Some time later, as most of the ponies and the dragon slept, the mysterious figure lurked around quietly. She crept into Twilight and Spike’s room and found Twilight’s crown on the vanity. With a glow of light brilliant opal magic, she levitated the crown off of the vanity and into the black saddlebag she was carrying. However, as it was so dark, she couldn’t see properly and ended up striking her hoof against the vanity, causing her to let out a rather loud expression of pain. “OW! SON OF A BITCH!”*

The sudden interjection caused Twilight and Spike to wake with a start. They looked around the dark room, seeing the intruder and the stolen goods as she was about to make her way out of the door.

“My crown!” Twilight gasped. “She’s got my crown!”

“God dammit!” the intruder muttered.

Twilight and Spike made their way out of bed and gave chase to the intruder, who bolted. The calamity alerted the other Guardians of Harmony, who peeked out of their rooms to see what was going on.

“Stop!” Twilight called. “Thief!”

Sunburst and Wallflower were also alerted.

“What’s going on?!” Sunburst asked.

“Did somepony say, ‘thief?’” Wallflower asked.

The intruder collided with Sunburst and Wallflower, causing her to lose her cloak, revealing her to be a brilliant amber unicorn mare with a mane and tail of brilliant amaranth with light apple green stripes and eyes of moderate cyan. Sunburst and Wallflower couldn’t help but gasp as they looked as if they had seen a ghost.

“Sunset?” Wallflower asked.

“You’re here?!” Sunburst gasped.

The intruder realized her cover was blown and quickly used her magic to lift the cloak and throw it back at the guardians as a diversion.

“Suck on that, bitches!” she said before galloping ahead.

“Stop!” Twilight exclaimed as she teleported ahead of the intruder.

“Sh*t!” the intruder exclaimed as the two collided.

“Oof!” Twilight yelped.

Twilight’s crown then was propelled out of the intruder’s saddlebag and ricocheted off the walls. As it made its way to the mirror, it phased through the reflective surface. The Guardians were so surprised by what they saw that they couldn’t do anything but stare in disbelief.

“What did you do?” Twilight asked the intruder sternly. “What happened to my crown and where did it go?!”

The intruder got up and wore a devious smirk. “I broke in, it’s up your ass, and f*ck you all in that order, Princess,” she said before diving into the mirror herself.

Sunburst and Wallflower walked up to meet the Guardians. They still couldn’t believe what they had witnessed.

“She looked like my sister,” Sunburst said. “But, she certainly didn’t act like my sister.”

“You’re right,” Wallflower said. “The Sunset I know would never do anything like that no matter how badly that monster treated her.”

“Her aura wasn’t even the right color**,” Sunburst pointed out. That caught the attention of the Guardians.

“This is bad,” Fluttershy said, stating the obvious. “If that pony wasn’t Sunset Shimmer, then, who was she?”

It was a question that none of them had an answer to. Either way, this was an ordeal that they had to talk to Princess Celestia about.

Author's Note

Here's the next chapter. Yes, it's a little short, but, take it or leave it.

*The first of many reasons this is listed as mature.

**FORESHADOWING!!!

Comments? Questions? Thoughts? You know where to leave them.