//------------------------------//
// Day One 
// Story: Blending together 
// by shadowpancake 
//------------------------------//

A small dim light illuminated the dusty basement which Twilight Sparkle was in, as she continued to stare at the wall which was covered in various sheets of pinned paper and pictures.  Her gaze was met by a single picture in the middle of the wall, a single picture that had been crumpled and reopened several times, a picture of a rainbow that connected vertically with the gloomy sky. 
A groan escaped her mouth as she once again looked down at the letter that was on her desk. The request from her science professor to investigate the phenomena which had occurred at Canterlot High last week was only eliciting frustration from her. No matter how she saw the situation, it just seemed absurd to think that a real rainbow had miraculously erupted from the ground for no reason at all, and twice at that. Her arguments with the professors that this was merely some sort of elaborately crafted prank were actually disagreed with surprisingly, and now she had to painstakingly gather data for something that was obviously fake.
What confused her was that according to some interviews about the rainbow incident, people who lived around the school genuinely did believe that there had been a real rainbow, and that they had seen it with their own eyes. Talks with the Canterlot High students themselves did not reveal much information though, and from the responses that had accumulated, it was obvious that they were hiding something.
But she did allow herself a small grin. Tomorrow was Sunday, and that meant that she would finally be able to see for herself just what was supposedly going on at that school. Rising from her desk, she left all of the papers behind on it as she left to exit the room. Those were sheets which she didn't want to see ever again
"Come on Spike. Lets go sleep." said Twilight in a sleepy voice as she trudged up the stairs that led to the main floor of her house.
A single bark later, the duo walked back up towards their room.


*



Twilight Sparkle finally entered the proximity of Canterlot High as it was becoming dusk. Her decision to come at a time when there would be no students around was a smart one, as the entrance to the school was devoid of any students, with only a lone statue present at this time of hour. She knew that she was going to have to analyse that as well.
Walking alone towards the school entrance, she cast a watchful eye around her to see if anything out of the blue was here. Other scientists from around the area had already investigated the area for anything important, but had come out of the school with nothing. The supposed principal from the school refused to allow any other scientists from coming, and they complied, as there really hadn't been anything out of the ordinary happening at the school.
Her eyes skimmed over it, and then she sighed. There really was nothing important at this school. What more could she possibly comb over that others had already looked through? She knew that this whole thing was a complete waste of time, and that her professor had likely given her this assignment because it would likely lead to nothing. 
Oh well, Twilight. Let's get this over and done with. she thought. Determination filled her as she resolved to give find out at least one thing about the rainbow incident before she gave up on it.
Leaving her well worn bag with various sampling tools behind on the school's statue, she walked towards the middle of the school's front. A gale of wind tussled her white lab coat stained by many past experiments as she took a deep breath. The air around her was quite fresh, much better than the inside of her house.  She made a mental note to try not to forget to open the windows in her room.
Pondering what she had gotten herself into, her thoughts came back to the rainbow. She had come a week too late to see if any mechanism was in place that could have made the illusion happen. The only way that she could find out about the rainbow hoax was through talking to the students from Canterlot High. 
Once more, she groaned as she looked upwards to the darker sky. She was not a good socialiser, and being forced out of her comfort zone because of some prank was definitely not on her list of things to do. But it would be the only way to figure out anything about the rainbow, even if she did only find a small amount of detail about it.

After a few minutes of looking around the front of the school, she realised that it was becoming too dark. A quick look at her old touch screen phone confirmed that the time was becoming quite late, and that Spike would be expecting his dog food any time soon.
Maybe tomorrow would yield something different, she hoped, but she did not expect anything but a headache and a bunch of crumpled papers at her study. 
Resigned to her fate, she slung her bag full of sampling tools over her shoulder and shuffled back home.


*


A  few moments later Twilight was back at her house. A single light lit up her study on the first floor of her two story plain white house. Normally all the lights would be on and she would be welcomed, but times had changed. Her father and mother had both left to work in different places, and her brother, Shining Armour, was training to be a soldier in the army, so she was forced to live on her own. It had become quite lonely for her, as she did not have any friends, apart from her loyal dog Spike. But then, Spike was all that she needed for the time being. 
Fumbling for her key, she opened the front door hastily, eager to leave the darkness outside. Spike was already at the door, bouncing up and down like a rabbit with an expression akin to happiness on his face, and she could not stop a smile from appearing on her face as she closed the door and prepared to get food from her pantry for him.
"I'm home."

A quick ham sandwich later left her in front of her study, with Spike lying lazily on his back on her lap. Another sheet of paper was in front of her, except this time it was blank. Numerous sheets of paper that had topics related to the rainbow had been scrunched up and thrown haphazardly around the overflowing trash bin near her tall bookcase. There just didn't seem to be any way that she could approach this topic without sounding like a complete fool.
Massaging her temples with her thumbs, she thought about it one more time. 
Uh, hi. I'm Twilight Sparkle, and I was wondering if that, uhh.. rainbow, was actually real?
With another groan that would likely lead to her becoming hoarse in time, her face slammed onto the polished mahogany table in front of her. Spike jumped off the chair and let out a high pitched whine as he scratched the chair which she was sitting on with his front paws.
Rolling her head sideways with a downcast face, she gazed downwards to where he now lied down with his paws in front of his eyes.
"I'm sorry Spike. This just is too frustrating." she said in a dreary tone.
Just what on earth was she doing? Why, of all things, a rainbow? Thinking about it, going through a lot of effort just to make a fake rainbow didn't make sense, and was just a silly idea. No one would do that unless they were really obsessed with rainbows, or had their brain stuck inside a microwave. 
‘There’s no doubt about it, Spike. There’s something strange going on at that school.’
A single bark from Spike was all that she needed to start thinking once more, until she was tired enough to sleep.