“What do you mean by that?” Rainbow was the first to ask. It was pretty obvious, at least to me, that she had just asked before Applejack had been able to. The question made perfect sense, though. It wasn’t even a month since I had told them, and it was already in question. Of course, a lot had happened in that last month that they obviously didn’t know.

Both of them looked at me.

Both of them needed the answer.

“Well, it has to do with the way this whole thing started.” I looked up at the sky. “When Sunset came back, she was put in a jail cell. It was only because I told Princess Cadanc’e and Shiny that she was my student that I was able to make sure that she didn’t have her horn removed.” I looked back into Applejack’s eyes. If anypony was going to have a problem with the lie, it was going to be Applejack. “It wasn’t exactly true at that point. I hadn’t even talked to Sunset about it, really. It was just the first thing that I thought of.”

“And so ya lied to yer brother about somethin’ that big.” Applejack glared at me, and I moved my gaze from hers. I knew that she didn’t condone lying at all. “Ya know Ah don’t condone lyin’ of any sort, Twi.” I sincerely hoped that there was a but in there somewhere. “But it ain’t like ya had much of a choice there. Ah mean, imagine if they had wanted to cut the wings from a Pegasus… you unicorn seem pretty attached to those horns ya have.”

That was definitely true.

“So Ah’m guessin that Princess Cadance is gonna be takin her back?” That seemed like the logical end to this little story. I didn’t actually know why I had told her that part of it. Maybe I had wanted to make sure that they didn’t hate me for it. I shook my head in response to her question.

“No, it’s what came next.” I continued. “Princess Cadance caught onto my little lie, and she came up with a punishment around it.” I thought about the exact way it had been worded. Cadance had told me that she was to be taught by me and that she couldn't leave the town without me. That was how I remembered it being worded. “Essentially, I’m supposed to keep her in line. She was sentenced to be my student, and to not leave town without me. And she can never go to the Crystal Empire again.”

“That don’t sound like a bad punishment ta me.” Applejack quickly responded. “Ah didn’t figure Princess Cadance had that sort of power, though. Well, banishment from the Empire maybe.” She seemed to be thinking about how to word the next part. Ah wasn’t aware she could force ya to be her teacher, though, if ya didn’t wanna be.”

“That’s where the problem starts.”

“Ah don’t think Ah follow ya.” I figured that line probably wouldn't have made sense on its own.

“Well, Sunset figured it out before I had. She had actually confirmed what I hadn't given much thought.” I looked at Applejack again. “She thinks that I don’t really want her as my student, that I just went with what Cadance had told me I had to do.” She had actually been more than a little rude about it, actually.That wasn’t something that I was going to mention, though. “If she doesn’t want to be my student, I can’t force her to be.”

“Well, Ah suppose Ah can only ask one question.” Applejack’s expression softened. “Is what she said true?”

“What do you mean?”  There were two parts. It was possible that I both wanted her as a student and that I was doing as I was told. In my mind, those two weren’t directly incompatible.

“Do ya just want her as yer student because you were told to?”

That was a somewhat tough question.

“Well, when I first left the Crystal Empire… that had been exactly why.” I tried to think about what it was that had changed my mind. “But the more I thought, the better the idea became. I mean, the idea of teaching a pony is something that just sounds amazing.” If I was able to pass on what I had learned, both about magic and about friendship, it was imperative that I did so.

“Why Sunset, though?” Applejack’s question cut through. “There’re plenty of unicorn around here. Heck, ya could teach Sweetie Belle.”

I shuddered as I thought of it.

“Well, I planned on teaching more than just magic.” I started. “Sunset needs to learn about friendship as well. And I feel like I can really help her out.” Also, it was probably for the best that I didn’t teach a single spell to Sweetie Belle. I wasn’t sure that the results would have been something that even the six of us would have been equipped to deal with.

“But what if she don’t wanna be yer student?” Another question that I hadn’t anticipated. This was something that I really should have prepared for more. If this wasn’t something so big, and so sudden, I probably would have written out possible questions and good answers. That didn’t happen, though, so I needed to be able to think on my hooves.

“I was actually going to ask you girls to help me out with that, once I was able to convince you that she wasn’t evil.” I gave my best, most convincing smile. At least, I think it was my best and most convincing. “Well, the big thing was how she said no. She said, after I rescued her from the timberwolves, that I had … risked my life for some pony that I didn’t have to care about.” Those words seemed weird even as I said them.

“What did she mean by have to?” Rainbow cut in.

“She thinks that Twi here didn’t wanna have her as student, just that she was ordered to.” Applejack answered for me. “Of course, that just proves she don’t know Twi at all.” She turned from Rainbow to look at me. “Is there anything else? Anything that comes ta mind?”

I tried to think of anything. There was one thing that came to mind, actually, that I hadn’t put much thought into. “Well, this entire time she’s seemed to have this idea that being a princess automatically makes your life worth more … or maybe I’m just overthinking things.” That was something that I was told that I did. “She seemed to have gotten past that until this whole … timberwolf thing, though.” It was either that or she didn’t think that her life had much value left.

“Well, we’ve got a lot on our plate, sugarcube.” That was the understatement of the century. “Ah figure Ah still don’t like her. But it seems ta be important to ya, so Ah figure Ah’ll do whatever Ah can do ta help out.” That was a relief.

That meant three down and two more to go.

“Thanks Applejack.” I was ahead of schedule, and by now it wasn’t something that I was thinking about. On the other hand, the extra time meant that I had some time to spend with my friends that didn’t have anything to do with Sunset Shimmer. Time was a resource of limited quantity, especially when it came to my friends, and I hadn’t been using it properly. “With that out of the way, though, I was wondering if there’s anything around here I might be able to help you with?”

A smile overtook Applejack’s face, and something told me she knew of something.

I actually liked my newest guest.

Part of me had wished that I hadn’t kicked Princess Twilight out. The last book I had read had been awful. There had been a few more in the series, but I had barely stopped myself from causing irreversible damage to the first one. The characters had been bland, there had been no sense of pace, the plot didn’t make sense, and the world itself seemed to be drawn from the imagination of a pony who just wanted to put herself into her dream world. It hadn’t been fantasy enough that the holes in logic were able to be ignored.

If more books had been like this, I would have been destined to a few more days of complete boredom.

Then my newest guest arrived.

I actually hadn’t known what to think. Apparently, they had ended up talking to one of Twilight’s friends the night that I had run off. When they had first come through the door, though, I hadn’t known what to think of them. I didn’t know what to think of anything that had to do with this town, to be honest. The inhabitants, short of the six that I knew by name, were all a complete mystery to me. For all I knew, this was one of those legendary gossips. I doubted it as I spoke to them, but it was something that was completely possible.

Well, I had thought about it until we really got to talking.

The first subject had been the princesses. I thought that my perspective was unique, but I had been wrong. Apparently, there were ponies out there that hadn’t exactly had the best of times. My guest had a few jokes to tell about the royalty, and I barely kept my laughter from spilling out. None of it seemed completely malicious, it just seemed funny.

When we finally got onto the subject of me, I just started talking. This wasn’t something that I was used to, really. I wasn’t used to the idea that I didn’t have to keep my problems to myself. I normally didn’t tell them to anything or anyone, except maybe a diary. Yet here I was, pouring my problem out. The best part about it came when it seemed as though they understood completely. It seemed strange to believe them, I had just met them after all, but there was just something in the back of my mind that told me to.

“You’re going to come see me tomorrow, right?”

“My dear, I’ll probably visit you again before the night is over.” Those words seemed strange. They only knew me for a few hours, but it seemed that I had a guest that seemed to care. That was a comforting thought. Either that, or maybe I was still feeling the pain medicine. Either way, I was likely to see this guest a few more times before I was let out of the hospital.

I just had this feeling.

Everything was finally going to start turning around for me. Maybe when I got out, I could talk to Twilight. There had been something that my guest had said, something about giving her a chance. If my guest was wrong, then it still wouldn’t have set me back too much. If I had been wrong, then it was possible that I had done something incredibly horrible.

A couple of hours later

It was a good thing that she had offered lunch after we had worked. Applejack had learned the value of help during harvest, and she had asked me to help with the apple trees. I had been happy to help, Big Mac had hurt himself again. I had really wore myself out, though, with the effort. I kind of hoped that the rest of the day was going to be simple, that neither of my other friends were going to need my help in some magical endeavor.

”You might want to head to the hospital.” A somewhat panicked voice sounded through my head. It sounded like my voice, kind of. Of course, I didn’t know why I would have thought that. ”Sunset Shimmer is about to have a guest that I doubt you’re going to be happy about.” The voice changed from my own to a voice that I was all too familiar with. That didn’t make any sense, though, there was definitely nopony that I thought of that would have been a poor guest for Sunset.

Either way, part of me knew that I needed to check it out.