//------------------------------//
// Epilogue 
// Story: Lessons in quirks 
// by Mike84 
//------------------------------//

	Twilight and Spike had finished breakfast and Twilight was making up her mind to decide whether to head for the hospital, as Spike insisted she should to have her wing checked, take the time to study the mysterious book of Dr. Quircs which Princess Celestia had left her, or if she should pay a visit to Town Hall to see after Frank and check out whether or not she might be of any help to Mayor Mare when it came to laying out the events of the last night to the ponies of Ponyville. 
Before she had made up her mind, there was a knocking on the door. Twilight appeared to be almost relieved about the interruption and magically pulled the door open before her number one secretary had any chance to reach for the doorknob. 
Frank Blanket was standing outside. He was carrying a strange looking bundle on his back and only at second sight and with the memory of what had happened in the attic storeroom of the town hall did Twilight recognize that he had apparently stuffed his belongings into his spare wraparound as a makeshift replacement for his destroyed saddle-bags. 
"Good morning", he said, looking somewhat sheepish and nodding at Twilight as well as Spike and Owlowiscious. The later didn't notice since he was fast asleep on his perch at the opposite end of the room.
"Frank, come in!" Twilight called with a wholehearted smile. "Would you like a tea?"
"Thank you", Frank said and looked rather surprised, much as if he hadn't expected such a warm welcome. 
Spike hurried to the kitchen, knowing that however competent Twilight was with magic, her magically boiled tea was much worse than any that he would prepare in the more traditional way. 
"How are you today?" Twilight asked.
"I'm fi—", Frank began, but stopped short. Given the events of the previous evening and night, he realized that Twilight's question had not been mere formulaic smalltalk and politeness. 
"Better", he corrected himself. "Better than I was in Town Hall last night. One should never underestimate the recreative effects of a night of good sleep."
"You hear that, Twilight?" Spike called from the kitchen. "You want to remember that!"
"Hush, Sir Sleepsalot!" Twilight bantered in return.
Frank put on a smile, but it looked rather uncertain. Better he might feel, but still he seemed surprised at the whole lightheartedness and uncertain about what to make of it. 
"How are you yourself, Princess? How is your wing?"
Twilight rolled her eyes a little, mildly annoyed about Frank being apparently the second one today to remind her of having her wing checked. "I'm okay and I will see the doctor later on, thank you… did you call me 'Princess' again?"
"I… I am sorry… I didn't mean to... Twilight." The colt was looking rather fidgety and reminded Twilight a bit of a foal after a stern lecture. He was probably still more rattled than he was trying to let on. Twilight chuckled reassuringly and beckoned Frank to the table. 
"Mayor Mare held a little speech earlier today", Frank said as he settled down at the table at the very place where he had settled down at their first meeting three days ago. "She gave everypony who was up already a summary of the events and asked them to pass it on."
"Did she?" Twilight asked surprised. "Whatever she told them is bound to be changed, exaggerated and turned into all kind of stories and rumors if left to the ponies to pass on by hearsay."
Frank nodded. "The mayor thinks so too. When I left Town Hall, she was working to word an official bulletin which she wants to hang out so everypony can check it out. With Inkhorn and Featherscribe both on sick leave today, she really got an awful lot of work on her hooves."
"I think I should go there and offer some help", Twilight said and was looking for the door. 
"Twilight, your wing! You promised Rarity that you would see it checked!" Spike insisted as he was returning from the kitchen, carrying a tray of tea cups. 
"I will", Twilight said, slightly irritated while she levitated three cups from Spike's tray and he joined them at the table. 
"I actually offered to help her", Frank said. "Mayor Mare, I mean. But she refused any help. She only said that she wouldn't mind having one of those 'writer horseshoes' on days like these", Frank said, holding up his left hoof which Twilight noticed bore some strange coloring marks, as if it had recently been dipped in differently colored ink and soot. 
"What did she tell the ponies?" Twilight asked.
"She was kind enough to put special emphasis on the fact that I didn't steal Mr. Rich's money or attack anypony. She told that a changeling kind of attacker was behind it but that there was no more danger coming from it. Obviously she didn't want to cause any panic and she didn't go into any detail about switchlings or the like."
Twilight nodded. The existence of switchlings was probably not going to be any kind of state secret, but it would be best if public statements about them were based on what information the book provided that she had yet to study or perhaps on what further information she might coax out of Chrysalis whom she had yet to visit.
She took a sip from her tea cup, then she asked: "What are your plans now, Frank?"
"My plans", the colt repeated and Twilight wasn't quite sure if it had been a question, but before she could say anything, Spike suggested: "Maybe you want to join Twilight when she gets her wings checked?"
"Oh, I'm okay", Frank said hastily. "No twisted wings or the like."
Spike snorted: "I always thought this was just a Twilight thing. Are all you eggheads so scared of doctors?"
"Says the number one assistant who will put up an epic dragon fight each time I mention the next dentist appointment!" Twilight quipped, half touched by Spikes concern for her, half annoyed by his constant pestering about it and, turned to Frank, she said: "I meant your plans in general, what are you going to do?"
Frank took a sip from his cup, then he said: "I still have a book on cutie marks to write."
Twilight cast a short look at the unshaped bundle which Frank had placed beside the table. Apparently her look had been rather telling. Before Twilight could ask anything, Frank said: "It is not so bad as I feared. My saddle-bags are beyond repair, but other than that it is mostly some soot and spilled ink." He held up his colored hoof again. "Nothing lost that couldn't be replaced somehow."
"I'm glad to hear it. I feared that all your work had been destroyed."
Frank shook his head, but suddenly he seemed very interested in the bottom of his tea cup, took a large swig and finally, with a glance at Dr. Quircs book on the table, he said: "With all that happened I take it that royal business may keep you too preoccupied for any extensive interviews for a while. But I think there are quite a few cutie mark stories to be heard from the ponies here. I think I will stay a bit longer here in Ponyville. Actually, I also came here to pick up my tent."
"Maybe we should find something more than just your tent for you when you are staying here for a longer time, Frank…", Twilight began, but before she could finish she was interrupted by a choking from Spike. The little dragon hastily turned his face away from the table and the next moment a whiff of green fire erupted from his mouth, along with a scroll bearing the seal of Princess Celestia. Twilight immediately caught the scroll, broke the seal and began to read. 
As she read, neither Spike nor Frank could miss how the smile vanished from Twilight's face and gave way to a deepening frown and look of concern.
"What's wrong, Twilight?" Spike asked when Twilight had finished reading the letter and her look jumped back to read a passage again. 
Twilight didn't answer immediately, but finally put the letter down and said: "Princess Luna and her guards drove all the forest creatures back who ran away from Everfree last night…"
"But that's a good thing?" Spike said. 
Twilight nodded in agreement but continued: "But Luna had sent Captain Crescent to the castle ruins to pick up the stolen money Rainbow had found in the library. When he and some other guards arrived there, they didn't find a single bit even though they searched everywhere. The stolen money has been taken away!"
It took a few moments for this piece of news to sink in. 
"You mean that thing is still about and carried the money away?" Spike called. 
"Can't be!" Frank shouted, shaking his head. "Now I don't remember anything directly anymore, but I do remember that I did remember that she had been utterly weakened by the time your spell hit her, Twilight! She was in no shape to carry away anything; she was in no shape whatsoever anymore! Hay, I don't even know if she was anymore at all!"
"Somepony else must have taken the money away then", Twilight said.
"Yeah...", Spike said with a voice dripping with sarcasm, "...I'm sure many ponies other than you were flocking to the haunted castle that night amidst the creepy forest while it was burning."
"Oh Spike, don't you get it? The attacker may have had an ally who took the money when we were gone!" There were a few moments of silence before Twilight added: "And if that is so, this ally is still on the loose!"
"But Twilight… Frank, you didn't tell anything about an ally", Spike said in what sounded like a desperate attempt to disprove the uneasy prospect. 
"I don't think I remembered any ally of her", Frank said slowly and cautiously. 
"There were many things you didn't remember for certain", Twilight pointed out. "Like who she was and what her overall plan was."
Twilight stopped. She suddenly remembered how angry Frank had become the previous evening when Rainbow Dash had complained about his memory. 
The colt seemed quite calm though and just nodded. "Maybe. I cannot tell for certain that she didn't have an ally. In case she did, she probably didn't think a lot about that ally or I probably would have remembered."
There was a loud knocking at the door that let them all twitch.
This time Spike reached the door before Twilight bothered to pull it open with her magic. 
"Oh, hi Derpy", he said with a tone of relief as he beheld the gray pegasus standing outside. 
The mailmare gave Spike a broad, unfocused smile and said: "Good morning, Spike! I got something for the princess."
Derpy craned her neck to look past Spike and her smile became even broader as she saw her, waved to her and called: "Hello, Twilight!"
"Good morning, Derpy! Come in!" 
As Derpy entered, she spotted Frank. "You are here too! Great! I was looking for you at the town hall, but Mayor Mare told me you had left."
"You were looking for me?" Frank asked utterly surprised.
"Yes", Derpy confirmed as she was stepping closer to the table while rummaging through her mailbag. She hoofed a folded sheet of paper to Twilight. "Featherscribe told me to give this to you." And looking in the direction of Frank, she said: "I have something for you too."
Derpy dived almost her entire head deep into the mailbag before she pulled up a sizable bag and dropped it onto the table with an unmistakable sound of clinking coinage. 
Frank leaped back with a yelp and a look of horror. "I didn't do anything!" he shouted. 
Derpy's eyes got focused for a moment in surprise at the unexpected reaction from a colt receiving a bagful of money. Twilight understood that recent experiences as well as the fact that they had been talking about the disappearance of Mr. Rich's stolen money just before Derpy's arrival probably put Frank more on edge about any bits of money than under different circumstances. 
"Did I do anything wrong?" Derpy asked meekly and looking rather unhappy. 
Twilight shook her head and gave Derpy a comforting pat with one of her wings. 
"No you didn't, Derpy. This is just a little unexpected, that's all. Frank, won't you open the bag?"
Very cautiously Frank untied the strings of the bag, eying it as if he expected to receive an electric charge from it any moment. Sure enough the bag turned out to be filled with golden bits, but there was also a folded letter attached to the strings that Frank untied. He unfolded the letter and as he read through it, his jumpiness seemed to give way to perplexity. He scratched his head and put the letter on the table so Twilight could see it.
"It's from the academy in Fillydelphia", he said. "They thank me and it says that the bag contains the reward for finding and returning the…", he checked out the letter, "...the lunar orb levitation amulet."
Nobody said anything for some moments before Derpy bravely broke the silence: "That's the necklace you had in your bag yesterday, isn't it? That's very nice of them, right?"
Frank nodded but sounded utterly puzzled when he said: "Yes, but I didn't really do anything. I had no idea they had such a loose definition at the academy of what constitutes finding and returning. I did not find that amulet, nor did I return it."
He gave Twilight a rather helpless look. "I suppose I should correct that mistake and return this." 
He pointed at the bag on the table.
Twilight was not much less surprised than Frank, but after a few moments she shook her head: "I don't think so, Frank. I expect Mayor Mare will have been accurate in what she wrote to the academy about how the amulet appeared and I presume Celestia made sure the academy also got a report about the developments since the amulet was returned. I guess for all that you did not do, you are more entitled to that reward than the attacker would be for returning it."
Frank goggled at her.
"And besides, we do not know where or if the attacker is. If we ever see her again, you can still decide whether or not you want to offer the reward to her, but till then I think you would be the best choice as a trustee of this reward."
Frank laughed out loudly and it was the most thorough and unforced laughter Twilight had heard from him ever since his arrest two days ago. Derpy joined in, even though she didn't seem to be absolutely certain what exactly the laughter was about. 
"I bow to Your Highness' judgment", Frank finally said with a mock bow and a mischievous grin. "Perhaps I may borrow a bit from the attacker's reward to get myself some new saddle bags, or maybe even something more solid than my tent for accommodation." 
Twilight returned the grin. 
"Until I make up my mind however, I think I'll set up the tent on the green again. Is it here?"
Spike pointed at a bundle leaning against a shelf at the other end of the room, consisting of the tent and sleeping bag. Frank went there and began to wrap up the bundle he had already been carrying into his sleeping bag. While he did so, Twilight cast a short look at the sheet of paper Derpy had given her. 
She lent a hoof, or horn rather, for Frank to wrap up the fairly large package of the bundle he had already been carrying, the bag with the reward money, his tent and his sleeping bag and levitated the whole load onto the colt's back. 
"Thank you very much, Twilight!" he said as he made for the door with slightly unbalanced steps under the ill-dispersed weight of the improvised bundle on his back. 
Twilight opened the door for him, but before he left, she asked: "Frank, is there anything else you want to say?"
He gave her a confused look. "Err… is there? What do you mean?"
Twilight shrugged. "Anything I mean. If anything comes to your mind or if you remember anything…"
For a very brief moment Frank looked a bit sheepish, but then he shook his head. "Nothing I can think of at the moment. See you, Twilight."
He was about to perform another bow, but Twilight hastily shook her head. Remembering the awkward bow Frank had performed at their first meeting while carrying his perfectly balanced saddle-bags, Twilight thought there was a good chance that trying the same with the unruly load now on his back would result in disaster. With a last smile he turned around and walked down the road in the direction of the green. Twilight looked after him for some more moments. She couldn't help feeling a little disappointed and worried. 
Princess Luna had told that she had a fair idea of whatever it was that she and Celestia had sensed Frank had not told last night and also that it might never be important for them to know. She had hoped for him to be confident enough to tell her whatever it was, but maybe it would take some time. In spite of everything, Twilight had to admit that she still knew very little about the hobo-student from Fillydelphia. She turned back into the library where she found Derpy spinning the sphere of her celestial globe as fast as she could and showing a filial joy at this little game that brought a smile to Twilight's face. 
"Featherscribe gave you this, Derpy?" Twilight asked, holding up the paper which Derpy had given her. The pegasus stopped spinning the globe and nodded eagerly. 
"He wasn't feeling well this morning, but he gave me a big stack of paper for Miss Cheerilee too, but this one he said was not for her because it is not from any of her school fillies. I did not really understand why Featherscribe kept Miss Cheerilee's school filly's papers, but he said that this one was not one of theirs."
Twilight nodded. She knew what this paper was. Frank himself had mentioned the previous evening that, when switched to him, the attacker had taken some notes on memories of him that could be useful for her during the trial. The page was written in Frank Blanket's unmistakable small script and it was headlined: Frank Blanket / Convenient dummy
The page was filled with random looking cues about things the attacker had used in the hearing, like the Robing Hooves book among Frank's possessions or his presence at the academy when the amulet had been stolen. 
Twilight picked up the paper and folded it, but not without casting a last look at the final lines:
Disposition difficult. To be avoided if possible.