--- Too Many Questions ---
Despite the possible reasons as to why Mr. Knox had let her go home early, it was something Twilight was grateful for the early reprieve. She wanted to check back up on Spike to make sure he was doing better then he had been last night, which led her to make great promptitude towards Fluttershy's cabin. The walk wasn't very long, doubly so thanks to her haste, and Twilight couldn't be any happier for it.
Inside was exactly as she remembered it, animals of almost every variety out and about like they owned the place. They practically did own the place, knowing Fluttershy's typical behavior. Nothing out of the ordinary for Twilight at this point, save for Phlorence the flamingo. He was an enigma beyond mortal comprehension, not even Fluttershy knew what was up with him. He simply was. But then again, that meant he was part ordinary on-goings in this house, funnily enough.
But none of that was Twilight's concern right now. She was more invested in the whereabouts of a particular long dragon, which wouldn't be that hard to locate based on the upset grumblings of a grizzly bear very close by. Walking into the dining room, it was easy enough to spot the grizzly bear, the yellow pegasus, and the dragon sitting at the table. Normally, the sight of an angered bear would be an alarming one, but Harry's frustration was a common sight by now. Spike sat opposite to him, leaning his head in one of his foreclaws with an almost bored expression on his face. And between them both was Fluttershy, watching the chessboard with bated breath. None of them had noticed Twilight yet, so the alicorn decided to play it by ear and see where this was going to go. It went by fairly quickly, all things considered, Spike simply reaching forward and flicking a piece forward.
"Checkmate."
Harry was not amused by this development, evident by his immediate reaction of knocking the board off the table and storming out of the room in a huff. Twilight had thankfully been there to catch the game set that had been furiously flung in her dirrection. Still, she went unnoticed and continued to watch the scene unfold before her.
"He's a sore loser, huh?" Spike asked, hopping down from his chair with a small laugh. And the first thing Twilight noticed was him standing on all four of his legs. Not a single bandage to be seen. "Better luck next time, hairball!" He shouted over his shoulder before walking away triumphantly, only now noticing the cloaked alicorn watching from the entrance. "Oh... hi, Twilight... how long have you been standing there?"
"Long enough," Twilight spoke with a sly grin, floating the chess set back to the table as she approached Spike. "It's good to see you walking again, let me see your leg."
Almost embarrassingly so, Spike presented his newly freed and newly healed forelimb for Twilight to inspect, the dragon looking away as he bit at his lower lip. Twilight kneeled close to the offered appendage and inspected it carefully. While the damage from the bite had been healed, there was still evidence of his wound still present. Something akin to a scar was a jagged line of discolored scales, lighter in hue than the others covering Spike's body. Thinking hard, the alicorn was reminded of Spike's earliest days. This was the color his scales had originally had before they hardened and matured into the darker shade she was accustomed to seeing these days. So, by that logic, this distortion would fade with time. Assuming nothing else happened to it, that is.
"I don't think that will be permanent," Fluttershy spoke up while approaching the new conversation, "But Spike said he wants it to. He said it makes him look tough."
"I didn't say that!" The dragon quickly barked, pulling his leg away from Twilight. "Shut up, you can't prove anything!" This course of action did not end in the desired results, however, as the two mares simply chortled and giggled at his antics. And after a moment of nervously glancing back and forth between the two, he joined in on the joke. Anxiously at first, but soon enough he fully joined in on the moment. Soon it passed by, with Fluttershy beginning to attend to other matters within her home. But Twilight, meanwhile, had yet to actually speak with her, and she had some things she wanted to say. Thus she followed the pegasus and began to continue the conversation.
"Thank you again for all your help, Fluttershy," the sudden attention caught the mare off guard, evidenced by her flinching in shock. Twilight paid no mind to this, however, and kept on speaking once the pegasus calmed back down. "I don't know what we would have done if you didn't come along when you did. If there is any way I can repay you, please don't hesitate to ask."
"Oh... i-it was no problem," Fluttershy broke eye contact as she sunk into herself, embarrassed by the situation she had just been thrust into. "You know... a little kindness and all that... I'm just glad I could help. You don't need to do anything for me..."
"Nonsense. You let us stay in your home, eat your food, you help keep Spike company while I'm at work, and you've helped him heal in record time. There must be something I can do to repay the favor."
"B-b-but you already gave me so much money for rent..." Fluttershy took a few hesitant steps back in response to Twilight's offer. It was true that Twilight had already paid the pegasus back for the time she had allowed them to stay in her home, and Twilight had to practically force her to take the three hundred bits of rent money before moving into the new living space.
The alicorn sighed deeply, reflecting for a moment and trying to accommodate to Fluttershy's absolute refusal to be paid back. "Alright. Then if nothing else, at least let me invite you over for dinner tonight. Nothing fancy or extravagant, just a nice and simple home-cooked meal to show my appreciation."
The yellow mare ceased her panic for a moment and began to ponder the offer. As awful as it may sound, over the time she knew Fluttershy, Twilight had learned very quickly how to get past the mare's humility in order to pay her back. It was how she had gotten her to accept the rent money that Twilight owed her, and it looked like it had worked here as well. But Twilight's offer didn't just catch the attention of the yellow pony, it also piqued the interest of the purple dragon in the room. he quickly propped himself up onto his equally purple caretaker and leaned in close to her ear.
"Twilight, tomorrow's grocery day," Spike almost hissed in a hushed whisper, "We don't have enough food for three of us!"
"Shush, I'll improvise," Twilight whispered back through grit teeth, "We can do some shopping on the way back."
"Umm... can w-we take a rain check on that dinner?" Fluttershy finally answered with an apologetic grin. "I actually have... prior engagements I need to attend to..."
"Oh... well, sure. Whenever is good for you should be fine."
"Th-thank you. Now if you excuse me, I have to go... you don't have to leave but you don't have to stay either..." With that, the yellow pegasus began to gather her medical into a set of saddlebags. Taking the hint, Twilight began to gather her belongings into her own bags. Those belongings being Spike, as while he could once more walk unimpeded, parading a dragon around Ponyvile was still a very bad idea.
With everything sorted and settled the disguised alicorn gave her regards to her fellow winged pony before headed towards the front door. But Twilight stopped herself when something caught her attention out of the corner of her eye, something very peculiar that demanded her attention. Unaware of the purple peepers locked upon her, Fluttershy quickly opened up the glass case that served as the home for the simple twig and retrieved it with the utmost care and caution. The stick was then gently tucked behind her ear before the shy mare made her way to the back door.
Alright, that's unusual, Twilight thought, blankly staring at the door the pegasus had departed through. In the time she had spent here, that stick had been the center of so many questions and unsolved mysteries. Granted, Twilight didn't have much time for that topic due to her job and her house-hunting, but the displayed scrap of wood remained at the back of her mind even still. A mundane mystery that was intriguing enough to remember, but not intense enough as to demand an immediate explanation.
But now? Now it seemed too strange to just simply ignore.
"Hey, Fluttershy? Do you have a moment?"
The pegasus halted, turning around with a look of haste. "Not to be rude... but can it be quick?"
"I'm just a little curious about that accessory of yours." The cloaked pony raised a hoof and pointed to the twig.
Fluttershy noticeably hesitated. "Th-this?" She asked shakily, gesturing to the scrap of wood herself. She gulped heavily as Twilight nodded in response. "Oh... it's just a... good luck charm... I keep it with me whenever I go into the Everfree... now if you excuse me, I really need to go."
That answer matched up with what Twilight had seen thus far, but the pegasus's body language gave the impression that there was something more to what she was saying. But her haste in leaving also served as a strong deterrent against the alicorn getting any further explanation, and that's exactly what Fluttershy did. Exiting her home via the back door and leaping over the fence with a few flaps of her wings. It wasn't long before the pegasus vanished from sight within the woods, focused on her mission of assisting whatever timberwolf victims she could find.
Twilight Sparkle, meanwhile, was left alone to wrestle with her thoughts. And wrestle them she did as she left the home, having no business in staying here any longer. A moment passed where she had considered following the mare into the forest, but Spike's presence was enough to thoroughly dissolve that potential course of action. There was no force in the world that could compel her to bring the dragon back into that forsaken place. Not as of yet, at the very least, they'd have to leave town eventually.
The walk home seemed endless, the alicorn's mind ablaze with what could only be called baseless conspiracies at this point. The more she thought, the more she found that there was very little evidence to prove that anything wrong was necessarily going on. And Twilight of all ponies couldn't exactly criticize someone for keeping secrets—not without a serious amount of hypocrisy on her part. She was just being paranoid, she told herself. Overthinking and over-analyzing things that didn't need to be dug into. What business was it of hers? It wasn't like she had any plans to stay in this town any longer than she needed too.
Keep moving forward, you have to just keep moving forward, the purple pony reminded herself as she passed through Ponyville's marketplace. Don't stop, don't linger. There's too much... too much...
A deep resonating sigh escaped from her as she strolled by, largely unnoticed by the passersby around her. Why would they notice? Twilight was just another unicorn living her life, as far as they were aware. It was all Twilight wanted them to see. It was all that needed to be seen. So this school of thought was also discarded, for the time being, Twilight was tired and just wanted to go home. The early end to her shift meant she could spend some much needed time for herself and with Spike. Two things that had been neglected for far too long, in her honest opinion.
But then, ever observant to a fault, out of the corner of her eye she caught sight of the orange earth pony who had started this series of conspiracies and theories. Applejack was hard at work, selling her stock to all comers, and seemingly pretty busy considering the line she had. An honest smile slapped over her face, the earth mare seemed to have completely moved on from whatever ailed her during the conversation she had with Twilight. And thinking back on that, Twilight found herself recalling the last thing the farmer had said to her.
"I'll tell you later."
A venue for answers had been given to her, and she had only just noticed. The alicorn stopped and stared in the street, just watching as the earth pony happily went about her business. Was Twilight really considering going over there and possibly ruining that for, potentially, no good reason? She was honestly considering it, but at the same time, she didn't want to be responsible for causing any trouble. The idea was to lay low, causing trouble was a bad way to do that. It took but a moment for Twilight to make her decision, swiftly continuing her walk home.
If she was going to do this, she at least didn't want Spike to be involved.