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Sunset continued her way through Cloudsdale, being happy she at least had an opportunity to admire the wonderful scenery created by the pegasai. After meeting all the pony versions of the Shadowbolts, she decided she would not really be interested in making friends with any of them except for maybe Lemon Zest. Sugarcoat, Sour Sweet, and Sunny Flare, she was more fine with staying away from after they showed having despicable personalities. Sunset was at least a little more neutral on Indigo, as she didn’t give her any bad attitude, although she still wrecked her ride home and refused to take any responsibility for it.
 
It didn’t matter too much to Sunset, as none of the Shadowbolts were really her friends back in the human world. She was at least glad that Twilight’s friends were understanding and accepting of her, much like the human versions who taught her friendship all those years at Canterlot High. If there were any friends she’d regularly hang out with whenever she did decide to return to Equestria, they would certainly be her first choice. After all, despite stealing Twilight’s crown and only just meeting them officially for the first time, they were perfectly fine with still giving her another chance to start over, and take time out of their day to show her around Equestria. Even after the tour was over, Sunset could only imagine what kind of adventures she could have with them all as a unicorn, just like with the human versions.
 
Looking back, Sunset’s worst memory with her human friends was when they accused her of posting their secrets publicly under the screen name ‘Anon-a-Miss’ despite Sunset showing genuine feelings assure them that she would never do anything like that. In all fairness, she did understand looking pretty culpable after how guilty Applebloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle presented her as. But being a changed person at that point, she still wished her friends had just a little bit more faith in her than they ended up having. It did feel more crushing than the Wallflower incident, since in that case, their treatment toward her was caused by magic, rather than them feeling genuine disgust toward her.
 
The whole experience made Sunset learn that as nice of a feeling it was to make friends, it would be just as heartbreaking to lose them like that. This was why up until that conversation back at the coronation, Sunset was still concerned regarding losing her human friends if she decided to take an extended stay in Equestria. But after learning that she didn’t really have much to worry about if the portal was always open, it wouldn’t be a case of her needing to make an ultimate decision. Sunset’s plan after graduation was to maybe get an idea on what her human friends would end up doing with their lives, to see if she could visit them when she had the chance. And if they did somehow move far away, digital communication was always an option thanks to the world’s more advanced technology.
 
With the seemingly impossible dilemma solved after that talk last night, Sunset could focus on enjoying the many marvelous sights of Equestria. She kept on going through the city and mostly saw pegasai doing their everyday jobs, as well as the occasional landmarks seemingly made out of pure clouds. All these sights genuinely made Sunset feel more reminded of how much more in Equestria she’s truly missed out on after spending a chunk of her life as a human. After all, she certainly couldn’t remember the last time she was able to walk in the sky and see an entire civilization before her eyes.
 
It was true that occasionally, being able to power up and use magical abilities was something Sunset and her human friends did together quite a bit, especially after they had gotten their geodes from Camp Everfree. However, there was still a major difference between simply using magic and being in a world where magic was naturally everywhere. Plus, using the magic for extended periods from Sunset’s experience seemed to cause unnatural side effects, sometimes to where she didn’t even have full control over her powers anymore. The most noticeable example was when she felt a drop of rain on her hands, and was able to read the rain’s mind, despite the fact it was an inanimate piece of precipitation.
 
Along with taking a serious break from using the geodes, it was clear to Sunset that even long before graduation at Canterlot High, being able to use magic freely was out of the question. And with magic already being quite limited in power in a world that was never meant to have it, she began to realize that although she’s made a wonderful family of friends there, this was not the life she wanted. Sunset then began to think back on what Princess Celestia told her all those years ago when remaining adamant on doing nothing but staying away from the magical mirror. Was this the reason her former mentor discouraged the idea of coming into this world, or was there some other reason Sunset had never even considered? Whatever was the case, she was most likely not going to understand until her visit to Celestia in Silver Shoals.
 
Unfortunately, with the hot air balloon wrecked by Indigo earlier, visiting Celestia couldn’t be a priority until she could find a way to return to the ground. Sunset had already decided that she’d seen enough of Cloudsdale after going through most of the city, and now focused on finding Rainbow Dash. But Sunset suddenly had a problem, in that she had no idea where the Wonderbolts Academy was located, nor how far away it was. To make matters worse, she didn’t bring her saddlebag with her, and more importantly, the map of Equestria, as she felt that wearing the bag everywhere would get exhausting. Plus, she felt that if her new pony friends were going to show her around Equestria more, there was really no need to bring a map.
 
Sunset began to contemplate how to move forward, when she eventually decided to simply continue on until she could find Rainbow Dash, or anypony else who could help her with directions. She listened to some chatter from other pegasai in the distance, wondering if anything said could give her a clue on the right direction to take. Unfortunately, they said nothing useful, other than one pegasus vaguely mentioning that ‘Rainbow Crash’ was at the Wonderbolts Academy on the other side of town. The pegasai were too far away to hear Sunset’s cry for help, so she kept on going.
 
Eventually, Sunset saw a familiar face in the distance, dressed in a mail delivery pony uniform and sitting by herself. Given how Sunset didn’t really know any other pegasai here and how credible they could be when asked for directions, already knowing Derpy made Sunset more comfortable in trusting her. Plus, she already knew what the human Derpy was like, having her realize didn’t really have anything to lose. Sunset quickly trotted up toward her while calling out her name.
 
“Derpy? Is that you?” Sunset asked, as the gray pegasus turned around to see the new friend she made yesterday at the train station. “Good to see you again!”
 
“Hi! How’s it going, Sunset?” Derpy greeted her. “I’m a little surprised to see a unicorn in Cloudsdale.”
 
“Oh, yeah. Just a pegasai trait spell I pulled off.” Sunset explained. “But yeah, it’s good to see you too. Now that I’m taking a little more time off, thought I’d explore Cloudsdale and get to know about the pegasai better. I am expecting to meet Rainbow Dash soon, and I was told she’s at the Wonderbolts Academy today. Do you by any chance know where that might be?”
 
“Somewhere around the east side of town, you want to follow the sight of a rainbow fall just by the edge of a large mountaintop.” Derpy recalled from memory.
 
“Alright, that shouldn’t be too far from here.” Sunset replied. “I guess if I keep trotting in that general direction, I’ll eventually find it, thanks. I can see you’re busy doing your mail delivery job, so I guess we can catch up later?”
 
“Actually, Sunset?” Derpy began in a more saddened tone. “I just got laid off from my job. My boss had been receiving too many complaints that I somehow didn’t deliver the packages to their correct destinations, even though I did! I just don’t know what went wrong with those packages.”
 
“Oh? I’m sorry to hear.” Sunset sympathized. “Is there anything I can do to help you uncover what’s been going on? While I head off to the Wonderbolts Academy, I can keep an eye out for anything suspicious, if you like?”
 
“Well, I have noticed that some pegasus started following me on my mail routes.” Derpy recalled during the past week. “And strangely, the most packages that were reported to be undelivered were shipments of goggles and workout uniforms. I might not be the quickest delivery pony in Cloudsdale, but I’ve always had perfect attendance and delivery on my routes. My boss didn’t think so, though, not after 19 calls of missing packages…”
 
“Hmm, pegasus… and goggles?” Sunset thought to herself, before realizing who she had encountered earlier in Cloudsdale upon arrival. “Did this pegasus happen to have an orange coat?”
 
“I believe so.” Derpy confirmed. “Why do you ask?”
 
“Seems I might get to do some investigating during my trip then.” Sunset said, feeling somewhat confident on who could’ve done this. “If I’m to understand what’s going on, whoever did this is must’ve swiped the packages right after you delivered them. That would explain why they were following you during your mail route.”
 
“Oh no, I can’t believe I didn’t catch on to that sooner!” Derpy grumbled. “Well, unless I can find some evidence to prove to my boss that the missing packages weren’t my fault, I’m afraid I’m out of a job at the moment.”
 
“Don’t worry, I’m a pony who believes in helping out her friends whenever they need it.” Sunset assured. “I think I already have a pretty good lead on who might’ve done this, but I’ll need to find Rainbow Dash first. Hopefully we can meet up again soon!”
 
“I appreciate it, I guess I’ll see you soon too!” Derpy said, happy that her new friend was willing to help out of the kindness of her heart.
 
Sunset went down the east route of the city, and was soon able to see the Wonderbolts Academy in the distance. It hard to miss the gigantic mountaintop with a runway and distinct rainbow fall by the side, and there was even a nice bridge connecting it to the city, likely for pegasai with injured wings. Sunset eventually noticed Rainbow Dash in the distance, training some other Wonderbolt recruits. She hoped that after finishing, they could get to know each other a little better, but also discuss what happened with Indigo Zap earlier. She also had good reason to believe Indigo was the package thief who got Derpy fired, making Sunset more adamant about mentioning her. Sunset trotted up to Rainbow Dash as she turned around and noticed the unicorn she officially met last night.
 
“Oh, Sunset! Hey!” Rainbow greeted before turning back to her trainees. “Alright, everypony, that’s enough workout for today, be sure to come back tomorrow same time!”
 
“Well, I can see you’re one busy pony.” Sunset observed, as the pegasai trainers left the field. “I’m definitely impressed you’ve become a Wonderbolt, as I’ve heard from Twilight. I also vaguely recall watching their performances when I was little. I think I liked Spitfire the most.”
 
“You’re a fan of the Wonderbolts?” Rainbow asked in surprise before breathing a sigh of relief. “You’re already a step up from Starlight, she’s never even heard of them. I might already see you as a better Starlight, due to the both of you having troubled pasts.”
 
“Hey now, Rainbow.” Sunset said, a little taken back from that statement. “There’s no need to compare me to her in that sense, she’s allowed to enjoy what she likes. Besides, the Wonderbolts wouldn’t exactly be my number one interest, that spot would probably go to comic books. I drew them in my free time back at home.”
 
“Come on, I didn’t actually mean that!” Rainbow clarified. “But seriously, you should consider seeing the Wonderbolts more frequently if you do plan on staying in Equestria more. We’re awesome.”
 
Sunset simply rolled her eyes. The ego in pony Rainbow Dash seemed consistent with the human version she knew, but in the end, Sunset still couldn’t help but admire it, since it reminded her of a part of herself she took pride in. After all, being the leader of her group of friends back at CHS certainly took great friendship skills and confidence. Plus, she used to have such an ego as well back as Celestia’s pupil, so she wouldn’t have much room to talk, despite now being a changed pony.
 
“I’ll… consider it, at least.” Sunset said in a somewhat uninterested manner. “But anyways, just like with what Twilight declared yesterday at the festival, I mostly came over the Cloudsdale so that we could maybe know each other more personally, and maybe explore more of the city. Though, I had to come find you myself.”
 
“Oh, yeah. About that?” Rainbow began. “Spitfire called in on such short notice that Soarin’ had a bit of an accident on his last flight, so I had to fill in as recruit coach. I kinda forgot to tell you and Twilight, apologies.”
 
“Alright, that’s fine.” Sunset said understandingly. “But while coming here, I’ve kinda seen enough of Cloudsdale to really appreciate the scenery and everything. Pretty impressive how much you pegasai can craft with just clouds, that’s for certain. Now that I’m here though, I guess we can get a bit closer with one another. I was mostly wondering what you did as a Wonderbolt, but now I can see you’re a pretty excellent coach and main lead flyer. But what’s weird is, while I was trotting through town, I could’ve sworn I heard somepony call you ‘Rainbow Crash’, or something like that.”
 
“Argh, I’m never going to stop hearing that nickname, am I?” Rainbow groaned. “Well, at least I’ve grown used to that nickname, even if it does seem embarrassing. At least I am a Wonderbolt now, and probably the best flyer on the team. In fact, I’m so good that I’ve recently gotten the power to start training newbies here at the academy. Heck, I even took on a new personal Wonderbolt apprentice. It took quite a while to get to this point though. That includes almost quitting after Spitfire kept favoring Lightning Dust over me, and all those years at Junior Speedsters with Gilda.”
 
“Gilda?” Sunset asked, trying to piece together who exactly Gilda was. “She isn’t by any chance an aggressive bully with a raspy voice, is she?”
 
“Well, she kinda was in the beginning when she was acting like a jerk to Pinkie, and from what I was told, even roared at Fluttershy, but we’ve made up since. I even sometimes visit her at Griffinstone. And yeah, I guess her voice is pretty raspy. Why?”
 
“Does she sound… ahem.” Sunset began, before making her voice raspier to better imitate that girl who attacked her in the alley that night. “Like this, Rainbow Dash?”
 
“Yeah, exactly like that!” Rainbow confirmed. “So you’ve met her? I hope she was at least nicer to you than she was way back then.”
 
“Not exactly.” Sunset began, before explaining herself. “Well, for one thing, it wasn’t the Gilda you know, it was the other Gilda. And let’s just say the human… you, she got her expelled from CHS after she bullied Fluttershy mercilessly.”
 
“Is that so?” Rainbow said with a bit of smugness at what her human self did. “Well, I guess that means I’m always 20 percent cooler no matter which world I’m in!”
 
“Well let’s move on from that. I was just curious anyways.” Sunset finished, now knowing that based on what both Rainbow Dashes had told her, that girl she fought most likely was Gilda. It was only now a matter of remembering to keep her guard up if she did encounter her again, knowing that her human friends heavily implied she somehow broke out of juvey. Regardless, Sunset didn’t want to focus on that topic for now, so she shifted the conversation back to talking more about Rainbow’s life at the academy. “So hey, you mentioned you have an apprentice now? Kind of like how Princess Celestia took pupils under her wing?”
 
“More or less. She’s a pretty amazing flyer, I actually just sent her out toward the city to attempt trying to pull off a Sonic Rainboom. I dare say she could even be faster than yours truly, but I guess we’ll see.” Rainbow explained, before she noticed out of the corner of her eye, the aforementioned apprentice was breezing through the sky. “Speaking of which, there she is!” Rainbow had blown her whistle to signal the attention of her prized student, as she took notice and flew down.
 
It admittedly took Sunset by surprise at first to see who the apprentice was, but then she realized it shouldn’t have been too surprising given how remarkably fast that pegasus flew earlier in town. Sunset understood the timing was perfect, and that this would likely be a good opportunity to tell Rainbow what happened as she just arrived in Cloudsdale.
 
“Good to see you again, Dash.” Indigo greeted her coach. She was now wearing a training uniform “I couldn’t pull off the Sonic Rainboom, but I did manage to pop a balloon, let’s just say.”
 
“Yeah, you certainly did.” Sunset said in a less friendly tone. “Among other things that’s been going on around town, I’d imagine.”
 
Indigo’s eyes widened and she let out a gasp. “You again? Listen, I’m sorry for popping the hot air balloon, just please don’t tell Princess Twilight!”
 
“All right, but maybe I should tell Rainbow Dash that you’ve been stealing packages all around town.” Sunset pointed at Indigo with her hoof.”
 
“What!?” Indigo exclaimed at the accusation. “I would never!”
 
“Right, and that must be why you decided to leave the scene of a crime after vandalizing the hot air balloon, and why you’re now wearing both goggles and a training uniform.” Sunset insisted. “The two reportedly missing package items from Cloudsdale. Derpy told me everything, and it’s because of thieves like you, she got fired from her job!”
 
Indigo simply narrowed her eyes. “Okay, I’ll take full blame for what happened to the hot air balloon, but I didn’t steal nopony’s packages. These goggles and this uniform, they were a gift from my mentor, Rainbow Dash!”
 
“She’s right, Sunset.” Rainbow vouched. “I bought her the uniform and goggles for our flight training sessions. Why are you suddenly accusing my apprentice of being a crook? I’ve known Indigo for a while, and it’s not like her to steal packages. What could Derpy have told you to make you believe it was her?”
 
“She vandalized Twilight’s balloon and didn’t take any form of responsibility, she’s the only pegasus I’ve seen today wearing both goggles and training uniforms, and like Derpy mentioned, she has an orange coat!” Sunset reasoned.
 
“Seriously?” Rainbow asked in disbelief. “You’re going to say she’s guilty just because she has an orange coat? Lots of pegasai have orange fur, and plus, uniforms and goggles are common for academy trainers! Okay, she might’ve destroyed your hot air balloon, but that was under my command! I told her to go into the city to practice pulling off a Sonic Rainboom! So what, are you going to blame me now, Sunset!?”
 
“Hey, I’m not the one who’s making foolish decisions that come at the expense of others!” Sunset stood her ground. “Look, I get she’s your apprentice, but I’m just letting you know that based on my experience you can’t always trust everypony you meet. There’s no pony else, it had to have been her!”
 
“What could’ve been her?” Derpy asked, as she overheard part of the argument while flying around Cloudsdale. “Have you found the culprit, Sunset?”
 
“I believe I have.” Sunset said proudly. It was perfect timing to finally expose Indigo. “Tell Rainbow, Derpy. That orange pegasus there with the goggles was the one who followed you around during your mail route, stole delivered packages, and got you fired from your job. Isn’t that right?”
 
Derpy looked at Indigo in confusion before speaking up. “Sunset is right on at least two things here. There was a pegasus who followed me while I was delivering packages whom mysteriously made them vanish and got me fired. But that pegasus wasn’t the one who followed me. I seem to remember her having blonde hair, purple eyes, and green eyeshadow. From what I understand, I’ve never seen this pegasus on any of my mail routes before.”
 
Upon hearing this, both Rainbow and Indigo looked toward Sunset with nasty expressions, as Sunset’s confidence and feeling of justice plummeted. She gulped before speaking up. “O…okay, so maybe I did assume a little quicker than I should have, but… she was the only orange pegasus I encountered today, and I really just wanted to help Derpy-”
 
“Oh save it!” Indigo snapped. “Maybe before you accuse me of being a bad pony, you should look at yourself first! I’ve never felt so humiliated in all my life! In front of my Wonderbolts mentor too! There’s only one thing you’ve instead stolen from me, and that’s my willingness to still be a Wonderbolt! I quit! And I’m now glad I destroyed your hot air balloon!”
 
With that, Indigo huffed and quickly flew off of the academy grounds, before Rainbow began to speak. “You really just made me lose my apprentice over believing she’s the only orange pegasus in Cloudsdale!? Twilight mentioned that you’re out of practice with your teleportation spells to reliably get down to Ponyville and that I should step in to help you if needed. But after what you just did, I say forget it! I agree, I am glad that your balloon is destroyed, have fun getting to the ground by yourself, Sunset Shimmer! And you know the saddest thing? I legitimately thought for a minute you had changed. I even had my doubts yesterday when I thought you had ditched Twilight’s coronation! Looks like I was right after all. Goodbye, you so called friend!”
 
Rainbow bolted off in the opposite direction Indigo went, now leaving Sunset and Derpy all alone on the academy runway. Sunset now looked down on herself, rubbing her hoof on the ground for what just happened. She was almost positive Indigo was truly the package culprit, but assumed things a little too quickly when the thief was only described having orange fur. Sunset realized that just like she had done in her past, she seemingly just let her own pride consume her, making the situation worse as she kept on fighting toward a personal belief rather than logically reasoning everything. It was definitely her own fault for not asking Derpy on other traits the thief had, which definitely did not match Indigo’s look.
 
Sunset now put her hooves over her face, saddened by now only already losing Rainbow as a friend, but also being straight up told that she ‘hadn’t changed’ when that was absolutely far from the truth. Despite everything that just happened a few minutes ago, Derpy put her hoof on Sunset’s back and tried to cheer her up.
 
“Please don’t cry, Sunset.” Derpy said in a saddened tone. “I still appreciate you trying to fight for me, especially since whoever did this made me lose my job. It’s also my fault for not letting you know before on specifics for what the thief looked like.”
 
“I just can’t believe I messed up so badly.” Sunset said with sorrow. “I was so sure with myself that I let that get in the way of a friendship. Now Rainbow Dash doesn’t want anything to do with me, and… I’m stuck in the sky too.”
 
“Stuck?” Derpy questioned, while continuing to pat Sunset’s back. “What do you mean, you don’t have any way to get to the ground?”
 
I only had the pegasai cloud walking spell to walk on Cloudsdale, and the hot air balloon, which was destroyed by that pony I thought was the thief.” Sunset explained. “Twilight mentioned that if I had trouble returning after my trip to Cloudsdale was complete, I could ask Rainbow, but as you can see, now that’s certainly out of the question.”
 
Derpy’s ears went down with sadness, before she thought of an idea. “I might be fired from my job and turned in my delivery uniform, but my boss is still making me do one last shipment of muffins to Ponyville before my work is completely done. Even better, I still have my mail delivery-truck. If you’d like, Sunset? You can ride in my passenger’s seat while I drive. I have to go to Ponyville anyways, and after seeing what you just went through to help me, it’s honestly the least I could for you.”
 
“I wouldn’t know how else to safely get to the ground, so I’ll certainly take the offer.” Sunset said gratefully. “Thank you so much, you really are a good friend.”
 
“You definitely are the better friend.” Derpy smiled. “Listen, I have known Rainbow Dash for a while, so if you’d like, I could also talk to her on your behalf, if you’d like?”
 
“That sounds nice, but I have a feeling that if I’m going to solve this friendship problem with her, I’ll have to do it myself. It was still my fault for jumping to conclusions too quickly. Plus, I’d feel guilty for giving you more trouble after you just got fired.”
 
“I understand.” Derpy replied. “Good luck with working things out with Rainbow, even I know from experience she isn’t the easiest to pony to get along with. Come on, Sunset, let’s get you home.”
 
With that, Derpy hugged her wing around Sunset as they slowly trotted off of the academy grounds and back into the city. As they approached Derpy’s truck, Sunset was still contemplating on how she could’ve handled the situation better than she ended up doing. She also imagined Twilight would be rather disappointed with how upset she ended up making Rainbow.