JUNE 30
The young woman stood in the courtyard of the school, staring at the obelisk before her, with her thoughts a million miles away.
Sunset Shimmer chewed on her lower lip, turning the idea over in her head for the thousandth time. Her head told her it was the right thing to do. Her heart, however, ached for the friends she'd made here in this realm.
The conversation she'd had at the end of the school year with Principal Celestia had sealed the deal, though.
"Congratulations, Sunset. You'll be graduating with honors."
Sunset smiled and nodded at the principal, seated on the other side of the desk. "Thank you," she said simply.
"Have you given thought to what's next for you? Your friends are moving on to college and university scholarships, but you haven't turned in any applications that I know of."
The red-and-gold-haired student - former student - fidgeted for a moment. "That's true," she admitted. "I haven't."
"Do you have plans?" Celestia asked with concern. "It won't do for someone as gifted as you to languish in ordinary menial jobs. You deserve better, you know."
Sunset breathed out through pursed lips, blowing a lock of hair away from her face. "I do have a plan," she acknowledged. "I think I should go... back."
Celestia raised an eyebrow; she understood what the normally-cryptic statement meant to this young lady. "I see," she said. "Are you ready for that?"
"I think... it's my responsibility to face it, no matter whether I'm ready or not. But to answer your question, I think I am."
Celestia rose from her chair and rounded the desk to put her hands on Sunset's shoulders. "This is the right thing to do," she assured the younger woman. "I'm proud that you've chosen this."
Sunset's heart soared at hearing that voice - that person - say she was proud of her. A little voice in the back of her head reminded her that this wasn't the same person she'd longed to hear that from, but she relished the moment anyway. "Thank you, Princip-"
"You're no longer a student here," the principal smiled. "Just Celestia is fine."
Afternoon was giving way to evening, and Sunset still stood before the statue in the front yard of the school.
She'd tortured herself for several days over whether or not to tell the girls her plans, but in the end, decided that if honesty and 'facing the music' was going to be her new way, there was no better place to start.
As expected, there was no shortage of emotion. Tears flowed, but as Rarity pointed out, they were spreading out and apart anyway; Rainbow Dash was going to one school on a sports scholarship, and Fluttershy another with a veterinary program. AJ was returning home to take a bigger role on the farm and to enrol in local college courses, and Rarity and Pinkie were each doing their own thing as well.
Sunset promised she would find a way to keep in touch. If Princess Twilight could make one magical journal, surely they could replicate it for the others. They wouldn't have to stop being friends just because they were separated by distance - or dimensional barriers for that matter.
And so, Sunset found herself standing in front of the statue in front of Canterlot High. She hadn't told the girls when she planned to make the journey, so that there wouldn't be a crowd to send her off; that, she didn't need. In the waning evening, with no school activities any more, she was the only person around.
She took a step forward, then crouched down, and lifted a hand. In this pose, she froze still for a moment.
This is the last time you'll have these, she mused, wiggling her fingers.
Then, without another thought, she reached out and thrust her hand into the side of the statue's base. Defying physics, her fingertips passed through the marble facade as if it wasn't there.
Here we go.
With a twitch of her shoulder, Sunset Shimmer plunged the rest of her arm through the portal, the rest of her body following.
The transition was disorienting, as she recalled it to be. Splayed out on a crystalline floor, she took stock of herself.
Looking down, her hands were replaced with hooves, at the end of forelegs covered in yellow-orange fur. A protrusion from her forehead made its presence known, and in seconds, the familiarity of her old form rushed back to her, filling her with nearly-forgotten sensations.
It felt as if she was wrapping herself in a favorite, comfortable jacket, as she put her hooves on the floor and stood up on all fours, back in her pony unicorn form.
The thought of a jacket made her look over her shoulder at her now bare back, save her cutie mark on her flank, and of course her tail coiled behind her.
"Gonna miss that jacket. And those boots," she murmured, then shrugged to herself and looked around.
The portal, and its mirror that was its destination terminus, appeared to be in a parlor room of some sort in a castle. The last time she'd been through it, it was in the Royal Castle in Canterlot, but she had no idea if that still rang true.
Flashing back to the memory of the last time she'd used the portal, she had a sudden urge to skitter towards a dark corner and hide in the shadows, lest she be discovered. It took all the willpower she had to keep that from happening. You're not hiding, not skulking around anymore, she told herself. This is you coming home and facing the music.
She approached the tall double doors and concentrated, smiling happily when her horn flared and the doors swung open, ensconced in her signature teal glow. The open doorway revealed a corridor with many similar exits along its length as far as she could see in both directions.
Her elation gave way to a confused frown directed at the unfamiliar hallway. "This clearly isn't Canterlot," she mumbled to herself. Stepping out of the room and closing the doors behind her, she chose a direction at random and walked that way, her hooves clicking on the marble floor.
Oddly enough, door after door in the curving hallway revealed nothing but more and more seemingly-unused rooms. This isn't the Castle of the Two Sisters, is it? she wondered. No, it was far too bright and clean to be that abandoned relic.
As her magic grasped the next door along, she felt another's telekinetic tug on the other side. She released it and heard a voice from behind the door muttering to itself.
"This better not be another of those stupid confetti cannons... what the hay is the Princess doing with those in here anyway? She's not that kind of prankster..."
Sunset blinked and stared open-mouthed as she came face-to-face with another unicorn. The other mimicked her own surprised look, and they could have been twins if not for the other's pale pink coat and purple and teal-streaked mane.