The train had long passed the stop at Canterlot, now arriving at the final stop for the day, in Manehattan. Sunset was still sleeping in her seat, when the conductor walked in, checking to ensure all remaining passengers were escorted off for the day. He approached Sunset to let her know the ride was over, before placing a hoof on her to wake her up.

“Hello, ma’am?” The conductor said. “I’m sure you’ve had a nice nap, but I’m afraid you’ll need to get up now. We’ve reached our final stop for today, Manehattan.”

“…Huh? Okay, cool…” Sunset said, half asleep. But then she opened her eyes wide upon realizing what the conductor said. “WAIT, WHAT!?! MANEHATTAN!? NO! No! No! No! I was supposed to get off at Canterlot!” She grumbled.

“That’s going to be difficult, Canterlot was well over two stops ago.” The conductor said sympathetically.

Please, sir. Is there any way you could turn the train around and bring me back to Canterlot? I really can’t be late for Princess Twilight’s coronation!” Sunset begged.

“I’m terribly sorry, ma’am. But I’m afraid now that I’ve escorted the passengers off the train, it’s now my duty to bring the train back to the main station for the day.” The conductor explained. “If I’m late, I could lose my job. Maybe you can still make it in time another way?”

“That depends…” Sunset said, rather worried about possibly missing the coronation altogether. “What time is it right now?”

The conductor looked at his watch before giving Sunset a reply. “About 35 minutes until 7 o’ clock. Will you have enough time?”

Sunset quickly took the journal out of her saddlebag to get a glance at the map. Manehattan admittedly wasn’t that far from Canterlot, but she’d be out of her mind to believe she could trot all the way to the coronation, let alone within half an hour. Still though, she got herself into this pickle by oversleeping, and didn’t want to trouble the conductor any further, so she agreed to find an alternative solution.

“All right, in that case, I’ll figure something out. Thanks anyway.” Sunset said, somewhat reluctantly, as she stepped off the train.

“Good luck, ma’am.” The conductor waved goodbye, as the train left the station.

As Sunset began walking around Manehattan, desperate to find a way back to Canterlot in a timely manner, she wondered what she just did back there. Had she really accepted being in a difficult situation, and attempted to figure things out, without it being at the expense of others? It hadn’t been apparent until now, but all these years of accepting friendship and becoming independent really showed what kind of pony she was now. Sunset figured the independence aspect of herself likely came from the fact that for most of her life, she didn’t always have her parents with her, and was forced to learn self-determination to get this far. This was especially the case when she was first trapped in the human world, and had no choice but to adapt to a human’s lifestyle on her own. Despite being proud of this merit in her life, Sunset still wished she knew where her parents were, and became much closer with them than she ever did as a filly.

The sky was already fading from blue to orange, as the sun began setting. Time was ticking rather fast, but Sunset kept herself calm and knew there were plenty of ponies around here who might be of assistance. It was only a matter of knowing who would also be headed to Canterlot as well, preferably in less than 30 minutes.

“Think, think.” Sunset said to herself. “What would Twilight do if she was in my situation? I remember that Twilight did share her experience with me about how pressuring being tardy was when writing friendship letters to Princess Celestia, but… being on time to this big celebration is far more consequential.”

Sunset eventually remembered that Twilight also wrote to her about how one of the few things she was grateful for was her horn, as teleportation helped her get around much more easily when her wings were exhausted from flying too much. Unfortunately for Sunset, even with how far her studies went back in magic school, she had never fully mastered teleportation from afar. She remembered that the last time she ever used her magic for teleporting was back when she infiltrated the Crystal Castle, and stole Twilight’s crown while she was sleeping. Not the fondest memory, but it did at least help her recall that she had some experience with being able to teleport, even a short distance. Though with how much time it’s been since she even used her horn for basic magical uses like levitating, it didn’t seem likely that teleporting would be practical. Though obviously, trotting around would likely be much more counter-intuitive, and Sunset wasn’t really noticing anypony around Manehattan nearby who could help her out. As such, she stopped dead in her tracks and attempted to start up the teleportation spell, hoping in vain that it would at least improve her current situation. The spell failed to work after a few tries, but after enough perseverance, it had succeeded.

POOF!

Sunset opened her eyes and noticed she was suddenly in a deeper section of Manehattan, specifically, the town square. She was now even further away from Canterlot, and for that matter, she had no idea where she even was in respect to her last position before teleporting. By this point, Sunset felt completely defeated. One minor setback on the train ride was suddenly going to make her completely miss out on Twilight’s coronation. It didn’t look like anypony was around to help her out either, as if all the coronation guests had already departed, leaving a completely deserted, empty town. Sunset collapsed to the ground and began sobbing, feeling like she legitimately betrayed Twilight’s trust when she promised she was going to show up to this big event. She continued moping around on the ground for what felt like an eternity, before as if by miracle, she heard another voice.

“Hey, are you okay there?” A soft voice spoke. “I was heading back home before I heard somepony sobbing here.”

Sunset didn’t immediately recognize the voice, but the soft nature of her speaking did make her wonder at first if it was Fluttershy. Sunset opened her eyes and saw that it wasn’t her, but instead, an Earth pony mare she didn’t recognize at all, not even as somebody she knew in the human world. Regardless, Sunset began to elaborate about her situation.

“Hi, and no… I’m afraid not.” Sunset began explaining. “I got off from the wrong train stop, and now I’m going to be late to my friend’s big celebratory event. I promised her I would show up, but now that I’m stuck in this town and the event will be starting in less than 25 minutes, there’s no way I can make it there before the whole thing is over, let alone on time when it begins.”

“I see…” The mare began. “Where might this celebration be at?”

“In Canterlot.” Sunset clarified. “I was originally going to be at Princess Twilight’s coronation, but now, given the circumstances, I shouldn’t even waste my energy. It’s too far of a trot to Canterlot, and I can’t simply teleport there with how little magic experience I have.”

“Princess Twilight’s coronation… and Canterlot?” The mare inquired, before thinking of a solution. “Wait right here, I have an idea!” She said, before running off to her home, which was right down the block.

Sunset, feeling that she had no other solution, did just what was requested. She waited around, but was admittedly curious on what this mare had in mind to help her out. Just then, the mare came running back, holding a golden ticket in her hooves.

“Here, take this. It’s a ticket for the Manehattan ferry. One of the stops is around where Canterlot is located, but the way it goes should at least get you to Canterlot without missing the whole event.”

Sunset was desperate at this point, but a part of her still felt it was wrong to take the ticket. “I appreciate the offer, I really do. But… you need it. It’s your ticket, and I’d be depriving you of your opportunity to travel to Canterlot, or other places with the ferry.”

“Not at all, don’t worry about it.” The mare assured. “This was actually gifted to me through an invitation from a good friend of mine. She’s always been pretty generous, and even taught me how to do the same for others. She even encouraged me to stand up for myself. But like I said, I was actually headed home anyways, because I’m working on a design project for a pretty big client of mine. I’d essentially be wasting this ticket by not going to Canterlot, but considering your situation, it’s a good feeling for me to know I was able to help you out in your time of need.”

“Generous friend…?” Sunset asked out of curiosity, before remembering her own close friend back in the human world, who definitely best exemplified that description. “Rarity?”

“Oh! So you do know her?” The mare asked, somewhat surprised. “Well, in that case, that makes me even happier to let you take the ticket. Any friend of hers is a friend of mine!” She said, as she put the ticket in Sunset’s hoof.

Sunset considered this for a moment. She wouldn’t be depriving the mare of anything since she was going home rather than Canterlot, and at this point, she really had no other option. With this, Sunset swallowed her pride and decided to take the ticket before hugging the mare for her beautiful generosity.

“Thank you… you have no idea what this means to me.” Sunset said with immense gratefulness. “What’s your name, by the way?”

“Coco Pommel, but you can call me Miss Pommel if you like.” Coco replied.

“Sunset Shimmer.” Sunset introduced herself back. “I’ll tell you what, I do have some leftover bits in my saddlebag, I’ll pay you back for this ticket-”

“Nonsense, Sunset. You don’t owe me anything.” Coco quickly said, before pointing to the direction of the dock, where the ferry was waiting. “That’s where you should be headed, but you must hurry. According to the time, the ferry is leaving in about 2 minutes!” Coco warned. “As for the ticket, I only ask of one thing in return from you, to pass on this generosity to others, like Rarity once taught me.”

Sunset shook her head in approval, before turning in the direction of the ferry. She looked back one final time at Coco before rushing over to the dock to avoid missing her ride back to Canterlot. “I won’t forget this, again, thank you so much, and of course, I promise.”

Sunset quickly bolted to the dock as if her life depended on it. Coco smiled back on doing this good deed, feeling that Rarity would be proud of her for doing so, before trotting back to her home on the Manehattan streets.