The Summer Sendoff

by KatonRyu

Rating: everyone
Tags: Sunset Shimmer, Slice of Life, Human, Twilight Sparkle, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Equestria Girls
Length: 5635

Upon realizing the upcoming summer break will be the last one the Equestria Girls will have as high schoolers, they decide to throw a huge party at the end of the break to celebrate it.

Upon realizing the upcoming summer break will be the last one the Equestria Girls will have as high schoolers, they decide to throw a huge party at the end of the break to celebrate it. The plans quickly escalate, and quite soon the girls decide that their party will be a three day festival. But to throw such a massive party, many preparations will have to be made. And it would probably be fun if Princess Twilight could come over as well, and maybe even her friends.

Published 2018-04-21 20:20:07 UTC
Last updated 2018-07-29 19:10:54 UTC

Grand Plans

Author's Note

This is the first chapter I've ever written of a story that will be purely slice of life. It has a plot to work towards, but it will contain many, many tangents. As a result, it will also be quite slow-paced. This fic is really just a way for me to try something new, and I'd appreciate it a lot if you let me know what you think of it. By the way, don't worry. I'm also working on the next chapter of Meaning of Harmony. The next chapter of that will hopefully be up next weekend. Oh, I also have no idea how American schools actually work so I just went off of what I my self know in the Netherlands. If it's wrong...well, so be it, I guess. In any case, enjoy!

Grand Plans

The sunscreens were lowered as far as they would go, bathing the classroom in a faintly orange light. Despite keeping the glare out, the canvas screens did very little to keep out the warmth, and the room seemed to heat up more with every passing minute. The students in the class all casually leaned back in their chairs. No one had any books out, some were even having conversations.

Their principal, who was addressing the class, had no problems with this whatsoever, because it wasn't a regular class. All the students gathered in the classroom were the ones who had passed their exams and advanced to the next year, which was to be their senior year in high school. Principal Celestia was lecturing the students on the time they were expected to show up that afternoon to hand in their books.

Sunset wasn't really paying much attention to her. Instead, she was looking around the classroom. Every year, the feeling of that last 'class' was an odd one. She sat in the same chair she'd been in all throughout the year, but somehow the air felt different. Maybe it was because of the soft murmur of people talking around her. Maybe it was because the blackboard was empty. Even the heat was different, possibly because today Sunset wasn't feeling the cold sweats of not having bothered to do the homework.

She shot a glance at the clock above the door. It looked like it had seen better days with its crooked hands and dented frame. More than once, Sunset had wondered if the clock was made to deliberately run slow to annoy the students, but today it seemed freed of that spell.

At the desk next to her, Pinkie Pie was doodling on the informative stack of papers Principal Celestia had handed out earlier. Rainbow Dash, another desk over, was doing all kinds of tricks with her pen between her fingers. Rarity was apparently drawing designs for a new dress. Applejack and Fluttershy were looking in the general direction of the Principal, but neither of them looked very attentive. Probably the only person in class who was paying attention to the long-winded story about hard work and whatnot was Twilight. Sunset smiled faintly. This world's Twilight seemed to have even more reverence for any kind of authority than Princess Twilight in Equestria did.

Sunset wondered if Princess Twilight was now holding the same kind of lecture at her own school as Principal Celestia was doing here. Knowing her, she'd probably prepared at least two hours' worth of more or less inspirational material.

"Now, don't forget: you need to hand in your books at three. That's it. Congratulations once again for passing your exams, and I will see all of you next year."

She strode out of the classroom and the students slowly got up and began shoving papers and pens into their bags. When Sunset stepped into the hallway, she breathed a sigh of relief at the draft there. It was a very welcome change to the sweltering classroom.

"Finally we're free," Rainbow Dash said excitedly, just as glad to be in the cool air as Sunset. "I swear, those speeches get longer every year."

"You think?" Twilight asked. "At Crystal Prep they were usually twice as long and contained extra courses to be done over the summer."

Rainbow Dash looked aghast. "Homework in the summer?! I knew Cinch was evil, but I'd never imagined her to be that evil."

Twilight shrugged. "It wasn't that bad, really. It usually only took me a full week to get through everything."

Rainbow Dash shook her head in resignation and Sunset laughed. "Well, there's no summer homework here," she said. "It's just two months of relaxation, and then…" She trailed off as a realization hit her. "And then we'll start our final year in high school," she finished.

Sunset wondered why she considered that to be so significant, but somehow she did. After all, it wasn't like she wouldn't see her friends anymore after that, right? But where would they all end up going. Sunset's friends were looking at each other as well, probably wondering the same things.

"So, I guess this will be our last summer break as actual high schoolers," Applejack said, thinking out loud.

"You know what that calls for?" Pinkie Pie asked.

Applejack smiled, instantly knowing what the answer would be. She decided to play along.

"Well?"

"A party of course!" Pinkie yelled, somehow managing to fire off two confetti cannons at the same time.

"That sounds lovely, darling. Perhaps, since this will be our last summer party as high schoolers, we should make it a big one? Possibly…with some activities?" Rarity said, semi-innocently.

"Fashion show?" Rainbow Dash guessed with a smirk.

Rarity grinned sheepishly. Pinkie Pie, though, gasped like only Pinkie could. "Yes! That sounds perfect!" she shouted.

"I'm not much for fashion shows," Rainbow Dash began, then held up a hand when Rarity wanted to interject. "But why would we let that be our only activity at the party? Why not have some sports as well? I can probably convince the soccer club to let me borrow some foldable goals. We can just make it an all day party, can't we?" she asked with a glance at Pinkie, who had been nodding fervently the entire time.

"Well…if everyone's gonna play sports I should probably sell some cider there," Applejack mused. "And perhaps one of those mechanical rodeo bulls…"

Sunset thought about things she'd like to do, but she couldn't really think of anything off the top of her head. Still, she was excited at the prospect of the party. Knowing Pinkie, she'd probably get the entire school to attend.

"So…when would we have this party?" Twilight asked hesitantly.

"Well…" Pinkie replied, thinking. "I think we should do it on the final Saturday of the break. That way people will have Sunday to rest up for school and we'll have the most time to prepare and look forward to it."

"Look forward to what? Hey, Applejack," Apple Bloom said, adding the greeting as an afterthought.

She, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo had been walking by, and now their interest was piqued. They were infamous around CHS for the many things they'd tried to find out where their talents lay. Eventually, they'd settled for mostly helping other people find their own talents by doing various activities with them.

"We're going to throw a party at the end of the summer because this is our last summer as real high schoolers," Rainbow Dash said. "And it's going to be awesome! We'll have all these activities as well, like soccer and stuff."

Sunset grinned. Just like Rainbow Dash to only mention her own activities.

Apple Bloom's eyes lit up and she looked at her friends. "Cool! Can we come up with things too? We've got a whole list of stuff planned for the summer so maybe it'll be fun to do some of them at the party," she said.

Applejack began to respond, but Pinkie interrupted her. "Of course you can! The more activities the better! This will be the biggest party the students of CHS have ever seen!"

As Apple Bloom and her friends excitedly ran off to make plans, Applejack turned to Pinkie.

"Are you sure that's a smart idea?" she asked. "I mean, it's going to be mighty difficult to fit everything in one day at this rate, especially with the things my sister comes up with."

Pinkie Pie shrugged. "I'm sure it'll be fine," she said brightly. "In fact," she added, looking from Fluttershy to Twilight to Sunset. "Why don't you three come up with something fun for the party as well?"

Sunset stared blankly. She hadn't expected the question, although in hindsight she probably should have.

"I, uh," she said.

Fluttershy and Twilight seemed just as flustered. Fortunately, Rarity stepped in to save them. "Why don't we meet up at the mall tonight and discuss it over dinner? That way, everyone will have enough time to think about what they want to do," she said.

Pinkie Pie quickly agreed with that, and a few minutes later Sunset was walking home to gather her books. She thought about activities to do at the party. For all of Pinkie's parties she'd attended by now, she had never really considered any activities for them. Then again, most parties she'd been to didn't have a soccer field or rodeo bull either.

When Sunset arrived home, she still hadn't thought of anything to do. She absentmindedly opened her desk and began pulling out school books, all of them looking like someone without arms had tried to gift wrap them. Sunset was pretty good at working with her hands, but she cared very little for covering books and accordingly spent about ten minutes on the whole stack. She began tearing off the book covers and grabbed a wrinkled sheet of paper showing her all the books she was supposed to return.

A short while later, all but one of the books had been stacked. The missing book, one about geography, was nowhere to be found. Sunset groaned in frustration and began looking for it. Why would she ever take a geography book away from her desk? And where would she put it? Come to think of it, she wasn't even really aware she even had geography in school anymore. She looked through all her cabinets and shelves, but the book was nowhere to be found.

Eventually, she sat down in her desk chair and sighed. "No activity for the party, and no geography book. Great. Oh, and when they find out I'm missing a book I won't have money anymore, either."

Sunset wasn't sure why she was speaking out loud, but she often did when things weren't going her way. Her eye fell on her computer monitor. At first, she wasn't sure why it had caught her attention, but then she realized it was sitting higher than usual. She blinked a couple of times when she realized what she'd used to prop it up.

"Well," she said.

She sheepishly took her monitor off her geography book, and soon the now-unwrapped book joined the others on the pile. She shoved all the books in her biggest backpack and hoisted it onto her back. She groaned at the weight of it. "At least it'll be good training, I guess…" she muttered.

Since it wasn't time to go back to school yet, Sunset took off her backpack again and dropped onto her couch. Maybe watching TV would give her some inspiration for a party activity.

When Sunset came home from school, she felt like she had run a marathon. The way back hadn't been bad, but the way there, weighed down by what felt like a million pounds of books, had been torture. Sometimes at practice for the fencing club she'd do squats with a weighted bag on her shoulders for warmups, but those bags were much lighter than this.

"Fencing…" she mused. "Maybe I should suggest that for the party. Nothing says 'fun and games' like stabbing people with swords, right?"

She wondered if the fencing club would lend her some material for anyone who wished to try it. They probably would, since it might draw in new members for the club. Although it probably wasn't going to be easy to get a piste set up… Then again, the school had one wireless set, and it wouldn't really matter if the floor was grounded for the purposes of the party.

Sunset nodded to herself, feeling satisfied. She then realized she was also still feeling sticky, and she quickly headed upstairs to shower before heading to the mall.

Sunset met her friends in front of a fancy-looking café-restaurant…thing. The letters on the menu were so cursive Sunset could hardly decipher them, although Rarity didn't seem to have much trouble with it.

"So, Sunset, did you think of anything fun to do?" Pinkie asked once everyone had a drink.

Sunset nodded and explained her plan to let people try out fencing. Rainbow Dash grinned approvingly. "That sounds pretty awesome. Maybe I'll give it a try as well," she said.

Pinkie was excited too. "I don't think I've ever had swords on any of my parties before," she said. "So this should be the perfect time for it! Twilight?"

Twilight looked a bit embarrassed when she replied. "Well…I do have something in mind, but we'd have to have the party on Friday for that to work. There's going to be a meteor shower that night, so I thought, maybe we could just turn off the lights and watch it?"

"That sounds good, but here's something even better," Rainbow Dash said before Pinkie could reply.

"Rainbow…" Applejack said warningly. She clearly thought that Rainbow Dash was going to overrule Twilight's suggestion.

"No, no, I don't mean that we shouldn't watch the meteor shower," Rainbow Dash defended herself. "I mean we should just extend the party. Why don't we just start it on Friday night and keep going all through the night and the next day?"

Sunset liked the sound of that. For some reason the notion of a party that would go on all through the night excited her. It was…out of the ordinary, somehow, yet not in a 'we need to save the world' kind of way. Well, hopefully.

"Fluttershy, do you have any ideas?" Applejack asked.

Fluttershy shook her head. "I don't know. My animal friends probably won't like the noise and the crowd, and I don't like being the center of attention," she said.

"That's okay," Rainbow Dash assured her. "Between us and whatever Scootaloo and the others come up with, we'll have more than enough to fill a day, I'm sure."

That gave Sunset an idea. "Maybe we should ask the rest of CHS to come up with things as well," she said. "Wouldn't it be fun if we could make this party something for the whole school to enjoy?"

Rarity cocked her head. "We'd never be able to fit it in a day and a night, darling," she said.

Pinkie Pie, who was now so excited she seemed to be emitting an ultrasonic squeak, waved her away. "Doesn't matter! We can't pass up an opportunity like this!" She turned to Twilight. "Do you think your old friends from Crystal Prep would want to come as well?" she asked.

Twilight was surprised by the question. "Uh, I don't know, really," she said. She fidgeted with her hair. "I really wasn't very close to them back then. I think they might like it?"

"Good! I'll send everyone a text to send in ideas, then," she decided. "But if we'll do that…this won't just be a party," she went on.

Her eyes widened in excitement. Sunset was amazed that Pinkie had apparently not reached her excitement limit yet.

"It will be a complete festival. If we want to fit everything in we'll need around three full days. So…let's start on Thursday morning and end on Saturday night," she said.

Sunset knew better than to question the number Pinkie came up with. Her ability to plan parties was unmatched. Sunset had once caught a glimpse of the mountain of binders Pinkie used to document all her party planning secrets, and it was only then that she fully realized just how serious Pinkie was about parties.

"Well, if it's going to be a three-day festival, we should probably give it a name," Applejack said. "I'm guessing you've already got one?"

Pinkie nodded, as if that was the most obvious thing in the world. "Of course I do. We'll call it the Summer Sendoff."

The Goldilocks Zone, or ‘How Hard Can It Be to Find a Campsite?’

Normally, Sunset wouldn’t even consider setting her alarm early on a day off. This time, however, she woke up filled with excitement, not caring that it wasn’t even seven yet. Sure, today was the first day of summer break, but today was also the first day where she and her friends would start their work on the Summer Sendoff.

She leapt out of bed and opened her curtains, happy to see that it looked like it was going to be a nice day. Sunset enjoyed the warmth of the morning sun on her face as she ate her cereal, then made her way over to CHS. She and the others had decided to meet up there to divide the work that had to be done. Despite the early hour, the temperature was already pleasant as Sunset walked to school. Even though she walked the same route every day, this time she didn’t have to hurry to be on time and so she enjoyed the walk a lot more than she usually did.

When she arrived at school, everyone else had already gathered in front of the door.

“Sunset Shimmer! You’re two minutes late!” Pinkie Pie said sternly.

Sunset and Twilight laughed, but the rest of their friends had a very solemn look on their faces, expressions more suited for a courtroom and a murder trial than a sunny day outside. Sunset let her eyes wander over everyone’s face, eventually meeting Twilight’s equally confused eyes and shrugging.

“Uh, I’m sorry?” she tried.

Pinkie Pie leaned forward and scrutinized Sunset’s expression. Was she looking for signs of deceit?

“Since you’ve never been to a Daybreak Division Deliberation before I’ll accept your apology, Sunset Shimmer, but this will go in the records,” Pinkie said formally.

“A…what?” Sunset asked.

“Daybreak Division Deliberation, darling,” Rarity repeated. “Whenever Pinkie Pie plans anything big, we all get together at seven thirty on the dot and then Pinkie will give us our assignments.”

“Planning a party is a pastime with perfect punctuality as a prerequisite. A lot needs to be done to make sure this party is a success, and every minute counts,” Pinkie Pie said gravely, jabbing her finger at Sunset to emphasize her words.

Sunset held up her hands in defeat. “Okay, I get it. I’ll be on time from now on, I promise,” she said.

“Pinkie promise?”

“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye,” Sunset said.

“Good!” Pinkie said happily. “Now then, ladies, let’s get to business! I sent everyone at CHS and Crystal Prep a mail about the party last night and asked them for suggestions, and I already have tons of responses. Applejack, Rarity, I need you two to help me look through them so we can decide which ones will fit the party.”

Applejack and Rarity nodded.

“Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy…” Pinkie began.

“Not location, not location, not location…” Rainbow Dash begged, crossing her fingers.

“I need you two to find Cheese Sandwich. The Summer Sendoff is going to be huge and he’s almost as good at planning parties as I am. We could really use his help,” Pinkie said.

Rainbow Dash nearly made a backflip out of joy. “Yes! Got it, Pinkie, we’ll find Cheese Sandwich,” she said. Then she grinned at Sunset and Twilight, whose expressions of pure confusion were probably permanent at this point. “I almost feel sorry for you,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Sunset and Twilight, you’re in charge of finding a location,” Pinkie said almost apologetically. “I’m sorry, Twilight, you did nothing wrong, but Sunset was late and I can’t just let that slide.”

“Uh, okay?” Twilight said.

“I said I was sorry…” Sunset muttered under her breath. Then, for everyone, “So what exactly is so bad about finding a location? I mean, how hard can it be?”

Five pairs of sympathetic looks were her reply. Pinkie sighed and then retrieved a small, black book from her bag. “All the requirements are in here, along with a list of locations we’ve used in the past. Don’t bother checking the skull-and-crossbones ones; we’ve been kind of sort of maybe banned from those places.”

Sunset was still mystified, but she took the book from Pinkie Pie and said, “Right. I guess…we’ll get on it, then.”

“I can’t believe this,” Sunset said through gritted teeth.

She and Twilight were walking down a sand path towards a campground. Trees alongside the path offered some shade, but it was already noticeably getting hotter outside.

“Nearly every campground in and around the city is in here. And we have to check them all?”

Before they’d left from school, Applejack had taken the two of them aside for a moment, and explained that finding a location for one of Pinkie’s big parties was essentially a curse. Invariably one or more of the requirements wasn’t met for one reason or another, and that would always lead to problems later on in the planning process, all of which would be blamed on the ones who had taken care of the location. Aside from that, scouting locations meant you’d easily spend all day walking around in the heat mostly for nothing, since most of the locations in Pinkie’s black book would be unsuited, or whose owners would simply refuse to let the party be hosted there. Whenever there was a big party coming, the one task you didn’t want to get was finding a location.

Sunset had laughed at the warning, once again wondering how bad it could possibly be, but then she’d opened the book and seen just how big the task she and Twilight had been given really was.

“I mean, I figured we’d have to check maybe three or four campgrounds and some unrelated places, but there have to be at least twenty of them! How many campgrounds can one city even need?!”

Twilight sighed. Sunset had been ranting like this almost the entire trip from school to the campground, and while Twilight was a very patient girl, it was starting to get on her nerves. She wished Spike were with them, but he’d sneakily joined Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash on their mission. She wondered if his avoiding of this assignment could be counted as animal disaster sense.

“So,” Twilight said in the middle of one of Sunset’s rants, “Are you going to ask the Twilight from the other world to come over for the party as well? She knows everyone here as well, right?”

Sunset stopped ranting and raving and fell silent as she thought about that question. Twilight counted her blessings.

“It would be fun if she and Starlight could come over,” Sunset mused.

“And her other friends? I mean, we all have counterparts there, right?” Twilight asked. Meeting her own double had been a strange experience, but she was curious to see if the counterparts of her other friends resembled them just as much.

Sunset frowned. “It would be nice,” she said. “But I don’t know if bringing them over would destabilize our worlds. I know Pinkie Pie would take pride in throwing a party so awesome it literally ends the world, but it doesn’t seem like the best idea. Still…” She looked up at the tree branches, lost in thought for a moment. She turned back to Twilight and smiled. “I’ll definitely talk to her about it. I think her friends should see what this world looks like at least once. We’ll figure something out, I’m sure.”

For a moment, the two walked on in silence, enjoying the warmth of the sun. They reached the entrance of the campground. There was an automatic bar gate there to let cars in. The sand path then continued into the campgrounds themselves. To their left there was a building which seemed to be a reception doubling as a camp restaurant.

Sunset and Twilight headed inside and joined a small queue of people, most of whom were carrying backpacks or weekend bags.

“What are we even going to ask?” Sunset wondered as they waited for their turn.

Twilight shrugged. “We should probably just tell them why we’re here and ask if they have space available. I don’t really have experience with looking for party locations,” she said.

Not much later, it was their turn. Behind the desk sat an older woman. She didn’t look very enthusiastic to be there.

“Uh, hi. My name is Sunset Shimmer, and this is my friend Twilight Sparkle. We, uh, we’re from CHS and we want to organize an end-of-summer party to celebrate going into our last year at high school, and…”

The woman interrupted Sunset by holding up a hand. “CHS? Party? You’re friends with that Pinkie Pie girl, aren’t you?” She sounded almost accusing.

Sunset and Twilight exchanged a glance. “Yes?” Sunset said.

The woman immediately shook her head. “Not a chance. The last time we let her throw a party here it cost us several days to clean up all the confetti and streamers and who knows what else she shot from those cannons of hers.”

Sunset sighed. “I see. Well, thanks for your time, anyway. Have a nice day.”

The woman gave a curt nod and then turned her attention to the next person in line. Sunset and Twilight walked away.

“I guess Pinkie forgot to add her skull-and-crossbones stamp to this one,” Sunset said as they left the campground.

“Well, it’s still early,” Twilight said. “I’m sure we’ll have more luck at the next campsite.”

The next campsite, however, wasn’t too thrilled about the idea either, nor were the three after that. As Sunset and Twilight traveled all around the city, the temperature kept rising, making the search even more of a grind.

“I’ve been in more different woods today than I’ve ever been in my life,” Sunset said. “I can’t believe so many of these campsites are located in parks and forests.”

They were walking along a path between rows of pine trees, heading towards yet another possible location for the party. Despite the shade the trees offered, it was still a very hot day and Sunset hoped that this campsite would finally be the one that could host the party, and would be willing to do it. She was beginning to realize why everyone else hated this particular job.

“I like the walk, actually,” Twilight said. “I never had much of a reason to go outside, but I’ve always enjoyed walking. Besides, at least the trees smell nice.”

Sunset inhaled deeply. The scent of the pine trees was indeed quite pleasant. “You take walks with Spike, right? Doesn’t that mean you get out a lot?” Sunset asked.

“Yes, but I usually stuck to the area around my house. It wouldn’t make sense to go out of town just to walk my dog. But now, we have an actual reason to go all around town and see how much nature we still have. I really wouldn’t mind having to go to a few more locations after this one,” Twilight said.

Sunset cocked her head. “I hadn’t thought of it that way. Still, I’d be okay with this one being the last one,” she said.

Eventually, she and Twilight reached a rickety chain fence, which had clearly seen better days. There was a worn sign on the fence, which read Camp Pinecone, followed by an arrow which pointed them along the path. Someone had sloppily crossed out the ‘Pine’ part of the name and replaced it with ‘Pain’.

“That looks…inviting,” Sunset said.

“Well, maybe the campsite itself will look better? I mean we shouldn’t judge it on this sign alone, right?” Twilight replied, but the look on her face betrayed her uncertainty.

They followed the path along the fence, which became less well-kept with every step they took. “How does that even work? The entire path looks more or less maintained, and then this close to the campsite they decided not to bother?” Sunset asked as she stepped over a large root coming up from the path.

Suddenly, the path seemed to end. In front of them, there was just a wall of trees and shrubs. Sunset looked around to see if the path had maybe taken a turn somewhere, but she couldn’t see anywhere it might have done so. The fence, however, had stopped. Now there was just a line of shrubs leading deeper into the forest.

She looked at Twilight. “Do you think it’s through here?”

“It isn’t,” someone replied, but it wasn’t Twilight.

Sunset nearly jumped into the nearest tree at the sudden appearance of a man from between the trees.

“You’re looking for Camp Pinecone, I take it?” he asked, looking from Sunset to Twilight.

Twilight, who adjusted her glasses after the jump scare had nearly thrown them off her face, nodded. “Yes. We’re looking for a location where we can host an end-of-summer party,” she said.

The man laughed. “I’m sure Fir Shadow would love to let you host a party, but I doubt the campsite is big enough. If you want to try it, though…” He pointed at the wall of trees and shrubs. “…it’s just past there and to the left. Fir likes to get people ‘in touch with nature’, so the last part of the path embodies that. He said it would help him stand out.”

Sunset and Twilight shot each other an uncertain look. Would a place like this really work for a party with various activities? They seemed to reach a conclusion at the same time.

“On second thought, maybe we should keep looking,” Twilight said nervously.

The man nodded slowly. “Yeah, I figured as much. I tried telling Fir that he’s going to scare people away like this, if they can even find the entrance, but that old man is stubborn as a mule. Well, I wish you good luck…and if you know anyone looking to get in touch with nature, do send them here, won’t you?” he asked with a forlorn look.

Sunset nodded. “Sure. Thanks for the help.”

As they began walking back along the path, Sunset said, “You know, maybe Fluttershy would actually enjoy something like this, if only it didn’t look like the set of every cheesy horror movie ever made.”

“Or maybe Wallflower would,” Twilight suggested.

Sunset nodded thoughtfully. “That’s actually an even better idea. If anyone would enjoy being surrounded by a lot of plants instead of people, it’s her. I’ll send her a message about it.”

Sunset retrieved her phone and began typing a message to Wallflower. Ever since the Memory Stone incident she’d tried to occasionally keep in touch with her, and as a result they were on much friendlier terms now.

When Sunset put her phone away again, Twilight said, “Do you mind taking the long way back? I’ve heard that the lake is beautiful, but I’ve never gone there. Since we’re in the area anyway…”

Sunset smiled at her. “Sure, why not? It’s a welcome change of scenery, anyway.”

Not too much later, the trees began to thin and the path led out into a large open field, beyond which lay one of the many lakes in the area. This particular one was the biggest of the bunch, and the small beach was a relatively popular place for people to spend their summer days. Today as well, small groups of people were lounging around the field and the beach, and several people were enjoying themselves in the water.

As they walked along the path, staring out over the water and listening to the sounds of the people having fun, Sunset got an idea.

“Hey, don’t you think this field would be ideal for the party?” she asked. “I mean, there’s more than enough room for everyone from CHS and Crystal Prep, the field and the lake together allow for lots of activities, there aren’t any houses nearby who might be bothered by loud music late at night…it seems ideal.”

Twilight cocked her head and thoughtfully looked across the field. “It does seem big enough,” she said hesitantly. “But do you think we’ll be able to rent it? I mean, is it owned by the city or privately owned?”

Sunset shrugged. “I don’t know, but it’s worth checking out, isn’t it? Besides, I don’t think I can take going to another campsite today.”

She walked onto the grass and sat down, letting the cool breeze blow through her hair. Twilight sat down next to her.

“It’ll be a good location for the meteor shower too,” Twilight said as she looked up at the sky. “We’re far enough away from the city that the light pollution shouldn’t be much of a problem.”

Sunset grinned at her. “Well then, I say the choice is made. We’ve found our location.”

Author's Note

Writing slice of life stuff is hard, much harder than I thought it would be. I have a lot of newfound respect for the people who can pull it off well. This might have been one of the most difficult chapters I’ve ever written. I suspect it’s going to get even harder from now on. Please let me know what you think, and hope to see you next time!