Chapter Fifteen
Town
Library Annex
Twilight looked over the note once more. She had received it yesterday, but still found herself hoping it wasn’t true. But everything that had been in all of Celestia’s other notes were present, and she had no choice but to accept it. But what could be done about it now?
One week prior to this message, your fellow student, the phoenix Phillip, had been reported missing, having fled the city from royal soldiers even in his weakest state. Since then, extensive searches of Eclipse have been conducted, to no avail. The few reports we have to go on estimate that he fled in the direction of the EverFree forest, but no scouts thus far have found a single trace of his presence.
I write to you with this, Twilight, not as my apprentice, but as his closest and possibly only true friend. I’m not asking you to charge into the forest yourself and try to find him, but it’s likely he might come to you. If and when he does, I need you to discover why he has done this, and do your upmost to convince him to return.
Sincerely, Celestia.
She put the note back down on the table and began pacing again. Phil ran away? I just can’t think of why he would do that... And why didn’t he tell me beforehand? Something must have happened back there, but... Celestia didn’t mention anything bad happening at Eclipse, save for him running. What happened to him...? Oh, Phil, please be okay...
“Hey Twilight, you busy?” A voice asked from behind her, in the direction of the window. For a moment, she entertained the thought that it was her old companion, dropping in through the window when she least expected it.
She turned around, but was met instead with Rainbow Dash, casually hanging from the top of the frame by his hands with his feet planted on the bottom. She felt slightly cheated by this- where she had expected Phil- her longtime friend and confidant, who would do anything to help her if it was necessary- she instead got Dash- begrudged ally, cocky and self concerned, who had and would clash with her at every opportunity.
“What do you want.” She said unenthusiastically.
He turned his head slightly. “Something happen?”
“It’s none of your concern. I have other things to get to, so what did you need?”
“Right. Kind of a hypothetical question- if I were to tell you that you had a twin sister from whom you’ve been separated your whole life, who had since then trained her butt off to become a super-powered mage in order to find a way to get back in contact with you- what would you have to say to that?”
“I’d call you crazy, but then that’s basically my default reaction to anything you say.”
“Alright then- what if she was standing right outside your door, and it was someone other than me telling you this?”
What on earth is he trying to accomplish with this nonsense? “It would still be pretty crazy, even then. Is this going somewhere?”
“Sure is. Turns out everything I said was true, for once. Ask her yourself.” He used a wind spell to open the door leading to the rest of the library, where a girl with snow white hair, looking to be about Twilight’s age, stood. She wore a variation of a classical anima mage outfit- with a long coat tailed blue jacket and worn pointed hat- and held a long iron pole as a staff. On closer inspection, there was a place on the top to screw on an attachment of some sort, leading her to believe it had once been a broomstick, only adding to the classic magic look.
“Trixie- Twilight. Twilight- Trixie. Now, talk to each other or something, I don’t know. I have to get back to teaching archery.” He kicked off the window and flew off to who-knows-where. The two remained where they stood, sizing each other up.
“So, I’m meant to believe we’re twins?” Twilight asked incredulously.
“If you are indeed Twilight, apprentice to the queen, then yes.” She answered.
“Well, I’ll admit you do look something like me... But not so much that I’ll be convinced on that alone. I don’t suppose you have half a locket or old time piece that I forgot I had the other half of?”
“Hah! If only it were that simple. No, I never thought to set us up with something like that. All I have for you is my word.”
“Well, it’s true I don’t remember anything of my life before becoming Celestia’s student, so I suppose it’s not impossible that I had a twin... But that’s not anything like proof by itself. Why haven’t I been told about it before?”
“I assume it’s because Celestia didn’t want to distract you from your training with finding me. See, she took you in when you were two years old, more or less, leaving me with our parents. When I was old enough to learn the truth, I was more than a little upset, and... maybe a little jealous, too. She had chosen you over me in terms of magical prowess. But mostly it was because of what we missed out on- I would have enjoyed growing up with you.
“I did what I could to have the chance to meet you at all- I left home and sought out the most skilled mages I could find, and learned all I could from them. I hoped that by becoming more powerful myself, I would be able to track you down again and help somehow, and convince you of the truth.”
As much as everything she said added up in Twilight’s mind, she still couldn’t be convinced what she said was true. As much as she may have wanted it to be- she still lacked any concrete evidence. “I’ll be honest... I kind of want to believe you. And I can’t really think of a reason for you to lie, I don’t see how it would benefit you in any way. I suppose... I’ll give it a chance.”
“Really? You mean it?” Her eyes opened slightly wider.
“I mean... Even if that is true, we’re still no better than strangers. Twins or not, it’s still as though we’ve never met. But I’m willing to get to know you if you want.”
“Of course! So... You wanna start by testing each others magic skills?”
“A magic duel? Huh... Sounds fun! I know a good open field we can use. Do you want to go now?” She nodded, and the two left the room, headed for the town square.
On the way out, the door opened before they could get to it, and Spike stepped in. “Hey, I was just coming to find you- wait, who’s this?”
“Apparently my twin sister.” Twilight said with a chuckle.
Spike turned his head slightly, examining Trixie fully. “Yep, I think it’s safe to say it’s her.”
“Wait, you knew this whole time?” Twilight asked, confused. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Yeah, right after Celestia assigned me to watch over you, I took leave for a while to check out what kind of family you had come from, what to expect. Sure enough, there was another little girl with them, looked pretty much like this one here, but lots younger. Trixie, wasn’t it? Anyway, I only didn’t tell you because Celestia asked me not to. Probably didn’t want you galavanting off trying to find her. But I guess you found each other anyway, huh?”
“Told you.” Trixie said. “So, you said you were Twilight’s guardian? I guess that kind of makes you like my kindly human uncle figure, then?”
“Um... I suppose. Odd way to phrase it, but yeah, I guess so.”
“Oh, that’s just something an old friend of mine used to say. Pay it no mind. Anyway, we were going off to have a magic-duel. Would you like to tag along?”
“Well, with you two, injury will surely follow, and if you’re anything like your sister there won’t be any talking you out of it... I’ll come along if only to clean up afterwards.” He said, though Twilight could detect he was mostly just playing. The three left the library for the fields near town.
I didn’t quite trust Trixie at first, her being a complete stranger, but if Spike confirmed it... I know he would never lead me to believe something like that if it weren’t true. So... I actually have a twin sister. I... I have no idea what to make of that, in all honesty.
The small party made their way around to the back of town, but when they reached the field, it was already occupied. Fluttershy lifted an arrow from where it sat stuck in the ground, notched it in an old wooden bow, and fired. It stuck fast in a target on the other end of the field, an inch or so from the center. Rainbow Dash leaned against a tree, watching her intently. He noticed the three approaching and stood.
“Any of you know anything about archery? She’s getting better by the minute and I’m running out of skills to teach her.”
“Wait, what’s going on here? Why are you teaching Fluttershy how to use a bow?”
“She wanted to learn to fight to protect her friends, you know. Couldn’t bring myself to say no. I figure this was the best way to go, at any rate. But she’s already better than I am, and I need to find someone who can teach her better. So... you convince Twilight you’re her sister?”
“Sure did.” Trixie responded. “We were getting ready to have a magic- duel, but it looks like the arena’s being used.”
Fluttershy put down her training weapon. “I was going to ask about taking a break anyway. But what were you saying about Twilight having a sister?”
“Yeah, apparently she and Trixie here are twins. Go figure.” Dash said, putting the complex situation into extremely simple perspective. “Anyway, I guess we’re done for now, so yeah, go nuts and shoot magic at each other. I kinda want to see how that turns out. C’mon Fluttershy, let’s get this stuff picked up and watch.”