//------------------------------//
// Prologue: Purpose 
// Story: Perspective 
// by Orpheon 
//------------------------------//

	Canterlot High School was much like any other high school, when one cared to look at it.  It had its classrooms, its halls.  It had its auditorium, its library, its track and field, its courts.  It had a cafeteria, a trophy case showcasing its achievements and awards, its offices, and even a central lobby with an impressive dome of a skylight.  The school had its contingent of staff, its numerous subjects to be taught, and a far more numerous student body that boasted a variety of faces, philosophies, and histories.
In all respects, Canterlot High was like any other secondary school one might find if one cared to look at it. 
And yet, it wasn't at the same time.
It was with this dichotomy in mind that Sunset Shimmer stood uncertainly before the equine statue that reared proudly before the school's main steps, looking back at the building that had been her stomping grounds for the previous four years of her life as the sun itself began the slow process of dipping beneath the horizon to make way for nightfall.
In her hand, she gripped a oblong case containing her diploma, her certificate of having done her part and graduating from the school, despite her rough road there.  She had already shed her ceremonial cap and gown, folded neatly on the grass at the base of the statue's pedestal.  In her other hand, she held tightly to an ornately bound journal emblazoned with a stylized sun, her personal sigil in this world, and a much more important emblem in her homeland.  Her blouse bore the mark as well, printed right on her sternum, her red and gold hair cascading haphazardly behind her as it framed her amber face and cyan eyes that now lingered uneasily on the front steps of the building.
Had it already been four years?
Where had all of her time gone?  The happiest year of her life had seemingly flown by Sunset.  She remembered the Fall Formal.  She remembered the Battle of the Bands.  She remembered the winter holidays spent with her friends, who were a family in themselves.  The Friendship Games were only a semester behind her.  It had been the greatest eight months she'd ever experienced, and now...was it over?  She glanced at the diploma's case in her left hand, realizing her knuckles were turning white with the force she gripped it.
She had nothing—no.  That wasn't true.  She had her friends.  She turned to the tome in her right hand.  She had family.  After all, family was something you chose.
The thought did nothing to ease the trepidation in Sunset's heart, even as she took a seat at the base of the statue before the mirror dominating its face.
“Sunset?”
She looked up, unable to school her expression into a smile before meeting the eyes of a pair of young women still in their graduation gowns, hats in their hands.
Applejack moved with an easy confidence that showed through her robes.  Her straw-colored hair was carefully braided behind her as opposed to her usual horse-tail, her expression one of concern as she knelt down before her friend.  Behind her, the timid Fluttershy looked with equal worry at Sunset, stooping slightly.
“Are you alright, Sunset?  We lost track of you after we went to talk to our families...”  Her voice was soft, and demure.  Sunset might've had trouble hearing it, if she wasn't so accustomed to the volume or lack thereof.
“Yeah, I'm...fine.  I'm fine, guys.”
Applejack raise a single eyebrow, plainly not buying it.  “You're not fine, sugarcube.  Don't try to keep it bottled up; what's eatin ya?”
Sunset Shimmer considered attempting to deflect, just for a little while longer.  It probably would do her no good, but there was a sense of stubborn pride in her that didn't like to admit when she was wrong.  All the same, Fluttershy and Applejack were her friends...She ran a hand through her hair, sighing as she set her diploma on her journal.
“I'm just...is this really it, guys?”
Her friends glanced at each other, confused.  “D'ya mean graduation?  I mean, yeah, we're done!  We got through four years of high school, Sunset.  We earned this, earned these diplomas.  Heck, the last year was even the best!  Most excitement I've ever had in my life over the year, anyway.”
Fluttershy nodded as she chimed in, “It was very scary at times, but it was also fun, too.  We even have our own sort of magic to support us and each other as we move into our futures.  I know you've been feeling down for the last few days, Sunset, but this is a big step forward!”
“Fluttershy's right, sugarcube.  I understand you're gonna miss the school and the good times we've had, but you're going toward a new day and a new life ahead of ya!  Although, come to think of it, I don't actually remember you telling us what you meant to do after we got done here.”  Applejack scratched her temple, consternation on her face.  “Suppose I wasn't listenin very well; sorry about that, Sunset.”
Sunset looked her in the eye, her expression sad.  “No, thats--”
“Hey everybody!  What's going on?  Why are we sitting in front of the statue?  Are you taking a selfie with the Wondercolt?  Ooh, is it time for another group picture?  DASH, HOLD MY PHONE!”
The trio barely had a chance to get a word in edgewise before they were pulled into a bonecrushing group hug by a deceptively powerful pair of pink arms.  Sunset was reasonably sure she heard Pinkie Pie make a squee noise.  Rainbow Dash for her part seemed nonplussed as she fiddled with her friend's phone.  “...Pinkie, how am I gonna take a picture when I have no idea how this phone works?  I don't know where you keep your camera on this new thing...”
Just as suddenly as she had arrived Pinkie released Sunset, Applejack and Fluttershy and skittered (scuttled?  Teleported?) over to Dash, her tightly bound hair finally starting to slip the clips that had been trying valiantly to keep the curls contained.  Rainbow for her part tousled her chromatic hair as she rubbed her head in confusion.  “What are you guys talkin' about, anyway?”
“We couldn't find Sunset after we left our seats, so we came to find her but she's feelin' down.”
Rainbow looked at Sunset, her perplexity deepening.  “Wha?  Why'd she be feeling down, we're finally done with classes and homework and tests and we even got these sweet diplomas!”  She brandished her case before her for emphasis, grinning.
“Yes, well I'm sure you're feeling ecstatic, Rainbow dear, but you're forgetting what that means.”  Rarity's refined accent chimed in behind the inveterate athlete, her own deep blue eyes sparkling as she appeared on scene, still dressed in her own graduation robes.  “Sunset is probably sad that we won't all be able to get together every day from here on.  Am I right, darling?”
Twilight Sparkle chose to appear at that moment, adjusting her thick-rimmed glasses on her nose.  Sunset briefly wondered if she would ever get a pair that fit her properly, but she suspected there was sentimental value in those frames.  “Maybe she forgot to get something out of the school before they locked the doors?  I imagine we could go find Vice-Principal Luna and explain, she might be able to let us in...”
“Did you leave your journal in your locker, Sunset?  Oh, no there it is.  Did you forget to grab a particular book, then?”  Fluttershy asked, her voice caring.
“I bet she left her gym clothes in there.  Man, those are gonna stink in a few days!”
Sunset raised her hand, “Guys, I--”
“Rainbow, don't be so uncouth!” Rarity admonished.  “Those are a lady's clothes you're speaking of, not some brutish boy's sweaty tee shirt.”
“I hate to break it to ya, Rares, but girls sweat just as much when ya do something physical and ya know it.” Applejack chimed in.
“MY gym clothes always smell like cinnamon!”
“Pinkie, I'm reasonably sure that's not physically possible.”
“Not with THAT attitude!”
“What?  That doesn't--”
Sunset pinched the bridge of her nose as the speculation went on.  She managed to hold her tongue for a solid three minutes until Pinkie suggested she'd left an embarrassing photograph from the group's holiday party in a box somewhere in the school's classrooms.
“First, I don't have embarrassing pictures.  That I know of.  Especially not ones I'd leave lying around in a box!  Second, that's not why I'm feeling down--”
“Knew she was feelin' down.”  Applejack muttered.
“AJ!  I'm not—I mean, I am—I..” Sunset sputtered, her thoughts coming out jumbled as her instinct to snark fought in a vicious three-way battle against her wish to be honest with her friends and a simultaneous need to groan in annoyance.  “Uuuugh, I just...”  She decided to split the difference and hold her hands out as she inhaled slowly and exhaled slowly.  After a brief moment of silence, she met the variably confused, expectant, and worried faces of her best friends, and spoke.
“I'm...I have been feeling a little sad, yeah.  It's not anything you guys could do anything about, so I didn't want to trouble you.  Which...is kind of a basic friend thing, so I hope you'll let that particular slip up go.  It's...”  She looked past Rarity and Twilight, at the school.  More specifically, she gazed at a somewhat newer segment of wall.  She'd helped build that by hand...rather, rebuild it by hand.  She looked up at the visible cracks in the Wondercolt.  She'd been present for its destruction.  She considered the musical equipment that she even now had waiting for her back in her room...that she'd never invited her friends over to see.
“...It's what, darling?”  Rarity asked, her voice low and worried.
“...What are you guys gonna do?”
“Say what?”  Rainbow returned, momentarily confused, before picking up on Sunset's meaning.  “Oh!  Well, I'm gonna go visit my uncle for a few weeks and then it's off to summer training!  Gotta stay in top shape if I'm gonna be riding that sports scholarship at Everton.”
“I'm going to study veterinary medicine...I'm interning at the shelter over the summer.”  Fluttershy chimed in quietly.
“My application for the independent study program at Everton went through, so I'll be going there with Rainbow.  Ideally, they'll let me share a dorm room with her while we're there.”  Twilight remarked.
“Summertime is a slow season for apples but it's also when we usually take care of things that need patched up like the barn;  I imagine I'll just start working there full time from now on.  Gonna be on me and Big Mac to keep the place running since Granny just ain't as spry as she used to be.”
“I'm going to culinary classes at the community college down the road!  It's not far from my house and I'll learn how to make even more yummy treats that I can share with you all and mphpmpmpmhfhmph” Pinkie's nascent rambling was cut off with Rarity's hand as she capped off the round of responses.
“And last but certainly not least my trip overseas will be in a few weeks; going to study in France, you know!  Learn where the bleeding edge of fashion is, maybe pick up a few business pointers on the way.  I'll be there until around the end of August...”
Sunset nodded, but didn't say anything, her expression unreadable.
Applejack spoke first, suspicion in her voice.  “...Sunset, y'never did tell me what your plans were after we graduated, did you?”  At the fiery-haired girl's silence, she glanced at the others, receiving a number of shrugs and one “I'unno!” from Pinkie.  Twilight quipped,  “Sunset, what ARE you going to do?  Did you get accepted to a school?”
“...no.”
Twilight tilted her head in confusion, her glasses sliding down her nose slightly.  “Er...are you going to go to work directly?  Where are you working?”
“I'm not going to work, Twilight.”  Sunset stood up, taking a deep breath.  “I...I don't know what I'm gonna do.  I...I didn't think I would get this far.  For some reason, I guess...I thought it wouldn't end.  That we could just keep on going, being friends, not worrying about this stuff.”
“Whoa, Sunset.  Have you done...like, anything?  No applications anywhere?  No school, no job, no...I mean, what're you gonna do?  You can't just do nothing.  I mean, I guess you could, but...”  Rainbow trailed off, withering beneath a glare from Rarity.
“Sunset, dear, why didn't you say anything about this before?”
“I...I don't know!  I guess I...I don't know what I want.  There's nothing in this world that really interests me!  You gotta understand, my talent, my destiny, was magic back home!  It was my everything, and knowing it, mastering it, being the best at it was what I truly enjoyed.”  Sunset paced nervously away from the statue as she spoke.  “Here, there's nothing like that!  The only magic here is contained in us, and I know how it works now!  Anomalies only ever appeared nearby us, and only when we gathered or did something unusual and we've tidied them up to nothing, and if we're all going our separate ways then our magic will be weakened and there'll be no need for me and I...”  She looked up, apparently unaware that her rambling had sped up and was starting to bridge on hysteria.
“I don't want anything this world has to offer besides you guys, because I understand the rest already!  Nothing fulfills me, but we're all splitting apart because we have our own lives to lead, and I get that, but I--”  She had unwittingly started tearing up.  Almost on instinct, her friends clustered around her, supporting her as she hiccuped.
“I just want that sense of purpose back.  I can't find that here, and I don't know what to do!”
Behind the small crowd, the mirror surface of the statue's base flashed as a figure slid out of it, nearly stumbling to her knees as she did.
“Bwuh!  That's always a doozy of a first step...”  Her violet eyes glinted as she looked at the gaggle of friends clustered around Sunset.  “Oh no, did I come at a bad time?  I'm sorry!  Are you alright, Sunset Shimmer?”




A short while later the crowd was clustered a few too many to a booth in Sugarcube Corner, with both Twilights incidentally enjoying identical shakes.  Sunset found herself struck by the uncanny symmetry.
“I'm sorry I didn't make it in time for your graduation ceremony, everyone.  There was a report on the geologic properties of the caves near Ponyville that needed compiled by tomorrow, but I ended up getting bound up in settling a dispute in town square between Roseluck and Golden Harvest, and it took longer than I anticipated, so I had to double down on the report, and I'm still not sure it'll make it to Canterlot in time.  Still, I should've kept better track of the hours.”
“It's fine, Princess.  We can't really expect you to drop important matters for something as silly as a graduation.”  Sunset waved her hand dismissively, until a thought struck her.  “Wait a minute, how did you even know our graduation date?  I don't remember sending a letter to you.  Not that I'm not happy to see you, but--”
Princess Twilight smiled as she quipped, “I calculated it!  Schools in Equestria follow a roughly similar schedule as schools in this world and I had a school handbook in my satchel when I went back through.  The tricky part was trying to account for the disparity in the passage of time between two worlds...”
“...probably because of desynchronized threads in the spatial weave, if I had to guess.  I didn't study time magic as thoroughly as I probably should've, but I know Gray Pilgrim's Law states that temporal forces are best viewed as an interlinked concept with spatial forces.  This is an another space, so it would have another time structure and flow...”  Sunset responded herself, finding to her surprise that her old studies came back with little effort.  A pang of nostalgia clutched her as she recalled a study session with her old mentor.
“Right!  So I took Gray Pilgrim's Law and did a little napkin math, which was getting me nowhere until I remembered Time Crash's Theorem.  After that it was just a matter of applying the numbers, and here I am!  Er, a little late, but here.”  Twilight finished sheepishly, curling a lock of hair around her finger.
Sunset nodded sagely.  “That makes sense.”  She then realized that six other faces were staring at the two of them with expressions running the gamut from flat to bordering on a headache.  “...what?”
Applejack coughed and responded, “Well, I'd say that was all Greek to us, sugarcube, but I feel like that's not a strong enough sayin' for what we're thinkin'.”
Rainbow whispered “Nnneeeerrrds!” just loudly enough to be obnoxious, prompting a laugh from Pinkie as Fluttershy and Rarity covered their mouths to poorly conceal giggles of their own.  The bespectacled Twilight had a strange expression on her face that Sunset couldn't quite place; was it ire?  Envy?  She didn't get a chance to ask as the Princess continued.
“Well, we were both students of the Princess!  Of course we're going to be acquainted with similar laws.  Which reminds me...”
She turned to Sunset with a questioning tone.  “...now, as I understand it when I arrived you were feeling...lost?  Uncertain?”
Sunset sighed and rubbed the back of her head; she hadn't wanted to trouble her other friends with this and she really wasn't interested in bothering Princess Twilight with it, but she was unlikely to be able to brush it off after her little display.  “I'm...yeah, I guess that's one way to put it.  Princess, you probably know best what I'm feeling.  It's like...I'm doing great objectively.  I've graduated.  Uh, again.  I had excellent grades, I could probably apply to any school I wanted to here.  It's just fact that I'm smart enough.  But...”
Placing a hand on her shoulder, Princess Twilight nodded solemnly.  “It's not what you need.”
Rainbow chimed in, “Waitwait, hold up.  What do you mean, what she needs?”
Twilight tapped her chin thoughtfully, and spoke, “Well...you've probably noticed the symbol Sunset has on a lot of her clothes, and the one your friend and I have as a common motif.”  The human Twilight started and reached up, patting her hair clip.  She'd noticed her otherworldly doppelganger had a similar emblem on her, but she'd chalked that up to weird dimensional shenanigans.  “Where Sunset and I come from, they're called cutie marks.”
“Pffft, wha-haha-hat?  CUTIE marks?  That's so lame!”  Rainbow laughed.
“I think it's kinda nice.” Fluttershy interjected quietly.
“It is rather childish, but I think it precious all the same.  In any case, you were saying, Princess?”
Twilight and Sunset shared a similarly annoyed and mildly embarassed expression as the former continued, “As I was saying, they're called cutie marks—Dash, stop it!-- and they're representations of our destinies, our most precious talents.  My cutie mark, for example, represents magic in all its forms, because it's my passion and what brings me the most joy in life!  My world's Rainbow Dash has THAT symbol on your shirt there--” She punctuated with a finger stabbed at Dash, “-- on her, and it represents her love of speed and physical exertion.”
Dash looked down at her shirt briefly.  “...Now that's just creepy.  Are we all like that?”
“Yes.”  Twilight responded simply.
“Freaky, dude.”
Sunset cut in, anxious to drag the conversation back on track.  “My mark, like Twilight said, is this sun.  It represents magic, like Twilight's.  It's actually uncommon to have marks with identical meanings, but I suppose it makes sense that two fillies with that sort of talent would be found by the Princess.”
Princess Twilight spoke again, “In any case, these marks represent a great deal about who we are and what we want from life.  What our true purpose is.  Sunset's talent, like mine, is mastery of magic...but the magic here is so limited, and even in the comparatively brief time she's spent here, I imagine she's already got a very solid grasp on how it works and how to use it effectively.”  She glanced at Sunset, receiving a nod in confirmation.
Pinkie chose to speak at this moment, to the surprise of all.  “So what you're saying is that Sunny is feeling unhappy because the thing she really loves to do with all her heart and soul is a thing she can't do here and because she's a pony and its such a big part of being a pony she gets unhappy and unfulfilled no matter what she pours herself into because she really really REALLY loves magic but the magic here isn't complicated or hard or plentiful and she already has it all figured out and even if I baked her a feel-better cake and she ate the whole thing she'd just be full but not happy and wow that's all really sad when I state it all at once.”  She deflated somewhat as her monologue slowed down, her face falling.
The native Twilight chose to speak at this point, her voice quiet and wavering.  “...Is there anything that can be done?  Anything to help her?”
Princess Twilight blinked.  “Well, it's not like she's sick.  But...if the things I've seen in Equestria are any indication, she'll be dealing with this for the forseeable future.  It's sad, but...I don't know enough about this world to know of any alternative.  I'm...I'm sorry, Sunset.”  She placed her hand on Sunset's in a gesture of consolation.
Sunset for her part inhaled, and sighed.  “It's..it's fine, I guess.  I might not have that same sense of purpose, but that doesn't mean I don't have things I can do.  There's plenty of things in this world that I could study, lots of options open to me.  I'll go to the public library on Monday, see about--”
“What if you went back?”
Seven pairs of eyes turned to the quavering voice of Twilight Sparkle.  She seemed to shake in her seat as she spoke, tears welling up at the corners of her eyes behind her glasses.  “You could g-go back.  To Equestria.  Where y-you could go back to doing what you l-love.  T-that way you can feel fulfilled a-and we know you'll be h-h-happy!”  It was clearly taking everything she had not to break down even as she spoke.
Sunset's heart wrenched painfully.  “W-what?  I—no, Twilight, I don't need to...I can stay here.  It's n-not that big a deal!  I'll get over it!  I'm feeling better already!”
Rarity wrapped her arms around Twilight as she wept, patting her back sympathetically.  “Darling, we know that's not true.  I like to think we're better friends than that...and I think I speak for all of us when I say that if you truly need this, we won't hold it against you.”
“Rarity's right, sugarcube.”  Applejack chimed in.  “We wouldn't be good friends if we asked you to stay here and be unhappy just for our sake.”
“We'll be sad that we won't see you very often, but with graduation and everyone spreading out that was gonna happen anyway!  If it's what you need to be happy, Sunny, then it's what we want for you!”  Pinkie leaned across the table, a somewhat subdued smile on her face.
“We would never want to stop you from being happy, Sunset.  If this is really what will help, then I say you should do it.”  Fluttershy's voice was quiet, but her conviction was apparent.
“I don't know what I'd do if I couldn't play soccer, Sunset.  I mean, it's the thing I love the most!  If I couldn't do it then I'd feel crummy all the time, even though I'm good at other things.  It'd color every other thing I tried to do as 'not-soccer' forever and that'd SUCK.”  Rainbow stated.  “If this is what makes you happiest, there's no reason not to go for it.”
Sunset looked to each face.  All six looked back to her, reassuring and strong; even Twilight as she wiped the tears from her eyes and smiled unsteadily.  She turned to the Princess, at a loss.  “Twilight, come on.  Tell them I'll--” she stopped as she was met with a similarly wobbly smile on Twilight's face.  “What?  Why are you crying?!”
“I'm not crying!  This is...it's liquid pride!  Yep!”  Twilight brushed the wetness away as she continued, “You girls really care, huh?”  At the round of nods, she went on.  “For what it's worth, Sunset...I think that it's a good idea.  I'm not saying you have to stay in Equestria forever.  With the journals we can open the portal whenever we want, and you can come and go as you please.  For the time being, why not just spend a few weeks back home?  Get a feel for what you want, start picking up magic again.  It might be just what you need.”
Sunset's mind reeled.  It wasn't like she hadn't considered the possibility before; going back to Equestria had been at the back of her mind ever since she had originally come through the dimensional door.  The reasons had varied wildly through the years, with fear of the unknown eventually supplanted by smoldering anger and resentment.  Comparatively recently that had been replaced with hollow regret and a genuine desire to talk to her mentor, her teacher, her moth--friend, just one more time.  To say she was sorry to that pony's face, if only once and for the last time.
For a brief flash, she wondered why she hadn't already.  It wasn't as though she couldn't before; all it would've taken was a request to Twilight Sparkle.  Her first friend would almost certainly have obliged her as quickly as she was able and she could've made her peace with Celestia.  Had a chance to speak to her, to apologize, to...to absolve herself of the guilt.  To see Equestria, to feel magic at her command again, to have her nature returned to her.  To feel that familiar sun on her face, the warm wind in her mane. 
At some level, she knew why she hadn't.
She was afraid.
Sunset Shimmer closed her eyes for a moment, taking in a deep breath.  “I...let me sleep on it.  I'll think about it tonight, and I'll tell you all tomorrow when I decide.”  The girls around her seemed to accept this, though Princess Twilight had an appraising expression on her face as Sunset spoke.  “For now, let's finish our shakes and try to enjoy tonight.  It's not every day you finish a stage of your life, after all!”
The collected Rainbooms nodded and tried to go back to cheerier topics, discussing their plans for the summer, and beyond that, the future.
Sunset Shimmer asked the right questions, participated and listened appropriately, laughed at the right moments and carried on the conversations.  But she couldn't shake the feeling that the Equestrian Twilight Sparkle's eyes were boring into her for the rest of the evening.