This ‘what if’ scenario is one in which Twigbranch was chosen to go to ShadowClan instead of Violetshine. This takes place at the end of The Apprentice’s Quest.
Twigkit is taken to the Gathering with her sister, Violetkit, by Alderpaw and is chosen as the kit to go to ShadowClan. Twigkit is fostered by Pinenose, but doesn’t get along well with her adoptive parents or littermates. She’d never go outside into camp because she despised her new Clan. Needlepaw often came to rant to Twigkit about how awful a leader Rowanstar is, and Twigkit would agree with her. Although Needlepaw takes her to meet Violetkit in secret with Alderpaw, Twigkit doesn’t feel like she belongs in ShadowClan or ThunderClan. She knew ThunderClan cats were always the heroes and very cocky about it, but then ShadowClan was weak under Rowanstar’s rule. Twigkit didn’t find her place until moons later.
When Needlepaw decides to join the Kin with a few other ShadowClan apprentices, Twigkit willingly goes with her. Needlepaw is surprised that Twigkit wants to follow along, but takes her to the rogues’ camp nonetheless. She is renamed Twigpaw and unofficially given Needletail as her mentor. Twigpaw did everything Needletail told her to do, even if it was something against the warrior code, like it often was. One day, Twigpaw sees Violetpaw with her new mentor, Poppyfrost, knowing that Violetpaw was looking for her, Twigpaw came out from the bush she’d been hiding in. She tells the two to leave the territory because it belongs to the Kin. Violetpaw shudders, asking why Twigpaw was so cold, and telling her that they were kin. Twigpaw replies that the only kin she has are Darktail and the rogues. She tells them once again to leave, or she’ll have to chase them away. Poppyfrost didn’t want to harm an apprentice, and Violetpaw didn’t want to hurt her sister, so the two of them left. Twigpaw strolled back to camp once her territory was safe and was immediately praised by Needletail for standing her ground.
When Darktail attacks RiverClan, Twigpaw fights to the death and manages to kill Foxnose. Darktail watches her in pride and tells her that she should consider giving herself a different name to show her commitment to the Kin. Twigpaw replies that she’ll think about it and rushes back into battle. As the RiverClan cats retreat, Needletail runs over to Twigpaw and tells her how proud she is of her apprentice. Twigpaw dips her head and says that Darktail was proud as well. As they settle into their new camp, Twigpaw announces that she will now be known as Twigbranch for her strength and sturdy loyalty to the Kin. She continues to fight beside the Kin and grieves for her friend Needletail when she is drowned by Darktail, Sleekwhisker, Roach, and Raven for her betrayal in trying to drug Darktail, but Twigbranch learns to move on. She’s devastated when Onestar drowns Darktail and runs away with the rest of the rogues who still supported Darktail. Twigbranch sees Violetpaw in ShadowClan’s far territory and is about to run after the other rogues until Violetpaw runs over to her. Violetpaw is happy to see Twigbranch, but Twigbranch isn’t so excited to see her, and Violetpaw can tell. Violetpaw tells Twigbranch that she’s now Violetshine and asks Twigbranch if she has a warrior name, to which Twigbranch replies that she has a Kin name, not a warrior name. Then, Twigbranch tells Violetshine to go back to ShadowClan. Violetshine tells Twigbranch that she’s SkyClan now and that she finally found their kin. Twigbranch once again insists that the only kin she has is Darktail’s rogues and proceeds to walk away.
Twigbranch and Sleekwhisker plot to end Rowanstar when Twigbranch tells Sleekwhisker there’s a fifth Clan now. The two, along with Yarrowleaf, go into ShadowClan territory and find no patrols or fresh scents, which is strange to them. They pad into camp and find no one there. Yarrowleaf tells them that they should stay, revealing that she’s expecting Nettle’s kits and that she wants to wait until they’re born, and the two cats agree. The three cats are caught by Sandynose, Violetshine, and Tree, so they act stupid and ask to join SkyClan, while Yarrowleaf was serious. The three patrolling cats are reluctant to agree except for Violetshine, who seems happy to see Twigbranch asking to join SkyClan. They bring the cats back to SkyClan, where Leafstar rejects the three access to the Clan. Sleekwhisker and Yarrowleaf protest while Twigbranch stares at a gray tom that looks just like her. Leafstar eventually lets them join on one condition: Sleekwhisker and Twigbranch would be treated as apprentices until they could be trusted, and Yarrowleaf would stay in the nursery to bear her kits. If Sleekwhisker or Twigbranch were to be caught being a traitor again, Leafstar would have to exile the three cats. They take the proposition doubtfully and watch as a white she-cat leads Yarrowleaf to the nursery. Twigbranch is immediately bombarded with questions from Violetshine, who leads her to the gray tom she’d been looking at earlier and says that this is their father, Hawkwing. Twigbranch nods at him but says nothing more until a brown tom walks up to her and starts asking more questions, like how it was in the Kin, if Darktail killed all the cats he’d heard about, and if she was scared. Irritated with the questions, Twigbranch growls at him and tells him to buzz off, walking away to where Sleekwhisker was waiting for her. They discuss their plans in private on how to kill Rowanstar until they see him across the clearing with his mate, Tawnypelt. Sleekwhisker sneers and says that he doesn’t look much like a leader anymore. Twigbranch agrees with her, and they come up with the plan of stealing Yarrowleaf’s unborn kits when they’re older and luring Rowanclaw into their trap.
Once Yarrowleaf’s kits are old enough to be tricked, Sleekwhisker puts poppy seeds in Yarrowleaf’s prey and tells the kits to follow her, which they do. Meanwhile, Twigbranch kidnapped Tawnypelt as bait for Rowanclaw. Nettle and Raven met up with them as backup in case they needed help. As the two suspected, Rowanclaw—along with Violetshine and Yarrowleaf—comes running into their trap. Twigbranch warns them that if they step any closer, Sleekwhisker will kill the kits. She tells Rowanclaw that he will either have to sacrifice himself or watch Tawnypelt die, then she will let the kits be released to their mother. Rowanclaw chooses to sacrifice himself, so the rogues fight the patrol. Twigbranch is fighting with Rowanclaw at first, but Sleekwhisker insists she should be the one to kill him. Nettle goes with Sleekwhsiekr and helps fight Rowanclaw with her. Twigbranch spins around to see that Yarrowleaf and her kits are gone, Raven is in combat with Tawnypelt, and only Violetshine is left, so Twigbranch pounced on her sister and pinned her down. Violetshine doesn’t want to fight back, but instead asks Twigbranch if this is what she wanted. Twigbranch replies that she will always be loyal to the Kin, even if it means being disloyal to her blood kin.
As Twigbranch is ready to strike the killing blow, she hears Sleekwhisker yowling a retreat. Twigbranch is irritated, but follows Sleekwhisker anyway. She soon found out that Rowanclaw had managed to kill Nettle, but became relieved when she found out that Rowanclaw was dead. Sleekwhisker and Raven had minor injuries, but Twigbranch managed to heal them with some of the herb knowledge she knew from Leafpool and Puddleshine. Sleekwhisker decided that they should recuperate somewhere else and plan out their next attack.
