"Come on, Carrots, we must have the wrong street."

"We were here earlier, Nick, you know this was the right place!"

Nick yawned. "All I know is that it's three in the morning, and we've been driving around so often that the family of opossums at number 54 has been playing dead for half an hour."

"But we dropped her off here!"

"Carrots." Nick placed a paw on her shoulder. "It's late, and we need to be here early in the morning to pick her up. Let's just do that. I'm sure we've missed something with all the excitement and we'll be able to work with a clearer mind then."

"Nick, it was right on this spot!"

"I know, but it isn't now, and—" he yawned "—it's really late. Let's get some rest."

Judy sighed. "Fine."

"Your place or mine?"

"Yours," she muttered. "It's closer." She rolled her eyes and started driving. "I think I have some clean clothes left there still."

Nick grinned. "A whole wardrobe. I hate to break it to you, Carrots, but either you move in and help with rent, or I'll start charging you for storage."

"Aww, you wouldn't charge little poor me."

The pair chuckled as they drove, settling into comfortable silence. Around them, the city slowed down, with few mostly nocturnal species enjoying the late evening. "So what did you think of her?" Judy asked.

"Hm? Sunset?"

"Yeah."

"I dunno. Nice, I guess," Nick shrugged, leaning back on his seat and crossing his arms behind his head. "She's certainly had an interesting life."

Judy glanced at him. "What makes you say that? She wasn't very forthcoming with the questions. I think we talked more than she did, except when her partner showed up."

"I don't know, exactly," Nick said, frowning as he apparently tried to organize his thoughts. "It's just this… feeling I get from her, you know? There's instincts that tell you to run… instincts that tell you that you can probably win, instincts that warn you about an animal you meet… and this is something like that. I don't know how, but I can tell: she's seen a lot of things."

"And it's not just from vacationing," Judy added, nodding. "I also got the same feeling. Add to that how she was able to just run into the fire… I was there, Nick. The air was so hot it pushed the firefighters back, and she just shrugged it off."

"What, like a superhero?" Nick asked. "Her fur looked just as flammable as ours, Carrots."

"Well, she wasn't on fire when she ran out of the museum, Nick, that's for sure. And you saw the damage the fire did to the walls and the exhibits." She slowed down to a stop at a traffic light, and tapped her fingers on the wheel. "In fact, the kids were also okay… which is good! I heard that they had been hiding in the bathroom, which makes sense… but how did she cross that inferno, get to them, pick them up and run all the way out with none of them even getting singed?"

"Well, wolves are really fast…"

"Not that fast, and you know it."

Nick glanced at her. "Carrots. What are you planning?"

Judy smiled. He really knew her well. "Tomorrow's event is at noon, right? And we promised to pick up Sunset early… but that gives us time to talk to the children too."

Nick sighed. "So straight to sleep it is. So much for having a bit of fun before hitting the hay."

Judy felt her cheeks warm up. "Well… for tonight, yes."

Judy smiled at the yawning face of Mrs. Truffles. "Good morning! I was hoping we could have a word with Josh before the Mayor's speech later today?"

Behind her, she could hear Nick yawn.

"Um… sure," Mrs. Truffles said. "He just finished having breakfast. Please come on in."

They followed her into the living room, where the young pig was happily playing videogames until he looked up and saw them. He quickly hit pause. "Officer Hopps! Wow!"

"Hello to you too, kid," Nick muttered.

Judy elbowed him gently, and he chuckled.

"Hi, Josh. How are you today?"

"I'm doing great! Can you sign my poster?"

Judy blinked as he ran up and returned with one of the posters that had her posing with the "Welcome to Zootopia!" slogan under it.

Nick turned to look at Mrs. Truffles. "Celebrity cops, huh?"

Was he jealous? He was! Oh, this was too good. But first…

"Sure, but how about you do me a favor too?" Judy said, "I know it must be scary to remember, but can you tell me about when Sunset saved you?"

"Oh!" his eyes brightened up, and his mom sighed, no doubt having heard the story a thousand times. Mrs. Truffles sighed and offered Nick a bagel, which he accepted enthusiastically.

Meanwhile, Josh continued, "she was amazing! We were all in the bathroom, because you know, Santino said it'd be safer there, and Molly opened all the water so that fire wouldn't come in… and yeah, they were scared, but you know, I wasn't."

Judy smiled, patting his head. "Of course not, I can see you're really brave. So what happened next?"

"Well… we waited for a while, and then the door was punched open! It flew right into the trashbin! And then there were flames all around us, but we didn't get burnt, and Miss Shimmer walked into the room and she saw as and she smiled and said…"

"...come on guys, I know a way out," Santino quoted, while his mother and father had a coffee with Nick. "It was amazing! You know how in Kung Fu Panda they do things with their fist and the elements react? That was exactly it! She picked us up and charged out into the fire. I thought we were going to die… it was all flames and falling pieces of walls and stuff…"

"...but she, I don't know how she did it," Molly said, motioning with her hand in a circle, as if she was imitating a martial artist. "Did something like this, and the fire just… bent around us. Then she held us close and took off… and the next thing I know, we're jumping through the air and rolling on the floor outside the museum."

"Kids, huh?" her father, a tiger almost as big as the elder Clawhorn himself, chuckled. "One coincidence and they think old legends come back to life."

Judy looked up at Mr. Clawhorn, who was watching his daughter with amusement. "What do you mean?"

"Well, it's an old story my father in law used to tell Molly and I guess my husband too, when he was a kid. About this secret place where a heroic lady would appear only to those worthy."

Molly's dad nodded. "She could travel everywhere and had seen everything, according to dad. She was a warrior and a sage or something, with mystical powers from beyond this world." He chuckled, ruffling Molly's hair. "With her saviour being named Sunset and with my dad telling her those stories all the time, I'm not surprised she came to the conclusion that it was Sunset Shimmer herself that came to rescue her."

Judy blinked. "I'm sorry? What was the name?"

"Sunset Shimmer," Molly's dad replied. "I know, weird name, right? Even worse, she was supposed to be a unicorn." He shook his head. "Dad had a bunch of stories about her doing the craziest things."

"Oh?" Judy smiled. "Would you mind sharing a few of those? I'm sure Sunset would be amused to hear them."

"So, Carrots, what did we learn?"

Judy glanced at Nick. "A lot. A whole lot of things that don't make sense."

"Huh?"

"Nick! Weren't you paying attention?"

Nick cleared his throat. "Um. I was uh, talking to the parents."

"Right." Judy rolled her eyes.

"I mean, you know kids exaggerate all the time right?" Nick said after a moment. "Bending fire? Come on. They have big imaginations."

"But don't you find it odd how they all had the same important details? Sunset runs in, she waves her hand, fire bends around them and they run out?"

"You know what I did notice?" Nick deadpanned. "That Sunset is a wolf, and not a unicorn."

"But there must be something else to it… even Mr. Clawhorn Jr. knew about her, and I never said her last name."

Nick gave her a look, and she sighed. "I know. It's just… so much coincidence! I don't believe she's really a unicorn, alright? But you can't tell me it's not strange that Mr. Clawhorn told his own son when he was just a child about her, and then Molly later on."

"Carrots, people sometimes name their kids after themselves. Sunset is a nice name, right? Maybe that's why her mom named her after her great grandmother who liked to pretend she was a unicorn?"

"My point, Nick, is that there's too many coincidences for this to be random." Judy turned into the street where Sunset's home should have been last night. "And remember how we couldn't find her house, just like the story said about it moving to different places?"

"Did Sunset look to you like someone who could fly and shoot bolts of power from her hands?"

Judy sighed. "No."

"Then I think it's just all a happy coincidence. We still have the rest of the day to figure more out, right?"

"I guess."

A few minutes later, they pulled to a stop right in front of Sunset's weird door, where the wolf was already waiting for them. Their guest grinned and waved, looking around before crossing over to jump into the car.

"Hey guys, I'm starving. Do you know a good place to grab a bite?" Sunset asked, jumping into the car.

Judy felt a sense of dread creeping up her spine, and turned to face Nick, who was grinning ear to ear. "Well, it just so happens that Judy was going to try out a Bugburger today. Wanna come?"

Bugs were not exactly Sunset's favorite thing to eat. Not most bugs, at least. There were certain recipes that used crickets, for example, and they were delicious, but these bugs had been turned into… meat patties, and it was slightly disturbing. Still, it was the usual diet for the place and the Isekai had made sure she had the biology to stomach them.

So she had to wonder, why exactly was Judy sitting across from her with a double bugburger with cheese. She turned to look at Nick, who caught her eye and smiled.

"Well, do you remember that bet Judy mentioned about trying predator food?"

Sunset blinked. "Oh yeah, I do, but you never said what the bet was about."

"Well, that was part of the bet, you see," Nick said, "we had agreed that no predator should know about the bet so it couldn't be staged."

Judy mumbled something, unable to look up, so glued her eyes were to the burger in front of her.

"And the bet was?" Sunset prodded.

"To have a predator order an entirely herbivore dish with no meat whatsoever, unironically, and unprompted, and eat it." Nick grinned. "And enjoy it."

Sunset nodded. "That does seem a bit far fetched. So when did she lose the bet?"

"Last night."

Sunset blinked. Oh. "Oh. Oh… so that's why she was insisting I added salmon to the salad?"

"Yep." Nick leaned back and took a bite of his burger, humming in appreciation. "Deeeelecious!"

Sunset shrugged and picked up hers, sniffing it briefly before taking a bite. "Wow," she said before she remembered to chew and swallow. "Wow," she repeated, taking another bite and chewing it through. "This is great!"

"Right?" Nick asked, then elbowed Judy. "Come on, Carrots, time to do it."

"Nick, I don't know if I can do this on an empty stomach."

Nick sighed, placing a comforting paw on Judy's shoulder. She did not seem to like where that was going, if her frown was anything to judge. "Carrots, I understand. If it's too much for a bunny to eat a burger, that's nothing to be ashamed of. I don't expect anyone would have any less respect for a heroic rabbit that saved a whole city but couldn't own up to a bet. But don't worry, I'll make sure to let the rest of the station know not to—"

"FINE!" Judy hollered before taking a large bite out of the burger, surprising Nick and stopping him short.

Sunset watched Judy gurgle, then force herself to chew as the fur around her cheeks took a green hue. She chewed slowly, then gulped down a piece large enough for Sunset to see it slide down her throat. "Right, I'm never underestimating a rabbit again."

"People—hack—do that a lot with me—cough—," Judy managed to choke out.

Shaking her head, Sunset stood and got her a milkshake from the herbivore menu, setting it in front of the grateful police rabbit, before finishing her own burger off. "So, what can I expect from the mayor's speech today?"

"Nothing much," Nick said, "the mayor loves hearing his own voice, so he'll do most of the talking. I think the most you'll have to do is maybe say 'thank you', and maybe a few words before he pushes you to the side."

Sunset sighed. "Ah well, I guess I didn't need to spend all morning thinking up a speech."

"Welcome to Zootopia." Nick chuckled.

"Basically it's just going to be us and the children you rescued standing there awkwardly while he talks a lot about how great things are despite the Museum burning down," Judy said after downing half her drink. "After that… I guess you'll be free to go, while Nick and I investigate the case."

Sunset looked up at that. "Wait, are you saying it wasn't an accident?"

Judy pressed her lips and seemed to consider her options, exchanging glances with Nick. "We… don't think so," she said carefully after a moment of pondering and looking around the mostly empty place to make sure no one was listening in. "There's not enough evidence yet to say one way or another."

Sunset frowned, crossing her arms. "I hope it was an accident… putting so many lives in danger on purpose is despicable."

Judy groaned, then sighed. "Look, I wanted to ask you this last night… but how long have you been in business with Clawhorn and Hoof?"

Sunset shrugged. "Me? Never. Rarity is the one that knows them, why?"

"It seems that the fire spread from something that belonged to them," Judy said. "But we don't know what it could have been, or why it was stored in a museum."

Sunset had a sinking feeling that Rarity probably knew what it was. "Great. So that means that she, and by extension myself are suspects." She groaned dragging a hand down her face. "Figures."

"Is there anything you'd be willing to tell us?" Judy asked.

"Nothing I can say," Sunset replied, sighing, "I honestly don't know even if Rarity knows about it. Until I ask her, there's no saying either way."

"Well, it was worth asking," Nick muttered.

"Yeah," Judy said. "So, Sunset, how come you're not a unicorn this time?"

"Oh, it'd freak out p—" She clamped her muzzle shut and stared at Judy, who was giving her an unamused look. "I mean… uh, heh. Unicorns? Those aren't real!"

Nick looked from her to Judy, back to her. "Right. I'll get a box for my food. I don't think we should be staying here for this conversation."