Jasper sat across from his neutral-expression friend as she sipped on a Diet Dr. Pepper from a short glass. The two had been sitting at a local diner where they knew one of their parent’s friends owned the place. Her name was Pinkie Pie, and she had opened up her own bakery across the street and with a few years of success under her belt, she had opted to buy the diner that she used to waitress at when she was in high school.

She was an odd one, and with how busy their parents were, they never saw her come over to visit them, but they knew that they were close at one point from old photos of them all in high school. Pinkie was always fairly eccentric but she always meant well.

Jasper glanced over the note that was sloppily written in the spiral-bound notebook and squinted as he examined it thoroughly for a few long moments. Once he was finished examining it, he looked up from his hamburger at his slender friend.

“You really think came from your ma?” He asked curiously.

Horizon nodded before sipping from her drink once more. “I recognize her handwriting. It’s definitely her.”

“And y’all found it where?” Jasper squared his eye in confusion.

“I found it in some kind of secret room hidden in a hallway at my house. I had to pull some kind of light fixture for it to open,” Horizon explained simply as if this were a normal occurrence for most kids her age.

Jasper rubbed his clean shaved chin in thought. “What else was in there?”

Horizon shrugged. “Some old computers and what looked like a server or something. Looked at least a decade or so old. I couldn’t get into them though because there was some kind of password locking them and I don’t know anything about computers if I’m perfectly honest.”

It was odd to think that Horizon was only moderate with computers, given that Twilight was quite skilled with them, but then again Horizon lacked drive. “Could Twilight know the password?”

Horizon shrugged. “I doubt it. I didn’t see any signs that suggested Twilight even knew about that room and even if she did, or had a way to hack the password, I doubt she’d cooperate. She’s always changed the subject when anything about my mother comes up...”

Jasper had to admit that even he thought it was more than a long shot to expect Twilight Shimmer to actually assist them in getting access to a computer that Horizon’s mother was using. As long as Jasper could remember, she avoided talking about Sunset or her twin sister.

“That makes sense...” Jasper sighed.

“Why do you think she doesn’t like talking about her? She was married to her.” Horizon pointed out.

Jasper noted there wasn’t a hint of sadness in Horizon’s voice, but instead her question was given as a genuine curiosity. Such was like her though, Horizon never made it obvious what she was feeling though he could obviously see that curiosity overcame her mind.

The teenager rubbed his neck and leaned back in his chair, he tried to think of a way to word it. The reality was, as long as he knew Horizon, her parents were always very estranged. Sunset seemed to come and go in her life, and when they were much younger, everyone assumed she was dead. She was an enigma, but he couldn’t really bad mouth her. He recalled what she was like when she was around, and there was no denying that Horizon and Twilight were the centers of that woman’s world.

If he thought back to when they were young children, he could remember Horizon’s mother after she came back from being gone for three years. No one really said where she went, but from that moment on, there wasn’t a place that Horizon went where Sunset didn’t follow. The woman stayed at home to home school her while Twilight went to school and work (even though they were more than affluent enough for her not to do so).

Sunset would take her everywhere, and she would always stick around for a long time after she dropped her off at his house for a sleepover. She’d stay up late having tea and conversation with his mother, Rarity and they would laugh. If he thought hard enough, he could still remember always finding the woman’s red hair on Horizon’s clothes.

Everyone always said that Sunset adored her little girl, and her behavior suggested it was true. As long as Sunset was around, Horizon had someone at her side. It was almost like something out of a fairy tale really.

But one day it all changed.

Horizon woke up one morning and Sunset was gone once again. She was only eight years old at the time, and he remembered he was staying over when it happened. They came downstairs that morning and there was Twilight Shimmer sitting at the breakfast table with a cup of cold coffee in her hand. Her eyes were puffy from crying, and she looked to both of them with a look of hurt that Jasper could never forget.

Horizon would ask her what was wrong, and Twilight would muster up the ability to speak to both of them.

Mommy is gone.

Jasper’s heart broke that day and every day since if he ever thought about it. The words that left Horizon’s mouth still rung in his ears. Just the words of a child curiously wondering something.

When’s she coming back?

If that weren’t bad enough, what Twilight said next still stuck with him.

She probably isn’t coming back... I’m sorry, Horizon.

He never forgot the tears rolling down Twilight’s face. Her makeup smearing, but Horizon just stood there. She didn’t scream, she didn’t cry, she just stood there, expressionless. From that day forward, that was the face she made all the time, an expressionless face.

All that time, he knew that deep down, somewhere inside of Horizon there were powerful emotions, but they were buried in her to escape the pain. He had a feeling that they were all in there somewhere.

“Maybe she misses her?” Jasper asked.

Horizon shrugged.

“Sorry if’n this is uncomfortable, but maybe to get to the bottom of this, y’all can tell me a bit about how they was when I wasn’t around?” Jasper asked with a warm smile.

“Why would it be uncomfortable?” Horizon tilted her head.

Jasper bit his lip. “R-right... So what were they like? Did they argue at all?”

Horizon shook her head. “Not that I remember. Sunset and Twilight always got along. Every weekend Sunset would bring her flowers or some kind of present. I think I remember her rubbing Twilight’s feet a lot too... Scratching her back all the time as well.”

“My mother always said that a good foot rub’ll win any lady over.” Jasper chuckled.

Horizon had never heard that phrase before but chose not to respond to it.

“So, they weren’t havin’ problems then?”

“Not that I can think of,” Horizon said.

“Hmmm... Maybe y’all gotta look into something else... Why are y’all interested in this anyway? No offense, but this was eight years ago when she vanished.” Jasper picked his burger up and took a bite after he finished speaking.

That question made Horizon question herself. She couldn’t explain why she was interested if she was perfectly honest.

“I guess I’m just fascinated is all...” Horizon shrugged.

He couldn’t argue with her on that. If anything, he was just happy to see her passionate enough about something to pursue it. He swallowed his food and wiped his mouth with a napkin.

“Well, where y’all want to start then? Any other ideas of how to pursue this anywhere else?” He asked with a grin.

Nodding, Horizon produced another notebook. “My aunt Shimmer apparently had done some interesting research in her time. She was a bit mysterious though and no one seems interested in telling me about her. I have a feeling that she might be connected to all of this. Something about her has me curious...”

“Alright, so we can look into her while we try’n find someone who’s good with a computer. I’m sure we can track someone down that can get us into that computer. In the meantime, we can look into Shimmer and what happened to her.” Jasper nodded.

It actually sounded like a good plan. While they were blocked from accessing the computer, for the time being, they could use their time productively. Horizon found the resolve to find out what happened to her mother eight years ago, and she intended to pursue that.

Jasper and Horizon had headed to the library after school the following week. They intended to look up anything and everything on Shimmer. They had heard the stories about her parents being murdered, but the police sealed up a lot of the information and never released it to the public, as they also did regarding Shimmer’s own murder.

It was too much of a coincidence that both her parents and she had been murdered. Jasper was certain that it wasn’t a coincidence and that the two events were connected. This left Sunset as the heir to her fortune.

Checking through old articles, Jasper found it odd how they referred to Shimmer. He whispered in a hushed tone to Horizon as he tapped a page on a book. “It’s strange. The police apparently said that Shimmer was sayin’ nonsense when they found her at her parent’s murder scene. She was covered in blood, but the killer made no attempt to take her out too...”

“Does it say what she was saying?” Horizon leaned over his shoulder to look.

“Nah, she was a minor at the time so they didn’t release that. Still, it’s pretty odd ain’t it? If someone broke into the house and killed ‘em, why didn’t they take anything? They were the richest family in the city, and there was plenty to steal. Furthermore, they didn’t kill the daughter either?” Jasper pointed out.

He had a strong point. Horizon couldn’t piece together a logical explanation regarding that. She looked over the photos in the article and retrieved the notebook she had brought, flipping it over to the drawing that Sunset had made. “Is there anything about this?”

Jasper shook his head. “Nothing that I can see. I ain’t got the slightest what that drawing is though. It’s obvious that it must have been important or Sunset wouldn’t of written ‘er down, but I can’t make sense of it. What is it supposed to be?”

Horizon turned the paper and adjusted her glasses as she gave it another look. That sketch had been bothering her for some time. She couldn’t make sense of what it was, but it resembled a bunch of strange-looking jagged arrow-shaped objects points in various directions. Around the strange shapes were arrows drawn pointing in all kinds of directions.

One of them had the letter “L” on it, which only added to the confusion. Even odder was there were several dates written on the drawing that Horizon could see. Each seemed to be years apart and went on for decades. One of them written was only a few months from the present date which perplexed Horizon more. What could be happening on those dates? Were they connected to the sketch at all?

Jasper blinked as he noticed something about the drawing. “Hey, lemme take a look at that...”

Horizon handed it over, and Jasper held the paper up to the light, noticing that there was an indentation where someone had written on a piece of paper that probably sat on top of the diagram at some point. He quickly pulled out another sheet of paper and began to jot down what he could read as he paid attention to the indentation.

I left the box where only Twilight could find it. It should be safe there when I’m gone. She likely won't even know what she has.

“Box? What box?” Horizon asked.

Jasper shrugged. “Guess we have to keep lookin’. Did y’all find anything on Shimmer on your end?”

Horizon pulled up a window from her phone and pulled the hologram in front of both of them. “I did some digging on my family tree. It seems as though Shimmer had an aunt and two cousins, but for some reason, they never really come around and I’ve never met them. Maybe asking them a few questions could prove productive?”

“There’s an idea!” Jasper grinned. “Maybe they can explain why everyone is so hush-hush. Still, it looks like whatever Sunset was mixed up in wasn’t normal. It’s kinda excitin’ if I’m blunt.”

Horizon wasn’t sure if “exciting” was the word she would use, but she definitely felt compelled enough to want to see this all through. Her mother was clearly wrapped up in some kind of mystery, and her aunt Shimmer likely knew more about it. It had always seemed strange to her after all. She had been told when she was young that her mother and her aunt Shimmer were twins who had coincidentally been given the same first name when they were separated at birth.

From there, her mother grew up with parents that apparently didn’t seem to care too much what she did until she ran away from home as a young teen and grew up.

She and her twin sister would find each other again when she was in high school, and that ended up making Sunset the heir to their estate when Shimmer died.

It all sounded far too unrealistic to Horizon. For years she never thought much of it, but now that she was examining it under a microscope, it really did seem somewhat odd. Logically speaking, the odds of so many very strange coincidences happening were low.

For starters, why did Shimmer’s parents give up their twin daughter? From all she had heard about them, they seemed to be the type that would have never given up their child. Shimmer had been given all she could ever want and her parents spent all the time in the world with her. Why would such loving people choose to keep one daughter but relinquish the other?

“You think it’s odd that my mother was given up at birth yet Shimmer wasn’t?” Horizon asked Jasper.

Jasper nodded. “Y’know I was thinkin’ the same thing. It does seem unlikely that they would be all over one daughter, but just give up her twin sister like that... On top of that, it seems like everything worked out in your mother’s favor in the end. Her sister died only shortly after they reunited and shortly before her death, Sunset is made the heir to her fortune?”

Was it possible that Sunset had arranged to have Shimmer killed? No, that didn’t make sense to Horizon as that would have required prior knowledge that Shimmer had made her the heir to her estate and that wasn’t feasible. That meant that Shimmer had to have known she was going to die or that there was a high probability, otherwise there was nothing that would compel a teenage girl to consider making such a drastic change to her will.

“Shimmer had to be aware that there was a possibility that she was going to die...” Horizon surmised out loud.

Jasper followed her train of thought. “So whatever Shimmer was involved in musta’ been connected to your mom...”

“Do you think it’s possible that the same thing is somehow connected to her disappearance?” Horizon tilted her head.

Jasper smirked. “Coincidences like this are often unlikely. I’m willin’ to bet that there’s more to all of this.”

“So we should start by going to see my great aunt. She would probably know something about Shimmer, maybe enough to figure out where to look next?” Horizon suggested.

“Sounds like a plan. Any clue where they live?” Jasper asked.

She nodded. “I managed to get an address when I looked them up. They live outside of the city, but it’s not a long drive. I can go and see them after school tomorrow, Twilight is going to be out late because she has a late night class to teach, so she won’t even notice I’m gone.”

She said those words as if it mattered. Twilight could ask her what she was doing at any given time, but if Horizon didn’t answer, it wasn’t as if Twilight ever pried further. Twilight wasn’t the type of parent to always badger her children about what they were doing or where they were going. She trusted that Horizon wasn’t doing drugs, having unprotected sex or meeting with shady people, so she mostly left her alone.

Horizon helped herself in that regard by not being interested in any of the activities that would lead a parent to have reason to be concerned.

“Sounds good.” Jasper winked.

Horizon had arrived just outside her great aunt’s home a good eight minutes after she had originally planned. Traffic coming out of the city at the end of school hours proved to be more challenging than she had originally anticipated. Still, she had arrived long before the sun would go down, and as she turned her car off, she glanced over at the house where they lived.

It wasn’t the best looking house if anything it was far underwhelming compared to what Horizon had imagined. It was odd that her great aunt appeared to be quite poor comparatively, as her home was the definition of a run-down urban abode.

Horizon locked her car door as she stepped out of the car and made her way carefully to the car, her black short skirt flowing gently in the breeze as she walked. It was longer on one side than the other, which complimented her body well.

With lacy black arm stockings, Horizon reached forward and rang the doorbell. After that, she allowed her arms to hang at her sides haphazardly.

She would reach up and scratch her head carelessly, as she yawned when the door swung open with an older woman standing in it. Her hair was completely grey and dead looking as she gave a scowl to Horizon. “What? What do you want?” The woman asked.

Horizon looked her up and down. The woman was nothing to look at, and she seemed to have aged poorly; time hadn’t been pleasant to her for sure.

“Are you Lilly?” Horizon asked bluntly.

The grey-haired haggard old woman eyed up the teen and raised a brow in question. “Who wants to know?”

“You’re related to the Shimmer family, right?” Horizon continued her line of questioning, not really noticing that the woman was given her strange looks.

“Again, who wants to know?” The woman asked again.

“My name is Horizon Shimmer. I’m the daughter of Sunset and Twilight Shimmer,” Horizon finally explained.

Lilly scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Ugh, what the fuck do you want?”

“May I ask you a few questions?” Horizon asked.

“What the fuck for?” The woman kept her arms crossed as she gave Horizon the stink eye.

“I had some questions about the Shimmer family, and so far you seem to be my only lead,” Horizon explained plainly.

Lilly didn’t seem to enjoy Horizon’s demeanor. She clearly thought that the girl was odd with how direct and blunt she was, but she was only made stranger by the fact that she didn’t seem too offended by how rude Lily was being.

Lily considered telling her off, she considered telling her to blow it out her ass, but instead, she sighed and gestured for the rich teenage to come into the pile of crap that she called home. “Sure, why the fuck not?”

Once inside, Horizon instantly took note of the fact that the place was very much on the rundown side, her great aunt definitely was poorer than she could imagine.

After the woman sat down in the living room, Horizon sat across from her on a very poor quality couch. She could feel the seat recess inward as she sat down, signifying that the springs were worn. She said nothing, however, and just stared at the woman.

“So, what did you want to ask, kid?” Lilly questioned as she lit up a cigarette. She didn’t seem to care if she was blowing the smoke in Horizon’s face.

“You knew my aunt Shimmer, what was she like?” Horizon asked.

Lilly let out a hearty chuckle and shook her head. “A selfish bitch.”

“How so?” Horizon asked.

“She hoarded everything to herself and left it all to that whore of a sister of hers!” Lilly explained with a grunt.

“Whore? Sunset was promiscuous?” Horizon asked with genuine curiosity.

“How should I know? That girl just appeared out of nowhere! My sister never mentioned anything about having a second child, but then that girl just appeared out of nowhere, going on about being some long lost twin sister. It’s bullshit if you ask me!” Lilly hissed.

This was a detail that seemed to keep reappearing to Horizon; no one in her family seemed to recall anything said about Shimmer having a twin sister, and she only reappeared only a short time before Shimmer died. The only thing that made it obvious that the two were related was their uncanny appearance which couldn’t be denied was extensively similar.

Was it possible that Shimmer’s parents had hidden their second child from the world for a reason?

“Why would the Shimmers hide their other daughter? Do you have any guess?” Horizon yawned.

Lilly shrugged as she flicked the ashes from her cigarette right onto the floor, clearly not concerned with ruining her already trashy home. “Who knows? I imagine so my sister could fuck me over like she did! Probably wanted to keep another potential heir a secret. She always was a selfish cunt.”

“Do you have any clue why Shimmer was murdered?” Horizon changed the subject.

Lilly laughed, clearly not the slightest bit upset that her niece was dead at the ripe age of 19. “Who knows? Who cares? Chances are she fucked over someone else who decided they weren’t going to take it laying down. I say karma is a bitch, and she learned that the hard way. I took that girl in and raised her as my own when her parents died, and she repaid me by cutting me out of the will and giving everything to that bitch.”

By bitch, Horizon assumed she meant her mother.

“Sunset though, her sister... What did you know about her?” Horizon asked.

Lilly shook her head. “Nothing. After she got the money, she became a shut-in for a long time. Wouldn’t come out, no one really knew much about her. She didn’t really do a lot of media appearances either. After she got married, her wife did all the talking for her. From my understanding, she went missing a few years back didn’t she?”

Horizon nodded. “Correct, I’m looking for her.”

Lilly laughed heartily before wiping her eyes, the poor makeup job on her face was smearing as she did. “Good luck with that! The girl always struck me as a flake. Face it, kid, she probably just didn’t want to be a parent anymore so she bailed. Probably took a large sum of money that she moved to some other account and disappeared.”

Horizon just stared blankly as Lilly squinted at her. “What’s wrong? Aren’t you going to defend your mom? Tell me how wrong I am?”

Horizon shrugged. “I can’t assert if you’re right or wrong if I’m honest. I only really knew my mother from age four to eight. She was always pretty secretive as far as I remember, so anyone’s theory on her could be accurate.”

“You’re a weird little brat, you know that?” Lilly shook her head.

“I have been told regarding my ‘weirdness’, so I suppose it would be accurate to say that I ‘know that’, yes.” Horizon nodded.

Lilly clearly couldn’t believe that such a strange and daft girl was the heir to the Shimmer estate. She struck Lilly as somewhat of an airhead, or at the very least, a social retard. That effectively made her very similar to her late niece at least.

“Either way, all I can see about your mother is that I didn’t know her that well, and she was a cunt to me. For all I care, she could be dead and that’d be just fine,” Lilly said with a harsh tone.

“If Sunset could go anywhere, where would it be?” Horizon ignored the woman’s rudeness, though truthfully she didn’t find herself offended by it. If anything, Horizon was immune to the effects of mean words at that point in her life.

“How the fuck should I know? The cunt kept all kinds of secrets. Why not try and find out from whatever places she frequented?” Lilly hissed.

“Did she keep any kind of place that only she could get into?” Horizon ignored the woman’s rudeness.

Lilly seemed to be more annoyed by the fact that Horizon didn’t seem to respond to her nasty commentary about her mother, but she kept talking regardless. “She has a storage unit somewhere downtown. I remember when I sent my husband to spy on her after she got all that money she went there a lot...”

Horizon tilted her head. “Why would you spy on her?”

“Because I needed to know if that bitch really was her twin sister! I got cheated out of millions, I wanted to be sure that she was the real deal!” Lilly barked.

Horizon yawned, bored of the conversation now. “Did you find anything that suggested she was not?”

“If I did, do you think I’d still be living in this shit hole?” Lilly raised a brow, obviously sarcastic, but Horizon obviously didn’t see that.

Horizon just shrugged.

“Look, I’ve had enough of your bullshit questions, kid. What is all this for, anyway?” Lilly asked.

Horizon shrugged once more. She didn’t really have an answer to that question as she hadn’t figured that one out herself. What would she actually do if she managed to find her mother? What were the odds of her even being alive anymore? Eight years was a long time, and not a soul had seen a trace of her?

Now that she thought about it, Jasper had mentioned after they found her note that it sounded like she was interested in taking her own life or that she was dying. Horizon couldn’t tell, but Jasper was fairly good at reading emotions like that even from text. Horizon was dreadful with emotional reading, but with him, at her side, she could at least get by and avoid social faux pas, most of the time anyway.

“I don’t know, really,” Horizon answered.

“You’re a freak just like your aunt, you know that?” Lilly rolled her eyes.

Horizon said nothing.

“Now could you kindly get the fuck out of my house? I don’t want anything else to do with you Shimmers. Come here again and I’m calling the police,” Lilly threatened.

“My uncle is a detective for the Canterlot Police Department actually,” Horizon pointed out.

Lilly’s eyes widened as she sneered. “Are you threatening me?”

“No, just making conversation, I suppose.” Horizon shrugged.

“Get the fuck out of here, now!” Lilly pointed toward the old run-down door.

Standing casually, Horizon nodded as she walked toward the exit. Once she was outside of the door and on the steps, she turned back to speak to Lilly once again. “It was nice meeting you.” Horizon stated, her face remaining as neutral as always.

“Making fun of me now!?” Lilly yelled toward her as she approached the door with her hands balled into fists.

“I do not believe so?” Horizon tilted her head. “Did it sound like I was?”

“Up yours, kid!” Lilly slammed the door shut, the wind from it gently making Horizon’s hair dance.

“What an odd woman,” Horizon commented to herself as she made her way back to her car.

The entire meeting wasn’t tremendously productive, but she did at least walk away with information pertaining to a storage locker. It wouldn’t take much to find out where that locker was, a few simple phone calls and she could check for her mother’s name until she found the right one. From there it was merely a matter of driving up to the locker and getting inside.

She didn’t know anything about lock picking, but she surmised that Jasper could likely find someone who was capable of it.

“Lock pickin’? ‘Fraid I don’t know anyone who can do that. My mother maybe, but I don’t think we’d want her involved in your little mystery chase here...” Jasper stated to Horizon as the two walked back toward her car in the parking lot. She had come by to pick him up from school.

Rarity was quite a fascinating woman to Horizon. She seemed to have many talents that were peculiar for a woman who had as much class as she did. Lock picking was yet another odd skill of hers, right up there with marksmanship. From what Horizon recalled, the woman was also a black belt as well.

Applejack was another story. She had the exact kind of talents you’d expect someone like her to have: strength, amazing skill at spades, and the ability to play bass guitar. Applejack was definitely a “what you see is what you get” kind of girl, whereas Rarity was a bit more mysterious than that.

“I managed to locate a storage locker that my mother frequented apparently. I can’t get in though, the locks are fairly tough, bolt cutters didn’t seem to do much either. Some kind of special lock...” Horizon explained.

“I take it you got that info from your aunt Lilly?” Jasper gestured with his hand as the two came within viewing distance of Horizon’s Audi.

Horizon nodded.

“What kind of person was she?” Jasper asked curiously.

“Rude. I think anyway? Hard to say... Is telling someone to get the fuck out of your home rude?” Horizon tilted her head.

Jasper could tell from her tone and her demeanor that she was posing a serious question; she legitimately didn’t know.

“Sounds pretty rude to me... At least y’all got some useful info outta’ her.” Jasper smiled and nudged the girl’s shoulder gently.

Horizon remained silent, unsure of what to say in response.

The two made it to the row where her car was parked before the raspy voice of another male echoed through the air. Both of them stopped as they heard the masculine voice.

“Hey! Are you Jasper Apple?”

Both of them turned and saw a male about the same height as Jasper, give or take an inch standing with his arms crossed.

His pink hair was fairly long but stopped at around his neck. Most of it was covered by a dark purple slouched beanie atop his head. His magenta eyes stared the two down with a serious look upon them.

Horizon noted his small nose and clear skin as distinguishing features. He had small lips as well, which seemed to stand out just slightly.

“Who might y’all be?” Jasper questioned.

Rubbing his clean-shaven chin with a smirk, his asymmetrical tank top moved gently in the wind. It was dark red in color and had a band logo on it that Horizon wasn’t familiar with, but surmised that it was probably some kind of metal band given the style of the logo. She had seen them before, though she wasn’t much of a music person.

“Bolt, Bolt Dash. You’re Jasper Apple though?” He raised a brow.

Jasper nodded. “Sure am.”

“You rescued my kid brother the other day?” Bolt asked.

Jasper looked up in thought and recalled when the two of them assisted Cloud. The connection became clear. “Oh, you must be Cloud’s brother then? No worries, it was mostly Horizon who took action first.” He gestured to the girl next to him.

Bolt blinked and stepped forward, squaring Horizon up. She didn’t look like much, she was sort of pretty, but in an unkempt way. Her blank expression left a lot to be desired though, he wondered if she’d look better if she smiled.

Horizon was a small girl, petite and slender, there was no way she could have taken any of the bullies that were harassing Cloud.

“You were the one to step in first?” Bolt asked.

Horizon tilted her head but nodded.

“Are you stupid or something? Those guys would have ripped you apart!” Bolt laughed.

“Twilight actually taught me how to fight...” Horizon responded.

Though at the moment when the fight actually broke out, she was more stunned than anything else, so she didn’t know what to do. Jasper jumped in so quickly that she didn’t really think that he needed her help. In actuality, she was a competent fighter even though the style she had adopted was far different than Twilight’s.

Twilight had learned karate some years ago and while she was only a brown belt, she had a thing or two to pass onto her daughter. She insisted that Horizon be able to protect herself if a situation called for it. Though what ended up actually happening was Horizon adopted a unique fighting style all her own.

Bolt didn’t seem convinced but when he glanced over at Jasper, he figured that he must have done the bulk of the fighting. “Either way... I usually protect my brother myself, but I wasn’t around... I don’t like owing people stuff, so thanks and I’ll repay you with a favor, so what do you want?”

Horizon tilted her head. “Favor?”

He nodded. “Yeah as in, I’ll do something for you so we’re even. Let’s not drag this out...”

Jasper tapped Horizon’s shoulder. “Another person to help y’all look couldn’t hurt, right? Especially since his parents knew your mother.”

Bolt blinked and glanced back at Horizon when he heard those words. He had never met this girl before, but hearing that her mother knew his parents intrigued him. “Look for what?”

Jasper placed a hand upon Horizon’s dainty shoulder and smiled at Bolt. “Horizon here is sort of lookin’ into what happened to her mother eight years ago. She disappeared, and I’m helpin’ her find out what happened. It’d be a big help if y’all helped us look?”

Not particularly interested, but feeling obligated Bolt nodded in agreement. “Fine, though I think a date would be a far better way to repay you, don’t you?” His face contorted to a smirk as he peered at Horizon’s chest with interest.

Rolling his eyes, Jasper scoffed. “Maybe we shouldn’t work with this pervert...”

Horizon was confused. “Pervert?”

Bolt leaned in with an annoyed expression. “Hey, I said I’d help alright? What’s your deal man? She your girlfriend or something?”

Jasper rolled his eyes. “No, she ain’t my girlfriend, but y’all should treat a lady with respect, partner.”

Bolt let out a hearty laugh as he gripped his side. “Please, as if you haven’t thought something impure about a girl. If she isn’t your girlfriend then you should have no issue with me asking her on a date, right?”

He wanted to argue the point, but Jasper quickly realized it wasn’t worth his time, and instead stuffed his hands into his pockets and shrugged. He already knew it would be a waste of Bolt’s time to try and make a move on Horizon anyway. “Do what y’all want, but we’re gonna go back to solvin’ this mystery, alright?”

Sneering, Bolt began the follow the pair as they headed toward their car. “Hey, don’t walk away when I’m talking to you!”

Jasper turned back as Horizon placed her hand on the car door. “Ain’t got nothin’ else to say to y’all.”

Bolt blinked as he saw the car that Horizon was getting into. His eyes lit up in astonishment. Could this young teen really own such an expensive car?

He found himself unable to say anything else and the two got into the car and drove off, leaving Bolt standing there with an annoyed expression. His first impressions of the two were far from ideal, but he could tell that Horizon was determined to find answers to the mystery she was working on.

It didn’t exactly excite him to be working with Jasper, but he did owe the two of them. Grunting, he realized he had to honor his word as he stuffed his hands into his pockets and cursed under his breath.

Horizon and Jasper were standing in front of the storage locker facility that they intended to investigate further. Unfortunately, the advanced lock that secured the door still proved to be a problem for the two of them. Horizon couldn’t see a way to unlock it, and they had tried conventional means.

Jasper had brought along a blow torch that he had “borrowed” from his mom, but it didn’t appear to be having any effect on the metal padlock. Trying for a solid eight minutes, he finally gave up and set the portable torch down with a sight after turning it off. “What gives? This thing is indestructible!”

Horizon couldn’t deny that she found the lock quite odd. It seemed to resist heat or any attempt to break it, almost like it was other-worldly. How could a lock that appeared to be made out of the same steel that most locks were be so resistant to damage? The door itself seemed quite the same as well.

Looking over at one of the other lockers, Horizon had a thought. “Hey, Jasper...”

He looked up at her as he hunched on the ground with the torch. “Hm?”

“Try using the torch on one of the other lockers for a second...” Horizon suggested.

“Are y’all nuts? We can’t just go breakin’ into anyone’s locker!” Jasper reminded her.

“I meant just to see if the door will take damage from the torch...” Horizon explained.

He sighed and got up and relit his torch. Approaching a locker across from the one they were trying to enter, he carefully held the torch to the door for a few seconds. Sure enough, the metal began to melt and a small hole was formed.

Quickly he removed the torch and turned it off. When the hole cooled, he tapped it with a pen. “That’s weird... Why do all these other doors melt, but not the one that Sunset had?”

Horizon also found it quite odd. “Something about her door is different. She must have replaced it with a different material... Whatever was in there she wanted to keep a secret.”

How could she have pulled it off though? Did the storage facility not care? Then again, they likely had a “don’t ask too many questions” mentality. So long as the dues were paid, they often left the units alone.

“Is it possible that Sunset actually owns this entire lot?” Jasper suggested.

That was also a distinct possibility as well. The entire lot could have been bought out by her and the other units are only there as a front. She had to know for sure though.

“Melt off that other locker’s lock...” Horizon suggested as she pointed to the locker that he had just made a small hole in.

“What? I can’t do that...” Jasper shook his head.

“If I’m wrong, I can buy a replacement lock for the owner,” Horizon stated.

Sighing, Jasper relit his torch once more and focused it on the lock. Carefully, he cut through the metal and snapped it off. Dropping the ruined device onto the ground he looked back at Horizon who nodded for him to open the locker.

With another sigh, Jasper lifted the door and pulled it up.

What was inside was of no surprise to Horizon: nothing.

“Open the one next to it now...” Horizon pointed.

Jasper’s brow went up. “Y’all are serious?”

She nodded.

Cutting the next lock off, he opened that locker as well and once again the locker was completely empty.

The two began the process of opening another eight lockers all with locks on them and each ended up being completely empty.

“So this place is a front...” Horizon thought out loud.

“Guess so, I mean why would people put locks on so many lockers that ain’t got squat in ‘em?” Jasper affirmed.

“That must mean that my mother does actually own this entire place and all these other lockers are only set up to fool people into thinking this is a legitimate storage facility.” Horizon placed a thumb on her chin.

Jasper blinked. “Why would she wanna do somethin’ like that?”

“There must be something hidden in the locker we can’t get into, and this must all be an attempt to keep it hidden...” Horizon continued her train of thought.

“So you should get into it as soon as possible.” A familiar deep voice echoed across the open area causing both Jasper and Horizon to turn to see the same young face of Bolt Dash standing there, now sporting a dark blue hoodie with yellow lightning bolts decorating it. Jasper recognized it as a replica of the team jacket worn by the Wonderbolts Stunt team, a group that performed death-defying tricks in various X-sports. Jasper wasn’t much of a fan, but he had seen them on the internet a few times.

Bolt had his hands stuffed in the pockets of the jacket that was definitely about two sizes too big, but that was sort of the style of hoodies that people tended to wear now after all. Jasper didn’t quite get it, but he didn’t say much about it.

Horizon examined him and tilted her head as usual to show her confusion. “How did you get here?”

Jasper shrugged. “Well, I figured out that your part of the Shimmer family, so I googled your name and figured out where your estate was... Since I remember what your car looked like, I had a friend tail you both so I could come here...”

“You figured all that out on your own?” Jasper raised a brow in suspicion.

Bolt scoffed and looked away, red forming on his face. “I ain’t stupid, you know? I can figure shit out, alright?”

Horizon blinked. “Why are you here though?”

“To ask you on a date again... Why do you think, stupid? I told you before, I owe you one and I don’t like owing people stuff, so I came to repay my debt...” Bolt grunted.

Horizon could tell he wasn’t too thrilled to be indebted to her, but she didn’t really care that much. As far as she was concerned, he was just another tag along.

“Can you get us in this locker?” Horizon pointed to the locker.

He laughed. “Sure, you got a couple of hairpins?”

Horizon nodded and reached into her purse, retrieving a set of hairpins. She offered then to Bolt who stepped forward and took them. Looking them over, he nodded before reaching into his own pocket and retrieved a pack of cigarettes, of which he only had one left.

He drew it to his lips and lit it before taking a big inhale with an elated sigh following. “Cool, I can crack this thing for you.”

“You smoke?” Jasper blinked.

“Hey, how about you mind your own business... What I do is my business after all. Do you want the lock open or not?” Bolt growled.

Jasper stood up and crossed his arms. “I dunno if we should trust this hoodlum...”

Horizon shrugged. “Well the blowtorch didn’t work, so he’s the only option we have now. Logically, he’s the best choice.”

“Hear that, Apple? The girl says I’m the best choice, so why not lay off and let the master of unlocking get you in there?” Bolt smirked, his ego properly stroked by Horizon’s praise, something that Jasper had hoped to avoid. From the moment they met, Jasper could tell that the two wouldn’t get along, and he sensed that Bolt felt the same.

“Fine, work your magic...” Jasper rolled his eyes.

Nodding, he moved the cigarette to the corner of his mouth and puffed out some smoke. Blinking he looked at Horizon and grinned, offering the cancer stick to her.

Horizon just stared at it blankly before Jasper coughed and spoke up. “Don’t give that to her, it’s bad enough that y’all are doin’ it!”

Bolt shrugged and placed it back in his mouth before walking over to the door that the two were trying to open. He knelt down and began to work the lock. “So why you two hoping to find anyway?”

Horizon shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“So what happened exactly? She just disappeared or something?” Bolt asked as he focused on the lock.

“That’s about the short of it. Woman disappeared eight years ago, no kind of notice, nothin’. Ain’t the first time she disappeared though, she went away once when Horizon was born and didn’t come back for about three years...” Jasper explained as he wandered over, placing a hand upon his friend’s shoulder.

Bolt looked over his shoulder to catch a glimpse of Horizon’s face, a bit surprised that she didn’t seem that sad about the situation. Her expression remained as neutral as ever, which perplexed him. Bolt was already beginning to figure out that Horizon was a fairly agreeable girl, in that she didn’t seem to be run by emotion, and instead just went with whatever was happening at the time. Fine by him, he didn’t want some annoying girl always crying about something nearby anyway.

“So you two are sort of hoping to find her or something?” Bolt asked.

“Or at the very least where she went...” Jasper shrugged.

Bolt removed the cigarette from his lips and let out a puff of smoke as he nodded. “I guess I understand...”

“How did y’all learn to pick locks exactly?” Jasper questioned.

With his eyes still on the lock in front of him, Bolt spoke. “Something that my mom taught me. She’s full of useful skills, but I have a tendency to pick up the ones that I can use in day to day life. At school, I pick the locks on some of the rooms all the time. At my last school, I used to pick the lock on the exit so that I could get out of detention early.”

“How... Enlightenin’...” Jasper commented.

Stopping with his lock picking, Bolt turned back and looked at Horizon. “Hey, I’ve been meaning to ask... Did anyone ever report your mom missing?”

Horizon nodded. “Twilight did, and my uncle is a detective, so I imagine he would have found her by now if she was easy to locate.”

Bolt rubbed his chin and let out a puff of smoke. He finished his cigarette and tossed it onto the ground, stamping it out with his skater shoes. “So if a detective can’t find her, what makes you both think that you will?”

“We have to try, it’s important to Horizon.” Jasper crossed his arms once more.

Bolt had a face that suggested he had something to say, but instead, he withheld it and gave a simple “hm” before returning to work on the lock.

The lock was quite bizarre. Bolt had never really seen anything like it and found it slightly more troublesome than the ones he cracked at school. Something about it was off-putting to him and made him uneasy. He had overheard Jasper mention that they tried blowtorching the door with no success and that bothered him.

A lock like that one should have easily come off with the assistance of a blowtorch, so why didn’t it? More importantly, how did this Sunset Shimmer woman manage to get a lot that was so difficult to remove? He supposed she was rich and that meant she had access to something like this lock, but it was still odd to him that she would go through so much trouble. She really must have not wanted people to see what was inside.

That single thought made him stop. “Hey, did you guys ever consider that maybe your mom locked this door for a good reason?”

“What do y’all mean?” Jasper leaned in.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for breaking the rules. I’m very pro-breaking of the rules as they say, but sometimes people do tell you not to do something for a good reason. Something about this room and this lock makes me a bit uneasy. Are you both sure that you want to see what’s beyond this door?” Bolt sounded like he got very serious all of a sudden.

Jasper closed his eyes for a moment and contemplated that very thought. A part of him would love to believe that they were worried over nothing, but the truth was that even he was having a hard time justifying looking beyond that door. If Sunset had gone through such lengths to keep its content then she must have had a good reason, right?

Jasper didn’t remember too much about the woman shy of when she came over to pick up Horizon or drop her off. His mother, Rarity seemed to get along fine with her, but his ma, Applejack and she always seemed to but heads over the smallest things. He recalled his ma telling him that Sunset Shimmer was worthless at one point, which he just shrugged off.

While his own opinion toward Sunset Shimmer was still undecided, Jasper was not a fan of how his ma, who was always so honest, had to lie and speak positively of Sunset in Horizon’s presence or bite her tongue. She had told Jasper that it wasn’t her place to criticize a girl’s mother right to her face, and so Horizon didn’t know how little Applejack actually thought of her mother.

What kind of secrets could a woman like Sunset keep, after all? They didn’t know much about her, so there could be any number of explanations as to why she went through such lengths to hide this storage facility and whatever was inside. She had money as well, which usually made disappearing far easier than it would be for those who were in financial turmoil.

“To be honest, there could be anything in there. See, we didn’t exactly know Sunset Shimmer too well, and she was always pretty secretive-like when she was around. Fact of the matter is, that whatever happened to cause her to leave is anyone’s guess.” Jasper rubbed his neck.

When he said it out loud like that, it made him think they were actually going on a wild goose chase.

Bolt raised a brow. “So she’s a real secretive type then?”

Horizon nodded in agreement. That assessment accurately described her mother. Even when she was around, Horizon remembered that her mother always saved her words and seldom talked about herself. She was a difficult person to get to know, and everyone they ran into agreed. Twilight seemed to be one of the few people that she was close to along with Rarity who treated her almost like a sister at times.

If she closed her eyes, and thought really hard, Horizon could barely remember what her mother even looked like without the paintings and photos of her around the house. Then again after eight years it was very feasible that she looked different. It had been close to a decade since Horizon saw her last and in that time she had grown up. She was now a sophomore in high school after all.

She recalled the long red hair that her mother had, that was probably her most distinguishing feature.

“As long as I can remember, Sunset has always been a secretive person...” Horizon replied dryly.

Finding her oddly overly calm and casual tone a bit off-putting, Bolt made an awkward face but then turned to Jasper. “I gotta ask though, if this woman went missing years ago... What makes you think she’s still alive?”

Horizon had considered that possibility for certain. The odds of a person just vanishing and remaining hidden for so long without any explanation and still being alive almost a decade later were often slim. The big question though was if Sunset was lost or if she didn’t want to be found.

It was hard to get a read on her.

“There is certainly a distinct possibility that she is deceased,” Horizon replied.

“You seem to be taking such a possibility quite well...” Bolt blinked in astonishment.

Horizon just shrugged. “I reserve my thoughts and reactions for situations that have happened, not ones that could potentially happen. It’s a waste of time and energy to react to something that hasn’t happened as there is a chance that it won’t happen.”

Bolt figured that made sense, though it was something that clearly only someone who had total control of their emotions could even do, Horizon was clearly one of the few that did. He couldn’t imagine what went on in the head of someone like that.

“Well if you’re both cool with it...” Bolt shrugged and knelt back down to go back to work on the lock.

Jasper stepped closer to his friend and watched as the teen jimmied the lock with a look of concentration upon his face. “This is a pretty odd lock... I’ve never seen anything like it before...” Bolt commented.

“Can you open it?” Horizon tilted her head.

A click was heard that caused all of them to fall silent for a moment followed by Bolt looking back at the two and smirking. “Sure can.”

Once the lock was off, he lifted the door and blinked. Behind the locker was a set of stairs that went down. Bolt looked back again at the two and grinned. “Shall we?”

Nodding, Horizon and Jasper followed all the way to the bottom where a steel door awaited them. Looking to the side it required a password, but the scanner seemed to be broken as it glitched out.

Pressing the “unlock” button made the door open and grant the group access to the room.

Once they stepped in, the lights flicked on and what they saw was beyond belief.

Sorry for the long delay! The Coronavirus made things complicated.

Can you believe we're already on chapter 100?