Sunset and the girls ran as fast as they could. If they didn't make it to school on time it would be disastrous. It was the day of class pictures and being late to that meant suspension according to Principal Celestia. Some of the highschoolers would skip it and go out to smoke or something and she had caught them last year. So this year, if you didn't show up it was an automatic suspension. Whether or not it was a legitimate reason for not showing up. Rainbow Dash zipped ahead as they sped toward the school. She wore a nice shirt and good jeans with no holes. Rainbow was notorious for walking around with holey jeans.

"Come on, you guys! Celestia will kill us!"

Rarity huffed as she struggled to run in a nice purple dress and went barefoot. She was holding her heels in one hand and trying to catch up. Her feet hurt as they hit the rough concrete of the sidewalk and the occasional tar they ran across when crossing the street. She frowned at Sunset.

"Thanks a lot, Miss Sunshine. We're late because of you!"

"We're not late yet!" she yelled and stumbled a little as she stepped down from the curb into the street to cross. Pinkie Pie and Rarity had planned everybody's outfits for picture day. Rainbow Dash, Sunset, and Applejack gave them a hard time when it came to what they wore. Applejack wanted to keep wearing her hat, but Rarity said it was too big and would cast a shadow over her face.

"Your freckles need to be seen, darling!" Rarity had said.

Rainbow Dash wasn't too happy when Pinkie Pie badgered her to comb her wild hair. Her hair wasn't nearly as wild as Pinkie Pie's!

"But Rainbow," Pinkie Pie insisted," You can fix how your hair looks. My hair is just boing boing-y."

And so, with a lot of forcing and complaining, Rainbow Dash combed her hair for the first time.

For Sunset, it was a matter of making her not wear her jacket and finding an outfit that suit her personality. Her own clothes suit her very well so it was hard trying to find her something that wasn't too much or not nice enough for pictures. Rarity and Pinkie Pie settled on her wearing a dark pink sweater and a pair of dress pants. Sunset was forced to not wear her riding boots and instead had to wear some black shoes. It was uncomfortable to her and she felt bare without a jacket to cover her arms.

Flutterhsy glided by with Pinkie Pie in a nice green dress and Pinkie Pie was wearing some silly suspenders with a blouse and pants. Pinkie Pie really had no kind of style really. That morning, Sunset was blamed for being too lazy to wake everyone up that morning. Sunset had countered that she was up all night from their screaming at the football games well past one in the morning.

Sunset sighed as she and the others made it to the school just before the bell rang. On the Announcements, Celestia called the Freshman students for pictures. They were safe. Casually the girls walked into class. As soon as they got into the classroom, Rainbow Dash sat in her chair and scratched her hair roughly.

"Rainbow Dash! Your hair!" Rarity complained and she took out a comb.

"Rarity! My hair is fine!" the other girl argued.

Rarity tugged at her hair with her comb and the two struggled. Sunset sighed as she tugged at her sweater. Pink was not her color. she had some pink in her original skirt and stuff but that was about it. She shrugged. It was only for today that she'd wear this thing. It was a few sizes too big anyway. As she stared down at her big sweater she couldn't help but think about Twilight.

I wonder what she's doing?

Thoughts of her reading and writing came to mind. Twilight was such a nerd. Sunset frowned as she sank in her chair and into her pink sweater. She missed Twilight. Every night she dreamed of being reunited with her. Her dreams were all so fantastical with both she and Twilight smiling. Even Celestia was there. The three of them were alive and happy in her mind. But every morning Sunset woke up only to find that the space beside her in bed was empty and cold.

Applejack saw her loneliness in her eyes and glanced back at the others. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy met her gaze with looks of understanding. It had been a long while since they saw Sunset smile a true smile. The girl always seemed to be lost in her thoughts and never really focused on anything. They, too, missed Twilight. But not as intensely as Sunset. The six of them sat in silence as they thought about her; the day most people found exciting no longer being that way for them.

Twilight grabbed the Friendship Journal and shoved it into her satchel. Slamming her door shut, she turned and galloped down the hall. Outside, it was gloomy. Clouds covered the sky and blocked the sun. In the faint light coming from through the windows, Twilight made her way to the library. Shadows were cast all about the halls from the lack of light. Her calculations were made and today was the day. She had only a few minutes to chance this entrance into the other world. Only a small window of time before it closed again. And once it closed, it closed for a long time.

She picked up her pace in hopes to make it before it was too late. Zipping by with her wings extended as she zoomed forward on short bursts of flight she passed the main corridor...

It was a sudden rush of air. Flash saw something shoot by in the corner of his eyes and he jumped. Whatever it was, it was in a hurry. the guard stiffened his body as he looked down the hall that the thing went down. His eyes widened at the quick disappearance of something purple go around the corner. Curiosity took over him as he began to move forward and go after the fast-moving object. Before he could think about it, he was in a full out run after it, chasing it to keep up.

Brian Flash Sentry focused his energy on following what he now found suspicious. There weren't usually any ponies zipping around the castle like that. Whoever it was that was running more than likely was someone who wasn't in the right place. That person must not belong there. Flash started to formulate that it was a potential intruder. The fact that it was a gloomy grey from the lack of sun made things seem off and suspicious. This made him run faster.

Within minutes, Flash burst into the library. Just far back in the rows of book shelves he spied that same purple thing going into the dark of the unlit back area. He made his way there and saw a pony standing before a mirror. It was too dark to tell who it was and unfortunately, Flash wasn't a unicorn so he couldn't 'magic up' a beam of light. He squinted and let out a yell.

"Halt! In the name of Princess Luna!"

The pony was startled and hopped forward quickly toward the mirror in shock. To his surprise and shock, the pony was able to go through. The intruder was escaping! Brian Flash charged at the intruder and jumped at the mirror.

"Halt!"

He shot through head first and a sudden burst of light blinded him as he went through. The mirror wobbled as the portal closed. And a long crack was etched down the middle of the glass, deep and jagged...If only he knew what he had just done.

Author's Notes:

More to come, I hope.