Hey there. Just thought of a possible AU story that somebody who likes the idea enough can adopt:

Six Elements for Six Students:

Basically, here are a few main differences between this universe and the canon one:

1. Celestia actually managed to successfully get through to Sunset BEFORE she left Equestria so she is still ONE OF Celestia's personal students.

2. Starlight Glimmer got her Cutie Mark AT THE EXACT SAME TIME as Sunburst, so they both ended up going to Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns

3. Instead of only one personal student (or even two or three), Celestia actually has SIX personal students in this continuity: Sunset, Sunburst, Starlight, Twilight, Moondancer and Trixie; and has gently encouraged all six of them to develop close friendships with each other AND with other ponies.

and 4. The six students end up finding, activating and practicing with the Elements of Harmony A FULL YEAR before Nightmare Moon returns (author's choice which pony gets which element).

So, anybody interested in tackling this?