Sunset Shimmer yawned and stretched, looking at the clock in the classroom. The hands seemed to be made out of lead as the day stretched on and on and on. How is it still only third period? She asked herself. Mr. Doodle's lecture on trigonometry was getting to her, only in all the wrong ways. His mouth seemed to move in slow motion as he gave the class their assignment. "Alright, now I want you to work on this for the rest of the period," he said.

The students quickly flipped open their notebooks and went to work. Sunset looked over at her friend Twilight Sparkle. She was racing through the problems like they were kindergarten level math. She then looked at her other friend Rainbow Dash. She snored away, having fallen asleep during the lecture, and Mr. Doodle had to walk over and poke her on the shoulder. "Having pleasant dreams, Ms. Dash?" He asked her. She looked up and blushed when she noticed the whole class staring at her. "Now, get to work," he commanded, pointing at the board. Dash groaned and reluctantly began working on the assignment. Sunset giggled to herself. Same old Dash, she said before looking at Twilight, same old Twilight. I hope they never change!

After the bell finally rang, announcing lunch, Sunset met her five friends outside by the statue that adorned the front lawn of the school that also doubled as the portal to Equestria. They had each brought their own lunches that day, refusing to pay money for the slop the cafeteria referred to as Chicken a La King. Plus, Fluttershy was a vegetarian, so it made it a lot easier for her.

They sat down in front of the statue, relishing in the blue skies and warm weather of spring time. "I can't believe graduation is only six weeks away!" Fluttershy said, smiling. The other girls smiled as well. "Yep," Rainbow Dash said, "six weeks until we can blow this dump."

"Oh, come on, Dash," Twilight said, "this place isn't a dump. It's a beautiful educational institution filled with brilliant minds eager to make their mark on the world at large."

Dash laughed, "oh, please, Twilight. This is nothing more than a prison!"

"It is not!"

"Is too!"

"Is not!"

"Is too!"

"Whoa, girls," Sunset cut in, "settle down! This isn't like you. Come on. We're high schoolers about to enter college. I think we can do a little better than an immature "is not, is too," argument."

Twilight sighed, "you're right, Sunset. Although I still believe that this is a wonderful place. I sure am gonna miss it…and I'm gonna miss all of you."

Pinkie Pie gasped, "but why, Twilight?! We're all going to the same school, aren't we?!"

"Yep!" Dash said excitedly, "The University of Tennessee! GO VOLS!"

The other girls cheered, except for Twilight. "Sorry," she said, "but I'm not going there." Her friends gave her a weird look. "What do you mean, Twi?" Applejack asked, "we've all been plannin' on goin' to UT ever since we were small. We're all huge Vol fans, and we've all visited there."

"I haven't," Twilight said, "I…I've been accepted to Harvard."

"Wow!" Sunset breathed, "that's awesome, Twilight!"

"How the heck can you say that?!" Dash said furiously, "it's the opposite of awesome! It's so totally NOT awesome! I mean, what does this mean for our friendship?!"

"Look, Dash, it's my life, OK?" Twilight said, just as furiously, "and I'll live it the way I want to live it!"

"While I admire that, I'm still not OK with you trouncing off to some egghead school while we all stick together and go to the same place! I mean, you're our friend!"

"And I can still be your friend even if I'm at Harvard! Did you ever think of that?!"

The two girls were right in one another's faces and Sunset had to move them apart. "Girls! Come on! We're all friends, here. Dash, it doesn't matter if Twilight goes to a different school from the rest of us. Like that could ever ruin what we've built here together." She smiled at Rainbow Dash. Dash, on the other hand, scowled at both Sunset and Twilight. Twilight scowled back and both girls turned their backs towards each other. "Oh, come on, you two," Applejack said, "y'all are actin' like a couple of kindergartners!"

Twilight and Rainbow turned back to each other. "Oh…I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash," Twilight said, "I guess I got a little carried away with being accepted to Harvard. I didn't think about how it would affect our friendship."

"Yeah, I'm sorry, too," Dash said, "I just don't want you to go." She smiled at Twilight and the two friends embraced each other. "See? That's how you resolve conflicts," Sunset said satisfactorily, "I just hope nothing else like that happens…"

As the words left her lips, something came flying through the Equestrian portal and hit her in the back of the head. "Hey!" She said, "what the heck was that?"

"Maybe it was an Equestrian flying saucer!" Pinkie Pie said excitedly

"Doubt it," Rainbow said, "although with Equestrian magic, I guess I really shouldn't doubt much of anything…"

"It's one of Princess Celestia's scrolls," Sunset said, "this is what she uses to communicate with her students."

"Weren't you one of her students, darling?" Rarity asked.

"Yeah, I was," Sunset said, "but I never expected to receive any communication from Equestria except for what Princess Twilight writes in that journal I've got."

"Read it! Read it!" Pinkie Pie sang out

"OK…," Sunset said, and then proceeded to read Celestia's letter out loud. Their mouths all fell open in shock as she read about how Equestria was being demolished and friendship was almost nonexistent. Sunset's eyes filled with tears as she read about how her best friend, Princess Twilight, had turned into a raging monster.

"Wait-wait-wait," Rainbow said, "you mean Princess Twilight, the same girl that saved our school two times and is one of our closest friends, has turned into a raging monster?! THE Princess Twilight?! I don't believe it! It has to be a Twilight clone!"

"I'm afraid not, Rainbow," Sunset said sadly, "Celestia would never lie about anything, and especially not something this huge."

"So, what are you gonna do?" Fluttershy asked

"Yes, darling," Rarity put in, "what are you going to do?"

"I…I…I don't know," Sunset said, "I want to go back and help Celestia, but I'm scared of what I'll find there. I mean, what if I get back and Equestria is a desolate wasteland filled with ponies who are constantly at each other's throats?"

"Um…isn't that basically what the letter described?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Not helping, Dash," Sunset said. Dash shrank back, blushing a little. Sunset sighed, "I need to go back. Equestria is my birthplace. I may live here now, but Equestria will always be my home. I need to help save it."

"Then we'll go with you," Dash said. But Sunset shook her head, "no, Dash. I don't want you getting hurt. I'm venturing into oblivion here and I can't ask you to go with me. Plus, having two of you in Equestria would make things kinda confusing." They all chuckled nervously at this prospect before Sunset continued, "I really appreciate the offer. But I have to return to Equestria alone. Tell Principal Celestia that I've gone to help Princess Celestia in Equestria. She'll understand."

With that, Sunset got up and strapped her backpack on. She turned to the portal and breathed heavily. "Don't you worry, Sunset," Twilight said, putting a hand on her shoulder, "we've got your back. If you need any help, just call."

"But Twilight, there are no phones…" She stopped as Twilight laid something in her hand. "I've managed to harness some of the power from the geode around my neck to create a cellphone that features two-way communication between dimensions. I've got the other one here." She held it out. Sunset smiled. "Thanks, Twi. This means a lot. I'll be sure and let you know how things are going!" She hugged Twilight and stepped through the portal and back into Equestria.