//------------------------------//
// Twi and Sunset 
// Story: When the Sun Sets 
// by Deep 
//------------------------------//

Victory had been achieved; now all that was left was to enjoy its sweet aftertaste.

Sunset Shimmer took her time as she walked to the palace's throne room. The sun had once again risen and shot its light through and off every one of the marble laden hallways, making the air itself appear if it was a part of the sun. Sunset Shimmer had the smile of a filly that could do no wrong and even walked in such a soft and delicate fashion to match her smile. The events of the previous night kept on replaying in her head, the Griffin's tantrum, Twilight crying, a look of such disappointment on Celestia's face, and only added to her smile.

She opened the door to the Princess's throne room where she found the alicorn alone on her throne facing down and with a look of disappointment no less as strong as from the night before. Celestia looked lost in thought, now oblivious to the present happening around her. Sunset Shimmer spoke up, "Hello... Princess..."

Celestia turned to the filly, "Oh, my apologizes... I am not in the greatest of moods currently. Do you wish to speak about something?"

"Not rea... well... kinda," Sunset Shimmer looked down frowning for a moment, "I obviously heard about what happened yesterday... and even though I can't really know how you're feeling... Sorry."

Celestia grew a warm smile and walked to her student, "I am sorry as well; it was my responsibility to ensure all went well and it is pretty clear that I failed."

Sunset Shimmer chuckled, "Still though... it's not like you can do everything... and even if ya could, stuff just happens sometimes. Try not to feel too bad about it."

Celestia caressed the filly, "I will try to... Perhaps if I had made some different choices things would not have happened as they did... But what's done is done."

Sunset Shimmer frowned, "I just don't get why Twi would do that though... and even if you're going to do something like that don't do it on a night like that!" Celestia laughed. "So what did you do to her... I assume you kicked her out of the palace... right?"

"Who do you take me for?" Celestia said, jokingly, "Twilight is in her room."

Sunset Shimmer's eyes popped out. What?! "R-Really?"

Celestia nodded, "It is true that she ruined what would have been the biggest trade deal in generations, but with her potential I feel that she can be a force for good in Equestria unlike any other... I refuse to throw such potential away."

We get it; she's gonna be strong! "Makes sense, and it is the reasonable thing to do."

"Also..." Celestia looked away to the window, where the view of her kingdom lay before the two, "I am beginning to doubt that Twilight was the culprit."

Sunset Shimmer's eyes popped out further, "W-W-What?"

"Twilight does not feel like the type of pony who would do this... and more importantly, my intuition is telling me that there is more to that dinner than what we saw. Many of the guards and staff members have told me the same."

Shiiiiiiit... Sunset Shimmer stepped backwards towards the door, "True... I mean you can never know... I'm going to Twilight now; might as well see how she's doing." She then ran through the door and onto the halls with an ever rising heart rate. The events of the previous night once again played out in her head. She probably just feels guilty... There's no way I left any way for these ponies to figure it out. Everything was planned! I'm probably just stressin' myself out for nothing, but still... you can never be too sure. Sunset Shimmer reached Twilight's room, where she barged through the door to find the filly on her bed surrounded by wet cloth. Twilight was still sucking in mucus.

"My bad," Sunset Shimmer chuckled, "Heard about what happened... thought I should cheer you up. Somepony has to!"

Twilight turned to her friend; the sight of the orange filly made her smile. "I d-don't think you're going to be enough..."

"Says you," Sunset Shimmer said, walking forward.

"Re-eally... It's like... I don't even know how to feel right now."

"What do you mean?"

Twilight opened her mouth but reclosed it as her frown returned. She looked away, "Oh, just forg-get about it... it's not like anypony will believe me anyway."

"I will... and you can't just assume I won't like that... messed up, Twi."

Twilight's smile returned, "What I mean is, as sad as I am, I'm not as sad as I would be."

"Okay... so..?"

Twilight paused and took a deep breath, "Sunset, do you think I stole that Griffin's jewel?"

"Obviously not... but I'm pretty sure you already knew that, right?"

"Shouldn't have doubted you in the first place," Twilight said. "Sunset, somepony framed me last night... I'd like to think it was all one big misunderstanding, but that was no accident. I'm more mad than sad."

"That's what I was scared of too," Sunset Shimmer said, "No offense, but what can you do though? At this point everypony's sure it was you."

Twilight paused, "I don't know... but from becoming your friend these past few days I've learned a lot, even if you don't realize it." She got up and stood tall, "And what you'd do is prove that you were innocent... You wouldn't stand for this!"

Sunset Shimmer paused even longer, "Ye... s...?"

"I'm going to clear my name, and I even already have the evidence to do it." Twilight grabbed her friend and charged out of her room, dragging Sunset Shimmer along for the ride.

The two fillies sped through the palace and the entered the throne room where the sight of them caused the Princess to freeze. "Princess..." Twilight said, then taking a deep breath, "I know I'm supposed to be in my room, but I have something that needs to be said. One of the qualities you and our kingdom are known for is honesty, and the commitment to the truth... and I can not let such a lie against me exist any longer!" She stomped the floor and looked Celestia in the eye, "Princess Celestia, I did not steal that jewel last night, and I can prove it!"

The Princess and Sunset Shimmer both watched in silence.

Twilight continued, "First of all, when the Griffin's plate was knocked over there was no magical aura around it, let alone a purple one. What this means; I don't know, but Princess, as far as I know there is no way to prevent an aura from occurring... but like I said, this is as far I currently know. Secondly..."

"You have really thought this through haven't you?" Celestia said, laughing, "Do not fear, I too am coming to the conclusion that it was not you."

Twilight jumped up, "Really?!"

Celestia nodded, "Upon review, the whole incident appears too... perfect. I do not know who did this, or why, but my intuition tells me that it was not you. I apologize for coming to such quick judgment... It seems my anger clouded my better judgment... It was most unlike me."

Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit! Sunset Shimmer looked on, smiling.

"I will order an official investigation into the matter," Celestia said, "You have nothing to fear... I also feel that the Griffin ambassador and his wife will have a change of heart as well. Anger is a powerful poison."

Twilight ran to the Princess and embraced her, "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Celestia hugged back.

Twilight walked back to Sunset Shimmer and the two fillies walked away from the throne room with smiles. "Lucky break, eh?" Sunset Shimmer said.

"Not that lucky... I wish I knew who did this," Twilight said.

"They'll figure it out eventually," Sunset Shimmer said, resisting the urge to deck Twilight in the face.

"True..." Twilight grabbed her friend by the hoof, "Or we can figure it out now!" Sunset Shimmer gave a blank face. "We're starting our own investigation! Come on!"


............................................................................


The two fillies stood busy at work in the royal banquet hall, the same hall that had nearly spelled Twilight's end just one day prior.

Sunset Shimmer stood beside the central table with a bored face; her eyes flickered between open and closed and the odd yawn escaped her every minute or two. She stared at Twilight, who ran around underneath the table and paused every thirty seconds to stare at yet another part of the table that looked just like the rest. Twilight continued like this for the next couple of minutes until her friend's yawns grew more frequent and morphed into a muffled growl. "Oh my Celestia!" Sunset Shimmer screamed, "What are we even doing right now?! There's nothing under there; there never was!"

Twilight stopped for a moment but went right back to her investigating.

"There's nothing under there!" Sunset Shimmer growled, "Just give it up."

Twilight sighed, "I know... I guess I'm just hopeful that there's a clue or some evidence... maybe too hopeful."

"It's alright to be hopeful, but not for an hour!"

"Sorry," Twilight blushed and got out of the table, "You never know what the culprit could've used or done to help their plan... as far as I'm concerned a crime scene hasn't been investigated until every nanometer has been checked five times over."

"I'll pretend to know what that is, but just give it up already," Sunset Shimmer said, "We've been doing this little investigation of yours for hours now and haven't found anything... I think it's smart to just leave it to the professionals."

Twilight paused, facing down, "I know... but I really want to figure this out myself. I've always had a thing for mysteries... I even have a whole shelf in my house's library for the genre."

Sunset Shimmer launched a friendly punch at Twilight's shoulder, "You're such a nerd."

"Guilty as charged," Twilight said, laughing.

"So are we quitting or what? My hooves are startin' to hurt from all this standing around."

"Nope..." Twilight shot a confident look, "We're just going to my second plan... interrogations!"

The two fillies spent the next chunk of time tracking down any and every pony that was in the banquet hall during the incident, before or after it. Most of them didn't comply due to still believing Twilight was the culprit, "Like I'd really answer anything for you!" or just not taking the fillies' investigation seriously. By the end only three had offered themselves, a royal guard, a stallion food server and a maid, and were drawn to the banquet hall and told to sit down.

"Not exactly what I had in mind, but it'll do," Twilight said.

Sunset Shimmer rubbed her hooves together while letting out an evil laugh, "We're doing this the good cap bad cop way, right? I've always had a thing for the bad cop."

"Uh... that won't be necessary," Twilight said, "Let's begin, shall we?" Her and Sunset Shimmer walked to their first witness, the bored looking royal guard. "First of all, let me just say to you all, thank you; I'm sure you'll all be of great help. Now then, what do you remember of the incident?"

"Not much to be honest," the guard said, "My focus was on the ambassador when the plate fell... the only thing I saw was that crazy griffin having a tantrum."

"When she was getting all... crazy, was her jewel still on her?" Twilight said.

"Beats me... Like I said, I don't know much. I was half asleep as it was; never was into formal stuff."

"Is there anything you do know?"

"Hmm... we-no... maybe-nah... there was this one thing that got me," the guard said, "It was probably cuz I was half asleep... During the dinner, I heard weird noises coming from near the entrance... it was like... breathing, except it was muffled. It was probably just me being too bored though."

"Interesting..." Twilight tapped her mouth.

Sunset Shimmer glared at the guard, You're so fired...

The two fillies next went to the maid, who sat put in her chair with a jolly smile.  Twilight asked her, "What can you recall from last night?"

"Many things!" the maid said, "I was part of the clean up for the griffin's plate and let me just say that something about last night wasn't right."

"Do tell," Twilight said.

"I saw the plate as it was thrown... yes, it was thrown... I'm not necessarily saying it was you, but somepony picked up that plate with their magic because in all my years working here I've never seen anything quite like that."

"You say it had to have been magic..." Twilight said, "Was there any magical aura or field or anything around the plate as it was being thrown?"

"None... I know it's bizzare but that's just the truth."

"I know," Twilight said with a worried look, "That's why I'm scared."

The fillies went to their last witness, the food server, who sat with a smirk and his hooves crossed. "I'm tellin' you now," he said, "I got no new info to tell you two about last night, sorry."

"I'd believe you if you didn't look so guilty," Twilight glared, "Nothing, huh?"

The food server laughed, "Calm down, how I look's got nothin' to do with anything... I just got nothin' that hasn't been already said."

The maid spoke up, "Now you know that isn't true." The food server mouthed something to her. "Just be a dear and tell these fillies, the secret's out as it is."

"Yes, tell us," Twilight said, "If there's a secret I'd certainly like to know it."

The food server paused before giving a dirty look to the maid, then saying, "Alright... but remember, you didn't hear this from me. My friends is the pony in charge of the potions department and he told me last night before the dinner that there was some 'mishandling.' Some potion was stolen, which one, I don't know, but it was something."

Sunset Shimmer looked on with a muffled growl.

The food server continued, "As you two can, tell this ain't somethin' you should be blabbing to random ponies... Yeah I told a few but you two just remember to keep your mouth shut, aight. Do what you gotta for your 'investigation,' but that's it."

"We intend do," Twilight said. Her and Sunset Shimmer said their goodbyes to the witnesses and ran off towards the potions department. Sunset Shimmer kept her eyes on Twilight as she ran and gave her a deathly glare.

The trip to potions only took a few minutes; it was located on an upper floor in a tower adjacent to the central and biggest tower that held the throne room. Once there the two fillies walked to a square opening in the wall with a middle aged unicorn stallion standing on the other side.

"Hey! What can I do for ya two?" he said.

"We're not here for any potions," Twilight said, "If it's okay with you, we'd like to ask some questions, about last night."

The stallion's eyes began darting around, "Okay... but why last night?"

"You tell me... I'm sure you've heard about the fiasco that happened with the griffins?" Twilight said. He smiled nervously. "Sunset Shimmer and I are conducting an investigation to figure out what really happened. I hope you'll be of great help."

"Alright then... fire away... I'll see what I can do."

Twilight nodded, "Thank you... So to begin... were you working here last night, or was there some other pony here?"

"I-It was me... Sorry, but I don't think I'll be of much help since I wasn't at the dinner," the stallion said.

"We're actually not here to ask about the dinner itself... but point taken."

Sunset Shimmer watched the two with a never ending mental growl roaring inside her, I got to figure out a way to end this quickly.

"Where are the potions kept? In the back I'd assume," Twilight said.

"Yep... I got em' all on shelves in storage; they're arranged by function... though I'm sure Sunset already knew that; she's quite the regular customer."

Sunset Shimmer snapped back to reality, "Hmh? Well... yeah... bu-just answer the questions."

"How safe would you say the potions are?"

"Pretty safe I'd say..." the stallion gulped, "My job rests on their safe keeping... I basically protect them like my own kids."

"Has there ever been a robbery?"

"No!" the stallion yelled, "What is this, a work inspection?! I get you two have your 'investigating' to do, but I'm gettin' a lil' sick of these questions... so please, unless you have some potions you need could be so kind as to leave?"

Twilight gave Sunset Shimmer a quick smirk before returning back to the red stallion in front of her. "It seems like we have a foalnapping then, because from what I've heard there a was a potion stolen from here last night!"

The stallion paused, "That's it, leave! Now! And don't think the Princess will take your side because you're her student; you got no right to question me like this!"

"He's right!" Sunset Shimmer yelled, looking worried, "This technically counts as harassment... Sorry, Twi, but we can't question this guy anymore."

Twilight smirked, "Actually, we can... Due to the verdict of the case Pony Joe v. Mulia Mild last year this does not classify as verbal harassment and we thus can not be apprehended or given any formal punishment for this." Sunset Shimmer's jaw dropped. "Three hundred and sixty two days ago he would've been in the right, but now we are! So tell us, what potion was stolen? There's no point in denying it any longer; my sources already know it and so do we."

"Fine!" the stallion cried out, "Yeah! A potion was stolen from here... Sorry for not wanting to get myself fired! It's not like you can blame me!"

"We totally understand," Twilight said.

The stallion took a deep breath, "It was an invisibility potion... And it happened two night ago; I only realized it was gone last night though."

Twilight paused with her eyes wide open. She looked back at the potions dealer, "Is there any clue to who the robber was?"

"No... nothing; they must've come in the middle of the night. Whoever it was though, they had to have known their way back there... that place's a bigger maze than the palace maze gardens! Also... that potion ain't for any unicorn... only really powerful ones can activate it; for the rest it's just bitter water."

Twilight nodded her head while looking deep in thought, "I think we have enough. Sunset, let's go back to my room; I think I have this whole case solved." The two fillies ran away from the scene. "Thanks for the help! And we'll make sure the Princess doesn't fire you!"

The stallion sighed, "You better..."


............................................................................


The moonlight shined into Twilight's room and the two fillies inside it. Twilight laid on her bed with her eyes up and her hoof on her chin, saying, "It could've been... no... She would've benefite... but why wou... If it was me... ugh!"

Sunset Shimmer stood beside the bed and watched on looking bored, "I thought you said you had 'this whole case solved?' Just accept it, Twi, we're never gonna solve this thing on our own. Let's just give up already... I wanna sleep." How in the name of Tartarus can I get her to stop this?

"No can do," Twilight said, "I'm so close to busting this whole thing open.. I just need a few more minutes."

"That's what you said 'a few more minutes' ago!" Sunset Shimmer yelled, "Who are even your suspects?!"

Twilight tapped her chin, "Let's see... it could've been a pony who didn't want the trade deal to happen... but that seems unlikely and just plain dumb for many reasons."

"Don't know, I'm actually thinking it might be that... You know, maybe the trade deal would've cost somepony their job?"

"No... it just seems too farfetched, and if it was that then why steal the palace's invisibility potion? Stealing it here is too risky for an outsider... It had to have been somepony in the palace."

"Maybe you pissed off a staff member? A lot of them are crybabies and will hold a grudge," Sunset Shimmer said.

"Could be that... but I doubt I offended anypony here that much already," Twilight said, laughing.

Should I just knock her out? No... she hasn't solved it yet... Let's just see where she goes from here... then I'll make my move.

Twilight took a quick but deep breath, "Okay... let's think this through... Who would want not just to ruin the dinner, but make me the culprit? Sunset, any ideas?"

"Nope..." Sunset Shimmer said in an annoyed tone.

"Hmm... the criminal would have to be somepony that wants me gone, that I'm certain of... We also know they have to be a highly skilled unicorn that knows their way around the palace..."

Sunset Shimmer clenched her hooves.

Twilight continued, "It could've been a member of the royal guard? Plenty of powerful unicorns there."

Sunset Shimmer gathered her magic.

"But why would they want me gone? No... no.. it wasn't them."

Sunset Shimmer's horn glowed.

"Alright... so who would benefit from having me gone, is strong, knows the palace well and has obviously been here for a while..? Who could've I angered so much? Who am I a threat to? Sunse-." Twilight slowly turned to her friend, and froze. "Sunse-?" Before she could finish, a magical noose wrapped itself around her throat. As the noose tightened, an orange aura lifted her body and slammed it against the wall.

"Hoooray! You figured it out!" Sunset Shimmer walked to the cracking wall with a smirk, "Too bad it doesn't mean shit." Twilight let out a throat ripping gasp as her face turned blue. "Try not to die, aight? Look... this isn't personal... well actually, yeah, it is." Sunset Shimmer reslammed Twilight head first. "Nopony's taking my crown away from me, nopony... especially not some sissy pony like you! I don't even care that you know it's me; it doesn't change a thing... I'm just glad I don't have to pretend that I like you anymore."

Tears dripped down Twilight's face.

"Really?" Sunset Shimmer said, then letting the filly go. Twilight fell to the floor and coughed and gasped for as much air as she could take in. "You're lucky I can't just get rid of you here."

Twilight continued gasping, all the while letting free her tears, "I-I actually believed you were my friend."

"Guess you believed wrong!" Sunset Shimmer yelled at the downed filly's face, "And stop crying; it's just starting to annoy me now." Twilight sucked in mucus. "Look... I feel like being kinda nice, so I'm gonna give you options... Option one, you leave here, tell Celestia you don't want to be her student anymore and go back to whatever hut you came from... I'll leave you alone, and it'll be like this never even happened. Sound good?" Twilight didn't respond.

"Or then we have option two... You stay here and continue being Celestia's student... Remember what happened yesterday? See how much your throat is hurting? That's nothing... if you stay I'll make your life a living Tartarus, and no, there's no lengths I'm not willing to go to. Right now I know you're thinking of running straight to Celestia and blow this all up in my face... I know... run to her... it's not gonna make a single difference." Sunset Shimmer squatted down, "Like I said, you knowing doesn't mean shit... I just have to get... more creative now, that's all. So what's your choice? And remember, you're only getting this chance once."

Twilight paused. Seconds passed as the two fillies gazed at one another, waiting for the silence to be ended by the words that would set both their futures into motion. Twilight faced down, but transformed her gaze into a glare directed at the filly on top of her. "Isn't it obvious?" she said.

Sunset Shimmer smirked, "Alright then... your choice," and began to walk out of the room. "Enjoy breathing while you still can, Twi." She left the room, leaving Twilight alone, now with the moonlight as her only friend.

"See you... Sunset."