[Theme Song]

Twilight was out and about, looking through the store's glass at the books on display. Behind her, James, Arthur, Red X, and Blue Star were making small talk.

"So how's Timothy and Johnathan doing?" James asked Red X.

"My nyan cats? Oh, they're doing alright. Although John did almost get me in trouble the other day. Some jerk was trying to start something with me when I didn't say 'hi' when passing by." Red X furrowed his eyebrows at the memory. "I mean, really? Not everyone greets one another if passing by on the streets. I was simply taking my cats for a walk. The guy started an argument with me, and Tim was huddled at my legs, trying to protect me. Psh. Like that airhead was gonna do something. John, on the other hand, was a little more touchy, as you'd know, and... well... the big-mouth has a restraining order now. But only after I threatened to make John kill him if he told anyone anything."

"Damn!" Blue Star exclaimed. "How bad was it?"

"PG-13. He's in the hospital now."

"Wow, what do you even do with them at home?" Arthur asked.

"The same things a good owner would do with regular cats... or dogs."

"No, I don't think this is your fault, Red X," James pondered. (The camera slowly and gradually zoomed in on his face as he spoke.) "I think the reason for this behavior runs deeper. Perhaps his past before you took them in might've been rather dark. Maybe he's like that because he had to constantly defend Timothy from perilous dangers when they were little."

"Yeah," Red X nodded. "That would make sense." It seemed they didn't have much else to talk about since they talked during the whole trip through the town. That was after they went back to the library so Twilight could put up her book and James could put away his phonautograph. So they didn't have to worry about catching up on anything when Conscience and Pinkie suddenly ran up on them.

"Hey, guys, what's going on?" Conscience greeted.

"Hey, Conscience," Arthur, Blue Star, and Red X intoned in unison.

"Guys, have you seen Rainbow Dash anywhere?" Pinkie asked.

"Um, no I haven't, not since earlier. Why?" James asked. Pinkie looked around before leaning closer to him.

"I wanted to see if she could help me with a prank," she whispered as if someone was eavesdropping.

"Ooh! Can we help?" Blue Star asked eagerly.

"Of course! But I need Rainbow Dash's help since she's a pegasus." Everyone looked around.

"Hey, I see her," Arthur pointed at the blue pegasus, whose front end was buried inside a cloud above them.

"Rainbow Daaash!" Pinkie called out, causing her to pull her head out in panic before flying away.

"Damn, look at her go!" Blue Star looked in awe.

"I know!" the pink pony agreed before bouncing in the direction Rainbow flew. Everyone except James and Twilight went after her.

"What was Rainbow doing in that cloud like that, anyway...?" James muttered.

Rainbow flew through multiple clouds, leaving holes in them, before stopping on the side of Applejack's house. She snuck a peek around the corner. Not a pony in sight. "Phew. That was close," she turned around... only to come face to face with the dreaded pink pony... as well as four others with her.

"Hi!" Pinkie chirped.

"AH!" she yelped before taking off in the direction she came from.

"Did you see how high she jumped?" Red X asked as they followed the again-bouncing Pinkie. "She didn't even use her wings for that leap!"

"Jeejee Christopher, is she always this jumpy?" Blue Star asked.

"No," Conscience answered. "She's usually the exact opposite."

"...How the f*coin* did we get here?" Arthur deadpanned while looking around.

Rainbow swooped past the trees of Sweet Apple Acres, and into town again, looking for a place to hide. She noticed a rather thick cloud floating a short distance ahead of her. She shook her head. That didn't work last time. As she flew over the town, a strange form of residence came into view: the library. That's it! Flying right inside the lush green that held its place in the branches of the tree, she peeked out and saw the ponies going about their business. But she didn't see them.

She sat back to catch her breath... then heard Red X's voice. "You can't run from us."

"Yaah!" Rainbow shrieked while flying away.

"...This isn't working, she won't even listen," Blue Star complained, impatient.

Conscience summoned a pipe. "I have an idea."

As Pinkie and the guys emerged from their white tube of transportation, they barely made out a light blue speck growing slowly in size.

"Jump really high when she's right above of us," Conscience told Arthur, who nodded. He quickly pulled out a clock from Super Mario Bros. 2 and turned it to the '2' mark. He then pulled out a star and shoved it against the clock. The Invincible Star would last ten seconds.

As he crammed the star into the end of his shotgun, Red X nudged him. "Hurry, she's close." Good timing.

"Arthur, now!" he aimed the gun up and shot right before Arthur left the ground shaking violently. It threw everyone off balance... except Pinkie somehow.

The Star bullet caught Rainbow square in her chest, causing her to change multiple colors.

She stopped in mid-flight. That was a mistake on her part. "What the--"

WHACK!

Something came crashing down on her, sending her plummeting to the ground with a small explosion of dust. No! She had to get away! But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't budge. She was pinned pretty good.

"Rainbow, calm down for a second!" the voice from on top of her said. She craned her neck around.

"Arthur, what are you doing? Let me go!" she struggled.

"You could at least hear her out first," he gestured to Pinkie walking up to her, with the others following.

"I knew you were trying to help me catch her, but you didn't tell me you were gonna hurt her," she frowned.

"Oh, no, we made sure we didn't. That's what the Star was for," Conscience assured. "Rainbow, are you hurt?"

"No," she groaned, apparently too down for that fact to sink in.

"See, she's fine. Arthur, you can get off of her."

"Oh. Well, okay," Pinkie smiled again. "Rainbow Dash, I need a favor."

"Fine," Rainbow grumbled as her Star ended.

"It'll be fun, I promise!"

Rainbow sighed. "Okay."

The guys all watched as Rainbow moved a cloud around at the command of Pinkie. "Who is she doing this to again?" Arthur asked.

"If it's the mayor, then she must've lost her goodness damn mind," Conscience mused.

"Better yet, what is she gonna do?" Red X rubbed his chin.

"Isn't it obvious, guys?" Blue Star said. "Pinkie's gonna have her make it rain!" This sent them into a giggling fit.

"Over to the right. No no, a little to the left. Oh wait, back to the right. Now a little left-ish while staying rightly. Stop," Pinkie ordered Rainbow around. It was obvious to the guys that she'd rather be somewhere else. "Hmm... maybe a few inches to the south. Now a couple centimeters north. Okay. One more smidgimeter to the--"

"Pinkie Pie!" Rainbow shouted. Pinkie had the decency to shrink back for a second.

"Uh, I mean, perfect. Now, wait for my signal."

"What the f*sword brandish* is a 'smidgimeter?'" Blue Star muttered to the guys as Pinkie looked through the window.

Conscience shrugged. "Meh. But I think we're gonna find out who our victim is."

Sure enough, a purple baby dragon came out holding a pyramid-stack of scrolls while humming. Pinkie waved her hoof in the air, before giving a sharp point to Rainbow, who obliged by kicking the cloud. The guys jumped visibly when lightning suddenly flashed.

"Didn't see that one coming," Red X murmured. Everyone stood stock still for a few seconds. Then--

*hic* *hic*

Rainbow actually smiled for once in a while that day. Pinkie's cheeks bulged as she tried to hold in a laugh. Did she succeed? I think NOT!

"Oh, Rainbow Dash, we startled Spike into getting the hiccups!" she and Rainbow laughed.

Spike looked around and smiled in realization. "Heheh, good one, Pinkie *hic* Pie. *hic* You're are always pulling a fast one *hic* on me." He picked up the scroll nearest to him, and hiccuped... causing it to catch fire and whisk away in a trail of smoke. His eyes widened.

"What!? How the ____ does that even work?" Red X asked. "He doesn't breathe fire when hiccuping, does he?"

"Apparently, he does," Conscience raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, no. You're not hurt, are you?" Pinkie frowned in concern.

"Na-- *hic* -ah, don't be *hic* silly. Dragons are *hic* fire proof," Spike waved dismissively.

The earth pony relaxed. "Oh, okay. Good." She exchanged a glance with Rainbow, before they both broke out into a laughing fit. Spike stacked up most of the scrolls, only to hiccup all to Princess Celestia at once.

"I wish the same thing *hic* were true with scrolls."

"But then you couldn't send letters!" Arthur replied.

"Well *hic* yeah, I guess you *hic* have a point," Spike mused as he continued picking up scrolls and hiccuping on them, until Blue Star walked up to him.

"Here," he held out a spoonful of sugar.

"...Where the f[***][*coin*][____] did you get that!?" Arthur, Conscience, and Red X exclaimed in unison (although Red X didn't even pronounce the 'f' sound).

"What's this for?" Spike looked at it.

"It should help you," Blue Star answered. Spike took the spoon and hesitated, before he swallowed its contents. Then he waited.

"Better?"

The dragon blankly stood there, but he perked up in realization. "Hey, they're gone!"

"Where? Why? How?" Red X spluttered.

"Have you ever seen anything more hilarious?" Pinkie fell on her back.

A mischievous smile appeared on Rainbow's face. "I can think of one thing," she kicked the cloud again, giving a similar outcome.

"Ah!" Pinkie froze... then starting hiccuping, laughing in between. Rainbow smiled in amusement.

"I didn't take you for a prankster, Pinkie Pie," she floated next to her.

"Are you *hic* kidding? *hic* I love to pull pranks. It's all *hic* in good fun, and Pinkie Pie lo--*hic*--oves to have *hic* fun! *hic*"

"You know, Pinkie Pie, you're not as annoying as I thought." At this, Arthur deadpanned at Rainbow, while Conscience held up the sign reading: Zero f*cks given. "You wanna hang out?"

Pinkie was literally hiccuping all over the place. "*hic* That'd be *hic* I'd really *hic* When do *hic* I mean *hic* When would you *hic*--"

She ran right into Rainbow's upheld hoof. "A simple nod would do."

"Mhmm," Pinkie nodded.

"I just realized something," Red X whispered to Arthur. "Why were we here if we didn't even get to help set up?"

Arthur shrugged dismissively when they heard more hiccuping. And it wasn't coming from Pinkie. They turned their heads to see...

"What the hell!" Arthur said to the new source of hiccups.

"What?" Blue Star asked defensively before hiccuping again. "I wasn't *hic* ready for that second *hic* one."

Pinkie, Rainbow and the guys had a great time, and a good laugh as they played practical jokes on their friends. They gave Rarity flowers with sneezing powder, switched Twilight's regular ink with disappearing ink, and painted the apples on the trees at the farm (it was a lot quicker when you had extra pairs of hands).

A yellow pegasus with a pink mane was throwing food out to the small creatures that inhabited the small body of water. There were several fish, and two turtles. Or at least, that's what she thought. In reality, the second turtle was a rubber water squirter. She was completely unaware of the company waiting behind a nearby bush on the opposite side.

"Is someone over there? Who're we gonna squirt? Who're we gonna squirt?" Pinkie asked excitedly.

Rainbow chuckled as she looked through a telescope. "Fluttershy."

"What!?" Pinkie spat out the pump. "Nononononono, we can't prank Fluttershy, I mean, she's so sensitive. It'll hurt her feelings, even our most harmless prank."

"Well, sucks for her," Blue Star shrugged before getting punched in the shoulder by Arthur and Violently smacked upside he head by Conscience simultaneously.

"Yeah, you're right," Rainbow blew a raspberry. "Huh. We need another victim who's made of tougher stuff. So, who's it gonna be?" Rainbow looked around, while Pinkie stifled a giggle.

"Oh. I've got someone in mind," she giggled again before continuing. "The toughest around."

"Oh, awesome. Who, who? Do I know them?" Rainbow smirked as she looked around.

"Oh, yes," Pinkie chuckled while pointing at the pond. "You're very close." Rainbow looked at her reflection and saw just what Pinkie was getting at: her left eye had a dark splotch around it.

She chuckled. "Good one, Pinkie Pie." She held out her hoof. Pinkie attempted to smack the hoof held out, but Rainbow pulled it away at the last second, causing both of them to chuckle some more.

Conscience took this moment to make a proposal. "Hey, guys! I know someone who really needs a good prank."

"Really? Who?" Pinkie asked.

There was hardly anything in the meadow besides grass. There were a few trees and even fewer bushes. Fortunately there were two trees right next to each other with a large bush in between. This is where the group of five hid.

"How did you know he was here?" Rainbow asked Conscience.

"Whenever we're separated at a long distance, about a hundred or so meters, I feel a slight magnet-like tug coming from his direction. Why he's here... well, he does that."

Conscience looked over the top at their unsuspecting victim. James stood stock still looking over a hill that had a breath-taking view, his hands behind his back as usual. He didn't move or speak. And if Conscience didn't know better, he'd say James wasn't even breathing.

Conscience lowered behind the bush to look at the others. "Okay, Red X, you have that rubber spider?"

"Yeah," Red X held up a dark grey-ish looking spider about the size of his palm. It smelled of peppermint. "He's not gonna get hurt, right?" he frowned.

"Nah," Conscience waved dismissively. "James'll Pop Faint the second he turns around. Okay, Blue Star, is it ready?"

"All set," Blue Star positioned Conscience's camera so that the lens was sticking out of the other side of the bush. He then pulled out a grilled cheese sandwich to work on.

"Everyone have their sunglasses?" he asked. Everyone pulled out their own pair, and put them on. Surprisingly, Rainbow had her own pair, too. "Snacks?" Rainbow and Pinkie had a bag of popcorn to share, Arthur had some Pringles, and Red X had Sour Patch Kids. Blue Star already was halfway through his sandwich.

"Alright, Red X, let me see that spider." As Red X handed it to him, he pulled out a small megaphone, and shoved a red-crossed circle against it. He then shoved that against a Mushroom. This would cause anything that it was given to, to become silent and unable to produce sound. But it wouldn't cause them to grow like initially intended. He then shoved that against another mushroom to fix that. Perfect. Now when he used it, it wouldn't go '♩ ♩ ♩.'

"Watch and learn." He Cheerfully walked lightly behind James until he was a good five to eight meters away. He slowly and quietly placed the rubber spider in front of him before stepping back a few yards. Then he took the Super Silencing Mushroom and threw it at the spider, causing it to grow... without making a sound.

James was completely unaware of anything as Conscience Cheerfully crept back to their hiding spot. They began to wait. ...And wait. ...And wait.

After about fifteen seconds, Rainbow groaned. "Ugh, when is he gonna turn around?" she asked impatiently.

"Hold on, I got this," Red X got up and came out from the bush. He crouched down, his legs behind him. He readied himself before--
"Repuuken!" he Break-dance Kicked, sending an orange-ish yellow wave along the ground, and towards his target. It got a direct hit, almost tripping James off balance.

"Oh! He's turning around!" Pinkie hissed with excitement before eating another hoofful of popcorn.

"What the f***?" James muttered as he regained his balance. He was sure he was alone. However, in his peripheral vision he noticed a shadow. Coming somewhere from behind him. Weird. He turned his head. As he realized what it was, his body already seemed to move on its own afterwards.

"He's gonna freak out so bad," Rainbow chuckled when she saw the wide-eyed expression on his face.

"Wait... is that a flashbang?" Red X asked with wide eyes as James pulled out something and tossed it right at the face of the fake spider. Good thing they had sunglasses, because his suspicions were confirmed.

"Wait what no don't--!" Red X tensed when James pulled out two identical swords.

Blue Star almost choked on his sandwich. Those were the katanas he got him for his birthday earlier that year. Blue Star had accused him of throwing them away because he never saw him use them. He'd have to apologize to him for that later. "Wow, he really did keep th--"

KLPOW!

The next moment, James was behind the spider. The only one who didn't widen their eyes was him, when the bottom half of the spider's legs separated from the rest of its body and collapsed, causing it to be a good twelve inches or so shorter. Pinkie and Rainbow were already frozen in shock.

"B-b-bu-b-but but--" Red X stuttered.

"I like buts," Blue Star smirked as he took another bite from his grilled cheese.

James jumped over the spider, while in the process, stabbing it with both swords simultaneously in the thorax, midsection, then the neck of the spider; in that respective order. Though he let the katanas hold their place in the neck as he landed. He then turned, and twisted the twin swords before pulling back, taking off the poor inanimate object's head. Inside the body was hallow and empty, but James was too far gone for that to sink in.

"Not the head," Red X whimpered.

Imagine the rate at which the number one track-and-fielder in the world took each step when running as fast as he could. Multiply that rate times three, and you have how quickly James was Violently shoving frag grenades inside the hole where the spider's head used to be. Taking the time (which was barely a second) to actually pull the pin off the last grenade, James threw it inside with the others, Explosively shot into the air with his cape, and began shooting at his target with two large twin machine guns. Even Blue Star was getting thrown for a loop, his slowed chewing eventually stopping.

"HO-LY SH**!" Conscience gave his partners-in-crime each a Star on reflex (and his camera,... and their hiding spots for good measure). The only one who even noticed was Arthur. Everyone else was petrified.

*BOOM!*

The lethal explosion temporarily blinded them all. When their vision was restored, they saw James standing idly as he stood where he was before anything crazy had occurred, as if nothing ever happened. The only evidence that any sh*t went down was the giant scorch mark that was behind him... that, and the lingering smell of burnt peppermint. Everyone's snacks were obliterated in the explosion. (Although, Blue Star was on his last bite before he froze. So he practically finished.)

Conscience was still staring with a level of surprise. "I think we should leave," he suggested. Everyone slowly complied without even noticing for at least a whole minute, and headed back towards the town (after Conscience got his camera and turned it off). Except Arthur and Red X. Arthur realized everyone was leaving and went after them.

Red X's legs carried him, not away from the sight, but towards it. He slowly walked up to what was left of the spider (if you could even say that) and fell to his knees. Tears were already streaming down his face.

His voice was barely above a whisper. "...You killed him..."

James's sense of hearing wasn't exactly sharp, but it was still way better than the average person. So had it been anyone else, chances are they wouldn't have heard the voice. But he did.

He turned his head, then his whole body as he saw the source of the voice. "Red X? What're you doing here?"

"YOU KILLED HIM!" Red X glared furiously at him.

"The... the spider?" James was rather taken aback by the way his brother's tone shifted.

"Yes, the spider!"

"Well, excuse me for being arachnophobic!" James exclaimed defensively. "Like I was supposed to know that it wasn't after me, or something."

"It was a joke!" Red X shouted. "It was supposed to be a prank. To scare you. It wasn't real. It was made of rubber."

James's face fell as he processed his brother's words. "...Oh..." Hesitantly, he walked up and pulled him in with one arm (and the other still behind his back) for a hug. "I apologize. I just acted on reflex." Yes, he apologized. But he wasn't sorry. Sometimes pranks went wrong and prices had to be paid in consequence. Which was why he wasn't a fan of them himself, despite Conscience.

Red X returned the embrace and cried silently, mourning for his favorite and memorable arachnid. For several minutes, they didn't move. But for them, it felt like at least an hour.

[Meanwhile...]

The sun was already beginning to set when they pranked James. At this point, the sun was now a little past the horizon as Arthur, Rainbow, Pinkie, Blue Star, and Conscience walked down the familiar road of the town.

"Did you see how he destroyed that thing? Totally awesome!" exclaimed Rainbow, who was the second behind Arthur to recover from their shock.

"I know! I feel like my life flashed before my eyes, sort of like when you scared me with that thundercloud, but it lasted a lot longer because it was like the lightning from the cloud but stretched into nearly a minute!" Pinkie said all in one breath.

Arthur nodded in agreement. "He always did have anxiety problems. Sort of like a disorder, but I forgot what it's called. Blue Star, do you remember what it's called?" He got no reply. "Blue Star?" Upon turning to look at him, Arthur raised an eyebrow.

Blue Star looked nearly as pale as a faded piece of fabric. His eyes weren't exactly wide, but they were opened a little more than usual. The look in his eyes made him look like he'd seen a ghost.

Conscience looked at him with a frown. "Um, Blue Star?" You don't look so go--" she stopped in mid sentence when he put his hands over his mouth, his eyes even wider. Before anyone could say anything, he ran and bent over a nearby trash can and--

"BLEAAAAAAH!"

"What the f***, Blue Star!" Conscience shuddered in disgust. "Couldn't you 16 in a toilet, or something?"

"Sixteen?" Pinkie questioned.

"You know... puke?" Arthur whispered.

"Why sixteen?"

"Puke starts with a p. And 'p,' is the sixteenth letter of the alphabet," he explained.

"Oooh, I get it," the pink mare nodded with understanding.

Blue Star trudged back to the group, shivered in some unknown cold. He gagged at the terrible taste that invaded his taste buds.

"Are you okay?" Rainbow raised an eyebrow in concern.

"No," Blue Star began to get woozy from being lightheaded, and fell to his knees to keep the world from spinning.

Arthur put his hand to his forehead, then his neck. "His temperature's a little high," he noted. "We should get him to bed."

"Of course," Pinkie agreed as they followed the guys to the door of some pony's cottage. "I don't like it when my friends get sick. You can't party when you're sick!"

Arthur pulled out the Key and turned it into the lock. It was a copy that they got from Conscience in case any of them wanted to visit. "He should be better by tomorrow. Nothing some water and a little rest can't fix," he assured as Blue Star went through the door, leaning against him for support.

"Bye. See you soon," Pinkie waved, but they didn't hear her as they'd already closed the door. "Poor Bluey," she frowned. "I hope he's not too ill."

"He'll be fine," Conscience assured. Then he froze as he realized something.

"Hey, were's Red X?" Everyone looked around. Oddly enough...

"There he is," pointed Rainbow. "And James."

James walked up to them with a sleeping Red X on his back. "Hey, guys."

"Where was he?" Conscience asked, gesturing to his slumbering brother.

"With me," James gave a short reply.

"Um... what was he doing with you?"

"Bonding. Brotherly bonding." James said nothing else. He looked around. "Where're the others?"

"Blue Star got a fever, so they left," Rainbow answered.

"Huh," James mused. "Well, he shouldn't be under the weather for long."

"Yeah, that's what Arthur said," Pinkie said. She looked at the sun, which was currently about halfway past the horizon at that point. "I should probably get back to Sugarcube Corner and see if the Cakes need any help."

"That's cool. I'm about ready to hit the hay, anyway," Rainbow yawned.

"Alright, then, I guess we'll see you girls tomorrow," Conscience waved.

As the pink earth pony and cyan pegasus went their separate ways, James turned to the direction of the library. "You're an ass****," he uttered as he walked away.

"Huh?" Conscience raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean I'm an ass****?" he called as he ran after James.

Twilight was enjoying the silence in her library, lost in the book she was reading. The same book from earlier that afternoon. Had she not ran any errands after leaving the bench in the park, she'd have definitely finished by now. Spike was in the kitchen making sandwiches before he would settle down for the day. He was also making one for when James got back. He didn't have to wait much longer.

Twilight, fortunately for her part, was not as engrossed in her book as she was earlier that day. Thus, she actually looked up to see who had entered the door.

"Hi, James, how was your day?" she greeted.

James shrugged his shoulders. "It wasn't boring."

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "So... it was good, then?"

"It was okay," he replied. "We sort of have a guest who needs somewhere to sleep. I didn't wanna wake him up, hope you don't mind."

Twilight hadn't noticed until then that James was carrying Red X on his back. "Of course not," she smiled.

"Good."

Spike came out from the kitchen. "Twilight, James, the sandwiches are done." It was then that he took notice of the extra company. "Oh, you brought Red X. Do you want me to make one for him too?"

James noticed Spike had a hint of annoyance in his tone. "No, thanks," he shook his head. "He should be knocked out until tomorrow. You don't have to right now if you don't want to."

"Okay, good," he sighed.

James turned back to the mare. "So, how about the couch, then?"

"He can sleep on the spare bed," she suggested. "Since you don't seem to want to use it." That last sentence had a hint of sarcasm.

The best way to counter sarcasm is to sarcastically take said words literally. James nodded. "Sounds great." He walked upstairs, totally aware of the eye roll Twilight did.

It is not easy to lay someone on a bed from your back. Not without waking them up. James pondered how he would pull off this near-impossible task.

Okay. So I can't just silence either of us, it would be unnecessary. Plus, he would still feel it.
...Wait a minute... that's it!

With a little difficulty, he pulled out a megaphone and a red-crossed circle. (Good thing Red X was somehow subconsciously hanging onto his neck, so both of his hands were free.) He shoved those together before walking over to Twilight's nightstand to put it down for a second. He took out a clock from Super Mario Bros. 2 and turned it to the two. He then pulled out a star and put it together with the clock. That would give him ten seconds to place Red X on the bed. Comfortably.

James picked up the Silent Megaphone and shoved it against the ten-second Star. Now he had a star that lasted ten seconds and wouldn't play any music upon being activated.

Now he had to act quickly as he gave the Silent Star to Red X. James briskly walked over to the bed across from Twilight's and placed him on his stomach so he was facing the head of the bed. He moved one of his arms and legs that were hanging over the end, back to his side.

There, that should do it, he thought with a nod as Red X's star ended.

James was going to turn to walk away when his brother began to stir, causing him to freeze.

"....Mm... Pepperspy..." James raised an eyebrow. All of the guys almost never talked in their sleep. They did, but only here and there. "...Don'... don' hurt Pepperspy...," he slurred. "Please... don' hurt 'im."

"'Pepperspy'?" James questioned to himself as Red X's face looked troubled in his sleep.

"He's just a little spider."

Then it dawned on him. Red X was talking about the spider from earlier. The spider that was a gift from his grandmother that he loved so much. The grandmother that passed away ten years ago. Pepperspy was the last thing he had to remember his grandmother by.

And James had just destroyed him. How could he have forgotten?

...Because he was bigger than he initially was? ...Yeah, that's it.

He frowned at the expression Red X was making in his sleep. Pulling out another clock and turning the minute hand a full circle clockwise, he summoned a fireball into his hand, and put the two together. When applied, it would cause the target to increase or decrease in temperature and stay at that temperature. James turned it up, therefore, it increased. He then pulled out another clock and turned the hour hand to the six. That way, the effects would wear off in six hours after being applied.

With that he pushed the Clock Heater against the side of the bed causing it to dissolve inside of it. He heard Red X stir again and looked up from where his work was just done. He let out a quiet and contented sigh when he saw the tension in his brother's face completely fade away, and replaced by a smile. It was a ghost of a smile, but it was still a smile. It made James smile a little himself.

But it disappeared as he looked away. With another sigh, this one much more heavy, he walked back downstairs.

Twilight took a break on her couch as she got near the end of her sandwich. Spike, who was sitting next to her, patted his stomach contentedly. His sandwich may not have been filling, but at least he wasn't hungry anymore.

He looked towards the stairs as James descended them... and went straight for the door.

"James, where're you going?" Twilight noticed him as she finished up her sandwich.

"Out," he said simply as he opened the door. "I might be awhile, so don't get too worried if I'm gone long."

"Um... what are you gonna do?"

He turned around and looked her in the eye. "Fix something I broke." He closed the door.

James ran. He ran and ran and ran. He could've Flashed, but he chose to run. It felt right to him, somewhat. He didn't stop running until he made it back to the area where he killed his brother's precious spider. Only then did he Flash up to the scorch mark (which he surprisingly could still see rather well despite the dark of the night). But it wasn't enough. For what he was going to do, he needed to see the 'crime scene' perfectly.

He pulled out an oil lantern and lit it with a fireball. He repeated this process again, and again, placing each lantern at the edge of the dark spot he created that day. Lighting one last lantern, he went around to the last spot that didn't have one. He pulled out a tuning fork. As he made to walk over the lanterns and to the middle of the scorch mark, he accidentally knocked one over... setting the debris on fire.

"Sh**!" he cursed as he quickly pulled out a box of table salt (Hey, you never know when you'll need it!). He opened it and tipped it over while running in a circle. That way, it wouldn't spread along the rest of the grass. He immediately Flashed to the middle of the mark (he was surprised it hadn't spread there yet), he struck the cremation of Pepperspy with the tuning fork, causing a light chime from it. He couldn't waste any time.

With a Violent flick of his wrist, James flipped the fork into the air, leaving it suspended for a fair amount of time. While it remained aloft, he took out a magnet and a zip lock bag. The tuning fork came back down, hitting the magnet, another resounding chime coming from it. The result was almost instantaneous as the magnet began to draw in what was left of the spider. He let out a breath he had been holding without noticing.

He waited until he was sure that last of its ash before he picked up the tuning fork. He held it by the fork part unlike the first time, and tapped the magnet with the handle part, causing the rubble of the spider to fall into the waiting zip lock bag. Now he just needed a flat and solid surface.

Creating a Silencing Mushroom, James gave one to himself, before shoving one against the door to the library. He walked inside, as they left the door unlocked for him. It was thoughtful of them, but that wasn't exactly the smartest thing to do. You never know what could happen. After coming inside, he Violently slammed the door... but it didn't make a sound. For once in a long time that day, he actually smiled a little again. He loved doing that.

James pulled out another megaphone and shoved it against a Mushroom, before applying it to the door. An Un-silencing Mushroom. Seeing as the door was back to normal, he looked around. It was empty downstairs, so they must've went upstairs to call it a night. His gaze fell on the kitchen.

Perfect!

He Flashed into the other room. (He was still confused how Flashing was silent, it wasn't part of him... or was it...? He shook his head. He'd think about it later... maybe.

James made his way over to the counter as he pulled out the zip lock bag, and dumped the contents onto the surface. He then pulled out his golden hammer, the same size as his black hammer (which is pretty large, practically a mallet), that fixed things instead of breaking them. He held the hammer in the air. One strike to the debris, and Red X's beloved spider would be fixed. Red X would feel better, and forget that this ever happened.

James paused. It was nighttime, everyone was sleeping. He gently put his hammer down. He made two more Silencing Mushrooms, one for his hammer, and one for the counter. After applying one to each, he proceeded to finish where he left off with the hammer, but paused again. He wasn't one to do a little extra, because, what if someone liked it the way it was and wouldn't want to change it? As he thought on, he decided to go through with the extra effort, to show how much he cared.

He pulled out a black crayon and a red-crossed circle, and shoved the two together with a Star, before placing it on top of the cremated Pepperspy. After putting a clock and a Mushroom together, he added that to the mix. With a nod of finality, he took the hammer over his head and swung.

[A good hour later...]

Red X raised his head and blinked drowsily, only to be greeted with darkness. He sat up and rubbed his eyes, but the darkness stayed. However, it was light enough for him to see some of his surroundings, to some extent. In front of him was a shelf full of books. At that point, he realized someone was snoring. Turning around, he could barely make out Spike sleeping in his small basket. Right past him was a bed that had a giant lump under the covers. Probably Twilight. Which meant...

"What am I doing in the library?" he whispered to himself.

Quietly, Red X got up and walked down the stairs.

"James? Are you down here?" he said quietly as he looked around. He continued walking, but stopped when he almost tripped over something that was on the floor. He summoned a fireball to see what it was. "Oh, there you are."

Good thing he did stop before he ran into it, because there was his brother, sleeping face-down on the hard wooden floor. Red X narrowed his eyes as he noticed something dark grey on James's lower back. His eyes narrowed.

"What the ____...?"

Whatever the thing was, it yawned, causing him to freeze. He briskly walked over to the switch on the wall and turned on the light (and dissipated his fireball), so he could distinguish it from James's clothes.

...It was now on top of James's head. He couldn't let this creature hurt James. He couldn't crush it; James didn't take kindly to being hit on the head while sleeping. There was only one reasonable solution: panic.

"James, get up!" Red X yelped.

"What? What happened?" James shot up with a start and looked around frantically. He eased up a little when his gaze fell on his worried-looking brother in front of him. "Red X? What's wrong?" he stretched (although that made him lightheaded).

Red X had a worried expression on his face as he pointed. "There's something moving on your head," he whispered.

"What!?" James hissed as he quickly took off his hat to inspect it. Upon seeing what he was talking about, he relaxed. "Red X, this is your spider," he said with a hint of exasperation.

"Huh?" Slowly, Red X walked up to his brother for a closer look. As realization struck, his eyes widened. "Pepperspy?"

In response, the spider gradually doubled in size and jumped onto his chest, in which he noticed a scent in the air and sniffed. Peppermint.

He inhaled sharply. "It is you!"

James noticed it looked like Pepperspy was stretching two of his front legs out aside himself. "I think he's hugging you," he said.

"I missed you too," Red X Cheerfully returned the 'embrace.'

"Aww, that's adorable," James smiled in amusement, despite himself.

"But how is he alive ?" Red X looked up.

James yawned. "Oh, you know. I gathered his remains and added a little extra before I put him back together. As you witnessed, he can grow or shrink when he wants to. And in case you didn't realize, you would've crushed him with how tightly you were hugging him. So I made him indestructible.

He scratched the back of his head. "And, Pepperspy. This is long overdue, but I want to apologize for... attacking you." Pepperspy turned his head before jumping onto his chest in response, 'hugging' him.

James chuckled as he hugged him back. "Thanks for understanding."

"Hey, could you guys stop shouting?" another voice spoke. There was a pause. "It's eleven at night." They turned to the stairs, where the source of the voice was.

"Sorry, Spike. We'll keep it down," James apologized. Spike grumbled something inaudible as he went back to the bedroom. "Well, I don't know about you... but I would like to rest. If you're staying up, please stay quiet."

Red X looked up as Pepperspy jumped onto his hat. "No, I'm going back to bed." He looked back down to see his brother with a gun pointed to his head. "I'll head home in the morning."

"Okay, good. Sleep well." At that, there would've been a resounding pow when James pulled the trigger, had the gun not been a silencer.

James and Conscience walked behind Pinkie Pie, who was constantly blowing into a party blower (much to James's annoyance). She also had a strange pair of glasses with a nose and mustache, as well as a head attachment that her it look an arrow was sticking through it. (James was rather unnerved by it.)

"Can you tell me why I'm here?" James asked Conscience.

"So you can see what me and the guys were doing yesterday," was the reply.

"...Red X, too?"

"Yeah."

A silent pause. "...Who's idea was the prank with the spider?" James asked, having a feeling he already knew the answer.

"Mine," Conscience said rather proudly. "I said you'd need a good pranking."

"Red X wasn't very happy about how I reacted."

Conscience Sharply turned his head to James. "He wasn't?"

"No. He was a lachrymose wreck of emotion. Had I recognized the spider, I wouldn't have overreacted." James turned his head slowly as if on a horror movie. "But you knew about Pepperspy."

"Pepperspy?"

"His spider he got from his passed grandmother."

Conscience's eyes widened. "That was the same spider!?" he hissed.

"Yeah," James Hand Cracked. "It was." He almost Tornado Slapped him. But he had to catch himself before he ran into Pinkie who stopped walking. The two followed her gaze to see a large house made of clouds.

"Rise and shine Rainbow Dash!" she called out. "It's a brand new day and we got a lot of pranking to--" She paused in mid-sentence when a large eagle's head peered at them from above. "Ooh."

Rainbow popped up from behind the 'eagle.' "Mornin', Pinks," she flew down and landed next to her. "Gilda, this is my gal pal, Pinkie Pie." At this point, the creature flew down to the ground, revealing its whole body... which was like a lion. Which mean it was a griffon, James and Conscience noted. "And this," she pointed behind Pinkie, "...is James... and Conscience." James nodded in acknowledgement while Conscience waved Cheerfully.

"Hey. What's up?" Gilda greeted (as she turned her head to look at... something behind her).

"Pinkie, guys, this is my griffon friend, Gilda," Rainbow gestured to the griffon.

"What's a griffon?" Pinkie asked.

"She's half-eagle, half-lion."

Gilda landed in front of everyone and wrapped her arm around Rainbow. "And all awesome." She and Rainbow chuckled as she bumped her hoof.

"Gilda's my best friend from my days at Junior Speedster flight camp," the pegasus explained before she looked at Gilda. "Hey, remember the chant?"

"Shuh, they made us recite it every morning. I'll never get that lame thing out of my head," the griffon replied.

"Sooo," Rainbow leaned in expectantly.

Gilda sighed and rolled her eyes. "Only for you, Dash." The two rose into the air.

"Junior Speedsters are our lives,

Sky-bound soars and daring dives

Junior Speedsters, it's our quest,

To someday be the very best!"

Rainbow was seemingly lost in that short period of time, while Gilda sounded like she'd rather be doing something else.

Conscience elbowed James. "Heh, Rainbow was really feeling it." James stifled a High Chortle.

They weren't the only ones to think the chant was humorous, as Pinkie was laughing as well... much to the apparent (at least to James) chagrin of Gilda.

"Oh that was awesome, and it gave me a great idea for a prank," Pinkie faceplanted the ground to put her silly apparel back on. "Gilda, you game?"

Gilda mused. "Huh. Well, I groove on a good prank as much as the next griffon. But Dash, you promised me we'd get a flying session in this morning," she said before taking to the air.

Rainbow gave a sheepish look to the pink earth pony. "Uh. yeah. Well, Pinkie Pie, you don't mind, do you? Gilda just got here. We'll catch up with you later," she assured.

"Oh," Pinkie frowned, but quickly replaced it with a smile. "Um. Well sure, no problem. Have fun you guys. I'll, uh, just catch up with you... later," she sighed, obviously disappointed. She turned her head as Conscience put his hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, come on. It's not the end of the world. Like you said, you can catch up later. Until then, why don't we do something else to kill time?"

Pinkie perked up. "Yeah, you're right. I guess the prank can wait a little longer."

"Great. James, any ideas?"

Silence. Conscience sighed, having a feeling he already knew why James didn't answer. Turning around, he confirmed his suspicions: James had left when they weren't looking.

"I can not f***ing believe him. Not one, damn, bit," he facepalmed.

"At least he left a note," Pinkie said. Conscience raised his head to see Pinkie hunched over, looking at something on the ground. Walking up to her side he followed her gaze. Indeed, there was a small parchment.

He read it out loud:

"Had to use the damn bathroom. And before you ask, it's number two. Sorry, guys, I'll see you when I come back.

The Third."

As what he read sunk in, Conscience Facewhipped. "Son of a bi--"

"What's the problem?" Pinkie asked, confused at his reaction. "After he's done, we can all have fun together."

She frowned as Conscience sighed heavily. "Pinkie," he turned towards her, "After James is done, at least two hours will have passed."

Author's Note

I had forgotten what that anxiety thing with me was. I looked it up, it was called post-traumatic stress disorder (or PTSD for short).

Remember Pepperspy, everyone. At least, for now.