A Royal Secret

The next morning, Twilight found herself cuddling with Rainbow Dash in one of the beds in their room. Though she would have preferred to stay cuddled up to her secret marefriend, the newly crowned princess needed to get up and start the day. She tried to sneak out of Rainbow's grasp without waking her, but sadly that plan failed miserably.

"Good morning" Dash said, yawning.

"Good morning" Twilight replied as she nuzzled the cyan Pegasus.

"So, where did you go last night?" Rainbow asked.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Twilight asked.

"I saw you go out last night. Where did you go?" she asked.

"Oh, that. I just...huh...went to see princess Luna for a moment. I needed to talk to her about something." Twilight explained vaguely. Suddenly the two mares heard knocking at the door.

"You two commin' or what?" Applejack's voice resonated through the door. Twilight had completely forgot that Luna was waiting for them in the kitchen for breakfast.

"Yeah, let's go" Twilight said as the two left their room.

When they got to the kitchen, Luna was already there, though it didn't appear as if she had been there long. Everypony took a seat around the table. Luna gave her daughter a nod signaling she could tell them the truth at any time.

"Girls, there's something I need to tell you..." She started.

"What's up Twi?" Rainbow Dash asked, seeing the fear and nervousness on her marefriend's face.

"Huh...there's something you five need to know...I'm actually...huh...Princess Luna's...daughter." She finally admitted. Her friends looked at her with slight shock and surprise.

"You're Princess Luna's daughter?" Rainbow asked first. Now this frightened her a little bit considering her relationship with Twilight.

"Yes. I'm sorry for keeping this from you for as long as I have. You're my friends, I should have trusted you girls with this secret." She replied.

"Wait a minute y'all, how is that even possible? Princess Luna was banished to the moon for a thousand years; way before Twilight was born..." Applejack asked.

"That's another thing...I'm actually...a lot older than I look..." As Twilight said that, her gaze fell upon Rainbow Dash to see how she would react to all of this. Much to her surprise, Rainbow Dash appeared calm and collected for the most part, but on the inside, she was panicking. Gradually, Rainbow's fear became more visible.

"Are you alright Rainbow?" Rarity asked, noticing her friend's distress.

"Huh? Oh yeah, I'm fine. Great even. Everything is fine." She replied. Twilight saw through her marefriend's façade.

"I know this is a lot to take in, but I felt that you all deserved to know..." she said.

"Good morning, everypony" Said a feminine voice everypony knew; it was Cadence.

"Caddy!" Twilight exclaimed as she went to hug her cousin.

"Twily! Thank goodness you and your friends are here; I assume you know what's going on?" she replied.

"Yup. We were planning on continuing our investigation today." she said as Cadence sat down beside her aunt.

"So, auntie, any news on mom-huh, I mean Celestia's condition?" She asked.

"Nothing yet, I'm afraid. I'm hoping she wakes up soon..." Luna replied.

After finishing their meal, Cadence returned to the throne room to hold court once more while Luna, Twilight and the gang returned to the room to check for anymore evidence that they might have missed the day before. About twenty minutes into the investigation, a guard pony entered the room:

"Your highness, we have found Trixie Lulamoon and are holding her for questioning as you requested."

"Excellent. Take us to her; it's quite important." She replied as she was led to the castle dungeons. The guard continued down the hall and stopped at the third door.

"Thank-you, lieutenant." Luna thanked before entering the  interrogation room.

"What do you want with Trixie? Trixie is innocent she tells you!" Trixie exclaimed.

"Ah, miss Lulamoon. The first thing I'd like to ask you is if you recognize this?" Luna asked as she handed her the piece of fabric.

"Trixie recognizes this! It's a piece of The Great and Powerful Trixie's cape!" She exclaimed.

"Now tell me miss Lulamoon, what was a piece of your cape doing in my sister's bedchambers?" Luna asked.

"How should Trixie know? Trixie hasn't been anywhere near the castle in ages! Trixie's cape ripped when somepony stepped on it while Trixie was shopping." She explained. Luna knew Trixie was telling the honest to goodness truth, seeing as she placed a truth spell on her prior to starting the interrogation.

"This may sound a little odd, but I feel almost obliged to ask; are you a member of any sort of secret-society or cult?" the night princess asked.

"Trixie is most certainly not in a creepy cult! She has never even considered joining one." she replied.

"Alright. Thank-you miss Lulamoon, you are free to go." The night goddess said as Trixie made her way out of the interrogation room.

"Princess, I believe Cold Case has finished her analysis and would like a word with you" A green unicorn guard said as Luna headed towards the rendez-vous point.

"Are you alright, Dash?" Twilight asked, sitting down next to her marefriend.

"Yeah. I'm fine; why wouldn't I be?" She replied.

"Are you sure? You seem as if something is bothering you..." She replied.

All of a sudden, there was a knock at the door. Twilight went and answered. When she opened the door, she was tackled to the ground by what looked like an alicorn mare with bat-pony wings, a black coat, slanted teal eyes and a long flowing mane consisting of a dark pink color and a deep purple.

"Diana?" Twilight asked.

"Twily!" she replied.

"Oh my gosh! Diana!" Twilight exclaimed.

"It's so great to see you, big sis" Diana replied as the two hugged.

"'Big sis'?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Oh! Diana, this is my friend Rainbow Dash. Dashie, this is my twin sister Diana. She's like 2 minutes younger than me." Twilight explained.

"Oh! Is she here too?" Twilight asked.

"Yeah, she's with mother in her room." Diana replied.

Twilight walked down the hall until she reached her mother's room. After knocking on the door a few times, the door opened. Upon entering the room, Twilight saw a unicorn mare with a black coat, a blue and purple mane and slanted hazel eyes in which she hasn't seen in a very long time.

"Mom?" She asked, not believing what she was seeing.

"Twilight! My goodness! Look at you! You aren't that little filly I remember anymore..." her mother replied as she hugged her.

"Oh, huh this is my friend Rainbow Dash. Rainbow, meet my mother; Captain Dusk Starbright of the Lunar guard." Twilight introduced.

The first thing Rainbow Dash took notice of was the fact that Twilight had two mothers; one of which was a princess of Equestria, and the other was a captain of a royal guard.

"N-nice to meet you" she said a bit nervously. Twilight noticed almost immediately.

"It's great to see you again, mom" Twilight exclaimed.

"I've missed you and your mother so much...I regret not being around to see you grow up..." she replied.

"Hopefully you can stick around for a bit?" Twilight asked hopefully.

"I don't see why not..." she replied as the two sisters rejoiced.

A short while later, Twilight and Rainbow Dash returned to their room.

"So...you have two mothers?" Rainbow broke the silence.

"Yeah...you aren't...disturbed by that?" she asked.

"Not at all Twi, I know a couple other ponies who have two same-sex parents. It's perfectly normal." she replied.

"Your mom and your sister look almost identical...you know except for the mane color and style and her eye color and the wings..." Rainbow remarked.

"Yeah, she resembles a mix between both of them and a bit of auntie Celestia." Twilight explained.

"So you're the eldest daughter of a princess of Equestria and a royal guard? Oh gosh..." she replied.

"Is that what's been bugging you today? You've been acting sort of off ever since I told you I was Princess Luna's daughter..." she asked.

"Well yeah, I mean, I knew I was going to have to meet your parents eventually, but I hadn't realized your parents were ponies with such high authority. What if they don't like me? What if your mother banishes me to Faust knows where? And to boot your aunt is princess Celestia...yeah, you could say I'm a little nervous." Dash confessed. Twilight couldn't help but giggle at Rainbow's worries.

"Dash, they wouldn't do anything like that. Besides, why wouldn't they like you? There is nothing dislikable about you, Dashie." she said as she kissed her.

"I love you, Twi." Rainbow exclaimed.

"I love you too, Dash." she replied.

Just as soon as they were about to embrace one another, there was a knock on the door. Twilight went to answer the door; it was Cadence.

"Caddy? What's going on?" she asked.

"Celestia woke up. She's still in the hospital wing. Your mother wanted me to come get you." She replied.

With that, the two cousins headed towards the hospital wing. When they arrived, they had just caught what seemed like the end of Celestia and Luna's discussion:

"...I told you sister, I'm fine!" Celestia said.

"You are so damn stubborn sometimes Celestia...I can't even..." Luna replied.

"I'm Stubborn? Do you even hear yourself right now?" Celestia argued.

"Celestia, it's for your own good; just take the time off so your system can recuperate. Besides, I have Doctor Blood Work on my side in this..." Luna replied.

"How long have they been at it?" Twilight whispered to her sister.

"Since before Cadence went to find you..." she whispered back.

"Please 'Tia, just take a couple days to rest up properly..." Luna begged.

"I told you Luna, I'm fine..." she replied.

"No you aren't. I don't know if you realize this Celestia, but you were in a diabetic coma due to an insulin overdose! You cannot tell me you're fine after something like that..." she argued.

"Yes I can, because I am fine." she replied.

"Celestia, please. Just to put my mind at ease; I'm begging you..." Luna exclaimed.

"...fine..." Celestia sighed in defeat.

"Thank-you" Luna replied as she nuzzled her sister.

"How are you feeling, mom?" Cadence asked.

"I've had better days; that's for sure..." she replied.

"Do you remember anything that happened a couple nights ago, sister?" Luna asked, wanting to get to the bottom of it as soon as possible.

"I remember seeing a cloaked figure. It looked like a mare...her coat was a light yellow color as far as I could tell. After I noticed her, she placed a cloth drenched in Chloroform on my muzzle and knocked me out. After that, everything went black." She explained.

"Who could it have been? I mean, how would they have managed to even get into the castle?" Twilight wondered.

"I hate to say it, but it's possible that this pony has an accomplice on the inside...?" Cadence said.

"I hate to admit it, but it is a possibility..." Twilight exclaimed.

Far off from the castle, a mint-green unicorn mare wearing a cloak stood on a hill- facing the city- waiting. A couple moments later, two more cloaked figures arrive. One was a white unicorn stallion and the other was a yellow earth pony mare. They were still waiting on somepony else. Finally, the last member of their group; a charcoal colored Pegasus stallion.

"Any news on the princess, Sky Trooper?" asked the mint-colored unicorn.

"Last I heard, the tyrant was still in a coma, but I heard from Lightning Blast she finally woke up..." Sky Trooper; the charcoal Pegasus replied.

"I heard that they took Trixie Lulamoon in for questioning; great job planting that piece of her cape in there!" The white unicorn stallion added.

"Alright then, phase one is complete. Now on to phase two; Sky Trooper, be sure to meet with 'the master' tomorrow morning to be sure he remembers the plan. Once his part is executed, our mission should be complete..." The mint-colored pony said.

"But what if her sister gets in the way again?" Asked the yellow mare.

"Oh, I'll take care of her myself if she dares to foil our plans again!" The mint-colored mare replied coldly.

Later on that evening, Twilight returned to her and Rainbow's room, where her marefriend greeted her.

"So, how is she?" She asked.

"She's fine, but doctor Blood Work wants to keep her another night, just to be sure everything's fine." She replied.

"Who do you think is behind this?" She asked.

"I honestly have no idea, Dash. It could be anypony..." she replied as her marefriend held her close.

"Don't worry Twi, we'll catch 'em!" she said.

"I hope so..." she replied.

In the room beside them, Rarity and Applejack were talking.

"Is it just me, or is Rainbow dash actin' weird lately?" Applejack asked.

"I can't deny it;  she has been acting peculiar today...ever since Twilight brought up her lineage...weird huh?" Rarity replied.

"You know, now that ah think about it, even Twilight's been acting strange..." she replied.

"You don't think they're hiding something, do you?" she asked.

"Who knows? Maybe..." Applejack replied.

Back in Twilight and Rainbow Dash's room, the two had been debating about announcing their relationship to their friends and family.

"I don't know Twi, I mean obviously your parents would be totally cool with it, but I don't know how my folks will react..." she said.

"I know it's a major risk, but wouldn't it be better to tell them now as opposed to them finding out should we slip up?" Twilight replied.

"You have a point...But, like I said, it's not so much telling the girls that worries me-hell telling your parents doesn't scare me half as much as telling my parents. And I already voiced my fears about telling your parents about us..." Rainbow replied.

"Well, then let's start with the girls, then my parents and we will tackle talking to your parents afterwards?" Twilight suggested.

"I don't know, Twi...my folks are pretty 'old fashioned', and I don't know what they might do should we tell them about us..." she replied.

"Dashie, no matter what they do or say, you have us for support. Besides, it's not like you will be facing them alone..." She said as she tenderly kissed her marefriend.

"I won't force you to tell your parents Dashie, but at least let me tell mine; they know how to keep a secret." Twilight practically begged.

"Alright. we tell your parents, and then maybe the girls, but we wait to tell my parents until I'm ready. Deal?" She replied.

"Deal! Thank-you Dashie!" Twilight exclaimed as she hugged her marefriend.

The next day, Celestia was released from the hospital and was currently resting in her bedchambers, much to her sister's relief. Meanwhile, the girls were all in what looked like a conference room-along with Princess Luna, Diana, Cadence and Cold Case- discussing their theories on whom the suspect may be.

"Well, it's possible that it could have been Upper Crust..." Rarity said.

"But what would be her motive?" Rainbow Dash argued.

"How about Spitfire?" Asked Applejack.

"Huh...pretty sure Spitfire is out of town with Soarin." Rainbow replied.

"Oh, that's right those two got married last week!" Rarity gushed.

"Wait, what about BonBon?" Twilight asked.

"BonBon as in Lyra's marefriend BonBon?" Rarity asked.

"Lyra as in Lyra Heartsrings? The crazy conspiracy theorist?" Cold Case asked.

"Lyra is a conspiracy theorist?" Pinkie Pie asked.

"Oh yeah, we've been trying to track her down for a while now...She has been known to join many cults over the years..." Cold Case explained.

"Maybe BonBon joined one of the cults Lyra is in because she's her marefriend or something?" Rainbow asked.

"Maybe, but there's also a chance that it could be Symphony or anypony else for that matter" Cadence said.

"Cadence has a point; for all we know it could be somepony who used an illusion spell to keep us off their trail..." Twilight replied.

"So this is leading nowhere! It could literally be anypony..." Rainbow sighed in frustration.

"Well, it would have to be either somepony who is an expert at breaking and entering, or somepony who already has access to the castle, or it's somepony who is on the inside." Diana said.

"Cold Case, what of your findings?" Luna asked.

"Well, we've examined the room for any magical auras and we found three; the princess's of course, and then one of the aura's we've identified as lieutenant Thunder Blast and the other remains unknown. My team is still analysing the third one, your majesty. We also found a microscopic blood sample that we are currently analysing as well." She said.

"What was Thunder Blast doing in my sister's chambers?" Luna asked rhetorically.

"That's what I'd like to know" Said a voice that only about five ponies knew.

"Huh, not to be rude or anything darling, but who is this?" Rarity asked.

"My wife" Luna said simply.

"Your wife?" Applejack asked, a little bit confused.

"Yes Applejack, this is my wife and captain; Dusk. Dusk Starbright." Luna said.

"Anyway, what's this about Thunder Blast?" Dusk asked.

" Oh, Cold Case found a magical aura belonging to Thunder Blast while investigating what happened to Celestia" Luna filled her in.

"Ah, well if I remember correctly, his descendants were part of the group that formed that cult against Celestia about a thousand years ago..." She replied.

"And how do you know about those cults?" Luna asked.

"Sweetheart, you know after what happened I've kept close tabs on anything to do with cults involving you or Celestia..." She replied as she nuzzled her wife.

"Wait a second, that's what you've been doing for the past millennium?" Twilight asked.

"Well that, and fighting in the guard. I used an alias to join Celestia's guard, again, to keep close tabs on the ponies I care about." She explained.

"Woah, you were here this whole time, and I never knew?" Twilight asked, both shocked and slightly hurt.

"That was to protect you and your sister. You know what would have happened if I stayed..." Dusk replied.

"But do you know if he is in one of those cults?" Luna asked.

"I remember seeing somepony resembling him at one of the last rallies for that one cult...If I remember correctly, the cult he was in focused on trying to kill either one of you or the both of you. They think going back to the ways of the three tribes would be better than the system we currently have..." She replied.

"Are they crazy? Going back to the way of the three tribes would kill us all! Equestria wouldn't last like that..." Luna exclaimed.

"But are you sure it was him you saw there, mom? And how long ago was that?" Serena asked.

"I'm not quite sure if it was him or not; and that was maybe a month ago..." She replied.

"Maybe we should bring him in for questioning?" Twilight suggested.

"I'll bring him in" Dusk offered.

"Be careful, love" Luna said before she left.

" I will" She replied as she left.

There was a long silence in the room. Nopony dared to speak. It wasn't until Pinkie Pie could no longer contain herself that the silence was finally broken.

"So, Twilight has two moms?" the five other elements of harmony face-hoofed at Pinkie's statement.

"Pinkie! That is incredibly rude!" Rarity chastised the pink mare.

"It's alright. I'm pretty sure nopony here got offended by what Pinkie said, right?" Luna asked her daughters.

"So...huh...if you don't mind my asking princess, but huh...how does that...huh...work exactly?" Fluttershy asked.

"Oh! Huh...well that was unexpected...Well, you see...the only way for two mares to have a child together is with a spell. So, that being said, at least one of the two have to be able to use magic; meaning a unicorn or an alicorn. And that's as far as I'm going into this talk. I'm not the pony to be talking to you girls about that kind of stuff anyway..." Luna explained.

"Except for Twilight and Diana! They're your daughters, technically you have to talk to them about this!" Pinkie exclaimed.

"Pinkie!" Twilight exclaimed.

It wasn't much longer after that when Dusk returned with Thunder Blast. His face was full of confusion as to what was happening. Dusk had informed her lover that she had cast a truth spell on the lieutenant before entering the room.

"Your majesty, what is going on?" He asked.

"Lieutenant, let me ask you something;  a few nights ago, my sister was given an over-dose of insulin; leaving her in a comatose state. We have analysed the entire room and according to our results, you were in my sister's bedchambers that night. Do you mind telling us what you were doing there?" the night goddess asked.

"Huh...are you sure you wish to know, your highness?" He asked, almost afraid of what the princess of the night might say.

"Yes I do, lieutenant." She replied.

"Huh...well...huh...you see...the princess...requested my presence...t-to discuss something..." He replied.

"Discuss what exactly?" Luna asked.

"Huh...I'm sorry, princess but I'm afraid I cannot tell you that" He replied.

"What do you mean you cannot tell me?" She asked, slightly shocked.

"I can't tell you what we discussed, princess" He replied.

"Look, just tell me what you and my sister were talking about, and she will never know you told anypony" Luna said, hoping she would finally get an answer.

"Alright, but if Celestia finds out I told you...Faust knows what she'll do..." He sighed.

"The princess called me to her chambers that evening to announce to me that she is having my foal." He said as he flinched, as if he was either about to be smacked or yelled at .

"What?" the night goddess asked; not believing what she was hearing.

"Your sister is pregnant, your highness. She bears my foal..." He said, flinching once more.

Luna wanted to first scream at the stallion before her for getting her sister pregnant, then she wanted to hug him and 'welcome him to the family' and then she wanted to faint. Luckily, she did none of them. The night goddess let out a sigh and said:

"My sister's pregnant...well, that explains the mood swings lately....did she tell you how far she was?"

"She said according to Doctor Blood Work, she is about two months in..." He replied.

"Well, thank-you, lieutenant and congratulations." Luna said.

"Thank-you, princess." He said.

"Oh, and lieutenant, one more question; are you part of any sort of cults?" Dusk asked.

"No ma'am." He said simply. Dusk and Luna knew he was telling the truth.

"Alright, thank-you lieutenant." Luna said as Thunder Blaze bowed and left the room.

"Another dead end..." Diana said.

"She's pregnant." Cadence said.

"Caddy?" Twilight asked.

"I can't believe she's pregnant..." Cadence replied.

"Are you alright?" Luna asked, concerned for her niece that nopony knew about.

"She's going to have a foal...that means I'm going to be..." She started.

"A big sister?" Twilight asked.

"Yeah, that" she replied.

"Wait, what?" Applejack asked.

"Oh, shoot...huh...I may as well confess; I'm Celestia's daughter." Cadence said simply.

"Really?" Rainbow Dash asked as the princess of love nodded.

"Why are you so worried about being an older sister, Caddy?" Twilight asked.

"Don't you remember? That day, when we were all playing outside, and then he showed up..." Cadence replied on the verge of tears.

"Oh Cadence..." Twilight said as she hugged her cousin comfortingly.

"It's my fault..." she said.

"No, Cadence it's not your fault! What happened that day had nothing to do with you..." Diana said.

"Yes it is. Don't you two get it, he was after me. I'm the one he wanted; not Sunset and Dawn!" Cadence broke down into a fit of tears.

"Cadence, you can't blame yourself for what happened to them...you are not to blame..." Luna said in a somewhat motherly tone.

"Woah, I am totally lost! Who are Sunset and Artemis? And what is Princess Cadence blaming herself for that isn't her fault?" Pinkie Pie asked.

"Sunset was Cadence's younger sister and Dawn was Dusk and my third daughter; Twilight and Serena's younger sister. The two were killed one day by...by...King Sombra." Luna explained.