Part 1
Part 2
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6

The catalyst

Remember Fluttershy's personal insults to Rarity and Pinkie in Putting Your Hoof Down and Pinkie maliciously triggering Fluttershy's fears three times in Filli Vanilli?

I do.

What were the problems?

In PYHD, Fluttershy went above and beyond anything she did when under Discord's trance. Knowingly, she went after the very core of who they are and calling them worthless. Pinkie's and Rarara's actions are a lot like our own; it's so personal, we feel their pain. Voice of Reason's explanation that she might've done that subconsciously is a valid point, and there is a clue that it was once she looked at the pool of rainwater. But the clue isn't explicit enough, and her actions earlier in the third act come across as being self-aware. It's the most OOC moment in season two.

Pinkie Pie is many things. "Stupid" and "malicious" ain't two of them. Her appearance in FV is flanderization and out of characterization of her at her worst. If she triggered Fluttershy's stage fright once, became aware of it, and then apologized for it, then I'll believe her. Instead, she kept on going, didn't react when she got tapped on the head or glared at by the ReMane Four, continued to trigger her fear, acted like she had no idea 'Shy was going to react like that when Pinkie's aware of how sensitive she is, never apologized for it, and rubbed in Big Mac's injury in front of him. Cutting her out entirely increases the episode's quality from bad to average at most.

So, here's the question: How to rectify that? By showing that 'Shy was truly subconscious and make Pinkie react in a way that hurts Sunset, but immediately realize she said a really bad thing. But the words linger in Sunset and make her wonder if it was truly best to spend a little time in Equestria.

How can she be convinced to come home?

…Yet, Sunset just isn't going to just snap her fingers and decide to leave. Remember, bad memories from her past linger. Think about Simba from The Lion King. He believed he killed his father and king, so he ran away, found paradise, and was able to thrive as an exile with Timon and Pumbaa. In this concept, Sunset is in self-exile because she fears she's a failure. But unlike TLK, she remains in contact, yet they believe she's brainwashed. And just because she communicates with Princess Celestia doesn't mean she wants to return.

Solution: After Sunset and Pinkie have their big fight, Sunset spends a little time on her own, this time sleeping in Dash's house for the night. Next day, Sunset starts to feel guilty for being involved in that fight and return home from her sleepover, but Pinkie isn't home. Instead, she sees Twilight Sparkle, Maud, and Rocky having some tea. Twilight and Sunset converse, and Sunset decides to show TS a project in the unused garage. Two electric scooters charged in the back; helmets, goggles, and pads lay in wait. Twilight and Sunset change into clothes to protect them from possible scraping in case they fell, and they put on the pads and helmet. Twilight suggests having lunch in the Pristine Café, which is located in the Little Central neighborhood in the quiet part of the central city.

They roll along Pedestria, starting in the outer shell before hitting a road in the big park. Sunset begins to admire Twilight for being able to drive the scooter on her first try, but Twilight stops when she arrives at the suspension bridge separating the side town and the central city. There, Sunset shoots on by, gold and red magic trailing behind her. Twilight restarts the scooter, catches up, and zooms by. There, she sees the others waving, including Pinkie forcefully. Sunset notices and scoots by with a massive glare at her, leaving Pinkie to sulk.

Sunset follows Twilight to the Pristine Café, where Princess and Principal Celestia are having some coffee. Sunset can't recognize the two until Princess Celestia takes out her crown from her backpack. Sunset starts questioning what's going on, and Spike jumps out from inside Twilight's backpack. Princess Celestia and Twilight told her that the portal between Equestria and Pedestria is open. They all adventured here to find her, rescue her, and reunite her with her family. Sunset starts to lose it, accusing the two of forcing her to return to a place she doesn't call home anymore. Canterlot touted her as an up-and-coming protégé for Princess Celestia. Instead, she's the biggest disappointment. Principal Celestia wonders what's going on, but Sunset had none of it and took off. Principal Celestia stared crossly at Princess Celestia and Twilight.

As they and Spike proceed to tell her the long story, Sunset drives to Sugarcube Corner for some lunch and then heads back home. When she returned, Pinkie was sitting by the table, sulking. Sunset accuses her of using that to feel guilty. Pinkie says she does. But Sunset said if she really felt guilty, then she wouldn't say that the Pie family would be better without her in the first place. Before Pinkie can say the next sentence, Sunset said if she knew her journal was private, then she wouldn't have bothered to snoop and out her. Well, now the story feels complete, and there's nothing it can be done to hide it. Not from the Pie family. Not from the rest of her friends, and especially herself. Maybe it'd be best to return home, after all.

"But, Sunset, this is home!" exclaims Pinkie Pie.

"I wish it was." Sunset leaves home and speeds off.

Pinkie Pie calls the others to tell them that Sunset has run away. They alert Twilight of the same. By phone, Pinkie tells Twilight that she may be going to her real home. Twilight, Spike and Princess Celestia race to the galloping horse statue, where the others were. They ask a guard standing in front of CHS if they saw a girl with gold skin and gold and red hair. He said "no." Princess Celestia decides to find out and heads back through the portal. When she comes back, she said she saw her friends, but nobody saw Sunset. As they fan out and find her, the guard alerts the police and tells them to find her. Everyone searches for her, but finds nothing, and pictures of her begin to be posted instructing people to call police if they spot her. All of Sunset's friends and classmates ask if they spotted her somewhere, but she simply vanished. They call her every minute or two, only to head to her voicemail till it filled up.

The search continues into a gigantic park within the city. No sign. They walk past an empty little-league baseball field and onto a hill behind the outfield walls. Pinkie sits down on the top under an orange tree and tries to call her, only to reach a full voicemail. Pinkie tries texting, but no reply. She leans forward, feeling very angry at herself and blaming herself. Applejack responds curtly that she said really bad things, but she doesn't believe their close bond will collapse. She's just angry. Pinkie doesn't believe her. She thought she really wanted to come home to this Equestria. Twilight and Celestia also begin to feel guilty, believing they put too much pressure on her at a very vulnerable time. She just couldn't handle it. Then, Flash Sentry gets involved and tells them a little story about how he and his little bro once got into a very nasty spat when they were younger. It took several days, but they made up, and they're now closer than ever. Pinkie said that they argued over something petty; she said the family will be better without her. Flash understands, but believes she'll forgive her.

"I forgave her a long time ago."

Scooter in tow, she climbs to the top of the hill where everybody wondered where she was and that she scared everyone. The scaring never came across her mind. She was so confused and so angry, she wanted time to be alone. She was on top of the field most of the day, but left before they showed up. She returned when she heard them call for her. When one of her classmates stated that there's a police search for her, she decided to call Mr. and Mrs. Pie and the police immediately after; she and her friends state in both that they're together through the video-capturing MuzzleVision, and she apologizes for running away. The search is called off. In the meantime, Sunset asks if she and Pinkie can spend a little quality time alone, which they agree. Sunset tells Pinkie that tomorrow, she'll return to Canterlot to meet her parents and brother, but she'll be there for a couple of days to get acquainted. She'll head back to Pedestria for a couple. Then alternate time with them and then in Canterlot, starting every morning until the portal closes in eleven days.

Pinkie: By then, you'll have to choose where to call home.

Sunset: Unfortunately, I'll have to.

Pinkie: But which?

Sunset: I don't know. I mean, you, Maud, Limestone, Marble, and your friends have been my family since I came to this world, but I can't leave Mama and Papa back in Canterlot worried for my safety, either. I need to confront my past and return.

Pinkie: And what if you decide to stay in Canterlot?

Sunset: *sigh* I don't know, Pinkie.

Pinkie: (starts to cry) If you do, it's because of me.

Sunset: Shhh. Don't blame yourself.

Pinkie: I can't help it, Sunset. I can't help it.

Pinkie hugs Sunset and sobs quietly on her chest.

Pinkie: I'm so sorry, Sunset. Can you ever forgive me?

Sunset (caresses Pinkie's hair, tears down her own eyes): I forgive you, Pinkie.

Get them closer

Did anyone here watch The Secret Garden from 1993? *raises hand* For those who haven't seen it, as Mary Lennox sleeps, her cousin Colin Craven (who had just begun to learn how to walk after spending almost his whole life confined to his bed fearing he was going to grow with a back deformity or die at a young age) clumsily walked from his room to Mary's without anyone noticing. They want to figure out a way to contact his father. Mary tries to find his address in his room. Instead, old pictures of Colin's family were in his drawer, including his mom (who died from falling off a swing and resulted in Colin's premature birth). They spent all night looking at the pictures and wound up falling asleep on the same bed with the pictures lying on the foot of the bed.

Solution: That night, Sunset heads over to Pinkie's bedroom, feeling a little nervous about tomorrow. Pinkie assures her everyone will be there, and Pinkie's well-prepared with the many alarm clocks before the 9 AM departure. Pinkie's nervicited.

Sunset: That's not a real word, Pinkie.

Pinkie: Soooo.

Sunset chuckles.

Pinkie theorizes Equestria as some kind of magical land. The early pictures of Sunset as a unicorn were cute, and she thought about how Sunset was as a unicorn or if there are ponies just like her. Sunset says there may be, but other species exist. Sunset asks if she'd like to see some photos from her own childhood, and Pinkie accepts. Minutes later, Sunset returns with her journal along with loose photos of her early life in Gifted Unicorns. They displayed Sunset as a baby with Dawn and Sunrise Shimmer, her Grazewood home, and then images of a happy filly Sunset with a towering Princess Celestia, an Equestrian alicorn.

Pinkie Pie: Don't alicorns stand for the horn of dead unicorns?

Sunset gaped.

Pinkie (perplexed): What?

Sunset: Never heard that before.
The conversation kept going past the notes, loose photos, and into old photos of their own childhood together. It lasted through the night. Unbeknownst to them, they wound up falling asleep while leaning their heads on each other.

Knock-knock.

Sunset and Pinkie slowly wake up.

Maud: Breakfast.

After Maud puts down their meals and walks away, Sunset and Pinkie realize they dozed off together. Yet, they don't care.

It's a bit moot, but for those wondering, for me, preparing for a draft is much easier when I write dialogue in script format rather than prose. During my early days of writing fanfiction, I had a lot of trouble writing character dialogue; often, they're too formal and stiff. It's one of the reasons why I elected to go to Playwriting class when I was getting my writing Associate's. By focusing on writing a script, I remove all of the description and focus on who the characters are and their respective voices. If it doesn't work, I can change it without many problems. Afterwards, when I resumed fanfiction writing, I used my lessons into practice, spending chapters writing nothing but scripts as a draft before restructuring it to prose.