Stockholm Shimmer

Twilight drove swiftly through the empty nocturnal streets of Canterlot. The rain was barely an inconvenience at that point, she was fed up with the intrigue what was Sunset hiding? And why was she so belligerent in keeping her from knowing it that she'd attack her at her old home? She would soon find out. Once outside Sunset's house she got ready for the struggle ahead, she reached into the glovebox and grabbed her taser gun and a few extra cartridges and stuffed them inside her trench coat, she also grabbed her security baton and a pair of handcuffs, whatever Sunset was hiding, she was more than willing to fight for it, so Twilight had to be ready for it. She looked through the window of her car and noticed the front door was open. Strange she thought.

She quickly left the vehicle and ran through the heavy rain towards the house, she barged in through the front door.

"Sunset Shimmer!" She called. "Canterlot Police, I only want you to answer a few questions for me."

She got no answer. She looked in each of the rooms in the first floor, but no one was there, she kept her taser gun in her hands, ready to fire. She called again. "Come out now, we don't have to make this any more difficult! Sunset!"

She looked into the kitchen, then the kitchen, dining room, but no sign of the suspect. She was about to go upstairs when she realized she had missed Sunset's studio at the end of the main hallway, the lights were on inside and the door was half-open, she slowly made her way to the room, gun in hand, she carefully opened the door, pointing her taser forwards, inside the studio she found nothing but musical instruments and sound equipment. She scanned the room in search of clues. Maybe she's not even here. She thought.

She looked around again. Suddenly, the silence of the room was invaded by faint voices coming from seemingly nowhere, Twilight tried to follow where they were coming from, she walked across the studio until she hit a wall, the voices seemed to be coming from underneath her. She scanned the wall, there was a breaker box on it. "Now that's a weird place to put a breaker box in." She said to herself as she flipped the switch. As soon as the switch was up, the wall split in two, revealing a hidden staircase that went down.

She tightened her grip around the taser gun and descended the secret passage. As she got lower the voices became clearer, she recognized Sunset's voice. She was yelling, as if she was having an argument with someone. Twilight kept on moving. As the voices became clearer she realized it sounded as if it was two Sunsets having an argument. Don't be silly, that can't possibly be true. Twilight thought.

Emerging from the stairs Twilight found herself in another hallway, it was decorated like a vintage hotel bedroom hall, on the walls were old-fashioned tapestries and antique lamps that gavr off a yellowish glow. Twilight followed the voices, they seemed to come from the furthermost door, right at the end of the passageway. The voices became less muffled as she got closer to the door and she could make out the words on the other side.

"You have to go! We can't risk it!"

"No! I don't want to, we can face it together."

Twilight pressed her shoulder against the door and gripped her gun. one...two...three. With a strong kick twilight forced the door open. "Canterlot Police, hands where I can see them!" What she saw inside almost made her choke on her spit.

Sunset, still wearing the black hoodie she used to attack her at her old home, looked at her in disbelief from one corner of the bedroom, but right in front of her, was another Sunset, her hair was shorter and she wore a more casual outfit, she carried a handgun which she instinctively aimed at the detective. The two Sunsets looked at her as she pointed her taser gun at the duplicate. "Don't make any stupid moves." Twilight warned them.

"Twilight..." The hooded Sunset said nervously. "W...what are you doing here?"

Twilight grabbed the guitar pick from her coat and threw it at her.

"You should be careful about leaving too many clues, Sunset."

"I...I...can explain."

"You better."

The short-haired Sunset was visibly more distraught, her hands shook as she struggled to keep the gun aimed at Twilight, she could sense the fear in her gaze.

"Sweetie, please, look at me." Sunset told her distraught duplicate, who shakily turned to look at her. "Lower the gun, please, there is no need to do anything rash."

"B...but..." the distraught duplicate stammered. She was trembling, the gun shaking heavily in her grasp.

"Shh, shh, it's okay, look at me." Sunset said as she approached her. She lifted a hand to her chin and the short-haired Sunset seemed to begin to simmer down. Twilight was perplexed. She lowered her gun, and the detective did the same.

As she lowered the taser she took a small step forward. In that moment, the duplicate panicked and the gun discharged. there was a loud bang and Twilight could only feel a paralyzing stinging pain strike her on the left side of her chest, she lost her balance and tumbled back, her vision became blurry and she could feel her hands lose grip.

"What have you done?!" Sunset yelled. Twilight could barely make out any of their subsequent moves, but she heard them arguing again, Sunset ushered the distraught duplicate away from the wounded detective.

Twilight rolled to the side and quickly covered her wound with her hand, the pain was unbearable and she struggled to keep her mind straight.

After the initial shock was gone she looked at her palm and realized there was no blood. She had forgotten to take off her bullet-proof vest. Once the pain had begun to fade away she looked for her taser gun. After some struggling she finally grasped it and with her regained vision she aimed at the duplicate who was still panicking. [iZAP!]. the taser gun fired its electrified fangs and struck the duplicate, who almost instantly fainted on the floor with a loud thud.

"No!" Sunset exclaimed in disarray.

Twilight got to her feet and reloaded her gun. Sunset then lunged at her but Twilight managed to wrestle her and send her tumbling against the bed. Then aimed the taser at her.

"It's over Sunset, explain, now" Sunset looked at the fainted duplicate and then at Twilight. She breathed in and sighed.

"Alright, what do you want to know?"

"Everything. All that you have been hiding, including her."

Sunset lowered her head an sighed.

"Remember the memory stone? the one Wallflower used to wipe your good memories of me back in high school?"

"What of it?"

"She wasn't the first person to use it since the times of Clover the Clever. When I crossed the portal from Equestria to this world all those years ago, I knew exactly where it had been hidden, so I used it. I kidnapped myself from this dimension and hid her away from the world and then used the stone to wipe everyone's memories of before I arrived, as well as her disappearance."

"But that was such a long time ago, why have you kept this secret from us all these years?"

"I wanted to tell the truth. I swear! But I...didn't count on one thing."

"And that is?"

"When I wiped her memory, she turned into a different person, she no longer was...me."

"What do you mean?"

"She adopted a new personality, she became someone else, and to be honest, I kinda liked it that way, her mind retained some of my own essence, and even though she has since referred to herself as someone else, she is still very much like me. After a while, we kinda became a thing....I know it sounds weird, but even before the memory stone was destroyed I never thought of changing her back, she is her own person, she is no longer me, and we built something beautiful together..."

With every word Sunset spoke, Twilight became more and more confused, she didn't know whether to believe her or not, she talked and talked but none of what she said made a pint of sense to the detective. It was all so contrived.

"Inside a basement, under your house, while keeping everyone who trusts you out there in the dark about what you had done." Twilight replied, irritated. "Yes. Very beautiful."

"You don't have to like it to know it's real, I love her for who she became, and she loves me. She's no longer the missing person you saw in that file Twilight. I don't want you to accept this, I only want you to understand it, the case is closed. The missing Sunset never existed."

"You're insane"

"And you're so absorbed by your self-rightgeousness that you'd force us to stop loving each other."

"Love?" Twilight exclaimed in disbelief. "What of this is love to you? You fed her lies for decades and kept her against her will for your amusement."

"She is here of her own free will." Sunset replied stubbornly.

"You erased her memory! You're a criminal Sunset, people out there get life-imprisonment for way less."

"Then we are at an impasse." Sunset said before looking at the drawer, where there was another gun.

"Don't do it." Twilight warned.

"I'm sorry Twi."

Sunset threw herself from the bed to try to reach for the gun, but before she could grab it, Twilight pulled the trigger. The wires flew through the air, sticking to Sunset's back, she let out a scream before landing unconscious beside the bed.

Twilight detached the cartridge from the gun and tucked it away. She then stepped back and pressed her back against the wall and sighed. She tried to process what had just happened, but it was all so convoluted, she then thought of whst would come next; she had solved the case, but the job was far from over.

She let herself fall to the floor and thought about Sunset, and about all the things they'd faced together, the thought of what little their friendship meant to her made her sick. She had found out the truth, but at what cost? She thought of her friends and the concert they had planned for that day, she imagined their reactions to what Sunset had done, she wasn't sure she had the stomach to tell them even after all she'd seen.

This was the easy part. She thought as she scanned the room one last time.