//------------------------------// // Thursday, AM: I Know You Don't Believe Me But It's So True // Story: Seven Days in Sunny June, Book II // by BlueBastard //------------------------------// Thursday, AM: I Know You Don’t Believe Me But It’s So True Octavia slowly found herself waking up in unfamiliar surroundings, but this did not alarm her. It wasn’t her normal sleeping arrangement back in her cozy apartment that she’d spent the past few days living in. Rather, it was one of the two bedrooms in the house that her friend, Lyra Heartstrings, was renting alongside Lyra’s roommate, Sandalwood. Originally it had been Bon-Bon, but after the confectioner had gotten married to her coltfriend over a year ago, Lyra had found somepony else to burden with half the rent for the residence. The refined gray pony had to admit it was a serviceable enough abode, nothing like even the cheapest housing in the Equestriani capital but then again, a month’s rent for a house in Canterlot probably paid for six months rent here. It’s certainly less than what a pony of Lyra’s talent deserves, thought Octavia, yawning and grudgingly dragging her form out of bed, but for a former Royal Canterlot Symphony member, she could have done a lot worse for herself. Plus, if she’s happy here, who am I to judge? The sound of what could only be an avalanche of books falling off a bookshelf suddenly echoed through the walls, reminding Octavia why her lyre-playing friend was a former member of the Symphony in the first place. Sure enough, a short walk down the hall to the door left slightly ajar, Octavia found the mint unicorn digging herself out of a layer of parchment, ink, and glue bindings. “Oh, uh, morning, Octy!” greeted Lyra, a warm smile on her muzzle as if being buried alive by books was a normal occurrence. In fact, it probably was a normal occurrence, as Octavia noted the majority of the books on the floor looked somewhat beaten up as if they spent just as much time at ground level as they did in their proper shelf places. “Morning, Lyra, I trust you’re okay?” warily asked Octavia. “Yeah, sorry if the books falling woke you up, the shelf isn’t evenly balanced – came with the house, you see – and I keep forgetting to have a carpenter look at it.”  She looked at it again, then gave Octavia a wan smile.  “Probably doesn’t help that the shelves are a little overloaded anyway - I’ve really have to prioritize my books again.” “Indeed. It seems like you really need a hand with that.” Lyra’s smile dropped as did her ears. “Come on, Octy, I get enough shit about this from ponies who aren’t my friends.” “Lyra, you know I’m only slightly ribbing you about this human obsession of yours. Granted, I do think it’s…odd for a pony to be so invested in some mythological species, but Celestia knows I have the strangest ponies for friends. Vinyl’s still convinced werewolves actually existed, Midnight Moondust thinks her roommate is a vampire, and then there’s you and your maddening belief in evolved monkey creatures!” “Well, at least mine comes with documented evidence!” Lyra said, holding up a book labeled Mysteries of Mankind: The Secret History of Ponykind’s Most Elusive Legend. “This book was the result of years of research by Dr. Wild Goosechase and Prof. Pseudoscience!  Can either of your friends say anything like that?” Octavia’s answer was to yawn.  “Far more than I care to admit,” she replied. The unicorn rolled her eyes in response while finally freeing herself from her printed word prison. “Hey, at the very least I’m not like other ponies I’ve heard of who think humans were evolutions from ponies and not monkeys, citing absolutely unfounded things like ‘lybians’ being the answer.” “What on Earth is a ‘lybian’ exactly?” “Conventionally, lybians are sort of like minotaurs. Only instead of being half-bull and half…whatever the other half is, lybians are half-pony from the waist down.” Octavia looked at Lyra as if she’d just said Princess Cadence had been born a pegasus and had an ice cream cone glued to her forehead to become an alicorn. “That is one of the most idiotic things I’ve ever heard of. And you’re saying there are ponies who believe that these…’lybians’, as you say they’re called, are the middle point between ponies evolving into a monkey-based lifeform?” “I said that’s what they think, Octy. Trust me, I’m the so-called conspiracy theorist here and I think the ponies who believe that are crazy. There’s absolutely no evidence supporting their claims compared to the wealth of knowledge regarding human existence!” “The wealth of knowledge?” Octavia raised a curious eyebrow. The look on Lyra’s face was an uncomfortable smile.  “Well...at least the stuff that everypony knows is true, right?” The gray mare just shook her head. “No wonder Vinyl says this town is full of crazy ponies. Just the other day I bumped into this one unicorn who was with Twilight, but when I tried to apologize the mare acted like she’d known me so intimately that she knew all of my deepest, darkest secrets!” “Like how you’re a lesbian and madly in love with Vinyl, who is oblivious to your affections?” asked Lyra, a sly look on her face. Octavia was not amused. “I will let that slide as my comeuppance for making that ‘hands’ joke, but somehow she knew I have two cousins also named Octavia,, and then she somehow knew of the scar left over after…well, you know. You sent that awfully nice ‘get well’ card while I was recovering.” “You sure she wasn’t a stalker type of pony?  I told you about the time that somepony was following Bonnie around, insisting that she was a changeling.  Thankfully, Twilight was able to talk some sense into that pony, but...well, I’m sure you get the idea.” “I would hope not; such a pony has no business hanging around the princess! Though, to be fair, she said that I actually was like some…oh, what was that word she used….” “Somepony?” suggested Lyra, her interest now increasing in the pony Octavia described. “That’s what was odd, she used some words that made no sense. Like, er, ‘somebody’, yes, that was it, somebody she knew, not somepony. Whoever she was describing also had the same ‘hair’ style as me, then she said ‘people’ a lot as if describing a non specific group instead of just ‘ponies’ like any normal member of society. Oh, yes, and then as I hurried off – politely, of course – I overheard her use the word ‘appendix’ and ‘removal’ in the same sentence, though why anypony would remove the reference part of a book is beyond-“ “No, it wasn’t a book part, Octy!” interrupted Lyra, who had seemingly been triggered into a hyperactive state, “it was a body part! And all those words she used? Those were human terms!” Lyra suddenly raised a hoof to her chin, and her mouth began to move as she soundlessly muttered something. “What did she look like?” she then asked. “The unicorn?” Octavia looked at her friend queerly. “Well, she had a kind of… fiery mane…” Lyra’s response was to grab Octavia and gasp for such a long amount of time that for a moment, Octavia thought she would collapse from oxygen deprivation. As it was, Octavia wasn’t that lucky, and a now giddy Lyra ran over to the pile of books and dove in, resurfacing with a book before the cellist could so much as make a snarky remark. Lyra then proceeded to open the book and shove it in Octavia’s face. “I think I know who that mare is!” Lyra exclaimed, peeking over the top of the book to grin in a way that was just a little unsettling. Backing up so she could have the luxury of both seeing what Lyra was trying to show her, and (more importantly) breathe, Octavia took a look at the tome’s cover: The Truth About Sunset Shimmer, by someone named Talespinner.  She then read the page Lyra had set it to, which was the Introduction: === Sunset Shimmer, Baroness Westphalia, was said to be the pride of the palace, the most important pony of her generation and the youthful ward of our beloved Princess Celestia.  However, one day, something happened, which caused our young noble to disappear, never to be heard from again.  As for her position, she was supplanted by Celestia’s younger student, Twilight Sparkle, who eventually became the Bearer of the Element of Magic and Princess of Friendship. But that leaves a huge question: what of Sunset Shimmer?  Some state she fought against the princess and escaped through a magic portal in the palace.  The official report indicates that after her fallout with Princess Celestia, she departed the palace, last seen headed in the direction of Trottingham, and was never seen again. But I believe something different: that as punishment for her crimes, Princess Celestia tasked her former apprentice with a different measure of redemption.  I believe that Sunset Shimmer was sent to a different reality to serve as an explorer - I believe she was sent to the human world.  And this book will explain how. === Octavia then looked at the picture on the same page, one of a younger image of the pony, in fine dress with the caption underneath reading: SUNSET SHIMMER, Age 17, at the Grand Galloping Gala. “Yes, that’s her alright, but where does it mention anything to do with humans?” “It doesn’t!” answered the excited mare with glee, “but nopony knows where she went after she escaped custody. There were rumors that she’d fled through a magic portal or something, though where she ended up could never be confirmed – until now! That book even says so!” Calmly, Octavia brought a hoof up and lowered the book in Lyra’s grasp. “The book also says that she went to an alternate dimension, which is impossible. You took the same Theoretical Physics class in college that I did, so you should know that!” “And yet the Breezies are confirmed to come from a known pocket dimension,” Lyra countered. “The what?” “The Breez-you know what?  Nevermind.” Dropping the book, the unicorn took Octavia in her golden aura of magic and brought her close into a rib-crushing hug, muzzles pressed against one another. “This is huge, Octavia! We have to go find her immediately! So many questions about the humans finally so close to being answered!” Octavia could only wonder at the horrors she had potentially set into motion. “Could you repeat all of that?” Raspberry asked incredulously from her place behind the front desk of the Traveler’s Retreat. Twilight sighed. “Look, I just need you to come out to Castle Everfree to help investigate this strange artifact we discovered there.” “Given that you’d only ask this of me if the object in question was of the same... magical nature as I am, I presume this thing is in some kind of magical vault and needs to be re-secured?” “Uh…no.” Razz looked at the alicorn with a questioning expression. “So then, do you mind telling me why there’s something insanely dangerous that’s been sitting unprotected in an unpatrolled ruin for who knows how long?” Twilight leaned from left to right nervously. “Actually, it’s been slightly over a thousand years. We believe it was created by, well….” Not wanting to scare any patrons who might be listening in, the lavender alicorn motioned towards the unicorn’s horn, which looked like any normal cranial endowment. But of course, it was the real horn hidden behind the false disguise that Twilight indicated. The one that indicated Raspberry’s true lineage. However, Razz just frowned harder at the revelation this object in the ruins had been something connected to her ancestor, for whom she had no love. “How can it be something that had belonged to him? Shouldn’t somepony have detected its dark aura years ago?” “That’s just it, Razz. It’s not giving off any kind of dark magic aura. If it is, the emissions are somehow undetectable by anypony using conventional magic. However, given the… decor on this thing, we’re pretty certain he made it. So, given that you have all of his power at your hooftips….” “Okay, I get it! You just want me to look at this thing,” Raspberry sighed with exasperation. “But you’re sure this isn’t like the last ten or so things that you were sure was contaminated with dark magic?” “Absolutely. This isn’t just a haunted mailbox or possessed kitchen knife. This is a portal to another world.” Twilight’s conviction on the matter was steadfast, that was clear, but there was also a hint of fear. Raspberry had to wonder what the alicorn wasn’t telling her, though a part of her slightly suspected the sudden appearance of that Sunset Shimmer character had something to do with it. “I really hope this isn’t going to be just some ‘evil’ portal that leads to a Sombra-worshiping cult of Breezies or something. But I probably should get some exercise today, since Nurse Redheart told me it would be good for my damaged leg muscles to be used as much as possible. Just let me tell Ascot and Cashmere I’m going out and fetch Heelee. I’ll meet you outside and we can get going.” In light of how her previous efforts of secretly observing Raspberry had failed, Sunset opted to instead go and see if Twilight was available now. Of course she wasn’t (just like yesterday) but this time Sunset had spied Twilight walking alongside Raspberry Beryl before she’d even gotten to the library. She could feel herself growing irritated with how this dark reflection of herself - the one cited from Twily’s dreams as the culprit for all the nightmares - was just openly hanging out with the pony version of her foster sister. Here I go again, I guess, thought Shimmer, once again doing her best to inconspicuously stake out her prey. I don’t know whether Princess Twilight is that warlock’s thrall or just naive, but I’ll make her see I’m right one way or another. Thankfully, Razz and Twilight were too busy in their conversation to feel as if they were being watched, so all Shimmer had to do was blend into the crowd, keeping the pair in her sight at all times.. But this rapidly came to an end when Twilight and Raspberry proceeded to walk out of town and into an open field, at which the other end connected to the Everfree Forest. Trying to remain inconspicuous  now would be difficult. Sunset’s difficulty with invisibility spells hadn’t vanished overnight. However, her priorities changed just as fast as the weather above her head went from bright and sunny to a fierce downpour. The spectrum-hued mare then high-hoofed the offered green-and-gold feathered wing, Heliodor chirping in response before flying off to rejoin his mistress. Rainbow, meanwhile, spied her target below, and within moments had gathered up a small cumulus. Using the cloud cover to her advantage, the pegasus slowly stalked Sunset Shimmer from above. Even though Twilight had told her friends that Sunset was reformed, Rainbow didn’t buy it. Not when even Twilight had admitted she didn’t know why Sunset was in Equestria once more. But clearly her intentions don’t mean well for Raspberry, mused Dash, eyes narrowed in suspicion. Sure, she hadn’t exactly been nice to Razz for a long while following the exposure of her dark magic talents, then especially after it turned out she was responsible for triggering a relapse of Applejack’s lycanthropy. But eventually she’d come around to seeing Razz in a good light again and was thankful for her role in solving their latest hairy problem.. To that end, Dash felt she owed a debt of gratitude to Raspberry for saving her adoptive little sister, and so nopony was going to bring harm to Razz without going through the Element of Loyalty first. Especially not when I still owe her a little payback for causing Twilight all that trouble over the Element of Magic. Her chance came when, as Twilight and Raspberry were heading off to the Everfree for whatever reason, Sunset made it obvious she intended to follow. Rainbow, in turn, decided to make it clear she intended otherwise. Standing atop the small cloud, she proceeded to jump up and down on it, her innate pegasus magic agitating the water molecules inside the cloud and turning the white, wispy contours into rolling crevices of dark gray.  The subsequent result was an instant rain storm on command that for one unfortunate unicorn, happened to be right on top of her. “Wh-what!?” cried out Sunset, trying to figure out where the rain was coming from. Well, obviously, it was coming from the cloud above her, but what was it doing well below the troposphere where it belonged? And how could it just spontaneously rain in just this one spot while everywhere else around her was a clear day? Wait...clouds are only in the troposphere back on Earth, Sunset recalled.  They can be anywhere here on Equus, mainly due to-- Her confusion gradually turned into clarity which soon morphed into a boiling anger when she heard the titters and snorts of…Rainbow Dash? Memories surged in her head of the incident where she’d stayed after school to come to Rainbow’s soccer practice – only because the hispanic athlete had been asking her to come see her sweet moves repeatedly over the past week. Only too late had she realized the whole thing was a set up for Rainbow to dump an entire cooler of Gatorade on her from a vantage point in the stands. “RAINBOW DASH!” shouted Sunset involuntarily, not actually knowing it was the mare in question who had dumped liquid nourishment from above. The laughing abruptly stopped as the cloud above suddenly exploded into nothing, leaving a slightly irritated blue pony flapping in its place. “Now hold on, I want to get something straight here,” said Rainbow, swooping down so she was eye level with Sunset. The domineering position the pegasus held, and the look of barely controlled fury in her features brought back memories of Sunset’s early confrontations with the teen at Canterlot High. Back when Sunset was public enemy number one. “Pegasi make up roughly a third of Ponyville, yet even though you and I have never met, you still knew it was me causing that rain on your head?” “If you must know, I didn’t somehow instantly become aware you decided to just randomly dump weather on my head, but it seemed so similar to what the other you once did to me that it seemed to be the logical conclusion.” “The other me?” asked Rainbow, now landing to give her wings a break but not breaking eye contact. “You mean…the other Rainbow Dash that Twilight mentioned having met from wherever it is you ended up?” “¿Quién más podría estar hablando?” replied Sunset, summoning forth every last bit of Spanish she could remember…along with an observation she’d made the night when Rarity had become Spike’s waifu. Given how similar Pinkie Pie and Applejack were between their human and pony versions, it was time to see if it applied to Rainbow as well. “¿Por qué estamos hablando de repente en Burroñeso?” replied Rainbow without missing a beat, until she realized what was going on. “Hey, how did you know-“ “The other you is fluent in two languages, I just wanted to see how far that went,” smirked Sunset. “Though, now I’m curious as to why you’re so fluent in Spanish.” Clearly not expecting to have lost ground so quickly, Rainbow nervously looked around to see if anypony was listening. Fortunately for her, Twilight and Raspberry had long since gone out of earshot, so it was just her and Sunset on the outskirts of town. Sighing deeply, Rainbow knew she had no other choice. “Look, I don’t know what Spanish is, but Burroñeso? I…okay, I don’t really know why I can speak that language so fluently. It was like I was born to be so awesome that being bilingual was part of the package deal. I don’t really bring it up, since I’ve never needed to talk to anypony not fluent in Equish or whatever it’s called in your Not-Equestria world.” “English?” “Uh, yeah, sure, ‘Engrish’. Point is, I’ve never really made a big deal out of it, since aside from letting me slide through some foreign language courses, it’s a mostly useless ability.” Even though it’s basically what has been saving my ass in Spanish classes back at school, thought Sunset. Rainbow, not noticing Sunset’s self-smirking, suddenly took the conversation about her abilities in another direction. “Hey, you said that you knew I spoke another language because the Rainbow Dash you’re more familiar with does…that means she’s also the most awesome athlete in her version of Ponyville, right?” “Er…not exactly,” answered the unicorn. “Truth be told, I don’t think she’s ever lived in Ponyville. From what she’s told me, she moved straight from Cloudsdale to Canterlot.” Rainbow looked at Sunset as if she was an alien…which wasn’t entirely incorrect in some respects. “She lives in Canterlot? Does that mean she’s both rich and a total jerk? Or…” Suddenly, Rainbow jumped into the air in glee. “You’re saying she’s a Wonderbolt!” “Um…sort of?” Sunset cringed as it was becoming clear that while Rainbow had the same personality on either side of the mirrors, their secondary similarities weren’t as perfect. “Canterlot High’s sports teams are called the Wondercolts, and Rainbow is on the soccer team.” “Oh, cool! Never heard of ‘sock-car’ but I bet she’s the best player they have! Flying and diving all over the place, making the opposing flyers wish they could soar as good as her!” “Soccer is a ground-based sport, there’s no flying or anything on the part of the players,” clarified Sunset. “Plus, the Rainbow Dash on the soccer team? She’s not a pegasus, or any kind of winged creature. Humans can’t fly without assistance.” “Huh?” Dash’s energetic motions pantomiming whatever she must have thought “Sock-car” was came to an abrupt halt. “But…if she’s ground bound, then…what’s she actually doing when she plays that sport?” “She runs around chasing a white ball with black spots, trying to kick it to other players with her legs, and everybody, including her, tries to kick the ball into the opposing team’s net. Whoever scores the most points wins.” The right eye of the pegasus in front of Sunset visibly twitched. “That sounds so very…unawesome for any version of me to do. You’re going to need to clarify this, because I refuse to believe that whoever this other RD is can consider herself an athlete simply because she can kick a ball!” Sunset just groaned. Despite the fact that pursuing Raspberry Beryl at present was infeasible, it didn’t make the reality of the situation any better. It was infuriating; here she was in Equestria to save the life of her suffering sister, and Sunset found herself once again unable to continue her investigation. For a brief moment, the temptation to just storm into the forest after the witch presented itself, but Sunset forcefully reminded herself that she was on a tight leash. Celestia was watching. She’s stronger than she looks. Princess Twilight’s words found their way through Sunset’s mind, and all at once she found herself calmer. It was thus that she resigned herself to another day with another of her friends’ local counterparts.. “My dear Raspberry,” said Celestia, “are you quite alright?” “Wha? Oh, I’m fine,” replied Raspberry, though in a tone indicating that wasn’t entirely true. “It’s just…something bad happens to me every time I come here ever since last Nightmare Night.” Celestia had been waiting for the two youngest princesses at the Everfree ruins. While it would have been simple enough to have teleported to the mirror they were going to see, Celestia had suggested they just walk there instead. It would give her a chance to have a leisurely chat with Razz, who the sun princess wished to learn more about both in terms of how she controlled dark magic without her mind being corrupted and as just an individual pony. “That was only twice, you know. Both times involving that undead werewolf, whom you put an end to permanently.” “That’s exactly what makes me so uneasy about coming back here,” Raspberry answered. “I did everything I vowed against doing in order to finish that bitch once and for all.” “What are you talking about?” asked Twilight. “The last time you were here, you saved all of Equestria!” “Only by repeating my actions in Lonesome Dove nine years ago.” Twilight sucked in a nervous breath. “Right. Guess that puts everything about our recent return trip into perspective,”” said the purple alicorn. “Well, on the bright side, all of that nightmarish crap you unintentionally did helped everypony out in the end, right?” “Yeah, I guess you could say that,” shrugged Raspberry, “plus my father was much more of a personal demon to me than Sombra could ever be. Don’t get me wrong, I still hate the fact I’m related to that psycho, but if given a choice between the two, I’d pick Sombra over my father if it came to a confrontation. At the very least he wouldn’t blame me for my mother’s death.” “Indeed, unlike her horrid son, Princess Obsidian Gem was satisfied with her station in life,” replied Celestia. “Though regrettably she had much less of an influence over her only child’s eventual disposition compared to his overbearing father, Prince Consort Golden Scepter.” “I don’t remember you ever mentioning you knew of Sombra’s father,” pointed out Twilight. “Obsidian Gem is barely in any history textbook covering the period right before Queen Faust’s departure from the throne, and only because she was, as you say, Sombra’s mother. Any reference to his father is non-existent.” “As it should be,” answered the eldest princess, her tone suddenly becoming much more cold and foreboding. “Golden Scepter had decided the title of king belonged to him and the time had come to depose of my mother and restore the ‘true’ unicorn monarchy. He claimed that the time of unification had come to an end and thus she was no longer needed. While he failed to carry out his assassination plans, it was only because his method of choice: a poisoned cup, happened to go to his wife instead of the queen. For attempted regicide and accidental equicide, Scepter was stripped of his titles and banished to…huh, I’ve quite forgotten where Mom sent that bastard. Regardless, his actions were regarded as so horrible that all traces of his existence were to be erased such as if he never existed.” “I’m guessing Sombra didn’t take any of that well?” asked Razz. “I can’t say for certain, as he was but a young stallion at the time who had just passed into stallionhood. However, the death of his mother and the harsh punishment of his father most likely is what drove him into seeking the power of dark magic. Of course, that was only rumor at the time, as were the rumors that he also sought comfort in the forelegs of some unknown mare who allegedly had been seen in his presence. I never put much stock in the latter, truth be told.” “And given what kind of a monster he was, especially after he left to take over the Crystal Empire, well…I’m the enduring legacy of that, aren’t I?” “No. Your familial connections to Sombra cannot be denied, but you have more than proven that you are far nobler than Sombra ever was.” “Is that because she’s actually of royal blood?” inquired Twilight, “or because she publicly humiliated Prince Blueblood?” “Either or,” was all Celestia said in response, getting a good chuckle out of everypony present. “Oh, come on!” exclaimed Dash, “I’ll admit I’m still not sold on whatever she does being even remotely considerable a sport, but how can she…I don’t even…” “To be honest, she’s still more successful in that regard than basically everybody else I know. She’ll probably make a living off of it, which is extremely hard to do for the average person.” Sunset and Rainbow had mutually decided to have lunch at a local restaurant called The Bannered Mare, which Sunset felt would be a good name for something from those high fantasy games Spike liked to play. It even had the same… charming pub-like quality of those types of areas, as the two mares sat at a dimly lit table surrounded by bar-goers. “But…but…Soarin’ is like, the hottest pegasus alive as far as I’m concerned! Which means he’s a total looker from wherever you came back from! And the other me is only in an on-off relationship with him?!” “Yep.” “GAAAAAHH!” moaned Rainbow, planting her face into the table next to her food. “How can I be so non-committal like that!? I’d ask Soarin’ out in a heartbeat if there was a chance in Tartarus he’d say yes, but…he’s not even a Wonderbolt you said?” “Wondercolt, and he’s on the basketball team.” “Then he should be fawning at her feet to ask her to be his marefriend!” “Girlfriend,” Sunset corrected.  “Whatever! And she should be saying yes! Because I don’t know what basketball is but it probably is lamer than soccer since I’m awesome and any version of me wouldn’t choose the least awesomest sport there was!” Sunset just shook her head. Arguing with Rainbow had eventually proven fruitless, as in a way it was actually just a kind of self-criticism from one onto another. I wonder if I should tell my Rainbow Dash about this, if only to see her go into histrionics about how another version of herself wants Soarin’ so badly. “Ugh, at least tell me she’s the fastest…whatever she is, and is a good role model for whatever version of Scootaloo is also in this horrible sounding place,” Rainbow said, staring dejectedly into her drink. “The fastest?” Sunset had to raise an eyebrow at that. She knew pegasus ponies were capable of great speeds, but claiming to be the fastest of them all was so much the trait of a braggart that it was just silly. “Yes, the fastest.” “I’m afraid not even remotely - nor does she have any interest in it,” Sunset explained. The expression of mixed shock and horror on Rainbow’s face made Sunset break out into laughter. Accounting for the differences between the facial structures of humans and ponies, it was a perfect match to human Dash’s face back when she discovered during the sleepover her DVD of The Matrix: Revolutions was in fact unreadable by the DVD player. Rainbow was practically begging when she was able to speak again, “Please, do not tell me the fastest in that other world is Lightning Dust. I don’t think I could live that down.” Way to kill my humor, Rainbow, thought Sunset, knowing there was no way Dash could have known about what the human Lightning Dust had done. “Okay, it’s not Lightning Dust, and the less said about her the better, if you know what I mean.” “Yeah, I do, since I’m betting she didn’t get the reality check the one I know went through.” “Raspberry Beryl didn’t happen to be involved, was she?” Sunset asked, suspicious of just what that “reality check” had been. “Not…exactly, what makes you-oh, right, you’ve been going after her all week,” Rainbow’s jovial tone she had throughout the conversation vanished, and the prismatic pegasus gave Sunset a look that was deadly serious. “I don’t know what your beef with her is - and I’m pretty sure you’re not gonna tell me - but I will tell you straight up that if you want to mess with her, you’re gonna mess with me, got that?” “Yeah, yeah, Applejack read me the riot act yesterday, right before your sister and her friends accidently set off a bomb trying to buck apples.” And just like that, Rainbow’s expression went from deadly serious to complete stupefaction. “Scootaloo did what?! Well, that explains why her mom came to me asking why she looked like she’d been at ground zero of an explosion.” Sunset blanched. Scootaloo’s mother? Rainbow noticed Sunset reacting to the mention of Scootaloo’s name, and she didn’t like being out of the loop. “Shimmer, if there’s something I need to know about my adoptive little sister that you’re not telling me, you better tell me right now or so help me I’ll-“ Sunset waved her forelegs in front of her face, trying to ward off the angered Rainbow. “No, no! It’s not about Scootaloo. Well, not the one you know.” “You mean this ‘other’ Scootaloo?” Sunset took a breath, readying herself for the long and difficult story. “Yeah, you see, the one I’m more familiar with is your ‘other’ self’s adopted younger sister. Only, that Scootaloo had a much different mother.” Sunset proceeded to give the brief basics of what she’d been told by human Rainbow about how human Scootaloo’s mother had basically come from a broken home. About how providence had been fortunate that Rainbow’s mother had found the abandoned baby within only a few hours of her abandonment, and how within the year the parenting rights had been given to Rainbow’s family, shortly before they moved away to Canterlot. She even mentioned how Scootaloo’s biological mother had tried to take her back several years later, and how Rainbow herself had stood by her sister’s side during that little reunion. The normally boisterous Rainbow – the pony version – sat there, evidently digesting what she’d just heard. It actually touched Sunset how even though the story hadn’t been about the filly this Rainbow knew, it was as if Dash was concerned about her as a sister all the same. “Wow, I…just, wow….” was all Rainbow could manage. “My Scootaloo - obviously she’s not really adopted, we’re just part of a local Big Brother/Big Sister program - didn’t come from parents like that. Flower Shower and Slipstream, they love Scootaloo but aren’t around usually because of their jobs as trainers for localized weather teams. The fact they willingly entrust her into my care, plus the fact I really do think of her as the little sister I never had... it’s rough hearing about any kind of Scoots getting treated badly. More often than not, I worry I’m not doing enough by her as her foster sister, y’know?” “Yeah….” replied Sunset, though there was no way she was going to let anypony other than Twilight and the other princesses know about how she herself was in a similar position to Rainbow as an older foster sister. Or how that was the entire reason she had come back to Equestria in the first place. Just then, a pale lavender pegasus with cornflower hair came in, antsy about something. “Dash! There you are, we’ve been looking all over for you!” “Oh, what’s up, Cloudchaser?” “It’s another rogue storm coming in, apparently those goofballs up at the Cloudsdale weather factory sent too much in our direction!” Rainbow facehoofed. “Again?! Gonna have to send a letter about this - it’s the third time that’s happened this month!” Dash then turned to Sunset and said, “Hey, I gotta take care of this, but I’ll pay for lunch. I guess Twilight was right about you, Sunset: you aren’t what she originally described you as.” “Uh, thanks?” replied Sunset, slightly confused but happy to have left a good impression all the same. “But,” added Rainbow, “don’t go after Razz like she’s your enemy. She wouldn’t hurt a fly if she could avoid it, so whatever your deal is with her, use words to solve it, not violence.” “Er, sure thing!” However, Sunset wasn’t about to let go of her suspicions about Raspberry, not when she still matched the description of the evil presence Twily described as the one hurting her in her dreams. Even so, she thought, everypony I’ve spoken to thus far has vouched for Raspberry. It might do to visit the other two members of Twilight’s little group. If Raspberry hasn’t gotten to Fluttershy or Rarity, then they must have something I can use against her. And once I have proof she’s the one torturing Twily, I’ll take that dark bitch down myself!