Sunset stepped out of the 5th Precinct’s elevator and looked around. Uniformed police officers and civilian-clad detectives mingled between the numerous desks of the bullpen, the din of subdued conversation and the clacking of keyboards dominating the soundscape, and off in the distance behind these trenches she could see some large office windows that Sunset thought held her goal.

But even as she took a single step forward, there were still the foot soldiers to deal with as a young woman with tan skin and in uniform stood in front of her, mustering the intruder with a cool gaze. “May I help you, ma’am?” she asked.

Sunset couldn’t begrudge the woman the way she mustered her up and down. It was highly unusual for a civilian to just march in on this floor without being escorted by an officer. But she had her reasons why she’d avoided the registration desk downstairs. “I was hoping to speak to your Captain.”

“The Captain’s a very busy man,” the officer said with a raised eyebrow. “You should have called ahead to make an appointment.”

Except showing up in person has at least a chance of getting me face time instead of an immediate no on the phone, Sunset thought. “I just need ten minutes of his time. It’s important.”

“And who may I say is calling?”

Sunset mulled that over for a bit. “An old friend,” she said finally.

The woman looked even more skeptical than before at the detective novel line, but turned around with a shake of her head. “Wait here.” She made her way over to the office Sunset had made out earlier and rapped her knuckles against the frame of the half-open door. There was a brief exchange before the blinders of the window were opened, to which Sunset raised her hand briefly in greeting.

There was an uncomfortably long beat after the blinders were closed again abruptly. Finally, the officer nodded in response to something being said and made her way back to Sunset. “Ten minutes,” she said curtly.

Sunset nodded in thanks and made her way over to the office. “Close the door,” a dark voice told her without preamble, and Sunset did so. With the door closed and the blinders drawn, the office was pretty dimly lit.

Captain Shining Armor hadn’t even bothered to look at Sunset as she came in, instead continuing to type something on his laptop computer. Sunset sat down across the desk from him.

“I don’t suppose you came here to help me nail that Canterlot U thief,” he said, still typing.

“What makes you think I would know anything about that?” Sunset asked innocently.

Shining Armor slammed his laptop computer shut and turned to look at her furiously. She could see the bags under his eyes. “Because Twily knows! And she won’t give me the name, which I can only assume is at your direction.”

Sunset considered further playing dumb, but instead she said: “She’s fifteen, Shining. Just a girl who made a mistake because someone lied to her. It’s not her who needs to be punished here.”

“That is not for a vigilante to decide,” he grated back from between clenched teeth. “I should slap some cuffs on you and charge you with obstruction. You do realize this, yes?”

“You’re not gonna do that, because you’d have to slap the cuffs on Twilight as well.”

Shining Armor grimaced and looked off to the side angrily.

“I’m sorry about what this must have dredged up for you. I hope it’s not too bad.”

“Oh, I’m just peachy,” he said, staring into nothingness. “The Chief is on my ass for not being able to solve a simple theft. The mayor is on my ass for not closing the case and wasting resources. And now that magic is back on the streets, every morning I wake up in a cold sweat and have to throw up until I’ve checked the news for unexpected earthquakes or weird lights in the sky.” He turned to stare at his guest. “And I believe mysterious gas leaks at high schools have joined that list.”

Sunset held his gaze. “You don’t like me very much, do you?”

“How could you tell?” he replied in a voice dripping with sarcasm.

“Listen,” she said, “I was freaking out just as much as you are right now when I learned that magic was coming back. I know you always disapproved of what we did, but we’re playing for the same team here! Nobody wants another Maretime Bay incident.”

“That’s not the reason I dislike you,” he shot back. “As much as I hate to admit it, I’ve always been glad that you were dealing with this magic bullshit for as long as you have.”

“Well then, out with it!” Sunset was also getting agitated by now. She had come here to do stuff, and having a shouting match with Twilight’s brother wasn’t on that list. “Maybe it’ll make you feel better if you say it to my face!”

“You really wanna know!? Fine!” He was actually yelling at this point. “It’s a big brother’s prerogative to hold a special grudge against those who would TEAR OUT THEIR LITTLE SISTER’S HEART AND STOMP ALL OVER IT!!!”

Sunset was taken aback by that. She had actually risen from her seat during the argument. Now she sat back down and lowered her eyes, mouth dry and unable to say anything in her defense.

Shining Armor sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. For as much as it had derailed everything, the act of spelling it out seemed to indeed have had a calming effect on him. “You’re right, though. Personal feelings aside, I know we both want to keep Canterlot, and by extension Twily, safe.” He shook his head and took a deep breath. “Why are you here, Sunset?”

Sunset swallowed and collected herself for a moment. “Do you remember Professor Discerning Eye?”

He looked as if he’d bitten into something sour in response. “Of course, I do. Everyone who has worked at this station more than three years does. What about him?”

“We all suspected that his murder had something to do with the Maretime Bay incident. Things from that case keep popping up everywhere I look in connection with the return of magic. I’d like to have a look at the evidence from back then.”

He passed a weary hand over his eyes. “And you think I should risk my career to give a civilian access to police files of an unsolved case because …”

Sunset shrugged and raised her hands. “I dunno … I am a historian. Can’t you just say I’m working on a true crime article for a blog in my off-time? I know it’s probably hard for you to reopen this case, but …”

“You don’t know shit, Sunset Shimmer,” he interrupted unceremoniously. “That case broke my first partner. The man who trained me, one of the finest homicide detectives in CCPD history, and I had to watch him break little by little every day, while I knew things I couldn’t tell him, things about magic he wouldn’t have believed even if I’d told him, until the one that got away eventually drove him into … an early retirement.”

Sunset reached across the desk and, after some hesitation, placed her hand on top of his. “Look at it this way. There’s new facts emerging in this case, and I can feel that the magical and mundane mysteries here are connected. Let me look into it, and maybe I can put this one to bed, for your partner’s sake as much as everyone’s.”

Shining immediately withdrew his hand, but the look she got was professional, if deeply saddened. With a final sigh, he pushed himself out of his chair and opened his office door. “Officer Magnolia,” he called into the bullpen.

Sunset also stood up and walked to the door as the young officer from earlier arrived and stood at attention in front of her precinct commander.

“I want you to escort Miss Shimmer here,” he said, nodding towards Sunset, “to the evidence room. She’s to conduct some … independent research on a cold case. I want you to pull everything we have on the MB-24 case, files, statements, evidence. Neither she nor the evidence is to leave your sight, officer, and you will put everything back exactly as you found it after she’s done looking it over. Is that clear?”

“Yes, sir,” Officer Magnolia replied immediately.

“Thank you, Shining,” Sunset said simply.

As he turned to go back into his office, he looked somehow even more tired than he did earlier. “You’ve got one hour to look over the files. Then I want you to get the fuck out of my station,” he said, and the door slammed shut behind him.

Author's Note

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