"I think you forgot to tell me Tantabus was the Sunset Shimmer from this dimension." the Sunset Shimmer that was originally a pony said to Luna.

"No, I didn't forgot." Vice Principal Luna said. "I just thought it was a piece of information better left out."

"And why would you think that?"

"I just thought you'd get the wrong idea, and I had no idea how you would react."

"Wrong idea about what?"

"Remember the time from before the Fall Formal? When you used to be a... Um..."

"A big, mean bitch, yes." Sunset Shimmer said with a sigh. "I'm doing all I can to forget that Sunset Shimmer ever existed."

"Think about how Principal Celestia and I reacted when you were sent to one of our offices."

"Uh... I can't remember very well because I just used to sit down and ignore you both and nod at everything you said until I was free to go." she rubbed the back of her head while blushing slightly in embarrassment.

Luna chuckled. "Yes, that sounds like something you-- I mean, she would do. But since you can't remember, let me give you the abridged version: all we did was talk. Not scold you, not give you detention, none of that. We just talked. Care to guess why?"

Sunset Shimmer could guess the answer without even thinking about it: "Because I remind you of--"

"No."

"Huh?"

"What you were about to say is the wrong idea I was talking about, Sunset Shimmer. I may have thought you were my daughter for a while, but once I was sure you two were just very similar but completely different people, I never treated you any different than the way I treated the other students. I treated you equally not because I pitied you or because you reminded me of my daughter, but because you were lost in darkness.

"I know how it feels like, so I did my best to get you out of that darkness and bring you into the light. After all, if it happened to me, it could happen to you as well! I failed at that job, but someone else managed to save you, and that heartened me. The point is, I never stopped believing you, Sunset Shimmer. And I still do; I believe that you can save my daughter from the same darkness that swallowed me."

Sunset Shimmer smiled as she got up from the chair. "Thank you, Luna."

"Can I ask you one thing before you go?"

"Yes, what is it?"

"What's with the wig and sunglasses?"

Sunset Shimmer adjusted her sunglasses and tucked a stray strand of purple hair behind her ear. "Oh, this? Nightmare Moon's face was caught on camera last night, and they think it's me!"

"That's not good. What are you going to do?"

"My plans haven't changed, I'm still looking for Tantabus. It just got harder to do it when the sun is up."

"Well, I wish you luck!"

Sunset waved Luna goodbye as she left the visitor's room. Luna got up from her chair as well and her heart skipped a beat when she turned around and saw the guard standing beside the door. She feared for Sunset Shimmer's safety, but calmed down when she noticed the man had earphones on.

"Bless our laid back police force." she thought as she sighed in relief. "Note to self: once out of here, thank the Mysterious Maiden Do Well for making our city safe enough for even the police to relax."

"I'm home!" Sunset Shimmer said as she opened the door of Trixie's house. She had barely closed the door when a blue blur jumped on her, making both fall on the floor.

"Thank goodness, you're alright!" Trixie said as she hugged her friend.

"I left a note on the fridge telling where I was going!" she pointed out.

"That's what got me worried, you idiot! Every police officer on duty is looking for you right now, and you enter their HQ through the front door? What is wrong with you?"

"They didn't recognize me, did they?" Sunset said as she took off her wig and sunglasses. "Otherwise I wouldn't have left the building."

Trixie sighed as she got up and helped Sunset up. "I won't lie to you, though; it's a good thing you left when you did, because a police cruiser parked outside soon after I got home from school and two police officers knocked on my door. They asked questions and looked around - I had to swallow your note so they wouldn't find it. And it's a good thing we decided to hide our Maiden stuff in Adagio, Sonata and Aria's place, otherwise..."

"Did you check for bugs?"

"First thing I did after their car was gone - not a single camera or listening device in or out of sight! Then I immediately called Adagio and asked her and the others to watch the Criminal Affairs Dept., to make sure you hadn't been arrested! I think they got there after you left, though; I'll call her and tell them you're safe."

"Don't you ever scare us like that again, Sunset Shimmer!" Adagio scolded her. "Do you have any idea of what could have happened to you out there? My heart nearly jumped out of my chest when Trixie called and told us you were in the detention center."

"I said I'm sorry! I just really had to talk to Luna."

"So, would it be awkward to meet Pony Luna now that you know that Human Luna is Human Sunny's mother?" Sonata asked.

"I don't know. Maybe? I'm not planning on going back anytime soon, anyway."

"Princess Celestia?" Aria asked.

"Princess Celestia." Sunset confirmed.

"Yes, I know how you feel!" Aria said as she crossed her arms. "She would probably just banish us to Tartarus as soon as we got there, not even giving us a chance to explain. This world is the exact opposite of paradise, but at least we have freedom. I have to wear this human meat suit and my singing voice sounds like a parrot with a broken beak, but beats being one of Cerberus' chew toys!"

"Look at the bright side, Ari!" Sonata said as she jumped on her friend's back. "The hunger is gone now! We're no longer those pendants' slaves."

"What are you talking about?" Trixie asked with a raised eyebrow.

"We never told you? Really?" Adagio asked. "The pendants were the reason we needed negative energy to survive. They were like parasites, forcing us to feel the urge to absorb more and more energy. We panicked when they were destroyed, thinking the hunger would keep growing, but impossible to sate because the part of our bodies used to collect all that energy would be gone, but the need we felt was diminishing until it was completely gone. We can't sing anymore, that's true, but it's a small price to pay, am I right?"

Sonata and Aria nodded.

"Anyway, we got some time to kill until nighttime, what do we do?"

"I say we all should live together!" Sunset said.

"And I say we shouldn't! Look at our current situation!" Aria argued. "If one of us gets in trouble with law again, where would she hide? In CHS's gym storage?"

"You know what we need? A hideout!" Sonata suggested. "Like the Night Owl Cave! Then we'd be just like Hoodini and his crew!"

"As if!" Aria said as she crossed her arms.

"You know, the more I think about it, the more I realize you're right!" Trixie said.

"Which one of us?" Sonata, Sunset and Adagio asked at the same time.

"All of you! Just think about it: Sunset has a point when she says us sharing a home would be very beneficial to all of us. Aria also has a point - we can't just stay in one place, that could be dangerous, especially if a dengerous criminal figures out our secret identities. And I like Sonata's idea of a hideout; a place for us to meet and plan our routines, do some research, study patterns and even hide if things get out of hand."

While the four girls talked about their plans, Adagio used Trixie's laptop to hack into the police database, to check how the investigations about Nightmare Moon were going. When going through the list of evidence found in Sunset's apartment, her eyes widened.

"What the heck is this?" she said.

"What's wrong, Adagio?" Sunset asked.

"I think I know how Nightmare Moon knew about our plans, girls." she said as she turned the laptop for her teammates to see what she had found: a picture of a listening device and a transmitter.

"Where did they found that?" Aria asked.

"It was taped under the swivel chair!"

"What?!" they yelled together.

"How did she found out where I live?! And when she had time to do that?!"

"I have a theory." Adagio said. "She could have followed Sonata there after the museum incident."

"So she already knows that there's more than one Maiden." Sonata said.

"Considering the way she tricked us last night, that's obvious!" Aria pointed out.

"Anyway, she could have watched us that night and, after realizing the Maiden Do Well is actually a group of people, she felt that she had to find a way to spy on us, so she got that bug and taped it to the chair."

"But weren't you there all night?" Trixie said. "How did she manage to sneak in there and plant the bug?"

"I think she broke in when I fell asleep."

"Passed out is more like it!" Sunset corrected. "I told you to not pull another all-nighter."

"So, do you think she planted a bug in all our houses?" Adagio asked.

"I doubt that! Some cops came here a couple of hours ago and I checked all the house for bugs, just in case. Didn't find any!" Trixie explained.

"That means we can make plans for tonight without someone eavesdropping!" Sonata said.

"Exactly. If we want to catch her, we'll have to do it tonight!" Adagio said. "If she escapes again, she might follow one of us and plant bugs in Trixie's place or our apartment. If she does that, we may never have another chance to catch her!"

"Alright, so what's the plan?" Aria asked.

Nightmare Moon successfully picked the lock of the back entrance of the wax museum. Most people wouldn't imagine a wax museum to have valuable items, but the one from Canterlot Town was special; certain wax sculptures had with them items that belonged to the people they were based on, and most of those items were worth a couple grands if sold to the right buyer. After studying the place for a few days, Tantabus discovered that the owner was a very confident individual that never expected his museum to be targeted by criminals, so he had no security system aside from a camera pointed at the main entrance and another in the reception.

Turning her flashlight on, Tantabus looked around, examining her options: one of Hoity Toity's paper fans, the outfit Sapphire Shores wore when she performed in Canterlot Town, L. Faust's sketchbook filled with sketches never seen before, the Vault 2 outfit Jessi N., the actress who portrayed Littlepip, the Vault Dweller, wore during the shooting of the Fallout movie...

She raised an eyebrow when she noticed a wax sculpture she had never seen before: the Mysterious Maiden Do Well. She immediately did a backflip and threw bolas at her. The weapon wrapped itself around the Maiden's ankles, and she fell to the ground with a sound that wasn't of a human body hitting the floorboards. Tantabus approached her and touched the Maiden's face. She felt relieved when she realized what she thought was the actual Maiden was just a new wax sculpture.

"Hey, I actually liked that sculpture, why did you do that?"

Nightmare Moon's heart skipped a beat and she jumped away from the real Maiden Do Well standing behind her with her arms crossed.

The vigilante removed her mask, revealing to the burglar that she was Sunset Shimmer, the girl that looked exactly like her. Tantabus chuckled and removed her mask as well, revealing her smirk.

"Well, I never expected someone to be able to track me down. Congratulations!" Tantabus said. "Tell me, how did you find me?"

"Luck, I guess? We just decided to hop into our Mystery Machine, split and look for clues! Then we decided to hide in the places most likely to be your next target and wait."

"What are you doing out of jail, anyway? I did my best to make you a prime suspect by revealing my face to the cameras!"

Sunset shrugged. "A suspect is already locked up in the detention center, I just thought two would be too much!"

Tantabus laughed. "Oh, really? So you shifted the blame onto someone else? That's not a very nice thing to do, miss Hero!"

"Oh, she's not in there because of me. It's because of you!"

"Yes, I know, because I'm Nightmare Moon and it's my fault--"

"It's your mother!"

Tantabus' laughter ceased immediately. "W-What?"

"As soon as they realized Nightmare Moon was the one behind the crimes, they immediately arrested her. After all, she wore that helmet before you!"

"Bu-But I don't understand! My-- I mean, your face was caught on camera. They have proof that it wasn't her! Why is she there?"

"They know she has a connection with the current Nightmare Moon and want her cooperation, but she refuses to reveal any information about you. All they know is your face, and even that doesn't help much because they think I'm you!"

"B-But why would she do this? Her freedom is at stake, why won't she--"

"Because she loves you, you nimrod!" Sunset interrupted. "What kind of mother would ruin their child's life on purpose?"

Tantabus grunted. "My other mother did!"

"But Luna isn't your other mother. She cares about you. Enough to throw her own life away to save yours. And how do you repay her kindness? By causing her to be arrested for crimes she didn't commit?" she sighed, thinking of her time in Princess Celestia's School For Gifted Unicorns.

"Sh-She wanted me to abandon this life. To not be who I am! I felt hurt and betrayed, so I started doing what she used to do to impress her. Show her what I am capable of! I was so sure that once she saw how good I am at this she would come back to me and we would be together again, doing what we were born to do! I never wanted her to... To..."

Sunset placed her hands on Tantabus' shoulders. "You still have time to do the right thing, you know?"

Nightmare Moon looked deep into Maiden Do Well's eyes, pondering her options and what was at stake.

"Sunset, you there?" Adagio's voice came from her earpiece.

"I'm here!" she replied.

"What about Nightmare Moon? Is she also there?"

"Yes."

"Then if you want to do the thing you want to do, get out of there now! I just heard the police frequency, someone reported a person lockpicking the back entrance of the wax museum and going in. The cops are on their way!"

"Right. Thanks, Adagio!" she grabbed Tantabus' wrist. "You want to save your mother?" Tantabus just stared at her. "You want to save her or not?" they heard police sirens getting closer. Tantabus nodded. "Then let's get out of here!"

They both wore their masks and ran upstairs, where they unlocked a window and jumped to the roof of the building beside the museum. Sunset lead the way to a back alley, where a blue car was parked. A girl with a propeller hat was lying down on the backseat, reading an upside down comic. Sunset knocked on the window.

"Heyyyyy, Sunset Shimmer!" Screwball said with a smile as she sat up and lowered her window. "It's been so long! Sorry, I wasn't expecting visits, so I didn't clean up!" she threw an empty juice box out of the window and into a dumpster. "There, all tidied up! So, what can I do you for?"

"How did she know it was you?" Tantabus asked.

"If you like your brain intact, don't ask questions about Screwball!"

"If it's about me crashing at your place, I already told you, I like living in the bosom of Mother Nature!"

"And I already told you, a car in a back alley of an urban area is not even close to the feet of Mother Nature, much less her bosom! But that's not what I'm here for. I need a ride!"

"Can't we just walk to the detention center?" Tantabus asked.

"We're not going to the detention center. Not yet, anyway! We have another place to go before that, and with the police driving around, we're gonna need discretion. So, Screwball, can you--"

Screwball extended her hand to Sunset Shimmer, who groaned as she rolled her eyes before pulling 20 dollars from her utility belt. Screwball shoved the note into her pocket, jumped to the front seat and unlocked the doors.

"Nice doing business with you!"

"Whatever you do, don't remove your seatbelt!" Sunset warned.

"Why?"

"Where to, gals?" Screwball asked.

"Principal Celestia's hou--!"

Before she could finish that sentence, Screwball engaged fifth gear and stomped hard on the pedal.

Vice Principal Luna hugged Tantabus as tightly as possible to her, trying as hard as she could not to cry.

"Mom, I'm scared." Tantabus said.

"You don't have to be, sweetie!" Luna assured her. "Prison isn't as bad as it sounds. Just don't pick any fights, but make sure they won't pick any fights with you either. If they try to start something, just show them you're not someone they want to mess with. You'll be out of here soon, I promise!"

"Will you come visit me?"

"Every day until the day you're free to go! Then we'll be a family once again. A normal one this time! Can you promise me that?"

"Yes, mom. No more Nightmare Moon! I promise!"

Luna kissed her forehead. "Good girl!"

Two police officers escorted Tantabus back to the cell she would call home for a while. Principal Celestia hugged her sister.

"Thank you for what you did for us, Celestia!" Luna said to her sister.

"Anything for my little sister and little niece." Celestia said with a smile.

"Did you know Principal Celestia went to law school?" Trixie asked Sunset, who shook her head.

"They looked happy, though, didn't they?" Sunset said. "When they got reunited again. It was brief, but you could practically feel the joy they were feeling!" she sighed. "It must be so nice to have a family..."

"What are you talking about, Sunny?" Sonata asked as she jumped on her back. "You do have a family!"

"No, I don't; another similarity Tantabus and I share. But instead of Princess Luna, it was Princess Celestia who found me. And after what I did? I don't think she wants to see my face ever again."

Adagio pulled her into a hug. "I think Sonata meant us!"

"Yep!" Sonata agreed with a cheerful smile. "Princess Celestia can be as mean as she wants, but we still love you very very very much!" she looked at Trixie and Aria. "Riiiiiiight?"

Aria rolled her eyes. "Whatever!"

Before one could say "free hugs", Adagio pulled Aria and Sonata pulled Trixie into the group hug.

"I love you gals, too!" Sunset said while hugging them all back.

"Yes, love makes the world go around and all that, but I have to go to work. Love doesn't pay the bills!"

"Oh! Which reminds me!" Adagio said as they all left the Criminal Affairs Dept. "I was looking around for a good apartment, and I think I found something you're all going to love!"

"What a coincidence! I was also looking around, but not for an apartment." Sonata said. "Remember that talk about a secret hideout? Well..."

Author's Notes:

The third installment was short, I know, but I literally had no idea what else to do with this! I already exlored all the grounds I wanted to with the Maiden Do Well, and that's why I don't think I'll be making another sequel. I want to move on and start something new! The Mysterious Maiden Do Well was a fun project, but it's literally the only thing I've been working on for quite some time!
Maybe, if I get nostalgic enough, I can make something with a new villain if they add one (I don't exactly know how I would insert Starlight Glimmer in the EQG universe as a villain), but it's one big, pretty, sparkly "MAYBE"!

The trivia for tonight: I like to add my headcanons to my fanfics, it's fun! Here you can see my favorite headcanon: the sirens didn't cause turmoil so they could feed off the negative energy because they wanted, but because the pendants demanded. Back in Equestria, the gems were part of their bodies, so there was nothing they could do. In the Human World they were turned into necklaces, but they couldn't just take them off because the hunger just kept growing! So, by destroying the gems, Sunset and The Rainbooms freed them from the pendants!