Sunrise Flash had not visited his cousin's house in at least two years. He never really felt a need to. Part because he was busy with his own life and part, more truthfully, he was jealous of his cousin, Shining Sunbright. Technically, "The House," as it was sometimes called, was still in Shining's father's name, Timber Hill. But Timber, like Sunrise's mother, Dusk Sparkler, was old and needed extra personal care. Sunrise recalled a conversation years ago about offering to have Dusk stay at the house as well so the siblings could share the cost of live in nurse care. It descended into another fight.

Now, Sunrise was sitting in the foyer of the house taking in all the art, photos, and architecture with more earnest than he had had in years. He had forgotten how much mythical horse or pega-unicorn themes there were throughout and on such scale. The place was more than twice the size of his home. Unlike Shining, he did not work at Sparkle Tech and though his mother had stock in the family company and part of her inheritance had put him through college, Sunrise considered himself more of a 'working man' even if it was only partly true. His family ties had certainly opened more doors than others had for them.

"Hey Sunny-boy," said Shining as he plopped down on the plush sofa couch. "So, I was surprised to hear from you, especially since it's not a birthday or holiday. So, what's go you so jittery?"

Sunrise scratched at his red and blonde beard anxiously. "I guess I'll just get right into it. I had a customer the other day that... well, she said we were related, but I can't for the life of me figure out where or how. I was trying to mentally go through the family tree of cousins and extended family and... well, came up with nothing and I... well, I know you have nearly all the old family photos here. I was kinda sitting around last night and said I would go through some stuff on my day off. See if I could scratch this itch, y'know?"

"Well, let's start with the easy way first. She give a name?"

"Yeah, Sunset Shimmer."

Shining stopped dead in his tracks. "That can't be right. You, you sure you heard it right?"

"Well, it's the name she gave at the store and it was on the billing receipt that was tied to her PAAL."

Shining shook his head and walked over to the next room library, straight for a specific shelf, and came back a minute later. He dropped the old, heavy book into his cousin's lap. Without having to open it, Sunrise recognized it as one of the oldest photo albums they had at the house. Maybe even THE oldest one.

"Open the first page."

Sunrise did and he felt every hair on his body stand on end. He was glad he had already been to the restroom, otherwise he may have messed his shorts. "What... WHAT?! WHAT THE FUCK, MAN?! If this is a prank you are all pulling on me... well bravo and FUCK YOU!"

"It's not a prank, Sunny-boy." Shining ran his fingers down his face and then pointed to the photo on the left. "That, is Sunset Shimmer. Our great grandmother. Or as Dad called her, Grandmama. The one on the right is our other great grandmother, Twilight Sparkle. The one who founded Sparkle Tech."

"Shitshitshiiiiiiit... I should have recognized her as many times as I'd seen her picture. She wasn't wearing glasses though."

"Wait," Shining held up a hand, "You saw great grandma Twilight the other day... in your store too?"

"I... I saw both of them, yeah. Oh, shit cuz... this is really giving me the ghost story creeps. I need a fucking drink if we are going to keep talking about this... and maybe a priest."

Shining rubbed the back of his neck and paced a few more times, debating with himself. He finally sighed and rubbed his temples. "I know how you feel. I ran into Sunset Shimmer too. It was, damn, like two almost three years ago."

"Please tell me you are just fucking with me, because I am about to have a panic attack."

"Grow a pair, you cumquat. I'm not fucking with you. She was right outside, right there. Just staring at the house. She looked just like she does right there in the picture. Not a day older. Dad thought he recognized her so we went through this album. I didn't sleep well for a week because I had just seen a Goddamn ghost. Dad though, he just smiled and laughed. Said something about horse magic or something and laughed again."

"Great, your dad is old and crazy."

"Watch it, asshat," Shining warned. "Anyhow, after I calmed down I went through more photo albums. Sunset Shimmer shows up again and again. Usually in the background."

"Cuz... I seriously need a beer."

"Yeah... just talking about this again... I think I need one too."

Shining stepped out of the room and was on his way to the kitchen when the bell to the front door buzzed. Shining arched an eyebrow. That should not have been possible. The gate was closed and they would needed to go through the security panel first. "Cady, why didn't you tell me someone was at the door?"

"I apologize, Shining, but they bypassed my protocol. One of their PAAL units has official government identification and access override keys."

Shining glared at the PAAL on his hand and headed to the front door instead. When he opened the door Shining found two individuals, a man and a woman, in sharp, black suits and sunglasses. Both were holding up FBI badges and identification.

"Shining Sunbright?"

"Yes?"

"FBI, we'd like to have a word. No, we don't have a warrant, but if you ask for one, we will be back tomorrow with one and a lot more agents. May we come in and keep this simple and civil?" said the man in an even if ever so slightly threatening tone.

Shining sighed and stepped aside. "My cousin is in the foyer, if you wait there with him I can bring you refreshments. I was just up to get a beer myself."

"Your cousin? Would that happen to be Sunrise Flash?" asked the woman with a cock of her eyebrow.

"Yes?"

She smirked and put her sunglasses in her pocket, revealing her striking jade colored eyes. "How fortuitous. My partner and I will take water. We're on the job."

“So, is that the last of it?”

Police Detective Ward Arrow set the last box down on the long table that he and Detective Desert Sands had borrowed for their investigation that just kept going deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole. Arrow sighed and shrugged. “I hope so.”

“Well, I have the transcripts from Officers Stone and Morning’s debriefing as well as the witness testimony from the kid who was in the car with them.”

The door to the interrogation room opened and then shut as another officer in a button down, long sleeve shirt entered. He eyed the two detectives and the items on the table before finally nodding. “Well, looks like you two gents at least got your shit together, so let's get this over with.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence, captain.”

Captain Tip Top rolled his eyes at Detective Arrow. “We all know the drill, I’m just here because you two were afraid that the findings were not making any sense and needed a second or third professional opinion on the matter. So, let’s get on with it.”

“Right. So, let’s lay it all out loud for the record,” said Sands, setting a PAAL enabled tablet to the side so it could record all their statements and findings. “This last Friday, one week ago, our primary suspect, identified as one Sunset Shimmer, ordered a car to pick up her and her companions. A male suspect wearing an Air Force officer’s uniform and brand new PAAL Mobile Assistance Unit are sought for questioning as well. Security footage shows the accomplices enter the back seats while the primary suspect shoves the driver/owner from his vehicle but then waits for him to get back in on the passenger side.”

“So less a robbery and a unexpecting kidnapping? Is it an abduction if you willing get back in the car?” asked Tip Top, rubbing at his scruffy chin.

Sands shrugged. “Leave that one for the lawyers to debate. Regardless, the officers pursue the car after spotting it driving recklessly across town, violating numerous traffic and safety laws, endangering lives and property, damaging other vehicles and property. The car's killbox was found on the passenger floor boards ripped out. After reviewing chase video it was concluded the suspect drove to the final location with intention. Said chase finally coming to a stop before one Canterlot High School where things begin to get... weird. Security footage from outside of the front of the school showed two more persons of interest who had apparently been waiting for our primary. More on them later.

“Officer Morning’s bodycam footage shows the military officer who emerged from the back of the car literally disappearing in a flash of light when he comes in contact with the statue base. Normally, this would be dismissed as equipment failure except that the suspect is nowhere to be seen and then the primary suspect, after assaulting and evading both officers, pulled the same trick a minute later. Forensic examination of the statue base reveals that it is just that, concrete with a bit of mixed stonework.”

Tip Top took a moment to review the bodycam footage before finally rubbing his eyes and shaking his head. He waved his hand for the detectives to continue.

Arrow cleared his throat and picked up the deposition. “We were successful in getting the all clear to obtain the financial records of the account used by the primary suspect to pay for the car ride. Unsurprisingly, it was registered to one Sunset Shimmer. However, prior to the previous Wednesday afternoon the account had remained mostly inactive for nearly three years other than automated deposits from interest earning investment accounts, all legal and legitimate as far as we were able to dig, and debits to a number of charities, also, all properly registered and legitimate. The account is currently frozen pending additional investigation by financial crimes division that may require a tax audit consider the several million dollars on tap.”

Tip Top whistled as he skimmed the top of the account information. “That’s some fishy behavior for a lady with that kind of cash at her fingertips.”

“Yeah, we thought so too. Barber in Finance is going to dig deeper than we have time for,” said Sands.

“Now, back to what we were talking about earlier as far as the weirdness. We obtained additional security footage of our primary suspect and her friends going about town over the three day period of Wednesday to Friday. Two individuals marked as persons of interest, both in military garb, both lacking PAALs, pinged NO facial recognition on ANY of our systems and sent an automated alert to the FBI that we were looking. I’m sure we’ll be hearing from them soon. However, this person of interest, the one next to Shimmer, we did get a match. And… she is deceased. In fact, additional digging yielded, both Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer are supposed to be deceased. Except that their faces are now pinging to several registered IDs, which should have been impossible with today’s facial recognition security.”

Tip Top picked up the other tablet that had several forms of identification for ‘Sunset Shimmer’ on them including driver’s licenses and passports. Each had an identical picture but each also had a different name. He flipped to the next screen and another set of IDs for Twilight Sparkle also with a number of aliases.

“So, what am I looking at here, boys? Ghosts? Immortals? Sounds more like a spy movie to me.”

Both Sands and Arrow exchanged uncomfortable and confused expressions as they shifted through the gathered evidence. “The PAAL that Sunset Shimmer was using had unique user codes that allowed it root access to a number of restricted and proprietary systems derived from the PAALs base code platform created by Sparkle Tech industries. The company founded by one, Doctor Twilight Sparkle. The company spokesperson who replied to our inquiry said that they have isolated the codes used and corrected them, but also went as far as to say that the only way such ‘backdoor’ codes could have existed without being found before would be if an original code programmer had slipped them in during the trial and testing phases before the OS went live. That SHOULD narrow our suspects for cyber crimes to track over, but, unfortunately we were also informed that during the code writing phase, years before the first PAAL went up for sale, there were a number of contracted coders tapped to speed the process up. Annoying, but… and this is where it gets more weird.”

Tip Top threw his hands up. “Hit me with it.”

Sands held up two images from the pulled camera to log that they received from the electronics store that the identified MAU was purchased from. “These are our two primary suspects in our possible financial crimes case.” Sands then pulled an old paper photo from a folder. “This, is the founder and former CEO of Sparkle Tech, Dr. Twilight Sparkle.” Sands pulled out another old photograph. “And this, was Twilight Sparkle’s wife, Sunset Shimmer.”

Tip Top set the photos down after a minute. “Okay, seriously, what the ACUTAL Fuck, people?”

Arrow shook his head. “Hey, can we stop here for a second, this… this is all just too damn weird.”

“I know, right? If this was about exploiting a security breach in backbone software or about defrauding the multi-million dollar accounts by stealing info and having their faces surgically altered I could put the pieces together and see it, but… all they did was get a hotel, buy some cheap crap, a MAU, and go to a club to hang out. None of this would have even crossed out desks if not for that crazy joyride. Then… there’s this.”

“What?”

“I asked the phone company to send phone records and asked for the PAAL's cloud access. Sometimes they give us the privacy stiff arm, but they were surprisingly cooperative this time. I think after they took a look, I have a guess why.”

Arrow shook his head as he and the captain looked over Sands’ shoulders at the images that had been released from PAAL cloud storage. They were images of Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle having fun with friends, attending parties, gatherings, social events, and lots and lots of personal family photos. Many of which dated back to before PAAL cloud storage was online and had been uploaded separately.

But what was giving both detective chills were the photos that caught glimpses of the background. Cars, buildings, locations, some of which were decades old and in some cases even older. They could have been fake, but at a glance, they did not look fake to the detectives.

“So…” said Tip Top, shutting off the screen with the photos and the deposition recording. “We either have some weirdos with face stealing fetishes just looking to have a good time. Or… or we have some strange beings from somewhere ‘else’ that have been alive for more than a hundred years, have tons of money, and apparently had to hurry up so as to make it to their flash gate door thing before it turned to stone again.”

“I don’t like either of those choices, captain, and I say we just box this shit up and let it be someone else’s problem.” Arrow pointed to the box and Sands nodded.

The door to the interrogation room opened and a man and woman entered and quickly shut the door behind them. Both were wearing identical black suits, sunglasses, and frowns upon their faces. Sands squinted a bit more at the woman who looked familiar for some reason.

“This is a private room, can we help you?” asked Tip Top.

The man removed his sunglasses and flashed his badge. “Agent Box Folder, FBI.”

“We understand you have a case that has more questions than answers. A case that ended at Canterlot High School,” said the woman who had not yet identified herself and stayed near the door, keeping her sunglasses on.

“Normally this is where we would tell you Feds to take a hike and get off our jurisdiction, but in this case… yeah, we do. And not a damn thing makes any sense about it. Got any insight you would care to share?”

“Theories, some past evidence, a fancy tack board with red strings, I’m old school like that,” said the woman with a small smirk before her face returned to the stern stoic it had been before. “However, we are here to take this off your hands and minds for that matter. So, thank you for your efforts, detectives. Please, pack up all the evidence you have and present it to us. We will be handling this case from here on out.”

Arrow arched a brow and glanced at Sands. “No disrespect, ma’am, and don’t get me wrong, this is one case I gladly pass on, but are you certain you WANT this headache?”

The woman stepped closer to the two men and they both gasped as she took off her sunglasses. The vermilion skin, the short pink and white hair. She was nearly identical to the woman from the security footage in the army uniform. “Boys, I have seen things. I know about things in this world that would turn your both into insomniacs and that would be a best case scenario. Knew a guy who decided to rather eat a bullet than accept the truth of what I was showing him. So, unless you like the idea of never having a sound night of sleep again I suggest you just take my answer of ‘it’s above your pay grade’ and go back to your regular job of serving and protecting the public. Understand?”

“Well, she’s got my vote,” commented Tip Top. “I’m too close to retirement for this shit.”

Arrow quickly picked up all their paper evidence and the tablets that had the collected data and dumped them in the box, handing it all to Agent Folder. The FBI agents slid their sunglasses back on and began to leave.

“Never did catch your name, ma’am.”

“Never gave it.”

“What does all this mean?” asked Sands, calming his partner with a hand on his shoulder.

The woman stopped and turned, jade eyes glancing back over the top of her shades. “That we are not alone.”

The End

Author's Note

Well, that ended up being longer that previous chapter after edits!

I think in retrospect I should have taken the first part and tacked it on at the end of the last chapter, but I just felt this was all more conclusion material. Regardless, That was I, Raven! Once again, if you made it to the end thank you for reading! If you would like more information and ramblings come over to the blog and read the after action wrap up that will be going up shortly.

As always and at anytime Questions and Comments welcomed!