Topaz lay fast asleep in bed, until he was woken up by a very annoying hissing sound that was right in his ear along with the sound of someone whispering his name. Annoyed, he turned his head and opened his eyes slightly to see his little sister crouched over him for some reason.
"Oh, good. You're awake," Ruby whispered happily.
"What do you want, Ruby?" Topaz grunted.
"I found something and I just HAVE to show it to you."
"Can't it wait until morning?"
"Don't worry. Once you see this, you'll be so excited, you won't be able to sleep again."
Somehow, that didn't make Topaz feel any better. Ruby showed him the article that had the pictures of their parents. He couldn't quite make it out, so he grabbed his glasses off the nightstand to get a better look. When he read the headline and saw the pictures, he was very confused.
"Did you know Mommy and Daddy were pirates?!" Ruby said in a whisper-shout voice.
The colt had to admit, it was pretty hard to believe. He took the paper from Ruby's hands for a closer observation. Judging by the date, the article was over eighteen years old. Still, it was perplexing nonetheless.
"Where did you get this?" He asked.
"I found it in the attic while I was looking for stuff to sell," she answered.
"Wait a minute. You went up into the attic by yourself?!"
"Yeah, but relax. I'm fine."
Topaz didn't like that Ruby had done something so dangerous all on her own. He wondered how she even got up there without help. However, he decided to brush it aside for the time being and turned his focus back to the paper in his hands.
"Hang on. If this is real, then how come they never told us about it before?" He wondered.
"I don't know, but what I do know is that pirates always have treasure buried somewhere and if we can find it, then all our money troubles would be over forever!"
"That's ridiculous. If they actually had any treasure, we wouldn't be having money troubles in the first place. Plus, that thing about pirates burying treasure is just a myth anyway."
"Look, Topaz. I heard Mommy and Daddy talking. It's our fault that the bills are so high. I think the least we can do is help them pay some of them. And if we find that treasure, they'll never have to worry about bills again. And we can use whatever's leftover to buy stuff for ourselves."
After thinking on it for a brief moment, Topaz realized that Ruby did have a point. With so many expenses to keep up with, he was sure their parents would appreciate any help they could get. So, even though it was really late at night, he decided to go along with it.
"Okay," he said. "I'm still not totally convinced that there's any treasure, but if there is, where do you think they would hide it?"
"Maybe it's in the house somewhere?"
"Nah. That'd be way too obvious. It'd have to be someplace where they could be sure no one would ever find it."
"Like where?"
"Hmm. I'm not sure."
Topaz took another look at the paper in hopes of finding something that would give him an idea of where to start looking. Unfortunately, nothing really seemed to stick out to him. That is, until he spotted a picture of the ship that Ruby had seen in the other article.
"Aha! Ruby, I think I've got an idea," he declared happily.
"What is it?" Ruby asked.
"You see this?" He pointed to the photo of the yacht. "This must've been the ship they used to sail around the world. And it might still be out there somewhere. We track down that ship, we might at least be able to find a clue of some sort."
Ruby smiled with pride. "Topaz, you're a genius!" she exclaimed, making her brother grin sheepishly. "So, how do we find the ship?"
"Well, that's gonna be a bit of a challenge," the blue colt confessed.
"Oh come on. If anypony can do it, you can. You've got the biggest brain in the family. Why do you think I asked you for help?"
Topaz couldn't help but smile from all his little sister's flattery. Now he really didn't want to let her down. "Alright. Let's get to it," he declared. "We've got a mighty booty to find." He accentuated the last part with one closed eye, a raised fist and a hefty accent.
Ruby giggled at the word 'booty' as Topaz pulled off his sheets and climbed out of bed. Then she noticed something kind of important.
"Wait. Speaking of booty," she said with a chuckle, "maybe you should put some pants on first."
Topaz realized she was right. He blushed awkwardly and hurried to his closet to grab some pants.
-----
Downstairs in the den, Topaz fired up the computer in hopes of finding something that would tell him what happened to the ship. After sifting through three pages of nothing, he finally found an article that looked promising.
"Ooh!" He exclaimed.
"What? Did you find something?" Ruby asked excitedly.
"I think so." The young unicorn read quickly through the article until he spotted exactly what he was looking for. "Okay. It says here that the ship formerly known as the Rogue Diamond was sold to a pony named Blue Bijou, who transformed it into..." he paused in disbelief as he read the last part. "...The Stomach of the Sea Seaside Restaurant?"
Ruby gasped and lit up with excitement. "Oh my gosh! I know where that is!"
"Really?"
"Yeah. It's on the way to my school. Come on! No time to lose!" The exuberant little dragon yanked at her brother's arm, eager to get going.
"Whoa, whoa! Easy there," Topaz protested, pulling his arm back. "We can't just sneak out in the middle of the night. It's dangerous."
"Don't worry. We'll get on our bikes and be back before anyone notices. We have to find that treasure before Mommy and Daddy decide to kick us all out of the house."
"Oh come on. Now I know you're being crazy. They'd never do that."
Frustrated with Topaz's stubbornness, Ruby then got a mischievous idea. She didn't want it to come to this, but she had no other option.
"Topaz. If you don't come with me, I'll be forced to everyone those pictures you keep under your mattress."
Topaz froze, struggling to come up with a response. "You wouldn't dare," he said quickly.
"Oh, wouldn't I?" Ruby asked rhetorically. "I don't know why you have those or what they're for, but you sure try real hard to keep them a secret."
The young colt realized that his hands were tied, so he gave in and followed his little sister out the door. They each mounted their rides, Topaz on his bicycle and Ruby on her trike. Then they set off to pay a visit to the Stomach of the Sea and hopefully find a clue to their parents' lost treasure. If there even was any.