“I can’t believe you,” Twilight grumbled, her eyes narrowed.

I didn’t answer. I couldn’t really, what with Rainbow and Applejack holding down my arms and legs respectively. Lying flat on my stomach, each of the mares held me down as Twilight used her magic to examine the wound on my side. A towel was placed under my stomach to prevent blood from staining the wooden floor of the library.

Now, the pair wasn’t holding me down because the injury was severe. If that had been the case, I’m pretty sure that they would have (hopefully) taken me to the hospital. No, the reason they were holding me down was that when I had been removing my armor, Twilight had gotten a glimpse of my injury.

She had taken one glance at the blood before a dark look had passed over her face. She had more or less ordered the girls to hold me down. Not wanting to risk her wrath, they had done so quickly and without argument. I had tried to get free, but while I might be able to take on Rainbow or Applejack by themselves, as a team, I stood no chance.

“Do you like being in pain? Is that it?” Twilight continued. “Do you enjoy getting injured doing… stupid things? Is it not bad enough having a blind eye, or a limp? You have to get even more scars?!”

As she scolded, I could feel her magic oozing deep into the claw marks, and I squirmed at the sensation. I could feel the edges of the wounds being pushed open as she searched for anything that could have been left within the wound. It wasn’t a pleasant sensation, having the already tender and raw skin stretched even further.

Pain raced up my side as her magic located something. Immediately, it surrounded the foreign object and began to slowly extract it. I hissed in discomfort at the feeling and gritted my teeth. With one final tug, the object was pulled free of the wound, leaving only a dull ache behind.

Before I had time to recover, Twilight shoved the thing in front of my face.

“You see this?!” she snarled, waving the object around with her magic. It took me a second to realize that it was the tip of a bloodied timberwolf claw. It had apparently broken off and gotten stuck in there like a large splinter.

“You could have gotten a horrible infection because of this!” she snarled, practically shoving the claw up my nose. “Is that what you wanted?!” She gave the claw one last shake before tossing it across the room and into a trash bin.

From her spot at the table, Avera snorted loudly, rolling her eyes.

“We would have pulled it out of him,” she said, rubbing her bandaged muzzle with a hoof. She winced, beads of red appearing on the white bandage as she pulled her hoof away.

Twilight’s head whipped around and she glared daggers at her. If looks could kill, Avera would be nothing more than a stain on the wall. “You be quiet! This wouldn’t have happened if you had just stayed in the library instead of prancing through the Everfree Forest like a herd of foals!”

“That’s what I said,” Ebony spoke up, only to wilt seconds later under Twilight’s glare. She ducked her head and went back to fiddling with a cracked hoof.

As Twilight went back to searching through the claw mark, Rainbow leaned down and whispered in my ear, “So, you had another run in with the timberwolves?” I nodded, staring at the wooden floor beneath me, and she laughed quietly. “Nice! Did ya fight the alpha again?” I turned my head to look up at her and smiled. Her ears perked up and she smiled as well. “Awesome!”

“Don’t encourage him!” Twilight suddenly scolded, swatting the back of Rainbow’s head with a wing. Her magic pulsed and I grunted as it suddenly dug deeper into my wound, causing pain to lance down my side. “It’s bad enough that his guards go along with his stupidity, he doesn’t need us to as well. Speaking of which...” I felt her twist around beside me, turning to face Fluttershy, who had regained consciousness a while ago.

“What were you thinking, sending him into timberwolf territory during the spring?” Twilight asked, causing the shy mare to ‘eep’ in surprise.

“I… I n-needed some Rabbit’s Paw,” Fluttershy squeaked out, tears in her eyes. “Angel has Flash Fur Fever, and I needed it for his medicine. Zecora wasn’t home, and the timberwolves wouldn’t listen to me.”

“So, you paid Max to go get it?” Twilight asked incredulously. She paused before adding, “Where did you even get half-a-million bits?”

“I’ve b-been saving up the money my parents send me,” Fluttershy mumbled. “They t-tend to be quite generous. It’s my emergency fund for if something happens to one of my animal friends. When Angel’s fever grew worse this morning, I grabbed the bag and raced over... here…” Her voice got quieter and quieter as she trailed off, hiding behind her mane as Twilight continued to glare at her.

After several seconds, Twilight sighed and closed her eyes. “Why didn’t you just ask one of us for help? Hay, I’m sure that Applejack and Rainbow would have been willing to get the flower for you.” The mares in question nodded in agreement.

Fluttershy shrank further into her mane. “I-I didn’t want to inconvenience you girls,” she whimpered. “You w-were all so busy with Winter Wrap Up, and I didn’t want to cause any trouble.”

“So you decided to have Max do it instead?” Rarity asked, raising an eyebrow. I spasmed again as Twilight pulled another piece of timberwolf claw out of my side. God damn it, that hurts!

“He’s dealt with timberwolves before,” Fluttershy answered lamely. “I thought that he could deal with them again to get the f-flower. I didn’t think he would get this hurt, though. If I had known...” She whimpered, blinking back tears.

“Yeah, well… he did,” Twilight said, eyeing the piece of claw coldly before tossing it over her shoulder.

“Hey, back off,” Avera said, glaring at Twilight. “She didn’t do anything wrong. We accepted the job, so it’s our fault, not hers.”

“Oh, I know it’s not entirely her fault,” Twilight snarled, glaring at Avera. “In fact, I’m thinking that I might just have to contact Luna about the incompetent guards she’s assigned my human." All of my guards froze instantly at her words, their eyes widening.

“W-what?” Ebony stuttered, her ears splaying backwards.

“Well, it’s obvious that you can’t do your jobs properly,” Twilight snarled, sneering at them. Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw Rarity and Pinkie Pie exchange nervous glances. On top of me, Applejack and Rainbow shifted, clearly uncomfortable with the direction the conversation had taken.

I didn’t like it either, but for different reasons. I knew Twilight had a point. However, I didn’t want to see my guards get in trouble. They may have originally just been guards assigned to me by Luna and Celestia, but during their time here, I had grown attached to them. Enough so that I considered them more akin to friends than guards.

And I kinda didn’t want to lose three of the few friends I’ve made here in Equestria.

“Hey, he’s alive, isn’t he?” Avera asked, pointing a hoof at me. I winced as Twilight’s magic seemed to jerk suddenly.

“Oh, so that’s all that matters to you? That he’s alive?” Twilight asked, her wings flaring. “It doesn’t matter if he’s paralyzed from the neck down as long as he’s alive! You’re only concerned about doing the bare minimum needed to get your paycheck!” This caused Avera to sputter, opening and closing her mouth wordlessly.

“That's not true… and uncalled for,” I heard Primrose tsk softly.

Twilight ignored her, or just didn’t hear.

“He may just be a job for you,” she continued, her voice raising into a near shout, “but he’s more than that to me! He’s important to me!” She stomped her hoof for emphasis. Unfortunately, it came down on my injured side, hard.

I snarled as pain exploded up my side, stars bursting in front of my eye as my vision blurred. My legs spasmed hard enough to cause Applejack to topple off of me with a startled yelp. I gritted my teeth as my side continued to throb, my breath coming in ragged gasps.

As the agony slowly dulled, I became aware of the fact that the entire library had fallen silent. Cracking open an teary eye, I glanced up, only to find Twilight staring down at me, her eyes wide in shock.

Slowly, tears began to build up in the corners of her eyes. “No, no, nonononono!” Chanting to herself, she rubbed the area around the claw marks tenderly with her hooves, careful not to touch the wound itself. Her magic instantly backed off, slipping gently out of the wound as she continued to rub.

“I… I didn’t mean to… I’m s-sorry, I—” The tip of her hoof brushed too close to one of the open wounds, and I hissed as pain flared up again. She backed off, and just sat there, staring at the floor tearfully.

Rainbow got off of my arms as I pushed myself into a seated position, wincing at the pain as the muscles in my side moved. I sat there, staring at Twilight, who refused to look at me, instead choosing to look at her hooves.

After several seconds of tense silence, Rarity awkwardly cleared her throat.

“Well,” she said, slowly inching towards the door, her eyes darting back and forth. “I’d love to stay, but I must… go check on Sweetie Belle!” With that, she dashed out the door and into the night.

“Y-yeah, and Ah gotta see tah Applebloom,” Applejack said, hot on her heels. She paused at the door, glancing back at Twilight. “Ah’ll, uh… Ah’ll see ya tomorrow, ‘kay, Twi?” Twilight said nothing, which Applejack apparently took as an answer because she quickly slipped outside without further ado.

Pinkie Pie, her hair less poofy than it normally was, just looked around at the tense faces before, with a sigh, she got up and followed the others out the door.

Rainbow stared after her, a bemused look on her face. She blinked before glancing around the room.

“Um,” she chuckled, rubbing the back of her head with a hoof, “I think I’ll just be goin’ as well. Gotta get up real early tomorrow to deal with any wayward clouds.” She took several quick steps towards the door only to pause. Glancing back at Twilight, she bit her lip, an ear flicking against her head. With a sigh, she turned and gave the alicorn a quick nuzzle before rocketing out of the open door like a missile.

Twilight absentmindedly touched her cheek where Rainbow had nuzzled her, but other than that she remained still. Slowly, her hoof lowered, as did her head, her face now hidden beneath the bangs of her mane.

Eyes darting back and forth, Fluttershy stood and made to follow Rainbow, but I held out an arm, stopping her in place. She gave me a curious look as I stood up, wincing as my side twinged. Walking over to the table, I ignored my guards’ looks as I picked up the large bag of bits with a grunt. Fluttershy’s eyes widened as I turned and presented the bag to her, silently asking her to take it back.

I was originally going to give her only half of it back, but after all the stuff that had just happened, I didn’t really feel like I had earned it, injured or not. Truthfully, I felt like an ass.

“Oh… oh no, I-I couldn’t,” she said, shaking her head and taking a step back. “N-not after what you went through to get these.” She motioned towards her wing, were the flowers were currently stored, safe in her feathers.

I frowned, offering the bag again, and she shook her head more forcefully, all the while backing up. As soon as her back hoof hit the threshold, she turned with a squeak and bolted, running along the ground as to not disturb the flowers. The door slowly closed behind her, leaving myself, the guards, and Twilight alone (Spike raced to his room as soon as Twilight had ordered Applejack and Rainbow to hold me down).

I stared at the closed door for a moment before, with a sigh, I dropped the bag of bits onto the floor with a loud thud. Turning, I looked down at Twilight, who was still staring at the floor, her eyes hidden behind her bangs.

I stopped in front of the mare, watching as she shivered slightly, her wings limp by her sides.

“Come on, gals,” Primrose grunted, pushing herself up from the table. She headed to the basement door and opened it, motioning down the steps with a wing. She gave me the briefest of looks before disappearing into the depths. Ebony limped over, wincing as she began to descend the stairs. Avera stared at Twilight for a few more seconds, her expression blank, before, with a sigh, she got up and followed after her fellow guards, shooting me a sideways glance as she passed.

“Sorry,” she mouthed, her ears splaying backwards. I nudged the bag of bits towards her and, grabbing it in her mouth, she took it with her into the basement.

The basement door clicked shut behind her, leaving me and Twilight alone with ourselves.

~I’m sorry~ I signed after several seconds of silence.

Twilight’s head jerked up and she gaped at me.

“N-no,” she cried, shaking her head frantically. Swallowing, her eyes shifted to the side as her ears splayed backwards. “No,” she said in a calmer manner. “I… I’m the one who should be sorry. I shouldn’t have yelled at you, or the others for that matter. It wasn’t right of me. I just… it’s just…” she shuddered, more tears coming to her eyes.

“I just don’t like seeing you hurt,” she whimpered, lowering her head again. “When I saw the blood… I just.. something within me… snapped.”

Sighing, I knelt down and quickly pulled her into a tight hug. She squeaked as my arms wrapped around her, but she quickly melted into the hug. Sighing, she rested her head on my shoulder before returning the embrace, careful to avoid my injuries.

“Thank you,” she whispered in my ear, giving my cheek a quick nuzzle.

I smiled, nodding my head ever so slightly.

There was a pause.

“...you're still in trouble, though.”

...fuck.