> Inner Turmoil > by CrossRedstone > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Prologue: Unexpected visitor > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sunset took a sip from her hot chocolate, as she turned a page on the book she had been reading. Heavy rain could be heard outside, each drop hitting the window as if a small stone had been thrown at the glass. The Equestrian Girl once again pitied the humans for not being able to control their weather. On several nearby regions rivers had flooded the lower parts of other cities, while there was a slight drought going on the southern parts of the country. The only good thing about this weather was that it was really relaxing listening to the raindrops hitting the window, while reading a good book. Sighing contently, Sunset turned another page. “Hey, I wasn’t done reading this!” “Urrgh, honestly? All of us should be able to read at the same pace, since we are the same person.” “You know, you didn’t exist up until a few weeks ago.” Sundown spat in return, trying to get Daydream mad. However, the angel kept her cool. “That is technically incorrect. You know, we-” “Girls!” Sunset exclaimed! “I thought we were trying to read a book here! You know, relax, take a load off, especially after we had four tests this week!” “Indeed, I am truly sorry.” “What’s up with the humans anyway? If you come down to it they do the same mistakes over and over again.” Obviously Sundown was talking about the latest test, the history test. “Ponies tend to repeat the same mistakes as well. The only difference that we don’t do it quite as often, thanks to Princess Celestia’s watchful gaze. But even she can’t be everywhere.” “You make it sound like nopony except for Celestia is the only pony capable of doing anything, really.” “Uh, girls? Book? Relaxation?” Sunset asked into the air. “I didn’t say this either. What I mean is-” *KNOCK* *KNOCK* *KNOCK* “Thank Celestia…” Sunset muttered, closing the book. If whoever was at the door wouldn’t have come, than the Daydream and Sundown wouldn’t have stopped for at least another hour. The only thing that would have really stopped them at this point was if she hit her head with something hard. The three knocks repeated at this point. “Coming!” Sunset shouted. “I wonder who would want to talk to us at this point? We don’t exactly have much contact with the neighbors.” “Probably the police. Been awhile since something happened at this block.” It turned out that both the devil and the angel were wrong. Opening the door, Sunset found none other than Twilight Sparkle, her girlfriend, soaked straight to the bone, water dripping to the ground and the poor girl shaking like a leaf in the storm. “Twilight!” Sunset exclaimed, immediately pulling the girl inside her apartment. “Don’t tell me you actually walked through that storm! What are you doing here anyways?” The two arrived inside Sunset’s bathroom. It was a little cramped, since it was designed for being used by only one person at a time. However Sunset didn’t mind being forced to partially press herself against Twilight, even if her own clothes got a little soaked in the process. “Whatever. Let’s get you dried up first.” The unicorn said, grabbing a towel and turning towards her girlfriend. It was finally then that she noticed the empty look Twilight had in her eyes. “Hey, are you feeling alright? You’ve been awfully silent.” The yellow girl pointed out. “I’m fine.” Twilight said in a monotone voice, accepting the towel. “Just a little...cold.” Sunset raised an eyebrow at the statement. She had never heard the girl talking like that. It reminded her of the time just after the Fall Formal, when she was in a bit of a depression phase in her life. “Twilight…” Sunset gently rubbed Twilight’s hair for while, before she stopped and spoke to her again. “What’s wrong?” she asked in a soft tone. “Even a blind person can see that something’s bothering.” “A blind person cannot see anything.” Twilight said automatically, her scientific side kicking in. Sunset let out a snort, ruffling her girlfriend’s hair, using the towel again. Twilight in return didn’t do anything to stop the unicorn from doing so. When it stopped, the lavender skinned girl felt how her arms were gently taken by one hand each, which was followed by the hands rubbing her arms up and down. In response, Twilight placed her head on Sunset’s shoulder, the towel sliding off her head and falling onto her feet. “Twily…” Sunset whispered. “What’s wrong?” she asked again. “...Nothing. Why should be something wrong, when I’m with you?” Sunset suppressed the urge to sigh. It didn’t look like Twilight wanted to talk about what was bothering her as of now. “Keep the pressure up. Just look at her! It almost looks like she’s been possessed or something!” “I agree, though I think we should treat her carefully. I think she already had a mental breakdown, though I have no idea what might have caused it.” Sunset nodded to the voices. If Twilight noticed the notion she probably didn’t think too much about it. The unicorn had an idea as to how she could get her girlfriend to open up. She gently wrapped one arm around her girlfriend and followed up the notion by slowly rubbing the lavender girl’s back. “Achoo!” Sunset stopped in her motion and looked worried down on her girlfriend, who was rubbing her nose with the back of her hand. “Oh dear. We better get you out of these clothes, before you get sick.” “Although it would give us an excuse to spend more “quality time” with her.” “You know what? You’ll get a nice, warm shower, while I’m gonna fetch you some fresh clothes. Just drop the wet clothes outside the door, alright?” Sunset petted Twilight playfully on the head, giving the girl a big smile. Twilight nodded, giving Sunset a quick kiss on the cheek. It was a little unexpected, but at least her smile turned into a genuine one, that is until she left the bathroom. Frowning, Sunset made her way to her wardrobe, looking for something for Twilight to wear. In the meantime, Twilight was putting her glasses on Sunset’s sink and watching herself in the mirror. She got rid of the bun tying her hair earlier, which caused her wet hair to be almost glued on her skin, at least on the facial and shoulder area. “Don’t look at me like that.” she spoke to the mirror reflection. “I’m just doing what’s best for all of us, Twilight.” > C1: Phone Call > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sunset was just looking through her wardrobe, when she heard the shower being turned on. The girl quickly decided on some clean pajamas, before closing the cabinet and going for the bathroom. Inside she found Twilight’s silhouette behind the curtains just staring up at the shower head. “Damn, looks hot. Actually that gives me some ideas-” “Don’t even finish that sentence.” “Twilight, I’ll hang up your wet clothes in the kitchen. Your fresh ones are here on the toilette. I guess you’ll be staying here, right?” “...Yes.” Again, Twilight’s voice was somewhat monotone. “I swear, that voice gives me the chills. Reminds me of that little kid from the horror movie.” “Whatever has happened has affected her very deeply. We better keep a close eye on her and maybe even escort her home after school.” “Okay. If you need anything, just call. Feel free to use my sham-” Sunset was interrupted by her cell phone ringing angrily on the table in the living room. “Whoops, there goes my phone. Take as much time as you need.” “I know she’s our girlfriend, but you do remember that we’re on a very tight budget, right?” “I don’t care about the budget right now.” Sunset whispered back harshly, quickly walking through her living space. “I wonder if it’s Twilight’s parents.” “Only one way to find out.” She pushed the green button. “Hello? Sunset Shimmer speaking.” “Sunset, darling. So glad I could reach you.” “Hey Rares. Something the matter?” Rarity hesitated for a moment. “Yes, indeed. It’s...I don’t know how to put this gently...it involves Twilight.” “Twilight?” Sunset’s other selves spoke at the same time, though Rarity of course couldn’t hear them. “Do you mean the princess by any chance?” “N-no, darling. It’s about our Twilight, right here on this world.” Should have figured. Sunset thought to herself. “You think it’s related?” “It has to be. The only question is what exactly is related to Twilight appearing at our doorstep like this.” “Actually Rarity” Sunset lowered her voice, knowing how thin the walls in her apartment were. “Twilight is here with me.” “She is?! Thank goodness.” The fashionesta let out an audible sigh of relief on the other end, caused the unicorn to worry even more than she already was. What exactly had transpired to get Rarity this tense. “Not to sound pessimistic, but I was expecting the worst.” “The worst?” Sunset echoed. “Look Rares, Twilight’s in the shower right now, she got pretty soaked up by the storm outside. The thing is, she’s been beside herself. We barely talked, though that’s more my fault, as I didn’t want for her to catch a cold. But still...she’s been behaving...odd to say the least. Could you please tell me what’s going on?” There was a little pause on the other end, before Rarity spoke up again. “Well, a couple of minutes ago Twilight’s parents called in. Apparently Twilight ran away from home.” “She what?!” Sunset exclaimed, not being able to control her volume. “Tone down the volume, girl! She’ll hear you!” Sundown hissed. “Why?” Sunset spoke in her hushed voice again. “I-I don’t know, darling. I asked them of course, after having to calm down the poor mother and reassure her that we would do our best to find her, but she didn’t say a thing. She just said to call her, once I found something and hung up.” “Okay…” “I can only guess something must have happened between Twilight and her mother.” “Maybe...could be all a misunderstanding though.” The fiery haired girl mused. “Unlikely.” “Did her mom call the police?” “Darling, before you can file a missing person report, the person needs to be missing for 24 hours.” “Huh, didn’t know that. Hey! I just remembered, why didn’t Twilight’s mom call my place? If she has your number, I’m pretty sure Twilight has given her family my number as well.” “Maybe she is trying to reach you now?” “I would hear that. Oh, sounds like Twilight is done with the shower. I’m gonna ask her gently what’s up. Can you do me a favor and call Twilight’s home? I don’t have their number, sadly.” “Certainly. What are friends for? I will tell them that Twilight is with you and healthy.” “Thanks, but please, if they ask after my address, say that you don’t know. If Twilight really ran away from home then there has to be a reason. Most possibly a fight.” “Hey, that’s what I wanted to say!” “She can’t hear you.” “This life seriously sucks…” “Okay. I understand. But I can already tell you, they won’t be too happy about this. And I really hate worrying them more than necessary.” “Me too, but my gut tells me it’s better this way, for now.” “I hope your gut has the right feeling. I will call Twilight’s home now. Goodnight.” “‘Night, Rarity.” Sunset hung up her phone and placed it back on the table. She fell back onto the couch and watched her reflection on the turned off television. “So what do you think?” she asked her reflection. It immediately changed into two, one being the devil Sundown, the other being the angel Daydream. “The most likely thing that happened is that she got into a nasty fight with her parents and then came running to us.” Sundown commented with a wave of her hand. “Yes, I agree.” Daydream put her hand under her chin. “What worries me, is that she never mentioned it to us that she was having a hard time with her family. In fact quite the opposite.” “Now that you mention it” Sundown crossed her arms, frowning “wasn’t she kind of gushing over her brother, like he was the most awesomest brother in the world, how he would read her stories, play with her and support her and all that crap? Although, considering what Twi went through at Crystal Prep, he did a rather poor job.” “Maybe she was referring to the past? Like when Twilight was just a child.” Daydream suggested. “Twilight never mentioned her parents.” Sunset muttered, looking to the side. “But then again, that goes for both of us. Kind of a silent agreement we have.” “We should remember that we have only been dating her for a couple of weeks. I wouldn’t call our relationship with her that deep as of now. Speaking from a neutral standpoint of course.” “And what’s that supposed to mean?” “Twilight surely hasn’t told us everything about her. Maybe she has a strained relationship with her parents, but doesn’t want us to know, in order to not worry for her.” “That would be kinda ironic in it’s own way.” Sunset took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. She heard the door to her bathroom being unlocked, causing her to snap her head around. “Welp, time to be a good girlfriend.”