To say he was frustrated was probably the understatement of the year, Shining decided as he fought morning traffic in Canterlot City proper on his way to the precinct. Six days of digging into what had caused his sister to freak out so badly, and he had more questions now than he had started with, and no more answers than a bunch of vague, speculative ideas that were about as concrete as Cadence’s suggestion during the family meeting.

It had started out just as frustrating—trying to talk with his sister on Sunday had been a waste. The teenage girl refused to leave her room or talk to anyone, and when he was up there to knock on her door, giving it the “old college try,” he had backed down before even knocking because he’d heard the broken-hearted sobbing on the other side. Monday, he’d slipped over while she was at school and his parents out of the house, using the spare key and the security bypass to sneak into the garage that his sister had turned into a lab, intending to peek through her notes—she was so thorough, and she'd gone through such pains to bring it all home, he figured he’d find something.

The giant conspiracy board with color coded push-pins and string had…not been the something he had expected. There were photos and printouts all over it, scribbled questions in Twilight’s more frantic writing, clearly some of it about the energy…but even in the private lab space Twilight had concealed things behind and in the middle of nonsense, like pictures of Halloween costumes, Canterlot High spirit wear—they were wearing dorky fake ears these days apparently—and photoshop jobs giving auroras an array of colors more suited to a post storm rainbow than the effect of solar radiation on the earth’s magnetosphere. Whatever had frightened his LSBFF, it was bad. Even her audio-logs had been nearly useless, referring to the ‘anomalous energy’ in a detached, clinical tone, as she talked about sightings, events, and EMF readings.

Oh, and Sunset…but mostly in the context of a teenager in love, who couldn't keep her thoughts from drifting to the source of her emotions.

By Tuesday, he’d started looking into how Sunset connected to all of this—one of the Halloween costumes had clearly been her, as her hair was fairly unmistakable, even when styled and teased to defy gravity, and photoshop had added a filter to make it look more like actual fire. And Twilight had accused her of being involved with her project’s subject, and of some band event and the fall dance at Canterlot High. So he’d combed through the records, found the dates…and the events in question.

The Musical Showcase had been some kind of fundraising campaign for the school, like a talent show. The school had acquired permits to use the local amphitheater, paid for by the principals out of pocket—not surprising, since he was aware that Lu and her sister both donated vast sums regularly to various charities, and donating money to the public school they worked at solely to give the kids there opportunities was in line with what he knew of the Solare women. Interestingly, the largest donation from that had been a jaw dropping amount of money donated by a foundation…and digging into that had gone through a lot of vapid PR write-ups that led him to a wall that was a finance management company, acting on behalf of their ‘clients.’ The Musical Showcase had also been the same night that the power had gone out for half a dozen blocks of the amphitheater for several hours, only to come back on all on its own—the power company had no official findings on the cause. The CCPD had also received an uptick that night about strange lights in the sky, aliens, Bigfoot, and other nonsense calls usually reserved for nights with a full moon.

What was weird was that something similar had happened the night of CHS’ Fall Formal…a date Shining was painfully familiar with. Though the power outages had been explained as connected to the disaster involving a gas leak, quasi-legal fireworks, and a student he now knew had been Sunset, there had also been reports of flying monsters, strange lights, and other phenomena courtesy of the town crazies phoning 911. He remembered that night…it had been ‘all hands on deck’ even before the explosion had happened at CHS, and after that, the night was a nightmare, as if the gas main explosion had set off a frenzy of misdemeanors. Shining had been on his feet almost eighteen hours by the time he’d gotten home.

It was also the same night Twilight had both met Sunset…and first detected the energy she was now so cagey about.

Frustration mounting, Wednesday morning he had asked Devil’s Advocate for help, loosely explaining his concerns and that he felt it all tied into something his sister had learned about Abacus Cinch and his own misgivings about what the woman was doing with her power over future leaders and trust fund babies with deep pockets. Dev had listened intently as they had enjoyed a quiet lunch in her car between questioning different witnesses for a case, and then had jumped right in to helping him. Sadly, she hadn’t turned up much more than he had.

Shining pulled into a space in the precinct parking garage, and sighed. At this point, he was looking forward to the personal days he had scheduled for the family trip over Twily’s spring break. Assuming the trip still happened—given her attitude, and stubborn refusal all week to talk to anyone at the house, it was a toss up on whether they'd go or not.

“Armor,” his partner greeted as he left his car, making him jolt.

“Dev!” One look at her face had him asking, “What’s wrong? Don't tell me we have another body.”

She shook her head. “Not that I’ve been told…no. I was looking over your redheaded mystery…and I had a thought. We keep thinking that the missing piece is hidden among all the redacted information about her past, right?”

The young man nodded, sliding to stand near Dev in the space they both knew was out of sight of the cameras. “I mean, it would have to be, right? She has said as much to my family—that her past is some kind of big deal with lots of legal red tape.”

“I get that…but…what if it's not in the background information? What if…what if all this stuff we’ve found…is the smokescreen?” At his stare she held up a hand. “Go with me on this. I used to work homicide in LA…and the number of times we’d discover that a vic’s identity was fabricated? Dozens of cases. Hundreds. After a while you get a feel for them. See, fake identities? They’re too perfect. Everything is neat. Linear. No mysteries, no dangling bits, no late forms or errors anywhere. No imperfections.”

“I looked. Parents' date of death? She was four years, seven months, and three days old. Time from that day until her placement with that mystery guardian? Seven months, three days. Her parents were married two years, four months…and guess what? Three days…before she was born. Her parents have parents…both only children to their parents…but those grandparents? Also somehow only children. All of them. And the great-grandparents? Every single one is neatly on a record. Nothing missing. Not one thing out of place. In an era of paper filing and less accurate bureaucracy, everything is perfect.” Dev was making motions with her hands as she talked. “I think that it's a smokescreen, and the concealed portions cover up the fake nature and give the suggestion to anyone digging that what they’re looking for is behind the sealed records.” She shook her head. “And it worked. You’ve been looking into that red herring for four months, Shining, and I helped without seeing it for what it was until now.”

Leaning against the wall, he frowned. “…but it's all consistent with her tells, Dev. The way she reacts subconsciously to things…”

She shrugged. “The best lies have a grain of truth to them. She’s a kid, not a lot older than my own, and she’s been keeping up this lie for at least the time she’s been here. She probably is an orphan of some kind, and she probably did have a conflict with whoever was looking after her…and she obviously ran away from something. But the rest? I’ve got this feeling I can't shake now that I've looked at it that all the rest is fake. Made up to give her an identity where people don't ask a lot of questions, especially about some unemployed teenage girl living on her own. In a building that she somehow owns.”

His head snapped to her. “What?”

“Her address. I dug into who owns it…and boy was that a complicated paper trail…but it led to a finance management company, who purchased the building about four and a half years ago for a ‘client.’ The name on the property paperwork is all signed for someone whose initials are listed as ‘S.S.’”

Finance management… “What was the name of the company?”

When she told him, his mind went briefly blank. He knew Sunset had funds, but…if he was right, she had been behind the donation to her own school under an anonymous education foundation. A donation sizable enough to buy a large house in a nice neighborhood outright. And yet she lived in a run down, tired neighborhood and dressed in a lot of well worn and sometimes patched clothing—at least she had until one of her friends had ‘dragged her shopping.’

“…she is the most financially restrained teenager in the world,” he told his companion, then outlined what he had learned, adding it to her information.

Devil’s Advocate crossed her arms. “That's the other thing that doesn't add up, and I'm not sure ‘time as a runaway’ can entirely explain it. Half the time you talk about her it's like she’s got the emotional maturity of my eleven year old…but then other times, it's like you're talking about a grown woman your age. If she’s got that kind of cash, she’s not advertising it, and she's smart enough to have someone manage her money. She makes smart choices like buying the place she’s living in and having it renovated, but her vehicle is a junkyard special with repairs and work she’s done herself, and she seems to go out of her way to avoid notice or trouble with the law. She's definitely hiding something, trying to fly under the radar…but I just don't think it's in her legal files.”

Shining sagged. “So how do we find any answers, other than grilling her?”

“Well…answer me this…how long can you confirm she has been here?”

Thinking back, he responded, “I first met her in November, but Cadence’s best friend is the vice principal at her school. And she's been complaining about ‘this mean girl she couldn't ever catch doing anything she knew the girl was responsible for’ about a year before Twily met Sunset. Plus, her Canterlot High records do go back to the attached junior high. She's in the yearbook for her seventh and eighth grade years.” Shining remembered a long ago talk with Luna. “Whatever it is she's hiding, I think Lu knows. She told me off the first time for digging into Sunset’s past and refused to tell me anything I didn’t already know.”

Dev tapped her elbow in thought. “So she's been in town at least five years, give or take. That tracks to the records we can find with her, like the address she lives at, or the first reports of her being a good samaritan in her neighborhood. So what happened five years ago to bring her here? And why is it a secret?”

“More importantly, how does it tangle up in this energy my sister is fixated on studying, and what about it has her so badly spooked that she was scrubbing her data from her school lab? And what does it have to do with that crazy conspiracy board at home?” His head was already warning him he’d have a headache before the day was over.

His partner studied him. “Conspiracy board?”

Shoulders slumping, Shining explained, “I snooped in our garage lab earlier this week. Twily has this big conspiracy board and it's got stuff for her project, photos, printouts and stuff, all connected with pushpins and colored string. But it's insane, Dev. She's got a bunch of random shit tacked up there that makes no sense at all, unless it's some kind of encryption code for herself. Pictures of Sunset in a Halloween costume, photoshopped sky images with false color auroras, and stuff that belongs on those ‘hunting for cryptids’ shows.”

There was a long silence between them, before the older woman exhaled a long, slow sigh. “Look…do you know why I don't talk about my time in LA a lot?”

Shining blinked. “…no? I figured it was your business.”

“…it's also because I don't want to be the precinct joke.” Her eyes were far away. “I…saw things…working with my previous partner—he was a consultant, and we had an amazing close rate for our cases, for all that he could be an oversexed man-child with Daddy Issues—things I can't explain. Things that…defy logic. Reason. Rationale. Impossible things. It's part of why I left…” She shuddered and came back to the present. “I guess what I’m saying is…don't be so quick to toss out something your sister seems to think of as credible evidence just because it seems unreal.”

That made him hold back a derisive snort. “It would have to be pretty unreal and have lots of evidence to make Twily both consider it and also scare her like that…”

And just like that, it clicked, the epiphany slotting into place as Devil watched him with a firm expression. “Oh Hell,” he whispered. “The energy. That's what all of this ties back to. That anomaly Twilight picked up…the one for her project. An energy that is some kind of state secret from someplace Sunset and Twily both called ‘Equestria’…” Some tiny portion of his nerd brain was jumping up and down in glee, but right now, the adult, rational part of his mind kept it suppressed. “…it's magic. My baby sister, the most brilliant scientific mind I know…stumbled across magic, and not realizing what it was, jumped into studying it like she does anything new she encounters.”

Gray-blue eyes watched him with that uncanny focus unique to the woman mentoring him as a Detective. “And Sunset? What's her connection?” she coaxed, giving him room to follow through.

“…She…I thought maybe she knew about the energy. That her guardian bankrolled studying it back where she is from…” His brows pinched together. “…but…what if we have it backwards? What if this…energy…this magic…isn't something she knows about. What if she’s where it comes from. Why it's here? What if she's the source…or connected to the source?” The connections were being made faster and faster in his brain. “That’s why Twily lost it—why she was wiping her data from the CPA computers, why she brought everything home…and why she went off on Sunset. It all fits. Somehow, she learned Sunset was tied to…magic—boy is that going to take some getting used to—and had kept it from her. From all of us…”

Lu knew, his mind reminded him. She’d told him off for digging into Sunset…kept the girl’s secrets. More than that, she’d brought Sunset to Crystal Prep…had talked him and Cadence into realizing Cinch was bad news…

Cinch. Who Sunset had admitted was desperate to learn about her…

“Cinch is looking for the energy source,” he said in horror to Dev. “And…if it's magic, could you imagine the damage someone like that could do? That's why Twilight wouldn’t leave—she was protecting Sunset…and we just thought she was hyper-fixated…”

Devil’s Advocate put a hand on his shoulder. “Shining…you can't get caught up in your guilt. That doesn’t help either of those girls now. You’re right…Abacus Cinch is rotten...and I think now is the time to bring some of the glaring evidence in past missing persons cases related to that school that show’s corrupt cops going against protocols for their old alma mater to IA. We have enough to establish a pattern…and if I do it, then it can't be seen as pettiness or sour grapes—I’ve no history here. Maybe just having her deal with multiple angles of attack will put that woman off balance long enough to get your sister transferred.”

Shining hesitated, everything in him screaming to act, to save his sisters, his family, from the ‘dragon,’ yet feeling like there was so little he could do…and realized that his partner was right. He let out a slow breath, shaking with adrenaline, and nodded. “…I…you're right. I need to focus on what I can do…what ways I can help…and if me working with you to get IA involved at least comes at Cinch from another angle…then that's what I can do right now.” He rubbed his face with one hand. “This feels so above my pay-grade…”

She tossed her hair over one shoulder and laughed. “Trust me, no one ever gets paid enough for this kind of thing. I learned that with my last partner—brilliant, scary, but I had to practically put a leash on him to keep him from snorting evidence.” One hand patted his shoulder consolingly. “C’mon. Let’s head in before anyone decides that we’re having some kind of affair…get you some of that sludge the break room calls coffee, and I’ll treat you to the traditional lunch of ‘Welcome to Being a Supernatural Insider’ Tacos from the best food truck in the city.”

Groaning, Shining began plodding after her. “Uuuuuugh,” he complained, like a petulant child. “I hate precinct gossip—they always assume I’m having an affair with any attractive woman under fifty who I spend more than ten minutes talking to…and I don’t get why. I’m happy with what I have with Cady, and our relationship is great! We’re even planning our wedding. Why would I risk that for a quick turn in the evidence closet with Marigold or Silver or a random witness?”

The woman next to him snorted as they entered the building. “Because you’re an attractive young guy with a sweet personality, and most of the guys here are not. I think some of it is wishful thinking. On my end, they’re just either trying to discredit me or explain why I’m ‘a frigid bitch’ when they show interest. Never mind that I’m a working single mother trying to help find justice for victims and their families…or the fact that most of them are offensive pigs.”

The pair laughed at their shared misfortune at being popular in the rumor mill, only to bump into a colleague coming around the corner. Officer Device was a somewhat round fellow who walked with a limp—his gentle and cheerful personality meant he was perfect for the daytime front desk officer that greeted upset people coming in for help. “Oh em gee!” he gushed. “Just the smiling faces I was looking for! The courier already came by and delivered your package, Shining! I checked it over and put it on your desk. Boy was it ever heavy! There must be a whole ream of paper in there!”

Both detectives paused and exchanged a look. “Courier?” Dev asked.

“Yup, came by this morning super early! I was really surprised but he said it was an overnight job! Really important, and to make sure you got it as soon as you came in.” He grinned. “I’ve been watching the cameras for you since!”

Shining frowned. “Thanks, Plot…” He patted his shoulder. “Consider the message passed on. What did the courier look like? Did he have a company logo on his shirt?”

“Pretty forgettable, honestly! Dark green hair, blue skin, khaki pants, navy shirt. Logo was small and hard to read, but we’ve had them courier stuff before, so I didn't think anything of it.” It seemed to be dawning on the happy man that something was off. “Should…I get the lieutenant?”

Devil nodded. “That might be a good idea, just in case. We’ll go see if this is some kind of false alarm.” She pulled Shining to the small shared office space for them and two other pairs of detectives. “Let me check something before we open it..”

There on his desk, addressed to him, was a massive padded envelope, easily eighteen by twenty inches and probably close to three inches thick. Dev slid her hand in her pocket and brought it out wearing a ring on her middle finger, the dark stone glittering in the overhead lights. She passed her hand over the envelope twice, before relaxing. “It's clean of dangerous surprises, at least.” At his look, she shrugged. “A gift from that consultant of mine. It saved my life twice from letter bombs. I barely understand it, and I'm not really sure I want to dig too deep into it all, but if it means I go home to my daughter, I’ll use it.”

He stared at her. “…I'm beginning to understand why you transferred.”

“Oh yeah, LA was never boring. Now open it up.”

He opened it, sliding out a huge stack of colored folders packed with papers, and a bag full of USB sticks. The folders were held together by clamps and rubber-bands, and on the top was a cover letter addressed to both him and his partner.

Detectives Shining Armor and Devil’s Advocate,

My sources have gleaned that you are investigating Abacus Cinch and her cohorts at that facility they laughingly call a school, and I felt you were the best chance I have at this information seeing justice done for victims and families too long denied closure. Until now, the one calling themselves Abacus Cinch has had far too much influence in the local sphere to combat, but there has been a shift in her focus of late. One that worries me.

I present to you all of the evidence collected by myself and my sources on the various crimes perpetrated by the staff of Crystal Preparatory Academy over the last six decades. There would be more, but records further back are sketchy at best and not helpful in building a solid case. Of particular interest should be the red folders, which involve several dozen missing persons cases over the years that have never been solved…at least a full dozen of them students…and these were merely the ones we found connected to the school.

I am afraid I must apologize for the graphic nature of some of the photographs, but I cannot stress enough how dangerous it will be to move against the monsters masquerading as educators. Today may be your best chance to make a move, as much of the staff will be off campus for the competition against Canterlot High.

Oh, and Blue…you seem like a nice boy, and your kid sister means a lot to Red, so this warning is for you. Red’s going to need some backup today, so I am urging you to back her up. While the rest of the boys in uniform are tearing apart that hell hole searching for clues, you need to get to your sister. That snake has something dark and terrible planned for her, and I’m not sure if Red will be enough.

Lastly, Detective….

A mutual friend of ours told me that you are the most honest, upstanding, and good cop he has ever had the pleasure of working with, and that your thirst for justice is unparalleled. I am trusting you with a great deal here—do try not to make a liar out of him?

As an additional side note…you might start by looking in the walls. For a building so old, there's a lot of rooms missing on the newest maps that are on the original plans.

The note offered no name, only the image of a chess piece, a queen, half black, half white. Shining felt a sickening sinking in his gut. “Dev?” he asked, needing a little guidance from the woman who had been mentoring him for months.

“Call your sister,” she instructed. “Don't scare her, but make sure she is alright. I'm sure you have code words ready for exactly this kind of thing. If she's fine, get her location, and we’ll see about getting to her first. This…” Her expression was hard and she tapped the chess piece symbol. “I recognize this. The sender is a known informant to the FBI and any task force or precinct west of the Rockies that has to deal with human trafficking and child predators. If this is legit—and I believe it is—then we should take this seriously, and they’ve as much said that your sister is being targeted.”

“I concur,” said a voice behind them. The lieutenant swept into the office, already zeroing in on the cover letter. He skimmed it, and nodded, before starting to look through the first red folder, while Shining pulled out his cell phone.

Twily’s number failed to ring…just a long spell of dead air before her voicemail came on. Shining frowned, and tried again, twice more…with the same result. He switched to trying Cady—she would be at CHS, where they suspected Cinch would try to bring Twilight for the Friendship Games without his parents consent or knowledge. The same dead air answered him, before clicking to her cheerful voicemail.

A growing unease settled into his core. After a second call to Cadence’s number went right to voicemail, he took a breath and tried Sunset’s number.

Empty air, and then…

“Hi! You’ve reached Sunset! I can’t answer right now, so leave a message and I’ll call you back when I have a minute.”

Cursing, he hung up and tried sending texts…that all failed to deliver. Frantically, he tried Luna’s cell…and when, like the others, it went to voicemail, he tried the number he’d saved for her school directly.

Silence. Then a rapid and obnoxious pipping sound, before a click and an automated message played. “We’re sorry, but the number you have dialed is no longer in service or disconnected. If you feel you have reached this recording in error, please check the number and try again…”

He swallowed and looked at Plot, who was nervously fidgeting in the doorway. “Plot, did you get any message about any local schools losing landlines today?”

Officer Device shook his head. “Not today.”

The lieutenant had been staring at something in one of the folders, his bronzy complexion gone ashen. “Officer Device, I need the captain in here and the chief on the phone, and get me the number for the FBI liaison office.” Dev was beside him, her lips pressed into a thin line. “Detective Advocate, I want you to hit our internal database and find me a list of every cop in this city who attended Crystal Prep. With the exception of Officer Armor, I’m going to recommend the Captain place every one of them on administrative leave until this is sorted. Then I want you to head down to SWAT and tell them I want both teams ready in an hour. By then I should have a judge willing to give us a warrant.”

He turned. “Detective Armor—I have a special task for you. Abacus Cinch is officially under investigation for murder charges, and is at a school other than her own today that you have indicated is unreachable. We cannot risk sending a team in with flashing lights—the last thing we want is to create a hostage situation in a school full of students.” He rubbed his face. “You are in plainclothes—take one of the undercover vehicles from the motor-pool and a radio, and get me eyes on that school. Do not engage Abacus Cinch, but if you can, get in to see the Canterlot High admins, under some other errand, and find a way to evacuate that school safely. As soon as you can give us eyes on the situation, we’ll know how to proceed. Have I made myself clear, Detective? No heroics. The suspect is considered armed, dangerous, and potentially unstable.” His eyes glanced down at the folder in his hands. “Anyone capable of this is.”

“Crystal, sir. I’ll leave right now.” Blue eyes fell to the page the lieutenant was studying, and his stomach twisted. His feet carried him out the door at a near run…though he would be hard pressed to say if he was running to help his baby sister or running away from the gruesome HD photos of his former principal carving someone’s chest open with a knife against a wall painted with symbols that would have been right at home in a horror movie…

Author's Note

So that was a thing.

Yes, officer Device is also a reference. He’s also a big Shakira fan. *chuckles*

Shining has put the pieces together. Our mysterious ally has made their big move.

And yes, there is a procedure for public schools to inform local government (county, city, whatever) if something is wrong with the phones.

Things are happening. Bruhahah.