The end of the Running of the Leaves had been a success, even if Sunset’s little outburst at Applejack and Rainbow worried some of the townsfolk, but the final judgement she gave to the two ponies kept their trust to her.
And not only that, but Sunset had received a letter form Celestia congratulating her for her work.
The unicorn was extremely happy that night, but now; she felt like she was dying.

“Come on Sunset!” Rainbow called out to her flying companion, who was having a great difficulty keeping up with her.

“Could we rest for a minute?” Sunset pleaded, feeling her body getting slowly drained of all magic.

Rainbow flew below her and lifted her with her back, allowing her to unsummon her wings and rest. “I thought you were the competitive type.”

“Yeah but flying like this is quite different than what I was expecting.”
And it was for a reason. Sunset never had to develop her speed and maneuverability, content with simply beelining to her objective and fly around for fun. However, after the ursa incident, she considered fixing this problem so she could be better prepared in case something similar happened. But it was easier said than done.

Having exhausted her partner, Rainbow decided this was the best moment to ask some questions. “So, how does that thing with the wings work? I see you just manifesting them out of thin air. Are they tucked inside your back or something?”

Sunset felt like she was about to fall asleep on Rainbows back, so she welcomed the small talk to keep her awake. “No, that would be painful. The spell transforms my body to have that characteristic added to it. The same with the eyes, ears and colored coat.”

Rainbow tried to put everything together in her mind. “So, you don’t turn yourself into an alicorn?”

Sunset laughed at that. “I wish it could be that simple, but no. It’s just an addon, and it drains my magic instead of boosting it.”

“Wait, you use magic to fly?” Rainbow asked with confusion.

“Yep. That’s why it tires me so much.” Sunset reaffirmed this by yawning. “Instead of a physical exhaustion, which would also be pretty bad, I simply ran out of magic and weaken my entire body.”

“Huh. That doesn’t sound like it’s worth it.”

Sunset chuckled. “Hey, flying is awesome, so it’s worth it in my book.”

Rainbow’s ears stood up. “Wait, if you use magic to fly, shouldn’t you be, like, extremely fast? I mean, you supposedly have more magic than Twilight.”

Sunset felt sleepiness slowly take over. ‘Are all pegasus naturally this soft?’
“I never measured myself with Twilight, so I don’t know who of us has the more magical prowess.”

“But you’re always gloating about being stronger than her.”

“Yeah, and I do believe so, but she’s not too far from me. It always bothered her that I said that, so she focused more in her studies to surpass me.”

“Is that why she’s such an egghead?”

“Not entirely. She loves books to a sometimes-worrying degree, and most of her expectations are born from Celestia.”

Rainbow remained silent for a couple of seconds, but then surprised Sunset with a new question. “Hey, I know it’s kind of personal but… are you and Celestia… okay with each other?”

Sunset’s ears perked up, and she couldn’t respond right away. “Wha- Why do you ask?”

“When we descended from the mountain, Celestia was there to talk with us. I didn’t hear all that the girls talk about then, but it was obvious that Celestia was troubled by what happened.”

“Well, I died, so it’s understandable,” Sunset said, hoping to end the conversation with logic.

“Yeah, but… I could tell there was something more. She was angry, well, everypony was angry that day, but that made me realize it more. It wasn’t that the normally calm and motherly princess we all knew was having a bad day.”

“Bad day sounds like an understatement.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “You know what I mean. It wasn’t that, it felt like, it was another pony. A pony that she kept hidden from the public. And it only slipped out when it came to you getting hurt.”

“Rainbow… I don’t know to what you’re going for with this.” She knew, she just didn’t want her to.

“Look, it’s just something I noticed. I mean, she sent me away for saying stupid things and trying to save Pinkie from some sort of punishment because of the way she talked to you. But I can tell when things happen around me. I need to for my job, so it’s an instinct I developed. And that’s what it tells me about what happened that day.” She turned her head towards Sunset, and the unicorn could see the genuine worry in her eyes. “So, are you and her… okay? Do you want to talk about it?”

The two questions made Sunset’s mind spin. She had already confessed about what she felt the day she… drowned. But this… felt more personal to her somehow. It was something she tried to keep hidden since she met Twilight. Could she really trust Rainbow with it?

The pegasus hope for helping her diminished with Sunset’s continuous silence. She feared that she pushed too fast and was about to take it back when the unicorn finally spoke again.
“If you want me to tell you… I need you to promise me that you will never tell Twilight about it. Ever. No matter what happens between her and me, or with Celestia. Take it to your grave if you must.”

Rainbow felt like she was exaggerating, but the pain in Sunset’s eyes told her she was very serious. “I Pinkie promise.”

Sunset looked at her confused. “What?”

“I Cross My Heart, Hope to Fly, Stick a Cupcake in my Eye.” Rainbow said doing some weird motions to Sunset.

‘It has Pinkie in its name, so it’s probably not worth asking.’ “Can we go a little higher for this?”

“Sure, hold on.” Rainbow flapped her wings and flew up, far above the altitude pegasus normally flew in their travels. She also picked some clouds on her way up to hide themselves in. “Do your wings allow you to cloud walk?”

“No, sorry. I will need you to keep me afloat,” Sunset responded with an apologetic smile.

“Don’t worry, I got you.” Rainbow landed on the cloud and did her best to look at Sunset without much discomfort for her neck. “So, what’s the situation exactly?”

Sunset took some air to give herself some courage. “Do you remember that I said that Twilight replaced me?”

“No, I missed most of the conversation.”

“Uh, well, that was the start of this.”

“So, the obvious first question; Replace you how?”

“Before Twilight, I was Celestia’s only pupil. She raised me to be one of the most powerful mages of our times… but…”

“Twilight came along and took your title. Well, I think there can be two great mages. Uh, or better yet, you could team up and be extra all-powerful!” Rainbow offered with some excitement, hoping that Sunset would play along.

Sadly, it didn’t work. “It’s not that simple Rainbow.” Sunset sighed. “You know that a pony can achieve alicornhood if they prove themselves worthy of it?”

Rainbow seemed surprised but not as excited as she had expected. “I had no idea. But it sounds awesome for you.”

That managed to crack a smile on Sunset. “It is, but… well, I didn’t earn it before Twilight became Celestia’s student. And even before that… I made a mistake.”

Rainbow looked at her with worry. “Something tells me you didn’t just fail a test or something like that.”

“I wish it was. But what I did was… I… I tried to cheat my way to it.” Just saying it felt like she had somehow dropped something heavy from her chest.

Rainbow frowned. “How?”

“There are forbidden books stored in the castle. Books that can teach you dangerous spells. Spells that not even an alicorn should wield. And I was hoping to find the way to turn myself into an alicorn in there.”

“Did you find it?”

“No… I stopped myself before reading any of the books.”

“Then what’s the problem? You shouldn’t be punished for something you didn’t end up doing.”

Sunset shook her head slowly. “Just having the intention of doing it is proof enough. And when Twilight became her student, I tried to do it again. But the library was locked.”

Rainbows eyes widened. “It wasn’t locked form the start?”

“Well, they didn’t feel like there was somepony who would do it. They trusted me… and I… lost that trust.”

Rainbow felt tears falling on her back. “So, that’s why Twilight replaced you?”

Sunset wiped the tears away. “Is one of the reasons. Yeah.”

Rainbow took a moment to think before speaking again. “Can I be honest?”

Sunset shrugged. “Sure, nothing I can-”

“That’s a bunch of horseapples!”

Sunset recoiled at the blunt words. “What?”

“You made a mistake, so what? Aren’t we all allowed to make them? Should I just throw away my dreams of being a Wonderbolt just because I made a mistake cheating at the race with Applejack?!”

Sunset shook her head. ‘Of course she doesn’t get it.’
“Rainbow, it’s not the same thing.”

“Maybe, but you’ve also done a lot of good to compensate that. You saved us when Nightmare Moon attacked us. For Celestia’s sake, you died for us that night! And then you fought a freaking ursa major to protect the town. Died doing that too. You should have parades made for you. We should have a statue made for you in the middle of Ponyville.”

“Rainbow I also hurt Twilight and almost melted all of you into a puddle just because I was-”

“Completely done with all the unfairness thrown your way!” Rainbow was fuming. “I would too to be honest. I’m mad just thinking about it.”

Sunset sighed, this was proving to be a mistake. “As I said Rainbow, it’s not that simple.”

“What else is there?” the pegasus asked.

“What?”

Rainbow looked like she was about to bite somepony’s hoof off. “You said it was one of the reasons. What are the rest?”

“Well… I can’t make friends. I tried for years and Twilight did it in one night.”

Rainbow didn’t make sense of her words. “What do you mean? Aren’t you like, the fairy godmother of friendship? Aren’t we friends?”

“I know it sounds completely illogical. But it’s just… I don’t feel it. It’s like I see everypony through a wall of glass. I’m there but can’t connect with you.”

“Then shatter that glass into pieces and come join us! I will have cider ready.”

Sunset chuckled at the bold and forward response. “If you have any idea how, I’m all ears.”

“Oh, be sure that we will find a way to do that. That’s a promise.”

Sunset smiled. “A Pinkie promise?”

“No.” Rainbow said abruptly. “This is between you and me. I will keep the secret, until you’re ready to tell the rest if you want. But I will help you. And it’s not up to debate.”

Sunset couldn’t help but smile. Rainbow was so naive and had no idea of what she was getting into, but still, her sheer determination to help or do something about it made her feel like she was somepony with worth. She cared enough to fight for her, even if the ‘enemy’ wasn’t something she could just kick into submission. She laughed at the idea of Rainbow beating some manifestation of her problems to make it go away.
Rainbow smiled at her laugh, happy that the humor of the unicorn was turning positive again. “Thanks Rainbow, I really appreciate it.”

“It’s what friends do,” she said with a smile full of confidence. She wanted to ask more questions but felt like she had advanced enough for today. “Now, how about we continue with our practice?”

Sunset summoned her wings. “You’re on!”

Sunset was once again traveling on Rainbow’s back, having drained all her energy once again.
The pegasus landed close to a river near the Everfree and laid her on the grass so she could rest. “Do you want me to carry you home?”

Sunset shook her head. “No, I can see the sweat in your forehead. You need some rest too.”

Rainbow was about to object, but decided against it. She didn’t feel the need to hide her tiredness to Sunset, so she just laid beside her.

“Can I ask you a question?” the unicorn asked.

“Shoot.”

“How high can a pegasus fly?”

Rainbow was surprised by the question, she never thought about it. “I… don’t know. Never tried it.”

Sunset lifted a hoof to the sky. “How far could we reach? Could we get close to the sun? Could we land on the moon? Could we reach the stars?”

Rainbow’s response was instantaneous. “That’s sounds boring. And the sun would burn you to a crisp.”

Sunset chuckled. “I guess it’s too egghead for you.”

Rainbow shook her head. “No, it’s not that. I mean, somepony surely would like to do those things but. Why would you want to go that far away? Everything is already here. I doubt you can find cider on the moon.”

Sunset turned her head to her. “Well, there’s also the bad things. Things that you would want to just escape from for some time. That’s what I did in Ponyville.”

“Yeah, but you came with Twilight. If you went too far above the sky, nopony would be able to follow you.” Rainbow though about it for a moment. “Maybe Pinkie could make a ladder high enough.”

Sunset laughed. “Knowing Pinkie, that’s very possible.”

“Still, you shouldn’t escape your problems, you should fight them head on!” Rainbow punched the air to accentuate her point.

Sunset thought about her words for a couple of minutes and lifted herself up, walking up to the river. Rainbow quickly followed her, worried about her intentions. “I’m guessing Applejack told you about my fear of water.” Sunset looked at the river, feeling her legs tremble a little. Even if she felt strong now that her rage had disappeared, she hadn’t gotten rid of her fear. And what scared her most was how long that fear would haunt her. “I don’t want to have that for the rest of my life. And if you say to confront it.” She lifted her foreleg and dipped it into the water, trembling a little harder. “Would you help me do it?”

Rainbow pulled her from her tail, getting her away from the river. “I will gladly do so, but not now. We’re tired, and it has been a very nice day. Let’s try tomorrow when we’re fresh. What do you say?”

Sunset smiled. “Okay… but also keep this between us. Please?”

Rainbow smiled, understanding the feeling pretty well. “Pinkie promise.” As she did the gestures, Sunset tried to copy them unsuccessfully, earning a laugh form the pegasus. “Here, it’s like this.”

Author's Notes:

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Sunset's morale has gone up!: +10
Sunset's morale recieved a bonus!: +1

Current morale: 16/100

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While the previous chapter took a long time to do, this one was a breeze. I blame my love for dialog.

Have a nice existence.

I will be watching you.