Applejack didn’t like the idea of having to lie.

Sadly, James had approached her last night and ordered her to do so for Twilight’s sake, and the sake of everyone else. She couldn’t fully understand why, though. She gathered that it was so Twilight didn’t know about what had happened last night, but she couldn’t quite understand why that was necessary when everyone else in Ponyville would know what happened by now. Surely, at least one of them would have gone to the newspaper about it. Maybe the newspapers already knew.

Of course, James had seen to that too.

Rather than anything to do with Twilight’s outburst yesterday, the news only seemed to cover something about a giant kitten fighting a robot monkey from space over a box of crayons in a place called New York today.

It had gotten a laugh out of her family, even if it clearly was just some prank played on the entirety of Ponyville, maybe even all of Equestria.

Right now, however, Applejack and her sister were headed towards the hospital. Spike probably needed some support in all this after what happened yesterday. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy had told Applejack, Rarity, Luna and Celestia about what had happened, and then James had appeared and gave them all orders to not let Twilight know about all this. He hadn’t exactly told them why, however, only that it was for the sake of Twilight and Equestria itself.

Applebloom looked up at her sister with a hopeful smile on her face. “You think Spike’ll be alright?” she asked. “He’s a tough little dragon. He’ll be alright, won’t he?”

“Ah’m not so sure, sugarcube,” Applejack replied. “If what you, Pinkie and Fluttershy said was true, ah’m thinkin’ he might be in a bad way.” She sighed. “But ah guess he is a dragon. He’ll probably be okay. Just… might have a few bumps ‘n’ bruises for a while.”

Applebloom was quiet and looked straight ahead again. She looked like she had something on her mind, Applejack noticed.

“What’s on your mind, Applebloom?” she asked, nudging her sister in the side. “You look like you’re thinkin’ of somethin’. Anything ah can help with?”

“Uh…” Applebloom replied, looking for the right way to say it. “It’s nothing. Ah’m just thinkin’ about Spike bein’ in hospital ‘cause… Ah think we might have been the reason he got into hospital in the first place.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Well… we asked Spike to come with us. If we’d let him stay in the castle, he wouldn’t be where he is now.”

“Don’t think like that, Applebloom,” said James breathlessly, stepping out of nothingness beside her. “Blaming yourself… for everything means the bad guys... are in the right.”

“What do you want, James?” Applejack asked coldly, not even looking at him.

“Nothing,” he replied, leaning over to catch his breath. “Just wanted to tell Appleboom… that her friends are waiting for her up at the hospital. God… Do not do what I just did. It really takes it… out of you.”

“What did you just do?” Applebloom asked, looking up at him.

“I just… ran around the rest of Ponyville that I missed… to wipe the memories of everyone that… saw what happened yesterday. Not an easy feat.”

“What?!” Applejack yelled, spinning to face him.

“Why’d you do that?” Applebloom asked, tilting her head at him.

“What gives you the right to do that?!” Applejack roared, marching towards him fiercely. “You think you can just take the memories of other ponies like you own the town?! You can’t just do that!!”

“Because I needed to make sure that… no one can tell Princess Twilight what she did…” he answered slowly, looking up at Applebloom. “It’s kind of important... that she doesn’t find out about it… or it’ll happen again.”

“Ah don’t get it,” Aplebloom commented, shaking her head and looking down to think about it a little more. “Why would it happen again? Ah’m sure she’d learn from her mistake, wouldn’t she?”

“Are you even listenin’ to me?!” Applejack yelled, grabbing the collar of James’s shirt and dragging him close to her face. “Where do you get the nerve to do somethin’ like that?!”

“I had my problems with it too, apples,” he replied, taking a step back. The shirt flopped down in Applejack’s grip as he faded through and out of it. “Trust me when I say this; I don’t like doing this, but it’s for the greater good.” He held out a hand. “I’ll be having that back, please.”

Applejack scowled and smacked the shirt into his outstretched hand. He put it onto his shoulder and looked up at the sunny sky.

“Yeah, I think I’ll leave it off for a while. Nice enough for it today, isn’t it?”

“Why’s it important to keep it from Twilight?” Applejack asked.

“Like I said; she finds out about it and it happens again. I’ll explain it in more detail later, with the others.” He looked down at Applebloom and smiled. “You go on and see Spike with your friends. Your sister and I need to have a little chat about things.”

“Can’t ah stay and listen?” Applebloom replied, frowning dejectedly.

“Don’t you want to go see Spike? I’m sure he wants to see you and make sure you’re alright too.”

Applebloom thought it over for a moment before nodding in agreement and trotting off towards the hospital. “See you later, Applejack!” she called, turning her head back to her sister. “Ah’m gonna go check on Spike!”

“Oh boy, does she remind me of my daughter…” James muttered, watching her go. “Never wanting to be left out but always putting her friends first.” He turned back to Applejack and his smile faded. “I need you to round up the others as soon as possible. Not Twilight though; she stays out of this. Get them to all meet up at the hospital, Spike’s room in particular. All of you need to know this.”

“Why Spike’s room?” Applejack asked, tilting her head bewilderedly. “Shouldn’t he be left outta this?”

“He’s the one who suffered from this, apples. He needs to know why it happened more than anyone.”

“Makes sense, ah guess…” she muttered, mulling it over in her head. She looked back up at him when she realised something important. “Why not just wipe our memories like you did the others that saw it?”

“Because I’d really rather just see how much I can trust you to keep your friend, and Equestria, safe. The others that saw it won’t exactly trust Twilight as much as you guys do after something like that. Why? Are you saying your friend can’t trust you with this information?”

“Ah’m not sayin’ that.” She nodded and frowned. “Ah’ll get the others and meet you back at the hospital, and when we get there, ah think we’ll all want a proper explanation of what happened yesterday.”

“You’ll get one.” He took a step back from her and smirked. “I’ll be there in about five minutes, if I’m right about how many ponies I have left to mind-wipe.”

He snapped his fingers and vanished suddenly. When he was gone, Applejack sighed and started trotting slowly towards Sugarcube Corner, the closest home of one of her friends. She didn’t make it very far before she heard someone following her. She turned to see a pony she had never seen before hurrying after her.

“Can ah help you?” she asked the stranger.

“Who was that… um, creature?” they asked back, staring at the spot where James had vanished. “You must know… it. I saw you talking to it like you knew it very well.”

“Ah wouldn’t say that, sugarcube…” Applejack muttered, looking down at the ground. “He’s just… someone ah know. You must be new in town, but ah wouldn’t worry about him too much. But, just to be on the safe side, steer clear of ‘em. Now if you’ll excuse me, ah gotta go find some friends of mine.”

She tipped her hat and continued on her way to Sugarcube Corner. The strange pony tilted her head in wonder, marvelling at the thought of a strange being with the abilities of a master sorcerer in this town somewhere. She watched Applejack for a moment before coming to the right conclusion.

Princess Twilight must know something about him.

In fact, she needed to talk to Princess Twilight about that fight she’d had with that strange being yesterday anyway. It was time to kill two birds with one stone!

-=-=-=-=-

Spike was worried.

Since he’d woken up a few hours ago from the concussion he’d received, he’d had doctors in and out of his room to do all sorts of doctor stuff; take some of his blood, give him some medicine injections, and anything like that. That wasn’t why he’d been worried, though. He’d been a brave little dragon about all of that.

The real reason why he was worried was Twilight.

If she could avoid it, and she always could, she would always make sure he wasn’t in harm’s way when she was casting spells or, at least, out of the way of serious physical harm. But yesterday, she’d been so brutal with her spell. She’d never done something like that before, not even if she was furious about something.

It couldn’t really be of Twilight’s own doing, could it?

He was distracted from his thoughts by a knock on the room’s door. Being the only one in the room, he naturally assumed it was for him.

“C-come in!” he called, wincing as something clicked in his chest.

The door was pushed open and, to his surprise, in rushed the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

“Howdy, Spike!” Applebloom greeted happily.

“Wow, you got your own room?” Scootaloo breathed incredulously.

“How are you feeling, Spike?” Sweetie asked warmly.

“Not good…” Spike muttered, clutching at his aching chest. “What happened with Twilight after I passed out?”

“Oh, you shoulda seen it, Spike!” Scootaloo exclaimed. “James went to town on her! He was faster even than Rainbow Dash!”

“That’s… not really something that’ll cheer me up, Scootaloo…” Spike muttered, looking down at the bed. “I didn’t want Twilight to get hurt, but James hurt her anyway.”

“I didn’t do it by choice, Spike,” said James, materialising beside the bed. “Believe me when I say this; if I didn’t do what I did when I did it, it wouldn’t just be you suffering, it’d be the whole of Equestria.”

“W-what do you mean?” Spike stammered, looking up at James. He shook his head and snarled. “Liar! You just wanted to hurt Twilight!”

“What can I do to make you believe me, Spike? I swear on my life; if I didn’t stop her, Equestria would’ve been thrown into eternal night.”

“You… What?”

“What do you mean?” Applebloom asked. “Are you sayin’ she’d be Nightmare Moon or somethin’?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying, Applebloom,” James said bluntly, sighing lightly.

The four others looked at each other in confusion at what James was saying. After a minute of stunned silence, James snapped his fingers and an armchair appeared behind him, which he sat down in. He pointed at the ground behind each of the Crusaders in turn, and they turned to see he had made cushions appear for them to sit on.

“Please, sit,” he said, waving a hand at them. “We might be here a while.”

“W-what for?” Spike asked hesitantly, looking across at James wonderingly.

“You four, out of all the citizens of Ponyville, deserve an explanation more than anyone else, you in particular, Spike.” James tapped his chin in thought for a moment. “Actually, there are five others. Seven if you include sunshine and moony, but they’re not in Ponyville anymore.”

“Are you talkin’ about mah sister and her friends?” asked Applebloom. “But… there’s six of ‘em. Who’re you missin’ out?”

“The one pony that, by any means necessary, should never know about what happened last night; Twilight Sparkle.”

“Why can’t Twilight know about it?” Spike queried. “She’s the one who did it, so shouldn’t she know already anyway?”

“I wiped her memory. She can’t remember that particular happenstance any more than the rest of Ponyville can.”

“Oh yeah, you said you were doing that!” Applebloom exclaimed.

“To you and your sister, Applebloom, but not the others yet,” James replied. He snapped his fingers and a pocket watch appeared in his hand. He checked the time before taking a bite out of the top of it. “And… by my watch… ‘scuse me… the others should be here soon.”

“That’s… kinda gross…” Sweetie Belle stated, shuddering at the sight of him eating a bit of clockwork metal.

“Oh, that’s right,” James said looking down at the watch and slapping his forehead. “Forgot to make it a gem!”

The watch flashed bright pink and was suddenly made of gemstone. James considered it for a moment before offering it to Spike.

“I’m not gonna finish this,” he said as Spike took it from him. “Hope you enjoy.”

Spike licked his lips before chomping away at the gem in his claws. After a noisy minute of happy munching, he wiped his lips and smiled.

“Thanks!” he said to James. “That’s the first meal I’ve actually really enjoyed in here! You can visit more often!”

“You’re acting a lot more warmly towards me, Spike,” James said, smirking at the dragon. “If all it takes to get you on my side is give you a gem, I’m sure you’ll be gaining a lot of weight over the next few weeks.”

“Uh… what?”

“It’s a joke. Don’t worry.”

There was another knock on the door, drawing the attention of the five of them. Spike looked up at James inquisitively, wondering if he should allow entry or not. James nodded lightly.

“Come in!” Spike yelled over at the door.

The door opened and Spike smiled as five more ponies entered. Rarity and Pinkie Pie rushed to Spike’s bedside to start fussing over him as Fluttershy, Applejack and Rainbow Dash followed slowly.

“Oh, thank goodness you’re okay, Spike!” Rarity exclaimed, hugging Spike tightly. He winced when she did, and she receded quickly. “Oh, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to hurt you!”

“N-no, it’s… fine,” Spike replied. “I just… got a few ribs cracked and suffered a concussion.”

“I was going to bring you a cake, but Applejack came to get me before I could finish it!” Pinkie said sadly. “Sorry I couldn’t make you a get-better-soon cake, Spike!”

“It’s okay, Pinkie,” Spike replied. “I… I already ate.”

“Ah hope you’re not feeling too bad, Spike,” said Applejack, trotting over to Spike’s bed to put a hoof on his shoulder. “Ah know Twilight did what she did, but ah know that she didn’t want to hurt you intentionally.”

“What’s he doing here?” Rainbow Dash spat, pointing at James. “He’s probably the reason Spike’s in here anyway.”

James sighed and closed his eyes. “The truth hurts, but the truth is that yes, I am the reason Spike is in here,” he said slowly. “Now if you’ll let me –“

“What?!” yelled Spike, Rainbow Dash and Rarity all at the same time in disbelief.

“Ah thought Twilight hurt ‘em!” Applejack yelled angrily.

“She did, apples, but I’m the reason Twilight hurt him.”

“Then y’all best start explainin’ yourself, James!”

“It’s a long story,” said James, snapping his fingers to make a set of cushions appear beside the girls. “Sit down and I’ll tell you everything.”

Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Applejack scowled as they sat down. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy glanced at each other anxiously before doing the same without a scowl. Spike shifted uncomfortably in his bed, anxiously glancing at James.

“Is there anything anyone needs at all?” James asked, resting his elbows on his knees.

“Can we sit with Spike?” Applebloom asked. “Ah think he could use some… uh… reassurement.”

James chuckled lightly. “By all means, Applebloom,” he answered warmly, waving a hand at the bed. “If Spike’s alright with it, feel free.”

“T-that’s… okay,” Spike stammered, shifting in the bed to allow the Crusaders to sit on it with him.

Applebloom beamed and leapt up onto the end of the bed happily. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were not so enthusiastic about it though. When the three of them were sat on the bed, James smiled and clapped his hands together.

“Now then,” he began, “all questions and criticisms should be reserved for the end of this tale. There will be no bathroom breaks, so please, if you need to go, go now.” He waited a moment to see if anyone would move before continuing. “Excellent. Then let us begin.”

Author's Note

Sorry for taking forever with this one I was busy ~~finding my true calling~~ ~~getting my cutie mark~~ doing other stuff.