The duo of Sunset and Rarity had remained quiet the entirety of their car ride. Sunset’s eyes fiercely focused on the road as she was lost in other thoughts and Rarity peeking over to her to try and get a read on her indecipherable expression. Whatever secrets Sunset was keeping, she wasn’t going to give them away with body language for sure. Rarity considered speaking up a few times, but after being shut up the first time she doubted that Sunset was going to budge on her position.

Eventually, the car came to a stop and Sunset placed it in park before looking over to Rarity. “Let me help you out.”

Rarity merely nodded and allowed Sunset to exit the car and come around to her side. Sunset reached forward to assist Rarity which agitated her arm. Sunset pulled her up and kept a hand on her back while she led the woman into the building nearby.

Looking up, Rarity noticed it was her boutique that she worked at. Her boss wouldn’t be on the scene until tomorrow, but she knew she had a key that was kept under a stone near the entrance.

“Know how to get in?” Sunset asked as they stopped at the door.

With her injured arm, Rarity pointed to a stone. “Lift that…”

Nodding, Sunset did as she was instructed and sure enough was able to acquire the key that would grant the two girls entrance. Planting the key inside, Sunset let the two of them inside before sitting Rarity down on a nearby stool and kneeling to get a better look at her arm. “Let me see.”

Wincing, Rarity removed her hand from the wound and looked away. Examining it in silence, Sunset made Rarity gulp in anticipation of the damage report. After a few seconds, Sunset smiled. “Well there isn’t a lot of blood and it looks like it just grazed you… I’m going to stitch this up and you should be okay, alright?”

Rarity nodded and pointed to a nearby set of needles on the counter. “There should be some alcohol in the back… There’s a first aid kit with rubbing alcohol…”

Sunset nodded and wandered into the back room. After only a few minutes she returned with a bottle in hand that she began to shake. Carefully she lifted the needles and began to soak them over the sink before returning.

Rarity watched carefully as Sunset threaded the needle with precision. She knew that Sunset wasn’t much of a seamstress, but her skill with a needle thus far was impeccable. “I didn’t know you could sew…”

Positioning the needle to the flesh, Sunset smirked at Rarity. “I learned for first aid purposes, AKA what I’m doing right now…” She paused as she aimed the needle. “This will sting for a second…” She warned.

Nodding, Rarity gritted her teeth as she felt the needle pierce her skin and the thread pull through it. She hissed as she felt it come back around to do so again. “Sorry…” Sunset replied.

“It’s fine…” Rarity winced.

“I’d use magic to heal it, but even a small wound like this takes a lot of magic to heal… I can’t afford to drain myself right now either, I promise when I have the energy I’ll heal it properly later…” Sunset assured.

“Drain…? I don’t understand… Do you need to keep all of your magic for some reason?” Rarity raised a curious brow.

Continuing with her needlework, Sunset nodded and gave a simple “mmm” as a response, clearly not wanting to answer the question beyond that.

“You intend on trying to fight those men don’t you?” Rarity asked.

“If it comes to it… They’re not who I’m interested in though… If they stand in my way, absolutely, otherwise I’ll avoid them to conserve my strength…” Sunset stated.

“Sunset, what is going on… This is dangerous, you should call the police…” Rarity pleaded.

Sunset shook her head as she focused on her needlework. “The police can’t help me now… The situation is far beyond what they are capable of handling. No one else needs to get hurt, they’re after me, which means that so long as I am the only one to engage them, they shouldn’t hurt anyone else… I'll tell Shining, but that's it.”

“Sunset, take me with you!” Rarity protested.

“No way. You already got hurt this time, next time you might not be so lucky, one of those bullets could have hit you in the head, or blown your arm off…” Sunset lectured.

“And what about you? You could be killed…” Rarity pleaded.

Silence filled the room as Sunset finished with the last stitch and came to a slow stand. She placed the needle on the counter and turned to the door. “Don’t follow me, Rarity…”

“That will be easy considering you left my car back at your estate…” Rarity sighed.

“I can’t have anyone else dying because of me… I already failed to protect Shimmer, I’m not going to do the same with you guys… Just stay far away… I can handle this on my own…” Sunset clenched her fists.

Rarity smirked and looked away. “No… You really can’t… But I know you think you have to… So what can I possibly say to change your mind? I see it in you… The fire, I’ve seen it in myself from time to time and even in Applejack, and I know from experience… When the fire is lit, it will burn everything in its path to get to where it needs to go…”

Sunset didn’t turn to face her and stood there in silence while she spoke. Her hands still clenched into fists that she held tightly. She could feel her nails digging into the flesh of her palms as she tried to calm herself.

“You don’t have to burn out though, and you don’t have to do this alone…” Rarity finished.

Sunset said nothing still.

“A fire burns everything in its path… It doesn’t know friend or foe, it simply destroys until eventually… It burns out to nothing, thus destroying itself…” Rarity stated.

Sunset knew that Rarity’s involvement had already gotten her hurt. A few more inches and she may have even lost her arm or be dead. The thought disgusted her, it made her hate herself for allowing it to happen. The only solace she had was knowing that she was there to prevent Rarity from being harmed further and that she had the power to stop it from happening again. She wouldn’t allow Rarity to become another Shimmer.

A sigh escaped Sunset as she headed toward the door. “Goodbye, Rarity. Stay safe, please.”

Sipping from a cup of overly sweet coffee, Moondancer crossed her legs as she leaned back in her office chair. She stared at her computer screen in thought while she observed the camera feeds of Sunset’s home.

She had taken several pictures of the men invading and caught a glimpse of Sunset making her escape. Previously she considered trying to intervene but assumed Sunset had the situation under control, which she ended up being correct about; Sunset was a resourceful girl after all.

Moondancer scratched her head and stood up and looked over to the mirror in her dark bedroom. Staring back at her was a girl in nothing more than a pair of basketball shorts and a plain white tank top that was far too large for her. She had opted to get dressed a few minutes ago after the room became too cold for her liking.

“What to do…” She thought out loud as she stared at the mirror and then turned her attention to her bed.

Wandering over she fell backward and landed on the soft mattress and stared up at the ceiling.

“Sunset definitely has Ghost’s attention now, so I know she’ll draw her out…” Moondancer said to no one.

She turned to her side and closed her eyes. “However, I know that Ghost won’t play their entire hand just yet… It may be wiser to wait until Ghost slips up and reveals her hideout… The closer she gets to Sunset, the sloppier she seems to get…”

She opened her eyes and sat up after thinking it over. “However… Sunset isn’t nearly as strong as Ghost no doubt, and that means the longer Sunset is left to float around on her own, the greater the risk of her being killed is… And it’s pretty clear that Ghost’s end goal doesn’t seem to care if Sunset is kept alive…”

Rubbing her chin, Moondancer wandered over to the wall of notes she had scribbled about Ghost and stared at it. “Why though…? What does Sunset have to do with…”

Moondancer blinked and her eyes widened as she looked at everything she had gathered. Suddenly after all this time, it became clear to her. Who Ghost was, what she wanted, why she was after Sunset. It all made perfect sense, everything she had been trying to understand for months finally became clear.

At first, doubting her conclusion, she ran over to her desk and began to flip through a notebook she had made and compared her conclusion to her findings before looking back to the wall and gasping. “It… It fits… It all makes sense… I know who you are, Ghost…”

The only thing that still was a mystery, however, was her motivation to kill Shimmer. She could see no angle for that. If her theory was correct and she was almost positive it was, then Ghost had no reason to kill Shimmer. So while she had figured out the puzzle, she was annoyed at how new questions arose.

Shaking her head she picked up a knife sitting next to her computer and stabbed it into the wall where she kept her notes on Ghost in a web, trying to connect the dots.

“Either way… I know your secret, Ghost… You won’t escape now… I hold the winning hand, now it’s just a matter of knowing when to play it…” Moondancer smirked. Their entire game of cat and mouse just became far more interesting.

Sunset’s eyes kept darting back to her rearview mirror, hoping that no one was following her. She didn’t see Ghost anywhere at her estate which led her to believe that she likely was elsewhere trying to anticipate Sunset’s moves. She needed to go somewhere where Ghost wouldn’t expect her, somewhere she hadn’t been in a long time.

When she thought of that, a few places came to mind, but one that she knew she had instant access to, her old apartment.

It was still rented out and paid for, as Sunset had decided to continue paying for it even after inheriting Shimmer’s estate. After Shimmer’s murder she figured it would make a great safe house if things got too out of her control, she considered now to be that point where things were well out of her control.

As she concentrated on the road, she could see the old complex in the distance. A sigh of relief escaped her as she pulled into the parking lot and stopped her car. She took a moment or two to catch her breath and compose herself. She had never really let the fear of bullets flying at her actually set in, so she knew she needed a minute to collect herself.

Once she was okay again, she exited the car and made her way to the apartment. She had made sure to make several spare keys that she attached to every set of car keys she had just in case. Not to mention she knew the location of another spare key close by just in case. She had become quite the planner, setting up back up plans for everything and then back up plans for her back up plans. In a way she felt a little like Twilight, being so overly organized.

Making her way up the stairs she turned the key and stepped into the tiny apartment. Her mind was flooded with memories at just smelling the air in the room. Despite it not being much and not having much in it, Sunset had spent many nights in this tiny abode. It was a gift from Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna, and while it was simplistic, she treasured it. Perhaps that was the real reason she didn’t want to let it go.

It actually housed much more now as she had placed a few things in storage in the place to be properly used as a safe house and had made some modifications to it.

The windows now had rolled down shutters to block anyone outside from looking in and the kitchen was stocked with dry goods with exceptionally long shelf lives. She had installed a larger fridge for storage in the event she had to stay there for a long time.

The living room she had at least outfitted with a TV and a simple couch now as well versus the small table with stacks of books and the folding chair that were there before.

The place wasn’t glamorous, but it was far more inhabitable now than it was before. For the time being, it might have to be home once again to Sunset, until she was certain it was safe to return to her estate.

She looked down at herself and realized she was still in her workout attire and decided that a shower was in order. She had placed some clothing in a wardrobe in the bedroom of the apartment, she could clean up, get changed and prepare for more research on Ghost.

Remembering something, she recalled that she had stored a few guns in the closet that might come in handy. Opening the closet in the hallway, Sunset pulled out a case and popped it open. There staring back at her was an impressive handgun with at least five spare clips. She picked it up and decided to take it with her to the shower and leave it just within arm’s reach. She didn’t want to be caught off guard when she was her most vulnerable after all.

Rarity knew that Sunset wasn’t going to simply answer her phone now and that without her car and her injury she was in no position or condition to give chase to Sunset and try to track her down. She needed to inform the others though of what had just happened. She couldn’t simply just forget about it and pretend it never happened, not when people were shooting at Sunset and her.

Coming to a stand, Rarity grabbed a bandage from the first aid kit and decided to cover up her stitches first. She quickly sprayed some antiseptic on the wound and began to wrap gauss around her arm carefully. One she had covered it, she reminded herself to change her shirt and keep it covered but decided the next order of business would have to be giving Twilight a call.

She pulled the corded phone off the hook and began to dial Twilight’s number on the facility’s phone, she knew her manager likely wouldn’t mind, given the circumstances.

After a few seconds of ringing, she could hear Twilight pick up, albeit barely as the old phone had very poor audio. Rarity had nagged her manager to replace it many times to no avail.

“Hello?” Twilight’s voice came through the phone.

“Twilight, it’s Rarity,” Rarity stated.

“Oh hey Rarity, what’s u-“ Twilight was cut off.

“Twilight, Sunset is in trouble… Big trouble…” Rarity said.

There was a pause followed by Twilight gulping. “What kind of trouble?”

“People came to her estate and started shooting at us when I got there. At least a dozen or so of these men in masks…” Rarity explained.

“Are you guys alright!?” Twilight exclaimed.

Rarity sighed and nodded despite not being seen. “Yes, we’re fine, darling. I got grazed a little, but I’ll be alright, Sunset took care of it…”

“Where is she now?” Twilight asked.

“That’s why I’m calling you, she more or less stitched my wound up and then fled telling me not to follow her… She sounded like she was going to try and go after the people who did this…” Rarity explained.

Twilight froze and kept quiet.

“Twilight, you need to find her and stop her… These men… They were ready to put bullets in her, they’re not joking around… If Sunset tries to take them on, there’s no telling what they will do to her. I can’t do anything from here because she left my car back at her estate, and I don’t have a clue where she went, I figured if anyone could find her it would be you…”

Keeping quiet for a moment longer, Rarity could hear Twilight take in a breath and then release it slowly. “Leave it to me… I’m on it…”

Twilight quickly decided to start by dialing Sunset’s phone seeing if she could get the girl to answer. Maybe she would answer accidentally out of habit and Twilight could get through to her. It was worth a shot.

Twilight punched in Sunset’s number and crossed her finger. Every single ring made Twilight’s heart beat faster and faster until she could feel it suddenly stop for a split second when she heard Sunset’s voice.

“Hello?”

“Sunset! It’s Twilight!” Twilight almost yelled.

She could hear a sigh on Sunset’s end. “Lemme guess… You talked to Rarity?”

“What’s going on!?” Twilight asked ignoring the question.

“I can’t tell you, sorry Twilight,” Sunset answered plainly.

Twilight growled in annoyance as she paced in circles in her bedroom, coming to a desk and placing her palm on it. “Why not?”

“I don’t want you involved, Twilight…”

“I’m your friend!” Twilight protested.

“That’s exactly why I don’t want you involved, you could get hurt, I can handle this myself, just stay out of it and let me take care of things… Shining is already looking out for me, that’s more than enough…” Sunset said.

“Where are you!?” Twilight demanded.

“I can’t tell you that either, now goodbye, Twilight…” Sunset said and hung up abruptly without giving Twiight a chance to object further.

Hearing nothing but a dead beeping sound, Twilight hissed and banged the table with her palm. “DAMN IT!”

She calmed herself and tried to think. She needed to gather up all the logic she could and determine what the best way to figure out where Sunset was or what she was trying to accomplish. She had been pretty tight-lipped on the entire ordeal, but she knew it had to do with Shimmer’s murder.

Twilight placed a hand on her chin in thought. She needed information, lots of it and quickly, but where could she-

Shining.

Shining’s laptop was likely still in his room as he had the day off. He had taken Cadance out for dinner and mentioned he had to meet with someone after. He was still staying with their parents for a while to be closer to the office. She could likely break into his computer with ease and find everything he knew about the case. She would technically be breaking the law, but she put that thought aside and considered it a necessary evil to help her friend. Shining would understand… hopefully.

Tiptoeing out of her room, she poked her head out into the hall to see that her parents were nowhere to be seen.

Certain that she was safe, Twilight quickly bolted toward Shining’s room, keeping her footsteps light and careful as she crept inside and groaned at the loud creaking of the door. To her luck, her mother didn’t seem to hear much of the sounds and Twilight was able to sneak in without much difficulty.

She looked around and noted Shining’s work bag sitting on top of a small dresser which likely contained her brother’s work computer. Knowing there was usually more to it and that while she was sure she could hack into it with enough effort, she wished to avoid that scenario if possible and decided to search around the room for his work ID which would grant her access.

Sure enough, her brother’s laziness and untidiness paid off as she located his wallet in the pocket of a pair of his work pants. Flipping through it, just behind a photo of herself, Twilight found the ID card and slid it out.

She popped it into the side of the computer and opened it up. Her mind focusing on what she might find.

To her luck, Shining kept a folder on the desktop literally titled “Shimmer Case”, which Twilight figured was promising enough. Double-clicking on the folder, Twilight set the computer on top of the desk in the room and began to go through the files in search of anything of value. All those years with her nose in books would pay off as Twilight was exceptional at skimming over text to pop out the most important bits.

She would eventually come to a file on someone named “Ghost” that she read into.

At this current time, this “Ghost” remains my best lead. Their name has appeared all over during interrogations with his henchmen. What appears to be odd is that these criminals are people whom I have some records on and most of them are grunts, cheap labor for drug peddlers; yet despite this, they refuse to budge on any information. Most of them seem to be perfectly silent and offer unwavering loyalty for hired help. It’s odd, even the best of criminal ringleaders often have trouble keeping their peons’ mouths shut, but this Ghost has managed to brainwash them in a way that I have not seen before. They stay dead silent, not saying a word, they won’t even eat when we put them in a cell, they just stare blankly, as if there is nothing going on in their heads.

What’s further odd is that Ghost appears to learn about any information that I report to the station, which is why I am keeping everything from here on out secured on this laptop which will remain unconnected to the internet.

Information on Ghost is limited, but I can surmise that he is a skilled hacker if he is able to acquire data directly from police servers, furthermore he has moles everywhere, even in the police. It’s hard to say how far his reach is, but it’s clear that he must be one tough customer if he can convince other criminals to sway to his side with such ease. Tons of known drug circles that were previously being investigated are disappearing left and right and then having low-level henchmen caught and showing some kind of ties to Ghost. It’s clear that he is able to take over entire rings without much effort, so clearly he must have something at his disposal that is scaring the leaders of these rings away or into submission.

Sadly, I lack an artist sketch of the guy due to no one seeing him and none of his goons talking, but we picked up a guy who was heading to an abandoned factory on the west side of town, the old steel factory on Angel Street. I plan on checking it out soon, but because the place is still owned I need a warrant. The last few places I checked sadly seemed to have been cleaned out before I got there. I guess Ghost is an appropriate name for the guy because he can simply vanish into thin air the moment anyone gets too close to him.

I haven’t exactly established a motive for the murder of Shimmer, but I have reason to believe he is after Sunset as well. I just have to keep my eye on her and make sure he doesn’t get her too. I hate thinking of her as the lure that will eventually bring Ghost out of hiding, so I have been trying to lure the guy out myself… I don’t want to put her in any danger. Twilight clearly loves this girl, and I’ll do all I can to protect her.

Here’s hoping that I find something of value at that old factory because my current problem now is that even if I catch Ghost, there’s little linking him to the murder. No prints on the weapon, nothing… Clearly, he’s a professional.

Twilight blinked as she read over the document. She didn’t know her brother was this close to catching Shimmer’s killer, but she could feel the frustration in his text. If he waited for a warrant it might be too late, and for some reason, Twilight was sure that Sunset likely knew everything this document was saying and that meant there was a chance she had gone to find Ghost herself.

Gulping, Twilight decided to do perhaps the dumbest thing she had ever done. She rushed downstairs and slipped past her father who was sleeping on the couch. She reached into a bowl next to the front door and fished out the car keys.

Sneaking out the door and shutting it quietly she took a deep breath as she looked at the keys in her hand and then at the car parked in the driveway; there was no going back now.

Sunset yawned as stood in the shower letting the warm water soothe her tired body. The adrenaline from earlier finally wearing off and her body starting to feel exhausted from that and the combined work out from earlier. She was somewhat annoyed that Ghost had conveniently decided to launch an assault right after she had just finished with intensive magic training, meaning her body was far from ready to unleash much magic.

Part of her wondered if Ghost had actually planned to catch her only minutes after a training routine so she would be drained and at her weakest, unable to conjure much in the way of magic, then again even a simple set of spells would give her an edge on Ghost.

She knew she needed to meet with Shining soon, she’d have to call him and explain what was happening after she stepped out of the shower. She promised herself that she would try and trust the man, and she intended to keep that promise. Shining cared about her wellbeing after all.

Sunset felt the hot water run over her and she cooed in delight as she ran her hands through her thick red hair massaging the shampoo into her scalp. It was somewhat nostalgic to shower in her old apartment, and it was accompanied by a feeling of safety. No one would think to find her here.

She had gotten lucky, the scrape that Rarity and she had been through could have killed her, but she managed to come out without a scratch, Rarity, on the other hand, would likely have a scar from their encounter. Her mood dipped as she realized that. Rarity got hurt on her watch, and while she was still very much alive, Sunset had almost failed to protect her friends again. She couldn’t have that, she needed to rest up, to regain her strength so she could defeat Ghost once and for all.

Defeat.

Her mind rested on that word. What would that entail? Ghost certainly didn’t seem to be the type that would stop just because she got a thrashing, but did that mean she had to kill her if she wanted her to stop? Sure she could get Shining to arrest her, but how would he cover up all the stuff about magic? It would surely lead to some odd questions in her direction later. She narrowed her eyes as she contemplated the matter.

She could allow Shining to kill her, he was a police officer, after all, he likely had killed suspects before, it was part of his job after all. Shining had more training doing it than Sunset ever could, right?

You could just kill her yourself.

Sunset growled at the voice and shook her head dismissing it. She didn’t even want to humor it with an answer. Whatever was to happen with Ghost, she would figure that part out later, she knew she had to avoid killing her though unless it absolutely came down to no other choice.

Why resist? Ghost killed Shimmer, what’s wrong with killing her in return? You’d be doing the world a favor, removing a murderer…

Unable to contain herself any longer, Sunset shook her head and spoke an answer as she turned off the shower. “Enough, I’m not doing it!”

Sunset stepped out of the steamy shower and wrapped a towel around her form before making her way to the bedroom. She quickly ran the towel over her body to dry herself off and rubbed her hair violently with it, knowing it would likely still be wet for hours.

What is Shining going to do? He can’t just put a bullet in her, the police have rules they have to follow, rules that restrict them from justice…

“Shining can catch her…” Sunset replied as she slipped a pair of panties up her legs and over her private area. She adjusted them around her buttocks and snatched a bra from the wardrobe in the room that she began to snap on. She decided to go with black for both of them.

Even if he catches her, what can he do? Soon the police will come poking around you, Ghost can speak of magic and soon there will be an investigation your way, before you know it you’ll be an experiment by these humans you trust so much… Face it, you’re scared, you know that you have to kill Ghost before Shining catches her. Humans can’t be trusted, you know that… A human killed Shimmer, and humans will kill you too if you give them the opportunity…

Sighing, Sunset slipped a pair of jeans up her legs and reached down to pull her boots that she had come into the apartment with over her pant legs. “Humans haven’t caused me as much trouble as Equestrians have… Humans befriended me and treated me as an equal…”

Humans are always after their own ambitions. Your so-called friends have gained power and magic by being around you, who is to say their desires aren’t motivated by more power?

Sunset hissed and punched the wardrobe. “Shut up! Stop talking! I don’t want to hear anything you have to say anymore! Just shut the hell up!”

You fear the truth…

“SHUT UP!” Sunset hissed as she threw a black V-neck T-shirt over herself and turned in the room looking for the source of the voice. “WHERE ARE YOU!?”

I’m right here…

“WHERE IS HERE!? SHOW YOURSELF!”

Look in the mirror.

Blinking, Sunset turned to the only mirror in the room sitting atop of a small vanity she had placed in the room. Staring back at her was a familiar face, one she knew all too well, one she had hoped to forget, but no matter how often she tried, still haunted her.

Eyes black as night with shining green irises stared back at her, snarling sharp fangs, skin red and leathery, pointed ears and fingers to match. The demon that she had become at one point, the demon still inside of her somewhere, at one point buried deep, but here it was clawing at the surface ready to get out. Ready to take control again when the moment was right.

Sunset found herself unable to breathe, she was frozen in place, she couldn’t make her body move. “Y-you…” She managed to get out.

“Yes… Me…” The reflection spoke. “Correction… Us…”

“No! You’re not me!” Sunset replied, swiping her hand dismissively.

“You keep telling yourself that, and yet here we are… You crave strength, you crave power, you crave the fortitude you need to avenge Shimmer… I am here because you lack what it takes, I am here to help you avenge her…” The demon spoke.

Sunset paused and blinked as she stood there. She did remember how strong she felt when she transformed into that form before, she felt like she could do anything, and there was no telling to what lengths Ghost would go.

Am I truly considering this? Sunset asked herself.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard a knock at the door. She reacted instantly and ran away from the conversation she was having with the reflection and headed toward the door. Shuffling to the counter of the kitchen, she retrieved the gun she had examined earlier and pointed it at the door as she began to approach it slowly with the weapon extended forward.

Carefully she made step after step toward the entrance, ready to let off an entire clip of rounds at whoever entered. She could hear the lock begin to rattle, the sound of someone attempting to pick the lock. Sunset took a breath and steadied herself.

She took another careful step forward now only inches from the door ready to peak through the peephole to see who was on the other side.

As she leaned in the door burst open with a mighty kick by the person on the other side. The door broke off its hinges and whacked Sunset directly in the face. She fell backward with the door atop of her only for the intruder to leap forward and push the door off of her.

There standing over her in a threatening pose with balled fists was the ominous form of Ghost, gas mask and all. She stood with great confidence as Sunset shuffled backward and pulled herself to a stand aiming her gun.

Ghost rushed forward and swatted the weapon out of Sunset’s hand and chuckled as Sunset took a few steps back with her hands raised in a fighting stance, ready to counter-attack at Ghost’s next move.

The distorted voice of the masked woman filled the room as she spoke. “Guns take the thrill of the kill away wouldn’t you say? Such an impersonal way of ending your prey… I prefer to savor the taste, savor the feeling, not that I’d expect you to understand…”

Ghost took a swing only for Sunset to move out of the way just in time to avoid the hit. Ghost decided to take a fighting stance of her own as she and Sunset stared each other down. “What do you want? Why are you trying to kill me? Why did you kill Shimmer?” Sunset asked.

“You’re not in a position to force answers out of me, it would benefit you to take your opponent down or demonstrate that you have the upper hand before you start making demands…” Ghost laughed as she stood her ground.

Sunset growled in annoyance.

“Why not just give up? I’ll kill you a little quicker if you do…” Ghost said.

“I don’t listen to people in masks.” Sunset smirked as she lunged forward to make an attack. Ghost, however, proved too quick and ducked, jabbing Sunset in the gut, causing her to fall back and grip her stomach.

“Your kind are all the same… Worthless… You don’t know when to give up…” Ghost shook her head as she casually stepped forward.

In an effort to keep the distance between the two of them, Sunset raised her hand and made a wall of flame emerge between the two, blocking Ghost from getting to her, but also blocking herself from the exit to get away. At the very least it bought her some time.

Ghost stood in front of the flames and looked about to admire them. “Ah… Magic… Your ace in the hole so to speak…” She began as she stood there staring Sunset down. “A very unique and powerful ability in the hands of one who knows how to use it…”

With a chuckle, Ghost pushed her open hand through the flames and water materialized out of nowhere and splashed Sunset. The water put the entire wall of flames out and soaked Sunset. As she rubbed the water out of her eyes, Ghost leaped forward and gripped Sunset’s neck, lifting her from the floor. “However…” Ghost gripped tighter causing Sunset to squirm and wiggle, attempting to break free in any way she could. “In the hands of a novice, it’s useless…”

With those words, electricity shot up Ghost’s arm and before Sunset could even react her entire body felt like it was on fire. Pain pulsed through everything, all of her nerve endings screamed in agony as she felt the electricity shoot through her. She twitched and shook violently trying to make the pain stop or break free of Ghost’s grip.

With enough kicking and squirming, Ghost eventually dropped her and chuckled. “What a weakling… Magic is wasted on a being like you…”

Sunset panted heavily as she tried to crawl away, Ghost merely stood there laughing as she witnessed Sunset’s helplessness. “There was a time where I was as pathetic as you… a time where I had to sit there and watch as I was powerless to do anything to stop something from happening…”

Reaching the windowsill, Sunset pulled herself to a stand and managed to catch her breath. “Okay… Who are you? How are you able to do magic?”

Ghost stood still as she replied. “Jealous? My abilities far exceed anything you could ever understand, magic comes far more naturally to me than someone like you…”

“As far as I know magic is only supposed to manifest in those with strong ties to Equestria or under very unique circumstances…” Sunset lectured.

“My circumstances…” Ghost paused and then tilted her head upward. “Are very unique.”

Sunset weighed out her options, she needed to get away somehow. It was clear that her one true advantage was now lost. If Ghost had magic, and worse a better handle on it than Sunset, then she knew she had no chance of winning this fight.

Her mind turned now to the window she was standing in front of. Quickly Sunset raised another wall of fire, knowing it wouldn’t stop Ghost, but halt her for long enough.

When Ghost conjured her water spell to extinguish the flames, Sunset leaped through the window, shattering it as she made it to the fire escape outside. With haste, she quickly descended the stairs and raced to the bottom before Ghost even knew what was happening.

Seconds after realizing that Sunset had made an exit, Ghost poked her head out the window to see Sunset at the bottom of the stairs. She hissed in annoyance as she reached into her jacket and retrieved a pistol. Ghost open fired in Sunset’s direction but missed all three shots taken as Sunset made her way back to the front of the building.

Ghost growled and punched a wall as she realized that Sunset was going to get away. “You are like a cockroach that just refuses to die…” Ghost complained.

Composing herself, Ghost reached into her jacket and retrieved a phone. She noticed a text message was waiting for her.

Texting in one hand and driving with the other, Sunset tried to keep her attention mostly on the road as she sped down the street. She was trying to send a message out to Rarity to gather their friends as a specific address. If Ghost knew where Sunset’s old apartment was, there was little doubt in her mind that she knew where Sunset’s friends lived and she didn’t seem to be the type that was above using them as bait to lure Sunset out. She needed them all gathered somewhere safe so she could plan her next move.

Sending the message out to Rarity, Sunset sighed in relief as she continued closer and closer to her newest safe house. During her time searching for answers to Shimmer’s murder she knew the possibility of danger was there, and the longer she continued her investigation the more paranoid of danger she had become, thus prompting her to set up several safety measures to protect herself and her friends if needed.

She pulled her car up to a storage shed complex and got out in front of one of the lockers. Stepping over to the keypad she punched in her four-digit code: 8844. The shed opened and revealed itself to be empty. Nodding, Sunset ran back to her car and carefully drove it inside. Once she was in, she closed the shed with the car inside and stood outside as she watched Applejack’s truck pull up.

In the back of the truck, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash sat while Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie rode in the front. Sunset stepped up to another storage shed and punched in another combination revealing another empty shed. She gestured for Applejack to park inside. Rainbow and Fluttershy climbed out of the back and Applejack turned the truck around and backed it into the shed before Rarity, Pinkie and herself exited.

Once the vehicle was secure, Sunset closed the shed and sighed. She looked at the group and gestured them to follow her.

All of them caught up and walked alongside her as she approached yet another shed and began to tap away at the keypad.

“What’s going on, Sunset?” Rainbow finally asked the question that everyone there was wondering.

“It’s a long story, I’ll explain inside…” Sunset answered.

“How many of these storage sheds do you own…?” Fluttershy asked.

“I rented out the whole lot… Just in case…” Sunset replied as she finished entering the combination.

“Just in case of what…?” Rarity blinked as the shed opened revealing a small living quarters inside, a bed, shelves of food, a heater in the corner, and a desk with a working computer. There was a small couch on the other side of the room and the walls were outfitted with hooks where eight firearms were hanging.

Gulping, Fluttershy stepped inside followed by the others. “W-what is this place?” She asked.

“A safe house that I made some time ago…” Sunset stated as she shut the door behind them.

The room was poorly lit, but there was enough light to see. Rarity gently walked up to the computer and placed a hand on the desk feeling the dust. “You must have set this up some time ago…?”

With a nod, Sunset sat down in the chair in front of the computer before logging in. “Yeah, in case something like what happened at my house happened…”

“What happened at her house?” Applejack raised a brow.

“Oh… It’s…” Rarity paused, unsure of how to word it without Applejack getting upset.

“It’s under control…” Sunset finished Rarity’s sentence for her.

“What happened!?” Applejack demanded.

Rarity whimpered and looked away. “It’s… Just a scratch, alright?” Rarity stated.

Applejack blinked and stepped forward, gripping Rarity’s arm she lifted her sleeve to reveal the bandage there. “What the hell…?”

“It’s fine, Sunset took care of it, I will be fine…” Rarity pulled her arm free of Applejack’s grip.

“Sunset, what the hell is goin’ on!? Rarity getting’ hurt because of you? ‘Ah ain’t a fan, so tell us why we’re here…” Applejack demanded, crossing her arms as she did so.

With a sigh, Sunset swiveled in her chair and faced the group. “Well… it’s like this… I have been chasing down the person who killed Shimmer. I’ve pinpointed it to this girl who goes by the name of Ghost…”

“Ghost? Sounds spooky…” Pinkie suggested.

“Yeah well, it turns out this Ghost girl… She’s… Pretty strong and capable of powerful magic…” Sunset frowned.

“How can she do magic? I thought only Equestrians and like certain humans can do magic?” Rainbow asked.

Sunset shrugged. “Dunno, what I do know is she wants me dead, and she will stop at nothing to do it. She’s already tried to kill me a few times, but fortunately for me… I’m resourceful, resourceful enough to avoid getting caught anyway… Though I am sorry about your arm, Rarity. It won’t happen again, not on my watch…”

“So what happened to her arm?” Applejack grumbled.

“Ghost sent her goons to my place, they were opening fire on us, Rarity got grazed in the arm… Again… I’m sorry…” Sunset frowned.

“WHAT!?” Applejack yelled only for Rarity to grip the woman’s hips and look up to her eyes.

“Darling, I’m alright, I promise… It wasn’tSunset’s fault, she was trying to protect me…”

Applejack groaned and composed herself. “Still… This wouldn’t have happened if y’all just went to the police…”

“I understand that I promised Shining I would tell him everything today, but then this happened… Now I have to find a safe way to meet him in person so we can discuss it… Until then… I want everyone to stay here…” Sunset instructed.

“What? No way!” Rainbow growled.

“As long as Ghost is out there she could try to kill all of you to get to me. So until we stop her, if any of you are out of my sight, you’re in this room, got-“ Sunset paused as she looked at all of her friends.

She began to count them standing there and blinked as she only counted five. She did a recount and came to the same conclusion. “Uh… Where is Twilight…?”

The group shrugged. “I texted her to meet us at this place, but she never responded,” Rainbow said.

“Shit!” Sunset growled.

Twilight stepped out of her father’s car as she looked down to the address she had saved in her phone. She was certain this was the place, but from the outside, it didn’t exactly appear as though much was going on at the old rundown building. There didn’t appear to be any lights on or human activity inside.

Shrugging she kept low and pulled the hood of her hoodie up to conceal herself as she snuck around to the backside of the building. Regardless of how the place looked, she wasn’t about to be foolish enough to actually go in from the front and risk being seen. She had one goal in mind, to get a photo of this “Ghost” and bring it back to Shining, maybe seeing their face would make them easier to hunt down.

When she made it to the back entrance she carefully poked her head up to peak in the window on the door. Inside she could see the place was completely empty, shy of eight old barrels just sitting out in the open and a few old machines that looked like they hadn’t been turned on in years. Twilight reached for the door and unexpectedly, it was unlocked. She opened it and slipped inside, still keeping her head down as she crept behind a machine and peaked around the corner to see if anyone was there.

After a few takes, she realized the entire place was deserted. Blinking she came to a stand and walked out into the open, wondering if Shining’s intel was wrong.

A few steps later she felt an object under her foot that caused her to look down and lift her shoe. There on the ground was what appeared to be the casing to a bullet laying there, a few of them actually. Blinking she knelt down and picked it up between her fingers and examined it. It definitely seemed newer than everything else in the building, so it had to be recent. Could there have been some kind of shootout here?

Twilight blinked as a hand landed on her shoulder. She froze and felt a cold sweat down her neck. She didn’t even want to look up to see the face of the person who had placed their hand on her shoulder, but she could feel them squeeze gently as a deep male voice spoke. “Well hello, little girl…”

Gulping Twilight remained still as she felt an object poke the back of her head. “Stand up, and move where I tell you, or you die, understand?”

Twilight only nodded as she slowly came to a stand with her hands raised. It didn’t take long for her to discern that the object being pointed at her was a gun.

With a grunt, her captor tapped her back with the weapon and she began to move forward with him. She hadn’t a clue where he snuck up on her from but surmised he must have been patrolling another part of the building that she didn’t see when she entered and thus noticed her while she was occupied examining the bullet casings, which she could guess now where they may have come from.

“Where are we going?” Twilight asked.

“Shut the fuck up!” He hissed as he jabbed her with his gun. Twilight yelped and stumbled but continued to follow as he led the two down a staircase into the basement of the facility. Twilight gulped as the two came to a door at the very bottom of the stairs. “Open it,” her captor instructed.

Nodding, Twilight twisted the nod and gently pushed the door open. With another poke of the firearm behind her, she took a few steps in to see a group of men gathered around a table in a rather large room. There was a tremendous amount of open space in this large room for such a tiny amount of people, but Twilight guessed that this may be the place where they usually held larger meetings.

There at the end of the table Twilight could see a figure standing with her gloved hands placed on the table. Her body was covered in a tight body suit, and an open trench coat covered her form. Atop of her head though was some kind of hooded gas mask that concealed her entire head.

“Twilight Sparkle…” Their distorted voice filled the air, “how nice of you to join us…”

The original version actually was like 2,000 words longer, but I cut some of it because the chapter was dragging. I left in only the important bits now.