“Let Trixie get this straight...” said Trixie as she sipped some coffee. “You want to catch the Rainbooms?”
“Yes.” said Sunset Shimmer with anger in her eyes.
“Why do you want to catch the Rainbooms?”
“They humiliated me and I am going to make them pay!”
Trixie looked Sunset over and grabbed her journal about the Rainbooms. “Okay, if you want to start catching them, read this.”
“What is it?”
“A journal. In there is everything Trixie had ever recorded about the Rainbooms.”
“I see...” Sunset said as she looked at the journal, “Okay...thanks.”
“Just give it back to Trixie later...”
“I will.”
Meanwhile in Canterlot...
Celestia was sitting on her throne, exhausted. She had just gone through all the peace talks with Saddle Arabia. Thanks to the theft, the nobles had no other trump cards to try to start a war. Thanks to this, the peace talks went really well. However, once Celestia started to feel relived, a solider walked in.
“Your highness!”
“Yes?”
“We have results from the census...”
Celestia eyes widened and her jaw fell slightly, “Already? Have you found the pony I am looking for?”
“No, but we believe we have found the pony's parents.”
Celestia's face turned back to normal, “I see, are they here now?”
“Yes, but they seem to be...um...afraid to speak to you...”
Celestia gave a puzzled look, “Afraid? Well please tell them I mean them no harm, I just wish to speak with them.”
“Yes, your highness.” said the solider as he left. A few minutes later, two ponies walked in. They were both shivering and shaking in fear.
Celestia stood up right and spoke, “My little ponies, please do not be afraid of me. What are your names?”
The stallion spoke up first, his voice trembling, “Um...your highness...My name is Night Light and this...this is my wife, Twilight Velvet...”
“It is nice to meet you Night Light and Twilight Velvet. Now please tell me why you are afraid of me.”
“It's....well...we believe that if we tell you about our daughter...you'll hate us...” Night Light said as both him and his wife started to cry.
Celestia quickly got up on her throne and put her wings over the two ponies, “Please do not cry my little ponies.” she said as she lowered down to the two ponies. “Please do not cry.”
“I'm sorry your highness...” said Night Light as he rubbed his eyes. The two began to wipe their tears away and then Night Light spoke up, “They said you were looking for a pony with a six pointed sparkle cutie mark, correct?”
“Yes, I am.”
“We believe that is our daughter...Twilight Sparkle...”
“I see...Twilight Sparkle, a fine name. So, are you afraid I am going to do something to your daughter? Please, I mean your daughter no harm, I merely wish to meet her.”
“No, you don't understand, that's not it. First, we don't know where she is...she ran away from home years ago...”
“Oh...”
“Second, we believe that both the two of us and you as well are the reason we don't know where she is...”
“I don't understand. I'm part of the reason as well?”
“Yes, and that's why we're afraid you'll hate us...”
“Please, I will not hate you. Just please tell me why she ran away.” said Celestia in a comforting tone.
“Well...” said Night Light as he stood there and began to shake again, “It started several years ago when Twilight was just a filly. She saw the Summer Sun Celebration where you raise the sun. It was at that moment that Twilight changed.”
“Changed?”
“Yes, after seeing that she wanted to learn magic immediately. She wanted to attend your school...the School for Gifted Unicorns. In the beginning, we didn't mind it and gave her books and studying materials to help her increase her knowledge. That was when things started to get worse...”
“I don't understand, how does pursing knowledge make things worse for the little pony?”
“It wasn't the knowledge that was bad, but rather the pursuit of it. She became obsessive over attending your school. All she would do was read book after book. She would barely eat or sleep, all she did was study. She began to lose weight, she wouldn't bathe and she would barely talk to us. All she did was study...so...so we...”
Twilight Velvet then began to speak up, “We didn't want to lose our daughter! We thought if she kept doing what she was doing, we would...we would...” she said as tears poured out of her eyes.
“You thought you were going to lose her...am I correct?” asked Celestia.
“...Yes.” said Twilight Velvet as she fell to the floor, sobbing.
Night Light slowly spoke again, “Then...well...one day, we took the books away. We told her she couldn't go to your school. Then...that night...”
“She ran away.” said Celestia.
“Yes.” said Night Light with tears in his eyes. “We...we just want her back...we're sorry...we're so so sorry.”
Celestia put her wings around the two, “It is fine, I understand. You just wanted to help your child, it's fine. Do not apologize.”
“That's...that's not the full story.” said Night Light. “When...when she ran away, she didn't have her cutie mark.”
“Huh?”
“It was a little over two years ago...we think...we think we saw Twilight.”
“You did?”
“A little over two years ago, we went on a trip to Baltimare. There, a fashion festival was happening. There...” he said as tears came out of his eyes again, “We thought we saw her...she was on the other side of the street and....and she was smiling. She was smiling and talking to another unicorn along with a pegasus. She had the cutie mark you described and...she had grown up so much...”
“Did you go to her?”
“We tried...the festival crowd was huge but as we went to her....we lost her in the crowd. We spent the next few days looking for her but we never found her...we thought she must have left Baltimare...”
“I see...”
Night Light rubbed his eyes and looked directly at Celestia, “Now, may we ask you a question?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Why...why do you want to find our daughter?”
Celestia looked at the two, looking at them she could tell that she could trust them, “Very well, in order to explain why I am looking for your daughter, I will need to explain a lot of things. First, you must not tell any other pony, do you understand?”
“Yes.”
“Well first, I need to explain my school's true purpose.”
“True purpose?”
“Yes, the real reason of why the School of Gifted Unicorns exists is not to train unicorns for the next generation of Equestria. It's real reason is to find an apprentice for me.”
“An apprentice?”
“Yes, as you know I am an alicorn. Alicorns exist in order to keep the balance of Equestria and its magic. However, there will soon be an event that will change that.”
“An event? Like what?”
“Have you asked where your magic comes from? You both are unicorns after all.”
“No, not really.”
“They come a source. It is known as Harmony and it is contained throughout the entirety of Equestria.”
“Will this event change that?”
“Yes. Centuries ago, I myself obtained the true essence of Harmony in order to defeat Chaos. When I did such a thing, I was given a hint of the future. It showed me only one thing, a six pointed sparkle.”
“So...that's why you need to find our daughter...”
“Yes... I must find her within a little of a year now. I must apologize but I have to find her no matter what. Something is coming and I believe she may be the key.”
“I don't understand, what is coming?”
Celestia hesitated for a second and then spoke up, “.....The one trapped within the stars.”
Meanwhile in Manehatten...
Twilight had left the hideout and proceeded to the library. She had gone there frequently, disguised of course, and enjoyed reading the many books there. She went in, said hi to the librarian and began to select books from the science and magic section. There she grabbed several books and sat down at one of the tables. As she began to read, a pony walked up to her.
“Huh...'The Science of Magic within Aerodynamics'? That's quite the science book you're reading there.” said the pony to Twilight.
Twilight kept reading, not even looking at the pony and slowly said, “Yes...I am pony of scientific tastes...”
“Interesting...Very Interesting....What's your name?”
“The name's Dazzling Bubble.” said Twilight in a monotone voice, uninterested. Twilight the glanced at the pony and looked back at the book. At that moment, Twilight realized who she was talking to and tried to make sure the other pony didn't notice.
“Well, it's nice to see another pony who's interested in Sciences with Magic like myself. Oh right, I forgot to introduce my wonderful self.” said the pony with a grin on her face. “My name is Sunset Shimmer.”