Sunset had just arrived at CHS and walked up to the portal on the horse statue pedestal. It was quite a while since she had used this particular portal to go back to Equestria, but she was well aware of how it likely didn’t matter which portal she used. After all, she did discover another hidden portal from the Spring Break cruise, which didn’t really send her too far from the other portal’s location, being Princess Twilight’s Castle of Friendship. With that in mind, she reached her arm into the surface of the statue, and as expected, got sent to one of the main rooms in Twilight’s castle. Sunset, like she did before, began to walk bipedal, before remembering what species she had turned back into, and got down on all four’s.

“I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to walking like this…” Sunset said to herself, before she heard some voices off in the distance.

Some time had already passed since Twilight wrote to Sunset about talking with her friends about her moving away to Canterlot, so she began to wonder if they had already finished, and it was a good time to greet them. Unfortunately for Sunset, this was not the case, as she began to realize when she got closer to where the voices were coming from. She didn’t hear the entire conversation, but mostly heard hints of Twilight feeling happy that her friends understood her personal pain about moving away from Ponyville. This talk was cut short, as Spike spoke up to remind them about the coronation.

“That’s nice.” Spike began to elaborate, as he took out a clock showing the time. “But you should be more worried about missing the train to Canterlot!”

Twilight and her friends gasped, seeing how tight time was, before they all stormed out of the castle. As they did, Starlight Glimmer approached the entrance, using her magic to hold onto a wrapped, magenta colored present.

“Sorry I’m so late.” Starlight apologized on her behalf. “I actually thought I’d missed you-”

“THERE’S NO TIME!!!” Spike interrupted, as everyone bolted past Starlight, making her drop the present on the ground. They were all in such a hurry to the train station, none of them even heard Sunset as she was trying to call for them.

Sunset ran out from the castle’s main entrance, still calling for Twilight, but now they were definitely too far away to even hear her voice. She then looked toward the ground, and saw Starlight laying there, along with a present she was holding.

“Starlight?” Sunset greeted her. “What’s going on? Where are Twilight and everyone else headed?”

“I’m not quite sure.” Starlight replied. “But my best guess is, they’re late for the train to Canterlot. The coronation itself should be starting soon, by the way. I believe less than two hours from now.”

“Rats.” Sunset expressed her disappointment. “I was really hoping to at least have a quick reunion with Twilight before the actual event. I got to the portal as fast as I could, and still barely missed them. Time really does pass differently between our two worlds.” Sunset then noticed the magenta present Starlight had. “Well, that’s nice. I can see you got Twilight a special present for her coronation?”

“Yep!” Starlight said with enthusiasm. “Unfortunately, I can’t quite say what it is just yet, I really wanna keep this a surprise. Let’s just say… I worked hard with the rest of Twilight’s friends to make this special, just for her.”

“That’s nice to hear. I wish I could’ve gotten Twilight a present myself.” Sunset said somewhat sadly. “It’s really the least I could for all she’s done for me, especially for all the times she took the extra effort to warn me about Equestrian magic lurking in the other world.”

“Hey, don’t be so hard on yourself, Sunset.” Starlight said softly. “I think the fact you wanted to show up to the coronation at all is enough. That would certainly be more valuable than any present you could give her, and besides. I don’t think me and Twilight gave you enough time to come up with a present anyway. We didn’t really take into account that time could pass differently between the two worlds. I’m not that familiar with the other world, but it was certainly quite an experience the one time I did! I just definitely understand that there would be more difficulty for you than anypony else, since you got a completely separate life that’s not as easy to make time for.”

Sunset felt Starlight’s reasoning was on point, before she spoke up. “Thanks. You’re right. And yeah, I do have to head back eventually for my graduation at Canterlot High.”

“Graduation?” Starlight asked. “Sounds exciting, have fun whenever that time does come!”

“Yeah, I hope so!” Sunset said, trying to keep her enthusiasm. Admittedly, Sunset still wanted to see more of Equestria before finalizing her decision on whether or not she would stay in the human world. The graduation would at least give her a celebratory milestone. However, her degree would likely not be of much help to her at all if she did decide to live in Equestria from that point forward. By now, Sunset was still rather 50-50 on this decision, but knew she absolutely had to at least attend graduation after everything she’s done to earn her degree.

With that in mind, Sunset then thought about how she’s going to attend Canterlot, before asking Starlight. “By the way, we’re not both already too late to attend the coronation, are we?”

“Oh, not at all, actually.” Starlight assured. “I’m pretty sure Twilight just has to attend earlier than most of the guests to prepare for the whole event. Her friends were also each taking care of certain tasks that’ll happen at the coronation, so I’m guessing they’re going along to manage everything too. I’m actually headed there shortly with the rest of my friends. I’ll have to head back to my village to see if everypony’s ready. Party Favor and Double Diamond were behind schedule on a surprise they wanted to give Twilight.”

Sunset reached into her saddlebag to pull out the journal she had, which also included a map of Equestria. She then showed Starlight the map, before asking her if it was correct. “This map to Canterlot looks accurate, right? The route I’m taking shouldn’t have any changes I should know about?”

Starlight examined the map closely, and didn’t really see anything out of the ordinary. “Nope, not really, I think you’re good to go! It is a bit of a longer trot to Canterlot though, so some of us did arrange for other means of transportation. I have some leftover bits on me, do you want them to buy a train ticket? They cost 7 bits each.”

“Okay, so the route I’m taking on the map is set then.” Sunset replied before putting the journal and map back into her saddlebag. “And no thanks, I appreciate the offer, but I think I’d rather go the long way just to explore Equestria for a little while. Plus, I do have around 18 bits on me, I think I’ll be fine.”

“All right, then I guess I’ll head back to my village to check in with the rest of my buddies.” Starlight said, as both she and Sunset began to trot away in their own directions. They waved goodbye to each other when they reached the fork in the road. “Good luck arriving to Canterlot, I guess we’ll all see you there!” Starlight announced from a distance away.

Sunset knew that based on the map, Canterlot really wasn’t that far away, and with nearly two hours to spare, there was actually plenty of time to explore Equestria for a little while. The direction she was headed was toward the train station, but this particular route also made her go through Ponyville, so it gave her an opportunity to explore, regardless of time.