//------------------------------//
// Mysteries on the Horizon 
// Story: A Tale of Two Suns, Book 1: The Two Suns 
// by Lupin 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 15: Mysteries on the Horizon

"And then she just calls the whole thing off!" Astrolabe Circinus seethed in her seat, slamming a white-knuckled fist down on the table.

Abacus Cinch took a sip of her glass of water. She glanced around the room, eyes trailing over the chalk sign displaying the various lunch specials of the day, at the paintings on the wall, at tables covered in white cloth and booths like their own. The room was filled with the chatter of customers and the rattling of dishes as busboys and busgirls ran in and out of the kitchen. Their own booth was at the back, allowing for very few others to see them.

To her relief, none of the other patrons had been attracted by Astrolabe's outburst. The only one staring, in fact, was a lone waitress.

The girl stepped forward cautiously, keeping closer to Abacus than Astrolabe. "Um, are you ladies ready to order?"

"Not quite yet," replied Abacus, shooing the girl away with a wave of her hand. She turned to her sister, expression flat as her pink eyes bored into Astrolabe over the edge of her glasses. "You're losing your temper again," she chided. "I didn't invite you to lunch and pick a private booth so you could draw unwanted attention."

"Excessive told me that Pearl is no longer interested in having a sister," continued the younger Cinch slowly, lowering her voice, but unwilling to end her rant. She nursed her glass of water, allowing the ice to clink together, before taking a very long sip. "Do you know what that little waste is doing instead? She's going sailing! She actually wants to steer a boat."

Astrolabe set the glass down, eyes fixed on the water inside. "Perhaps she'll be eaten by sharks," she scoffed. "One can only hope."

"I'd say the odds are more in favor of her crashing the vessel before she ever made it out far enough to find any shark populations," remarked Abacus.

"Mmm, I suppose you're right. But you haven't heard the most laughable thing," insisted Astrolabe. "Pearl is actually planning to get a GED."

Abacus's eyebrows shot up. "You're kidding."

"Unfortunately, no."

The elder Cinch could only shake her head, unable to believe how ludicrous the world could be. "What a waste of time and resources. The girl's an intellectual vacuum. Someone like her would never be able to pass." Not without cheating, at any rate. Or, rather, having someone help her cheat. Pearl was far too dim to successfully cheat all on her own.

Astrolabe nodded in agreement. "I don't know what got into her, but it's probably the most foolish thing she's ever done. And worst of all, it's caused me a great deal of trouble." She sighed, and Abacus saw her sister's body sag. She actually looked... defeated. Abacus couldn't remember the last time she'd ever seen her that way.

"I'm not sure what course of action to take," said Astrolabe. "With Excessive no longer interested, I have very little solid ground to stand on."

"No, you really don't." It wasn't a jab as much a statement of fact.

Astrolabe scrutinized her. "You seem rather unperturbed by this turn of events, Abacus. I thought you wanted to get back at these girls. Don't tell me things have turned around at Crystal Prep."

Abacus Cinch froze for a moment. "They have not," she replied with irritation. Dean Cadance's popularity was continuing to soar, hers continued to plummet, and the students were more and more unruly. Their track team had actually been proud of getting second place at the regional meet.

She took another sip of water, relishing the cold chill of the liquid as it ran down her throat. "I do still plan to get back at them," she said with an air of almost complete serenity.

Her sister leaned in closer. "You have a plan?"

Abacus nodded. "Indeed, I do. I'll tell you while we're eating." She waved over the waitress.

"When is this plan of yours going to start?" asked Astrolabe as she picked up the menu.

Abacus ran through a set of timetables in her head, and smiled. "Very soon."





It was the lunch period, and seven very special girls were gathered at their usual table, with their usual assortments of food.

"Hi girls," said Sunset as she slid onto the plastic seat.

"Hey, Sunset," greeted Applejack, popping open a bottle of fizzy apple cider.

"Ugh," said Rainbow. Her head dropped onto the table, cushioned by her arms. "I hate moles."

Six pairs of eyes stared at her. "Wow," said Pinkie Pie. "That was random."

Sunset raised an eyebrow. This from the reigning champion of random? 

"I think moles are cute," muttered Fluttershy.

"I think they're interesting animals," said Twilight. "But we've never really had any in our yard, so I don't have any actual experience in dealing with them."

"Moles can be attractive sometimes," said Rarity, preoccupied by adjusting one of the decorations on her bag. "One of the other employees has a mole on her cheek that works rather well for her."

"Hold on," interrupted Applejack in confusion. "I thought we were talkin' about the animal."

"Ooh, or were we talking about spies?" gasped Pinkie. Her head darted left and right, and then she dashed over to a neighboring table, going up to Lyra and Bon-Bon, and squinting suspiciously at the latter. "Hmmm..." She pulled back. "Nope, no spies here."

"I wasn't talking about any of those things," groaned Rainbow Dash. "I had a pop quiz in chemistry."

"Oh!" Twilight smiled in realization. "You meant that kind of mole."

"I couldn't remember that stupid constant," moaned Rainbow. "Who can remember such a weird num—"

"Avocado's constant," Sunset replied. "It's six—"

"—Point zero-two-two times ten to the twenty-third power," finished Twilight. "Actually, I've read that there are plans to revise the mole's technical definition, but that hasn't gone through yet."

"Really?" asked Sunset.

"Oh yes," said Twilight with a nod, "along with other SI-based units of measurement."

"Showoffs," complained Rainbow, burying her face even deeper into her arms.

With a bit of laughter, consoling, and offers of help, the seven of them soon transitioned into general chatter as they dug into their lunches, what they planned to do after class, when each of them could get together, some harmless gossip, so on and so forth. 

The conversation was interrupted about ten minutes in when they heard a buzzing sound. Instinctively, the girls all reached for their phones. "It's mine," said Rarity, pulling her phone from her purse. She looked at the screen, blinking in puzzlement. "What would Mother be calling me about at this time of day?"

"Maybe she needs you to pick up some groceries?" suggested Twilight.

"You could be right." Rarity pressed the button and held the phone up to her ear. "Hello?"

Sunset watched as, in the course of a minute, Rarity's eyes went as wide as saucers, and her complexion turned pale. Of course, the fashionista had always been pale, but now she was practically translucent.

Applejack was the first to speak. "What's wrong, sugarcube?"

Rarity hung up the phone, turning slowly to face them. "M-My..." she stuttered, unable to find the words.

"What happened?" Sunset asked, placing a concerned hand on her friend's shoulder. "Rarity, what's wrong?"

Rarity stared into Sunset's eyes. Her next words were shaky and frightened. "My father... he's been arrested."





Equestria, a few days ago...

Bottom Bit wandered through the alley, kicking a half-crushed can as he went. The pegasus scratched at his chin, hoof meeting his scruffy teal beard, matched by an equally scruffy mane and tail that had seen better days. In fact, all of him had seen better days.

It didn't used to be like. Once, he'd been an assistant bank manager. He'd eaten at good restaurants, had a nice house, a shiny gold watch, and was liked by his employers. He'd been looking at a promotion, and one of the secretaries had even fancied him, giggling and blushing at him whenever they'd talked. His life had been looking up.

But then he'd spilled ink all over some documents belonging to the bank president. His attempt to fix it just resulted in his wings blowing the pages into the office fireplace, reducing everything to ash, and him being fired on the spot.

He'd tried to find other work at the numerous other banks in the city, but a newly-formed reputation as a klutz preceded him everywhere he went. A perpetual optimist, he'd held out hope that he'd find work. But as the days turned into weeks, and the bills piled up, he'd been forced to sell possession after possession to get by.

Then about two months ago, the bank, his bank, foreclosed on his home. His colleagues all abandoned him. Even the secretary abandoned him. So here he was, fending for himself among the homeless ponies, the lost and forgotten in this place of lights and opportunity.

Not entirely forgotten, he reminded himself. His hoof moved down to the scarf wrapped around his neck. It was thick and warm, and decorated with brightly colored birds. A pony had given it to him a few weeks ago.

Coco Pommel, that was her name. She was always so kind, volunteering at the shelters, giving away food and old clothing. One day, when she'd given away all of the latter and he came in complaining of cold, she'd given him her scarf. Her own scarf. Something she'd sewed herself, something that was hers and hers alone, and she'd given it to him just like that. Bottom Bit had almost burst into tears right then and there.

His stomach growled, sounding not unlike a great lion. He hadn't eaten anything for a few days. A voice in the back of his mind told him he could sell the scarf for a decent meal, or a couple of meals, but Bottom Bit rejected that thought. He couldn't sell it, not for anything. He was going to give it back to Coco one of these days, when things were better. Yes, "when", not "if".

Still feeling the pangs of extreme hunger, the pegasus searched through the nearby trash cans for anything halfway decent looking. It was surprising, what some ponies threw away. His initial search yielded nothing, and he tried another can, finally finding a not-too-bad-looking carrot.

He munched on it eagerly, savoring what taste it had. But it didn't even begin to satisfy the hole he felt in his stomach. "I'm starving," he moaned.

It was then that he heard a shuffling at the other end of the alley. Bottom Bit tensed, fearing danger. Not everypony on these streets was so benign.

A mint green stallion rounded the corner. "Who's there?" came a gruff voice, words raspy and thick with sleep, but no less threatening. "If ya come ta fight, I'll take you all on!"

He was much older than Bottom Bit, his mane a pure white, laying in tangles around his shoulders and half submerging his ears. It was his face, however, that made Bottom Bit gasp. It was wizened, etched with lines and wrinkles, like great canyons in his skin. And the mouth, the mouth was twisted by a horrible looking scar, making the stallion look like he had a constant scowl. His left eye too, bore a scar, a pale horizontal slash that stopped at the bridge of his nose, while and the eye itself was a milky white.

"I'm not here to fight," declared Bottom Bit, fully intimidated by the sight of this hardened pony. "I promise. I... I just wanted to find some food."

The unicorn turned to face him, his one eye narrowing as he trotted in Bottom Bit's direction. Or at least he tried to. He walked with a pronounced limp, dragging his right hind leg uselessly along the ground, which only made Bottom Bit wince.

As he drew closer, Bottom Bit had to stop himself from holding his breath. The other stallion wore a dark brown coat heavy with stains, and which reeked of Bottom didn't know what. Not that Bottom had grounds to complain, since his own hygiene wasn't much better.

The unicorn stopped before him, silently staring with that one raspberry eye. Bottom Bit held up his hooves.

"I-I don't want to fight," he repeated. "Please, don't hurt me."

The unicorn blinked, and then, to the pegasus's surprise, he burst out laughing. "You think I'm going to hurt ya?" He smiled, but the scar on his mouth made it look more like a grimace. "Don't worry. Some of the other ponies in these parts, they don't play so nice, and I have to show them what's what. But you're not one of 'em." The unicorn peered closely at him. His one good raspberry eye had a sharpness to it that belied the pony's age. "What's yer name, young fella?"

"Bottom Bit," replied the pegasus politely. "Who are you?" He'd become familiar with several of the homeless ponies that tended to frequent this neighborhood, but he didn't recognize this one.

"They call me Old Trotter," said the unicorn. "Yer wondering about my scars, aren't ya? Got them fighting a Bug Bear, I did." He puffed out his chest. "Fought the blasted thing to the end. I won, but it got a few good licks on me." 

Bottom Bit opened his mouth to speak, but he was interrupted by another terrible growl. He clutched his belly.

Old Trotter laughed again, then broke in a wheezing cough. "I'm alright," he said, waving off Bottom Bit's concern. "My lungs just act up sometimes." He patted the other pony on the back. "Ain't nothing to be ashamed of. We're all hungry out here."

"I'd rather be ashamed than hungry," replied Bottom Bit, still clutching his aching belly. "I think I'm going to collapse soon if I don't get something."

Old Trotter frowned at him, his twisted mouth dropping as much as it could. Suddenly, his eyes narrow, peering over Bottom Bit's shoulder at the street signs beyond the alley. "Hey now, I know this place." He clapped a hoof on Bottom Bit's shoulder. "I think we're both in luck."

Bottom Bit looked on in confusion as the old stallion began to search the alley, checking every inch of the wall. "What do you mean?" he asked finally.

The unicorn moved a pile of garbage. "My buddies told me that last winter, they made a little shelter around here. Filled it up with food they'd filched and all sorts of other stuff. Saved their flanks, they told me. They've moved on from this part of town, but they told me that if I needed it, they left all sorts of stuff in there to use and eat."

Bottom Bit frowned in disbelief. He certainly didn't see any shelters. Just piles of garbage. And if Old Trotter meant the buildings around them, those were sealed up tight. "You're sure?"

"Trust me, young fella. Ah, here we go!" He smiled, waving a hoof dramatically as he pointed at a wooden board set against the wall. With a burst of magic, he shoved it aside to reveal a door set into the brick. A side entrance.

Bottom Bit raced up to it, trying the door, but found it firmly locked. "It won't open," he said, crestfallen.

Old Trotter's brow furrowed, then he slapped his forehead. "I'm getting soft. Hold on." He pawed at the bricks with a hoof until one came loose, and the unicorn pulled out a key. "They said they'd hidden it."

With a click, the door was unlocked, revealing the dark interior. Staring at it, Bottom Bit felt a sudden wave of apprehension. "Is this really okay? You said the stuff your friends had was stolen." With all the trouble he'd gotten into already, the last thing he wanted was to break the law.

Old Trotter just laughed. "Don't worry so much, young fella. Yer hungry, ain't ya? Go on." The pony gave him a light shove. "We can both eat and warm up in here."

The pegasus took a calming breath. The old timer was right. He was worrying too much. If there was food in here, he needed to take it before he starved to death, and the building would be a good place to sleep, besides. With a confident spring in his step, he walked inside. Old Trotter followed, closing the door behind them.

Bottom Bit would never walk out.