Twin Oddities

Fluttershy’s cyan eyes looked over at Artemis once she had asked her question before turning back towards the crowd. She could tell that the deer hybrid seemed to be nervous about everypony staring at her and Apollo. Getting closer to the two legged creatures, she started to look for a way through the crowd before a voice suddenly rang out.

“Hey four eyes and mud freak, how about you go back to where you came from?”

Apollo’s orange eyes glowed faintly as he glared in the direction of the voice. Fluttershy looked in the same direction for a moment before she went back to observing the twins.

“How about you go and—“ The ram hybrid shouted back in an irritated voice before he felt a shadowy hand cover his mouth. He let out a puff of smoke from his nostrils as he looked over at Artemis, the hand returning to his own shadow as she looked away from him.

“There’s no need to start a-anything,” The deer chimera said quietly. “I-I don’t want you to end up hurting anyone, ok?”

Fluttershy saw Apollo nod his head in silence before she noticed that the crowd of ponies started to move aside. She saw a familiar face walk through the gap as she internally let out a sigh of relief, the twins tilting their heads at the sight of the lavender alicorn.

“Thank goodness you’re here Twilight!” Fluttershy exclaimed as a smile appeared on her face before she motioned to the two creatures with a hoof. “These two are Artemis and Apollo, and—“

“Wow, I’ve never seen anything like you two before!” Twilight interrupted as her head turned towards the twins. “Sorry if this is rude, but what exactly…are you?”

“I...um, think we should continue this conversation in a more private place,” Artemis began. “B-Besides, I don’t want to be stared at for any longer.”

Twilight nodded her head in understanding before she led the three to her castle. Once they arrived at the entrance, the door was quickly opened by a young purple and green dragon with green spikes on his head and tail.

“Hiya Twilight!” The dragon greeted with a smile on his face, his expression turning into a confused one once he saw Artemis and Apollo. “Uh...who’s that?”

“These two are Artemis and Apollo,” Fluttershy explained. “I found them in the Everfree Forest, and they’re not...really from Equestria.”

“Uh...ok.” He said before lending out his claws to them. “Anyways, I’m Spike, Twilight's personal assistant!”

“Nice to meet you.” Apollo said as he grabbed his left claw. Artemis grabbed his right one in silence as she gave him a shy smile.

The purple dragon moved aside so the four could enter the castle. The interior appeared to be a mixture of wood and crystal. Along with this, it had many regal looking banners hanging from the ceiling and green stained glass windows that had the design of a tree on the glass.

“So...Twilight,” Artemis began. “You asked what Apollo and I were earlier, right?” Without waiting for a reply from the princess, the deer chimera proceeded to continue. “Well...my brother and I are hybrids between two races that aren’t from here.”

“Yep, it’s true.” Apollo added. “You probably haven’t heard of them before, but the races are called Caelest and Mikos.”

“Interesting.” Twilight commented in an intrigued tone. “Could you possibly tell me more about these two creatures?”

“Well...what do want to know about them?” He asked. “There’s a lot of things I could tell you about, but I don’t want to overwhelm you or anything.”

The Princess of Friendship thought about his question for a moment, quickly coming up with an answer before she spoke.

“Does...every Mikos or Caelest look similar to you two?” She asked. “Sorry if this comes off as rude or weird or anything.”

“You’re fine, Princess—“ Apollo began before she interrupted him.

“Just Twilight is fine.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. Anyways,” He continued. “Not all Mikos or Caelest’s looks like deer or ram hybrids like my twin sister and I. Most individuals have unique appearances and whatnot, if that makes sense.”

“It does.” She said with a soft smile on her face. “What is your diet like?”

“Well, everyone...or everypony in your case, has an omnivorous diet. Basically we eat meat, eggs, vegetables, all that nice stuff. Mikos’ strangely prefer a more carnivorous diet, but personally we don’t eat meat very often.”

“How old are you two?” Twilight questioned as she tilted her head slightly.

“Fifteen.” The twins answered in unison, looking at each other for a moment before they laughed softly.

“It’s kind of a habit for us to say things in unison, or even—“ Apollo began before Artemis spoke.

“Finish each other’s sentences.”

Twilight and Fluttershy chuckled at the twins speaking at the same time, the two mares smiling at each other before Twilight went back to questioning the both of them.

“Can you two use any magic?” The Alicorn asked. “I can try to teach you two a couple spells, if that’s okay.”

“Well,it isn’t exactly magic or anything.” He answered. “It’s more like...abilities or something we were born with. The two of us can shapeshift and mimic voices or sounds. I can heal wounds, manipulate light, and summon small flames. My sister can manipulate shadows, generate electricity and cast illusions.”

“Maybe you two could...um, show us them sometime.” Fluttershy chimed in, having stayed silent for most of the conversation due to her not knowing when to finally say something.

“Sure, we c-can do that.” Artemis said, hiding a hint of worry in her eyes with a soft smile. “But...I feel like you two might think I’m—“ She mumbled to herself before quickly going silent as she heard footsteps from behind. She turned around before noticing that Spike had managed to catch up to the group, stopping to catch his breath before the deer chimera spoke in a concerned tone. “Are...are you alright, Spike?”

“Yep! I’m one hundred percent ok.” Spike answered with a wider than normal grin. “I just had to make sure nopony from that crowd got in.”

“Oh...thankfully we won’t have to come across any more rude ponies, right Apollo?” Artemis asked as she looked over at her brother, who nodded slightly in agreement.

“Yep. I can’t believe that…pony from earlier would say something like that to us.” He said. “Do you think we’ll know who said it?”

“I don’t really know.” She shrugged. “Besides, it could’ve been any—“

She suddenly jumped at the sound of doors being opened loudly before moving closer to her brother. The room had some kind of table in the middle that showed a map of some sort, and there were chairs made of white crystals, and four of them appeared to be occupied by a rainbow-maned pegasus with a blue coat and a marking on her flank that resembled a cloud with a lightning bolt that had red, yellow and blue stripes. There was a white unicorn with a curly purple mane and tail, who seemed to be wearing some type of makeup. Her marking appeared to be three blue gemstones. Two other ponies, a light pink earth pony with a bright poofy pink mane and tail with a symbol that were two blue balloons with a single yellow one and an orange mare with white freckle-like markings and a blonde mane and tail, which were currently tied back, who was wearing some kind of hat over her head. Her symbol was simple; three red apples with green leaves.

The ponies looked over at Twilight and Fluttershy before their gazes turned towards Artemis and Apollo. Their reactions ranged from opened mouths and wide eyes to an excited grin from the pink mare.

“Twilight, Fluttershy…” The orange earth pony said in a southern accent that was filled with surprise as she pointed a hoof at the two creatures. “What the hay is that?”