//------------------------------// // A Chance Meeting // Story: The Ties that Bind // by the7Saviors //------------------------------// Ancient Scroll had initially planned to leave before the Sun had risen, but held off due to Sunset's unforeseen stomachache. That meant the other two fillies got to sleep in, much to their relief. It wasn't until late that morning that Sunset was well enough for the trek back home. Ancient Scroll suggested she rest a little more, but the filly had insisted she was fine despite still looking a bit green. So with that, the four of them packed away their belongings and the various things they had obtained during the festival and headed out of town after one last farewell and thank you to Rouge. The majority of the trip back to the cottage was uneventful, with most of the time being taken up with idle banter about the festival. Eventually they came to the small bridge above the river and passed by a lime green earth pony mare and an off white pegasus stallion trotting the other way. As Ancient Scroll and the fillies passed by, the mare stopped and turned to look back at them with narrowed eyes. After a moment she nudged her companion and pointed a hoof in their direction when she had his attention. "Does that filly look... familiar to you, Foggy?" she whispered as she watched the fillies go. The stallion frowned and turned to the group briefly before turning back to the mare. "Which one?" he asked, "none of em' look familiar to me, Flib." "The little lavender one," the mare said, gesturing to Twilight, "there, see? I swear I've seen her somewhere before..." "I dunno, Flib," the stallion muttered, narrowing his own eyes, "but now that you mention it, the orange one actually does look kinda familiar," he hummed to himself thoughtfully before shaking his head, "nope, can't place her." "...I'm going to ask them," the mare decided, already trotting after the group. "Wait, Flib don't--" "Excuse me!" the mare cried, "sir, do you have a minute?" The stallion facehoofed and let out an aggravated groan. "Every time with this mare," he grumbled as he trotted after his companion, "every buckin' time. Can't keep her muzzle out of other ponies business to save her life..." Ancient Scroll and the others turned to face the incoming mare curiously. "Can we help you, Miss..." the old stallion trailed off expectantly. "Oh, I'm terribly sorry, sir," the mare said as she stopped in front of Ancient Scroll, "my name is Flibberty Gibbets and this is my husband, Foggy Skies," she gestured to the pegasus stallion that had just trotted up beside her. "A fine afternoon to the both of you," Ancient Scroll greeted with a nod and a small smile, "what can an old stallion like me do for the two of you?" "Well..." the mare's gaze flicked to the bemused lavender filly before she looked back at Ancient Scroll, "I couldn't help but notice--" "Flib here thinks she's seen the purple one before and wants to know her name," Foggy Skies interrupted in a flat tone. "What -- I... Foggy!" Flibberty sputtered in indignation, "I'm perfectly capable of explaining myself thank you very much!" "You'll have to forgive her," the pegasus stallion continued, ignoring his wife, "she can't help but stick her nose into every pie she can get her hooves on." "No, no it's... alright," Ancient Scroll replied somewhat warily. He turned to Twilight with a raised eyebrow, "you want to tell them your name, little filly?" Twilight looked between Ancient Scroll and the couple with a confused frown. "Um, okay?" she replied, turning to the curious mare, "my name is Twilight. Twilight Sparkle." The mare gasped and clapped her hooves excitedly. "Ah-ha! I knew it!" she cried, "I knew I had seen your face somewhere before!" "Y-You have?" Twilight responded, taking a surprised and slightly nervous step back, "but... I don't think I've ever seen you before." "Oh you wouldn't have, dear," the mare replied with a dismissive wave of her hoof, "after all, I haven't met you personally." Twilight looked back at the other two fillies who both shrugged in response -- just as confused as she was. The lavender filly turned to Flibberty once more with a frown. "Then... where have you seen me before?" "In the Canterlot Times of course!" the mare answered with an excited grin, "you're that filly that went missing awhile back during that that horrible murmmph!" Flibberty turned to glare at her husband who had covered her muzzle with a hoof and gave the mare a disapproving glare of his own. "For Celestia's sake, Flib," he growled, "learn some bucking tact, would you?" Trixie and Sunset gave each other worried glances before turning to a stunned Twilight. Ancient Scroll furrowed his brow as he observed the couple. "I take it you two hail from Canterlot then?" he asked, "what brings you all the way out here?" "Sorry for all of this, sir," Foggy answered with an apologetic smile, "we're actually on our way to visit some relatives in Faranda Way. We tried to make it to the Spring Festival, but we hit a snag on the way here and missed it." Flib pushed her husband's hoof away and gave him one last glare before turning to the old stallion with a smile. "The whole city is in an uproar about the..." she glanced at Twilight and winced at the pained look on her face before looking back to Ancient Scroll, "...terrible event that took place recently, so we figured it was a good time to leave Canterlot and visit my aunt and uncle, what with the festival going on and all." "But instead we missed it because Flib here decided to chat it up with every stallion and mare we came across on our way here," Foggy added bitterly as he frowned at his wife, "you knew we were on a tight schedule, Flib!" "Oh who cares?" Flib replied with a flippant toss of her sandy brown mane, "we may have missed the festival, but we found something even better!" Twilight yelped in surprise as she was lifted off the ground by the ecstatic earth pony mare and spun about. "We found the Twilight Sparkle!" she cried happily, "you know what this means right, Foggy?" "Ma'am," Ancient Scroll said with a disapproving frown, "can you please put the filly down?" The lime green mare looked from the uncomfortable and slightly dizzy lavender filly to the frowning beige unicorn stallion. "Oh," she lowered Twilight to the ground with a sheepish chuckle, "sorry about that. I'm just a little excited because we found Twilight Sparkle!" Ancient Scroll shook his head and turned to the more ground pegasus stallion. "If I may ask," he asked, "why all the excitement?" Foggy Skies looked at his overenthusiastic wife and gave an exasperated sigh as he looked back to Ancient Scroll. "The reason my wife is acting like a five year old filly in a candy shop is because there's a reward for any news of the little purple filly's whereabouts," he explained, "and it's a pretty big one too." "Two hundred and fifty thousand bits!" Flib squealed, "straight from the Royal coffers of Princess Celestia herself!" Each of the filly's jaws dropped in disbelief. "That's... quite a sum," Ancient Scroll muttered in shock, "from the Princess herself you say?" "One hundred and twenty-five thousand, actually," the pegasus corrected, "half for the filly and another half for the colt." "Wait, the colt?" Twilight interject as she pushed her way in front of Ancient Scroll, "what colt? What was his name?" "His name?" Foggy replied, putting a hoof to his chin thoughtfully, "let's see... I think it was... Gleaming Shield? Something like that." "Do you mean Shining Armor?" Twilight asked, her eyes widening with hope. "That was it," the pegasus replied with a stomp of his hoof, "Shining Armor. Folks say the both of you went missing that night." Twilight fell to her haunches. "Shiny..." She felt a hoof rest on her shoulder and she turned to see Sunset giving her a reassuring smile. "This means he might be out there somewhere, alive." Twilight nodded and a smile spread across her face briefly before falling into an unsure frown. "Twilight?" Trixie asked with a concerned frown, "what's wrong? Aren't you happy knowing your brother is alive?" "I don't know if he's alive for sure, Trixie," Twilight said with a shake of her head, "it's been so long since..." she trailed off and shook her head again more rapidly, "I'm happy that he might be alive somewhere -- extremely happy, and I want to find him as soon as possible if he is alive... but what about you two and Uncle Scroll?" She looked between each of them before speaking again. "I want to find him, but I don't want to just abandon you all either." "Well, little filly," Ancient Scroll said after a moment, "if you think he might be alive out there, it's more than worth a try to find him, and I'm willing to help you every step of the way," he looked down at the other two fillies with a smirk, "and I'm sure these two wouldn't let you go alone even if you asked." "Trixie would sooner chew off her own hooves before she let's you search alone," the azure filly said with determined frown. "What she said," Sunset added with another reassuring smile, "we won't leave you hanging, Twilight." "You'll all... help me look for my brother?" They each nodded in turn and Twilight smiled gratefully. "D'awww~" They all jumped in surprise and turned back to the earth pony mare who was grabbing on to her annoyed husband and staring at the fillies -- her eyes sparkling. "That's... so... adorable!" she turned to her husband, "isn't that just the sweetest thing you've ever seen, Foggy?" "Sure," the pegasus stallion grumble flatly, "I'm absolutely drowning in the saccharine cuteness of it all." "Um... excuse me, Miss Gibbets?" The mare turned to Twilight and the lavender filly shuffled her hooves uncomfortably. "Could you... not mention that you found me out here?" she asked hopefully, looking back to the others as she spoke, "I don't want to have to leave my friends and Uncle Scroll." "What?!" the mare cried, "but... but... the bits..." she turned to her husband, "the bits, Foggy!" "Flib, do you really want to tear this filly away from her friends?" he asked with a raised eyebrow, "I mean look at em'." She blinked and turned back to the three fillies to see them each putting on their best puppy dog face. Ancient Scroll barely suppressed a snort of amusement. "I... but -- but... one hundred and twenty-five thousand bits..." The stares intensified. "But..." More staring. "Just let it go, Flib," Foggy said with a sigh, "your dad's already swimming in bits anyway. We don't need anymore than we have." "Oh, come on, Foggy!" the mare retorted, turning to her husband, "you know I hate asking daddy for money!" "Flib..." the white pegasus chided. "Ugh, fine," Flibberty conceded as she started trotting away, "we'll leave the filly alone, are you happy?" "Yes," Foggy replied simply before trotting after his wife. He stopped and gave the old stallion one last apologetic smile. "Sorry again," he muttered before looking to the lavender filly, "hope you find your brother, little lady." Twilight nodded back with a smile and the pegasus stallion moved on. Ancient Scroll and the three fillies continued on their way back to the cottage. Trixie looked back to the couple as they trotted further away before snorting and turning back around. "What a nag." "Oi," Ancient Scroll admonished, "watch that mouth, little filly." Twilight giggled before her smile turned thoughtful. Then she frowned. Then her eyes slowly widened in horror and she stopped trotting all together. "Are you alright there, little filly?" The rest of them stopped and turned to Twilight worriedly. "Twilight?" Trixie asked trotting closer to her friend, "what happened? What's wrong?" Twilight turned to the azure filly and Trixie reeled back in shock as tears began streaming down the lavender filly's face. "I-If my brother's alive..." she said in a shaky voice, "...then... I... I think the Razor Twins... I th-think they might've taken him." She fell to her haunches once again -- this time unable to stand from the shock of her realization. "I think... they took Shiny..."