//------------------------------//
// Reduplication 
// Story: Split Second 
// by wille179 
//------------------------------//

	Sparkle was humming as she worked. There was no particular tune to which she hummed, but it sounded happy regardless. Around her, her little family’s few possessions floated through the air, gently boxing themselves based on size and weight. Beside her, a quill scratched on paper a list of all of their belongings.
It was moving day.
With enough money distributed between savings accounts, investment funds, bonds, hidden caches, or converted into gold and locked away, their financial security was safe enough for them to afford to move into a better apartment in a better neighborhood. Not coincidentally, it was a few blocks south of their old home from before the time-split.
In her mind at least, Sparkle figured that with a little magical misdirection, nosy, gossipy neighbors would be much easier to deal with than the less-than-sociable neighbors that regularly accosted her when she passed by, who were only renting in that building because their personalities kept them from better jobs.
The lock clicked open. Shining Armor limped into the room and set his saddle bags on the small table nearby. “Hey, B.B.B.F.F., how are you feeling?” Sparkle greeted.
Shining massaged his cast-bound foreleg. It still pained him, despite the doctor telling him that it and his other injuries were healing unusually fast. “Sparks, Thorn, I made a mistake.”
Sparkle’s happy expression melted away, while Thorn popped in from another room. The objects in the mare’s aura were set down as she walked towards Shining. “What happened?”
“Nothing that we can’t fix, but I have to warn you two. I told the hospital staff that I was attacked, and I gave them my credentials so the crown would pay for my treatment. The Princesses take their Guards’ Safety seriously, so when something like this happens, they will launch an investigation.”
“And they’ll uncover what Sparks and I did,” Thorn said.
“Exactly,” Shining Armor replied. “So, as far as I know, Thorn saw me and followed my captors. When he had a chance, he freed me. Meanwhile, Sparkle was winning big at a casino during the time of my captivity and was brought by Card Gambit’s in to perform a ritual unknown to me. She refused at first, but I was used as a hostage. She reluctantly performed the ritual, while Thorn broke me out at the same time.
“All of that it technically true,” Shining concluded, “if you think of it in terms of discrete logic, disregarding the sequence of events.”
“But in context, it’s totally misleading!” Sparkle replied in understanding. “Shiny, that’s brilliant.”
“I try.”
“When is the investigation?” Thorn asked.
“Tomorrow at noon. I have to report in to my superiors, and I’d like you to come in with me,” Shining said. “Sparkle, how well do you remember what that bastard’s new body looks like?”
“Well enough to make a projection of it. I have his soul as a reference,” the mare answered.
Shining blinked. “What are you doing with his soul?” Thorn nodded at Sparkle, curious as well.
Sparkle smirked. “I told you, I’ll let it be a surprise. I will give you a hint though; this would have been much harder without money, especially since it is such a long-term thing.”
Thorn cocked his head to the side, while Shining Armor frowned and looked at his sister. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”
“Hehehe, not exactly. The first part was all experimental, but it looks like it worked just fine. This next part could take a while, but it’s relatively easy. It’s the last part that I’m worried about. If plan A works, I’ll be done in a year or two. Plan B, the harder but well-documented option, could take eight to ten, minimum, and I don’t think I could do it alone.”
Shining sighed, put his good fore-hoof to his face, and plopped down on the drab, old couch. “I just know I’m going to regret this, but if there’s any way I can help, let me know.”
“Thanks, Shiny. You’re the best.” Her hoof wrapped around his strong neck in a tight embrace.
He returned the gesture. “I love you, sis. I always will, no strings attached.”
Sparkle stiffened, then relaxed even further into the hug.
“Hey,” spoke the drake, causing the two to look towards him. “Can I join?”
The moment between siblings passed. The drake’s odd request brought chuckles to Sparkle’s lips. She broke off the hug with Shining Armor and scooped up the presently small dragon. “Thanks for everything, Thorn.”





"Ms. Sparkle? Please, come in." It wasn't a waiting room per-say in which the middle aged pony spoke, but there was a bench across from him upon which his query sat patiently. He turned once she acknowledged his words by standing and lead her into one of the interrogation rooms.
The headquarters of the Canterlot Police Department, an offshoot of the Royal Guard, saw its fair share of criminals, suspects, victims, and witnesses passing through its halls. Since each and every one of those ponies needed to be questioned at some point, space had been set aside for that very purpose. The rooms were colored a calming blue and were featureless apart from a table, two pairs of chairs, and a one-way mirror for seeing into each. The crystals in the ceiling, like those of any unicorn-housing prison, could stop the outward expression of magic.
It was into one of these rooms that Sparkle was led. In one of the chairs sat a coffee-and-cream colored earth pony mare. Upon seeing Sparkle enter, she said, "Please, take a seat."
Sparkle sat.
"Now, I need to ask you a few questions regarding your brother's assault, kidnapping, and subsequent escape. Before that though, I need to ask you a few questions for the public record. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Ms. ...?"
"Mrs. Whodunnit is my name. And you are Sparkle, born Twilight Velvet Sparkle eighteen years ago to Night Light and Twilight Alabaster Velvet, both deceased?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Your elder brother by blood is Second Lieutenant Shining Armor of the Equestrian Royal Guard?"
Sparkle affirmed that that was correct.
"You have two counts of felony, both pardoned by Her Royal Highness, Princess Celestia, six cases of misdemeanors, all sentences served, and... forty two cases of intentional violation of travel restrictions. Is that correct?"
"This pertains to my brother... how, exactly?" Sparkle asked. The legal fees and lawyer costs of those cases had been astronomical, and part of the reason that they had been in so much debt. How it was relevant to this event in particular though, Sparkle couldn't say.
Mrs. Whodunnit answered immediately, as of expecting the question. "In instances potentially involving criminals affiliated with organized crime, all witnesses have their criminal records verified for accuracy and brought before the investigating party. In the event that a previous conviction of a witness is related to the criminals in question, additional steps may be taken. As you are not the one being investigated here and your brother is a witness, the only thing I believe will come of this is that you might be called back for additional questioning."
"Then yes," Sparkle said, "that is correct."
Whodunnit picked up some of the papers before her and read something on them. "And finally, I see that you... are..." She paused, shook her head, and looked again. Decidedly more nervous, Whodunnit said, "...A registered dark mage."
"Shiny didn't tell you that?" Sparkle asked.
"No. Not at all." The interrogator shuddered once. "I take it that this is correct?"
"Yes."
"Very well. Would you please explain the events of that day?"
Recounting carefully, Sparkle told the investigator her version of the events. She never lied, and, with one exception, she never refused to answer one of the investigator's questions. "Your brother said that they wanted you to perform a specific spell. What spell was it?"
"It is nameless," Sparkle answered, knowing full well that it did actually have a name. The word was written in ancient Unicornian, which relied on non-verbal thaumatic field fluctuations and literally couldn't be understood or spoke by an earth pony due to the lack of a unicorn's horn sense.
"And what does this spell do?"
"It switches special things."
"Could you elaborate?"
"No."
Whodunnit put a hoof to her head. "Ms. Sparkle, the nature of that spell could be important to establishing a motive of these criminals."
Sparkle rolled her eyes atr the earth pony interrogator. "I'll tell you their motive. Card Gambit and his son Savior wanted something highly valuable, something that I could but was unwilling to provide. My service was rendered in exchange for my brother, who, unbeknownst to me was being rescued by Thorn at the time. If you want to know more, find the pegasus named Savior and ask him if he would kindly confess; I'm done talking about this," the annoyed unicorn said.
Marking that down on her papers, Whodunnit sighed. "Fine. Next question..."





“That took forever,” Thorn commented as Sparkle came out of the interrogation room. He moved along side her, and together the two made for the building exit.
Trotting towards the stairs, Sparkle replied, “It wasn’t so bad.”
“Maybe for you,” Thorn countered, rolling his eyes and snorting in annoyance as he did so. “I had to wait out here where everypony could gawk at me, or stare at me out of the corner of their eyes,  pretending not to be looking at me.” There was a sudden shuffling of papers, causing Sparkle to look around. A surprising number of ponies were looking at the floor with great interest. “Yeah.”
They quickly rounded a corner. “I’m sure that-Oof!” Sparkle was surprised to find herself on the floor, having been knocked over after colliding with somepony.
“Hey! Watch where you’re going,” Thorn growled at the other pony. His face was inches away from the other’s, meaning his breath, hot, muggy, and putrid, blew across the pony’s nose.
While Thorn may have been looking at the pony’s green eyes, the pony (a guard that looked nearly twice Sparkle’s age) could only see razor-sharp fangs dripping with saliva. He, quite predictably, froze like a deer.
“Thorn! Leave him alone,” Sparkle called, causing the dracolich to back down. “Come on, we still have boxes to pack. Let’s get going.”
“Fine,” he said. With that, the two were gone. The event, which had taken only a few seconds, and might not have seemed so bad to an onlooker, had taken forever in the mind of the guard.
They never heard what came out of the guard’s mouth. They never knew what memories he was reliving. Sparkle never connected that pony to one of the many she had taught. Nopony would know what he meant when he spoke, silently dying a little bit on the inside as he did. 
“Don’t put me back in the dark box. Please, I’ll be a good toy.”





A day later, in another part of Canterlot, two ponies were speaking.
“Did you hear? It is moving in nearby! Ugh! What is the Princess doing, letting that thing live up here,” the first said.
“Quiet! Do you want her to hear us talking about her?” shushed the second.
“It is most definitely not a her. That thing is not a pony,” replied the first.
“Indeed. However, I would not doubt that she has abilities that let her see when ponies speak of her,” warned the second.
The first declared, “It must have quite some nerve, then, to snoop in the business of two noble lords. Do you hear that, foul necromancer? We are not to be trifled with!”
“Please stop shouting. It is quite uncouth, especially for somepony of our prestige. Besides, we are alone in here,” commented the second.
“True.” There was a pause, then the first speculated, “Perhaps Prince Blueblood and his friends would be willing to help us see it gone for good.”
“I do like your thinking, good sir,” agreed the second.
“Then it’s settled. Only the best should live in this fair city.”
“Wealthy, law-abiding unicorns, you mean,” the second corrected.
“That is what I said.”
Unbeknownst to them, something was listening in. That thing happened to be one of the innumerable specters Sparkle had created. It reassured Sparkle to have many of them, her little spies and assistants. This particular specter knew it had struck gold with this information.
Fading out of the mirror - the reflections within returning to their true positions - the quasi-demonic specter drifted to its mistress’s home to warn her, perpetually giggling like any other specter as it traveled.