozen confetti-loaded party cannons fired brightly colored paper bits into the air, showering Sunset and the other occupants of the hall.
She looked at all the familiar and almost-familiar faces.
Twilight, Celestia, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, Starlight Glimmer, Sunburst, and her parents, Stellar and Sunspot.
Her eyes began to tear up immediately, before her vision was obscured by her graduation cap's mortarboard as a weight on the front pushed it down in front of her eyes. As she raised a hoof to push it back up, something leathery crawled down onto her hoof. She resisted squealing at the last minute as she laid her eyes on the 2-foot long, bright yellow, black-spotted draco lizard.
"...Ray?" She asked, and the lizard flicked her foreleg with his tongue in response. "Wow, talk about a growth spurt."
As her welcoming party began to gather around, she set Ray down on the prone guitar case as she confirmed that everything else had come through with her; and indeed they have; her suitcase had turned into a chest, and her saddlebags were secure around her barrel.
Twilight was the first one to come up and wrap her hooves around her in an eager hug, and Sunset immediately returned it.
"Welcome home, Sunset," she greeted. When they parted, Celestia was next up to lean down and pull her into a hug.
"Welcome back, my student," Celestia told her, and Sunset couldn't stop the tears any longer.
"Th-thank you so much, Princess. For helping me keep in touch with them," Sunset wept.
"It wouldn't be right for you to vanish forever, not when we could do something to prolong correspondence for all of you," Celestia replied.
Sunset squeezed affectionately one more time, then move on down the line to her family.
"Hey there, lil' bro. How's life treating you?" Sunset asked, embracing Sunburst.
"Can't complain. The School of Friendship is keeping me plenty busy. You should swing by over the summer."
"You can count on that."
Next, Sunset threw her hooves around her mom and dad.
"We're so proud of you, Sunset," Stellar Flare told her. Afterwards, she turned to Starlight, who welcomed her with open hooves, before she turned to Twilight's other friends.
"Hello, everypony. I'm looking forward to getting to know all of you, all over again," Sunset told them with a polite bow.
Princess Twilight then came forward with a gift box, topped with a red bow.
"A little graduation gift. Your brother insisted on the color coordination and the accents," Twilight said.
"Way to throw me under the carriage!" Sunburst shot at her playfully as Sunset took the box in her magic's grasp, and slowly lifted the lid up off of the box, followed by the layers of tissue paper. Her eyes widened as she pulled out a dark teal hooded mage's cloak.
"I figured my new Court Wizardess needed to look the part," Twilight told her with a smile.
Sunset unfurled the cloak, draping it over her back and fastening it around her neck with the included metallic clip, fashioned after her cutie mark.
"Thank you so much, it's beautiful," Sunset said, hugging her mentor again.
"Well, I wouldn't keep that on for now, because we've got some party foods to go through!" Pinkie said, as she rolled out a cart piled on all levels with platters of hors d'oeuvres. Sunset's mouth began to water, and reminded herself to not go nuts, as Equestrians had almost triple the amount of taste buds that her other form did.
But if she did go nuts, oh well. After all, you only lived once, and the night was still young...
"Ugh... I think I must have put on five pounds last night," Sunset groaned as she followed Twilight down Canterlot Castle's main hall the next morning.
"Well, I don't want to tell you how to spend your summer break, I just wanted to show you one last thing before you're officially on leave for eight weeks," Twilight replied.
Sunset figured right after Twilight showed her whatever she had on her mind, she's go back to her temporary quarters for a couple more hours of sleep before catching a train down to Ponyville to see what kind of career her brother had been up to. The pair of ponies passed the throne room door and went down to the next door on the right.
"And here we are," Twilight said, unlocking the set of double doors and opened them up, revealing a rather ornate office.
"Welcome to the quarters of the Court Wizardess!" Twilight announced, stepping aside and letting Sunset take in her surroundings.
Front and center was a half-circle desk with a tall oak chair. The left and right sides of the room were lined with shelves, each absolutely chock full of magical texts and references.
On the back wall was a potion mixing station, an arcane enchanter, and half-pillars with various devices and artifacts integral to a Court Wizard's day-to-day.
"Feel free to rearrange this room absolutely however you see fit. This is your space," Twilight told her.
Sunset stared at the quarters with wide eyes, envisioning all the possibilities.
You know, maybe a couple more hours of sleep could wait while she started to make this room hers. She could always nap on the train...