Two Truths and a Lie

“Okay, what did you and Rainbow Dash find out from Starlight's Facespace profile?” Starlight asked as soon as she was sure that Morning Dew and Rondache were nowhere near her bedroom to listen in on whatever it was that Sunset found out. She almost didn't want to know the answer to that either though, she had already been through a long day of finding out far more than she ever wanted to know about the alternate version of herself, she was almost hoping for a small reprieve from everything.

Unfortunately, that didn't seem likely at this point.

Sunset Shimmer hurriedly opened the app on her phone and went to Starlight's profile. The girls had really only seen it from the lens of Starlight's actual account when they went through her messages and notifications, but seeing it from the lens of another account was slightly different. The most noticeable thing were that all of the things on Starlight Glimmer's wall were not from anonymous accounts that had all been deleted for some reason or another, it was all recognizable people that Starlight seemed to know. There were actual conversations with people that Starlight took part in, pictures that she had been tagged in.

It was a relief, to be honest, Starlight was beginning to wonder if the other version of her was some kind of lame person that never talked to people.

Kind of like she used to be.

Only creepier, if that was possible since she had a whole notebook full of people she wanted to seek vengeance against.

That was much creepier than just trying to seek vengeance against one pony.

“Not that I am not relieved that you and Rainbow Dash were able to find good things about her and stuff, but couldn't this have waited until tomorrow? Seriously, after everything we've gone through today, I'm beat. I figured I could just go through the notebook and my permanent record and then just... ya know, call it a night.”

Sunset looked taken aback. “What? Didn't you notice the party album that she was tagged in?”

Starlight looked at Sunset's phone again, this time she did indeed notice that Starlight Glimmer had been tagged in six photos from somebody named Sasparilla's party a few weeks ago. She seemed to have enjoyed it and was in most of those pictures with three other girls that she didn't quite recognize, but seemed to actually enjoy her presence.

Although on a second glance that may have just been because they were all drinking, but it was hard to tell since she hadn't been at the party to see firsthand.

“Okay, what about it? Is it just because Starlight seems to have friends? I swear, we can go through their accounts tomorrow or something, I really just want to relax at home right now. I'm pretty sure the same amount of mortal danger towards the other Starlight Glimmer will still be here tomorrow.”

“What is your problem?” Sunset asked in frustration. “Earlier today you dragged me out of school just so we could come back here and find that stupid notebook, but suddenly I'm coming to you with clues that Rainbow Dash and I found on Starlight Glimmer's facespace account and suddenly you aren't interested because 'it can wait.'”

“I'm sorry, Sunset, I didn't mean to upset you, it's just... I have learned so many things about this other Starlight that are just awful and I know it's just going to get worse,” Starlight paused thoughtfully. “And I say that as somepony who took away an entire town's cutie marks and forced them into a cult.”

“I'm sure it's not that bad.”

“I got expelled from Crystal Prep for hacking the Crystal Prep website and harassing Abacus Cinch. I haven't completely gone through her permanent record yet, but I'm sure it's a doozy, so forgive me if I'm not super interested in looking at pictures of Starlight Glimmer having fun at a party.”

“Right, but the pictures from that party were posted the day of Starlight's disappearance.”

Starlight straightened up a bit and took a closer look at the date the photos were posted. Sunset was right, according to all of the information that she had gathered from Miss Care and her foster parents, those pictures seemed as if they had been posted in real-time the night Starlight Glimmer disappeared. They were the last thing posted on her wall before the mass of well wishing from people who had heard about her disappearance. This was a link to the other Starlight that she didn't think she would ever find.

“We need to find out who those girls in that picture are!”

“I know who they are,” Sunset groaned.

“Wait, you know them? You have to introduce me to them, I need to talk to them!”

“You misunderstood me,” Sunset started as she glared at the girls in the picture with Starlight. “I know who they are, but I don't know where they are. In fact, I'm surprised those three are still showing their faces around here.”

“Oof, that bad, huh?”

“They're sirens from Equestria.”

“Oh, great. More Equestrian transplants just like us.”

“I wouldn't be surprised if the three of them were behind everything that's gone on recently. They probably found out that Starlight knew too much about the portal to another world and planned on using her to bring themselves back to Equestria.”

“That would explain why the portal was closed, but I don't think they are in Starlight's notebook. I mean, Twilight hasn't decoded everything yet, but...”

“Who cares about the notebook?! Everything in there is just in Starlight Glimmer's point of view and she was such a petty person that we have no idea if she was just focusing on some small things and completely missing over something big, like Adagio Dazzle, Sonata Dusk, and Aria Blaze staring her in the face at a party!”

“I guess you're right,” Starlight admitted.

“Of course I'm right.”

Starlight looked at the picture of the three sirens and her alternate self for a moment before looking back up at Sunset. “Are these the sirens that Starswirl the Bearded and his crew of ponies defeated over a thousand years ago? If so, they look really good for their age.”

“Honestly, I have no idea. Sirens never seemed that common in Equestria when I lived there, but then again, it seems like there's a lot about Equestria that I didn't know about when I was there.”

“Okay, you're right that was a silly question to ask. It was just on my mind because we dealt with Starswirl recently and....”

Sunset looked at her as if she had three heads and Starlight just shook her head. “Never mind, it's a long story. What's more important is now we have multiple suspects in the missing Starlight Glimmer case: the sirens and Abacus Cinch.”

And Sunset Shimmer. She thought as she willed herself not to say that out loud. That would be terribly stupid to say right in front of her.

Sunset nodded. “That's a pretty good suspect list considering you only came to this world a few days ago.”

“Thanks for bringing it to my attention, I really appreciated it.”

“Of course and don't think for a second this means that the girls and I aren't still diligently trying to go through Starlight's messages to see if we can find anything important. I just wanted to show this to you now because I figured it would give us time to put in a plan tomorrow.”

“Like what?”

“Like what if we all go around town tomorrow and see if we can find them. They were expelled from CHS, but that doesn't mean they aren't still around here causing trouble, especially if they were seen around here just a few weeks ago at a party.”

Starlight opened her mouth to speak, but a knock on the door threw her and Sunset off topic quickly.

“Um... come in?” Starlight said, saying it as more of a question than as a statement.

Morning Dew creaked the door open and popped her head in. “I'm sorry to bother you girls, but I just figured I'd ask you, Sunset if you wanted to stay for dinner.”

“Oh, no, that's okay. Thanks for the offer though. I should be getting home soon.”

“Okay, would you like me to call your parents to pick you up?”

Sunset's face went pale as she quickly started sputtering out a nonsensical response that baffled both Starlight and Morning Dew.

“I mean, I've got a cell phone. I can just text...”

Morning Dew just nodded solemnly and left the two girls alone.

“Actually, I should go.” Sunset grabbed her backpack and swiftly put it on and started to head out of Starlight's room as quickly as she possibly could.

“Wait, Sunset! You don't have to go, you know. You could stay here and hang out for a bit.”

“No, it's fine, I really do have to go...”

“Go where?”

“Home.”

“To who? Did you find the other Sunset Shimmer's family or something? Do you have foster parents like I... like Starlight does?”

Sunset didn't respond; she just turned back around and bolted out the door faster than Starlight had ever seen her move before and all she could do was stand at the top of the stairway and watch as her friend disappeared from out of sight.

“Well, she sure left rather quickly,” Rondache stated. “Everything okay?”

“I have no idea,” Starlight admitted quietly.

* * *

The following day at school, Sunset seemed to go out of her way to avoid Starlight Glimmer, even when the two girls were supposed to have class that day. She even skipped out on the girls' usual morning hang out session, and by the time lunch rolled around and Sunset wasn't sitting in her usual spot at the table, Starlight let out a long and drawn out sigh.

“Hey girls, I don't want to alarm you, I mean you would know better than me, but there's something that's kind of been bothering me today.”

The five girls all leaned in expectantly.

“It's about Sunset Shimmer.”

“What about her?” Fluttershy asked.

Starlight looked over at Twilight who shook her head silently as if to tell her not to say anything, but after how their conversation just kind of fizzled out last night when Starlight asked her for more information on where she was staying and who she was staying with, she felt it was important to mention it to their friends.

“Twilight and I were kind of playing around with the cipher yesterday and ya know, assuming she figured out the shift correctly...”

“Of course she did,” Applejack interrupted. “There's no other way that they would be able to come up with the name Abacus Cinch or any other coherent name on that final page if they didn't do it right.”

Starlight Glimmer nodded. “No, I absolutely agree. It makes a ton of sense! Except, the page before it says Sunset Shimmer. Of course, unlike the Abacus Cinch page, we haven't fully gone through and read about what happened that Sunset got on Starlight's shit list, but I mean this feels like a big thing, right? The other Starlight knew about Sunset Shimmer.”

“That could mean anything,” Rarity said with a flick of her wrist as if she were swatting away the terrible thoughts that had begun to manifest in Starlight's mind.

“I dunno, Rarity, don't you think it's strange how guarded Sunset is about stuff?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Rainbow Dash!” Rarity gasped. “Sunset Shimmer is our friend! She would never be in cahoots with bad people, much less somebody like Abacus Cinch. That woman was a monster, just think about the things she said and did to our poor Twilight. If it weren't for Sunset Shimmer and the rest of us, Twilight could have been stuck being bullied and manipulated all thanks to that woman. Sunset would never associate with her!”

“Nobody is saying that she is associated with her! All I'm saying is that it's weird that we've all had slumber parties at our homes, but not once has Sunset Shimmer ever offered to host one before,” Rainbow Dash offered.

“Right and yesterday when Morning Dew asked if she wanted to call her parents about staying for dinner or getting a ride, she got all weird about it and when I asked her point blank where she was living she just ran off.”

“Where does one live when they come through a magical portal?” Fluttershy asked.

“Maybe she lives in a box. A pretty box with lots of balloons and streamers to make it feel homey!” Pinkie suggested.

“Pinkie! Our friend doesn't live in a box! She would say something to us if she were ever in dire straits, I'm sure of it,” Rarity said matter-of-factly.

“I don't know about that, Sunset's always been awfully proud. I doubt she'd just tell us that there was a problem without us prompting the question,” Applejack said.

“But let's be honest,” Rainbow Dash started. “Now that Starlight Glimmer is here and we know that she has an alternate version of herself and Twilight has an alternate version of herself and we probably do too in the pony world... aren't we all wondering what happened to the Sunset Shimmer on this world?”

“It's not important,” Rarity replied. “All that's important is the Sunset Shimmer that we know and love is our friend.”

“But like... she's never talked about it.”

“I don't think the topic has ever come up,” Fluttershy said.

“I still think we are all getting ahead of ourselves,” Rarity said. “We are starting to question everything we know about Sunset Shimmer – our Sunset Shimmer. I'm not saying that it's a bad thing, but we don't even know for sure that there was some sort of problem between them, just because she's in the notebook suddenly she's our number one suspect. I think it's far more likely to be Abacus Cinch than it is to be our very own Sunset, and girls, we must be more respectful of Sunset's situation, she came to another world by herself and she is the very definition of a model citizen right now. I would stake my reputation on that.”

“Look, all I'm saying is that we all know that Sunset Shimmer was totally jealous when Princess Twilight sent her an Equestratext to tell her that she had taken on Starlight Glimmer as a student. I'm not saying that means that she went all psycho and did something to Starlight, I'm just saying that it's something to think about.”

“Plus it's super strange that she is not talking to any of us at all today, despite being at school today! Her conversation with you yesterday Starlight must have spooked her real good.”

“I didn't mean for that to happen. It started out so well, I mean she told me that she and Rainbow Dash found pictures of Starlight Glimmer with some sirens at a party that were posted on the evening she went missing.”

“Sirens?” Twilight asked, having stayed silent through the whole conversation until now. “What are those?”

“They were the Dazzlings. They were these three girls who transferred to CHS for a few weeks to create strife between the students,” Applejack explained.

“We defeated them with the magic of friendship! Now they can't sing!” Pinkie added.

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. “Starlight, can I see your phone again? It's really important.”

“Sure Rainbow Dash.” Starlight reached into her bag, pulled out her phone and slid it across the table to the rainbow haired girl at the end of the table without a second thought. “Why?”

“I want to go through those messages you got again. They all came from deleted accounts and when Sunset and I were going through your Facespace profile and account yesterday, she and I came to the conclusion that whoever was sending the messages probably had something to do with Starlight's disappearance, but now I'm thinking that's not true.”

“Why do you say that?”

Rainbow showed the girls the pictures from the party. Starlight Glimmer was arm in arm with the Dazzlings and they all seemed to be smiling and enjoying the party well enough. The Equestrian Starlight stared at the photo intently, just as she had the night before, trying to see if there was any inkling of fear or regret in the Earth Starlight's eyes, but just like before she seemed happy and oblivious to the damage that she had caused as well as the damage that was about to happen to her.

“Okay, so I've only taken one high school Psychology class and sure, it's just one of the History teachers showing us movies and making us read books, but one of the things that always stood out to me in that class... or stood out to Twilight really, I just copied some of her answers.”

“Your point, Rainbow?” Applejack asked.

“My point is that one of the big topics in that class was body language, it's basically just a bunch of nonverbal cues to give us an idea of what's going on without anybody saying anything. “The girls in this photo are all standing straight up and smiling. Those are real smiles, Starlight was caught mid-laugh in one of the pictures and even the Dazzlings look less terrifying in these pictures.”

“So Starlight Glimmer and the Dazzlings got along well that just shows stuff we already know; this world's Starlight Glimmer was a massive jerk. What's your point?” Applejack asked.

Rainbow Dash didn't waste a second in turning the phone back towards her face and spending several moments fiddling with it. Her friends all looked on, enraptured in her explanation. Finally, she turned the phone back around where the messages the girls had all looked at the day before were back in full display.

“I present to you, Starlight Glimmer's strange messages.”

“Any other creepy pictures?”

“No, because those photos weren't meant to be creepy. I bet you guys free cupcakes at Sugarcube Corner that these messages from all those strange deleted accounts are actually from the Dazzlings.”

“Um, Rainbow... that doesn't make any sense?”

“Fluttershy, when it was cider season, who used the spare key your parents keep under the third potted plant to the left of the front door to sneak into your home and wake you up so we could get in line early?”

“Um... you?”

“That's right! And would an outsider find that creepy?”

“Um... I kind of found it creepy and I am your friend.”

“Exactly! Friends do weird things sometimes that seem creepy. The Dazzlings weren't blackmailing her or trying to see what was in her notebook, they were probably just pranking her. Considering this Starlight Glimmer has a bit of a revenge streak, I wouldn't be surprised if she had retaliated against them in some way.” Rainbow Dash said.

“Well what does that mean about our suspect list then? If we aren't supposed to look at the Dazzlings then are we supposed to be worrying about Abacus Cinch or Sunset Shimmer or something else? This whole thing feels just like a tangled web of misunderstandings.”

“Man, CHS has been through a lot lately,” Pinkie said. “First Sunset, then the Dazzlings, then Twilight...” Twilight Sparkle turned beet red and tried to hide under the table at the mere mention of her brief time as Midnight Sparkle. “Then there was that whole thing with Gaia Everfree and then Juniper Montage... and now Starlight Glimmer is missing! And it just kind of seems like all of these other things have a hand in Starlight Glimmer's disappearance... or more likely, Starlight Glimmer had a hand in all those other things!”

“Oh puh-lease, Pinkie, we need to be rational about this!” Rarity announced. “First of all, let's just cross Sunset off our list first, and honestly, it's laughable that you even brought her up as a suspect in the first place, Starlight.”

“But..” Starlight started.

Rarity held out her hand to keep Starlight from saying another word. “We know that she didn't do anything, she's our friend and she wouldn't hurt a fly. Just because she went crazy once and we don't know anything about her past doesn't mean that she's a bad person; it just means that she is a private person who is doing her best to change for the better. So, Starlight, somehow and someway, you are going to find out exactly why we can trust Sunset Shimmer. I don't want to hear you or anybody else at this table suggest that she is anything other than our amazing best friend unless you have concrete proof that Starlight Glimmer's disappearance was caused by Sunset. Capisce?”

Starlight went silent while the other girls conversations' moved on to topics that were easier to swallow like classes, tests, and weekend plans that didn't involve trying to save the world or using their powers. Starlight just couldn't stop thinking about Sunset Shimmer though; Starlight liked her, there was no reason for her not to after all, and she wanted to believe that Rarity was right and that Sunset was just a regular girl who was just mixed up in everything by accident.

But....

But there was something niggling away inside of her that didn't quite make her feel comfortable with that explanation.

* * *

When the bell rang to signify the end of the day, Starlight Glimmer was the last one out the door. She slowly put her books into her bag and waited until the other students at CHS walked out the door first, she wasn't exactly in the mood to socialize with anybody right now. She was a girl on a mission.

She opened up the group chat and let the girls know that she would not be attending their usual after school plans, she had spent the whole day deciding what her next step would be.

Starlight Glimmer:
Sorry girls, I'm not hanging out at the portal tonight! I think I'm gonna spend my afternoon shadowing somebody.

Sunset Shimmer:
Abacus Cinch? The Dazzlings? You found them?

Starlight's finger was poised to answer her question, it would have been so simple to just fudge the answer just a little bit, but she let it go and put her phone back in her pocket. She had positioned herself just outside the school grounds in a shrub where she had a perfect view of her friends all talking and laughing at the school statue. It stung a little bit to see them all enjoying themselves without her, but she would just continue to remind herself that she had been invited, she had just chosen not to join them.

Sometimes it's hard to get out of that mindset that people or ponies don't want to spend any time with you.

So she waited, silently alternating between watching her friends and checking her phone. Finally, after about half an hour the girls all started to go their separate ways, whether it be to work, after school activities, or just home in general.

Today, Starlight was thankful that Sunset Shimmer didn't have any extra-curricular activities that she was a part of. She really didn't want to have to spend time wandering around the halls of CHS until Sunset was finally done with her club. Not to mention, she really didn't want the other students questioning why the new girl was acting so weird.

She retreated further into the shrub once she saw Sunset walking in her direction and she waited silently until Starlight caught a glimpse of her friend's bright red and yellow hair go past. She paused for a few seconds until she was sure that Sunset had a fair enough distance ahead of her before she jumped out from behind the bush and followed behind as quietly as she possibly could.

Step.

Step.

Step.

Every step she took felt awkward in this body. Starlight hadn't really thought about it before, but walking on two legs and trying to do so quietly was probably among the most frustrating things she had ever dealt with on this world and she hadn't even fully mastered regular walking yet.

Walking quietly on a stakeout was even worse and Starlight spent most of her energy trying to focus on not falling over or tripping over her shoelaces until she noticed that Sunset had stopped short and then she began to panic even more.

Did she hear me walking? Are my footsteps that loud? I can't tell in this body! Did I just ruin this entire stakeout?

She jumped behind the nearest bush and watched her target from between the twigs and leaves. Sunset was looking around her, so she must have heard Starlight walking behind her. Perhaps she was not as careful and quiet as she always thought she was. She quickly turned away from Sunset and put her back against the bush as she closed her eyes and tried to make herself as small as possible, hoping that if she couldn't see Sunset, then Sunset wouldn't be able to see her.

She kept her eyes closed as tight as possible as she heard Sunset's footsteps start up again. She held in the sigh of relief she so desperately wanted to do, just in case it would be enough to make her target turn around once again. She opened her eyes slowly, the setting sun along the quiet cul-de-sac was all she could see. She glanced down at her watch, it was starting to get late – Morning Dew and Rondache had given Starlight enough trust and space - despite all the stunts the other Starlight pulled - that they didn't mind if she came home later, but she really didn't want to push it. So, perhaps she would have to pick this up again tomorrow instead or whatever other day Sunset Shimmer didn't have some sort of club to take part in.

She turned back towards the bush to see if Sunset was still nearby, she didn't want to give away her position at the last minute, not after all the trouble she had just gone through to keep Sunset from seeing her.

Through all the brush, twigs and leaves in her position she could see Sunset Shimmer, now staring straight at the bush, her hands on her hips and her boots tapping the ground impatiently.

“I know you're there, Starlight Glimmer. You aren't as sneaky as you think you are.”

Starlight closed her eyes in frustration. She thought she had been quiet enough to keep Sunset from realizing that she had been there all along. Starlight hoped that when she opened her eyes, this would all be just some bad day dream that she was having in the middle of History class. Unfortunately, when she opened her eyes again, Sunset Shimmer was standing right next to her, looking just as annoyed at her as she had when she could only sort of see her through her hiding place in the bush.

“You're not tailing Abacus Cinch right now, are you, Starlight? You're tailing me.”

Busted.