“So… I’m sorry, this is just a lot for me to believe, especially from ponies I’ve only just met,” Twilight replied, looking at Annette and Applejack. The crowd had dispersed some time ago after the latter had realized how uncomfortable the timid mare was. “Wh-what you are telling me is that my sister, who I’ve obviously known for my entire life, had another life on another planet before that,” Annette nodded. “Yeah, um, that sounds like a lie if I ever heard one.”
Annette simply laughed at Twilight.
“Yeah, that’s how most of them reacted, but one thing you should know about the Apple family,” She told the unicorn. “We don’t… typically tell lies, and we can see straight through others,” At Twilight’s confused glance, Annette realized her words hadn’t done anything. “Look, I know it sounds crazy, but it’s true.”
Twilight looked to her sister, and then back to Annette, thinking there must be some better explanation for this. It wasn’t like her sister had acquaintances, but considering Annette’s background, it seemed unlikely that the two had met. It was then that a thought suddenly hit her, one that made her shrink and back away from the earth ponies. If it was impossible for Lysithea to know Annette through normal means, and nopony else here had recognized her as the princess’ student (much to her surprise), then only one option remained.
“No… no no no no,” Twilight replied, not noticing that her sister was starting to get back on her hooves. “You’re with them, aren’t you? You’re part of the group that… that…”
“Sis, is something wrong?” Lysithea asked, drawing everyone's attention to the former human. She shook her head, finding herself looking in Annette’s direction as she did. “Sorry, I just need to make sure I wasn’t going crazy. Annette?” The former Blue Lion nodded in reply. She then turned to see her sister curled up against the tree. “Annette, what did you do?”
“Nothing! I just told her why I knew you,” Annette replied.
“Wait, what?!” Lysithea yelled at her former classmate. “Annette, ponies are going to think you’re crazy if–”
“Don’t worry, nopony here will call you crazy Ms. Ordelia,” Applejack said, catching Lysithea off guard, mostly due to the fact that she had been called an Ordelia for the first time in years. “Sorry, it’s Velvet now, right? Lysithea Velvet, your sister said so earlier when you collapsed.”
“No, it’s fine Ms. Applejack. Honestly, there is a small comfort in being called an Ordelia again,” Lysithea replied, turning back to her sister. “Twilight, everything is fine. They’re telling the truth.”
“R-r-really?” Twilight asked, getting a nod in return. Spike came to help her back onto her hooves, though the unicorn refused to meet the eyes of the ponies in front of her. “I-I’m sorry Ms. Annette and Ms. Applejack. It’s just… I jumped to conclusion. If you hate me for it–”
Applejack sighed, walking over and wrapping Twilight in a hug. The unicorn initially resisted it, feeling a little scared at a complete stranger hugging her, but that feeling quickly melted away. The hug, it felt really nice. The insecurity she initially felt faded away as she leaned into Applejack's chest, an action which initially took the farmer by surprise. It was as if she was looking at a foal in the body of a mare with how scared she had been.
“It’s alright sugarcube, we all do it from time to time,” Applejack told the unicorn. “The important thing is that you realized and apologized. I don’t hold it against you.”
Lysithea, Annette, and Spike all watched from a distance, each one smiling at what they saw. Twilight’s sister felt especially happy at what she saw in front of her, marking in her mind how big of a step this was. Part of her worried that her sister might pull away in panic, but that had proven unnecessary. In fact, if it wasn’t for her sister’s slight mumbling, she would have thought Twilight had fallen asleep right then and there. After a good three minutes, Applejack let go of Twilight, revealing a rather embarrassed Twilight rushing to her sister’s side.
“I feel like I also need to apologize, Lysithea. I should have been more careful,” Applejack said. “I didn’t realize how much my family had scared your sister, and I should have been more thoughtful.”
“You couldn’t have known Applejack, but thanks,” Lysithea replied, giving the farmer a nod. “I’m curious, how much did you tell my sister about…” She looked around, seeing that there were still some of the other members of the Apple family within hearing distance. “You know.”
“As much as Annette told me when I found out about her and the others,” Applejack replied. Noticing the look of shock on Lysithea’s face, she elaborated. “Yes, there are more of you. Honestly, those who were present for it had about the same reaction your sister did. Probably would have called them crazy if I wasn’t there to authenticate it all.”
Lysithea looked to Annette, hoping for further detail. “Only the parts that we all were absolutely sure about. Garreg Mach, Professor Byleth, Edelgard’s declaration of war, that stuff. We didn’t want to talk about the war,” She looked away. “Some of us would rather not think about it.”
“Right, sorry,” Lysithea said, feeling more than a little ashamed. No doubt all of the other former humans had died in Fodlan just like her. “Well, as much as I would love to stay and chat for some time longer, I do have other ponies to check on. We got these Dash sisters, Rarity, Fluttershy, and a few others I believe as well.”
“Oh, so you’ll probably meet everypony on the way,” Annette chimed in. “If my sister doesn’t mind, I can show you around a bit, since you’ll probably be staying in town till tomorrow.”
“Of course!” Lysithea replied, looking at Twilight and Spike. “You wouldn’t mind if she came along, right?”
Spike nodded, Twilight following after a few seconds of thought. The unicorn still felt like doing all of this was wasting precious time they could be spending trying to convince Princess Celestia, but there was nothing she could do. Perhaps, if everything Annette had mentioned was indeed correct, and these ponies were part of a war, they could help. It was a stretch, but since Princess Celestia didn’t believe her, what other choice would she have.
Besides, getting closer to Annette would mean getting closer to Applejack, and that felt really good for some reason.
“I don’t see why you can’t show her around, as long as you’re at the old shut down library in time for the you-know-what,” Applejack told her sister with a wink.
Annette just laughed. “Don’t worry, I wouldn’t miss it for the world,”
The smile suddenly fell away from Annette’s face, a question resurfacing that she might finally have a concrete answer to. An answer she felt could only be trusted if it was from a member of the alliance.
“Lysithea, before we leave, can I ask you something in private first?” Annette asked. Motioning for the unicorn to follow her.
Lysithea nodded, only turning back to give her rather uncomfortable looking sister a confident smile. A smile that said not to worry, and that she would be right back.
--------
After a good few minutes of walking, Annette and Lysithea stopped under a pair of apple trees at the edge of the orchard. They couldn’t see Twilight, or Applejack, or any of the other members of the apple family. The only two ponies within eyesight were themselves, and Lysithea knew by the look on her former classmates' faces that what she was about to ask was hard on her. Knowing that, she allowed Annette a few seconds to think over the correct words.
“I’m sorry, Lysi, I didn’t want to ask this as soon as I saw you again, but I don’t have a choice,” Annette replied, her voice sounding more somber than Lysithea had ever heard. “But, it’s about the rebellion that I was a part of. You know of it right?”
“The resistance group against Cornellia? Yes, I’m very much familiar with it,” Lysithea said, making sure to watch her words in case she might bring something too painful up. She said no names, no events, or anything related to the resistance group itself. “After we dealt with the Empire and some other things that popped up out of nowhere, we aided them in fighting Cornellia. Your death wasn’t for nothing.”
“I wasn’t concerned about my death meaning anything,” Annette explained with a shake of her head. “It’s my friend, Mercedes, that I need to know about.”
Lysithea felt her entire body stop working for a second as she realized exactly what it was Annette was about to explain. Her heart skipped so many beats it was amazing she was still standing, her brain seemed to cease functioning and yet she hadn’t died. Her stomach churned, and a gasp got caught in her throat. To Annette nothing seemed wrong, all signs from outside showing Lysithea was simply listening, but that was a lie.
“I’m sure you’re more than aware, but I died a week after the alliance retook the Monastery,” Annette replied, a tear already rolling down her face at the very thought of it all. “We were retreating, I remember that much. Both Mercedes and I had been asked to send a force to aid you all and ask for help. My group… we didn’t make it.”
Annette’s voice became slightly muddled as the memories returned to her. Lysithea finally showed some outwards sign of regret, grinding her teeth.
“Lysi, be honest with me, because even if I wouldn’t have known then, I would now. Being part of the apple family has for some reason allowed me to see right through lies, so as much as I would appreciate the notion of you to hide it,” Annette looked to the ground, to overcome the memories to look her old schoolmate in the face. “No, I’m just stalling by explaining. Tell me Lysi, Mercedes didn’t make it, did she? Your words early implied as much.”
“Annette…” Lysithea stopped herself, the first thought being to hide the truth. As the earth pony had implied, however, lying wasn’t an option. The truth was what she wanted, and it was wrong to hide it from her. “I’m sorry Annette, she never made it to us. We found her group on the border, where the Valley of Torment is.”
“I… I see,” Annette said.
After a few moments of silence, Annette sniffled and wiped the tears from her eyes. She forced a smile and looked to Lysithea. By that point, her eyes were already covered in tears again, most trailing down her face. So, she wiped them away again, only for them to come back in a matter of seconds. Despite it all, she kept smiling that same somber smile.
“Thanks, Lysi,” Annette replied. “Thanks for being honest.”
“You need a moment?” Lysithea asked.
Annette waved a hoof in front of her. “No, it’s just… even though it’s nice to have closure, it doesn’t make it any easier,” She slowly walked closer to Lysithea, and the two wrapped each other in a hug. “Thanks, Lysi. It means so much to finally know, even if it hurts so badly. Thank you.”
“Of course,” Lysithea said, looking to the side. Her last words were almost quiet to the point of only being mouthed. “It’s… what friends do.”