“What is the Alicorn Amulet, and why is it so important?” Twilight kept her voice low, so as not to be heard over the raucous din of a school bus full of teenagers.

Sunset Shimmer's eyes went wide, and she clapped a hand over Twilight's mouth, using the other to hold a finger to her own lips. “Shh!” She said, desperate. “Who told-- nevermind. We can't talk about it here.”

“Can't talk about what?” Pinkie Pie poked her head up from the seat behind them.

“Uh.” Sunset looked up at Pinkie. “Private stuff?”

“Kay!” Pinkie Pie said. “Just try not to start making out 'til you get off the bus! Then you can really get--”

Sunset Shimmer blushed, but narrowed her eyes at her friend nonetheless. “Pinkie.”

“Oh, fiiiiiiine.” Pinkie Pie rolled her eyes, and sank back down into her seat. “I swear, nobody around here appreciates a good pun.”

Twilight pulled the hand off of her mouth, and blinked a few times. “Sunset? What's gotten into you?”

“Later.” Sunset crossed her arms across her chest and sank down in her seat.

“If there's anything I can do, all you have to do is--”

“Later.” Sunset hissed.

Twilight didn't say anything for the rest of the bus ride.

Neither did Sunset.

The school bus pulled into Canterlot High's parking lot just as the final class bell rang. The field-trippers piled out of the bus, mingling with the steady stream of students jostling and shoving at each other with youthful rowdiness.

Sunset Shimmer leaned close to Twilight. “Follow me.” She said, and then stood up. Sunset made pleasant small-talk with the rest of her friends as she exited the bus, waving to them as they split off in different directions to head home.

Sunset watched them go for a minute, and then let her smile falter once she was confident they weren't looking. She nodded to Twilight, and then wordlessly went into the Wednesday-afternoon-empty high school. Picking an empty classroom at random, Sunset ducked inside and pulled Twilight along with her.

“Okay. Now we can talk.” Sunset Shimmer closed the classroom door behind her, and peered through the little rectangular window out into the empty hallway beyond.

“You're scaring me, Sunset.” Twilight said, and rubbed her upper arms.

The stress in Sunset's face melted into concern, and she ran her hands through her lush hair. “I'm sorry.” She said, and leaned back against the door. “I didn't mean to, well, be mean. But the fewer people who know about this, the better.”

“The fewer people who know about what?”

“The Alicorn Amulet. It was-- is, an artifact of great power. It can enhance someone's magic to an exponential degree … but it drives the wearer insane in the process. I thought about tracking it down, back when I was still … megalomaniacal, but even then I decided against not to. It was too dangerous, even then.”

“And now it's here.” Twilight said, slowly.

“Or its trans-dimensional counterpart.” Sunset took another wary look out the window, nodded as she didn't see anyone in the hallway, and then crossed over to slump into the chair behind the teacher's desk. “I haven't figured that out yet. I haven't figured a lot of things out yet.”

“Then let me help you. It could be, you know, fun?” Hope, however vain, tinged Twilight's voice. “You'd think after all these times we've saved the world, we'd be used to it by now. I bet if we got everyone together, we could--”

“No.” Sunset said, flatly.

“What do you mean, no?”

“I mean, no. I was going to take care of this myself, but you found me out. But it stops here. I don't want to get anyone else involved.”

“But why?”

“Because I'm going to steal the Alicorn Amulet.”

“What?”

“It's not safe out there in public. I've got to contain it. Or destroy it. But I've got to do it alone-- I don't want to get the rest of you in trouble with the law.”

“Uh. We once used magic to defraud a casino so we wouldn't have to pay our hotel bill.” Twilight said. “So … it wouldn't be the first time we got a little, uh, crimey?”

“Okay one, 'crimey' isn't a word.” Sunset smiled. “And, well … this is different. Pinkie and Rainbow are both too loud, Rarity is too dramatic, Fluttershy is too scared, and Applejack is the literal incarnation of honesty.”

“But … but there's got to be a better way to handle this. Isn't there?”

“Like what? You know we can't just go to the police and say 'by the way, there's a necklace at the museum that will give you magic powers and turn you crazy.' We'd be institutionalized, if we were lucky.”

“But that's it! It's in a museum. Just sitting there, under all that security you were scoping out-- the pressure plates and stuff. That's pretty much the safest place it could be outside of a bank vault, right?”

“Under normal circumstances, yes. But, remember the placard? It said the amulet was on loan from an anonymous donor.”

“So? People loan stuff to museums all the time. It's like a tax writeoff or something.”

“But it's anonymous. Don't you see? We don't know who owns the amulet, or when they'll decide they want it back. Or even how they keep it. Or … what if the amulet belongs to somebody like this dimension's version of Tirek?”

“Who?” Twilight blinked.

“Evil magic-eating centaur-wizard demon.”

“Oh.” Twilight pushed her glasses further up her nose, and then edged closer to Sunset, laying a tentative hand on her shoulder. “But … don't you think it's a little bit, I dunno, presumptive to assume that you're the only person who can handle this?”

“There aren't many pon-- people.” Sunset corrected herself. “There aren't many people from Equestria, like me. Nobody else knows just how dangerous the Alicorn Amulet is.”

“But what about Twilight? Er, other Twilight, that is. The Princess? Can't you just write her in that magic book and ask for help?”

“I would. I mean, I will. But it takes Twilight-- Princess Twilight time to respond, usually. Sometimes even days, if she's off doing, you know, Princess stuff. I don't know if we have enough time.”

“We don't know a lot of things.” Twilight squeezed Sunset's shoulder, suddenly resolute. “And that just means we have to find out!”

“We?” Sunset Shimmer shook her head. “No way. You know too much already.”

“Exactly.” Twilight nodded. “I'm already in too deep! I'm not going to turn you in-- again, most people would think I'm just crazy, but--” Twilight held up a finger. “I can at least watch your back.”

“I'm not gonna be able to talk you out of this, am I?” Sunset said.

“I was thinking the same thing, actually.” Twilight said.

Sunset Shimmer shook her head, both impressed and frustrated at her friend's persistence. “Okay, fine. You can help, but this stays between us. We can't get the other girls involved. If you tell anyone, anyone, I'll just have to go off and do something stupid and dangerous by myself.”

Twilight pulled in a deep breath. “I … I don't like this, but if that's what it takes, then fine. But if this is what we're going to do, we need to do this right, and take our time.” She rubbed her hands together, and nodded. “You can go home and write to the other me-- er, to the Princess, and I'll do some research on the amulet, and on the museum, and then we can compare notes tomorrow. No grand larceny until then. Deal?”

“Deal.”

The next day, Twilight tried to focus on her classes, to little avail. She saw Sunset a couple of times throughout the school day, but neither one spoke of their potential scheming. Finally, classes let out. Applejack and Rainbow and the rest all wandered off to catch a movie, but Sunset Shimmer had been able to make up some lame excuse. Said excuse earned an innuendo-laden wink from Pinkie Pie, but it worked well enough anyway.

Sunset didn't turn the classroom's lights on, working only by the rays of sunlight streaming in through the venetian blinds. The parallel lines of light stretching across the room gave the room a vaguely noir-ish air (just without the cigarette smoke and vintage hats).

Twilight pulled a chair up to the teacher's desk, even though the disruption of the typical classroom setup bothered her. She set her backpack by her left foot, and started pulling out reference books and photocopies from the library. “I'm afraid I wasn't able to find much out about the Amulet. Based on the metalwork, I think it might have come from somewhere in Central Asia-- maybe Persia, or even one of the Babylonian dynasties. But, in perusing folklore from the region, I haven't found any references that seem to fit the whole 'gives you superpowers and drives you crazy' sort of thing. So … that's good, right?”

“Maybe.” Sunset Shimmer said. “Or maybe that just means it's the same amulet from Equestria, so it doesn't have a history in this dimension. That doesn't make it any less dangerous.” She drummed her fingers on the desk. “Anything else?”

“I've memorized the Ponyville History Museum's artifact cataloging system, along with a list of the primary curators? Or, uh, I actually had all that memorized before we went on the field trip, but that could be useful, right?”

“Every little bit helps, I guess.” Sunset Shimmer shrugged.

“What about you?”

“I wrote Princess Twilight.”

“And?”

“She hasn't gotten back to me yet.” Sunset Shimmer pulled a heavy, cloth-bound book from her backpack and set it on the desk. She opened it up and leafed through the pages. “I've been checking all day.”

“Oh. Well, I guess we're stuck, then.”

“But, silver lining is, I made this.” Sunset unfolded a large sheet of paper she pulled out of her backpack. Twilight leaned over, eyes scanning over the neat lines and notes

“Where did you get a map of the museum?” Twilight held a hand up to her mouth.

“I took a lot of pictures during the field trip. This is just a rough compilation of what I saw, cross-referenced with the blueprints the architect submitted when the museum was built. The red 'X's are motion-activated security cameras, and the green circles are checkpoints on the security guard's patrol route. The daytime route, at least. ”

“That's a lot of security.” Twilight said.

“I know.” Sunset Shimmer said. “There's no way to go after the amulet directly. Security is just too tight.”

“You know … ” Twilight smoothed out Sunset's map of the museum. “Once you get past how ridiculously illegal all of this is, this is … actually kind of an interesting thought exercise. It kind of reminds me of some of those old point and click puzzle games, you know?”

Sunset stared at Twilight for a moment.

“Okay, you don't know. That's alright.” Twilight smiled with her typical nerdy enthusiasm. “See, they're all about lateral thinking-- more in depth than the usual shoot 'em up video game, right? So instead of blasting monsters, you just have to think of ways to get around them, using the limited resources you have! Which, okay, sometimes can be a pain when the programmers had some very odd and specific circumstance in mind, but when it's done right, it's super fun.” She rubbed at her chin. “I mean, looking at it that way … if the guards are the only ones who can open the display case, why don't we just have them open the display case for us?”

“How?”

“Well … “ Twilight rubbed at her chin, and then started tracing a finger over the map. “Let's see. The security is primarily on the interior, not the exterior. So … assuming the patrol goes by here, and the employee parking lot is there … and, hold on--” Twilight pulled her phone out of her pocket and punched in a quick search. “Right, the museum closes at six on Thursday nights … I think I know how we can get the amulet!” Twilight beamed, proudly, temporarily forgetting the criminality of the situation.

“Really?” Sunset Shimmer said.

“Yep!” Twilight nodded. “But first we'd need to swing by my house and pick up a few things … and then we get to the hard part.”

“Stealing the amulet?”

“No. Catching a squirrel.”

Given the right motivation, it's surprising what one can do with a handful of peanuts and an old cat carrier. A bottle of iodine is optional, but quite useful for the inevitable little cuts and scratches. The same can be said of an up to date vaccination record. They could've just asked Fluttershy, Twilight mused, but that would've gotten her involved with the criminal scheme. Plus, she probably wouldn't approve of what they had planned …

“Do I get to chase the squirrel yet?” Spike wriggled happily in Twilight's arms, clawing at the air with his stubby little legs. He kept his eyes locked on the plastic pet carrier Sunset carried, and twitched his ears every time the rodent within chattered angrily. Which was often. “I'm really good at chasing squirrels.”

“Soon.” Twilight pet Spike's head. “Just remember, don't talk.”

“Right!” Spike nodded, and then made another eager lunge for the squirrel-bearing pet carrier. “I mean, uh, bark?”

Sunset Shimmer checked her watch, and then leaned around the corner, watching the last few patrons stream out of the Ponyville History Museum. “Okay. Last chance to back out, Twilight.”

“Hey, we've come this far, right?” Twilight forced a wan grin. “Turning back now would be the sensible and responsible thing to do. Which means I won't. Ha ha.” She said.

“If you get caught, just tell them it was all my idea. I'll take the fall.”

“I don't plan on getting caught.” Twilight said, resolute.

“Nobody does.” Sunset Shimmer said. Her watch beeped, and she nodded, resolute. “Alright. Go time.” And with that, she crept up to the as-of-yet unlocked museum door. After a quick glance upward to make sure that she wasn't in the view of any of the interior cameras, Sunset unlatched the door to the pet carrier, and dumped an irate and high-strung squirrel onto the marble floor. The little ball of rodent rage chittered, and streaked off into the museum.

“Now, Spike!” Twilight said. His little legs were already pawing at the air by the time Twilight set him on the ground, and he streaked after the squirrel in a bolt of purple fur, trailing a long leash behind him.

“Bark! Bark! Bark!”

“You think he'll be alright?” Twilight watched him disappear into the museum.

“I'll take care of him, don't worry.” Sunset Shimmer smiled, and handed the cat carrier back to Twilight. “Besides, dogs don't go to jail. Now go-- we don't have much time.”

“Uh, right!” Twilight said, and slipped back into the alley.

Sunset Shimmer's heart beat faster in her chest as she pushed through the door, heading after Spike. “Spike! Spike! Get back here!” Her voice echoed from the museum's tall ceilings, joining Spike's eager barking and the scrabble of claws on tile floor.

A grey-haired, pot-bellied guard trundled out from around the corner, and stood for a moment in shock as he watched Sunset chase Spike, who in turn chased the increasingly frantic squirrel.

Sunset Shimmer skidded to a halt in front of the security guard, and looked up at him with a wide-eyed, desperate expression. “I don't know what happened, he just took off! I'm so, so sorry about this!”

“It's alright, Miss. Just calm down, and we'll get--”

“Oh! There he is!” Sunset Shimmer said, seeing her opportunity. She dashed past the security guard, heading after Spike-- who had chased the squirrel into the next exhibit hall. Bracing herself, Sunset dove forward, hands grabbing at-- and missing Spike's leash. She hit the tiled floor. Hard.

“Miss!” The guard called out. “Watch out for--”

With the floors freshly waxed and polished, Sunset skidded across the tile-- and into the display case holding the Alicorn Amulet. The air left her lungs in a single whuff, and Sunset winced to think of what kind of bruises she'd have the next morning.

Sunset groaned, and pushed herself back to her unsteady feet. Across the hall, the guard called out-- but too late. She reached out with one hand to steady herself, planting her palm on the display case. Sunset leaned hard against the wood and glass case, at which point it proved that the 'no touching' signs posted all around the museum weren't there for show.

The case teetered, and then toppled over with a crystal chord of shattering glass. Immediately, the case's many security precautions kicked in, and an ear-splitting siren began to sound through the entire museum, accompanied by blinking strobe lights.

“I'm sorry!” Sunset looked at the destruction she wrought, aghast. “I'm sorry! I didn't know it was there!” She had to raise her voice to be heard over the alarms, but at least the pain shooting up her side made the tears welling at the corners of her eyes genuine. “I was just trying to get my dog!” she sobbed.

The guard winced, and then brought his walkie talkie up to his mouth. “False alarm.” A pause, and a crackle. “I said, false alarm. It's under control now. Cut the sirens, Jimmy.”

Jimmy said something unintelligible from the other side of the radio, but apparently he'd heard enough, as the alarms soon shut down.

Sunset Shimmer stared at the guard and shrank down a bit. “I didn't mean to!” She sobbed, and let the tears roll down her cheeks. She pouted her lower lip out, and trembled, just slightly, projecting vulnerability. Spike, having apparently lost track of the squirrel, trotted back over to Sunset and looked up at her with a pained whine. She scooped up the puppy and pulled him close to her chest-- and soon the guard found himself on the receiving end of two teary, wide-eyed looks of shock and fear. “I should have held his leash tighter.” Sunset murmured.

The guard just stared at the broken display case, and sighed. “Miss, are you hurt?”

“I don't think so?” Sunset sniffed. “I'm not in trouble, am I?”

“You're--” The guard looked over Sunset's shoulder, towards the shattered glass behind her. “You're not in trouble. It was just a freak accident.” He took off his hat and ran a hand through his thinning grey hair.

“I know you're not supposed to bring dogs into the museum,” Sunset said, “but Spike just saw a squirrel run in and he took off!”

“Bark!” said Spike.

“And then I fell, and, and--” Sunset Shimmer breathed in deeper, preparing to launch into a fresh fit of hysterics.

“Calm down, miss. Please. You're fine. I know you didn't mean to.” The guard said, awkwardly. He placed his hat back on his head. “Accidents happen. I just need you to stick around for a little bit so we can file a--” The guard's radio crackled again, and he rolled his eyes, bringing it to his mouth to mutter a response.

“You wouldn't believe me if I told you, Jimmy. Look, we need to get exhibit 44-M packed up. The case is broken, but the contents are intact. Got it?”

“Um, officer security guard sir?” Sunset Shimmer said in a small voice. “Can I … can I go outside? Spike gets a little, um, excited after he runs around a lot, and I don't want to make any more of a mess.”

“Any more of a--”

Spike whined.

“Oh. Right. Go ahead and take him outside.” And, no sooner had he said the words, Sunset Shimmer scooted out of the museum as fast as she could manage. The guard just shook his head, and stared at the wrecked display case with a wince.

“Makes me glad I have a cat.”

Meanwhile, as Sunset careened across the Ponyville History Museum, Twilight played her part. She hurried down the alleyway, tossing the cat-carrier into a dumpster before pulling a labcoat and a clipboard from her backpack. She shrugged into the white coat, and then crept across the employee parking lot at the rear of the building. She pressed her back against the wall and scooted closer towards the employee entrance. It didn't take long for a few lab techs in identical labcoats emerge from the employee entrance, laughing and joking amongst themselves. They didn't notice Twilight lingering near the door, and they didn't hear the faint click of metal on wood as she slipped her clipboard into the doorjamb before the door closed completely.

Twilight waited 'til the techs were in their cars before she levered the employee entrance back open and slipped inside. She kept her eyes cast downward at the meaningless checklist on her clipboard, and hoped that her disguise would hold up under passing scrutiny. She filed past the breakroom, and then into the archives-- tall banks of drawers stretched up to the ceiling, each marked with an alphanumeric code. She couldn't help but smile, marveling at such a feat of organization. To think, someone had been given the task of cataloging artifacts ranging from ancient potsherds to steam locomotives, and they'd pulled it off in a completely logical manner.

Twilight nearly jumped out of her shoes when the burglar alarms started to howl, but she reminded herself it was all part of the plan. That didn't keep her from clutching her clipboard tighter, though. She perused the stacks of drawers, winding her way towards the door to the exhibit hall, and waited. And soon enough, a security guard came through, with a wooden box under his arm and a harried look on his face.

“You're working late.” The guard said, eyeing Twilight curiously.

“Doctor Ravenwood wanted me to inventory the Ming era ceramics in subsection G.” Twilight said, forcing a nervous smile. “They always give the boring stuff to us interns, right?” She said.

The guard rolled his eyes. “Huh, guess so.” He shrugged, and then passed a plain wooden box to Twilight. “There was an accident at exhibit 44-M. Make sure this gets put in the right place, okay?”

“Oh, uh, right.”

Twilight breathed a sigh of relief. The guards' marked patrol routes went nowhere near the storage and restoration rooms at the back of the museum. As such, the guards wouldn't recognize the lab techs on sight-- so long as one looked the part (with, say, a labcoat, a clipboard, and a generally frazzled academic air), there wouldn't be any questions.

She took the box, and waved to the guard as he walked off, muttering something about cats. The door to the exhibit halls of the museum closed behind him.

Twilight's mouth went dry as she realized she was alone with the ancient and possibly magical artifact. It had worked! The box in her hands felt warm, almost humming with energy.

“I … I should just make sure we got the right thing.” She said, and gingerly opened up the case. Sure enough, the Alicorn Amulet sat on a velvet cushion within. And … perhaps it was a trick of the light, but the bit of jewelry looked almost as if it was glowing. “That's odd,” Twilight murmured to herself, “maybe I should examine it more closely. “

“You there! What're you looking at?” A woman's stern voice cut through the silence of the archives.

Twilight snapped the case shut, and spun around. She recognized the dark-haired woman in the labcoat-- but not the tall, broad-shouldered man in a double-breasted suit behind her.

“D-Doctor Ravenwood!” Twilight gasped. “I, uh. One of the security guards asked me to pt this away.” Which, Twilight mused, was entirely true.

“Is that 44-M?” Dr. Ravenwood glanced over her shoulder at the bored-looking man, and then back to Twilight.

“Um. Yes?” Twilight managed.

“That saves us some trouble, at least.” Dr. Ravenwood stepped over and neatly took the case from Twilight's suddenly limp hands. “It seems that our … benefactor has decided to return his contribution to his private collection.”

“Benefactor?” Twilight looked past the curator to the man in the navy-colored jacket. He hadn't bothered to acknowledge Twilight's existence just yet. “I mean, uh, isn't there, like, paperwork or something that needs to be done before he, uh, takes stuff?”

Dr. Ravenwood rolled her eyes. “Interns.” She shook her head. “Look, I know you've got your heart in the right place, but some of our more … involved donors like to be a little more hands-on in regards to their contributions.”

“Oh. Uh. Okay?” Twilight murmured.

“Now go home.” Doctor Ravenwood made a shoo-ing little gesture with one hand. “It's been a weird enough day already.”

For lack of any other options, Twilight complied-- though she walked slow enough to eavesdrop on the pair.

“I'm sorry.” Doctor Ravenwood's voice was apologetic. “We've got a fresh influx of volunteers who haven't--”

“Spare me.” The benefactor said, voice heavy with a refined, old-money accent. “Is the amulet damaged?”

“Not at all. The case took the brunt of the damage.”

“Good. I'll just be going then.”

“Of course. If there's anything else we can do for you, just let us know, Mr. Blueblood.”