The Apprentice

Dear Princess Twilight,

I am writing to you from Canterlot High. Everything is improving around here, especially since the Dazzlings were defeated and banished. Everyone misses you, though. Especially Flash Sentry. He keeps inquiring when exactly you will return. We tell him the truth: we do not know. Well, everyone seems to have dropped that HUGE grudge against me: the one where everyone disliked me because I had turned into some raging demon and destroyed the school in the process. But then you showed me the way of freindship. I have to thank you for bringing out that change in me.

Sincerly, Sunset Shimmer

Sunset Shimmer put her pen and journal down to rest on the concrete beneath her feet. She drew her knees up to her chest, and rested her head on her knees. She watched as Rarity applied nail polish, and Fluttershy was playing with Angel. Rainbow Dash was practicing her soccer skills, and Applejack was drinking apple cider.  The sky was blue, nearly the same color as Rainbow Dash's skin, and there was not a single cloud in the sky. Sunset Shimmer was looking around her, enjoying the sights of springtime. She could hear the indistinct chatter of students as they walked about the courtyard.

"Heads up!" Rainbow Dash suddenly yells.

Sunset Shimmer looked in front of her to see a soccer ball flying toward her. Her eyes grew wide, and she ducked, covering her head with her arms. She heard the air whistling around the ball, and then silence. Shivering, she carefully peeked through her fingers. The ball was nowhere to be seen. She looked behind herself, and the portal to Equestria was shimmering.

"Where....did the ball go?" asks Rainbow Dash.

Sunset Shimmer shrugged. " I don't know. Maybe it went through the portal. "

"You seriously think that it went through the portal? Ha! What makes you think that a soccer ball will go through a portal if a pony princess can't?" Rainbow Dash scoffed.

" Princess Twilight has important things to to back in Equestria," said Applejack. " She can't come runnin' to our needs at the drop of a hat. Besides, Twilight found a way to keep the portal open, remember?"

"Maybe we-" Fluttershy said as she looked at the pavement. The rest of her words were a mumble. " Maybe we can retrieve the soccer ball. We could also see Twilight. "

" What?" asked Applejack. " Can ya speak up, sugarcube? We can't quite hear ya."

Fluttershy drew in a deep breath. "Maybe we can get the soccer ball and see Twilight." She still spoke softly, but loud enough to where everyone could understand her.

" Darling, that is such a horrid idea. You know that if we go to the alternate universe, we would be doppelgangers. There would be two of us each. I don't like that idea. I am myself alone, and I am unique. " said Rarity.

" Can we figure this out after lunch?" asked Pinkie Pie. "It's Taco Tuesday, and they're giving out free cupcakes!"

Canterlot High's lunchroom was buzzing with excitement. Graduation was drawing near, and so  was the Spring Formal. The Bronco company was advertising class rings, caps, gowns, and diplomas. The spring Formal tickets were on sale, also.

" Twenty bits a ticket? " Rainbow Dash asked.

Sunset shimmer was writing something down in her notebook, not paying any mind to ticket prices.

Rarity was talking to Rainbow Dash. "It's a formal event, darling. Of course admission would be expensive."

Rainbow Dash cocked and eyebrow. " Twenty bits for a piece of paper that would tell Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna that we're free to roam around the gymnasium, drink watered- down fruit punch, and eat the greasiest pizza ever? Sounds like my kind of party." With that, Rainbow Dash set her feet on the table.

Sunset Shimmer was concentrating really hard, her eyebrows pulled together in frustration.

"Fluttershy, when you said earlier that we could retrive the soccer ball and see Twilight, I got an idea." Sunset Shimmer looked up from her book, her features more relaxed.  "Rarity had a point when she said that there were two of you all in Equestria, but there's only one of me. I will go into the portal and retrieve the ball, and see what's up with Princess Twilight."

"That...is...actually not a bad idea," said Rainbow Dash.

Suddenly, Sunset Shimmer felt the book vibrate under her arm, and she flipped to the page where handwriting was feverishly placing itself on the once blank page.

Fluttershy was digging around in her backpack, trying to find Angel.

"Rainbow Dash, I found your soccer ball. Maybe Sunset Shimmer won't have to go to Equestria now." Fluttershy handed the ball over.

Sunset Shimmer paid Fluttershy no mind. She was trying to read the message that appeared in the journal.

  " If you wish...to see your princess...come to equestria...at once...." she read to herself.

Sunset Shimmer's eyes widened, and she gasped.

" I think Twilight's in trouble!"