It was five minutes until ten at night. The moon was shining brightly again, and the town was asleep. But over at the Lunar property, Sunset and Starlight were getting into their scuba diving suits while Tempest kept watch at the top of the tunnel. Starlight had her anti-tank rifle put inside a waterproof bag that she strapped to her back while Sunset had a backpack that contained their disguises. The two of them got into the water, which went up to their chests, and Sunset loosened one of the bars blocking the tunnel before looking up at Tempest.
"Alright, ladies, it's time to get the show on the road," she announced. "Tempest, I'm counting on you to be ready for anything."
"Understood," Tempest said. "But since I'll be all the way here, I must ask: how do I know if you two have died while breaking in?"
"Er, just give us a couple of days," Sunset said with a shrug.
"A couple of days?" Starlight questioned.
"Hey, you never know," Sunset said.
Tempest thought about it before she hummed with her mouth closed and said, "Very well. I hope you don't waste so much of my time by making me wait to make sure that you died."
"Yeah, well, at least you'll have the money you earned for bringing our equipment," Sunset said.
"That isn't reassuring, Shimmer," Tempest said.
"No, I guess not," Sunset said. "Anyway, ready to go, Starlight?"
"I'm right behind you, boss," Starlight replied.
"Alright, then let's go," Sunset said.
Sunset gave Tempest a salute, who responded with a nod before the amber woman went through the gap in the bars, followed by Starlight. They walked carefully into the dark tunnel until they heard the sound of water falling. The two of them moved close to the wall as they looked down to find that the water was sliding down a long slope leading to under the clock tower.
"This is it," Sunset said. "We're swimming underwater all the way to the windmill from here."
"Understood," Starlight said. "Good luck, Sunset."
"You too, Starlight," Sunset replied.
The two of them put their regulators in their mouths and slid down the slope belly down with Sunset leading. When they reached the bottom, they started swimming further into the tunnel. Neither of them could see where they were going because the area was pitch black, so they were forced to trust the current. Eventually, they spotted a light on the other side and swam towards it, knowing they were heading in the right direction. They came out of the tunnel and saw that they were below the many gears inside the clocktower.
But as they went further down the stream, they looked ahead, and their eyes widened, realizing they were heading to a waterfall. Starlight swam to the side and grabbed a small gap between the bricks, but Sunset wasn't so quick. She turned around and moved her arms and legs as fast as she could, but that only delayed the inevitable as she moved closer to the edge. Starlight could do nothing but watch as Sunset went down the waterfall.
Sunset looked down as she fell, and her eyes widened with horror to find that she was falling toward the area between two moving gears. She quickly moved to the side of the waterfall before she could be crushed between them only to fall into the gap between two other gears. She slid down from one gap between gears to another, keeping her body straight, and her head turned to the side to barely fit into the right spaces. Finally, she made her way to the bottom and found another dark tunnel on the other side. Realizing the tunnel was leading the way through the aqueduct, Sunset swam towards that direction, hoping that she didn't have to worry about being crushed the rest of the way.
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Back in the castle grounds, Twilight was keeping a watchful eye around the area. Her officers were back in their trucks, eating instant noodles before starting their patrol around the castle. The grayish mulberry woman scanned the castle's second-level courtyard as best as she could without getting hit by the lasers, but she couldn't think of a way Sunset could get inside the castle without getting killed. It didn't help that she still had the unsettled feeling that Adagio was up to something. She wished there was a way to find out what the queen was hiding.
"Twilight?"
Twilight snapped out of her train of thought and turned around to see Spike walking over to her, carrying two cups of instant noodles and chopsticks. Spike gave his sister a worried look and handed one of the cups and a pair of chopsticks to her as he said, "You're doing it again."
"Doing what?" Twilight asked.
"You know what," Spike said. "You're getting worked up about whether or not we will catch Sunset Shimmer this time."
Twilight sighed and asked, "Can you blame me, Spike? We've been trying to catch her for years, and every time we think we can catch her, she finds a way to outwit us. I want to think she's going to fail with all of this security, but I'm almost positive that she will find a weakness. There has to be a way that we can discover a flaw and stop her before she uses it."
"Well, you're not going to find out on an empty stomach," Spike said as he took out the lid to his cup.
Twilight smiled and said, "You're right, Spike," before she opened her cup and separated her chopsticks. The two siblings ate in silence, with Twilight still scanning the area as she slurped her noodles. Spike finished his cup first before deciding to strike a conversation.
"By the way, I called Rarity while I was heating the water for our noodles," he said.
"Oh, dear. What did you tell her?" Twilight asked.
"Just that she has nothing to worry about," Spike said. "I explained how tight the security is and why Sunset Shimmer isn't going to break in guns blazing this time. That seemed to assure her that nothing bad is going to happen."
"Good," Twilight said. "Is there a message for me?"
Spike smirked and said, "Just the usual warning: 'not a scratch, Twilight Sparkle. Not one scratch on my Spikey-Wikey."
"Seriously?" Twilight asked. "I get that she worries about you every time we're on an assignment outside of Canterlot, but you'd think she'd worry about her sister-in-law's wellbeing once in a while."
Spike chuckled and said, "What can I say? I'm very precious to my wife."
Twilight groaned and rolled her eyes before going back to her noodles. As she lifted her head to drink the remaining contents of her dinner, however, she noticed the windmill and stopped drinking in mid-slurp. Spike looked at his sister curiously as Twilight raised her eyebrow.
"What is it?" Spike asked.
"That windmill," Twilight said. "Do you know if that's used for anything?"
"Yeah, I heard from one of the guards that they use it to retrieve water from the river using the aqueduct," Spike said.
"Where does the water go from the windmill?" Twilight asked.
"It leads to a fountain up the third level," Spike answered.
Twilight frowned and asked, "Do they have any security there?"
"Huh? Why would they have security for a windmill?" Spike asked. "You'd have to be silly to think someone would install lasers or something to guard an -"
Twilight and Spike's eyes widened as it hit them. They dropped their chopsticks and cups and raced to the nearest staircase to the third level. They looked around until they found a fountain in the third-level courtyard. At the center of the fountain was a statue of a lion with water coming out of its mouth. Twilight and Spike looked at each other and nodded before they walked to opposite sides of the fountain. They stepped into the water and slowly walked to both sides of the statue before leaning in to look inside the mouth.
But while they were looking at the mouth of the statue, a police officer with white skin and navy blue hair ran over to them, panting before he saluted Twilight.
"Inspector, Derpy just received a call from Chancellor Neighsay," he said. "We are to withdraw and head back to Canterlot at once."
"What?!" Twilight screamed. "We're in the middle of trying to nab Sunset Shimmer! Why in the world does he want us to withdraw?"
"I don't know, ma'am," the officer replied.
Twilight groaned and said, "Come on. Let's get to the bottom of this."
The inspector and the lieutenant got out of the water and marched out of the courtyard, the officer following behind. For several seconds the area was quiet apart from the sound of water coming out of the statue's mouth. Then two amber hands came out of the mouth and pulled up for Sunset to slip out. She fell into the fountain and took a moment to ease up, relieved that she wasn't trapped inside the statue anymore before she stood up and took the regulator out of her mouth.
"Man, that was close," she whispered to herself. "Twilight's getting smarter."
Sunset ran to a wall covered in shadow and took off her scuba gear. She then opened her backpack and took out the same clothes Twilight was wearing, a wig, and a makeup kit, and started covering her face in grayish mulberry makeup. As she was putting on her disguise, she noticed Starlight's disguise as Spike still inside her backpack and wondered what happened to her friend.
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Back at the property of the Lunar family, Tempest was on top of the wall next to the clocktower. She rested her head with her arms, already bored from keeping watch. Minute by minute, she grew eager to find out that Sunset and Starlight needed her help so that she could run on top of the aqueduct to the castle and start mercilessly cutting people down with her sword.
As Tempest dreamed for action, she heard the sound of someone coming out of the tunnel. She raised her eyebrow as she stood up and grasped the handle of her sword. The dark orchid woman waited until the person came out of the tunnel to draw her sword, jump into the water, and point her weapon at the unknown person.
"Whoa, whoa, easy! It's just me!" Starlight shouted, waving her hands in defense.
Tempest looked at Starlight, confused, and asked, "Where's Shimmer?"
"We got separated," Starlight said. "We were riding the current to the clocktower, but there was a waterfall, and Sunset fell in. I had to use the gaps between the bricks to climb my way back here."
"So, she's dead?" Tempest asked.
"I hope not," Starlight said. "There was no other direction the water could have gone that led to the aqueduct, so maybe she went the right way."
"Maybe isn't good enough," Tempest said. "Is there any way we can find out for sure?"
"I tried getting out of the water to look, but there are laser guns inside the clock tower, too," Starlight said.
"That's not good," Tempest said. "What do we do now?"
Starlight sighed and said, "I guess we're just gonna have to wait and hope she made it."
Tempest frowned and said, "I'm already bored from keeping watch for thirty minutes. Do you seriously expect me to wait a whole day or two for someone who might already be dead?"
"Tempest, if there's one thing I've learned about Sunset, it's that she's hard to kill," Starlight said. "With any luck, she's in the castle and is already using her disguise to get the prince. She'll figure something out."
"You better be right, Glimmer," Tempest said. "I didn't come all this way for a job that fails as soon as it began."
Starlight frowned and turned to the tunnel while Tempest was getting out of the water.
"I hope I'm right too, Tempest," she whispered.
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Back in the castle grounds, Twilight, Spike, and the white officer walked back to where the police trucks and Spike's car were. One of the officers, a gray woman with sapphire bluish-gray skin, grayish apple green hair and crossed moderate gamboge eyes, was carrying a large pack strapped to her back with a phone attached. The officer looked at Twilight, concerned as the inspector took the phone from her hand and held it up to her ear.
"This is Inspector Sparkle. What's the meaning of this?" She asked. "What? But chancellor, we have solid evidence that Sunset Shimmer is attempting to kidnap the prince. She said what? That's not true! But she permitted us to help her stop Shimmer. I don't care what she said. If she underestimates Sunset Shimmer, she wi - Hello? Hello? Augh!"
Twilight slammed the phone on the slot in the pack, frustrated. Spike and the officers looked at each other, concerned before the lieutenant asked, "What did the chancellor say?"
"He said Queen Adagio requested that we pull back, claiming that we insulted her by saying she has poor security," Twilight said.
"That's ridiculous. We never said anything like that," Spike said.
"That's what I told him," Twilight said. "Chancellor Neighsay also said that the queen was crying hysterically when she called him."
Spike frowned and said, "That doesn't sound anything like how she acted when we talked to her. Do you think she manipulated the chancellor to order us to leave?"
Twilight frowned and looked up at the castle with a suspicious glare, saying, "Yes, I do. This raises my suspicions that Queen Adagio is hiding something she doesn't want us to know about."
"What are we going to do?" Spike asked.
Twilight hummed in thought before she turned to her officers and ordered, "Derpy, tell everyone to get their gears ready and await further instructions."
"Yes, ma'am," the gray woman named Derpy replied.
"Spike, come with me," Twilight said.
"You got it, sis," Spike replied.
The two siblings marched their way back up the stairs to the main entrance of the castle. Unknown to them, however, Sunset was hiding behind the bushes next to the staircase. Her face and hands were covered in grayish mulberry makeup, and she had violet contact lenses in her eyes. She was dressed in Twilight's clothes and wearing a wig of the inspector's hair. The thief in disguise grinned as she quietly followed the police behind the bushes.
When Twilight and Spike made it to the top, two guards were standing on opposite sides of the entrance holding spears while Tirek and a couple dozen other guards stood behind them. Twilight marched ahead of her brother toward the entrance only for the guards to block her with their spears.
"I demand to see the queen at once," Twilight said.
"I'm sorry, but Her Majesty has strict instructions not to allow you or any of your police officers past this point," Tirek said with a smug grin.
"But Sunset Shimmer could be sneaking her way into this castle any moment," Twilight said. "How do you expect to stop her without help?"
"I don't," Tirek replied. "You were ordered to leave, Inspector. I suggest you do it."
"How did you know about that?" Spike asked.
Tirek turned to Spike and mockingly said, "Why do you think the mighty royal guards need help from little pipsqueaks to do their job?"
Spike grinded his teeth and marched toward the muscular man only for Twilight to force him back with her arm.
"Take it easy, Spike. He's not worth it," Twilight said. "It's obvious the captain relies too much on his muscles than his brains. It's no wonder he can't say insults worse than what a nine-year-old boy can think of."
Tirek frowned and asked, "Are you saying I'm dumb?"
"I didn't use the word 'dumb,'" Twilight taunted while smirking. "But if you're wondering if you are, it would explain why you think you need brawn over brains to capture a thief."
Spike snickered while Tirek grew angry and growled, "My men and I are the only security Queen Adagio needs. You're just a puny woman trying to act tough when you have never caught this Sunset Shimmer."
"True, but I'm smart enough to learn from my mistakes, and I've worked together with security from other castles. And do you know what they have in common? They're all smarter than you," Twilight countered. "They had brains as well as brawn to do their jobs. You? You probably rely on your sword and muscles so much that you can't even stop a teeny tiny mouse from entering the castle. In fact, I bet the teeny tiny mouse can do better at capturing Sunset Shimmer than you."
At this point, Spike was laughing out loud, and Sunset was covering her mouth to keep her enemies from hearing her laugh. Even Tirek's men were struggling to keep straight faces. Twilight crossed her arms and gave the captain of the guard a smug look as a way of saying, "Your move." Tirek's anger grew, and he barked, "Enough! I want you out of the castle grounds, and I want you out now!"
Twilight and Spike looked at each other, satisfied with the former's work before Twilight said, "Yes, I think we've overstayed our welcome. But, if Sunset Shimmer kidnaps the prince and the queen blames you for it, don't say we didn't try to help you."
With that, the siblings saluted the captain and started walking down the staircase. As they walked down, Sunset saw Spike looking back to see Tirek still annoyed and then turned to his sister, saying, "Thanks."
"Hey, I wasn't going to let him talk to my little brother like that," Twilight said. "Besides, you wouldn't have helped things if you tried to attack him."
"Yeah, I guess not," Spike said. "But, what do we do now? They might fail to stop Sunset Shimmer even with their tight security."
Twilight frowned and said, "We'll think of something. Hopefully, if she does, that will teach Queen Adagio for getting rid of us. But, if Sunset Shimmer does kidnap the prince, I hope she doesn't harm him."
"Heh. If only you knew about me and my baby, Twilight," Sunset whispered before looking back up the stairs with a mischievous grin. "So, the captain of the guard has a quick temper, eh? I think I can work around that."
She waited until Twilight and Spike were far enough down the steps to come out of her hiding place. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to get into character before running up the stairs, panting as though she had been running up the entire staircase. Tirek was turning around before he heard the thief climb up, and the two guards in front of him blocked the entrance again. When Sunset reached the top of the stairs, she got on her knees, pretending to be out of breath before looking up at Tirek.
"Were my brother and I here just now?" She asked.
"Yes, And I told you both to leave," Tirek growled.
"You imbecile! Those were Sunset Shimmer and her partner, Starlight Glimmer, in disguise!" Sunset shouted. "They were trying to sneak in, you big brute!"
Tirek and his men looked at Sunset, confused before the captain frowned and said, "You're just trying to get in to see the queen."
"Oh, come on! It's so obviously, not us!" Sunset rebuked. "Can't you tell how Sunset Shimmer and Starlight Glimmer sounded different from us? That wasn't even one of their best disguises! Why, I know security guards, who couldn't make it past third grade who could figure out that that was them!"
Tirek and his men stared at her, shocked by her claims. The captain of the guard began to grow angry again as he started to believe Sunset. The amber woman in disguise resisted the urge to grin over the fact that she had Tirek right where she wanted him.
"What's the matter, you brainless ape?! Are you going to let them get away?!" She mocked. "What if the queen finds out?! She'll probably want your head! On second thought, she probably wouldn't want your head because there's nothing inside! She'll probably just have you shot dead and be done with it! You must be so dumb that your mother turns in her grave regularly for giving birth to such a witless oaf! Now you and your men better go after those two right now before I tell the queen about how worthless her royal guard is!"
By this point, Tirek's already red face turned barn red, and even his guards were furious that they supposedly had been tricked. With bloodthirsty cries, Tirek and his men drew their swords and charged down the steps. Sunset backed away with an amused smirk as the entire royal guard passed by her. It wasn't long before Twilight and Spike, who were close to the bottom of the staircase, turned around to find Tirek and her men running toward them.
"You won't get away from us, Sunset Shimmer!" Tirek screamed.
"Sunset Shimmer?!" Twilight asked. "What are you talking about?!"
But instead of a response, Tirek let out another war cry, aiming his sword at Twilight as he ran down the stairs. It took a moment before Twilight and Spike realized that Tirek thought the inspector is Sunset in disguise and began running down the stairs for their lives.
"Officers, help!" Spike cried out as they ran.
The squadron on the ground floor heard the lieutenant and looked in shock to see the royal guard chasing their superiors. They quickly grabbed their clubs and ballistic shields and charged up the stairs to meet Tirek and his men. The two forces clashed into each other with the police surrounding Twilight and Spike. Tirek and his men were hitting the police's shields to no effect while the police tried to force the guards back.
"What in the world is with them?" Twilight asked. "I'm not Sunset Shimmer."
"I don't know," Spike said. "They couldn't possibly mistake any of us for her unless…"
At that moment, Twilight and Spike looked past the guards to find Sunset watching at the top of the stairs, still disguised as the inspector. Sunset could see the two of them while the police and guards were fighting, and she lowered her bottom eyelid and stuck her tongue out at them. Twilight and Spike clenched their teeth as the thief turned around and walked toward the main entrance.
"Hey! Sunset Shimmer is up there! She's disguised as Twilight!" Spike shouted.
"I'm not falling for your tricks again, Starlight Glimmer!" Tirek roared.
Spike frowned and turned to his older sister, asking, "What do we do now?"
Twilight thought about it and said, "I'll just have to sneak away and grab her myself."
"Are you sure you can do that?" Spike asked. "Let me go with you."
"No. Stay with the squad. They need you to lead them in my absence," Twilight commanded. "Just distract Tirek long enough for me to get through."
Spike's frown deepened, not wanting his older sister to chase Sunset alone. He sighed in defeat and said, "Be careful, okay?"
"You too," Twilight said with a smile. "Please don't get a scratch so that Rarity doesn't kill me."
"I'll do my best," Spike said with a chuckle.
The two siblings gave each other one last look before Twilight went down on her knees, and Spike turned to Tirek. The captain was slamming his sword against one of the officer's shields as Spike scooted his way to stand behind the officer.
"Hey, big, tall, and stupid! Not so tough with your muscles and pretty sword, are you?" He mocked. "You guys aren't doing anything to our shields!"
Tirek's face turned from barn red to mahogany, and he screamed, "I'm going to make you wish you never stepped into the compound, Starlight Glimmer!"
"Joke's on you! I'm not Starlight Glimmer!" Spike teased.
As the police and guards tried to push the other back, Twilight crawled on all fours, carefully making her way through the guards who were too focused on the fight to notice her. When she made it out, she stood up and ran up the stairs, taking out a pair of handcuffs as she ran.
Back up the staircase, Sunset walked over to the front doors and pressed her ear against one of them. When it didn't sound like anyone was on the other side, she carefully opened the door and found a bust of Adagio standing on a white column several feet from the entrance. Sunset looked at the statue suspiciously and carefully placed her foot inside. The floor seemed stable, but there was something about it that didn't feel right.
"Sunset Shimmer!"
Sunset jumped and turned around in shock to find Twilight at the top of the staircase. The grayish mulberry inspector held up her pair of handcuffs and charged at the thief, shouting, "You're not getting away this time, Shimmer!" But just as the inspector pounced, Sunset moved away, causing Twilight to run past her and burst through the doors. Twilight had a second to regain her balance before the floor suddenly opened beneath her. Sunset watched as Twilight fell down the hole, screaming before the floor closed up.
Sunset stared at the floor, surprised until she heard the sound of someone opening a door. She quickly closed the entrance door on the right and left the left door open just enough to see Cozy Glow open a hidden door on the wall. She walked to the head statue of Adagio, where a photo of Twilight falling into the trapdoor came out of its mouth. Cozy Glow chuckled with her mouth closed as she took the picture out of the statue's mouth and turned the head of the statue to face the wall.
"That stupid four eyes. She should have left when she had the chance," the teenager said before she frowned and looked at the entrance. "But, what are Tirek and his men doing away from their post?"
Sunset quickly moved to the side as Cozy Glow opened the doors and started walking down the steps. The amber woman waited until the maid was far enough down the steps to open the doors and quietly come inside the room. She walked over to the statue and inspected it before a devious smirk entered her face.
"I see. If the statue is facing the door, anyone who enters the room will fall into the trap, but if it's facing the wall, they'll be fine," she said to herself. "I think I have time for a little fun with this."
Sunset walked behind the statue and turned its head to face the door again before putting her wig and hat on top of it. She then took off her costume, took the violet contact lenses out of her eyes, and started using makeup remover to remove the grayish mulberry makeup on her face and hands to pass the time. She had finished removing the makeup on her face and left hand when she heard the sound of two people walking toward the entrance on the other side.
"I can't believe you let the inspector get inside!" Cozy Glow rebuked. "You're lucky she fell into the trap."
"I wish both she and brother fell in," Tirek growled. "I'm going to strangle that pee-wee if I get another chance."
"It's no use grumbling about it now, you buffoon," Cozy Glow said as she opens the doors. "We need to get back before Sunset Shim -"
The maid and the captain froze in place, and their eyes widened as they saw the bust facing them with the wig and hat on top of it. Sunset Shimmer turned to them while using the makeup remover on her right hand and gave them a smug look as she waved her hand and said, "Buh-bye," in a singing voice. The trap door opened, and Tirek and Cozy Glow screamed as they fell into the hole while Sunset laughed out loud.
"Mental note: thank the queen for the opportunity to pull that prank on those two," she said as she finished removing the makeup and started walking down the hall. "And now to find my Rough Draft."