//------------------------------// // Research is Narrowed Down... // Story: The Truth Behind Sunset Shimmer...? // by Teddie Williams //------------------------------// "Okay girls listen up! The reason why I called you all here today is because Sunset was helping me with my homework only she was distracted. We need to find out what is bothering her." Rainbow rambled as she paced in front of the computer, where she could see her other friends that were facetiming her. Twilight hummed to herself, before nervously lifting a hand up. "Rainbow... we really probably shouldn't go poking around in her life. She's our friend. If something is wrong, she'll tell us." "Besides that darling, we'll all see her again Monday when we head back to class. We can ask her if something is bothering her then." Rarity rolled her eyes skyward, before reaching to turn off the webcam. "I've got to go. The next show starts in a few minutes and I am not at all ready for it!" She then clicked off of the chatroom. A minute later found Rainbow staring blankly at the blank screen that her friends faces had accompanied just a moment ago. "Fine... I'll wait for Monday...in which case all of you are going to realize that I'm right and something is bothering Sunset!" Sunset stretched slightly as she sat up slowly in bed, her alarm blaring loudly as it informed her that it was now Monday morning. She had spent the entire weekend researching in both worlds and spending time with Stormy. Speaking of which.... Hey, Stormy? How is that project coming along? Sunset pressed send, sending a quick message to her counterpart. Moving away from her bed, Sunset got ready for the day, instinctively placing the tiara and strange message into her backpack. Shouldering the bag, she hurried down the stairs to the kitchen where the Cakes were serving breakfast. "Hmm... something smells good!" Sunset snagged one of the freshly baked muffins off of the cooling rack, tearing a piece off to pop in her mouth. "Careful Sunset! You don't want to burn yourself by accident!" Mrs. Cake warned her as she rolled her eyes at the teen unicorn. "Heat never bothered me before. Doubt that it'll start now." Sunset backed out of the kitchen, glancing at the time. "I've got to go... I have a few questions that I want to go over with Ms. Experiment before school starts." "Okay...have a good day at school!" "Will do!" Sunset bolted out of the house, her feet flying as she sprinted towards the high school. Rarity pulled open her locker, just in time to see Sunset fly through the school's double doors, backpack swinging wildly at her side. "Hi Rarity! Bye Rarity!" Sunset sprinted past her, barely acknowledging that she was even there. "Sunset! Wait! I've got that new sweater I've been knitting for you done!" Rarity pulled out the aforementioned sweater, holding it up for her friend. Sunset disappeared from view without glancing back to see the homemade sweater. Rainbow closed her locker, turning to face her fashionable friend. "See? Somethin's goin' on with her!" Rarity rolled her eyes as she placed the sunset themed sweater back into her locker. "She's probably just running late darling. Nothing about it indicates that there's something bothering her!" Rainbow scowled, before turning to head to class. "Fine. Have it your way. But don't come running to me if she stops hanging with us!" Sunset sighed as she dropped her pencil down, quickly pulling her cell phone out to check her text messages. So far... terrible. My school's archives has nothing about a tiara that looks like the ones sent to us. Sunset frowned at that, before sending in another text. There's got to be something somewhere. It's not like we're dealing with a small kingdom or something that no one has ever heard of before or anything! Sunset! You are a genuis! What did I do? Meet up with me at the Fun Time Diner for lunch. My treat. Okay..? Sunset shook her head as she slipped her phone back into her pocket same time that the teacher reentered the classroom. "Alright class! I'm back! Just let me pass out these worksheets before the bell rings..." Mrs. Ciencias lifted up one of the packets she had been making more copies of for her class to see. Groans escaped the assembled teens, many of whom not so subtly sat their own phones down. Sunset figured that she could easily finish the assignment before lunch was over with, as long as none of her other teachers give her a whole lot of homework. The more she got done with earlier, the more time she would have to investigate. Accepting the packet that Mrs. Ciencias handed to her, she scanned it to note that it was mostly review. The bell rang shrilly right then, signaling the end of class. Shoving her packet and her school supplies into her backpack, she darted out of the door. She had a mystery to solve! "Hey guys! Have any of you seen Sunset?" Rainbow cautiously asked the rest of her friends as she sat down at their usual table in the crowded cafeteria. Applejack paused, her sandwich dangling in her hand. "Ya mean besides in calculus? Can't say that Ah have seen her. Why ya ask?" "Probably because Sunset is usually the first one here given any day of the week." Twilight swung her fork through the air as she gestured to their surroundings... their devoid of Sunset surroundings. "I'm sure that there's a perfectly good explanation..." Fluttershy fed her lettuce to Angel. Pinkie bounced slightly as she picked up her cupcake. "Yeah! It's not like she's the long lost princess of some country that no one has ever heard of or maybe she's an alien princess and doesn't know that...or!" Rarity promptly clapped a hand over her mouth. "I highly doubt it's any of that darling." "I wonder what's she's doin' right now without us." Rainbow softly mused to herself... "...And from there I was able to get a list of all small countries that no one ever heard of." Stormy placed a bit of her salad into her mouth, her research scattered all over the booth table that the two versions of Sunset were sitting at. Sunset whistled as she stared at the many countries that she had never heard of before that was spread out before her. "Looks like we're getting closer to figuring this out...."