//------------------------------//
// Family Research 
// Story: A Hidden Secret 
// by Zeck 
//------------------------------//

	Twilight Sparkle tried. She really did. She did her absolute best to stay focused on the book in front of her, but it wasn’t working. The shuffling, rolling, and unrolling of parchment was getting on her last nerve, and the constant gasps, laughs, shouts of joy, expressions of shock, and, “Twilight! You have to see this!” statements had made it so she had been unable to read more than fifty-six pages in the last half hour. She was never going to finish her work at this rate. 
As if the pony of her painful predicament had plundered her thoughts, a shout of, “Twilight! Come here, quick!” traveled up from downstairs, overloaded the muffling effects of the pillow on her head, and rang inside her eardrums. Letting out a frustrated sigh and gritting her teeth, the newest Princess in Equestria stood up and made her way downstairs for the twentieth time in the last hour.
“What is it now, Pinkie?” she asked, no longer attempting to hide her frustration at constantly being disturbed. She was starting to wish she had never told the pink pony about genealogy.  In the past hour, she had found out that she alone had fifty-six cousins, one hundred and nine half cousins, sixty-eight aunts, forty-seven uncles, and possibly a long-lost sister who was a griffon.  And that was just her. Never mind the family trees of Rarity, Rainbow Dash, or Fluttershy (who apparently had several animals in her family history somehow).
It was too much information even for Twilight to handle, and her brain was starting to hurt because of it. As she walked down the stairs, she was greeted with a familiar sight.
Pinkie Pie was literally buried in unrolled scrolls and opened books. She had long since uncovered everything about Twilight and the rest of the girls’ family trees and had since moved on to other ponies, cross referencing information in such a way that Twilight herself would have been hard pressed to follow. Ever since her family road trip with The Apples, family genealogy had consumed Pinkie Pie.
Twilight stopped at the base of the stairs. There was no way to approach the earth pony without stepping on countless pieces of paper. “Did you find out that Lyra is related to a monkey?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“What?”
“Well, no. Not really. It’s complicated.” Pinkie’s head suddenly disappeared beneath the ocean of parchment. “But that’s not why I called you,” she said, popping back up right in front of Twilight and startling her so bad that she fell into the paper. “Sheesh Twilight, if I called you down her every time I found something like that, you’d never get any reading done.”
Twilight made a face and spit a scroll out of her mouth. “You don’t say.”
“I wanted to show you this.” Pinkie Pie unrolled a scroll in front of Twilight’s face. “I haven’t come across any other scrolls or books or anything like this one.”
“Pinkie, what did you do?” Twilight sprang up, causing scrolls and paper to fly everywhere, as she grabbed the scroll with her magic and pulled it away from the earth pony. “It’s nearly ruined! Half the names are scribbled out, while other have been erased or smudged. Why did you do this?”
“What? I didn’t do it. I found it like that!” Pinkie protested. Twilight glared at her, but the look on her friend’s face said that she was telling the truth. 
“But…” Twilight stared at the scroll before her. “Who would do something so terrible? All that knowledge, all that history. This is…this is…” The words to describe her disbelief were not coming to her. The idea that somepony would willingly do something like this to a piece of history baffled her. 
What’s more, it looked like it had been done by different ponies. The writing styles, the scribbles, the pen strokes, they were all different, but they all had one thing in common: 
They were all very angry markings. 
“Looks to me like we have a cover up,” Pinkie Pie said, her face sliding up next to Twilight’s as she too stared at the scroll, her eyes narrowing.
“You mean, somepony wanted to hide their history?” Twilight asked, shocked at the thought. She turned to look at her friend and saw that she was wearing her detective hat all of a sudden. Twilight just rolled with it. She had long since given up trying to figure out how Pinkie managed certain things.
“That’s what it looks like to me,” Pinkie said, blowing bubbles from the pipe she was suddenly holding in her mouth. “And it looks like we only have two clues to go on.”
“Two clues?” Twilight asked, once again at a loss. She knew what one of the clues were—the very top name was still clearly visible, and a pony that she and Pinkie both knew, but didn’t know-know.
“Yes,” Pinkie said, blowing more bubbles as she placed her hoof at the bottom on the scroll. “Two letters here: S and U.”
“I don’t know, Pinkie,” Twilight said, eyeing the smudged name. “I see the S for sure, but I’m not so sure that’s a—”
“And the other clue is at the top, silly.” Pinkie’s hoof jumped to the top of the scroll. “Octavia Melody. I suggest we start by asking her.”
Twilight had to admit that her curiosity had been raised. Sure there were ponies out there who were embarrassed about their family—Rarity was one such example when it came to her parents sometimes—but she had never seen something quite like this. The knowledge-seeking part of her brain was chomping at the bit, to use a phrase, to find out what would cause something like this. But the princess and student sides of her brain were telling her that she needed to finish cataloging all of her research, and clean up the mess that was her home right now.
“I’m sorry, Pinkie, but I’m afraid this is one mystery you’re going to have to solve by yourself,” Twilight said as she grabbed a random scroll and began to roll it up, hoping her friend would take the hint. “Octavia lives in Manehattan, so you should—”
“Oh, not right now, she’s not,” Pinkie said, rolling up the scroll and causing it to disappear into her mane. “She’s in Canterlot for the next few days. She’s doing a private show for Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, so she’s staying at her parents’ home for a bit.”
“How…how did you know that?” Twilight asked. She told herself that she shouldn’t have been surprised, but sometimes the things Pinkie did or knew defied reason.
“Easy.” Pinkie turned her head and pulled a small invitation out from…somewhere behind her. “Vinyl sent me an invite to the after-party that she’s going to be throwing. She said she would have invited you too, but she figured you’d be too busy with princess stuff to attend.”
“Oh did she?” Twilight said, feeling a bit slighted despite the fact that Vinyl was correct. 
“Yep, and judging by all the research you’re doing, it looks like she was right,” Pinkie said as she looked around the room. “I mean, there’s no way you could get this all cleaned up and put away by tonight, right?”
“Tonight?” Twilight asked.
“Yeah,” Pinkie said, blinking a few times as she stared at Twilight. “Oh, speaking of which, I better get going. I don’t want to miss the next train to Canterlot. See you later, Twilight!”
Before Twilight could say a word, Pinkie zipped out of the library and was gone. Dozens of scrolls flew into the air in her wake, and Twilight watched in dread as they sailed everywhere. But then, just when she was dreading the idea of having to clean up even more of a mess, she saw that the scrolls all landed neatly in little piles, all rolled up.
“How…” Twilight shook her head. “Never mind.”

Octavia Melody stood in the plush living room of her parents’ home. Her mother and father were out of town on a trip and had agreed to let her spend her time in Canterlot in the house. They had also agreed, with some reservation, to allow Vinyl to stay as well, after Octavia had assured them that it would not be like the last time Vinyl has spent the night in their home. 
Unfortunately, it was starting to look like she would not be able to keep her promise.
Vinyl had already turned the living room into a mini stage for the sound system she kept here (Octavia’s parents weren’t overly fond of the unicorn, but they didn’t dislike her and they knew how much she meant to Octavia) and was busy rigging lamps and other lights in the home to resemble a party atmosphere. 
“Vinyl,” Octavia said, gently rubbing her hoof on her forehead. “You promised. More importantly, I promised.”
“Relax, Octy,” Vinyl said as she ducked under the table then came up in a tangle of wires. “I got this. Now, uh…where did this one—ow!” She let out a yelp as sparks flew through the air and landed on her coat. “It’s cool, it’s cool.”
Octavia rolled her eyes. Her ‘performance’ for the Princesses had gone well enough, or at least the music part had. The conversation that had followed, the real reason behind Pricness Luna inviting her to the castle, had gone…about as expected.
She was still having trouble believing everything that she had been told, and the fact that her parents had hid it from her despite knowing the truth, when a knock at the door shattered her thoughts.
“Alright!” Vinyl said, popping up again from behind her sound system, still tangled in wires. “I bet that’s—woah!” Vinyl tripped and fell face first behind the table. “Uh, Octy? A little help?”
“I will get the door, of course,” Octavia said, smiling at the sight of Vinyl struggling to free herself.
“No, that’s not what I meant. Wait. Octy, come back!”
Octavia walked to the door, expecting to find some of the random ponies Vinyl had invited. She would, of course, have to turn them away, since there was not going to be a party. Just her, Vinyl and a few close friends, if that. She opened the door and immediately felt something wet on her nose.
“Good evening, Miss Octavia Melody,” a pony in a hat said. She had her head down and had a pipe in her mouth. She blew on it, and bubbles came out. One of them popped on the edge of Octavia’s nose, revealing what had caused the wet feeling moments before.
“Um…hello?” Octavia said, confused as to what was happening. This pony did not seem to be here for Vinyl’s party.
The pony raised her head to reveal bright blue eyes and a pink mane and coat. She looked terribly familiar. “I have some…questions for you,” she said and her eyes seemed to bulge out of her head as she spoke. So much so that Octavia found herself backing up slightly and the pony followed her until she was standing inside the house.
“I-I apologize, but I am afraid I am a bit preoccupied at the moment,” Octavia said, struggling to grasp what was happening. 
“Oh, with what?” the pony asked, her tone changing to one of curiosity and excitement. “Is it a party? I bet it’s a party!”
“Yo, Pinkie!” Vinyl said from her prison behind her sound system. “Is that my party mare?”
“Hey Vinyl—Oh, I mean, what up, DJ Pon-3!” 
Octavia sighed. Pinkie Pie. Of course. “Greetings, Pinkie Pie,” she said, trying to maintain her composure. Vinyl was enough to deal with, and after her day, she wasn’t sure she could handle a pony that was just as hyper as the D.J.
“Hey Pinkie, the party’s not for another two hours or so,” Vinyl said. Octavia looked over and noticed that she had managed to somehow tangle herself up even more. “What brings you here? You here to help?”
Please, Celestia, no, Octavia thought. 
“Oh no,” Pinkie Pie said. Octavia noticed that her pipe has somehow vanished in the short time she had been talking to Vinyl. “I’m actually here to talk to Octavia about something.”
“I hope you’re not trying to steal her from me,” Vinyl said jokingly. 
“Um, no,” Pinkie Pie said, a confused look crossing her face. “I just need to ask her about something.” Pinkie Pie held out a rolled up scroll and Octavia reacted instantly. “It has to do with—mmph!” She slammed her hoof in Pinkie’s mouth and pushed her back out the door. 
“Uh, Vinyl?” she said as she started to walk out the door. “P-Pinkie and I will be outside, so um…keep up the good work, okay?”
“What are—”
Octavia slammed the door before Vinyl could finish her question and then rounded on Pinkie with her hoof still in the mare’s mouth. Pinkie was looking at her with a confused expression and trying to talk at the same time. The feeling of her  tongue lapping against Octavia’s hoof was…not pleasant.
“Pinkie Pie,” Octavia said, taking her hoof out of the earth pony’s mouth and wiping it on the doormat, “where did you get that?”
“This old thing?” she asked, looking at the scroll with a smile. “Twilight had it. She was doing research on genealogy, so she had a bunch of scrolls.”
“You…you do not say,” Octavia said, sweat starting to build on her neck. Of course this had to come today.  Some higher power just would not let her be, would it? The timing was just too perfect, or imperfect, as it seemed to her. 
“I do say,” Pinkie Pie said. “In fact, I just said. There were lots and lots of scrolls, all of them detailing a lot of different ponies’ families. Hey, did you know that Vinyl is related to Rarity?”
Octavia blinked. “Really?” she asked before she could stop herself. Those two were about as opposite as was ponyly possible. 
“Yeah! They’re fifth cousins on their fathers’ brother’s niece’s side,” Pinkie said with a beaming smile. 
Octavia could not help but laugh. She could not wait to tell Vinyl the good news. Well, good for her. The look that would cross Vinyl’s face would do much to make her smile.  “Thank you for telling me. Now, if you do not mind, it has been a long day and I—”
“Oh, I know,” Pinkie Pie said, sliding next to Octavia and sliding her hoof over the mare’s neck before she knew what was happening. “Vinyl told me you had a private concert for both of the Princesses. That must have been sooooo fun, but I bet the pressure was tremendous! Why, I remember when I went to the Grand Galloping Gala—”
“As do I,” Octavia said, grinding her teeth slightly.
“—and it was soooo uptight. All those rules and formality. But at least other ponies were there, so if you made a mistake you wouldn’t be noticed. But alone with the Princesses? That must have been hard.”
“Actually, it was not that—”
“But I’m sure you did fine,” Pinkie Pie said. “After all, Princess Celestia is really nice, and Princess Luna is really fun once you get to know her. She’s just a little shy, but she throws a great Nightmare Night party.”
“Yes,” Octavia said, trying and failing to pull out of the embrace Pinkie held her in. “Well, as you said, it was a long day and I really would like to get some sleep.” Maybe she could slip out of this without having to deal with anything.
“Oh, right, sorry.” Pinkie pulled her hoof away and released Octavia. For a brief moment, Octavia thought she was free and that Pinkie Pie was going to leave. “I’ll be quick then.” No such luck it seemed. “I just had a question about this scroll.”
The earth pony unrolled the scroll until it fell down to the ground and then rolled off the front step. 
“Pinkie, I do not see how I can be of any assistance with this,” Octavia said, trying to keep her body under control. The secret had to stay safe. She had been raised by her mother believing that. And the worst pony possible was now in danger of finding out. If Pinkie Pie found out, all of Canterlot—no, all of Equestria, would know within a day. Octavia had to make sure that didn’t happen. “This scroll is unreadable, even by the highest minds in Equestria.”
“I know that, silly,” the pony said. “Even Twilight couldn’t read it. And if Twilight can’t make something out, you know it’s impossible. But I thought you might have some idea of the names on the list.”
Octavia could feel the sweat on her brow now. “And, um…why do you believe that?”
“Because your name is at the top. See? Right here.” Pinkie placed a pink hoof right at the top of the scroll. Sure enough, there was Octavia’s name, and she was willing to bet the two names below hers with lines connecting them were the names of her parents. And from her mother’s name a line no doubt went up to her mother’s name, and her mother’s and so on. All the way to the beginning.
“So it is,” Octavia said, now feeling terribly ill. She wanted to call out for Vinyl, but dreaded doing so. If Vinyl found out, or even suspected…what would she do? What would Octavia do if Vinyl left her? If she said she hated Octavia and never wanted to see her again? She could not handle even the thought of something so heartbreaking. 
“So,” Pinkie said.
“So,” Octavia replied.
When it became clear that Octavia wasn’t going to answer, Pinkie Pie looked at her. “So why is your family tree all scribbled out?”
Octavia swallowed. She needed to think of something right now. “Well, um, it is because—”
“Are you from a family of pirates?” Pinkie asked suddenly, her eyes going wide.
“What? No, of course not.”
“Ninjas?”
“No, although I am rather skilled at—”
“Thieves? Monster Hunters? Secret Agents? Mobsters?”
“No, Pinkie,” Octavia said, once again putting her hoof in the pony’s mouth to silence her. “My family is not part of anything so…exotic.”
“So then is somepony trying to keep your family silent? Are you in danger? Do we need to call the guards? Quick! Come with me!” Pinkie wrapped both of her front hooves around Octavia’s head. “I know the perfect place to hide you!”
“No, Pinkie, I am not in any danger,” Octavia said as she gently pushed Pinkie off, although she was not sure if that statement was entirely accurate. 
“Oh.” Pinkie plopped down on her rear end and thought for a moment. “Then, does it have to do with whoever Su is?”
“Su?” Octavia asked, perplexed.
“Yeah, Su. S. U. The name at the very bottom of the scroll.” She pointed and Octavia saw that somepony had not scribbled out the first name—the most important name—on the scroll as well as the others. Still, at least only the first letter was clearly visible. That was something.
“Yes, I…” Octavia’s mind raced. There was a way out of this, she just needed to find it. There had to be a way to satisfy Pinkie Pie so that she would not keep looking into this, but at the same time keeping the truth hidden. Her family had worked for so long, and for so many generations, to distance themselves from him that now no pony save for the Princesses knew the truth.
“I…I am afraid that that pony was a bit of an…embarrassment to my family,” Octavia said. She looked straight ahead and did not blink, for fear that her body language would give something away. 
“Embarrassment? Why? Was she a terrible singer or something?”
Octavia blinked and broke her thousand-yard stare. “Why would you think that?”
“Well, your family is really, really, really into music and stuff. Like, crazy into music. So the only thing that I can think of is that she must have been really bad at music to make the rest of your family disown her.” Pinkie’s eyes went wider than Octavia thought was possible, and a moment later they were right in front of her face. “And a I bet she’s the one who damaged the scroll too! She got so mad that she went and destroyed as much of your family genealogy as she could!”
“That sounds…reasonable,” Octavia said, more to herself than to Pinkie.
“So now there’s just one question left,” Pinkie Pie said, once again wearing the hat and holding a pipe in her mouth. “Who is Su?”
“Who?” Octavia asked.
“Su.”
“Su who?”
“Exactly! Who was Su? Don’t you know?” Pinkie once again pointed to the bottom of the scroll and Octavia remembered who the pony was.
“Um…well, I do not really—” she stammered, trying to come up with a name. 
“S. U...S. U…S.U…N maybe?” Pinkie blew several bubbles out of her pipe as she thought, many of them popping close to Octavia’s eyes. “I got it! Sunset. Was she Sunset Shimmer?”
“Who is that?” Octavia asked, finding herself baffled yet again while talking with the pink pony.
“You know, Celestia’s former apprentice, escaped through a magic mirror, stole Twilight’s crown, tried to raise an army to take over Equestria. Twilight told me all about it.” Pinkie stopped on that last part. “Sheesh. No wonder you don’t want any pony to know you’re related to her. She’s a real party pooper.”
Octavia saw her chance and she jumped on it. “Yes! Yes, that is her! Now I remember. Her name was…that. And yes, you are very correct: my family does not like to let other ponies know we are related to such an…unsavory character. We pride ourselves on our class and standing, after all.”
“Totally,” Pinkie Pie said as she craned her neck back—again, further than Octavia would have thought possible—to look at the fancy mansion. Octavia couldn’t help but blush a little.
“So, Pinkie Pie, I must ask that you keep this a secret. Please.”
“Just between you and me?” she asked, her head snapping back to Octavia. 
“Yes. Promise me you will.”
“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” The pony made the motions as she said them, much to Octavia’s confusion, and then smiled. “Don’t worry, Octavia. Your family’s secret is safe with me.”
“Thank you, Pinkie Pie,” Octavia said, relief beginning to dare to enter her body. “As a show of appreciation, how about I fill in that scroll for you as best I can?”
“Really?” Pinkie said, her mane puffing up even more. “That would be great. I can take it back to Twilight after the party tonight!”
Octavia winced. She had no intention of returning the scroll once she got her hooves on it. Unlike all the other ponies, she was going to just burn the whole thing instead of crossing her name out. “Um…how about you just leave it with me for a while? I’m not sure how long it will take to track down all the information.”
“Okay,” Pinke said as she gave the scroll to Octavia. “So, can we go inside now? It looked like Vinyl needed some help setting things up.”
Glad that the conversation was over and the scroll was safely in her possession, Octavia opened the door and allowed Pinkie to enter the house. She followed her inside, then stopped at the sight that greeted her.
Vinyl has somehow managed get even more tangled up in the wiring. So much so that she was now hanging upside down from the ceiling, slowly turning in a circle.
“Oh, uh, hey ladies,” Vinyl said as her head came back around in a slow turn. “Glad you came back. Um…if you don’t mind, could you give me a hoof?”
Octavia smiled and set the scroll down on the end table near the door. “I do not know, Pinkie. With her mane and the right lighting, I think she would make an excellent disco ball.”
Pinkie Pie gasped in delight. “You are so totally right! I’ll get the lamp!” She dashed down the hall and disappeared. 
“Hey, Pinkie, come back!” Vinyl shouted.
“Shush, you,” Octavia said, walking over and putting her hoof on Vinyl’s lips. “I like you tied up anyway.” She smiled when Vinyl’s cheeks went as red as her eyes. 
“So, um…what were you two talking about?” she asked, trying to change the subject.
Octavia glanced back over her shoulder. She really should tell Vinyl, but she could not bring herself to do it. The thought of what Vinyl might do if she knew the truth was too terrifying. “I will tell you some other time. Pinkie Promise. Now, how about I get you down from there before your cheeks permanently stay that color?”
“Okay,” Vinyl said. She stared at Octavia for a long moment, then added. “Hey, Tavi? You know you can talk to me about anything, right?”
Octavia had to fight back tears. “Yes, Vinyl,” she whispered. “I know.” She promised herself that she would too, one day.  After all, her mother had told her father about the ancient stain at one point, and they had stayed together afterward. Who was to say Vinyl would be any different?
Then again, her family was full of colts—and a few mares—who had cut ties completely once the mare in their lives’ had revealed the truth. What if Vinyl was like that instead?
No, Vinyl is not like that, Octavia decided, and she almost told Vinyl right then, but Pinkie Pie came tearing back down the hall with more lamps than Octavia realized her parents had. 
“All right, let’s get this party started!” the pink pony said.

Twilight had just finished putting the last book in the library back in its place and was on her way to bed, something Spike had done a long time ago, when there was a sudden knock at the door. She groaned, wondering who it could be in the middle of the night, and then groaned even louder when she realized who it was.
“Pinkie Pie, it’s one in the morning,” Twilight said as she opened the door to the library to see the pink pony smiling and bouncing up and down. “Can’t this wait?”
“Twilight, you’ll never guess what I found out!” Pinkie Pie said as she began to jiggle in place. 
“What is it now?”
“Sunset Shimmer!”
“What? Where?” Twilight instantly hunched down and readied her magic as her eyes darted across the room. She wasn’t about to let Sunset Shimmer get the drop on her again.
“No, silly, it was Sunset Shimmer’s name on the scroll,” Pinkie said. “And she was the one who scribbled out all the other names. She’s not a good singer, so Octavia’s family was embarrassed by her, and so she got upset and went and scribbled out all of their names on the scroll. Except for Octavia’s. Not sure why she didn’t scribble her name out too, but I thought you’d like to know that the mystery has been solved. Oh. And I left the scroll with Octavia. She promised to try to fill in the missing names as best she could. Anyway, I had a great time at their party, but I’m really tired now so I think I’m going to go home and sleep. You should do the same. You look exhausted. Goodnight, Twilight.” With that, Pinkie Pie bounded off toward Sugar Cube Corner before Twilight could say anything.
“But…” Twilight said as she watched her friend go. That didn’t make any sense. The number of names on that scroll, as well as the way they were arranged, meant that Sunset Shimmer had to be ancient. Twilight wasn’t sure how ponies aged in the mirror world, but she doubted it was that big of a difference. There was no possible way Sunset Shimmer could be as old as the scroll made her seem. 
Twilight decided she would look into the matter more completely the first chance she got, but right now, all she wanted to do was go to sleep. She closed the door and trudged back up the stair, then crawled into her bed and fell asleep, her mind calculating numbers to try and figure out how Sunset Shimmer could have been the name on the scroll.
There was no possible way she was a thousand years old, was there?