No sooner had Sunburst cracked open his door than he was wrapped in an orange and red embrace.
"Sunburst! I came as soon as I got your message. Are you alright? You said you were in trouble."
Sunburst carefully removed himself from the grasp of his mother, who was checking his eyes and teeth for signs of illness. "It will be easier if I show you...could you close the door first?"
Stellar Flare looked behind her and then smiled, pushing shut the door with her hoof. "Is that better?" She asked, nervously.
Sunburst turned away. "Umm, if you could lock it too...that would be a lot of help."
Stellar's smile twitched, then she nodded and used her telekinesis to bolt the door. Then she stepped closer. "Now can you tell me what's wrong?"
Sunburst hesitated. Then he gestured for her to follow him in the direction of the circle of candles across the room.
"Why is it so dark in here?" Stellar asked, before striking her hoof on something. Biting her tongue to stop from cursing in front of her son, she lit up her horn to find it was a crate full of unfamiliar tomes. Older than the usual trivia books, these had titles like Livery d’Eibon, The King in Palomino and Nameless Colts.
"Fewer shadows..." Sunburst answered, as he navigated the mess without once looking away from his destination.
Stellar frowned at the non-answer. "Sunburst, does this have to do with why there were so many guards running around outside?"
Sunburst made a slight choking sound. Then he took a deep breath and continued. "I found something...in the crystal library, hidden in the forbidden section..."
Moving quicker to keep up with him, she gave her kindest smile. "Well...what was it?"
Turning away, his spectacles gleamed in the eerie candlelight. "It has to do with King Sombra...and what he is..."
Stellar Flare frowned. Even after he'd enslaved all of Equestria, few remembered anything about him, besides the cackle of his laughter on the inside of their skull.
"You mean was dear. He was a unicorn." Stellar asserted. "But the princess and her friends-"
Sunburst shook his head. "Not a unicorn. And not gone. Never gone..."
There was a sound from somewhere within the messy home, like the whimpering of a foal.
"Wha-what was that?" Stellar asked, her eyes searching the darkened interior.
Sunburst ignored her, too busy regurgitating the information he'd held within for too long. "He can enslave a whole nation, by trapping us in our worst fears...but that's not all. Even in a weakened state, he can get in while you're sleeping and take direct control. Imprison you inside your own body...that's what he did to the last heir to the Crystal Empire."
Stellar moved closer to her son. "Have you told Princess Cadence about this? I'm sure she'd be able to help if she knew about your findings."
"That's just it...I-I can't..." He said as his own horn glowed. She watched as from the darkness levitated a yellow bubble of magic containing a small white and purple form.
"He took control of her body, I-I know it. But I couldn't prove it. And I knew they wouldn't listen...and there wasn't time to argue either. In less than an hour, the possession will become permanent."
Stellar stared up at the sobbing filly trapped in her son's spell. No, not just a filly. Princess Cadence's daughter, the filly who would one day rule the entire Crystal Empire. She was snot ran down the edge of her still baby fat cheeks. Her wings wrapped tightly to her sides for protection.
"You-you understand, right?" He turned back to her, his eyes pleading. "I-I wouldn't have done this, if...if I wasn't sure..."
"Please let me out! I wanna go home!" Flurry Heart said, pressing her tiny hooves against the yellow bubble in which she was encased.
Sunburst shook his head. "Don't listen to him...you-you know I'm not strong enough to restrain an alicorn, even one her age. The only reason he hasn't broken free is that he hasn't gained full control over her yet. Please, Mom, I asked you to come because...I-I can't complete the exorcism by myself."
Stellar stared at Flurry Heart. Then she took a deep breath. "You-you know I love you, right?"
Sunburst smiled. "Of...of course."
Stellar Flare turned to face her son. Then she blasted him with her horn. The spell was designed to stun but was powerful enough to throw him off his hooves. He tumbled backwards, spilling lit candles across the floor and setting fire to one of his many yellowing grimoires. As the spell he'd been concentrating dissipated, Flurry Heart glided over, pressing her wet face into Stellar's side and trembling against her in relief and terror.
Stellar looked at her and before levitating the dazed form of her son out of reach of the flames and hurrying them both out of harm's way. The guards already approaching to extinguish the fire quickly encircled Flurry Heart.
Stellar turned to look at her son. He was still staring at her in shock.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." She said, tenderly putting a hoof on his back. "Whatever this was, whatever comes...I promise, I won't leave you alone again."
His eyes welled, and he pressed his face into the cobblestones.
Flurry pointed a hoof at Sunburst. "He took me! He told me we were gonna practice magic and then he trapped me!" She declared.
The guards exchanged looks. Then two of them began to escort the young Alicorn in the direction of the palace, while the others rushed over to her and her son.
She thought she saw something strange then. In the quivering light of the conflagration devouring Sunburst's home, for just a moment, Flurry Heart had two shadows.
Stellar's eyes widened. She heard the clink of the manacles on her son's hooves and the roar of the fire became defeaning.
Then the thing wearing Flurry's skin paused to look back at her. And smiled.