".......h-hello?" Fluttershy called out into the forest. She stood at the edge of the Everfree, Angel on her back holding a lantern steady to provide some light out there in the middle of the night.
Fluttershy received no answer... she almost felt silly for calling out in the first place. Maybe it was a bad idea to come out and search for whatever had made that monumental bang that had woken her up... she was getting nervous. Maybe it was something dangerous...? Maybe she'd even imagined it.
"Fluttershy!"
Fluttershy jumped with a squeak and turned to face the calling voice, nearly throwing Angel off of her back. She relaxed when she saw that it was just Twilight.
"T-Twilight, you startled me..." Fluttershy said, calming down.
"Sorry..." Twilight responded. "I was just coming out here to investigate a strange, powerful magical signature I'd detected while I was doing some late-night studying... it was something like an unstable teleport. I didn't expect to find you out here..."
"Well, there was a really loud bang earlier..." Fluttershy said. "It woke me and Angel up. It sounded like it came from the forest..."
"The forest..." Twilight echoed. "Hm. Well it's not safe to go out there at night... heck, it's barely safe to go out during the day. We'll check on it tomorrow."
Fluttershy nodded in agreement. "That would be best... it's scary just being this close to it at night," she noted, glancing back out towards the darkness past the first line of trees.
"Well let's not hang around then," Twilight said. "Being near the Everfree's not the safest either... you remember what happened that one time with Applejack."
"Oh yes..." Fluttershy said, recalling the incident involving Timberwolves. The thought of some of them attacking now was... disconcerting. She shivered and perked her ears up just in case.
RustleRustleRustleRustleRustleRustleRustleRustleRustleRustle
Fluttershy's ear twitched. She hear something out in the woods... j-just the wind... surely. Angel heard it two: his ears were perked up as well, and he impatiently tapped his foot on Fluttershy's back to let her know that now was probably a good time to get going...
RustleRustleRustleRustleRustleRustleRustleRustleRustleRustle
No, not the wind...! Something was actually coming! Twilight looked fearfully to Twilight, who stood ready to run -- she heard it as well...! Angel bunny became slightly impatient, tapping harder. Whatever it was was coming in fast--
RustleRustleRustleSCREEEEEECH
Fluttershy stood frozen in fear, as did Twilight. Even Angel stopped.
Something had emerged from the forest, and covered the ten or so yards between them and the treeline in the blink of an eye.
It was a squirrel.
The two terrified ponies and a bunny stared down at the jittery creature, unsure of what to think. It wore a hat and a shirt, and quite honestly looked rather frightened and... well, jittery. It looked back and forth between the two of them rapidly, as if expecting something, and occasionally pausing its jitters to glare at Angel. There was a moment of awkward silence.
"......A squirrel?" Twilight eventually asked in confusion. "But... how could it have been moving that fast? Fluttershy, you saw that too, right?"
Fluttershy shakily nodded, though her shivering was dying down rather quickly now that she was getting used to the sight. Angel didn't seem to like the newcomer.
"...why don't you talk to it?" Twilight then suggested. "Find out what it's doing out here...?"
Fluttershy briefly looked back to her and nodded again. She then bowed her head low to match the squirrel's head's height as she made eye contact with it, Angel standing at the base of her neck ready to spring into action if the forest animal tried any funny stuff..
"Hey there little guy," she said in her soothing voice. She caught its undivided attention as she spoke to it. "What are you doing all alone out here? Are you lost?"
Neither she, nor Twilight, nor Angel, could ever have expected what followed her question.
"Nehelupthemounwolregranbunnykiethcaffecoffgivglugzoomneethhelpleanao!"
The squirrel finished as fast as he had started, almost all of his words blended into one string of ultrafast syllables. He stared expectantly at the two surprised ponies, impatient, now ignoring Angel.
"......what?" Twilight asked.
"Um, I'm sorry..." Fluttershy said. "But could you please repeat that? I didn't quite... catch it all."
The squirrel gave a dramatic sigh and took a deep breath.
"ComhelneeditupthmounredwolninjgrandancrecipstolmegoloohelgivCAFFEEEEEN YEAH BABEH--nowgosofassofassofaswherepolicebearcranflipneedhelp!"
This time it was even longer and even more confusing.
"Um... I'm sorry, but could you please run that by me one more time, maybe an eeensie-weensie bit slower, please?" Fluttershy asked.
The squirrel sighed again, even more dramatically, and then took another deep breath.
"Hurynotimgottgonaoneedgogethelbearcraneflippolijailbunnybadbythway NEVER TRUST A BUNNY."
At least a... little more was understandable, and it was shorter.
Fluttershy looked to Twilight and shrugged. Angel shrugged as well, all wariness forgotten in the face of utter confusion. Twilight facehoofed, and then an idea seemed to hit her.
"Hey, what if we slow him down?" she asks. "I think I know a Slow spell... just gimme' a minute to-"
The squirrel would have none of it, and with an ultrafast groan of frustration it was gone again; were it not for the unrealistic *Kapwing* his exit made, it might've taken the trio a few seconds to realize he was gone -- complete with having left a dust trail back into the forest, despite the grass still being fairly damp from the rain yesterday.
A moment passed.
"...Fluttershy, why was that squirrel speaking english?" Twilight asked, the odd feature having been overridden earlier by just how fast it had flown by.
"I'm not sure, Twilight," Fluttershy answered.
"...uh... I don't...... really know......"
"Me neither, Twilight."
"...'kay. Just making sure."
Another moment passed as they stared into the forest. Reality began to creep in as the sounds of wildlife returned, and soon Fluttershy found a shiver going down her spine again, assisted by another reminding tap from Angel.
"Um, I'm just going to go back home..." she said to her friend.
"Yeah, me too," Twilight answered, giving up. "See you tomorrow, Fluttershy."
"You too, Twilight. Goodnight."
"Goodnight."
The friends parted ways back to their respective homes.
============Elsewhere============
"Gotta' go fast, gotta' go fast, gotta' go fast -- broke sound barrier last time, not sure how still alive, just gotta' go faster faster faster faSTER FASTER FASTERFASTERFASTFASTFASTFAST--"
A resounding bang resonated through the Everfree once more, and the squirrel returned home.
