Simmons exhaled deeply as soon as he stepped outside, happy to have Sigma out of his hair. He quickly looked around, making sure O'Malley and Gary were nowhere nearby either. Once he was satisfied with that, he began to make his way down the path at a moderate speed. As he neared the gate, he saw a small, purple colt emerge from the treeline. He picked up his pace, trying to go fast enough to not have to deal with him, but not fast enough to make Theta curious.
"Hey, Simmons," Theta greeted slowly, trotting up to meet him with a small bag on his back. "Where are you running off to in such a hurry?"
"Me? I'm not running from anything," he countered, not willing to stop so close to the gate. "I'm walking."
"Really?" Theta asked quietly, stepping in front of him to block his path. "Because it looks like you happen to be going somewhere fast. Walking is supposed to be slow."
"Then I'm going for a jog," he grumbled, trying to step to the side. "A nice and relaxing jog. Is that alright with you?"
"I guess, I just wanted to talk to you about something."
"About what?" Simmons asked tightly, eyeing the smallest of the fragments with only slightly less caution he gave the others. He trusted him less than he trusted Delta and Church because of the fact that Sigma stuck closer to him than the others.
"Well, Sigma and I went digging with the girls a while ago. We ended up finding what we thought was a rock, but O'Malley smashed and something was inside," Theta said, before sticking his head into the bag to grab something. He then held a small object between his teeth and placed it gently on the ground.
"Looks like a flower encased in some amber," Simmons said curiously, turning his attention to the ancient flora.
"Yeah, that's what I think it is to," Theta nodded knowingly, then looked up at Simmons. "Anyways, I was wondering if you could try to find out what that is. Maybe go to the library and take out a book on old flowers or something."
"Why don't you do it?" Simmons asked hesitantly, not wanting to get wrapped up in anything to do with the separate pieces of the Alpha.
"I want to, but I can't do it without seeming suspicious to the others," he sighed.
"The others?" Simmons asked, thinking about his siblings.
"Yeah. Normally I wouldn't want to bother you, but I want to show it to Scootaloo and the others, and I want to know what it is first. I don't want any of them to know about it. Not even Sigma. I want this to be a surprise to them all, y'know?" Theta asked. "Since I'm usually around Sigma, they'll get curious about what I'm doing if I'm over at the library without him."
"You don't want Sigma to know?" Simmons inquired with mild surprise.
Theta shook his head.
"Alright, I'll see what I can do," Simmons said with a nod.
"Great," Theta smiled, putting it back in the bag. He then shrugged the bag off and placed it in front of Simmons. "Thanks for doing this."
"No problem," Simmons said, placing the bag on his back. As long as he didn't have to deal with Sigma directly, maybe it wouldn't be so bad. "I'll try to look it up tonight, then bring it back to you tomorrow."
"Awesome!" Theta said ecstatically. "Listen, I should probably go find Sigma, so-"
"He's in the farmhouse with Sarge," Simmons said, already starting towards the gate.
"Thanks again," Theta said, trotting away to find his brother. "And remember, don't tell anybody about it, okay?"
"Don't worry about it," Simmons said back to him, trotting away for reasons of his own.
Since he did not need to be back at the boutique, he decided to stop by the library and get the flower business out of the way. With that small detour, he made his way over to the library. Once he arrived, he politely knocked on the door three times.
"Come in, Simmons," Twilight said. Once he walked inside, she gave him a small smile. "I keep telling you, this is a public library. You don't have to knock every time."
"It's better to knock on every door than to barge in through each one," Simmons countered. "I've been in enough awkward situations with the others. I know that I'd prefer to knock and get told to leave, rather than walk in on one and get involved in it."
"Fair enough," Twilight laughed. "Can I help you with anything?"
"Yeah, do you have any books on flowers? Preferably one that might have some extinct ones in it."
"I believe I have a few books on that," she said, turning towards the shelves. "Take a seat, it shouldn't take me too long to find them."
"Sounds good," Simmons said as he put the bag on the table. He then pulled the flower out of it and began to examine it in closer detail so he wouldn't have to keep cross referencing with every flower, even though he knew he'd probably do it anyways.
"Okay, here's a few books on all kinds of flowers," Twilight said, placing nearly half a dozen books in front of him. "Some of them go back over a few thousand years, so whatever you're looking for should be in one of them."
"Thanks," Simmons mumbled, opening one of the books there, placing the flower on top of the bag next to him.
"That's a beautiful flower," Twilight said, examining it while Simmons began flipping through the pages. "Where did you get it?"
"I found it at Sweet Apple Acres," he mumbled, looking at the pictures to find one that looked like the one he had.
"Hard to believe you found a flower encased in amber above ground. Normally that sort of thing is buried under the ground, so..." she paused thoughtfully, then her eyes lit up and she began to smile. "So they really did find something, huh?"
"Huh?"
"Theta, Sigma and the girls dropped by to pick up some books on archaeology," Twilight said, now with more interest in the flower. "I didn't think they'd actually find something, though. I thought they would have had to dig for much longer to find something. But that begs the question: why do you have the flower?"
"Theta wanted me to find out what it was," Simmons sighed, knowing she'd pry it out of him eventually. "Just don't tell anyone, okay? He didn't want me to tell anyone else about it."
"Sure thing," she said with a smile, then it faltered slightly. "I was under the impression that you didn't trust any of them, though..."
"So?"
"So why are you helping Theta figure out what this flower is?" she asked.
"Because... I don't know. I don't really have anything better to do," Simmons replied with a shrug. "Besides, I guess maybe Theta and the two silent fragments deserve a chance. I mean, I trust Church, and he's an asshole. I also kind of trust Delta, but he really does seem like the voice of reason for the Alpha."
"What about Sigma?" Twilight asked, tilting her head.
"Right. He's the one I trust the least," Simmons said, rolling his eyes. "Gary and O'Malley are untrustworthy, but Sigma is downright evil. I don't feel safe anywhere knowing the one who caused the Meta is within walking distance of me."
"You might be surprised if you gave him a chance," Twilight said honestly, remembering her talk with him from a few nights ago.
"I've had enough surprises in my life from being around the others, thank you very much," Simmons said, turning his attention back to the flower.