The four alicorns stared at the spot where the eavesdropper had listened in on their conversation. All of them had a sense of dread building in them and each had the same thought.
'The secret's out.'
************
In the Canterlot Library, a unicorn with a hooded cloak was inconspicuously looking through a book of magic spells.
'Hmm...temporary wings, no...potions, no...illusions, no but might come in handy...aha, appearance altering spells! 'In order for a unicorn to cast this spell temporarily, they must think the words 'change' and 'shift' while imagining the image of what they wish to take the appearance of. The guise will wither away exactly 24 hours after the spell is cast if the caster does not strip away the guise beforehand. Caution: Requires Intense Focus and High Level Magic. Do not attempt if you are not experienced enough.' Interesting. Might want to keep this book on hand.'
The unicorn walked to the front counter where a cream-colored unicorn with glasses was reading a book. The red-maned mare with purple streaks in her mane was so engrossed in the book, she didn't notice the hooded unicorn coming up to the counter. It was only when the unicorn spoke that the mare noticed.
"Excuse me dear, are you the librarian?"
"Oh...no, I'm sorry. I didn't see you there," the mare said apologetically as she sat up looking startled.
"No need to say sorry dear. I can see you're quite the reader. So, where is the librarian? I wish to check out a book that has caught my interest," the hooded figure asked.
"She called in sick. I'm in charge for today," the mare said as she magically scanned the book and gave it back to the unicorn.
"Oh. She must trust you a lot to allow you to manage the library on your own. What's your name, dear?"
"My name's Moondancer. It's not that she trusts me to manage the entire library, but she trusts the pony who allowed me access to the east tower...Princess Twilight. She managed to get a word in for me and here I am," the mare said.
The hooded figure questioned further with a bit of surprise. "Oh, are you a friend of the princess?"
"Well, yes."
If not for the hood covering the unicorn's face, Moondancer would have seen the devilish grin and twinkle in the eyes of the figure.
"Well, thank you kindly, Moondancer. I hope we meet again soon," the unnamed unicorn said. 'You've given me more valuable information than this book could ever give me! Imagine! The princess of friendship's friend! Oh, this tidbit of information will certainly help me!' The figure was absolutely giddy on the inside, but showed no sign of it in their expression or words.
The unicorn rushed away before Moondancer could ask for their name. Moondancer simply shrugged and continue reading.
************
The four alicorns headed back to the castle in stone silence, each lost in their thoughts.
Sunset groaned inwardly as a thought crossed her mind. 'If that was a journalist, this will be all over the newspaper by tomorrow.' She still felt angry at Princess Celestia. In fact, if she hadn't had that meeting with them, everything would be blissful. No wings, no revelation, nopony snooping on them, and no worries. 'I wish. Why does fate hate me so?'
Twilight, on the other hand, was far less...enraged at the revelation. Her heart was rather saddened though. She wasn't mad at Princess Celestia like Sunset was, but she was rather heartbroken to hear such a confession. On the other hand, she was having a difficult time accepting Princess Celestia as her mother. She had always saw Princess Celestia as her mentor and second-mother, but not her actual mother. And what of the mysterious eavesdropper that had listen in on their conversation? Who was it? What could they gain from that knowledge? The only reasonable answer she could think of was a journalist that was desperate for a story. After all, it was risky to spy on the princesses.
They had tried picking up a trace of the magic. Alas, whoever it was, they had cast an anti-tracking spell on their magic. It was rather high-level magic as well. The Royal Sisters eventually could break the spell, but it was only faintly traced back to the hustle and bustle of Canterlot. They lost the trace as it became more crowded.
Sunset barely even bothered to cast the illusion spell, but Twilight convinced her otherwise. Just because one pony knew Sunset was an alicorn didn't mean that everypony knew. And she intended to keep it that way for as long as she could.
The guards at the gates let them pass into the throne room. They came looking for a solution to their problem, but none of them had any good ideas on what to do. They locked the doors and this time, they made sure no pony was inside the sound-proof barrier besides themselves.
As the four alicorns got comfortable, Luna cleared her throat and began to speak. "We are all aware of the current situation. Somepony is in possession of valuable information that was revealed during that meeting in the gardens. Whatever we must do, we must act quickly. We have no idea of their intentions with that information. Putting that aside, does anypony have any ideas?"
When no one answered, Luna's posture slumped. Letting out a sigh, she glanced out the window to avoid the eyes of her sister and nieces. 'If the media gets wind of this, who knows what might happen tomorrow or the day after?
The silence was broken as Twilight cleared her throat to speak. "All we know so far about the unicorn is that their aura is sky-blue, and they have high-level magic. Not much to go on. I propose that we continue on normally and turn down any accusations should the unicorn tell the public."
Turning to Sunset, Twilight said, "I think you should stay in Equestria a little while longer, Sunset."
"But-" Sunset was cut off by the stern look in Twilight's eyes. "Ugh. Fine."
************
'Time for my plan to play out. Soon, I'll have my revenge and nopony will stop me!'
The unicorn's hood fell back, revealing a light pink unicorn mare with moderate persian blue eyes. The mare's mane and tail were two shades of purple with streaks of pale turquoise.
The mare cast the appearance altering spell in a dark alley. She discarded the cloak and walked out of the alley looking completely different. Her once pink fur was now cream-colored and her mane and tail were red with purple streaks. To finish it off, she had bought a pair of glasses from a nearby store before casting the spell. Placing the glasses on her muzzle, she summoned a mirror from the saddlebags at her sides. 'Perfect. I've got a good chance of getting behind enemy lines with this disguise. Now to make sure that there aren't two Moondancers running around. Just need to cast a simple memory transfer spell from her to me. Then the rest will work itself out.
She teleported inside the Canterlot Library in a flash of gray-pink energy. Carefully, she made sure that nopony had noticed her entrance. It seemed that everypony had already left. The real Moondancer was still reading her book behind the desk. 'Great. No witnesses.'
Moondancer didn't notice the doppleganger as she read her book. All of a sudden, her head felt weird. She snapped her head up to see a hooded figure using their magic to do something to her head. She was just about to launch her own attack when she noticed that her horn wasn't responding. She realized that she couldn't move. She panicked.
"Oh, is something wrong, Moondancer?" the figure asked in mock concern.
The hooded figure threw off her cloak and Moondancer found herself gawking at her impersonator. She found her voice and glared accusingly at her mirror-twin. "Who are you and why do you look like me?"
The 'other Moondancer' merely smirked and the real Moondancer found herself feeling light-headed. She noticed that her head had stopped feeling weird, but she was getting sleepy really quick. Right before she lost consciousness, the doppleganger released her disguise to reveal her true form and whispered quietly into Moondancer's ear, "I had hoped that we would meet again, dear."
Moondancer's eyes widened and then drooped lower and lower. 'The mysterious figure with no name?!' That was her last conscious thought.
The unicorn stared at the unconscious Moondancer as she cast the appearance altering spell once again and mumbled to herself, "Now to stuff her into some never-used closet. Time for stage two. Good job, Starlight."