Truth of the Heart

by Rose Quill

Chapters

Come, Said the Crow
Strangers on a Train
Meet the Parent
Summer's Truth
Separation
Smoke and Mirrors I
Smoke and Mirrors II
Cloak and Dagger

Come, Said the Crow

Truth of the Heart

Scipio Smith

Chapter 1

Come, Said the Crow

The birds were singing in the trees as the sun rose, cheeping and chirruping to greet the dawn.

A fiery cat, crimson and gold and burning and with eyes of deep red, appeared in the tree beneath the loudest part of the chorus, hissing and spitting. With cries of alarm the birds took wing, and soon quiet reigned around the Palace of Friendship.

Sunset Shimmer smiled contentedly as she dispelled the illusory feline. She pulled the curtains tightly closed, so that not even a chink of light could enter, and then trotted silently back to bed.

Twilight was still asleep. That was the reason, rather than any hatred of avians, why Sunset had scared off the birds. She didn't want them to wake Twilight up.

Sunset climbed back into bed and sat on it, head resting on one hoof, leg lying on the pillow, watching Twilight's breathing chest rise and fall as she breathed in softly. She was so beautiful. The way she was lying, her bangs had fallen sideways so that they covered one eye. Sunset reached out, and with a gentle hoof brushed them out of the way.

"I love you," Sunset whispered.

Twilight let out a small sound, somewhere between a groan and a mumble, and slowly opened her eyes.

"Hey, you," she said softly. "Have you been up long."

"Up?" Sunset said. "I've been watching you sleep all night."

Twilight groaned. "Yeah, whatever. Do you know what time it is?"

"Time to stay in bed for a little longer," Sunset said.

"Sunset," Twilight replied sharply. "The train leaves at ten o'clock, we have to make sure we're there on time. Now, did you see where I put my checklist last night?"

Sunset flopped onto her back. "You don't need to worry so much, we've got plenty of time yet."

"You don't know that," Twilight said, leaping out of bed. "Now, do you know where my checklist is?"

"Underneath the book you were reading last night," Sunset said.

"Thank you," Twilight said, levitating the book out of the way and holding up her checklist so that she could read it, drawing the curtains as she did so. "Now then: get up early; check. I think."

Sunset got up. "I'll make breakfast."

"Could you get Spike up as well?"

"Sure."

"Thank you. Wake up Spike; check."

Sunset chuckled.

"Hey, Sunset," Twilight said quietly, looking up from her list.

Sunset paused on her way out of the bedroom and turned back to look at her. "Is something wrong?"

Twilight smiled contentedly. "No. Nothing. It's...thank you, for agreeing to come with me."

"Thank me?" Sunset said. "I should be thanking you, inviting me to come with you on your big family get together. What are you thanking me for?"

Twilight hesitated, scuffing her hoof from side to side. "I...we're serious, aren't we? I mean I think we're serious, and we're living together which suggests that we're serious? I mean I think you think that we're serious, but I want to be sure because-"

"I think we're serious," Sunset said. "Very serious." More serious than you realise. That ring's burning a hole in my pocket, and I'm not even wearing anything.

"Good," Twilight said, a look of relief crossing her face for a moment, replaced shortly after by an expression of concern. "Since we're serious, and what with us living together and all...I'd like my parents to approve...of you. Of us. I know it's stupid and old-fashioned."

"Old fashioned doesn't make it stupid," Sunset said. "It just makes it old fashioned, is all. And I get it. It killed me when I thought my sister didn't care what I thought about the guy she was marrying, like I wasn't a part of her family. You care what your parents think, it shows you love them."

Twilight smiled. "Well, thank you for coming with me, and taking the time to let them get to know you. I'm sure they'll love you like I do. But not exactly like I do."

"Yeah, I'm sure they will," Sunset murmured. "Provided they like reformed rage demons. Anyway, I'll go wake up Spike, and then I'll fix breakfast."

Twilight nodded. "I love you."

"I know," Sunset said.

"Ugh," Twilight groaned.

"What, it sounded cool in the movie," Sunset said. When Twilight's expression remained blank, Sunset waved one hoof. "You know what, forget it, it didn't sound cool?"

"Not really."

"Okay, I won't say it again then," Sunset said leaving Twilight to her checking and double checking and triple checking.

She trotted down the palace hallways, her hoof-falls echoing through the over-cavernous corridors. It was big, this place. Too big for Twilight, though she pretended not to think so, but Sunset liked it. It was, she had to admit, the sort of place she had dreamed of living in when she had patiently plotted her takeover of Equestria.

Not too long ago, Twilight getting a place like this would have made me so mad. Now...the fact that I'm not mad has nothing to do with the fact that I live here.

She reached Spike's room and knocked on the door. "Hey, Spike, are you awake?"

No answer.

Sunset knocked again. "Spike?"

When there was still no answer, Sunset opened the door and went inside. Spike was asleep, as she had expected, burrowed into the centre of his bed, curled up around something that, on closer inspection, turned out to be a Rarity doll.

"Okay, because that's not creepy or anything," Sunset muttered. "Come on, big guy, time to get up."

Spike's only response was a loud snore.

Sunset frowned for a moment, her horn glowing azure as she flung open the curtains. "Hey, lazyscales, get up!"

Spike's response was an even louder snore than before.

Sunset blinked, then a smirk spread across her face as a thought struck her. She crept up on the slumbering dragon, until she was half lying on the bed, her face about an inch away from his ears.

Clearing her throat, Sunset put on her very best Rarity impression. "Oh, Spike darling, however did you achieve such a sparkling finish on your scales? You must let me see what it feels like to kiss them you adorable little Spike-wikey."
That got him up fast enough, green eyes snapping open as Spike gasped. "Huh? Wuh? Rari-" Spike rolled over and fixed Sunset with a glower. "Oh, it's you."

"Sorry to disappoint, Spikey-wikey," Sunset said.

"And I was having an awesome dream as well," Spike said, rolling onto his back.

"A wet one, I'll bet," Sunset said, hauling herself off the bed. "A Rarity plushie, really?"

"She gave it to me herself," Spike said defensively.

Sunset blinked. "I really have no...there's no accounting for taste, I guess. Anyway, I'm making breakfast, what do you want?"

"A jewel cake," Spike said.

Sunset gave him a side-eye. "My ears are still ringing from what happened I gave you jewel cake for breakfast. What do you really want?"

"I dunno," Spike replied. "Why are you getting me up anyway?"

"Because Twilight wants you up," Sunset said, levitating the little dragon off the bed and onto the floor. "She's worried we'll miss the train."

"That won't happen," Spike complained.

"But Twilight's worried that it will, so no going back to bed," Sunset said, leaving the baby dragon to finish waking up while she headed down into the kitchen.

Outside, some of the birds were starting to gather again, the scare of Sunset's illusory cat having worn off. Sunset didn't bother them again, they weren't likely to disturb anypony now that everypony in the castle was awake. She paid them little notice as she started to gather plates and dishes from the cupboards, although she did look slightly askance at the big black crow that had settled on a branch of a nearby tree. She hadn't seen its like before, but it was only a crow after all, you found them all over the place.

"Caw! Caw!" the crow said, the harshness of its croak cutting through the chorus of the more melodic birds like the sound of a gong being rung dispelling the beauty of a string quartet. "Caw!"

"Caw yourself," Sunset muttered, turning the oven on and opening up a pack of crumpets.

"Come!" the crow said loudly, just as Sunset was about to put the crumpets down on the grill. "Come! Come!"

Sunset paused. Did I just hear that right? She shuffled over to the window, and looked out at the crow on the tree. She could have sworn it was looking right back at her.

"Did you just say 'Come'?" Sunset asked. "Where you talking to me?"

The crow stared at her, or appeared to, but said nothing further.

The two matched gazes for a moment, before Sunset realised the absurdity of trying to outstare a bird, and turned away.

He just said 'Caw' again, and I misheard, that's all. He wasn't talking to me, he wasn't talking at all. I just misheard because I got up too early this morning.

"Sunset!" croaked the crow. "Come, Sunset, come!"

Sunset froze, her eyes widening. She hadn't misheard that. That bird had definitely spoken to her.

She trotted back over to the window, where the crow was still staring.

"Come," said the crow. "Sunset, come."

How is it doing that? Sunset wondered. I'm not Fluttershy, I shouldn't be able to understand it at all. How can it talk to me? Can crows be trained to talk like ponies?

"Come," the crow repeated.

"Come where?" Sunset demanded. "What are you talking about? What do you want?"

The crow tilted its head, as if the answer should have been obvious and she was a dunce for not working it out.

"What?" Sunset said loudly. "Don't clam up now."

"Sunset? Who are you talking to?" Spike asked as he came in, rubbing his eyes.

Sunset turned away from the window to look at him. "I, uh..." she looked back, the crow had gone.

Did I just imagine all that? I didn't, did I? I can't have. But then where did it...maybe if I get a minute, I can ask Fluttershy about talking crows. If not, it'll have to wait until we get back.

Sunset shook her head. "I wasn't talking to anypony, Spike, don't worry about it. Now, what do you want for breakfast?"

Strangers on a Train

Chapter 2

Strangers on a Train

Twilight sat by the window, waving goodbye to her friends as the train pulled out of Canterlot station. Spike, who sat across the row from her, did the same thing. Sunset, seated next to Twilight, waved too, but not so enthusiastically. She liked Twilight's friends well enough, but they were Twilight's friends, and she didn't want to be seen to try and hog the spotlight.

"Have a great time!" Pinkie called. "But not so great you don't want to come back! Have a terrible time! No, wait..."

"I'll be back soon," Twilight called as the train picked up steam, roaring out of the station and leaving Twilight's friends behind. Twilight kept on waving until Ponyville had shrunk to the size of a model village, and it was impossible to make out any pony at that distance.

"I'm sure they'll manage without you for a few days," Sunset said with a smile.

Twilight looked at her, a similar smile upon her own face. "I know. It's just..."

"What?" Sunset asked.

Twilight shrugged. "I don't know, it's stupid."

Sunset shifted on the bench. "All the more reason for you to tell me then."

"Well," Twilight said. "Every time I go somewhere without them, I get a little nervous, you know? Like, something is going to happen and I won't be able to handle it on my own. I may be the princess, but they've always been beside me, every step of the way."

"Come on, Twilight," Spike said dismissively. "You're going to a lakeside resort to spend some time with your parents. What could possibly happen?"

"The moment Cacus turns up I'm going to remind you that you had just to open your mouth," Sunset said, though their was amusement in her tone. She reached out and put one leg around Twilight's shoulders. "But, as much as it was bad luck of him to say so, Spike's probably right. This is supposed to be a break, not a time to worry about whether you're going to have to take on any world-saving at short notice." Sunset smirked. "Besides, if anypony or any other creature starts any trouble, I've got your back."

"You?"

"Don't say it like that, what am I, chopped apple?" Sunset asked. "Just because you had to save me from the furies doesn't mean I can't be pretty handy in a tight spot. Not that I'll be able to prove it to you or anything, but-"

"You don't have to," Twilight said. She paused for a moment. "You know that, right? You don't still think you have to prove anything to me, do you?"

"No," Sunset said. "Your parents and your brother on the other hoof..."

"It'll be fine," Twilight said. "They won't make a fuss."

"Not that you actually have any idea," Spike said. "After all, it's not like you've ever showed them any marefriend of yours before. Not that you've actually had a marefriend for them to meet before."

"Thanks, Spike, your being a big help," Twilight said in a deadpan voice.

"You're welcome," Spike said, taking out a comic book and starting to read it.

"Ignore him," Twilight said, shooting him a look which he missed because instead of his face all that could be seen was the cover of Power Ponies #303. "Shining Armour will be cool, if only because Cadance is, and my parents aren't the type to get all tough and demanding. I don't think they are, anyway."

"I'm certainly glad to hear that," Sunset said. "Didn't you tell me your dad was in the Royal Guard. He retired with an injury, right?"

Twilight nodded. "That's right."

"Hmm," Sunset murmured. Me and Twilight are about the same age, so it's possible... "So, he would have been serving around twenty years ago?"

"Yeah, I think so," Twilight said. "Why?"

"Oh, nothing," Sunset said. Celestia's fortune, I really hope he doesn't connect the dots or this will be difficult. She could feel the ring in her saddle bag, seeming to grow heavier by the moment. If Twilight's father worked out who her father really was...well, she could kiss the parental blessing goodbye. Perhaps I should have come clean with Twilight. No, that would have been the worst thing she could have done. Sunset's crimes were great enough without putting her father's onto Sunset's back as well, there would have been no chance of getting their relationship off the ground.

Besides, I'm not my father, I shouldn't have to answer for the choices he made. It isn't as though I don't have bad choices enough of my own to answer for.

"Are you okay?" Twilight asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Sunset said. "I just really want to make a good impression."

"It doesn't matter, really, you know," Twilight said. "I'm the one going out with you, not them."

Sunset gave Twilight a level look. "Look me in the eye and tell me that it wouldn't upset you if your parents didn't approve of me. Tell me that you wouldn't rather they thought me worthy of you."

Twilight looked away. "I'm afraid I can't do that."

"I know," Sunset said. "Because that's who you are; and I love who you are. I wouldn't want you to change for my sake. I'll just have to impress your folks, that's all."

"You will," Twilight said confidently.

"How do you know?" Sunset asked.

"Because I love you," Twilight said. "And that means there must be something in you to love. And if I can see, other ponies will too."

Sunset blinked. "Thank you," she whispered.

They leaned in to kiss.

"Ugh," Spike said.

Sunset looked at him. "Thank you, Spike, for killing the mood so quickly and with a single word."

"You're welcome," Spike said happily.

The countryside flew past, and Canterlot drew near in the window, the great snow-topped mountain looming over them as they raced towards it upon the iron rails. Twilight had, of course, brought a book along to help pass the time, a book on physics and engineering.

"I'd have preferred a novel," Sunset said.

"Oh, that reminds me," Twilight replied. "Don't mention to my mom that you've read her books."

"But I did," Sunset said. "They were pretty good, although I usually prefer stuff that takes itself a little more seriously."

"Maybe, but don't bring it up," Twilight said. "She'll think that you're just trying to suck up, so save your thoughts until she's already gotten to like you."

That seemed reasonable enough, so Sunset nodded. "Okay. So, why did you bring the textbook?"

"Just an idea I've been mulling over of getting the trains to run on magnets," Twilight said. "If we could get it to work, we wouldn't have to burn so much coal."

"That won't be good for the poor ponies with mining cutie marks," Sunset said. "Besides, if it could be done the humans would have done it already."

"They don't have magic to use to iron out the kinks," Twilight said.

Sunset considered that for a moment. "Good point. So have you tested your little theory yet or is it still just in your head?"

Twilight spread the book out on the bench between the two of them. "I wanted to see what you thought first, before I tried to build anything practical out of it. You might be able to spot something that I've missed."

Sunset looked at the pages spread out below her. "You know you could probably build an EMP device from what's in here."

"What is this, our high school science fair? Why would we want to do that?"

Sunset shrugged. "It might come in handy at some point, you never know."

"Anyway," Twilight said. "Getting back to a productive purpose."

As they were talking, the train pulled in to Canterlot station, the first stop on the way to Tall Lake.

As the train came to a halt, ponies got up from their seats and began to shuffle in a huddled mass towards the exit, looking like nothing so much as a horde of very polite zombies as they stood waiting for that one guy with a huge suitcase to get it out of the luggage rack so that they could all get off. Ponies in suits, ponies in casuals, ponies wearing nothing at all like Twilight and Sunset, all standing in a great horde eager for the door, but none quite touching one another, even if they had to lean sideways or rock on their hooves, all trying to avoid intrusions into personal space that were, frankly, unavoidable.

The doors opened and there was a great rush towards the exit. Sunset could hear the conductor from outside the train.

"This stop is Canterlot. If you are leaving this service here please remember to take all of your belongings with you when you leave the train. Please take care when alighting on the platform. This is the service for Vanhoover calling at Saddale, Hoofington, Unicorn Range West, Buckingham, Tall Lake and Vanhoover where this service will terminate."

The rush of ponies trying to get off the train and onto the crowded platform was followed by the flood of ponies trying to get on. Sunset didn't bother to watch them but bent back to Twilight's book, only vaguely conscious of the stream of equinity flowing past her into the various seats.

"Excuse me, is this seat taken?"

Sunset looked up to see a butter yellow pegasus hovering a few inches above the floor of the railway car, a bundle of black bin bags held precariously in her forehooves and her face poking out from behind them.

Sunset glanced at Twilight, who said, "No, please, help yourself."

"Oh, thank you so much," the pegasus said, flapping her wings to carry herself up towards the luggage rack. She leaned backwards to be able to put her bin bags up there, but as she did so the weight caused her to overbalance, tipping backwards with a cry of alarm. "Whoa!"

Twilight and Sunset both leapt to their feet, their horns flaring with magical aura as Twilight stopped the mare's fall and Sunset grabbed hold of the bin bags before they fall to the floor and spill all over the place.

"Here, let me take care of that," Sunset murmured, levitating the bags up into the rack above her head. It took a bit of work to get the big bags in there, but Sunset's telekinesis was sufficiently deft to rearrange the shape of the black bags without splitting them open.

"Thank you," the mare said, as Twilight set her down upon the ground. "It's not an ideal way to pack up everything you own in the world, but I didn't really have a lot of other options. I'm Summer, by the way."

Summer's eyes were a light blue, like a pool under sunlight, and her mane was cream, with pink highlights, cut short but in an artfully messed up way. Her cutie mark was a black arrow, pointing up her side towards her face.

"Are you an archer?" Sunset asked.

Summer chuckled. "No, I wish. Then maybe I could make a living. No, my cutie mark is...well, it's complicated. It doesn't matter."

"Suit yourself," Sunset said, holding up one hoof. She wasn't going to make the other mare talk about it if she didn't want to. "Anyway, I'm Sunset Shimmer, this is Spike, and I'm sure you already know who this is."

Summer's face was blank. "No, I don't. Should I?"

"Seriously?" Spike asked.

"Spike," Twilight said reproachfully. She smiled warmly. "I'm Twilight Sparkle."

"Princess Twilight Sparkle," Spike said.

Summer's face flushed. "Oh my goodness. I am so sorry, princess, I had no idea!"

"It's alright, really," Twilight said. "I don't make a big deal out of it and I don't see why anypony else should either. It's fine, honestly. Contrary to what Sunset said, I don't think most ponies know who I am. And, frankly, I prefer it that way."

"All the same, I feel like an idiot," Summer murmured. "And I should thank you twice as hard for letting me sit in your presence."

Twilight began to blush. "Please, stop it, you'll embarrass me. Like I said, I'm just myself."

Spike looked as if he might protest that, but a swift glance from Twilight was enough to shut him up.

"Anyway, it's really nice to meet you," Summer said. "Where are you three headed?"

"Tall Lake," Twilight said.

"Oh, my gosh, me too!" Summer squealed excitedly. "I'm moving in with my coltfriend there; hence, the bags."

"He couldn't have loaned you a case or two?" Sunset asked.

"I...wasn't given a lot of time to move out," Summer said. "But, you know, it's all cool. I get to live with my coltfriend, and once I get there I know my life is gonna to turn just right around. I'm about to really make a change this time, I can feel it. So, how about you, what's waiting for you in Tall Lake?"

"My family," Twilight replied. "My parents are vacationing up there and we're joining them to celebrate their anniversary."

"Okay, that sounds nice," Summer said, nodding her head. She looked at Sunset. "So, are you like a friend of the family or something."

Sunset leaned in a little closer to Twilight. "Not exactly."

Summer's eyes widened. "Oh, Celestia, I'm such an idiot! Of course! Yes, right, cool. You two are together. It's awesome, isn't it?"

Sunset blinked. "What is, exactly?"

"Being in a relationship," Summer said. She sighed with happiness. "Doesn't it just fill you up and like, complete you."

Sunset smiled. "Yeah, it really does." She glanced at Twilight, who nodded in agreement. Spike, on the other hand, looked a little bit put out by all of this, though Sunset thought that was probably just sour grapes because he hadn't been able to turn his relationship with Rarity into anything solid yet. Wait until your older Spike, I'm sure you'll make it some day.

Spike's expression only got more sour as the train journey continued. Summer kept up an energetic, if inconsequential conversation about various trivial things. Sunset appreciated that she didn't take Twilight's celebrity status as an excuse to ask a lot of personal questions, and reciprocated by not asking Summer any questions about herself like, for instance, why she had been forced to pack up her life in garbage bags and get on a train to suddenly move in with her coltfriend; if she didn't want to share her life story then it wasn't Sunset's place to pry was it. Instead they talked about fluffy, harmless things: fashion (Summer geeked out momentarily when she found out that Twilight knew Rarity, who had apparently made a big splash at the Manehattan fashion show), celebrity gossip, who was in and who was out, upcoming movies that Summer was looking forward to. Spike may not have enjoyed it, but for Sunset it made the journey pass quickly enough until the train pulled into Tall Lake.

"Well, this is where we all get off, isn't it?" Summer said, as Sunset levitated her bags down into her hooves. "Thanks for all your help, and for listening to me, I know I can let my mouth run a little."

"You think?" Spike muttered under his breath, causing Twilight to snort angrily at him.

"Anyway, maybe I'll see you around town while you're here," Summer said. "Or maybe I won't, but I would it be cool. It was nice meeting you." She turned around and fluttered awkwardly off the train, her bags swaying in her tenuous grasp.

"I thought she'd follow us to our hotel," Spike said.

"She wasn't that bad," Sunset said. "She was trying to be nice."

"Weren't you even a little bored?"

"A bit, yes," Sunset said, in fact she couldn't remember much of what the other mare. "But that's my fault, not hers. She made an effort."

"To you, maybe," Spike muttered.

"Come on, Spike, don't be that way," Twilight said. "You probably won't have to see her ever again after this. Now let's go before the train leaves with us still on it."

Author's Note

The bit about an EMP is a shout-out to the Albinocorn's awesome Long Road to Friendship.

Meet the Parent

Chapter 3

Meet the Parents

"Are you sure you don't want a hoof with all of that stuff, Spike?" Sunset asked as she, Twilight and Spike made their way through the streets of Tall Lake towards the Sapphire Grand Hotel. Spike seemed to be tottering under the weight of all their luggage, and it was a miracle to Sunset that he hadn't fallen over already.

"No," Spike growled from under the mountain of cases so large that Sunset could only see his claws. "I'm just fine."

"You don't look fine," Sunset replied.

"Look," Spike said tersely. "I don't usually get to save the world, I don't get to fight the monsters, I don't get sent on missions across Equestria, I don't even get to solve people's friendship problems. But I do have one job, and that's to carry heavy things, and so I'm going to be the best...carrier of heavy things that there ever was, and no one's going to take that away from me."

"Okay, sheesh, I was only asking," Sunset said. "No need to get all snippy about it."

Since he was so insistent upon his own ability to take care of it, Sunset left him to it and trotted a few paces until she had caught up with Twilight. Around them loomed the spires of Tall Lake, the shining skyscrapers rising up out of the ground to impale the sky. Most of them were hotels, judging by the signs adorning them, with smaller bars and restaurants nestling between them.

If proof were needed that Tall Lake was a resort town, wholly dependent upon the tourist bit, then a glance down its main street would have been proof enough: glitzy hotel, bistro, homely griffon bar, upmarket restaurant, family restaurant, cafe, convenience store, nightclub, motel. Everypony here was catering to the needs of the visitors, with the possible exception of the theatres that were, arguably, producing art. Rickshaws rolled up and down the streets, and crowds drawn from across Equestria and beyond made navigating the pavements as difficult as sailing any sea. There were ponies of all races, even the nightponies so rarely seen outside of Princess Luna's guard, there were zebras, buffalo, griffons, Sunset even caught sight of a yak. Gaudy shirts were on display as often as sharp suits and dresses, and Sunset couldn't begin to count the number of ponies wearing sunglasses. It was probably the sort of place you had to get up before down in order to set out your towel by the lakeside if you wanted to get a space.

Sunset tried to work out what it said about Twilight's parents that they had chosen this place for their anniversary celebration. She had expected...well, honestly, she had expected Twilight's mom to be an older Twilight, even though she knew that rationally that was completely ridiculous - Sunset's mom had been the soul of patience and serenity, but it wasn't as though you could associate Sunset with either of those things - but it was all she really had to go on. But this...Sunset couldn't see Twilight being really happy in a place like this.

"Is it me or does this place seem a little...artificial?" Sunset asked. "Like...why does anypony come here, except because it is a place that ponies are known to come?"

Twilight shrugged. "The lake is supposed to be beautiful, though I've also heard it's a little overcrowded these days. Personally I'd prefer to vacation somewhere with a little more culture, but it isn't my party."

Sunset smiled. Do I know you or what? Better than I know your folks, clearly.

"There it is," Twilight said, pointing upwards at one of the tallest buildings in sight. The Sapphire Grand Hotel certainly lived up to its name. It was so tall it probably represented a flight risk to passing pegasi, and the walls were covered in some sort of special paint or tiles that gave them a shimmer affect like the whole tower was made out of living ocean or something. The name of the hotel was spelled out in giant gold letters affixed above the revolving doors, which constantly spun as ponies moved in and out of grand lobby.

As Sunset and Twilight approached, the porter outside tipped his hat to them. "Welcome to the Sapphire Grand. Can I take your bags for you?"

"No thanks," Spike said immediately. "I got this."

Unfortunately at that point he banged into the glass framing one set of doors and knocked himself on his backside, cases and bags scattering everywhere.

"Take it easy, Spike," Twilight said. "Thank you, sir, your help would be much appreciated."

Spike glowered a little as the porter helped him pick up all the luggage, but said nothing to protest Twilight's decision. Twilight herself headed through the doors, with Sunset a step behind her, and into the lobby itself. It was as expensively decked out as the exterior, with exotic plants growing in exquisitely decorate pots, and seaweed patterns crawling up walls set with precious stones that glittered in the blue-tinted sunlight streaming in through the skylight. The lobby furniture was ultra-modern, but still comfortable looking, and ponies sat here and there throughout reading the days newspapers and the latest stylish magazines. Sunset had the weirdest feeling that some of them were watching her, but shook off the feeling as being completely ridiculous.

"Twily!" a tall, powerfully built white stallion cried out happily as he made his way through the crowd towards them. Sunset didn't recognise him, but she did recognise Princess Cadance beside him, and it didn't take a genius to work out that this must be Twilight's brother, Shining Armour, of whom Sunset had heard but had not met, until now.

"Big brother!" Twilight sounded just as happy to see her brother as he was to see her, and the two embraced in the lobby without any care for who might see them. "And Cadance, it's so good to see you again. Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake!"

"Clap your hooves and do a little shake!" they finished together, chuckling softly.

"I'm so glad you could make it," Twilight said. "You're always so busy."

"Yeah, but how could we miss out on Mom and Dad's anniversary?" Shining Armour asked.

Cadance looked at Sunset and smiled. "And Sunset, how are you?"

Sunset nodded affably. "I'm fine, thanks. I'm better than fine, actually, I'm great." She stepped forward and held out one hoof towards Shining Armour. "I'm Sunset Shimmer, and you must be Shining Armour. It's a pleasure to finally meet you."

Shining Armour reached out and bumped her hoof with his own. "The pleasure's all mine, Sunset. Cadance has told me a lot about you, and Twilight's letters talk about you as well."

Sunset grinned. "Good things, I hope."

"You make Twily happy," Shining Armour said. "That's all I really need to know. As long as that stays the case, you're alright with me."

Sunset's smile widened. "Thanks. I was worried you were going to be some sort of overprotective big brother and threaten to mess me up if I didn't treat Twilight right."

"Oh, I will," Shining Armour said earnestly. "I just didn't want to make things awkward by saying it out loud; honestly I thought that was a given."

"I'm standing right here, you know," Twilight said. "And it's not like I'm a kid any more."

"You'll always be a kid to me, Twily," Shining Armour said idly, rubbing her head with his hoof.

"The kid who keeps saving you," Cadance murmured.

Shining Armour blushed, "Yeah, yeah, I know."

Sunset chuckled. She didn't feel anything like the nervousness around Shining Armour that she had felt before meeting him. Sure, he was protective of his sister, but so was Sunset herself, that didn't make him a bad guy. In fact he seemed kinda nice, even if he wasn't as smart as his sister. No, she could get on with Shining Armour, and he seemed willing to get on with her as well.

Perhaps this will all be easy after all, Sunset thought, thinking of the ring burning a hole in her saddle bag. Parental consent, here I come.

"Do you two already have your room?" Twilight asked.

"Yes, we got here last night," Cadance said.

"Mom and Dad are here too, you're the last ones," Shining Armour added. "But they're in the spa, so Cadance and I were going to get some lunch. Do you want to join?"

"Of course," Twilight said. "But we should probably get our room first."

"You stay here and catch up," Sunset said. "I'll get the room key."

"Okay," Twilight said, kissing Sunset on the cheek. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it," Sunset said. She caught a glimpse of Spike coming through the door with the porter. "Hey, Spike, over here."

"How are you doing, Spike?" Cadance called.

"Hey, Cadance!"

Sunset left them to it as she strode over to the reception desk. The grey unicorn managing it did not look up, so Sunset coughed.

When he still didn't look up, she rang the bell.

"I've got a room booked for the next four nights in the name of Sunset Shimmer," Sunset said. They had booked the room under her name, rather than that of Twilight, so that the paparazzi wouldn't be there waiting for them.

"Sign here, please," the unicorn said, still not looking up as he levitated a form into Sunset's face.

Sunset signed.

The unicorn at the desk still didn't look at her as he levitated a pair of keys off a hook on the wall behind him. "Here you go, loft fourteen on the top floor."

"A loft?" Sunset demanded. "We paid for a suite with a lake view."

"I beg your pardon Miss...ah, Shimmer, was it? I'm sorry, but there are no other rooms available in the hotel, lake view or otherwise." He looked up at her with what seemed like an almost malicious glint in his blue eyes. "Of course if you are not happy with this room we will offer you a full refund, and you are welcome to see what other hotels might be available at such short notice."

Sunset scowled. She didn't buy for one second that the only room available was a loft on the top floor - apart from anything else she could see several keys still hanging on the wall behind the reception desk - but the only hotels likely to still have rooms available for tonight were cockroach-infested flea pits or youth hostels were mares slept twenty to a room and used a communal shower. Neither prospect was particularly appealing. If she made sufficient fuss she could probably get a better room, but starting a screaming match in the hotel lobby in front of everypony - especially in front of Cadance and Shining Armour - would only embarrass Twilight, and that was the last thing that Sunset wanted.

So she sighed. "No, I'm sure that Loft Fourteen will be perfectly adequate."

"Oh, do you have our room key?" Twilight asked as she made her way to the desk. "Great! Where is it?"

The receptionist blinked. Then he swallowed. Then he stammered incoherently for a little while before he managed to make some words come out. "P-p-princess Twilight! This reservation was for you? But, but the name said-"

"The room was in the name of my marefriend, Sunset, yes," Twilight said. "I didn't want too many ponies to find out I was coming here, you know. So, is that our room."

"Y-no!" the receptionist squeaked, his horn glowing cerulean blue as he yanked the keys to Loft Fourteen away. "That was...aha...that was a mistake on my part, terribly sorry, terrible mistake, I would never dream of...ahaha...ahem. No, you're room is the Celestial Suite on the fifth floor, two doors down from the Solarium. I'll just get somepony to take your bags. BELLHOP!" He struck the porters' bell so hard that a dozen bellcolts converged upon the desk at once. "Take Princess Twilight Sparkle's luggage to the Celestial Suite! Right now!" He smiled obsequiously. "Please enjoy your stay at the Sapphire Grand, Your Highness, and if there is anything at all that you require please don't hesitate to let me know or any other member of staff know, we will all be terribly happy to assist you."

"Thank you," Twilight said with a smile as she handed him an modestly sized ruby. As far as Sunset was concerned he deserved a kick up the rear end, but you had to tip in these places, even for lousy service, if you didn't want to find that fleas had somehow gotten into your bed.

"Oh, no, thank you your royal highness," the receptionist said, getting up from his seat to bow.

The room to which they were led was as well appointed as one would expect from one of the most expensive hotels in Tall Lake. The bed four poster bed was hung with crimson sheets, and the mattress was embraced by a golden duvet. The carpet, which felt so soft underneath Sunset's hooves, was a dark pink, as were the coverings of the chairs and the couch.

"Not bad, considering we'll only be in here to sleep," Sunset said. "Not bad at all."

"Says the pony who actually has a bed," Spike said. "I have to sleep on the couch."

Twilight sighed. "You're too young to have a room of your own, Spike, I'm sorry."

"Besides, didn't you used to sleep in a basket?" Sunset asked. "I'd have thought a cough would be paradise by comparison."

"Why don't you try it?" Spike suggested.

"That's enough, Spike," Twilight said. "If it's really uncomfortable tonight, then I'll see if we can get a second bed, a child-sized one. Now, we should probably go back down if we don't want to keep Cadance and Shining Armour waiting."

"Why don't you head down first, Spike," Sunset said. "We'll be right behind you." Or maybe not. That bed did look rather inviting.

Spike shrugged. "Okay. Suit yourselves. Don't be too long though, I'm too hungry to wait around."

He left the room, closing the door rather sharply behind him.

Twilight blinked. "Was there something you wanted to talk about?"

Sunset's eyebrows rose. "You know we don't have to go out to lunch. There are other things we could do, just the two of us."

Twilight rolled her eyes, but the flush spreading to her cheeks at the same time told Sunset that Twilight had not been ignorant of the idea herself. "It's a little early, don't you think?"

"Twilight, you ask how many kisses of yours,
Would be enough and more to satisfy me," Sunset whispered, bearing down on Twilight as she strutted across the soft pink carpet.

Twilight chuckled. "Oh, my, the poetry again."

"As many as the grains of Libyan sand,
That lie between hot Jupiter's oracle," Sunset said, kissing Twilight's neck again and again between works, burying her muzzle in Twilight's mane.

Twilight laughed, though she was kissing Sunset herself by now. "I know we don't get a lot of privacy, but come on, it's the middle of the day."

"Or as many as the stars, when night is still,
Gazing down on pony secret desires," Sunset had once believed that technological advances were the greatest superiority that humans had over ponies, but since falling in love she had come to appreciate their love poems. She kissed Twilight's ear.

"I swear to Celestia, you are completely impossible!"

In the end they both went down to lunch, if only because they were both hungry and there's nothing like the sound of loud stomach's growling to kill the mood faster than a dragon...anywhere. When they got back from lunch, followed by a few hours getting shown around the city by Cadance and Shining Armour, it was time to get ready for dinner.

Sunset climbed out of the shower and stood in the steam filled bathroom, the towel under her feet rapidly becoming completely waterlogged as she wrapped around towel around her head and, with one hoof, wiped a patch of the mirror clear enough to see herself in it.

What she was...well, her. She had looked better, she had looked worse, but of course she hadn't even really start to get ready yet. She'd shine like a dragon's hoard by the time she was done. She pushed a fiery red lock of her mane out of the embrace of the towel so that it feel down between her eyes, and smirked.

"Better already," she said. Sunset frowned, and cleared her throat. "Sunset Shimmer, sir, damn glad to meet you!" she stuck out her hoof, before scowling. "Nah." She cleared her throat again. "You must be Nightlight, sir, I'm Sunset Shimmer. Hmm. Sunset Shimmer, sir, it's a pleasure, no it's an honour to meet you. It's an honour to meet you? What am I, some kind of sycophant? An honour to meet you, come on, get it together Sunset."

She coughed loudly, and cleared her throat again. "Mr Nightlight, may I please marry your daughter? Mr Nightlight, may I please have your permission to marry your daughter? Sir, may I have your blessing to ask for Twilight's hoof in marriage? Ugh. I really wish Tirek hadn't destroyed the library until after I found a book on how to do this right."

Twilight knocked on the door. "Sunset? Are you okay in there?"

Sunset started. "Yes! Yes, I'm fine, totally fine."

"I can hear something, are you talking to yourself?"

"No," Sunset replied. "Well, maybe a little. It's no big deal, everything's just great."

"Oh. Okay. Are you coming out?"

"Just a minute," Sunset said.

When Sunset did come out, Twilight was already dressed in a full length gown of royal purple, trimmed with fine golden thread and capped sleeves that were almost falling off her shoulders, with a large lavender bow upon her back adding the perfect finishing touch.

Twilight shrugged. "What do you think?"

Sunset could feel the colour rushing to her face. "You look...very nice."

Not that Sunset looked like a slob herself in he dress that Rarity had made for her: the skirt was much shorter than Twilight's, covering her things by leaving her legs exposed, but what skirt there was consisted of three layers, one of red sandwiched between two of gold. The bodice was crimson, and sparkled with miniature rubies sewn into it, while the sleeves and the neckline were both an aquamarine blue green, the same as Sunset's eyes.

Thus dressed to impress, Sunset, Twilight and Spike in his tuxedo descended down into the lobby, where Shining Armour and Cadance were waiting for them along with an older couple who must be - at last - Twilight's parents.

"Twilight!" the mare, Twilight Velvet, shouted as she caught sight of her daughter. "Oh, my little baby, it's good to see you again." Twilight Velvet was still good looking for an older mare, with only a few bags under her eyes to demonstrate her age. Her coat was a light grey, like chalk, and her mane was a peppermint mixture of purple and white. She wore a necklace of pearls clasped tightly around her throat, and she wore a floor length gown of lilac taffeta with few adornments, save for a few miniature seed pearls sewn around the neckline.

"Hey, Mom," Twilight said, sounding both affectionate and embarrassed at the same time as she submitted to her mother's warm embrace. "How's it going, Dad?"

"Just perfect, sweetie," Nightlight said, giving his daughter a kiss on the forehead. Twilight's father, a short - he was barely taller than his wife, and certainly smaller than either his son or daughter-in-law - blue stallion with a mane that was only a few shades darker than his coat, look almost as well preserved as his wife. He did not wear a tux, like Spike and Shining Armour did, but was instead dressed in the formal frock coat and cravat favoured by the older generation.

"And how are you, Spike?" Twilight Velvet said. "You look like you've grown."

"Yeah, I'm two inches taller! Thanks for noticing, Mrs Velvet," Spike said.

"Now that we're all here, shall we get going?" Nightlight asked. "Our reservation is for eight."

"Just a minute Dad, there's somepony you have to be introduced to, first," Twilight said. She stepped aside, revealing Sunset to her parents. "Mom, Dad, this is my marefriend, Sunset Shimmer."

Sunset said nothing for a moment as she stood under the gaze of Twilight's parents. She coughed to clear her throat. Now or never. "It's a pleasure to meet you sir, ma'am. Your daughter is a wonderful mare."

"I'm well aware of that," Nightlight said, his voice chillier than a winter breeze.

Cadance frowned, but Twilight Velvet simply chuckled mildly. "Never mind him, dear, you know how stallions are about their daughters. It's wonderful to finally meet you, we've been told so much about you."

"Indeed," Nightlight murmured. "From numerous sources."

I'm guessing that means that they know about the whole stealing-Twilight's-crown thing then?

"Sir, I-" Sunset began.

Twilight came to Sunset's defence before she had to speak for herself. "Dad, Sunset isn't the same mare that she used to be. Whatever you've heard about the things that she did in the past, I've forgiven her and so should you."

Nightlight's eyes narrowed for a moment. "I guess I'll have to try, won't I?"

Sunset would have breathed a sigh of relief, but that would have involved admitting that she was scared to begin with, and she wouldn't do that. So she settled for an inward sigh. At least he didn't bring up my father. Maybe he doesn't know. That would be good, I can cope with answering for my own actions, but I don't want to have his held against me as well.

He doesn't sound as though he'd give me permission if I asked right now, unfortunately.

"Now, shall we go?" Nightlight asked. "If we're late, they'll give our table away."

They swept down the street in grand procession, drawing the eyes of more than a few passing ponies on the street - Sunset strutted her stuff for them, until she caught Nightlight giving her side-eye and stopped with some reluctance - until they arrived at a fancy looking restaurant with the name The Barnyard written in gold letters upon a green background. A griffon stood outside the door, checking the names of the ponies queuing to get in against a list, while a minotaur loomed over his shoulder.

There was a large queue to get in, but that seemed to be for ponies who hadn't made reservations since Nightlight led the entire party past the line to give his name to the griffon outside.

"A table for seven in the name of Nightlight."

"Of course, sir, go right in and give your name to the maitre'd."

They went inside a restaurant that was dimly lit, with a mixture of candles on the tables and red lights above, where a minotaur in a suit was leading a jazz band in some swing music, and where a maitre'd with a moustache greeted Nightlight and Twilight Velvet warmly, as if he knew them, before showing them to a table in the corner of the place.

"Do you come here often?" Sunset asked.

"At least once a year," Twilight Velvet said. "We actually met on vacation here at Tall Lake, and Nightlight proposed in this very restaurant."

"I had the ring put in the champagne glass," Nightlight said. "I cringe when I look back."

"Oh, don't get embarrassed darling, I thought it was very romantic," Twilight Velvet replied.

Hmm. Consider putting the engagement ring in the champagne flute.

They took their seats. Twilight's parents of course sat next to one another, and Twilight took the seat next to her father even as Shining Armour sat next to his mother. But when Sunset went to take the seat on Twilight's right Nightlight said, "Spike, why don't you take the seat next to Twilight."

Spike hopped on to the chair which Sunset had been about to claim, leaving Sunset sitting between Spike and Cadance. Sunset couldn't be certain, but she was almost sure that she detected a slight triumphant gleam in Nightlight's eyes.

You don't like me very much, do you?

Over the course of the next couple of hours, Sunset began to wonder if she had made a mistake in coming here, and it wouldn't have been better letting Twilight and Spike come on their own. It had to be said that Twilight Velvet was friendly enough, as were Shining Armour and Cadance, but as this was the night of Twilight's parents then the conversation naturally enough focussed on family matters: jokes that only they got, stories that only they remembered, memories that only they shared. They weren't making a deliberate effort to shut Sunset out, but she felt a little shut out all the same.

But you had to expect these things when you went to your marefriend's parents' anniversary, and Sunset could have borne it with a smile - Twilight was having a good time, and wasn't that what really mattered - if it hadn't been for Twilight's dad. He only spoke to Sunset to ask her some sort of pointed question: he demanded to know what Sunset did for a living, and harrumphed when Sunset explained that she didn't actually have a job; it was only her need for his permission to marry Twilight that stopped Sunset from pointing out how incredibly rich that was coming from a stallion whose own daughter had spent her entire life in education right up to the moment she became royalty. When Sunset had tried to explain that she spent her days working on inventions that might, in the long run, be of great benefit to Equestria he had turned his nose up at that too. Whenever anypony else had tried to include Sunset in the conversation, he had always changed the subject to keep her out of it.

She was getting a little bit sick and tired of his passive-aggressiveness, to be honest. If he didn't like her that was fine, but have the guts to say it to her face and let her answer back.

So it almost came as a relief when, just before the cabaret was due to start, Nightlight rose from his seat and said, "Miss Shimmer, I wonder if I could have a word with you in private."

"Of course, sir," Sunset said, though the last word stuck in her craw so badly it was only with great effort that she could force it out from between her teeth. She followed Nightlight away from the table, ignoring the confused looks of Twilight and the others, into a little alcove corridor that led to the bathroom.

"I feel I ought to commend you," Nightlight said. "You've been incredibly patient, moreso than I would have expected."

Sunset frowned. "Are you going to tell me that this was all a big test of my character."

"No," Nightlight said firmly. "But I was hoping to get a rise out of you that would prove that you weren't fit to be in my daughter's life."

Well, at least we've got that out in the open. I guess. Sunset sighed. "Listen, sir, you clearly don't like me for some reason-"

"For some reason?" Nightlight said. "Do you think that I'm an idiot, Miss Shimmer?"

Sunset said nothing at all.

"I know who you are," Nightlight continued. "I know what you are, I know what you did."

"I will not deny that I made some mistakes and did some things that were wrong," Sunset said. "But I am not the same pony that I was then."

"I highly doubt that that's the truth," Nightlight said. "What I suspect is more likely is that, having failed in your initial plans, this show of repentance has been for the sole purpose of gaining my daughter's confidence, the better to advance your ambitions by other means."

Sunset laughed aloud. "Is that what you think? You think that I fooled Twilight, that this is all just a game so I can get power? Oh, come on. What have I done to make you even suspect such a load of ponyfeathers?"

"I knew your father, back when he was a guard," Nightlight said. "I even counted him a friend once. He fooled me, the way that you're fooling Twilight Sparkle now. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree."

Well, this isn't good. "I'm not my father," Sunset said. "All the things that he's done, leave me out of them."

"Is that so," Nightlight said. "You're not in contact with him in any way?"

"I haven't spoken to my father in years," Sunset snapped.

"You lied about who your father was to Twilight Sparkle," Nightlight pointed out.

"Because I was ashamed of him and worried about what she'd think, not because we're in cahoots for shady motives."

"So he isn't the brains behind the little operation you have going in Ponyville?"

"There is no operation," Sunset snarled. "I'm not my father's puppet, and I'm not lying to Twilight Sparkle about the way I feel-"

"Your father-"

"I am not my father!" Sunset yelled. "You want to call me out on the things that I've done then go ahead! I apologise for my mistakes but I won't run from them, and I own the things that I've done for good or bad. But you call me over to throw my dad in my face? To question me about him? To act like I'm working for a guy I haven't seen since he walked out on his family? You can go to Tartarus! I don't have to take this, not even if you are Twilight's father. Have a nice night."

Sunset stormed out of the restaurant and onto the street, ignoring Twilight crying out for her to come back.

Summer's Truth

Chapter 4

Summer's Truth

"I don't know what you're talking about," said Bon Bon, AKA Sweetie Drops. "I thought that it was transcendent."

"I'm not saying it wasn't beautiful music," Lyra said, as the two of them walked home under the starry sky and the light of the moon. "All I'm saying is that he did better work with the Fillydelphia Symphony Orchestra."

"The Royal Canterlot Philharmonic-"

"Is great, but it isn't where he belongs," Lyra said. "Trust me, who has a musical instrument for their cutie mark, me or you."

Bon Bon looked at her. "One of these days I'm going to win an argument with you about music."

"One of these days," Lyra said. "But not tonight." She smiled.

"Sweet Celestia you're beautiful," Bon Bon said.

"And you're ravishing," Lyra said, leaning in to kiss Bon Bon on the lips. "I had a wonderful time tonight."

"Me too," Bon Bon murmured. "I'm a little bit hungry now though."

"Yeah, me too," Lyra said.

"I told you we should have eaten before the concert," said Bon Bon.

"But if we'd done that we wouldn't have had time to go to the museum," Lyra replied. "Come on, I'm sure there's some leftovers we can heat up."

"I hope so," Bon Bon said, as she followed her mare friend up the steps towards their house.

Lyra unlocked the door, and the two mares walked into their house... which was not as empty as it should have been considering that they were the only two ponies that lived there and they'd been out in Canterlot all evening. However, in defiance of that fact there home was not empty.

A unicorn stallion with a red coat was standing at the oven, watching a set of saucepans bubble and boil with a contented smile upon his face. He was wearing glasses, and an exquisitely tailored grey three piece suit which fitted his slightly chunky frame perfectly. His mane was grey, but cut so short he was practically bald, with his mane little more than a layer of stubble on top of his head. An overcoat and a fedora hung upon the coat stand in Lyra and Bon Bon's hallway.

He looked at the two mares and beamed. "Ah! You're back, wonderful. I was a little worried that the stew would burn if you were delayed any longer, I'm glad to see that they were able to get the train moving without too much inconvenience."

"The stew?" Lyra asked.

"Yes, I know that you didn't dine in Canterlot - personally I always go to Luigi's and have the deep-fried corn cobs with that exquisite rum and tomato sauce, but I'm aware that he's not in everypony's price range - so since you were certain to be hungry I took the liberty of whipping up an old family recipe."

Lyra's mouth hung open, Bon Bon was keeping her's shut in order to stop from screaming.

"You... I don't..." Lyra murmured.

"I'm afraid I can't give you all the details - it is a family secret after all - but I can promise that you'll love it," the stallion went on. "I once served this stew to Sapphire Shores after a great day at the race track. We had a wonderful meal, spent a wonderful evening at a cosy little cocktail bar on Amore Avenue called the Rainbow Wing, I don't know if you've heard of it, they serve these cocktails called Taste the Rainbow and oh, my Celestia you have to try one. And then of course we went back to her place oh, what a night I do declare-"

"Excuse me, who are you?" Lyra demanded. "What are you doing in our house and how do you know where we've been tonight?"

The stallion's smile didn't fade. "Of course, where are my manners. My name is Red Dawn and I'm an old friend of Sweetie Drops; I was in the neighbourhood and I decided to look her up. And this is Zuma, come on out, Zuma, don't be shy."

A zebra in a trench coat stepped out of the shadows at the back of the kitchen and gave Lyra and Bon Bon a terse nod.

Lyra blinked, then looked at Bon Bon. "Bon Bon, do you know these guys? And they called you Sweetie Drops... are they from when you used to work for-"

"Lyra," Bon Bon said. "I need you give me a minute."

"But they-"

"Will be gone soon," Bon Bon said calmly. "Please, baby, I just need a bit of privacy."

Lyra frowned, but nodded. "Okay. I'll be upstairs. Come get me when you're done."

Red bowed his head. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss Lyra."

Lyra regarded him warily as she ascended the stairs up to their bedroom. Bon Bon listened to the click of her hooves on the staircase, then the opening and shutting again of the bedroom door.

"Sweetie-" Red began.

"What the hay, Red?" Bon Bon snarled. "What the hay do you think you're doing? And don't give me any ponyfeathers about being in the neighbourhood. How many years have I been out, and you just drop in on me like this. And with Lyra, how dare you bring her into this you son of a-"

"Do you honestly believe that I would choose to interrupt your retirement if it wasn't absolutely necessary?" Red asked, all traces of his former jovial attitude failing. "I need your help, Sweetie."

"My help?" Bon Bon asked. "My help? I'm out, Red. I've been out for years. That isn't my world any more."

"That's how you know it's important," Red said. "Lyra knows about your former identity."

"She knows I used to hunt monsters," Bon Bon said.

"Does she know that, in between quitting Monster Hunter International and settling down to this domestic life you also worked in intelligence off the grid?" Red asked. "For... private parties."

Bon Bon stared at him. "Is that how it is now, Red? Blackmail? You know, I always thought you were better than that. Even when you were on the most wanted list, even when all my government contacts were hunting you, I took comfort from the fact that you had a code, and that you took care of your people. But now you come here and throw my past in my face to try and-"

"I'm not here to blackmail you, Sweetie, I'm here to ask for your help," Red said. "I just wanted to know why you didn't want Lyra to hear our conversation. I can pay you very well, you know I can."

"This isn't about the money, Red," Bon Bon said. "I... I'm out. I've got Lyra, I've got a life."

"So does my daughter," Red murmured. "She won't do, once they get through with her."

Bon Bon's eyes narrowed. "This is about Sunset?"

Red nodded.

"Do you know what she did?" Bon Bon asked. "I don't know all the details myself... but do you know what she is?"

"She's my daughter," Red said firmly. "My eldest girl."

"I know, I'm just not sure she needs Daddy to take care of her any more," Bon Bon said. "Who's this they?"

"The Syndicate."

"Oh, Celestia, the Syndicate again," Bon Bon said as she rolled her eyes. "Red do you even-"

"I have names."

"Do you have any proof?" Bon Bon asked. "Years you spent chasing the Fulcrum, and you never found it."

"The Syndicate is real," Red said. "They're real and they're going after Sunset because they think she has the Fulcrum."

"Does she?"

"I don't know," Red admitted. "We'll know more when we get to Tall Lake."

"I'm not going to Tall Lake," Bon Bon said. "I told you-"

"I need you, Sweetie Drops," Red said. "You were the best asset I ever had-"

"Was, back then," Bon Bon said. "I'm not that mare any more. I'm not even Sweetie Drops any more. Why do you need me so bad?"

"Because I know that you aren't one of them," Red said, his voice hoarse. "If you were you never would have retired to this rural simplicity. I need you, Sweetie, because you're the only pony I can trust. Please, Sweetie, my daughter is in danger. You may think she's capable to taking care of herself, and perhaps it's true that I imagine the little filly who used to come crying to me when she had nightmares instead of the grown mare she is now, but trust me when I say that Sunset is not prepared for what's coming. She has no idea. Please, this is all my fault and I have to make it right, but I can't do it alone."

Bon Bon said, "If I do this... will they come after Lyra."

"If this works then there won't be a them to come after anypony when I'm done," Red said. "But... I'll have her protected."

"By the ponies you're not sure you can trust?" Bon Bon asked.

"No, I'll use griffons," Red said. "I trust them, I just can't use them in Tall Lake."

Bon Bon hesitated, then sighed. "We had some good times, didn't we Red? And Zuma, how are you? What are you doing still hanging around with this jerk?"

Zuma smiled at her as he shrugged his shoulders.

"Come here, you," Bon Bon said as she gave him a hug. "How has it been?"

"More dangerous without you," Zuma said.

"No need to flatter me, we both know I can't say no to this guy," Bon Bon said. "Okay, Red, I'll do it. This one last job, this one last time. When do we need to leave."

"Right now," Red said.

"I was afraid you'd say that," Bon Bon said. "Just let me say goodbye to Lyra, okay?"

"We'll wait outside," Red said.

Bon Bon went upstairs and found Lyra sitting at the vanity mirror, levitating a brush through her light green mane.

"Hey," Bon Bon said softly.

Lyra turned around to look at her, a smile upon her face. Sweet Celestia she was beautiful. "Hey. Are they gone?"

"They're... yeah, they've left the house," Bon Bon said. "Listen, Lyra, I have to go."

"Go," Lyra said, as she dropped the hairbrush. "Go where?"

"Best if you don't know," Bon Bon said, her voice hoarse.

Lyra blinked. "With them?"

Bon Bon nooded. "Yeah."

"Why?"

"Because Red needs my help," Bon Bon said. "And I know he's a creep but, I kinda like him. I can't say no, not to this."

"Okay," Lyra said quietly. "You're coming back, right?"

Bon Bon walked up to Lyra and kissed her. "Of course I'm coming back. I'm coming right back to you. I promise."

Lyra smiled sadly. "Stay safe out there, okay?"

"I promise I will not be doing anything dangerous," Bon Bon lied.

Sunset walked down the street in a blind fury, pushing into and past the other ponies going the opposite way, not caring who stared at her, pounding the pavements in her fancy dress, with her mane askew and her mascara running. Other ponies called out to her, telling her to watch where she was going, but she ignored them. She had no time for any of them.

The nerve. The... the nerve! Even if he is Twilight's father he doesn't get to talk to me that way!

Sunset was dimly aware that she was keeping on walking rather than face the fact that at some point she would have to go back and explain her tantrum to Twilight, but frankly she was okay with that. She would much rather wander around Tall Lake a few times rather than admit she was wrong about this.

"Hey, watch it lady!"

Sunset scooted out of the road and back onto the pavement moments before the cab that would have hit her came blasting past, pulled by a pair of frantic looking stallions in cab company livery. As they passed, the wheel of the cab drove through a puddle, spraying Sunset with cold water. A couple of less than sympathetic bystanders laughed uproariously as though it were the funniest thing they'd seen all night.

Sunset growled, but resisted the urge to yell at them. The splash had had the unintended side effect of clearing her head a little, and she no longer wanted to walk around the city without aim or direction until her legs gave out.

On the other hoof she didn't really want to go back to the hotel either.

"The Nightwing hands Carmargue Falcone into the guards!" a pegasus yelled out from a newspaper stand. "Nightwing captures Carmargue Falcone! Winged vigilante still at large!"

Winged vigilante? Like out of a comic book or something? Sunset knew that Twilight and her friends had once collectively pretended to be a superhero in order to teach Rainbow Dash a little humility, but she had never imagined that anypony would actually go out at night dressed in a costume to fight crime for real. She moved a little closer to the newstand, which had pictures of the arrested pony - a quick glance at the front page revealed that he had been found unconscious and chained up outside a warehouse full of stolen property and had confessed everything in terror as soon as the guards showed up - and a very grainy, out of focus silhouette of the vigilante, a humanoid looking creature with wings like a bat. Something about that rang a bell for Sunset, but it was impossible to tells exactly what from looking at the awful photograph.

"So, how long have you had a superhero problem?" Sunset asked.

"She's been here a few months," the vendor said. "But she ain't no problem. She's finally giving folks around here some hope, you know. Taking back the streets for honest ponies, taking on the crooks and the crooked cops. Making a difference."

Sunset frowned. "You got a lot of problems here in Tall Lake?"

"You a tourist, sweetheart?" the vendor asked. When Sunset nodded, he went on. "Well, don't let the fancy hotels fool you. Money runs this town, and sometimes the money gets dirty. This Nightwing dame is the only person willing to step up and do something about it. She can't get bought, she can't get scared off. She got simple rules: do wrong, you get punished for it. That's the way it should be."

"What about if you regret the wrong you did?" Sunset murmured.

"Ah, regret," the vendor said. "How does regret help the people you hurt, huh, answer me that?"

Sunset didn't reply, instead she walked away, musing over what the vendor had said. Do wrong, you get punished for it. She had heard that before, when the furies had dragged her down to Tartarus to answer for her crimes. It hadn't mattered to them that she was penitent. It hadn't mattered that she had been forgiven by Twilight. All that mattered was punishing her for all her crimes. She hoped that this Nightwing didn't know who she was, or what she'd done.

As she passed the mouth of a little, dimly lit alleyway, Sunset heard a scuffling sound from inside.

"Hello?" she called out, her horn lighting up to spread a green glow out in front of her as a substitute for a streetlamp. "Hello? Is anypony there?"

There was the sound of somepony colliding with a dustbin and knocking it over. A cat screeched.

"Hello?" Sunset said. "Is everypony okay? Does anypony need help in there?"

She tentatively took a few steps into the alleyway, turning her light this way and that as she looked for the source of the noise. It had definitely been too big to be just a cat.

With a hiss like an angry snake a woman dropped out of the sky in front of Sunset, a woman with skin of scaly green, putrid and decaying, with clawed hands and clawed feet and leathery wings that were so full of holes and rents that it was a wonder that they still worked. A snake coiled around her waist, hissing and spitting along with her, and her hair was burning fire, crimson and gold just like Sunset's mane.

"Put out that light, you little fool!" Allecto snarled, baring her fangs at Sunset. "Do you want people to see me?"

"Gah!" Sunset yelled as she recoiled in terror from the Fury of Wrath. Her limbs became dissolved in cold fear as she tripped over the fallen garbage can and landed on her side. "What are you... what are you doing here? You can't touch me, your two sisters-"

"Released you, I know," Allecto growled. "Don't worry, I'm not here to drag you back to Tartarus a second time. I have other business in this city, in plenty." She smirked. "Though it's nice to know that I still have the power to terrify sinners of all stripes."

"Other business," Sunset murmured. "Wait a minute, are you the Nightwing?"

Allecto snorted, and when she spoke her voice had a touch of pride in it. "So the mortals named me. I would rather reveal myself to them in all my terrible glory, but that would break the conditions that my sisters' set upon my release."

"What are you doing here?" Sunset demanded. "And why are you playing superhero?"

Allecto scowled. "After your marefriend tricked me into losing my temper, my sisters decided that I had forgotten our true purpose in defending the weak against the predations of the strong."

Sunset climbed up onto her hooves. "I'd say they were right."

Allecto hissed at her. "Who are you to judge one of the old gods? I am no good nor evil thing, but I bring clarity to a world as complex as it is full of mud. Aren't simple rules, the best? Kick the altar, pay the price, is that not better than all your host of laws?"

"What price contrition?" Sunset asked.

"What is contrition but the desperate pleadings of those desperate to escape their punishment?" Allecto replied. "When the rich mare has done wrong, she buys the courts to grant her an acquittal, then sails away with all her gold. But I am the stones that sink her ship; is that not true justice? Is that not right?"

"No," Sunset said. "That's revenge."

Allecto turned away, looking up at the stars that twinkled in the night sky. "My sisters banished me to the mortal realm, until I had learned compassion for the weak, and re-learned to hunt from righteous anger, rather than the thrill of the chase and the joy I took in punishing the guilty. And so here I am. I sleep in the darkest alleyways, I eat from your garbage can, I live like the poorest and most helpless in your society."

"And you're a vigilante on the side," Sunset said.

"This city needs help," Allecto said, still looking up at the stars. "This place is rank with corruption. It needs a symbol. Something to give them hope."

Sunset blinked. "Yeah. So...uh, good luck with that. But unless you are actually going to take me back to the fiery pit, I'm going to leave you to get on with now."

"You don't approve?"

"It doesn't matter whether I approve or not, I don't want to be around you a second more than I have to," Sunset said. "You're not going to come hunting me, are you?"

"No," Allecto said. "You are safe... from me."

"Great," Sunset said. "In that case, now don't take this the wrong way, but I sincerely hope we never see each other again. Okay. Bye now. Bye." She got out of the alley as fast as she could, leaving the fury behind, trying not to run in terror as she tried to put as much distance between her and the old god turned vigilante as she could. She shook her head.

Her? Of all the creatures that I could have run into, her? Seriously? The universe really hates me, doesn't it?

Spotting a store that was at least part pharmacy, Sunset dived in, and immediately trotted past the shelves selling cheap souvenirs and last minute replacements for things that tourists had forgotten, heading for the medicine shelves as she looked for some aspirin for the headache that Allecto's reappearance was rapidly giving her.

"What's up, doc?"

Sunset took a step back. There, on the other side of the shelves, her face framed by a gap in the cough medicines, was... "Summer? It is Summer, right?"

"Yep yep yep," Summer said. "Hey, Sunset. Gee, you look a mess, what happened to you."

Sunset sighed. "It's a long story."

"That's the truth," Summer murmured. She flapped over the shelf to land next to Sunset. "Is it too long to tell me about it?"

"Probably," Sunset said. "Not that you'd be interested anyway."

"Oh, no, I'm here for you if you want to talk," Summer said solicitously. "Folks back home said I liked to collect gossip, but I prefer to think that I'm interested in people. We could grab a drink if you don't want to stand here gabbing in the pharmacy aisle."

Sunset raised one eyebrow at her. "Don't you need to get back to your coltfriend or something?"

"Oh, yeah, no, we kinda, we broke up," Summer said.

Sunset's eyes widened. "Oh, no, I'm so sorry."

"There wasn't much else I could do," Summmer said. "I mean, what else was I supposed to do, the guy was cheating on me."

"Really?" Sunset said. "What a jerk."

"I know, right?" Summer replied. "I mean, I'm cute, right? You'd go out with me, yeah?"

"Uh... yeah, if I wasn't in love, I guess," Sunset murmured.

"So why can't he appreciate?" Summer demanded. "I mean he just had to wait a little while for me to get up here, was that too much to ask?"

"Of course not," Sunset said. "So what are you going to do now?"

"Oh, I'll get by," Summer said, a strained smile crossing her face. "I always do. But what about you, how come you look so terrible?"

"Oh, it's nothing," Sunset said. "You've got enough of your own problems, you don't want to hear about my problems."

"Oh, no you are not getting away that easily," Summer said as she placed a hoof on Sunset's shoulder. "Come on, girl, you look a mess. You're dress is ruined, your mascara is everywhere... did you break up as well."

"No," Sunset snapped defensively. "Well, I hope not anyway, I guess I'll find out if I ever have the courage to go back to the hotel."

"What happened?"

"Twilight's dad," Sunset murmured. "He just kept pushing it and pushing it. He said some things. I lost it, and I stormed out. Now Twilight's parents probably think I'm a brat, and Twilight... I don't know what Twilight will think about it all."

Summer looked into Sunset's eyes, her face a mask of sympathy. "Well I do know one thing. You do not need aspirin. You need a drink."

"What?"

"Yes!" Summer cried, grabbing Sunset by the leg and starting to pull her along. "You and me are going out for drinks, we're going to have a good time, we're going to forget all about our exes and our marefriends' fathers and we're going to show all these jerks in the world that you cannot keep two fabulous mares down. What do you say?"

Sunset felt a grin spreading across her face. "You know that sounds like a really great idea."

They ended up at a club called Tech-Noir with, unsurprisingly, techno music blasting out and red and blue lights flickering overhead. Sunset and Summer ended up sitting in a booth with cocktails in front of them, topped up every so often by the very helpful stallion behind the bar who kept grinning at Summer whenever he got close.

"Somepony won't be single for very long," Sunset said with a chuckle in her voice.

Summer smirked. "He is pretty cute, isn't he? But I don't know if I want to jump right back into the swimming pool just yet. I need to know if a guy is honest, first."

"Doesn't everypony want their special somepony to be honest?" Sunset asked. Says the pony who has lied to Twilight about her parents.

"Everypony wants it, sure," Summer replied. "But you see my problem is... the problem is that most ponies, they want an honest partner, but most of the time they can't tell if they're being lied to or not. Me... I can always tell."

Sunset frowned. "How do you mean?"

Summer wiggled her behind so that Sunset could get a look at her arrow cutie mark, flashing red and blue under the disco lights. "What do you think this cutie mark means?"

Sunset shrugged. "I don't know."

"Arrow of truth," Summer explained. "All I have to do is look into a pony's eyes and, just like that, I can tell if they're lying to me."

"No way," Sunset said.

"I'm serious," Summer said. "How do you think I knew that my coltfriend was cheating on me? I got home, and I smelled perfume. So I asked him if he'd had any other mares here, and he says 'No, babe, come on, you know I'm yours'. And just like that I could tell he was lying. So I asked him if he was cheating on me and he says 'Nah, honey, I'm a one mare guy, come on, girl, you know it.'"

Sunset laughed. "I can't believe you didn't dump him just for talking like that."

"And again I knew he was lying out of his behind," Summer said. "And when I called him on it he tried to explain, and he was all like 'Come on, girl, you know I love you, right' and 'I don't stray, baby, be real' and all of it lies. So I walked away."

Sunset shook her head. "Funny story, but I'm still not buying that you can tell whenever anypony is lying to you."

"I can tell when you're lying," Summer said with a smirk.

Sunset leaned back with a smug look on her face. "Oh no you can't. I am an excellent liar."

"What do you say we play a game to find out. Hey, cutie, can we get a line of shots out here?"

"Coming right up, beautiful."

"Oh, yeah, he's getting a tip," Summer said. "So, you tell me things about you, and I say whether they're true or false."

"Like twenty questions?"

"Yeah, but whenever I get an answer wrong, I take a drink, and whenever I get it right you take a drink. And whoever has to carry the other home because I guarantee you won't be in a fit state to walk unaided."

"We'll see about that," Sunset said.

"Yeah, we will," Summer replied, her voice full of confidence.

The cute stallion from the bar laid out a line of shots down the middle of their table, the dark liquid inside flickering a little as each miniature glass was set down on the white surface.

"Thank you, sugar," Summer said, winking flirtatiously at him. "Say, are you single?"

"Depends on who's asking," the bartender said. "For you, yeah, I might be."

"Oh, right," Summer said, staring at his bum as he walked away. "See, now he was telling the truth."

"And you expect me to believe that you can just tell," Sunset said.

"No, I expect to prove it to you and get you wasted in the process," Summer said. "Now, control questions to start out: what's your name?"

"Sunset Shimmer."

"Do you know where the Fulcrum is?"

Sunset frowned. "What's the Fulcrum?"

"I don't know, nopony does," Summer said with a shrug of her shoulders. "Everypony answers their name truthfully, and nopony knows where the Fulcrum is, so I can always tell that nothing is interfering with my powers, like magic or something."

"So you're good to go?" Sunset asked. Good to be proved wrong, more like.

"Yeah, let's go," Summer said. "Do you...have any relatives?"

"No."

"Lie," Summer said. "Take a drink."

Sunset levitated up one of the shot glasses to her mouth and drained it in one go. "Lucky guess. You had a fifty-fifty chance of being right."

"Okay, then," Summer said. "Tell me who your relatives are."

"I've got a little sister in Canterlot," Sunset said. "She's my only family."

"Lie," Summer said. "Take a drink, then tell all."

"No," Sunset squawked. "I am not taking a drink because you are wrong. Take a drink yourself."

"You know this only works if you answer honestly when I call you out."

"I am answering honestly."

"No your not, I can tell," Summer replied in a sing-song voice. "Drink. Tell. Come on."

Sunset glared at Summer. Summer smirked at Sunset. Sunset rolled her eyes and took another drink.

"My dad's still around, as far as I know," she admitted.

"But you don't want anypony to know that," Summer said. "Ooh, that sounds like a fascinating story, keep talking."

"No, there is no story," Sunset said firmly. "He's just a jerk and I can't stand him. So I don't talk about him, I don't meet him, I don't even know where he is."

"True," Summer said. "And I'm not even going to make you take a drink for that, even though I can tell there's more to it than that."

"Do your powers extend to that now?"

"No, that's just me being observant," Summer chirruped contentedly.

Sunset sighed, running one hoof through her red and gold mane. "That's what I fought with Twilight's dad about. He knows who my father is, knows that he's a crook; he was holding it against me and I got mad about it."

Summer's eyes widened as she leaned forwards. "What, are you like some mob princess or something?"

"No," Sunset said loudly.

"True."

"I'm just a mare with a bad father who she doesn't like to talk about so can we please move on to something else," Sunset snapped. "Please."

"Okay, let's talk about relationships," Summer said with a grin. "Do you like girls?"

"Yes, but you knew that already from when you saw me with Twilight on the train."

"Still true," Summer said, miming for Sunset to take a drink.

Sunset did so. "This is so ridiculous."

"Can you deny that I have been one hundred percent correct so far?"

"No, but-"

"Well, then, what's so ridiculous about it?"

"The fact that these are such easy questions!"

Summer shook her head. "Ask me a math question. An easy math question. But not too easy, but like, not hard and not moderate."

"Um... I'll try," Sunset said. "What is the seventh prime number?"

Summer shrugged her shoulders. "Beats me, I suck at math. What is Pi to eleven digits?"

"3.14159265359," said Sunset.

"Correct," Summer declared. "Now how did I know that that was right when I suck at math?"

"Because you lied about sucking at math?"

"No, because I knew from your eyes that you were telling the truth."

Sunset took another drink. "So what if... what if I told you something that I thought was true, even if it wasn't?"

"Depends," Summer said. "If you said to me that your sister was alive, and then at this very moment she dropped dead back in Canterlot, then I wouldn't be able to tell you were lying, because you don't know that you're lying. If, however, you said that you loved somepony, but you didn't, then even if you didn't know that you didn't, even if you believed that you did, then I would know you were lying. It's kind of a curse in that respect.
"But that does lead us right back to where we where which is relationships. So, you like girls. Do you also like boys?"

"No," Sunset said.

"Liar, liar, mane on fire," Summer chanted. She giggled. "Drinky drinky."

"Why are you acting so punchy when I'm the only mare here drinking," Sunset grumbled as she downed another shot. She couldn't say it wasn't affecting her though. The music seemed to be getting louder in her head, and the lights were not only getting brighter but were starting to swirl psychedelically all around her.

"So, have you ever dated a guy?" Summer asked.

"Yeah, a couple of times," Sunset said. "I dated this guard named Flash Sentry for a while. Then I... dated his alternate universe doppelganger for a while in high school."

"What?" Summer demanded. "I mean...huh? You're telling me the truth but I don't understand."

"Maybe I'm lying to you?" Sunset suggested.

"No," Summer said. "Now you're lying. Take two drinks and explain."

So Sunset found herself spilling all of it: about her time studying under Celestia, about the magic mirror, about Canterlot High, about the magical crown, about Twilight, about her demon form. All of it. By the time she was done Summer's eyes were so wide they were practically engulfing her face.

"And not a single lie," she murmured. "You are incredible. That was... wow!"

"I know, right," Sunset said, more loudly than she had intended. "And that is how I met Twilight Sparkle, the love of my life."

Summer deflated like one of Pinkie Pie's balloons after a party. "Oh, Sunset, I'm so sorry."

"What?" Sunset demanded.

"Say it again," Summer insisted. "Tell me that you love Twilight Sparkle."

"I love Twilight Sparkle," Sunset said.

"Oh, honey," Summer said with a sympathetic shake of her head. "No, you don't."

Sunset said nothing. There were no words that would come. Summer's pronouncement was like a hammerblow, descending upon her to drive her into the ground. It was as if the ground on which she stood had turned out to be made of glass the entire time, and Summer had shattered it with a few well chosen words.

No, you don't.

Twilight had become the foundation on which Sunset had built her life, and she did not love her.

No, you don't.

Twilight was everything to Sunset, but Sunset did not love her.

No, you don't.

For weeks, months, she had thought of nothing but of proposing to Twilight, of walking with her down the aisle, of joining their lives forever. But she did not love her.

What had she been doing all this time?

Sunset was consumed from head to hooves with shock, until that shock began to turn to anger and that anger began to turn inexorably upon Summer. "What the hay do you know?" Sunset demanded. "You don't know Twilight or me."

"I do know you," Summer said softly. "Better than you know yourself."

"Why, because of your cutie mark?" Sunset said. "Because you always know the truth, I'm supposed to accept something that I know is nonsense?"

"You don't have to accept it," Summer said. "I can't make you believe me. But you'll be happier if you accept it, get over it, and move on. You don't love her. If you try and pretend that you do, if you try and act like you do, if you keep lying to yourself... you won't make anypony happy, you or her."

"I am not lying to myself!" Sunset yelled. "I have lied to myself plenty of times, I know when I'm doing it!"

"Then be honest with yourself now," Summer said. "Have I been wrong even once?"

Sunset glared. When speech came, it came like teeth being pulled by a dentist. "No."

"Can you honestly say, without a shred of doubt, that I'm wrong now?"

Sunset very much wanted to tell her yes, to spit in her face, to cry out that she was wrong, dead wrong. But Summer had never been wrong before tonight. She had seen through all of Sunset's lies, penetrated to the heart of all her mysteries. Could Sunset honestly say there wasn't a shred of doubt?"

"No," Sunset murmured, her voice hoarse.

Summer stared at her for a moment. "Like I said, I'm really sorry."

Sunset laid her head down on the table. "So much for a fun night out."

"Yeah, this has kind of turned into a bummer, hasn't it?" Summer admitted. "Come on, I'll walk you back to your hotel."

"What's back there for me?" Sunset moaned. "Nopony I love, according to you."

"How about a bed?"

"A bed with somepony I don't love," Sunset whined.

"Stop moping, sweet Celestia," Summer said.

"And anyway," Sunset said. "I don't need help walking back to the-" She tried to stand up, and ended up falling flat on her face on the floor.

"I told you one of us wouldn't be up to walking," Summer said with an offensively bright smile. "I'm going to make sure you get home safe, but I just want to leave the bartender my name and address, okay?"

"Go ahead," Sunset muttered. At least one of us is getting a good result from tonight.

Sunset just about made out Summer trotting over to the bar, gripping a pen in her mouth and scribbling something on a napkin, before making her way back over to Sunset.

"Come on," Summer said, helping Sunset onto her hooves. "Easy does it. Let's go."

At the bar, the bartender surreptitiously looked at the note that Summer had left him.

She knows. Will attempt to find out more. Involvement of Princess Twilight unknown. May need to bring them in. Will report again soon.

After glancing around a couple of times and ensuring, to his own satisfaction, that he had not been made by anypony, the agent currently posing as a bartender got one of his apparent colleagues to cover for him before he made his way outside to relay Summer's message up the chain.

Author's Note

Sunset's dad is pretty much Raymond Reddington from ABCs The Blacklist, which is one of the best shows on TV right now IMHO. I wasn't originally going to use Bon Bon in this fic but once it turned out she had a past in espionage I knew that I couldn't not use her in this fic.

Separation

Everything hurt.

Her head, especially.

That’s what you get for going shot for shot with a pony that can tell the truth, she berated herself, trying not to move too much.

Cracking open an eye, she found herself in a modestly furnished room, something a little homier than most hotels.

She woke up fully, ignoring the throbbing in her head as she realized she wasn’t in her suite. The window showcased the moon at a low point in the sky, putting it as several hours until dawn.

“Oh, good! You’re awake!” Summer said, walking into the room. “How’s your head?”

“Where am I?” Sunset asked, posting her hooves on the ground firmly.

“My Aunt has a place she uses sometimes. It’s where I went after I broke it off with the cheating sack of crap.” She fluffed her wings and took a deep breath. “You were a little heavier than you look, and after you lost your lunch in the street outside the club, I figured it’d be better to sober you up first.”

“I… I did what?”

The Pegasus nodded sadly. “I probably shouldn’t have pushed that game. If I had known how badly it would have hurt you, I would have called it, Sunset. I promise.”

Sunset rubbed her temples as her hangover began to make itself known again.

Summer moved over to a closet and pulled out a towel. “There’s a shower just through there. By the time you get done, I’ll have some coffee for you.”

Taking the towel, Sunset narrowed her eyes. “Why are you being helpful? We barely know each other.”

“I know what you’re going through,” Summer replied, smiling. “Plus, you smell of booze and vomit, so even if you were to go back to your hotel room, you’d need a shower.”

Sunset winced. Now that it had been pointed out, she could smell it as well.

“Well,” she said softly. “I guess I’ll grab that shower then.”

When the sound of the faucets had turned into the focused hiss of a showerhead, Summer walked out to the living room of the townhouse. Standing at the fireplace was a russet-colored Earth Pony stallion with a vivid green mane. The tails of his battered jacket hid his cutie mark, but as he turned to face Summer’s blue eyes, his hard grey orbs showed no humor.

“You said she knows about the Fulcrum,” he grated in a Trottingham cockney.

“She knows about it, yes,” Summer replied. “But I don’t know how much she knows. Give me some time and I’ll find out.”

“Twenty-four hours, Summer,” he replied, turning to leave. “I’ll give you till then. After that, I’ll take over her questioning.”

“Right. Um, sir?”

“What is it?”

“About my coltfriend,” she hesitated. “Could I talk to him at least?”

The stallion stopped with his hoof on the doorknob.

“I’ll see what can be arranged,” he grunted, meeting her eyes.

As the door swung shut, she frowned.

“Liar,” she gritted.

Twilight was still staring out the window when Cadence came up behind her.

“She’s still not back?”

“No, not even a message left at the desk.” Twilight fretted as she started to pace, wings restless. “What if she’s hurt? What if some forgotten being bent on vengeance has caught her like when the Furies did? What if she-“

Cadence reached out and pulled her sister-in-law into a hug.

“I’m sure she’s just blowing off steam somewhere nopony can see.” The older mare soothed as she ran a hoof through Twilight’s mane. “She’ll be back soon, and once she is, the rest of us can go give your Dad instructions on ‘How to not be a jerk.’ I’m sure Velvet will bring the slides.”

Twilight relaxed into the hug, but soon spun away to pace again.

“I still can’t believe him!” she fumed. “I know I’m his little filly, but I’m not a foal anymore! After all the things I’ve faced and done, does he still think I don’t know how to read ponies? That I don’t know the depth that romantic love can get over a mere hormonal passing fancy?” The purple mare snorted and stomped her back hoof impatiently. “Especially after that test you put together; I know that she and I love each other. She’s a massively changed pony, better than he realizes. Does he want witnesses? Oh, I can give witnesses! Princess Celestia and Eclipse for two, and at least twenty other sources besides!”

Twilight’s face darkened as she pawed at the floor; ears flicking back tiredly, “Who am I kidding? He’s so convinced he’s right that even the Princess and Sunset’s own sister ‘wouldn’t be proof enough.’ By Celestia, I hate it when he gets like this!”

“He just —“

“Cares about me and wants what’s best, but not even parental concern should be that callous! He went too far!”

“No,” a quiet voice said from the door. “He didn’t.”

A very tired Sunset had entered the room. Her mane was damp and the dress she had worn the night before was neatly folded and hanging in her aura. Everything about her screamed broken, she even looked smaller, as though she had hunched in on herself.

“Sunset?” Twilight asked hesitantly, taking a step towards her mare friend.

“Not now, Twilight,” Sunset said in the same quiet voice. “I don’t really want to talk about it.”

Her dress was hung on the rack and her suitcases floated out to the bed.

“I’m just going to head back early. No sense in me being around to rain on the celebration.”

“Now Sunset,” Cadence started. “Just because —“

“If I wanted him to be excused and apologies to be given,” Sunset snapped, eyes flaring. “I would have asked when I came in.”

She turned away and took a deep breath.

“Please,” she whispered, pleaded. “Just give me some space for now.”

Twilight hesitated, not having heard such dejection in the mare’s voice for a long time.

“If you think that’s best,” she whispered, blinking a tear away.

“I don’t,” Sunset said as she opened the door with her suitcase. “But it might be the only way.”

As the door closed with a click, Twilight just stared at it, anguish with her friends’ pain warring with anger over the pony that had caused it.

Why is there never an empty train platform when you’re in a foul mood? Sunset thought as she tried to shimmy between two yaks that seemed unaware of their being in the exact middle of the way to the open car door.

And why do I feel as though I’m making a mistake here? She sat down and stared out the window, something niggling at the back of her mind. She had missed something along the way, or had she?

“Probably just my feeling rotten at the moment,” she grumbled to herself.

“Well, I know my coffee wasn’t the best, but I don’t think it would do that.” a cheery voice chirped up.

Sunset looked up to see Summer slide into the seat next to her.

“Why are you here?” Sunset asked.

“Well, you were leaving, as I should have expected,” the Pegasus said. “But I didn’t think you’d be so deep in thought that you wouldn’t hear me calling from across the platform.”

“It’s pretty lively today,” Sunset muttered. “Going to tell me some other truth shrouded in lies on the trip?”

Summer pouted. “I don’t think that’s fair. Plus, no cute bartender to pour us shots.”

Sunset groaned. “Please, no more shots.”

Something pricked her in the ribs. She looked down in time to see Summer hide a syringe back under her wing. “What…”

“Sorry, Sunset,” the mare said with a sad smile.

“I really wish I could keep that promise.”

Blackness closed in before Sunset could say anything else. Summer leaned her against the window and draped a blanket over her, staying with her as the train pulled out.

“And furthermore,” the voice reverberated in the room. “I should think that after some of the operations you had to be a part of in the guard, you’d know that not every pony has a choice!”

Twilight stomped a hoof in annoyance. Her wings had spread as she berated her father, the scowl on her face becoming almost scary in its intensity.

“All she wanted to do was meet you, but you had to treat her like she’s still a pariah! That is something you’ve never done before, Dad! Not with Moondancer or any of my friends in Ponyville! Why Sunset, and I refuse to hear it’s because she’s my marefriend.”

Nightlight ran a hoof through his mane, clearing his throat.

“I won’t deny that I may have gotten a little carried away because of her involvement,” he allowed slowly, then narrowed his eyes. “But you don’t find it the least bit convenient that she shows up just after your coronation and works her way not only your confidence, but also your heart? No suspicions of that at all?”

Twilight let out a scoff of disgust.

“Furthermore, that’s how her father acted when he was part of the intelligence service." Nightlight stared at his daughter stubbornly. “He was unscrupulous and merciless in his job, and I can’t stand a pony that would use something as simple as patriotism to defend his actions. I doubt she’s any more honorable than he is, wherever he may be.”

“Oh, for the love of -” Twilight’s tenuous hold on her temper snapped as magic started sparking from her horn. “He left their family when she was five, Dad. Five! I have a stronger connection to Dusty Pages than she does with her father. I can’t believe you!” The mare’s wings puffed up in anger as she started gesticulating with her hooves - many of them not polite - as disdain dripped from every word. “You’re going to accuse her of duplicity simply because of blood relations? Really?!Should I be certified to carry weapons and command troops because you were in the guard? Since your blood isso pure, should Shining have been allowed into the guard automatically? Hang all the hard work and study he’s put in; the fools should have acknowledged his great and powerful bloodline and just put the Captain’s helmet on him as a cadet! After all, since she obviously picked up some form of magical demon blood, certainly, we should have greatness dripping from our pores.”

Shining cleared his throat. “Let’s not bring me —“

“Hush, Shiny,” Cadence clamped a hoof over his muzzle. “She’s on a roll.”

“Now Twily,” Nightlight began.

“Don’t ‘Twily’ me, Dad.” She advanced on him, wings tucking in finally. “You owe her an apology, and you owe it to her in the worst way. All she wanted was to be accepted by you and you’ve not only forced her out of your anniversary celebration but out of Tall Lake as well.”

The next words from her mouth were deathly quiet.

“Don’t look for me at dinner tonight. I don’t feel like spending it near you right now.”

Twilight Velvet, who had sat nearby quietly as her normally calm daughter had called her father to the carpet, stood up.

“Twilight,”

“I hope you have a good anniversary, Mom,” the Princess of Friendship said quietly, glancing back at her.

And then she walked out of the room without a look or a word to the occupants.

Author's Note

And this is where the chapter switches from Scipio’s hand to mine. Time to revive this gem.

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Smoke and Mirrors I

Something was off the moment Twilight entered her room. There was a strange scent in the air, something sweet with a hint of acidity.

She walked in slowly, ears swiveling about for any hint of another presence within her chambers. Maybe Sunset had changed her mind and returned?

Her pace quickened as her mind began to play an image of a reunion after an emotional separation. “Sunset?”

Her response was the sudden wrapping of cloth over the end of her muzzle, the cloying sweetness filling her awareness as panic bloomed inside. She flared out her wings and twisted, trying to free herself from the grip. But with every moment that passed, she began to feel more and more lightheaded. She felt her knees start to give way and she spun another time, finally seeing a Unicorn tucked back into the corner, horn glimmering with mint green magic and a sly smirk on her face.

“Glad you could join us,” she said, stepping forward and dipping her head slightly. “Princess.”

Twilight fell to her knees, wings flapping in an attempt to keep her upright, but the smell of the rag over her nose drove her down into a deep blackness, the mare’s laughter following her down.

Sunset groaned, her head swimming as she awoke.

Did I fall asleep on the train? I hate it when I do that. She went to sit up.

The feeling of rope jerked her senses into the present. She looked around and saw she was in a dank room, fitted stone with moisture clinging to the walls. Everything came flooding back to her; the trip to Tall Lake, the dismissal from Twilight’s father, Summer…

Summer was sitting across from her, wings twitching in agitation and refusing to meet her eyes.

“Summer?” Sunset said quietly, unbelieving. Then the memory of being stuck returned.

“You lying bitch!” she shouted, rage flaring through her. She tried to light her horn but was only met with pain as it was negated forcefully.

“You might not want to try that again,” Summer said, none of her former cheer present. “They put a mage shackle on your horn to keep you from escaping until they returned to talk with you.”

Sunset tested the ropes that bound her, struggling against them. “Who is ‘they’, then?”

“I doubt you’ve ever even heard of them.” She shifted, still not meeting her eyes. “But they want to know what you can tell them about the Fulcrum.”

“That again?” She laughed derisively. “Whatever it is, it took my father away from his wife and children. I couldn’t give two bucks about whatever it is.”

“Please, just cooperate,” Summer whispered. “They have my coltfriend.”

“You mean the one that had been cheating on you?” Sunset snorted. “Why should I believe you now? I’ve heard nothing but lies since we met, haven’t I?”

A sniff came from Summer and her voice began to sound forced. “Not everything.”

“I see she’s awake,” a rough voice came from behind Sunset. “Have you managed to get anything additional from her?”

“No, sir,” Summer responded with a meek voice, shrinking as Sunset watched.

“Shame, then,” the voice said, the source stepping around from behind, revealing that it emanated from a Unicorn Stallion, a jagged scar running along his neck. His roan coat was littered with scars, small pockmarks marring the black landscape and patches of the white missing hair entirely. “I’m not nearly as patient as Summer is.”

“Iron, don’t,” Summer whimpered.

Sunset spat at the stallion’s hooves.

“You don’t scare me. You don’t know what I’ve been through.”

The Stallion’s horn lit with a sickly green hue.

“Then this might be fun.” He leaned towards Sunset, blocking the line of sight between her and Summer.

But it didn’t block the screams.

***

“If she knew anything, she would have told me.” Iron said as he finished off his second brandy. “Tough bint, though. She made it longer than I thought.” He fished a bit out and tossed it to the pony in the corner.

The russet pony ignored it, staring hard out the window.

“Problems, boss?”

“I don’t know.” Tossing his green mane back behind his shoulders again, he stalked back to the table and sat down. “It’s just odd that Red would have stayed out of sight even after his little girl was taken. I don’t believe that he doesn’t know.”

“Could be that he really doesn’t care, like the girl said.” Iron said, filling his glass again. “The things she called him…” He shivered. “I don’t want to see her mad at me like that.”

“When she regains consciousness, question her again.” The stallion leaned back and set an envelope on the table. “Use that as a persuasion method.”

Iron shook his head. “I don’t think that is a good idea, Grim. Pressing her psyche too hard without an adequate recovery could cause her to snap. She’s tough, but even a brick will break if you hit it hard enough.”

“The photo in there might shake something free. And if not, then I’m sure the foremost expert on magic in Equestria would know something about the Fulcrum.”

Iron opened the envelope and looked at the photo of Twilight Sparkle, wings bound and mage shackles on her horn.

“You… you didn’t just kidnap a freaking Princess? You’re barking!” Iron shoved the photo away. “Absolutely barking!”

“If you can’t handle that fact,” Grim said. “Then you’d best bow out now. This is just the beginning..”

“What could be worse than this?”

“I have eyes on her family,” Grim said. “Come in.”

The door on the other side opened, revealing Summer and another mare with a helioptrope coat and two-toned mane.

“These two are going to bring me the Empress and her family as well.”

Summer looked distressed, not meeting anyone’s eyes. The other mare, on the other hand, smiled.

“Any way you want them, Grim?” she fairly cackled.

“One piece,” replied the boss. “She’ll be most displeased if they are harmed. And she’ll deal with you personally.”

The pony stiffened. “She’s coming here?”

“Tonight. Don’t mess this up, Glimmer.”

Starlight Glimmer smirked again. “Never.”

The bar was noisy, and Bon Bon could barely hear over the din of a band that could only barely be called such.

Lyra would have a fit, she thought before turning to her companion.

“You're sure?”

“With my own ears, Drops,” Starlight said. “Cinch is arriving in town tonight. I’ve been told to grab the Empress and her family, but I can’t take that many the same way I did Sparkle. She’s safe and playing along for now, trusting me as far as she can.”

“And why’s that? You drugged her and kidnapped her.”

“Because the mage shackle I put on her doesn’t work. If they try to infiltrate her mind, she can partition them into thinking the magic is working.” Starlight downed the last of her beer and stood. “I hope Red knows what he’s doing. This is a really close game he’s trying to rig.”

“I’ll say.” Bon Bon tossed back her drink and stood as well. “And dragging me into it as well.”

“Well, you are one of the best,” Starlight said. “You manage to get that boy free?”

“Yeah. He’ll need time to mend, but he’s ok.”

“Good,” Starlight said before going and fading into the nighttime shadows. “I hate seeing Summer that gloomy. I’m sure she wishes she had never learned about her talent now.”

Bon Bon wondered about that for a moment before turning and heading her own way. She kept glancing back over her shoulder, sure that somepony was following her. She couldn’t shake the feeling of eyes on her, eyes that pierced her very being. A sudden rustling and a trash can tipping had her spinning, eyes alert.

A cat licked its paws as it left the alley, the can rolling behind it.

“Must be jumpy,” she murmured. “Don’t scare me like that, kitty!”

“Mew?”

***

High above, a shadowy shape drew back from the edge of a rooftop. Alecto didn’t like the cloak and dagger methodology of ponies, but she could see the necessity of it.

Besides, if she kept an eye on this one going by two names, she might just find juicier prey.

Author's Note

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Smoke and Mirrors II

Silence reigned in the room, but Sunset groaned at the pounding in her head. It felt like an iron wedge coated in kerosene had been driven into her skull and then set ablaze.

What do they even want with me? she wondered. They’ve questioned me twice about this Fulcrum thing. If I knew anything useful I would’ve already told them.

And Summer confused her now. She had obviously lied to her, which cast everything she was told into doubt. The obvious look of distress when she had been made to verify what Sunset had cried out under her torture offered the smallest sliver of sympathy.

The door creaked open and Iron came in, a small packet floating in his aura.

“What more do you want from me?” Sunset groaned.

“Just, listen,” the stallion said. “Everything between you and me, it’s just business.” He rubbed the back of his head. “It’s what we do. We find intel by any and all means possible. Your Da was in the service, so you should understand.”

Sunset rolled her eyes before instantly regretting it as the world spun.

“But what I’m supposed to do now, I don’t like it one bit,” he said, bringing the packet down and removing a photo.

A photo of Twilight bound and gagged with a mage shackle on her horn. The room was barely a step up from her current accommodations —which didn’t say much —and included a set of shackles that showed no trace of thought of comfort outside of a few threadbare chairs.

Rage flared in Sunset’s heart as she saw the image and she surged forth, ravenous with anger, stopped only by the ropes binding her. The strands began to creak in protest as she struggled.

“Hey now,” Iron said, dropping the photo and backing up a step. “Steady on. Those ropes are on you something tight and it won’t do to have you hurt yourself.”

Sunset shunted power to her horn, ignoring the surge of feedback. The ring crimped around it began to glow white-hot and a small bit of smoke rose from its borders.

Iron gasped and brought his own magic to bear, trying to force the feedback down. Focused on this task, he didn’t hear the thumping sound from outside or the shouts of alarm until the door was flung open by a guard, fear plastered on his face.

Sunset and Iron looked at the guard. The terrified stallion forced his back against the door, bracing it shut.

The door blew open regardless, flinging the guard away. He slumped against a nearby wall motionless.

Shadow and menace filled the door as Alecto, Erinyes of Wrath and one of the three Furies, stepped inside, a whip of living flame dangling from her left hand.

“You again,” she muttered as she saw Sunset.

Sunset fell slack at the sight, brain shutting down as memories flew through her mind. Being forced to attack Twilight over and over as she tried in vain to resist, burning in her own fires in the depths of Tartarus as the creature before her and her sisters enacted ‘justice’ for her crimes.

“Who are you?” Iron asked, swinging his horn around to bear on the Fury. He was soon silenced as Alecto flicked her wrist, her whip flying out and wrapping around his throat.

“I did not give you leave to speak, mortal,” she hissed. “You will hold your tongue.”

She turned her gaze to Sunset. “And I assume you are not here of your own will? Are you once again being held accountable for your actions?”

Sunset could only let out a small whimper, the rage that had kindled a few moments ago now doused under the icy chill of fear.

Alecto jerked the whip, hauling Iron closer to her. She seized his jaw and stared hard into his eyes.

“I see,” she said. She raised her opposite hand and a sword of fire erupted into being. Sunset closed her eyes as the blade came down.

Twilight opened her eyes and stretched against her bindings. Starlight Glimmer had told her that she would come to enact a rescue as soon as she reported in and informed her superiors at the Equestrian Intelligence Service. All she could do now was wait and bide her time.

The door to her dingy room opened, and in strode a Unicorn mare with a very sour disposition. Everything about her screamed superiority, from the finely made jacket and blouse she wore, to the tightly coiffed mane and stiff bearing. A set of sharply angled glasses hung from around her neck and the cutie mark of an abacus shone on her flank.

“So," she said. “You are the much-touted Princess of Friendship?” She scoffed and ran her gaze over the Alicorn’s frame, horn lighting and bringing her glasses up. “You don’t look like much.”

“Who are you?” Twilight demanded. “Why am I here?”

“Abacus Cinch. And you are here because I commanded it.” The mare lowered her glasses and stepped forward. “I have some plans that cannot be interrupted by you or your little band of misfits. How fortunate for me that you decided to take a vacation. Nopony will suspect your abduction until it’s too late.”

Twilight glared at her. The look had no effect on her visitor.

“While I’m here, why don’t we have a little chat?” Cinch gave one of the unoccupied chairs a quick swipe with a kerchief before sitting primly.

It’s like seeing an older Rarity, if she were evil, Twilight thought.

“Now, you are obviously a rather unrivaled expert in magical objects, Your Highness,” Cinch said. It was obvious she meant no respect in using the term. “I wonder, do you know what the Fulcrum is?”

Twilight blinked. “The Fulcrum? That’s why you kidnapped me?”

“So you do know of it. Excellent, simply splendid.”

“Of course I do,” Twilight scoffed. “Everypony who studied basic magic history knows the myth of primal mana and how it infused the world with magic.”

“Oh, it’s no myth,” Cinch purred. “It’s very, very real.”

“It can’t be.” Twilight shook her head. “If it were, it would allow control over anypony that had magic.”

The smile on Cinch’s face sent chills running down Twilight’s spine. Primal mana was the source of all magic; spells from Unicorns, flight and weather control for Pegasi, and the natural affinity of the Earth Ponies. If the myths weren’t just that…

“You can’t,” Twilight whispered.

Cinch merely laughed and stood to leave. “I suppose I’ll just have to visit you again once you’ve pondered this information. But before I go…”

The shackle on Twilight’s horn was jerked off, and another one put in its place. “Can’t have you slipping away. So sloppy of Starlight to have used a defective shackle. I’ll have to talk to her about it.”

As the mage shackle flared to life, Twilight slumped to the ground, a few tears slipping free.

“Sunset,” she whispered. “Where are you?”

Author's Note

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Cloak and Dagger

Sunset snuck a look outside the door of her cell, seeing more bodies crumpled against the walls or spread across the floor. She looked upward at her companion, fighting down the feeling of fear the Fury stoked.

“So, are they all dead, or did you just walk by?”

Alecto sneered and strode forward, unaffected by the carnage around her.

“These fools will recover, Sunset Shimmer,” she grated. “They only followed orders without knowledge of the evil of their deeds. I am only interested in the ones in charge.”

Sunset looked back, seeing the form of Iron sitting still, eyes sightless as his mouth moved in silent words.

“Right,” she muttered as she went to catch up with her terrifying escort. She had been sure that when the sword appeared either she or her captor would be bisected soon. Instead, her bindings had been seared off of her - along with some of her coat that had been close to the pass of the blade - and Iron had collapsed, babbling to himself.

“I will lead you to a place of safety, and then leave you,” Alecto said, striding down the corridor as though it was her own home hallway. “Should things go well, we shall not lay eyes upon each other again.”

“Celestia willing,” Sunset agreed. “I need to find Twilight. She’s in trouble, and I’m worried it’s my fault.”

Alecto made a sound that sounded like a mix of a sigh and a growl.

“Don’t even give me that,” the pony spat. “If you really saw anything in any of these ponies minds, you’d know that none of this is by my design.”

“And yet, you place the blame for this squarely on your shoulders,” Alecto said. “Not even considering that others may have passed the issue along to fall at your hooves.” They turned a corner to find a large hole in the wall, bricks and bits of paneling littered across the floor.

Sunset looked off to the side and saw a door on the same wall. She looked back at the Fury.

“It was locked,” she said simply, stepping back through her improvised entryway.

Sunset rolled her eyes as she stepped out as well. She was still in Manehattan, the signs and brightly lit streets were unmistakable.

Alecto pointed down the street. “This way.”

“How can I trust you?” Sunset asked. “Last time we met you dragged me into Tartarus and tormented me.”

“Because, as I said, I am not after you. Your friend Twilight Sparkle convinced my sisters to that fact. However, there are still those that willfully do their evil deeds without hesitation. Those are the ones that I hunt.”

“I doubt they appreciate being punished by you.”

“I have… tempered my actions. I merely force them to view the evil they commit until they repent. Many recover on their own. The others are found and cared for by your authorities.”

Sunset sidestepped a puddle in the sidewalk as she followed along. They were heading towards the residential areas. Despite the obvious lateness of the night, the streets were still packed as pedestrians headed to and from stores and eateries. None gave either Sunset or her companion a second look.

“I knew things were odd in some cities,” Sunset muttered. “But they should be at least doing a double take seeing you.”

“I can mask my presence. It wouldn’t do well for news of me to get out and put me at odds with the authorities of this world.”

Sunset nodded as they walked, but saw Alecto come to a stop before a large brownstone.

“You’ll find aid here.” Alecto said.

Sunset stepped forward and peered at the doorway. There was no indication of who lived here, just a brass plate that declared the street address.

“Who’s here?” she asked, turning around.

Alecto was gone, no sign that she had ever been there.

Sunset shivered, then stepped up and knocked on the door. After a few minutes, the door opened and revealed a young mare.

“Yes, how can I… Sunset?”

“Bon-Bon?”

The other mare ushered Sunset inside and shut the door hurriedly.

“What are you doing here?” Bon-Bon hissed. “You’re supposed to be in Tall Lake!”

“It wasn’t exactly my plan,” the amber mare sighed. “There was a rather insistent invitation…”

“Who was at the door?” a voice asked from another room just down the hall.

Sunset froze at the voice, and her heart petrified as the pony stepped out.

“Dad?”

Her whole life was agony, borne out in silence. Starlight Glimmer wanted to scream. She would have given anything to give herself that release, but she couldn’t.

She had screamed her voice raw long ago.

After she sagged against the bindings, silently sobbing, Abacus Cinch leaned forward.

“So, how long, my dear?” she asked, reaching out and tilting the other mare’s head up. “How long has Red had you working for him?”

“Leave her alone!” Twilight screamed. “You know she can’t answer after what you’ve put her through!”

“Oh, I know very well,” Cinch replied, letting Starlight’s head fall. “And frankly, I couldn’t care less if she tells me or not. She never really had access to the deeper workings and therefore couldn’t pass along anything but what I wanted Red to know.”

Twilight tried again to force the shackle from her horn only to grunt as feedback surged down into her head, giving her the equivalent of a headache.

“So I’ve thought that I’d distract him a bit by taking his daughter away. He would give anything to protect her. It’s been his failing for years.”

Twilight shook the haze out of her head before replying.

“You’re wrong,” she wheezed. “Her father left her when she was a filly. He doesn’t care.”

“Oh, you poor, sweet, deluded little filly,” Cinch said, stepping forward to run her hoof along Twilight's face. “He didn’t leave because he didn’t care. He left because he found out that I knew he had children.

“He left because the last thing he wanted was for his precious fillies to be used against him.” She turned away and untied Starlight’s bonds, motioning for one of the guards to take her away.

“I swear, by everything I hold dear,” Twilight spat. “When I get out of this, you’ll pay for all your crimes.”

“That’s the beauty of it all, Princess,” Cinch said, wiping a bit of invisible dust from her lapel. “If you do get out, then it means that I’ve already paid the price. This isn’t just for pocket change, after all. I’m playing for what could literally be the soul of mana.”

As the door swung shut behind her, Twilight sagged back down on the lumpy mattress that was her main accommodation. Just a few hours ago she had told off her father. It felt longer than that.

The moon shown in through the window set high in the wall. It gave no comfort to the Princess.

***

High above that window, a lone figure stared downward, almost invisible with her plum colored coat. She touched a crystalline stone fitted into her collar.

“This is Fizzle,” she whispered. “I found the Princess. Requesting backup.”

In her ear, a twin to the crystal at her neck crackled to life.

Acknowledged. Forwarding the request to HQ, stand by for orders.

Fizzlepop lowered herself down, creating an even smaller shadow as she kept an eye on what little she could see through the tiny window. All she could do now was wait.