Horizon found herself awake at precisely 8:00 AM for some reason. The girl’s arm was laying over the side of her expensive king-sized bed as she lay there on her stomach with her eyes half open. The girl grumbled and yawned before turning over and reaching for her glasses. Placing them upon her face, her vision improved drastically as her eyes adjusted.

She sat upright and allowed the blanket to fall off of her. She was wearing a button-up nightshirt that was mostly unbuttoned, exposing a black lacy bra, and only a pair of matching panties on her bottom half. Coming to a stand, she wandered out of bed and scratched her head. Her hair was an absolute disaster, but she didn’t concern herself much over personal grooming. While Twilight was neat and tidy, Horizon was more of a practical person. If it didn’t impede her, she continued onward without a care.

Opening the door to the shower in her room, the young teen turned on the water before disrobing. She checked her collection of shampoos, counting eight total, Twilight always believed in being prepared, so she often overstocked items with no expiration date. They would have servants come in twice a week to do the cleaning of the building and shopping, but the family felt they didn’t want too many servants living there at all times.

Stepping into the shower, she felt herself waking up, just a bit more as the water washed over her, her hair becoming soaked instantly and falling down her face. She blinked as she realized she forgot to take off her glasses. Reaching to her face, she removed them and placed them aside. She had chosen a wet bathroom style reminiscent of what was common in Asia so that she needn’t worry about water getting outside of the shower.

Looking down at her phone on her wrist, she quickly pulled up the app for Moon and summoned a hologram of him.

The dog glanced at her and blushed before covering his eyes. “Horizon, perhaps you could have rang for me at a time when you’re more… Decent?”

Horizon looked down at herself and then shrugged. “You’re an AI, I don’t think you should be embarrassed here…”

Moon sighed before uncovering his face. “I suppose you’re right, but it’s not very lady-like is it?”

“Never mind that, can you run me through all the data you collected from last night? I think I need to go over it again so we can know what we’re dealing with…” Horizon instructed as she grabbed a bar of soap and began to lather herself.

Moon nodded. “Always good to be extra prepared, excellent mindset, Horizon!” He cleared his throat and began speaking. “As far as Serenade goes, I’ve analyzed all I learned several times and I’ve concluded that the initial assumption presented by Miss Yuna is indeed correct.”

“So we need Sunset Shimmer then?” Horizon asked as she scrubbed herself.

He frowned. “I’m afraid so. Crunching the numbers tells me that while I can detect that Serenade is not operating at her full strength that I can sense she was once capable of, the odds of success without Sunset Shimmer are significantly low. Even if I factor in all of your rates of improvement over time, I don’t think it will be fast enough to match Serenade, given that her power increases at a steady rate.”

“How strong do you think she really is?” Horizon asked.

Moon tapped his chin while he ran the calculations. “Well… If I had to estimate based on the rate of growth and factoring in her ability to absorb the energy of others… Serenade will reach a point where she could actually crack the entire planet in half in around… eight weeks.”

Horizon grabbed a nearby bottle of shampoo and began to wash her hair as she gave a gentle “mmm” in response. Moon was once again a bit surprised at how little the girl seemed to react to what most would consider very shocking news.

“So, we need to defeat her before that point then?” Horizon asked.

“I’m afraid it’s not quite that simple, Horizon. Serenade wants the shard of the amulet that you currently possess and the other shards. I can’t help but think getting her hands on that amulet is not only a quintessential element to her plan but could vastly increase her power on levels we can not even calculate. I don’t understand what her ulterior motive is…” Moon frowned.

Horizon thought silently for a few moments while she rinsed her head. It made the most logical sense that because the amulet belonged to Adagio at one point, she was involved somehow. Was it possible to restore Adagio’s power with only her completed amulet? Horizon didn’t know much about sirens, so she wondered if having two amulets affected their power in some capacity.

“Do you think… Having the amulet could bring Adagio back from the dead?” Horizon asked.

Moon blinked. “I highly doubt that. Such a thing defies all known science, and from my understanding from the data that Sunset submitted, it’s not possible even with magic…”

“But what if she was reincarnated somehow?” Horizon asked.

“You mean like… Reborn?” Moon tilted his head.

Horizon nodded. “Maybe such a thing is possible. Given how much power she had, perhaps she set up some kind of failsafe like that? And giving the amulet to her reincarnated self could restore her past self’s memories.”

Moon was stunned for a brief second but responded. “If such a thing were possible… It would be the first documented case of such a thing… I suppose it’s another way to utilize magic that has yet to be explored. In that scenario, the person isn’t really dying, but merely transferring their consciousness elsewhere just before their body dies… Maybe… Just maybe, with enough power, it could be done… But I have no way to verify such a thing…”

Horizon turned the water off and grabbed a nearby towel. She began to dry her body before stepping out of the shower, and then eventually began to rub her head furiously to try and get as much water out of her hair as possible. The girl snagged her glasses as she walked out of the bathroom with the towel resting on her head.

“If that theory is correct, then I imagine it would spell out big trouble for all of us. Another siren wouldn’t exactly be the most ideal situation…” Horizon stated.

Moon nodded in agreement. “Correct. If anything, we have to prevent her from getting the full amulet at all costs in the chance that your theory is correct.”

“Yeah, that’s true…” Horizon yawned before stepping out of her bedroom entirely.

Once in the hallway, she could hear Twilight call up the stairs to her from down the hall. “Horizon, your friend Jasper is here to see you, I sent him up!”

Horizon stood there in the hallway as she saw Jasper ascend the stairs and glance in her direction before his face turned bright crimson as he looked away and covered his eyes. “Uh… Horizon… Y’all might wanna put some clothes on?”

Horizon looked down at herself and realized she had forgotten to get dressed. She shrugged and gestured for him to follow. “Right, I guess I forgot…”

Jasper instead chose to wait at the stairwell. “I’ll wait here til’ you’re decent…”

Shrugging, Horizon re-entered her bedroom and slipped on some clothing. She found her school uniform and quickly placed it upon herself, adjusting her tie as necessary before exiting the room with a pair of shoes in her hand.

Jasper uncovered his eyes and sighed as the two began to make their way down the stairs. “I swear, girl, y’all need to do a bit more to preserve your modesty…”

Horizon tilted her head in confusion. “What do you mean?”

He sighed. “Never mind… Anyhoo, I figured I’d check up on you before school, though as I expected, you’re runnin’ late…”

“Doesn’t that mean you’re late too?” Horizon asked.

He waved his hand. “Don’t matter, I was concerned about you, so I had to make sure you were okay.”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Horizon asked.

“Well… I imagined on the account of Sunset just reappearing, and y’all didn’t exactly seem too excited about the prospect of her joining our little operation…” Jasper rubbed his neck as the two made their way downstairs.

As they approached the door that would lead them to the garage where the family’s many cars were stored, Horizon shrugged. “I don’t really feel anything… What am I supposed to feel right now?”

Jasper sighed as the two entered her Audi. “I swear… Y’all are the only person who struggles this hard with emotions… Like, are you sad? Angry? I mean you’d be right to feel either way, this woman did just up and abandon you and Twilight out of the blue…”

Horizon started the engine and set the destination as she thought about it. She gave her usual monotone-sounding response. “I guess I’m just not smart enough to understand emotions as you do… I can’t really grasp anything…”

“That ain’t true. Y’all are plenty smart.” Jasper smiled.

He knew that she was hurting, but she just didn’t know how to process it. Horizon had spent most of her life ignoring her own emotions, and so she had a difficult time recognizing when they appeared, but he knew she was angry the other day, he felt it when he felt her arm trembling. She may have struggled with figuring out how to express herself, but he knew that even if she didn’t understand her own emotions, they were there.

He couldn’t imagine what she was going through and was thankful that his own family was far from dysfunctional, but he couldn’t help but feel sorry that Horizon wasn’t blessed with the same. She had all the money and wealth in the world and could buy anything she ever desired, and yet he could tell: she couldn’t find true happiness.

While Twilight did all she could to care for the girl and make her feel loved, it was obvious that Horizon didn’t know what it meant to be loved or to love someone else. That kind of damage was entirely the fault of Sunset Shimmer, and the more Jasper thought about it, the more he was angry on Horizon’s behalf. Truthfully he wasn’t too keen on Sunset joining them either, if not solely because of what it meant for Horizon. It would bring up so much pain for her, that part of him wished there was another way, but as much as he cared about her feelings, he cared more about her safety.

Serenade was a ruthless killer, and they would need everything they had to defeat her. With Sunset on their side, they stood a better chance, if not only slightly, and that was more than enough reason to put his personal feelings aside and do what needed to be done.

It was clear though, that eventually, Sunset and Horizon would have the face the demons that Sunset created together, and Jasper knew he would be there for Horizon to help her through it. She was his longest childhood friend and she deserved that much from him. Even if he could not heal the pain she had been hiding from he would be there to help her as much as he could.

The only thing that was certain was the next few weeks would likely be some of the most awkward.

Sunset Shimmer opened her eyes and glanced over at Yuna who apparently had already been awake. She was tapping away at a hologram she had created on her phone, analyzing data and crunching as many numbers as she could. Sunset surmised that she was likely quite the bright student, not unlike her older sister, or even Sunset’s wife. She wondered how bright Horizon was, but she doubted she would be able to see firsthand.

The older woman grunted to get Yuna’s attention, which caused the teen to look over at her and blush. “Oh… Hello… I mean, good morning…”

“What time is it?” Sunset asked.

“Around 8 AM.”

“And you’ve been awake for how long?” Sunset asked.

Yuna blushed. “Ummm… Maybe for an hour or so?”

Sunset frowned. “I thought I said we should preserve our energy.”

“I know, but I was restless… I am trying to run some calculations on how long we can stay here given the amount of water we have with us…” Yuna stated, “And maybe running some numbers on how to get out of here…”

Sunset sat up a bit and rested her hands on her lap. “So, what did you find?”

“Well… There’s no internet or cellular connection here, satellite is out too, so no GPS… I am pretty sure that Lightning Dust put up some pretty sophisticated jammers, so there’s no chance of getting a message out of here, and without a connection, access to Moon is down too…” Yuna frowned, making Sunset feel a tad sad to see the girl so defeated.

“Moon requires a connection?” Sunset asked.

Yuna nodded before adjusting her glasses, then realizing they were a bit dirty so she took them off and began to wipe them clean with her sleeve as she explained. “I designed him to be connected to several devices and communicate between them in real-time, this required him to have a persistent connection to do that, but I made it so he can substitute cellular for satellite, and in extreme circumstances, even long-range spacial connection… But that’s such a fairly new tech that it’s more of me trying to future-proof him…”

“So you never anticipated a situation where he couldn’t connect?” Sunset raised a brow.

Yuna shrugged before placing her glasses back on her face. “Well, in this day and age? Cellular signal alone is so strong that people get full service out in the mountains where they’re at least a hundred miles away from any tower. Ever since they introduced 8G, dropped connections are more or less a thing of the past… But I suppose I should have considered a scenario where I’d have to operate him on old tech standards…”

Sunset chuckled, covering her mouth a bit.

Tilting her head, Yuna tried to see what was so funny. Their scenario was bleak, and the situation was becoming increasingly stressful. “Did I say something funny?”

Sunset calmed herself and shook her head. “No, sorry… It’s just you reminded me a bit of Twilight for a minute there…”

“Oh… Right…” Yuna blushed.

The two fell silent for an awkward few seconds before Yuna broke it.

“So… You really haven’t seen your wife in a long time, huh?”

Sunset nodded. “Eight years… Though I saw her again for the first time the other day after I met all of you.”

“Was she thrilled to see you?” Yuna asked.

Sunset let out a hearty laugh. “Well, I wouldn’t call her reaction ‘thrilled’. She told me not to come around anymore and then said we should get a divorce.”

Yuna frowned and sunk down a little, feeling somewhat bad for even asking. “Oh… I’m sorry to bring it up then…”

Sunset waved her hand dismissively. “Don’t be, you didn’t know and I probably had that one coming for a long time. I mean, I haven’t exactly been a model wife.”

“So you intend to oblige?” Yuna wondered out loud.

Sunset shrugged. “Not much, I can do. I love Twilight, but I have to give her what she wants. The reality is, I can’t say I’m what’s best for her if I keep hurting her as I do. She deserves to be happy, even if that means without me…”

“That’s sad to hear…” Yuna nearly whispered.

Sunset’s expression remained neutral. “Well, she’s managed this long without me. Horizon is almost all grown up, and no thanks to my help. Twilight managed to do that all on her own, so I guess the reality is… She never needed me in the first place. Maybe she’s right, maybe I’m more of a detriment than a help.”

“You sound pretty hard on yourself…” Yuna spoke, saying it more as a question than a statement.

The redhead looked away and said nothing. The two sat in silence for a solid minute before Sunset changed the subject. “So… Your calculations in regard to how long we can stay here?”

Blinking, Yuna snapped back to reality and cleared her throat. “Oh… Right… Given how much water we have… I’d say maybe… two weeks if we’re conservative?”

Sunset nodded. “I don’t need as much water as you, demonic energy, and all drastically reduces my needs, so maybe a bit longer than that…”

Yuna smiled. “Well, that’s good news at least… All the time we can get… Unfortunately as far as food goes… Yeah, that’s not going to be pleasant because we have none.”

Closing her eyes, Sunset sighed. The woman reached into her jacket and retrieved her handgun, causing Yuna to flinch at the sight of it. She tapped it to her forehead in thought. “Well… there’s always one way out of here…”

Yuna’s eyes widened. “You would actually…?”

Sunset glanced over with serious eyes. “Lightning Dust is keeping us alive as some kind of bargaining chips with Serenade. If push comes to shove, I think it’s better to go out without waiting for Serenade’s arrival. What she will do to us is likely far worse… That being said, I will gladly end myself before I even risk becoming her pawn. I could never live with the thought that Serenade could use me to kill Horizon or Twilight. I’ll die before I allow that to happen.”

“Okay… Well, that’s plan B at least figured out…” Yuna spoke jokingly.

Sunset smirked. “I only wish I had brought explosives, so at least if I go out like that, I take that bitch, Lightning with me.”

Yuna rubbed her neck awkwardly. Sensing that she was being too morbid for the girl, Sunset placed her gun at her side and changed the subject. “So, any possibility of hacking the devices keeping us in here?”

Perking back up, Yuna coughed. “I looked into that, and sadly… No dice. The jammers and this forcefield seem to be operating more on hardware than software. So unless I can reach the actual devices, there is little I can do from here. I’m limited to just my phone, after all.”

“I guess all we can do now is hope your friends find us,” Sunset stated.

“That does seem to be the only viable option before us… However, I’m sure they’ve already noticed we’re missing and are likely trying to find us as we speak. Hell, I’m sure they will not only find us but take care of Lightning Dust while they’re at it!” Yuna grinned.

Sunset smiled back, wishing she could share the young girl’s optimism, but given all she had been through in her life, she found it difficult to blindly believe things would just “work out” without directly influencing things to play out in her favor. The truth was, Sunset had no idea how long they would be trapped there, or if they would get out at all. Given that there was no way for Horizon and her friends to locate them, and the only person who knew where they were would never tell them, the odds were not looking too great.

The redhead didn’t want to tell Yuna, but she was already contemplating the distinct chance that they might not ever leave the room they currently sat in. If that was the case, she had no idea how things would play out with Serenade.

Could Eclipse along with Horizon’s friends finish what she started? Perhaps they could find a way to Equestria to recruit more help to fight the demon; Horizon did seem to be somewhat resourceful after all, and if she wasn’t, surely one of her other friends was, right? If they stuck together, their odds were far better.

Still, it left Sunset feeling somewhat anxious to not know what was happening, or if her daughter would even live. So long as they were trapped and Serenade lived, she couldn’t rest easy. If that demon were dead, she could gladly close her eyes and wait to die in this place, but with her alive, Sunset felt restless.

“We should probably get more rest then… Preserve our energy as much as we can…” Sunset suggested.

Yuna sighed but agreed. “I suppose you’re right…”

The two both laid down and closed their eyes, unsure of how many times they would have to wake up in this place, all they knew was that if they didn’t find a way out, this place would be their crypt.

Horizon found herself unable to pay attention in class. Her mind kept wandering to thoughts of how their group would defeat Serenade. In actuality, going to school now felt like a wasteful use of her time. She wanted to skip and focus solely on their mission, but she knew that her aunt couldn’t keep brushing her absences under the rug forever.

When her previous class was dismissed, she made her way to Yuna’s locker, knowing that after second period, Yuna always made a stop there to pick up some things she would need for her next class. Horizon stood there waiting, noting that Yuna hadn’t arrived yet.

The girl glanced down at her phone on her wrist, noticing that Yuna was now approximately five minutes late, something that was not like her. Realizing she couldn’t wait any longer or she’d be tardy, Horizon shrugged and made her way to her next class, but not before making a text message hologram appear before her as she entered the classroom.

As Horizon made her way to her seat, she sent a text to Yuna, merely asking, “Where are you?”

She stared at the hologram from under her desk as the teacher in the room began to ramble about something or other that Horizon couldn’t bring herself to care about at the current moment. She stared away at the screen, noting that it said the message hadn’t even been delivered; most odd.

Changing up her strategy, Horizon texted Bolt.

Horizon: Hey, have you heard from Yuna? I haven’t gotten any kind of response from her since yesterday.
Bolt: Can’t say I have. What was the last thing you said to her?
Horizon: She said she wanted to find Sunset and talk to her about joining our team, but that was almost an entire day ago. She didn’t show up at her locker today at her usual time, and I don’t think she’s in school at all today.
Bolt: That’s weird. I just messaged Thorn and she said she hasn’t seen her either… No pun intended, obviously.
Horizon: It’s probably not normal for her to skip class, she has perfect attendance.
Bolt: Yeah, I’d say that constitutes as not normal… Maybe she’s caught up with something that Sunset had her help with?
Horizon: I suppose that’s a possibility. We should have everyone meet up after school to discuss this, especially if she doesn’t answer my text by then.
Bolt: I agree. Even if she’s occupied, it’s not like that girl to put things off like this. I’ll message the others, you message Jasper… You’re better at dealing with him than me, anyway. Besides, I have to arrange to assist Thorn in getting there, for obvious reasons.
Horizon: Okay.
Bolt: Hey, unrelated, but while I have you here, uh… Does Keylime ever say anything about me?
Horizon: Be more specific.
Bolt: Like, does she say anything that would hint how she thinks of me?
Horizon: I’m not sure, I understand your inquiry.
Bolt: Never mind, just forget I said anything.
Horizon: Okay.

Ending her conversation, she looked over her text to Yuna once more, and sure enough, the message still wasn’t delivered. As much as she wanted to address the problem at that very moment, she needed to stay in class.

Horizon closed the app on her phone and decided it was best to try and pay attention for now.

After school couldn’t come quickly enough. Everyone without Horizon’s friend group had grown anxious to find out what happened to Yuna. Thorn and Bolt were the last to arrive, Bolt guiding the blind teen into Jasper’s living room where they all had agreed to convene about Yuna. He aided her in finding a seat, to which she nodded her head in thanks. Jasper upon seeing this was a bit surprised at how chivalrous he was being, something he was not used to.

After everyone had arrived, Jasper cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention. “So, I think most of us are familiar with what’s going on, but I’ll let Horizon bring people up to speed.” He gestured over at the girl who sat across from him.

Blinking, Horizon was caught off guard, but gave her explanation, regardless. “Yuna has been missing since yesterday. I haven’t been able to get any of my messages to her.”

“She was last heading to meet up with Sunset Shimmer, correct?” Thorn inquired.

Jasper nodded on Horizon’s behalf. “Yeah. After that, seems like we lost contact with her. It ain’t like her either, that girl is so tech savvy that she answers calls without a problem, usually.”

“Has anyone called her sister?” Candy questioned.

Jasper nodded. “Yeah, tried it. She isn’t answering either. Bolt went and checked her house but no one is answering, it’s like they all vanished.”

Keylime leaned in with intrigue. “Maybe they got taken by a spooky ghost!”

“I’d say it’s more likely that Serenade took them somewhere…” Cloud chimed in.

Keylime leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms disappointedly. She grumbled under her breath about how she would have liked to see a spooky ghost.

Nova chuckled and rolled her eyes. “As much as my family specializes in hunting the paranormal, a ghost isn’t likely. Of all the things we’ve seen, we’re pretty sure there’s no such thing as ghosts. I’m afraid I’m going to have to agree with Cloud; it’s most likely that this is Serenade’s doing and nothing more.”

“Ghost would have been cooler…” Keylime grumbled.

Bolt chuckled and nudged the girl’s shoulder. “Demons are bad enough, be thankful we aren’t dealing with ghosts too.”

“Getting back on topic…” Jasper cleared his throat.

“Should we call the police about this? I mean it’s a case of people disappearing after all…” Cloud suggested.

Horizon shook her head. “That would be a bad idea. Serenade already is unpredictable, getting the police involved would only put them in danger, not to mention it's highly unlikely that they would believe us. I doubt many officers are going to take some teenagers seriously when they say their friend was kidnapped by a demon from another world.”

Nova nodded and gave an approving hand gesture. “I agree. In the line of work my family has always been in, we’ve found that the police seldom help. If anything they will just complicate things further. The last thing we need is law enforcement poking their nose around all of this.”

“Given that we’re dealing with otherworldly magical beings, I’d say that’s wise…” Jasper agreed.

Bolt let out a small chuckle, finding it predictable that he would agree with Nova. Jasper ignored his actions and continued. “So, how do we proceed then? We ain’t got no leads, and law enforcement ain’t gonna help…”

“Maybe Eclipse can help? I mean he would know where Sunset went last, right?” Nova suggested.

“Not a bad idea, plus I wouldn’t mind seeing him again…” Candy purred.

“Really, Candy?” Jasper facepalmed.

“What? All I’m saying is he was cute. That nice long silky hair, that feminine skin, but still has that strong male aura about him… Mmmm…” She was lost in her fantasy almost instantly.

“Your sister has absolute garbage taste in men.” Bolt chuckled.

“That aside… Since the rest of us have school, I was thinking that Nova should go flag Eclipse down…” Jasper rolled his eyes.

With a wink and a nod, Nova agreed. “No problem there, I’ll call you when I’ve got his attention.”

“Alright, so we have a plan going forward… For now, we should really ask around and see if anyone has seen Sunset, Yuna, or Moondancer,” Jasper instructed.

Serenade sunk down into her bathtub, cooing in delight as the water touched her body. She had been longing for a bath all day, but naturally, it would be interrupted as one of her subordinates tapped on the door to alert her. She sighed and rolled her eyes before speaking up. “Go ahead.”

The door opened and inside walked Lightning Dust. Serenade gave an annoyed expression before waving her hand, a black tendril exited the tub and slithered over to Lightning Dust, lingering around her right foot. The athletic woman looked down at it for a brief moment but then returned her gaze back to Serenade.

“You know, Lightning, I keep a schedule so I’m not interrupted during my bath, and yet here we are, you standing in front of me while I’m in the bath… Do you know why that is?” Serenade raised a brow.

Opening her mouth the answer, Lightning didn’t manage to get a word out before Serenade continued, answering her own question. “Because you are an incompetent, pathetic waste of oxygen. Now, you haven’t been avoiding me, have you, Lightning?”

Lightning stood firm and did her best not to allow Serenade’s words to get to her, but it was true that they stung just a little bit. “I have not. I have been searching for Sunset Shimmer as you’ve requested, but the woman seems to have gone into hiding or something, perhaps out of fear after your encounter with Horizon and her little entourage?”

Serenade chuckled and grinned. “Yes… Well, see to it that she’s found. I want a body, Lightning Dust, the whole thing too. Bring her corpse to me soon, or you can take her place…”

Lightning gave a salute to acknowledge she understood her orders.

The door behind Lightning Dust swung open and then closed causing Lightning to glance in that direction. Behind her, an average-height man entered, removing his hood to show his messy dark hair and his eye patch that covered one of his eyes. His other vibrant red eye glanced over at Lightning Dust as he kept a serious expression.

Coming closer to Serenade caused the siren to snap her fingers and gesture toward the door. “Leave us, Lightning Dust.”

Bowing first, Lightning took the chance to make her exit and shut the door behind her. Serenade looked up at Arax and smiled. “I was wondering when you were going to show up.”

“I had some things to attend to…” Arax spoke.

Reaching out of the tub, Serenade took his hand and nodded. “Always busy it seems…”

Arax rolled his eye. “I think something is wrong… Sunset Shimmer wouldn’t just vanish like that… I think Lightning Dust is hiding something from us…”

Serenade shrugged. “Who cares? There’s no way she killed Sunset Shimmer, so I’m sure she’ll turn up, and then we can kill Lightning Dust. No problems.”

“I think we should look into this matter more closely…” Arax suggested.

“You’re always such a killjoy, you know that?” Serenade frowned.

Arax grunted. “I don’t think we should take any chances. Lightning is a liability, and if she managed to make Sunset go away… There’s a possibility she is working on a way to use Sunset’s abilities to take us out.”

Serenade let out a sigh. “I’ll kill her within the next two weeks, regardless if she turns up with Sunset’s corpse. Until then, I’ll have another one of our guys search for Sunset Shimmer, someone that Lightning doesn’t know. Will that put you at ease?”

Arax shrugged. “I guess for now…”

Smiling, Serenade stood up in the tub, water, and suds running down her nude form before she reached forward and placed her hand upon Arax’s chest. She giggled and looked up at him. “Now that business is taken care of… How about pleasure?”

He looked down at her with a raised brow, before letting out a sigh. “Fine, but let’s make it quick.”

Eclipse let out a long yawn as he stretched in front of the door to his hotel room. He had been out for a considerable amount of time and didn’t even come home last night. Instead, he had spent the previous night pleasuring a young man he had run into at the nightclub. He needed some time away from Sunset, after all, and so long as she didn’t call for him, he was just fine to stay away from her.

He opened the door after taking the key from his pocket and then tossed the keys into a nearby bowl. He removed his shoes and let out another long yawn as he collapsed onto his bed. He let out a sigh as he closed his eyes, but he wouldn’t be able to slip into a slumber as he heard an effeminate voice come from the other side of the room. “About time you showed up…”

He grumbled as he turned his head toward the bed that Sunset slept on, but sitting there was not her. Instead, it was one of those teenagers he had seen a few days prior, though one he never learned the name of. She was slender and fashionable, something he could appreciate, but far too womanly for his liking.

“How’d you find this place?” Eclipse asked.

The teen grinned at him. “I’m pretty resourceful. My family has traveled all over looking for strange and abnormal things, so finding creatures like you is a skill of mine.”

“Fair enough… I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced… My name is-“ Eclipse didn’t get a chance to finish before she cut him off.

“Eclipse, I know. I’m Nova.” She responded.

“Fine… So Nova… Why are you in my room, bothering me?” Eclipse asked.

“Are you doing something important?” She giggled.

“Something like that…” Eclipse said.

“Spreading your seed around town then?” She smirked.

Eclipse just smirked right back at her. “To anyone who’ll have it. Don’t pretend you wouldn’t fancy me too.”

She chuckled and shook her head. “Nah, I like ‘em a bit more masculine than the likes of you.”

“Can’t compete with someone prettier than you?” He replied.

“Let me know when you find someone like that… Anyway, I’m here because Sunset Shimmer has been missing for a few days now,” Nova explained.

Eclipse sat up and shrugged, uninterested in such a discussion. “Who cares? Sunset disappears all the time. Half the time she’s trying to ditch me, maybe she actually succeeded this time, that’d be funny.”

Nova shook her head. “I don’t think so. Our friend Yuna and her sister Moondancer both have dropped off the face of the earth since the moment that Sunset was unable to be found. We’re pretty sure this isn’t a coincidence…”

Eclipse shrugged once more. “If they disappeared with Sunset, I’m sure they’ll turn up. I doubt she’ll be able to stand her for too long.”

“We were hoping you could help us track them down…” Nova rolled her eyes.

Eclipse sighed. “I swear I get so sick of babysitting Sunset Shimmer… But, I’ll help…”

“Perfect, meet up with us tomorrow at Horizon’s place. You can share what you know and we’ll see if we can’t track them down.” Nova nodded.

“Fine, now can I get back to sleep?” Eclipse asked.

She stood up and grinned before heading to the door. She turned back and spoke to him one last time. “Try not to forget, I know all the fucking can be distracting, but try and keep it in your pants tomorrow so you can focus.”

Before he could respond, she left the room. He rolled his eyes before laying back down. He mumbled as he went to sleep. “No wonder I don’t like women…”

Eclipse had kept his promise and arrived at Horizon Shimmer’s home, but not before taking some time to see if he could pinpoint Sunset’s location. He had checked his phone to see if she had sent him any messages, but nothing that would reveal her ultimate location. He would go over it with Horizon and her friends.

Looking at the house, he was intrigued by its impressive size and surmised that Sunset must have downplayed how wealthy her family had become since the death of her human counterpart, or sister as she put it. The place looked worth well into the hundreds of millions, and if Sunset’s wife, Twilight was as smart as she claimed, there was little doubt that she turned that money into far more money during Sunset’s absence. He felt somewhat bad for the girl though, he couldn’t imagine being married to Sunset, or how irritating it would be.

Pushing the button for the bell, the doorbell rang and it opened automatically within seconds. While he was used to magic, it still astounded him how much human technology could simulate it, or even in some cases far surpass what it was capable of. Ponies still could not send messages so easily across long distances like humans could. Back in Equestria, they would use comm orbs that had to be manually delivered or linked in special ways, and the process took a considerable amount of magic, but humans could call each other from across the world in seconds.

Stepping inside, he was greeted by a woman approaching her forties who smiled at him and bowed her head gently. Her glasses almost fell off of her face, but she caught them and readjusted them. She wore a turtleneck sweater and placed her hands in front of herself with a smile. “You must be Eclipse.”

Eclipse nodded. “That I am. I am going to guess that you’re Twilight Shimmer, yes?”

She nodded back at him, “That’s correct. You’ve been taking care of Sunset for some time now, haven’t you?”

“I’m not sure I’d call it taking care of… More like… Babysitting?” He smirked.

The woman chuckled as she covered her mouth. “That does sound more accurate, after all, she’s a handful. I apologize for any trouble she’s caused you, trouble does seem to follow her around…”

He laughed. Now he understood how the two of them could be married, she knew just what to expect out of the chaotic storm that was Sunset Shimmer. “Yeah, that’s also accurate. No worries though, our goals align, so I put up with her. You’re the one who has to be married to her, so you’ve got the worse job.” He winked.

Twilight rubbed her neck, it clearly was a sore subject, but she carried on without commenting on it. “Yes, well, Horizon and her friends are waiting for you in the downstairs living room, it’s just to your left, you can’t miss it.”

Eclipse smiled and gave a thumbs-up. “No worries, and thank you for having me, sorry it’s not under better circumstances.”

“Very little that happens in my life is under the best circumstances,” Twilight replied.

He chose not to reply to that, instead, he made his way over to the area he was instructed toward and sure enough, he could see the group of teenagers all congregated there, waiting for his arrival, Nova sitting on the arm of a chair with a smirk on her face. Eclipse rolled his eyes and then stuck his hands in his pockets as he spoke up.

“Hey…”

The group all waved at him with Jasper taking charge. “Glad you made it, sorry to disturb you…”

Eclipse dismissed his concern with a wave of his hand. “Don’t worry about it. So, we’re all trying to figure out where that waste of space, Sunset Shimmer ran off to, right?”

“Well… She’s likely with Yuna and possibly Moondancer too…” Jasper added.

“Right, so the waste of space took two useful people with her, that’s the usual for her, after all, she’s all but incompetent without the constant aid of others to save her, right?” Eclipse chuckled.

There was a short silence followed by Eclipse shrugging and stating, “Wow, tough crowd.”

After the awkwardness, Cloud decided to continue the discussion, or at the very least lead it back in the right direction. “Anyway… We were really hoping you had something that could lead us to Sunset Shimmer, Yuna, or Moondancer?”

Eclipse crossed his arms and sighed. “I wish I could tell you that I did, but unfortunately, the last message I got from her said she was heading to a cafe, but that was days ago. Didn’t say where she was going after…”

“Maybe we could check the cafe and ask if anyone recognizes her? I mean she’s got a pretty identifiable appearance…” Nova suggested as she held up a finger.

Bolt agreed instantly. “Yeah, I mean with hair that long and wild, she’d stand out. People would remember seeing someone looking like her.”

“Can’t disagree with that.” Eclipse nodded.

“So we can head to the cafe and ask around, maybe someone can tell us what direction she headed, and from there we can check those locations to see if others saw her that day?” Cloud suggested.

Bolt gently nudged his younger brother, who rubbed the spot he was hit repeatedly, clearly not being as into roughhousing as his more aggressive brother. “Not bad, little bro! You’re a regular detective!”

Cloud nodded and gave a sheepish smile.

“So we just wander around looking for some sheepdog-looking-redhead?” Candy raised a brow.

“Sounds about right…” Eclipse nodded.

Candy grew a smile. “Sounds fun! Like a real whodunit kind of mystery!”

“Don’t forget this is serious, Candy…” Jasper reminded.

She stuck her tongue out at him. “Doesn’t mean we can’t have fun!”

“I really wish you would take this kind of thing seriously…” Jasper sighed.

“Regardless, it’s our best option right now. Eclipse hasn’t seen her about as long as we haven’t, so Cloud’s idea might be our only real option right now until we get more information.” Nova broke up the sibling squabble.

“Well, let’s get at it then… Time to hunt down two nerds and an insufferable cunt…” Eclipse crossed his arms and sighed.

“Don’t get too excited…” Jasper rolled his eyes.

Cinder recognized Serenade’s scent, it was something she could not forget. From the day they met, she memorized the girl’s smell. At one point, the soft effeminate aura that was left in the air whenever Serenade was around brought her joy, now just thinking of a time when she actually enjoyed the smell made Cinder disgusted with herself.

Sniffing the air, Cinder followed the scent and made her way up a stairwell of an abandoned apartment complex. She would find her way up to the roof, assuming that Serenade had been likely temporarily operating from this location. The siren was clever, she never stayed in one place for too long, so Cinder didn’t want to miss a chance to confront her.

As Cinder approached the door to the roof, she readied her blades and took a breath to focus herself. Once she was confident, she kicked the door in, knocking over one of Serenade’s henchmen who was guarding it. Another eight locked eyes with her, and then she could see another eight appear out of thin air, likely some kind of mindless drones that Serenade could summon at will. Within seconds the room was full of them, but Cinder quickly realized it wasn’t Serenade summoning them, but the man standing next to her.

Cinder got a good look at him while she kept her blades drawn, she recognized him, Arax.

Arax stepped forward but Serenade gave a dismissive hand gesture. “It’s alright… That’s just my wife.” Serenade smirked.

Cinder spit at the comment and kept her battle stance. Arax snapped his fingers and all the drones vanished, leaving only their true henchmen standing there, who all stepped aside as Serenade approached.

Serenade smiled at Cinder. “Still alive, darling?”

“And waiting for this day…” Cinder nodded.

“Who knew being married would be so difficult…” Serenade joked again.

“I can’t believe I ever wanted to mate with something like you…” Cinder growled.

Serenade giggled and placed a finger on one of Cinder’s blades. She lowered it carefully with said finger as she glanced over at the much taller dark-skinned woman. “It’s only natural to crave the best, isn’t it? After all, didn’t your clan teach to strive to be the very best? That’s all I’ve been doing since…”

Cinder raised her sword back up and pointed it at Serenade’s throat. “You dare pervert our teachings?”

Serenade smiled and wrapped her hand around Cinder’s blade, holding it tightly, black blood began to drip from Serenade’s hand as she did. “Look at you… So eager to be with me again… That’s what this is all about, isn’t it? Secretly, you long for my embrace… Even in death. You want me to kill you so you can feel me touch you again, don’t you Cinder… Why not just admit it.”

Cinder attempted to pull her sword free, but Serenade’s grip was too strong. Instead, she looked the siren in the eyes and growled. “The only thing I want to feel is my claws around your neck… I should thank you for leaving me with one… So I can still at least partially enjoy the sensation when I sink this blade into you…”

Serenade seemed unaffected. She released the sword and let her hand rest at her side, the black blood dripping onto the ground, but within seconds, it vanished. In only a matter of seconds, her hand had healed from the sharp cut of the blade, and all the blood vanished. “I would kill you now, Cinder, but where’s the fun in that? You’re not at your peak… You’re half-cocked and rusty. All that peacetime in Equestria made you soft…”

“I’m plenty enough for the likes of you!” Cinder hissed as she sliced at Serenade, but both of her blades were stopped by black tendrils that wrapped around them, preventing her from moving them.

“No… You’re nothing like Ash… Now killing him… That felt good like I got to actually test my powers…” Serenade spoke.

Cinder knew she was only trying to get under her skin.

“You know… On my way to this world, I had to travel through hell…” Serenade continued, now the tendrils ripped the swords right out of Cinder’s hands, another tendril pushing her down to the ground. The tall woman looked up at Serenade standing over her, even on the ground, Serenade still didn’t stand that tall though.

“I had to pass many trials to open the gateway that would allow me and my minions to this place… And one of those trials had me face a demon who wished to be the demon lord, just like I did…” She purred.

Cinder blinked, not sure why the story was relevant.

“Quite a fierce dragon he was… And he said he had been waiting a long time to face me once more…” Serenade spoke.

Cinder didn’t want to hear the rest. “No… That’s not… It’s not possible… He wouldn’t…”

“Oh, but he would… His anger and hatred toward me had consumed him; turned him into a demon in death, and by the time I had appeared before him again… He was the baddest of them all…” Serenade teased.

Cinder couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “He wouldn’t…” She repeated.

“No need to worry though, he’s a demon no longer… I took care of that…” Serenade smirked.

Quivering, Cinder said nothing.

“Killing him a second time was definitely more fun than the first. He put up a much better fight that time…” Serenade taunted.

Cinder looked at the ground, not knowing what to say.

“So much for your clan’s morals… A lot of good they did him…” Serenade chuckled.

Cinder could feel tears leave her eyes, but she remained silent.

“Anyway… That’s what I mean… You’re not at your top form yet… You don’t hate me enough. To give me a show worthy of my time… You need more motivation to despise me… Come back when you’re full of rage, Cinder… I want to fight you only when you are going to give me a show…” Serenade chuckled before tossing the woman’s blades to the ground. She gestured with her hand for her subordinates to follow her, and they did as all of them made their exit down the stairs.

Cinder just sat there. If her brother had fallen so far, surely it was her fault. She brought the object of his hatred into his life, and that hatred consumed him. Even in death, he had become so disgraced, and Cinder was why.

She wanted to be angry, but she feared becoming what he had become. Serenade had beaten her in a way she never could have anticipated.

Sunset woke up once more and glanced over at the now somewhat feeble Yuna. The young teen took a small sip of water from her thermos and looked over at Sunset. She gave a weak smile to Sunset before crawling over toward her. Her body was already starting the early stages of starvation. Sunset knew how it would go down, first, the body eats all it has in reserve, then devours itself until it has nothing left.

The two of them had been there for several days, without so much as a visit from Lightning Dust. They had concocted virtually every possible scenario that would grant them an escape, but nothing panned out. The trap they had sprung had them both too tightly. Every possible angle had been thought out, and thus the two wouldn’t escape. Lightning had been far too thorough.

Yuna leaned her back against a wall, looking over at Sunset with friendly eyes. It only caused Sunset to sigh.

“Hey…” Sunset began.

“Hey…” Yuna replied weakly.

Sunset sat up straight and cleared her throat. “Listen… We’ve been here a few days now, and I think it’s about time we started really considering the possibility that we don’t make it out of here…”

Yuna stayed quiet.

Reaching next to her, Sunset grabbed her gun and slid it across the floor over to Yuna. “I think it’s best if you have this…”

Yuna looked down at the gun and then back up at Sunset. “I’m not going to kill myself to get out of here…”

Sunset shook her head. “It’s not for you… It’s for me.”

“Huh?” Yuna blinked.

“Listen, the body can only survive so long without food. While I’m sure you have no plans of eating me, I can’t say that if I grow too weak that I will be able to control the demon inside of me…” Sunset stated.

Yuna’s eyes widened at what Sunset was suggesting.

“If it comes to it… The demon inside of me will do anything to survive, and if I’m that weak… I won’t be able to stop it… So I imagine taking me out is a lot better of an alternative than being eaten, don’t you?” Sunset said.

Yuna couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She never imagined in her entire life she would be in a situation where she needed to consider such possibilities. She looked at the gun but then slid it back to Sunset.

Sunset raised a brow in confusion. “You’d rather be eaten?” Sunset asked.

Yuna smiled and shook her head. “No, it’s not that… It’s just… I know Horizon is going to rescue us…”

“You’re that confident?” Sunset blinked.

Yuna nodded. “I am… Horizon will find us in time, I know it.”

“You have a lot of faith in her, huh?” Sunset smiled back at her.

“I do…”

“So, when are you going to tell her that you love her?” Sunset smirked.

Yuna’s face turned red. “Is it… That obvious?”

Sunset laughed. “Yeah, but don’t worry your secret is safe with me.”

“Do you believe Horizon will save us?” Yuna asked.

Sunset sighed as she bit her lip. “I think… I think she’ll save us to rescue you. Me? Well… Let’s just say if you weren’t here, I’d have zero chance of getting out of here…”

“You think Horizon resents you that much?” Yuna questioned.

Sunset closed her eyes before speaking. “Who knows… All I know is that she deserves better than me… I wasn’t the mother she deserved, I kept running off to play the hero after all… It’s just as Twilight says, and Eclipse.”

“If you know it hurts your relationships… Why do you keep doing it, if you don’t mind me asking?” Yuna tilted her head.

Sunset opened an eye and got a good look at Yuna. She looked ever so curious. Sighing, Sunset leaned back and decided to tell her.

“Shimmer… The girl that your sister fell in love with… Well, it’s like this… When I came to this world, it had an impact on her. Because we are connected by being counterparts of each other, my arrival sort of… Awakened magic within her, and from that moment on, all it did was ruin the girl’s life… Her parents died because of it, and then…” Sunset tried to keep her composure before continuing, “She died because of me. Adagio shot her, but it was me she was trying to kill…”

“I see…” Yuna decided not to interrupt.

“I cost that girl her life and her family. I ruined so many people’s lives so that I could stay here, and I guess I feel like I still haven’t atoned for that…” Sunset sighed.

Yuna frowned. “Yeah, but that stuff is in the past… The more you beat yourself up over it, the more you hurt those who care about you…”

“You sound just like Twilight…” Sunset chuckled. “Anyway, too little, too late. I guess I realized that all a bit too late… Still, not a day goes by when I don’t feel like I’m getting the punishment I deserve. My wife wants to divorce me, my daughter hates me, and every friend I ever had probably wants to punch me in the face… Hell, Applejack already has…”

“There’s always time to change… Time to heal things and do better…” Yuna smiled.

Sunset blinked. “I wish I could believe that… But I think that train has long since left the station.”

“Our darkest moments show us who our real friends are…” Yuna said.

Sunset glanced over at her confused. “That’s… Pretty profound advice… I’m a bit surprised hearing it from you…”

Yuna smiled. “My sister taught me that. She said you saved her from doing something she’d have regretted for the rest of her life… So you had a positive impact on someone.”

Sunset smiled back at her. “Thank you, Yuna… I think I needed to hear that right now.”

“Just try and have some faith, Horizon will find us, and then you can work on healing your relationships with all of those around you, you’ll see.” Yuna grinned.

“So wise for someone so young.” Sunset laughed.

Yuna shrugged. “Maybe I’m just delirious.”

Sunset nodded. “If that’s the case, then I’d say we’re both delirious.”

Keylime really wanted it to be a ghost though. :c