Starlight was furious to have learned that Sunset made friends with the royal family of Canterlot and was upset to have learned that Sunset found the hidden room underneath the kitchen. She had hoped that no one would find it, but since they did, Starlight noticed that the music box she kept in the trunk was gone.
Starlight felt a fear of dread, thinking, Does she know? Do they know? But once she looked down in the trunk, she sighed, "Good… they're still there…" She picked up one of the memory stones. "It was foolish of me not to have destroyed these things, but they may be useful in the future…" She took out a box and put the stones in it. "I'll be keeping a close eye on these just to be safe… For now, I must visit a very confused mare…"
She used her magic to teleport her way into the room. Sunset woke up with a startle as she gasped at Starlight's sudden appearance. She braced herself for the worst, but was genuinely surprised by the concerned look Starlight was giving off.
"Sunset Shimmer, I can't begin to tell you how sorry I am…" Starlight tried to use a sad tone.
"What… What?"
"I know you think of me as cruel for locking you up, but I was only trying to protect you…"
"Protect me?" Sunset furrowed her brow. "Protect me from what?"
"Oh…" Starlight started to fake crying, "I should have told you this long ago…"
"Tell me what?"
"Oh, it's so awful! But… I saw them…"
"Them? Them who?"
She fake-sniffled, "Your parents…"
Sunset gaped and gasped out, "My… my parents…?"
"Indeed… I didn't want to tell you because, well, you would have felt so upset and hurt all your life… They willingly abandoned you in those woods… It's too horrible to think about…"
"Wait… WHAT?! You mean… all that time… they really did abandon me? They didn't want me…?" she was on the edge of sobbing.
"I'm afraid so… I saw how they put the basket down in the middle of the forest… It was no accident… But that's not the worst part, I'm afraid…"
"What do you mean?"
"I heard the reason they were abandoning you… They said that they had too many children already, so they knew they had to get rid of one. I guess in the end… they chose you… It's so ghastly, I know. It makes me sick to my stomach…"
Sunset couldn't believe what she was hearing. All this time, her parents abandoned her because they already had too many children…
"But that can't be it, can it?"
"Now that you mention it, there is one thing… Oh, but I've said too much already!" she acted dramatically.
"Tell me! I need to know everything!"
"You do not know what you ask!"
"Please! I have to know for certain!"
She sighed, "Very well, but don't say I didn't warn you… They… They were the King and Queen of Canterlot!" she resumed with the fake crying.
Sunset froze. She couldn't move an inch until she uttered, "No…"
"Oh, yes… It's a disgrace… Or rather, you were the disgrace…"
Sunset found herself trembling and shaking her head, "No… No… No! It can't be true!"
"Oh, but it is… it is…" she saw the music box and pointed, "That box right there was left by your side when they left you all alone. They obviously were getting rid of evidence that you ever existed in their life… A crying shame it is…"
Sunset quickly used her magic to grab the necklace inside the box, "Then what does this mean?!"
"That…" Starlight was shocked, but then she remembered seeing a necklace just like that and quickly said, "I saw one just like it recently!"
"What…?"
"Yes… that alicorn I saw talking to you through the door had one, too!"
"What?! You're lying!" she screamed.
"Am I? Ask her to show her necklace. You'll see I've been telling the truth all along… It appears she must have known about you and took pity on you to show you a life that you were never meant to have… Now here she is pretending to help when really… she just wants you out of the way so you don't interfere with their life… They never needed you before. Why should they start now?"
Sunset didn't know the words to say. She was in too much shock. She didn't know what to believe at the moment… Some of Starlight's words made sense, but when she thought of Twilight, she thought how she seemed so genuine to her. But if she did want to help her escape, would she not have found a way out sooner? It was too much to bear right now. She needed to be left alone to think this over…
When silence was all Starlight got, she stated, "I'll leave you be. I can't imagine the pain you must be going through…" She teleported out and was back in the secret room where she scribbled something down and planted it on top of a shelf. "There, that little princess will finally find what she's looking for. Too bad Sunset won't want to follow her after all…" she gave off a smug look.
The next morning, Starlight pretended as if nothing had happened and she gave her servants the list of chores that needed to be done for the day. She went out as Troubleshoes waited for her, quickly glanced at the tower, and gave a quick smirk before getting in and was being pulled away.
When Twilight saw Starlight was gone, she gave her sisters the signal to get going and they did. Twilight had gone back to looking in the secret room as she said to herself, "Today's the day. I just know it…" She searched every nook and cranny until she used her wings to look up on the top shelves and found a piece of paper. She examined it and gave a mighty shout, "Yes!" Feeling excited now, she went straight to the locked tower and when she started to cast the spell, the force field began to lift up. Once it was completely removed, she shouted out, "Sunset! I did it! I finally did it!" She opened the door as she kept saying, "It worked! You're finally… free?" She saw Sunset was staring at the wall and looking away from her.
Sunset was still looking at the wall when she said in a near-low tone, "Is it true…?"
Twilight tilted her head in confusion, "Um… yes? You're free! Isn't that great?"
Sunset slowly turned her head and Twilight saw the dark circles under her eyes as if she didn't get any sleep the previous night.
"Is it true?" Sunset asked again.
"What is?" Twilight was now even more confused than before. Why was Sunset acting this way? What was going on?
"The necklace… do you have it?"
"Necklace? What are you talking about?"
Sunset then moved to the nightstand and showed an orange music box, which made Twilight gasped.
Sunset opened the box as it began its sweet tune, the tune that Twilight heard for so long since her youth.
"How… How did you…?"
"How did I what?"
"That music box! Where did you get it?!"
Sunset's eyes widened, "You know about this?"
"I have a music box like it and all my sisters do, too!"
Sunset's eyes were suddenly tearing up as she dropped the box in shock, "So… It's true… ALL OF IT!"
"What is true?!" Twilight yelled in uncertainty.
"SHOW ME YOUR NECKLACE! SHOW ME!" Sunset yelled in anguish.
Twilight quickly took out the necklace she been carrying around, "You mean this?!"
Sunset then magically held out her necklace and it was Twilight's turn to gasp.
"Yes, Twilight, they're a perfect match…" Sunset's voice was filling with venom. "Isn't it strange, Twilight, how we have the same birthday? Why we like the same things? All this time… I thought you were my friend… only for you to know who I really I was… You knew all along and you were just using me…"
"Sunset… I don't know what is going on here… but there has to be a reason for all of this…"
"Don't you dare lie to me! You knew they abandoned me in these woods, getting rid of the child they were ashamed of…"
"NO! They would never do that!"
"No? Then how do you explain this!" she held up the music box, "And this!" she used her magic to grab the two necklaces together.
"I… I don't know!"
"Sure, you do…" she scoffed. "So stop trying to pretend you don't know. There's no point in hiding it anyway… They warned you of a daughter that might come back into their life and it was up to you to make sure she never figured it out…"
"That doesn't make any sense! Why would they give up one child and adopt three later on?!"
"Obviously to make up for the guilt they had and probably because they knew those three would be so much better than the one mistake they did have…"
Twilight was shaking her head, "Please, Sunset, come back with us… We can sort this all out… I know we can!"
"Forget it, I'm not going anyway. Freedom or not, I can't be near any pony who lies about my past and tries to cover it up so I don't know any better…" she turned to face the wall again.
Twilight tried to reach out to her, "Sunset…" She had her hoof touch her shoulder, but it was immediately slapped away.
"GET OUT! NOW! ALL OF YOU! JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!"
"But…"
"GOOO!" She threw the necklaces to Twilight's hooves.
Twilight rushed out of there, taking the two necklaces with her. Sunset could hear her clomping getting further away and for the first time ever, Sunset cried. Twilight was running to the doors as her sisters gave a confused look. They ran after her. Twilight was crying as well. She felt so hurt yet baffled at the same time. She didn't understand what happened and she certainly didn't understand how Sunset Shimmer could be her sister, let alone her twin… It was impossible… there had to be another explanation for it…
"Twilight! Wait up!" Applejack called out to her.
She turned back to see her sisters running to catch up to her, each having a look of worry etched on her face.
"Just keep running!" she shouted back to them.
"But why?! What's going on?!" Sweetie Belle shouted.
"Trust me! We have to get out of here!"
They exchanged glances, but nevertheless did as she said.
Sunset looked out her tower window as she watched them go off into the distance. "That's right, get out of here… I don't need any of you…" she sobbed, "I don't need anybody…" She looked down to see the music box still on the ground. Instead of picking it up, she kicked across it the room. Upon impact, the lid opened ajar and the tune began to play. Her lips trembled and she broke down in hysterical sobs.
When Twilight knew they were as far away from the manor as they could be, she told her sisters what Sunset told her. They were, of course, shocked when Twilight revealed how Sunset had a matching music box just like the rest of them. She then showed the two necklaces and how they matched. When Twilight had put them together, she saw the word 'SISTER'. No doubt about it - Sunset Shimmer was somehow related to them…
No one said anything since they were still too surprised of this recent development. Twilight then said, "I know it doesn't make much sense, but I can't help but feel she's right… Our birthdays are the same, she's got a music box like us, and the necklaces - it all adds up, but how… how is it possible…"
Applejack finally found her voice as she said, "Don't know, sugar cube. I've seen you as a baby. Pinkie and Rainbow Dash, as well. But I don't remember a Sunset Shimmer in the mix."
"Neither do I." said Rarity.
"Me neither." Fluttershy nodded.
"Are you sure?" Twilight questioned.
The three nodded their heads.
"We must be missing something. We need to find a way to look into the past and see the truth…" As soon as the words slipped from her mouth, she knew then of one pony that could help, only she wasn't really a pony…