//------------------------------// // Chapter 13 // Story: Twilight Holmes: The Mystery of Basil Bones // by bats //------------------------------// Rainbow followed Twilight along the path that curved its way in a circle around Ponyville in the direction of Fluttershy’s cottage. She didn’t think of Twilight as being particularly athletic, but she was straining to keep up on her hooves. She glanced over her shoulder at Basil, who lagged back with a growing gap, then opened her wings and jumped into the air. She overtook Twilight and slowed down to fly overhead and off to the side. “We’re losing Basil.” “He’ll … catch … up.” She panted out. “Does he know where Fluttershy lives?” Twilight heaved in a breath, then Rainbow answered her own question, saying, “Right, detective, we’re not worrying about him. Do …” She grimaced in discomfort and glanced up the path. The treeline broke in a few hundred feet, and the path would start following the river that would lead them to Fluttershy’s, but they were still several minutes away from arriving. “Do you want me to go on ahead?” “Lemme … trees … tele … port.” Twilight wheezed out. Rainbow made a face and was about to ask what that was supposed to mean when they cleared the forest and Twilight slammed her hooves down and skidded to a halt. She pulled up in surprise and gave a confused look towards Fluttershy’s home off in the distance, then circled back to hover in front of Twilight, who was gulping down air. “Say that aga—” A flash of magic blinded her. In the sea of blinding white, the air disappeared from under her wings. In the split second, she flailed in surprise and fell like a stone, but before hitting the ground, she felt as if she was pulled sideways through a kitchen funnel by her tail. She sprawled out on the ground, bleary and seasick. “Whuzzah …” Her eyes refocused enough to see Twilight next to her, trying to rein her breaths back under control. Fluttershy’s cottage stood directly in front of them. “Ugh,” Rainbow said as she forced her hooves back under her. “Warn me next time you’re gonna teleport me, geeze.” “I did warn you.” Twilight grimaced as she swallowed, and wiped her brow with a hoof. “Now come on, we’re wasting time.” She hurried to the door and pressed up against it. Rainbow grumbled in irritation and glanced up the path, not seeing any sign of Basil in the distance. She turned back and headed towards the door. “Are we knocking, or—?” “Shh,” Twilight said with her ear pressed up against the door. “I don’t hear anything,” she whispered. “We should try to take him by surprise if we can. On the count of three, push.” Rainbow pressed her shoulder up against the door and nodded. “One, two, three!” Twilight spun the handle and the two of them crashed into Fluttershy’s living room, sending up a cloud of indignant bird shrieks from every perch. Rainbow dropped low and prepared for a tackle. Fluttershy let out a yipe and fell off her couch. Rainbow straightened and scanned the room. The house was filled with animals like it usually was, most of which darted around making indignant noises at their interruption. She frowned and rushed over to look in the kitchen, but nopony was in it. Fluttershy looked up over the edge of her coffee table with wide eyes. “O-oh, it’s you guys. What?” The chitters and squeaks drowned her out and took on an aggressive tone, and Rainbow raised her eyebrows as a gang of chipmunks put themselves between her and Fluttershy like tiny guard dogs. Fluttershy stood up and announced firmly, “Calm down, everyone! It’s okay, these are my friends!” Rows of tiny heads swiveled around to look at her, from the makeshift critter battalion, to the birds circling through the air, to animals poking out from dozens of hiding places, including a squirrel that had taken refuge in Fluttershy’s mane. The tension in the room dissolved in an instant, and all of the animals dispersed to go back to what they were doing before. Rainbow shook her head and wandered back over to Twilight. “So … fountain?” “Um …” Fluttershy looked between the two of them with a worried expression. “It’s … not that I don’t like it when you stop by, you’re always welcome, but next time, maybe …” Twilight sighed. “I’m sorry, Fluttershy, we thought … I thought that maybe something was wrong and … we were following a clue for us left by Diamond Acorn, and I thought—” “Oh, you know Diamond already?” Fluttershy asked, her expression brightening. Twilight and Rainbow’s teeth clattered shut at the same time and they flinched, looking back and forth between each other and Fluttershy. “You know Diamond?” Twilight cried. “Oh, yes. We had tea.” She shook her head violently and let out a breath. “Well, I’m glad he didn’t …” she grimaced, then exhaled again slowly, turning to Rainbow. “I guess there isn’t an emergency anymore.” “Yeah, no kidding.” “I guess this makes sense,” she muttered, half to herself, “up until this point he hasn’t done anything to directly harm anypony, I was just worried that …” She straightened and turned back to Fluttershy. “Did he say where he was going?” “Going? He’s still here.” “What!?” “Where!?” The door slammed open, igniting a new round of angry squawks, and Basil slumped against the frame. “Running is not a strong suit of mine,” he panted. “Is he here? Has anypony been harmed?” “Oh, Basil Bones, I was hoping you’d come,” Fluttershy said, her tone more pleased than Rainbow expected. “Let me introduce you to …” The squirrel in Fluttershy’s mane leapt down onto the coffee table and twitched its tail. “Diamond Acorn.” A fog of silence fell over the living room. Rainbow blinked. “… You mean the squirrel?” Fluttershy smiled and nodded. Rainbow tilted her head. The squirrel mimicked her. Basil slowly walked into the room and set himself between her and Twilight, looked at the squirrel, and then looked to Rainbow, then Twilight. “… She’s pulling my hoof, right?” “Um …” Twilight wobbled over to the couch and sat down hard. “Somepony needs to explain this to me before I have an aneurysm.” “Surely this is a prank,” Basil said louder. Rainbow squinted at the squirrel distrustfully. “Fluttershy doesn’t really do pranks.” “Of course it isn’t,” Fluttershy said, frowning. “Though I’m afraid I don’t quite understand what’s going on here. This little fella just told me that he knows you, Basil Bones, and has been waiting for a chance to talk to you.” She shuffled her hooves. “By which I mean—he means—well, he’s been looking for somepony like me, so you can understand him.” Basil scratched the side of his head and peered over the top of his glasses at the squirrel, which jumped in a backflip of excitement, then darted up to the edge of the table and stood on its hind legs to reach for Basil. “It—erm, ah, he knows me? How in Equestria have I made his acquaintance, exactly?” The squirrel raced back to Fluttershy, bounding up to her shoulder. It chittered energetically, while Fluttershy nodded, then she turned and said, “He says he doesn’t really know you yet, but feels like he knows you really well already. He reads your articles.” Basil’s eyes widened. “He can read?” The squirrel nodded. Fluttershy giggled behind a hoof. “He is a rather smart one, isn’t he? It’s rare for animals to learn how to read, especially without a teacher.” The squirrel said some more, and Fluttershy continued, “He’s been wanting to meet you for ages, but didn’t have a way to speak to you, so he says he did the only thing he knew would get your attention.” As it continued, Fluttershy’s expression shifted to concern and she turned her attention away from Basil. “Oh, sweetie, it’s wrong to do that to ponies.” Her frown deepened at the squirrel’s response. “It doesn’t matter if the things aren’t worth anything. They didn’t belong to you.” Rainbow looked at Twilight, who was sinking into the couch with a look of mortified shock frozen on her face. “Wait a minute!” Fluttershy said, sharply enough that the squirrel—Diamond Acorn, Rainbow reminded herself— leaped back onto the coffee table. “You were the one who took my tea set! That was very impolite of you, mister.” Diamond zigzagged back and forth on the tabletop, chattering and twitching his tail. Fluttershy crossed her forelegs over her chest. “That doesn’t make up for it … Your intentions don’t matter either, it’s still wrong to take things … I guess that is true.” Her stern expression leveled out to a frown, and as he finished squeaking again, she took a long breath and nodded. “Okay. I’ll forgive you. I’m still a little angry, but I’ll forgive you.” She nodded as he chittered again, and climbed back up on her shoulder. Twilight raised a hoof to say something, but all that came out was a tiny whimper. “I think what she wanted to say was,” Rainbow said, turning from Twilight to Fluttershy, “what the heck was all of that?” She breathed out through her snout in disapproval. “Diamond told me that he’s been stealing from ponies without their permission and hiding the things he’s stolen in order to get Basil Bones’ attention.” Basil let out a strangled grunt of disbelief. “I told him it was wrong to do that. He made the point that since he knew that the things he took would be returned to their owners once Basil found them, it wasn’t really stealing, that it was more like borrowing without asking.” Twilight whimpered again. “I still think it’s wrong, but he’s right that it isn’t as bad as stealing.” Her expression softened and she looked at him on her shoulder. “And I suppose you were only doing it to try and get Basil’s attention, and not just stealing for the sake of stealing.” Diamond twitched his whiskers and hunched down on Fluttershy’s shoulder. “And what exactly is ‘I can stop anytime I want to’ supposed to mean, mister?” Basil wobbled on his legs and pulled the pipe out of his mouth. “I think that I need to sit down.” He stumbled over to the couch and sunk in next to Twilight. Rainbow looked from them, to Fluttershy, to Diamond, and back to Fluttershy. “… Is this all for real?” “What wouldn’t be real about it?” Fluttershy frowned. “I know lots of ponies tend to discount animals most of the time, but they can be very clever. If he set his mind to borrowing things without permission and leaving them for Basil to find, it really isn’t that strange or unexpected. Tank likes to bring you slippers, doesn’t he?” “Well, yeah.” “Well, this is Diamond’s way of trying to bring Basil slippers. It probably isn’t even that hard for him. Ponies already discount animals, he’d be able to go pretty much anywhere unnoticed if he wanted to.” Basil’s voice quivered. “We aren’t talking about an animal moving an item into my path, though, we’re discussing an intricate method of concealment, with a series of barely perceptible clues left for me to follow.” Diamond chittered. “He said he left things for you to find, not for anypony to find.” Basil opened and closed his mouth several times, then flopped back against the couch again. Twilight sat up and strength came into her tone. “There was a squirrel following me through the hedge maze in Canterlot! That was you, wasn’t it?” Fluttershy’s eyebrows raised, and she listened to Diamond’s response. “… He says that he followed you on the train, because he knew you were the only pony who could …” She listened some more, her expression turning to one of confusion. “Who could make it so that you, me, Basil, and him could all be in the same place at the same time.” Diamond twitched his tail and looked at Rainbow. Rainbow narrowed her eyes. “What, you got something to say to me?” Diamond darted up to Fluttershy’s ear and whispered a series of little clicks. Fluttershy’s confusion turned to a wry smile. “He asked you very nicely to not throw anything at him or Basil, and that he thinks you’re really cool, and much more clever than what some ponies would give you credit for.” “Thanks!” She puffed out her chest, then hunched down and glowered. “Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?” “This is all absurd,” Basil snapped as he stood back up, a thread of hysterics in his voice. “Surely if this squirrel wanted to properly present himself to me he could have written a letter. I am well known to cast an eye over the large pool of correspondence I receive from my readers. And if we are taking it as evident that he is able to read, then a letter wouldn’t be too far outside of the realm of plausibility.” Diamond hopped on Fluttershy and waggled his front paws in the air. “Quills and pencils are too big for him to use.” “He directed us to this very location by means of highlighting an encoded message in a newspaper article using markers, and an additional message in invisible ink!” Twilight rubbed her chin. “Well, those things don’t need that much fine motor control, he would just need to drag a marker across the page in a reasonably straight line.” “Miss Twilight, he colored in my portrait!” Diamond chittered. Fluttershy smiled indulgently at him. “He said that took him all night to get right, and he asked if you liked it.” “Ah, um.” Basil sat down, taken aback. “Well, erm, I’m afraid I didn’t understand the choice of pink in it?” Diamond cocked his head to the side, and Fluttershy let out a small gasp. “Oh! Squirrels are partly color-blind, the same as dogs. Reds and greens look like different shades of the same color to them.” Basil’s eyes widened and his jaw went slack. A silence hung in the air for several moments. He looked over to Twilight. “I’m afraid that I am losing my mental faculties, in that I am beginning to accept this account of events.” “I am, too,” she answered. She frowned and looked directly at the squirrel. “Can I ask you a few questions, just to try and have a clear picture of events?” Diamond nodded. “You said that you needed to involve me—and Rainbow, because I’d be able to smooth things along enough for this conversation to happen.” Diamond nodded again and hopped in place. “Couldn’t you have just talked to Fluttershy from the start? If when you took the tea set it was to try and get Fluttershy and Basil to be in contact, wouldn’t it have been easier to tell her about everything?” Cocking his head one way, then the other, Diamond squeaked at Fluttershy. “He says that he could have, but then …” she frowned and looked at him disapprovingly, then shook her head and half smiled. “Then it wouldn’t be a ‘trifle’ for Basil to solve, which would have been disappointing for both of them.” Basil rubbed his forehead while staring off into space. “Hmn. Yes. Disappointing,” he muttered. Twilight let out a long breath and tapped her chin. “And after things went … the way they went yesterday morning, you didn’t decide to put the, uh, game aside and talk to her then?” Diamond started to answer, but Fluttershy spoke first. “Even if he did, I’m … not sure that I would’ve been able to talk to Basil without you and Rainbow here, too. He makes me nervous.” Basil rose up out of his stupor a little. “I believe, Miss Fluttershy, that I have not properly apologized to you for the callous treatment I gave you yesterday.” He sounded far away in his thoughts. “I deeply regret my unfair judgment and any of the ramifications that have come to bear upon you from it.” Fluttershy looked at the ground and nodded awkwardly, pawing the floor with a hoof. “I, um, appreciate you saying that.” She cleared her throat and looked to Twilight. “I needed some time to, erm, recover after everything yesterday, and the other animals could tell.” She glanced around the room at the assortment of critters eating, drinking, and playing. “You see how much busier it is in here today? They were all giving me space to be alone, the little dears.” Diamond chattered, and Fluttershy gave him a warm smile when he finished. “He said he was going to tell me, but wanted to wait until today to give me a chance to feel better first. And since he needed to wait, he thought he could maybe keep the game going until then.” Twilight nodded and rubbed her chin. “Okay. And you said that you followed me to Canterlot on the train, but that was just to get there. How did you get back with the newspaper?” His nose twitched and he talked to Fluttershy. “He took the train back, too. He says you were already here when he got off the train. He wants to know how, because it really caught him off guard, he was expecting you to come back on the next one.” “Rainbow came to Canterlot on her own and we both flew back together,” she answered. A pained look flashed across her face and she looked at Rainbow. “We should have watched the train when it came in! We would have noticed a squirrel carrying a newspaper!” Rainbow winced and groaned. Basil lifted his head again, his voice a normal, composed tone. “What was the first item I ever noticed you had stolen?” Fluttershy listened, then said, “Diamond dust, which is why you gave him the nickname.” Basil nodded gravely. “And the second?” “A broken chain from a pocket-watch.” Fluttershy shrunk back. “Um. Not that I mind translating, but are we going to go through everything?” “No,” he sighed. “I simply have one more inquiry. Well, two, but one is purely to satisfy my own curiosity. The primary question is this: have you by chance ever heard of a contraption called a typewriter?” Diamond cocked his head to the side. Fluttershy listened and said, “He asked if you were talking about a printing press.” “Hmn. I had assumed not, given your avowal in regards to why you have not written me a letter.” He straightened and cleared his throat. “A typewriter is a mechanical apparatus designed to press inked typeset into parchment through the application of pressure onto designated levers. One simply impresses a lever with the desired letter, and the machine copies that letter onto the piece of parchment, then lines up for the next letter. The levers are made suitably large for a pony to use their hooves, and the application of pressure is minor enough to not cause fatigue. I believe its operation would be well within the physical capabilities of such an adept squirrel.” Diamond’s eyes glittered. He leaped from Fluttershy’s shoulder in a long arc, landing on the coffee table. He sprung up and down in place, chattering with excitement. Fluttershy smiled at him and hid a chuckle behind a hoof. “My, aren’t you excited!” Diamond jumped down and skittered up Basil’s leg, drawing out a quivering yelp, and settled on his shoulder. Basil looked at Diamond, leaning his head as far away as possible, then to Fluttershy. “He, um. He … wants to go with you? Diamond, sweetie, I’m not sure that’s such a good idea. Not everypony lives in places where it would be safe for squirrels, and I don’t know that Mister Basil is really available for taking you.” She straightened up and raised her eyebrows. “Also, I’m—are … are you going to take him to jail now?” Diamond twitched his whiskers, then turned and presented his forelegs, as if ready to be cuffed. Basil stared at him for several moments. “No, no,” he eventually said, a thread of resignation in his voice. “Even with his full confession, there is no possible manner in which charges of any sort will stick. I am doubtful that I could even muster up a sufficient number of victims who would be willing to press charges to even present a case to the constabulary, and barring a miracle where I could, the laws that were infringed upon would not apply in the case of a squirrel.” Fluttershy frowned and gave Diamond a disapproving look. “You’re very lucky, mister. I forgive you and don’t want to press charges, but if somepony out there did, it would only be right, and the fact that the laws don’t apply means there’s a problem with the law.” She let out a breath. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to yell.” Basil looked at Fluttershy, then Twilight. “Did … that constitute as yelling?” Twilight smiled wryly. He cleared his throat and returned his attention to Diamond. “Regarding coming with me, I suppose that, considering how long and involved this … game … has been, I owe him that much of my time. I’m sure there is a much longer discourse he would like to have with me than is appropriate to try and conduct with an intermediary.” Diamond bounced up and down again. “There is another question I’d liked to ask before then. I have spent a very long time thinking of you and referring to you as Diamond Acorn, knowing full well that is not your true name. I have … dreamed … of learning your true name as I brought you to … justice …” He trailed off, staring at the wall. “Oh, well, I know the answer to that already,” Fluttershy said. “He told me when he first came in. His name’s Maury. Maury Ardilla.” Basil made a noncommittal sound through his snout and nodded, his expression still far off. He turned in place and walked towards the door. Twilight raised her eyebrows, then turned and smiled at Fluttershy. “Thank you for your help.” She turned to follow Basil out. “Of course. Um. See you guys later?” She gave Rainbow an uncertain look. Rainbow shrugged, then smiled and waved before following the others out. She stretched her wings and flew upwards a few feet off the path. Basil kept in the middle of the dirt road that made its way back into Ponyville, walking at a sedate, distracted pace, with Twilight a few steps behind him, making starts to catch up with him and then stopping with a worried look on her face. Rainbow dropped down and glided alongside Twilight. “Should we say something?” she whispered. “I …” Twilight grimaced and shrugged. They traveled in silence through the meadows leading into the town, wove past the school house, into the town square, and up to the station platform, where the first train of the morning stood, curling steam from its stack with the conductor standing outside the door. Basil stopped and stared through the train, his expression slack. Rainbow landed, and Twilight gave her a look before stepping closer to him. “Uh, Basil?” He listed where he stood a few inches one way, then the other. The squirrel chittered. Basil started and shook his head, then looked down at his shoulder. “Ah, erm, Dia … Maury, why don’t you go ahead and board the train, as I need to purchase a ticket first. I will be on subsequently.” Maury nodded and bounded onto the wooden platform. He darted between the conductor’s legs, making him gasp and jump, and when the conductor turned around to see where the squirrel had gone, Maury skirted around him and raced through the door. Basil frowned vaguely. “I don’t believe he needed to sneak on, as there simply is no cover fee for animals,” he mused. “Basil?” Twilight said. “Hmn?” “Are you okay?” He sighed slowly and shook his head, his expression still lost and drawn. “Five years of my life. I spent five years of my life following him. I never got close to catching him, either, you understand. I found him only because he wanted to be found. Purely by his own design. I was rendered a simple marionette, playing what was, in truth, in the literal definition of the term, a game. And it was … a squirrel.” Twilight looked back at Rainbow and chewed her lip. “I … appreciate how much of a shock that is.” “Mm. Perhaps. I don’t wish to downplay your empathy, and I do appreciate the sentiment, but the madness you were subjected to by him lasted for around twenty-four hours, not five years.” Twilight pressed her mouth together in a line and fidgeted back and forth on her hooves. “So … what now?” “Now, I am going home, where there is a typewriter and sufficient time to have a protracted conversation.” He noticed his pipe dangling from his lips, straightened it, and appeared to be about to spark it back to life before closing his eyes and letting it fall back to the side of his mouth. “A protracted conversation … with a squirrel. Who is also one of my dedicated readers.” He ran a hoof through his mane. “If I’m hopeful, it will prove less tedious than those interactions typically go.” Rainbow raised an eyebrow. “You get fanboys?” A glimmer of life reentered his eyes and he shot Rainbow a brief glare, before sighing again. “I suppose in this instance, I may end up having just as many questions for him as he has for me, though I worry I may know the answers to most of them already.” Twilight knit her brow and looked at him askance for a moment. “And after that?” He remained silent for a little while and his focus went far away again. “Perhaps after that I will take a hot shower. I’m afraid I don’t know what I’m going to do.” A bell at the station house chimed. He turned and walked towards the ticket salespony while fishing some bits from his saddle bag. “By chance, Dia … Maury may prove to be a good resource of information. Perhaps, with the language barrier appropriately lowered, we might even strike up a rapport. I admit I am likely viewing him through the lens of several decades of personal bias, and he might very well be just as capable and eloquent as any given pony. Perhaps I might make a friend.” He purchased his ticket, then turned and trudged back along the platform. The conductor called out, “All aboard!” and he handed over his ticket. He stepped onto the train and turned back to Twilight, standing in the door, his eyes looking sunken and dull. “Or, perhaps he will be a fanboy. A fanboy squirrel, who I never noticed on account of his species, and I will have to wake up every morning, look at myself in the mirror, and know that I spent five years following a squirrel across Equestria.” Twilight opened her mouth, but the train blew its whistle, drowning out all sound on the platform. The door swung shut, and the train shuddered as it put itself into march. Basil’s expression didn’t change as he disappeared from view, the train streaming a plume of smoke as it wound out into the countryside. Twilight turned to Rainbow and blinked. Rainbow scratched her neck. “You, uh … think he’s gonna be okay?” “Well … I don’t know. He didn’t look like it, but he’s probably still trying to come to terms with everything. I’m still trying to come to terms with it. I think he’ll be okay, though. I mean … I hope so.” “Yeah. I don’t really like the guy that much, but still, that was the look of a pony you’d probably find hanging in his closet with a belt around his neck.” “Rainbow!” Twilight admonished with a glare. “Hey, I’m not saying I want him to kick it, I’m just saying.” Twilight cleared her throat and shook her head. “Well, I hope his conversation with Maury is productive. Somepony should get something out of this whole mess.” She rubbed her eye. “I know I didn’t get anything out of it.” “No kidding.” Rainbow shook her head and rolled her eyes. “I dunno that I can believe all of this. I mean, some stuff makes sense, kinda. Like, that tree we found full of crap, it’s a little less creepy for a squirrel to do that than a pony.” Twilight nodded and turned, walking slowly back along the platform towards town. “Yeah, and how he stole things right in front of us without us noticing, since we were always looking for a pony to have done it.” Rainbow followed alongside Twilight as they stepped down onto the street. “Sure. But a lot of it still doesn’t make any sense. Like, that whole newspaper puzzle thing. Sure, okay, a squirrel could do that, if it knew how to read, and had markers, and the stuff to make invisible ink, but if it could do that, shouldn’t it be able to write a dumb letter? I mean, it wouldn’t look very nice or whatever, but how many ponies have good mouthwriting, anyway? And, like, you went and talked to Fluttershy, right? And you decided it was somepony who broke in and stole the dumb tea set. So why’d it end up being a squirrel?” Twilight sighed. “We didn’t actually decide that it couldn’t be an animal who took it, just that it was stolen by Diamond Acorn, without considering that Diamond Acorn could also be an animal.” She grumbled under her breath. “I probably should have considered that possibility, it was just …” “Stupid?” Rainbow huffed through her snout. “This whole thing’s stupid. Nothing even got solved really, we just found out what was going on. From a dumb squirrel.” “Not a dumb squirrel, an incredibly smart one. And really, I don’t know why I’m even bothering to second guess what I could have done differently, like if I had noticed Maury sneaking into my bag in Canterlot, or we found him getting off the train in Ponyville. We would have just found a squirrel, and ended up more confused. The only reason this had any sort of resolution at all was because Fluttershy was there. That squirrel could have been saying anything and we wouldn’t have known the difference.” Rainbow stopped cold. Her eyebrows shot up and her mouth went slack. A series of images rushed across her thoughts, one after another, playing out like clips from a movie. Fluttershy stood in her dimly lit kitchen in the middle of the night, whispering something to a bat and pointing at the tiny tea set. The bat took the set in its back claws and flew up into the air and out of a window. The light changed and brightened to early morning and Fluttershy stood out in her back garden, sending away a weasel with a small bag of coffee grounds and an acorn. An hour or two later, the same weasel gave her a wagon wheel. Then in the middle of the day, she said something to Angel just outside her front door and gave him a note, an acorn, and the wagon wheel, and he raced through town, stopping off at the café to collect a coffee mug from the table. Angel waited behind Carousel Boutique for she and Twilight to go find the crusaders, before racing up the tree. Fluttershy stood at the edge of the train platform, explaining something to a squirrel holding an acorn in its paws that then darted in as a door closed on the train, heading off to Canterlot with Twilight’s cheek pressed against a window. The sun began to set as she talked to a group of birds just outside the park, each carrying an acorn, before she walked forward and sprang a snare trap. She sat at her coffee table with a set of markers open in front of her, and carefully highlighted single words at a time in a newspaper. Dozens of more snippets across a series of years flitted through Rainbows mind, animals carrying messages to other animals, spreading out across every corner of Equestria. The snippets culminated in the scene of Rainbow leaving with Twilight, Basil, and “Diamond Acorn” a scant few minutes before, with Fluttershy closing the door behind them. Fluttershy dropped to the floor and cackled. The animals around her joined in as Basil left, a broken stallion, carrying a well-trained squirrel on his shoulder. The squirrel would know to slip away at the right time. Perhaps as soon as Basil turned around to buy his ticket, the squirrel had jumped off and raced back to Fluttershy’s cottage to join in with the maniacal laughter. Maybe Basil was sitting alone in the train right that moment with no more answers, the reality of the world as he knew it crashing down around his head. Rainbow stared forward with her brows raised in shock, long enough for Twilight to stop and turn back to look at her with a quizzical expression. Rainbow frowned in thought. “… Nah.” She shook her head and caught up with Twilight. “So what’s up now?” “Now, I think we better go deal with one last dangling part of all of this. Something I’ve been dreading. Probably the worst part of everything that happened in the last two days.” Rainbow’s stomach flipped itself over, and she forced her expression to neutral, her own sense of dread returning in full force. “Oh, yeah?” “Yeah. Now we get to explain that it was all a squirrel to the cutie mark crusaders.” Rainbow groaned. “You’re right, that’s much worse than what I was thinking.” “What was that?” “Nothing.” An awkward pause choked out the conversation for a moment and they stood just outside the train station, looking out along the road that eventually arrived at Scootaloo’s home. Twilight smiled and jabbed Rainbow’s shoulder. “Want to make a bet?” She raised an eyebrow. “What sorta bet?” “Two bits says that Scootaloo hasn’t mowed her lawn yet.” Snorting, Rainbow shook her head. “As if. You’re pretty much asking me to give you two bits.” She set off along the road with Twilight following next to her and started snickering to herself. “The day I take that bet is the day Fluttershy starts turning tricks.” Twilight sighed. “That’s still not funny.” “You’re still not funny.” She bumped Twilight’s side. “Hey, cheer up, today could be a lot worse. At least it wasn’t Discord.” Twilight’s eyebrows went up and she stopped walking forward. A moment passed and she shook her head. “… Nah.” Rainbow raised an eyebrow, and Twilight shook her head and pressed into Rainbow’s side. Rainbow slipped her wing across Twilight’s back, and the two of the walked down the road together.