A Royal Secret

"King Sombra?" five of the six elements of harmony asked in pure shock.

The silence in the room was deadly. Nopony dared to speak. The five mares just looked at one another, uncertain of what to say-what to do even. They all had a saddened, but somewhat angered look on their faces. Finally, after quite some time of pure silence, Dusk spoke:

"Celestia would kill me for saying this, but Cadence's father was King Sombra."

"Cadence, if you don't want us to go further into this we won't. I know this is a sensitive topic..." Luna said.

"It's fine auntie, go ahead..." she replied.

"You see, quite some time ago, the Crystal Empire wasn't part of Equestria. It was an entire kingdom apart from us. So, to unite the two kingdoms, the nobles thought it would be a brilliant idea to have the two kingdoms united...by a wedding." Luna started.

"So they wanted one of you to marry King Sombra to unite the kingdoms?" Fluttershy asked.

"No, they wanted Celestia to marry Sombra. I may or may not had made it perfectly clear that I would only marry somepony I truly loved and not because they told me to." Luna replied.

"I remember that day, they were so ticked off at you for that!" Dusk laughed.

"It worked, right? Seeing as I did eventually marry the mare I love" Luna replied.

"You two actually got married? Not to be rude, but it is quite uncommon that two mares are married" Rarity wondered.

"Yes we did. It was considered quite the scandal back then..." Dusk said.

"While I was able to choose whom I wished to marry, Celestia really had no say in her engagement with Sombra. So they were wed, it was one of the biggest weddings in Equestrian history." Luna continued.

"But if it's one of the biggest weddings in Equestrian history, how come we ain't ever heard of it?" Applejack asked.

"We had it removed from every record and history book. But we have a valid reason..." Twilight explained.

"Let's see...they would have been married for two thousand years last month...how old is Cadence again...?" Dusk asked as she and Luna tried to figure it out.

"...I'd say it was probably a year and a half after they got married when Celestia told us..." Luna said.

"Huh, told you what exactly?" Rainbow asked.

"Oh! Right! Well a year and a half after Celestia married Sombra, she came back to the old castle in the Everfree and told us she was pregnant. It seemed like everything was going well for a while. After Cadence was born, Celestia would visit more often, a few years later Dusk and I got married, we had Twilight and Diana, things were looking good..." Luna continued.

"Until?" Fluttershy asked nervously.

"Cadence, we don't have to keep going if you don't want to..." Dusk said to her niece.

"No, go ahead. I'll be fine..." She replied, moving closer to Twilight who held her close in a wing-hug.

"Cadence was maybe eight, the girls were six if I'm right. Celestia had sent a letter saying she and Cadence would be coming down for a visit again. We were glad to have them come over, but something seemed odd about the letter...the wording of it was very unusual for my sister. Anyway, when they came to the castle, Cadence went to find Twilight and Diana. I noticed that my sister's eyes were all red and puffy; it was obvious she had been crying. Suddenly, she placed a basket in front of us. Inside, there was an orange unicorn filly. Turns out, she was pregnant and she never told anypony; not even Sombra." Luna continued.

"That's when we first found out what was really happening back at the Crystal Empire..." Dusk said as Twilight tightened her embrace on her cousin.

"Sombra was a very abusive stallion. He would...he would hit her. The bruises she showed me that night...she didn't tell him because she didn't want him hurting the foal. He wouldn't just hit her, as you all know due to...huh...circumstances, Celestia has diabetes meaning she needs insulin to live. Well, -and this enrages me still to this day- one evening, Celestia had been searching the castle for her insulin, then she searched her and Sombra's room. While she was searching, he came and just started yelling and throwing things, per usual- according to Celestia- she had tried her best to ignore him, but that wasn't working. Once she found her vial, he went on about how she was trying to poison him or something as equally ridiculous." Luna explained.

"Kind of wish she would have planned on poisoning him..." Dusk mumbled.

"You see, she had never told him that she was diabetic, and when she tried telling him that then; well, I think you know how that went. He destroyed the vial- and these vials usually last...roughly twenty days. So, she had no insulin in her system for twenty days. Turns out, she was in the hospital the whole time!" Luna continued. The look on her face screamed that she wanted to break something.

"Calm down, love. It's over now." Dusk attempted to soothe her.

"I know, but it's still so frustrating! To think he almost killed her..." Luna replied.

"So is that why she visited you that day? Did she tell you what was going on?" Rarity asked.

"Yes, Rarity. That is exactly why. She needed to get away from him. That foal she had brought with her, she wanted us to keep it and take care of it. She never told Sombra about the foal, because if she had told him, only Faust knows what he might have done to the poor thing... After that, there was no way in bloody Tartarus I was going to let her go back there." Luna continued.

"We discussed what we were going to do all night..." Dusk said.

"Are you alright, Cadence?" Luna asked once more.

"I-I'm fine..." She said, almost uncertain.

"Are you sure? I don't need to go into...well, that story..." Luna offered.

"No, go ahead. They should know why those rooms in the crystal palace are closed off..." Cadence replied as Luna sighed.

"Alright. The next day, my sister told us a little more about the situation with greater details. I told her that she and the girls were more than welcome to stay for as long as they needed." Luna continued.

"More like told her there was no way you were going to let them go back to the empire..." Dusk mumbled.

"And do you blame me? After all the pain and suffering he caused? Don't you remember what happened that night?" Luna argued.

"I remember that night; we were up all night long trying to make Caddy feel better." Diana said.

"Huh, what exactly happened, darling?" Rarity asked.

"I woke up in the middle of the night crying" Cadence replied.

"Twilight brought her to mother because we didn't really know what to do to help..." Diana said.

"Alright, I think that's enough about this...we don't need to get into great detail about this..." Luna exclaimed.

"I have to agree with Luna on this one; let's just skip ahead to...the end of these darned memories..." Dusk said.

"Well, a little while after what happened, I found out I was pregnant once again. Now, if I'm right, Sunset was three and Dawn was two years old? Is that right?" Luna asked as Dusk nodded.

"We were playing hide and seek outside, Sunset and Dawn decided to go hide near the forest...that's when he...he killed them both" Twilight said as tears escaped her eyes.

"King Sombra killed both of them?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Yes, though for some odd reason, we only found Dawn's body. Sunset's was never found..." Twilight explained.

"So far, we've assumed the worst; we still don't have any real closure..." Cadence said.

"Well, if the body was never found, maybe she didn't die?" Pinkie suggested.

"It is possible she's out there somewhere, but the odds are quite slim considering the fact that auntie Celestia had to take away her Pegasus and earth pony magic when she was born." SDiana replied, getting confused looks from the five mares.

"There were a few technicalities when Sunset was born. From what my sister has told me, her daughter wouldn't have lasted had she not taken away her Pegasus and earth pony magic; it was to ensure her survival. But knowing Celestia, she probably found some way to ensure that her daughter wouldn't be out-lived by her family..." Luna explained.

The silence in the room was deadly. Nopony dared speak. Much to everypony's confusion, Rainbow Dash used her wing to bring Twilight into a tight embrace as the lavender alicorn rested her head on the cyan Pegasus. The others all looked to each other; hoping somepony would have some sort of explanation. After a while, somepony finally broke the silence.

"This still leaves us at a dead end in the investigation" Applejack said.

"The third aura is still a mystery. If they couldn't find a match, that means..." Rarity mentioned.

"This pony is obviously on the run. If this pony's aura didn't match any that are in the database, then it most likely means that this pony does not have any sort of documentation, no written records...in a sense, it's like this pony doesn't even exist..." Diana exclaimed.

"Wait, isn't there a way to change your aura or cloak it so that nopony can track you?" Twilight asked.

"It is possible...but to perform a spell like that...it takes a lot of concentration and power. Not to mention years and years of perfecting it." Dusk replied.

Suddenly, Princess Luna's eyes widened in fear. Something wasn't right, she could feel it. Dusk noticed her wife's distress.

"Are you alright, love?" Dusk asked.

"Something's not right here..." Luna replied, sprinting out of the room at lightning speed.

Dusk, Diana, Cadence and the elements of harmony followed the princess of the night through the castle. She was running so fast that not even Rainbow Dash could keep up with her. After a few more minutes, the group arrived at the door to Celestia's chambers. Luna, not wanting to take anymore chances, barged into her sister's room.

What the group saw in the room, shocked them to say the least. Celestia was unconscious and there was a cloaked figure in the room, ready to shoot the princess with a magical blast. The aura was an aqua color and-from what they saw of the pony- it was a mare with an orange coat, a red and yellow mane and light aqua colored eyes.

For a brief moment, the unknown mare and Twilight's eyes met. The lavender alicorn could have sworn she had seen those eyes somewhere once before, but she just couldn't place it. With a smirk, the mysterious mare vanished.

"She's fine. They used Chloroform to knock her out. She should wake in an hour or two..." Dusk declared.

"Those eyes...I know I've seen them before. But where?" Twilight asked herself.

"What color were her eyes?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Aqua. I Know I've seen them before...but I just can't place them..." Twilight replied, frustrated.

"Hey, you're like, a super-genius; I'm sure you'll figure it out in no-time!" Rainbow exclaimed.

"Thanks, Dash" She replied.

A couple hours later, Celestia regained consciousness and told them all what happened:

"I remember getting up to put away my book and choose another one. All of a sudden, that mare wearing the cloak tackled me to the ground. She kept on saying something about 'abandoning her' and 'keeping her from her true destiny' and 'getting revenge'. After that, she knocked me out with chloroform-why are they so keen on using that stuff on me?- and that's all I remember"

"Why would she say you abandoned her? Do you even know who that mare is?" Dusk asked.

"That's the thing; I don't, but at the same time she seemed so...familiar. But I just can't place her..." Celestia replied.

"Orange coat, Red and Yellow mane, aqua eyes, unicorn...I think I might have figured it out..." Twilight gasped as she grabbed a photo album off one of the shelves in Celestia's room.

She leafed through the various photograhs; there were pictures of both Celestia and Luna's weddings, pictures of Cadence as a filly, of Twilight and Diana and finally the picture Twilight had been looking for; a group picture of all five fillies.

She examined each filly in the photo. Her eyes stopped on the two youngest fillies; Sunset and Dawn. Dawn had a dark blue coat, a light blue mane with purple streaks and teal eyes. Meanwhile Sunset had an orange coat, a red and yellow mane and light aqua eyes. Twilight froze when her gaze fell upon her youngest cousin.

"T-those eyes..." She mumbled.

"Twi, what exactly are ya gettin' at?" Applejack asked.

"They were her eyes..." Twilight said.

"Twilight, that's impossible; Sunset died over a millennium ago. Remember?" Cadence said.

"But we never knew that for certain! We never found her body" She replied.

"True, but what makes you so sure that it's her?" Cadence asked.

"Her eyes. The mare we saw stared right at me-almost as if she knew me- and her eyes are exactly the same as hers. Besides, don't you think that on that day, he didn't kill her, but instead foalnapped her?" Twilight explained.

Everypony was silent. The girls just stood there awkwardly; not too sure what to say or do. Cadence just found it near impossible for Twilight's theory to be true, but at the same time, she desperately wanted it to be true.

"She's right" Celestia broke the silence.

"What?" Luna asked.

"There is a good chance that was Sunset Shimmer" She said.

"But how?" Dusk asked. Celestia sighed.

"Luna, you remember the day the empire disappeared, don't you?" She asked her sister.

"Of course I do; how could I forget? But what's that got to do with this?" She replied.

"Well, while we were in Combat, he said that regardless of what would happen, he would get his vengeance. He also said to keep an eye on the mirror." She explained.

"The mirror? Keep an eye on the mirror? Why?" Dusk asked.

"I once saw a young mare come through it. Orange coat, red and yellow mane, aqua eyes; I'm certain it's the same mare. At the time, I thought I was merely seeing things, but then I followed her. She had gone into the library and took a bunch of books on defensive magic, dark magic and combat spells and left." She continued.

"And you think it's Sunset?" Luna asked.

"Well mother, it would explain why the aura is untraceable..." Diana noted.

"True, but it still doesn't make add up...Sunset is alive when we were all certain she was dead. And now she wants to kill you? Why would she want to kill her own mother?" Luna asked.

"I'm assuming this is Sombra's doing. That mirror was originally in the Crystal palace. My theory is that he took her that day and trained her to be like him...when we went to end is reign; I can only assume he placed a barrier around it and hid her in it. He said to keep an eye on it, and a few years later, somepony found it buried in the snow in Northen Equestria. They brought it to me and I told them it had unpredictable magical properties, so I had it placed in a room and prohibited anypony from entering. Looks like my theory may be more plausible than I thought..." Celestia explained as she sighed. Her daughter that she had lost was alive, but wanted to kill her...

"But how would she know to use the insulin to try to kill you? I mean, she knew to use one that's different from the one you normally take, right?" Pinkie asked.

"Again, I assume king Sombra mentioned it to her and she figured it out on her own. That, or she's clever enough to know that you can kill anypony with an insulin overdose..." Celestia replied.

"Speaking of which, how are your blood-sugar levels?" Luna asked.

"They're perfectly fine, Luna. I've been checking it every hour just to be safe..." She replied as her sister sighed in relief.

"Well, now we know who is behind this, but she like vanished. Who knows where she is now..." Rainbow Dash said.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door; it was lieutenant Thunder Blast.

"Captain Starbright, we have finally found Lyra Heartstrings." He said.

"Alright, thank-you lieutenant. I will be down shortly" She replied as he nodded and made his way back to his post.

"Well, duty calls, I guess. I'll see you later" Dusk said as she kissed her wife.

"See you later, love" She replied.

Down within the castle dungeons, inside a small bleak white room, a mint-colored unicorn mare sat at the small table that was placed in the room. She patiently waited for whoever was going to interrogate her. After being on the run for five years, she was finally caught. Well, I wouldn't say caught per say, it was more like saving her master's flank.

She had only one task left; confess to being the mare behind the coup on Celestia. She had been involved in the planning of the princess's assassination since the beginning around five years ago. Her job was mainly to give her master information regarding Equestria and it's customs. In exchange, Lyra would receive evidence that humans exist. Though the ponies still thought she was crazy for believing humans are real, but one day they will see she was right; when the master's plan succeeds...

"Ah, miss Heartstrings. How are you?" Dusk asked as she entered the room.

"Who are you?" She asked.

"Oh, that's right; you don't know who I am. My name is Dusk Starbright, I'm captain of the Lunar guard" She introduced.

"What do you want with me?" She demanded.

"Oh please! Don't play dumb with me, miss Heartstrings. You've been on the run for over five years now, but what is it that you're running from?" Dusk asked.

"Nothing, I just don't want to be arrested for letting everypony know the truth! I know humans exist!" She exclaimed.

"Miss Heartstrings, we both know that is but an old pony's tale. Now tell me why you're really here" The unicron said.

"I don't know what you're talking about..."The mare replied. Dusk laughed.

"You and I both know that you wouldn't be as reckless as to go somewhere the guards could easily find you. Now tell me, why you let yourself get caught" She replied.

"Fine. I'm the mare you're looking for, captain. I'm the one who tried to kill the princess; I placed her in a diabetic coma with an insulin overdose." She said as she smiled like a madmare.

Dusk was completely taken back by the unicorn's statement. She knew that it was very unlikely that it was Lyra who was behind the attack. But, she couldn't let the mare know that.

"That's impossible. The mare who attacked the princess had a yellow coat; which you clearly don't have." Dusk argued.

"I used an illusion spell to change my appearance. A few days earlier, I ripped a piece of Trixie Lulamoon's cape and planted it in the room to get you off my trail and on hers." Lyra explained.

Due to the truth spell that was cast on the unicorn mare, Dusk knew she was telling the truth, she had to word her questions very carefully.

"Why did you try to kill princess Celestia?" She asked.

Lyra then began to panic ever so slightly; she had not prepared for this. Finally, she came up with an answer.

"Because she's an evil tyrant and she must be stopped!"

"Now tell me, miss Heartstrings why did you chose insulin as your weapon?" The Lunar guard asked; rolling her eyes.

"Because my master said to use insulin" She replied.

"Your master? Who is your master?" Dusk asked, intrigued.

"I don't know, captain" Lyra replied.

So far, Lyra hadn't lied yet, (aside from the part about Celestia being an evil tyrant, of course!) much to the Lunar guard's relief. Though she said she didn't know who she was working for, Lyra may still know something about this pony; any kind of minor detail would help in the investigation.

"Do you know if your master is a mare or a stallion?" She asked.

"No, captain. Personally, I would think that it's a stallion considering the letters are always signed 'the master'; what mare would want to be addressed as such?" The unicorn replied.

"Have you ever seen this 'master' of yours?" She asked.

"No; nopony has" She replied.

"There are others involved in this?" Dusk asked.

"Yes" She replied regrettably.

"Who else is part of this group?" She asked.

"There's BonBon, Blueblood and Sky Trooper as far as I know" She said. At that moment, Dusk left the room for a moment.

"Lieutenant, I need you to tell the rest of the guard to be on the look-out for BonBon, prince Blueblood and Sky Trooper. When these ponies are found, bring them back here and alert me immediately." She ordered.

"Sky Trooper, ma'am?" He asked.

"I'm afraid so, lieutenant. It seems one of our own has turned against us..." She replied.

"I'll get on that right away, ma'am!" He said as he left to perform his orders.

Once he was gone, Dusk returned to the interrogation room where Lyra was still sitting, her hooves on the table.

"Sorry, anyway; do you know where your master lives?" She asked.

"All my master has said about their location is that it is a far-away land where there is no magic" Lyra explained.

"That's not possible; there is no such place" She replied.

Dusk knew very well that such a place did exist, but they've been hiding that fact from everypony for ages. If everypony knew that there was a gateway to a world without magic, they would either panic or they would want to go and explore the strange world; and they couldn't let that happen.

"What do you know?" Lyra argued.

"A lot more than you know, miss Heartstrings. I'm afraid we will have to keep you here for a while; you did try to murder princess Celestia after all and that is still high treason. You will have to excuse me" She replied as she left the interrogation room, leaving Lyra by herself.

Seeing as it was late in the evening, (around 9pm) Dusk made her way back to her and Luna's chambers. Luna was lying on the bed; reading what appeared to be a horror novel.

"Hey sweetheart" She said, noticing her wife entering the room.

"Hey" She replied as she plopped herself onto the bed.

"Long interrogation?" Luna asked.

"You have no idea; Lyra Heartstrings just confessed to trying to kill your sister. And she gave me a list of her accomplices, including this 'master' of hers. I'm assuming Sunset is this 'master' Lyra was talking about. As far as I know, she's been keeping her identity a secret..." She explained.

"Who else was working with her?" Luna asked.

"BonBon, Blueblood and Sky Trooper. I have the guards searching for them as we speak to bring them in for interrogation" She replied.

"Sky Trooper? Really?" Luna asked, shocked.

"Yeah, I'm assuming that's how they were able to even enter the castle..." She replied.

"This is completely mad! After this is over, I think we should just take off for a while..." She exclaimed.

"That would be nice Luna, but we both know the odds of is being able to get away..." Dusk replied.

"I know, but a mare can dream, right?" Luna asked as her wife nodded.

"This is insane. To think it's her daughter who is leading this group...it has got to be killing her inside...I know I wouldn't be able to bear it if one of the girls were doing this to me..." Luna exclaimed.

"I know love, I know...I wonder what happened to her to make her like this..." Dusk wondered.

"I bet you he had something to do with it..." Luna said in slight anger.

"There is no doubt he had hoof in this...but why? I don't understand that..." Dusk wondered.

"I wish I knew..." The moon goddess replied.