Only one day after Vanilla’s visit, they had left the mountains behind, and were growing bored. Twilight’s augmented magic, though exciting, left her with no new capabilities, merely strengthening her extant telekinetic powers.

“I think she’s adorable,” Flitter said; she and Spike were up in Twilight’s room with Opalescence, feeding her.

“She’s a nice kitty most of the time,” he said, stroking the fluffy cat and being rewarded with a purr.

“Can I?” Flitter came closer, but Opal backed away with a hiss, and she stopped her advance.

“Guess not.” Spike looked up quickly at a knock on the door, and went to the window. “Oh, no.”

“What’s wrong?”

“He’s back.” Since kicking him out of the library three days ago, Spike had seen Noteworthy nearly everywhere he went. The blue stallion never addressed him, or even got close, but was almost always in sight. As Spike looked down through the window, Noteworthy stood patiently at the door, Colgate beside him.

“Do you want me and Cloud to stay away?” Flitter asked.

“Yeah, it’s for the best.” He went for the stairs, passing Cloudchaser, and opened the front door. “What do you want?”

“Hey Spike,” Colgate said. She sounded emotionless as ever, but something about her bearing put him on edge.

“Can we come in?” Noteworthy asked.

“We can talk out here,” Spike said. He leaned against the door-frame. “So? What do you want?”

Colgate looked once at Noteworthy and then connected with Spike’s eyes. “Spike… I think you should let him give you the memory wipe potion.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Are you serious?”

“It won’t erase anything except your knowledge of…” Noteworthy looked around. “Us.”

“And it won’t hurt,” Colgate said.

Spike crossed his arms. “I don’t want to do it.”

“Please, Spike.”

“Colgate, why do you even care?”

“I don’t want you to get in trouble—and you can, with what you know.”

Spike narrowed his eyes at them. Noteworthy stood apart from her, watching him closely. “Are you trying to manipulate her?”

“No, he isn’t,” Colgate said quickly. “Please, Spike. It’s for your own good.”

“She’s right, Spike,” Noteworthy said.

“Why can’t you just trust that I won’t reveal anything?” Spike asked. “Is that so hard?”

“Spike,” Colgate said. “You… have to trust me on this. It’s for the best.”

He thought. He did trust Colgate, to a point, but knew she could be secretive when she wanted to. “Can I talk to Colgate alone?”

“Spike, I assure you, anything she wants to say around you, she can say around me,” Noteworthy said. “In fact, she asked me to come with her today. For moral support.” He looked at Colgate mildly.

“I don’t trust you,” Spike said simply. “Like, at all. If she’s got nothing to hide, then let her talk to me.”

Noteworthy looked at Colgate once more, and she looked down. “Fine. I’m sure Colgate will set you right, though.”

Without responding, Spike let Colgate go inside, and closed the door on Noteworthy. Flitter and Cloudchaser peeked around the corner, and Colgate turned quickly to Spike. Her eyes were wide, and Spike blushed.

“Anteroom,” Colgate snapped, trotting purposefully away. “All of you.”

They followed her meekly. Spike looked at his friends, and at Colgate, and immediately felt deflated. Noteworthy’s appearance brought up his defenses, but alone with Colgate, he felt shamed and ineffectual. “Colgate, what is going on here? Is he manipulating you?”

“Spike, listen. You have to let him wipe your memory.” She looked anxiously at the front door.

“What? Colgate, what the heck?” Cloudchaser blustered.

“Cloud, shut up!” Flitter said.

“Okay, okay, stop it,” Colgate said. She sighed. “Spike, did you tell them?”

“He didn’t tell us anything,” Cloudchaser said. “But maybe he should have. What’s this about a memory wipe potion?”

“Don’t let him do it, Spike,” Flitter said.

“Spike,” Colgate said. “You have to do this. If you don’t, he’s going to punish me.”

“Punish? Spike, he can’t do that,” Cloudchaser said.

“All right, everypony be quiet!” Spike cried. “Colgate, what do you mean, punish you?”

“If you don’t consent to the potion, Noteworthy’s going to ruin my life,” Colgate said.

“He can’t do that!” Cloudchaser said.

“You should sue him,” Flitter said.

“Not with all the secrecy they have to have.”

“You did tell them!” Colgate hissed. Anger glinted in her eyes. “Damn it, Spike, why would you do that?”

“It just slipped out,” Spike said.

Colgate held a hoof to her forehead. “Great. Freaking great. Now we have three leaks instead of one. He’s gonna ruin me, I just know it.”

“You can still sue for harassment,” Flitter said.

“Can we try to give him the potion instead?” Cloudchaser asked. “You know, the old switcheroo?”

“What’s he even gonna do to you?” Spike asked.

“No, everyone shut up,” Colgate said. She sighed. “Okay. Flitter, Cloudchaser, what do you know?”

“Everything Spike knows,” Flitter said.

“Fine. I think I know how you can get out of this, and not destroy me.” She looked back at the door, sucking air through her teeth. “But it’s not pleasant.”

“Skip town?” Spike asked.

“Join him.”

“What?” The thought had crossed his mind, never seriously, but to hear it suggested almost froze him.

“Whoa,” Cloudchaser said. “Like, become Daturas as well?”

“That’s what ‘join’ means, Cloud,” Flitter said.

“I don’t know if I want to do that,” Spike said.

“Well, you can’t have it both ways,” Colgate said. “I’m sorry, Spike. Join, or take the potion. All of you.”

“I’ll join,” Cloudchaser said.

“Yeah, me too,” Flitter said. “It sounds interesting.”

“You can’t join if Spike doesn’t,” Colgate said. “Because you two aren’t even supposed to know about it. Spike.”

“I’m sorry,” he said defensively. “I didn’t know it would get this big.”

“Well, it is. Now make a decision, and fast. Noteworthy’s waiting.”

He looked at the two pegasi, and Flitter gave him an encouraging smile and nod. “Yeah, all right, I’ll do it. If it means I don’t have to have my memory erased.”

Colgate sighed. “Okay, good. You two, stay back here and jump out when Spike says he’ll join. Ask to join with him like the two blind, good-hearted friends you are.”

Flitter looked at her. “Huh?”

“Like, we hear Spike say he’s gonna do something, and we offer to join because we don’t want to leave him hanging,” Cloudchaser said. “We’ll ask Noteworthy for the details later.”

“Oh, okay.”

“Spike, come on,” Colgate said, heading for the door. She gave him a dirty look, and he flinched away. With her lips curled up in a sneer, she looked like a different pony entirely. She flung the door open, and Noteworthy backed up quickly.

He smiled at them. “Well?”

“I want in,” Spike said.

“In?”

“He wants to join your stupid team,” Colgate said. “Instead of having his thoughts invaded and violated.”

“Oh, I see. Now that’s an interesting alternative; I hadn’t considered it.”

“Well, consider it.”

He looked at her. “Is something the matter, Colgate?”

She gave him a twisted smile. “Not at all.”

“Hm. Spike, do you realize what you’d be getting into?”

“All I know is I’d be getting out of having my memory wiped. That’s good enough for me,” Spike said.

“I don’t understand why the prospect of having your memory wiped is so frightening,” Noteworthy said.

“I’ll bet you don’t.”

He chuckled. “Okay, okay. In all seriousness, Spike, I’m not sure you can handle it.”

“What do you even do? I know you’re supposed to be protecting Ponyville. From what, though? Parasprites? That’s about the worst thing we get here.”

“He makes a fair point,” Colgate said, looking coldly at Noteworthy.

“All right, that’s true. Sure, you can join me. Who knows? Maybe you’ll turn out okay. There’s potential in you.”

Spike nodded, and remembered Flitter and Cloudchaser back in the library. “Will I have to leave?”

“Leave?” Cloudchaser asked from within.

Noteworthy’s face darkened. “Who is that?”

Flitter trotted out while Cloudchaser flew overhead. “Spike’s leaving?” Flitter asked.

“You two have been here the whole time?” Noteworthy cried.

Spike looked at them. With their appearances, the conversation was out of his control, and he knew it. He prayed they knew it as well.

“Where are you going, Spike?” Flitter asked.

“He’s not going anywhere,” Noteworthy said. “Celestia’s sake, girls. Settle down.”

Cloudchaser narrowed her eyes at Noteworthy, Colgate, and finally Spike. “What’s going on here?”

“It’s none of your concern.”

“Uh, pardon me, but it is of our concern if it’s got Spike talking about leaving,” Flitter said.

“He’s not leaving!”

“Spike?”

“What am I supposed to do?” “I’m not leaving,” he said lamely.

“There, see? Now go home,” Noteworthy said.

“I heard him say something about joining you,” Flitter said. “What’s that all about?”

Noteworthy regarded them carefully and motioned for them to come closer. “Okay, listen. So it’ll get you two out of my mane. This is supposed to be a secret, but Spike and I are going on a mining expedition, to find gems for a… client, let’s say.”

“He just wanted me to give him directions, but I insisted on joining him,” Spike said. “Wait, why am I helping this?”

“I didn’t want anyone to know,” Noteworthy said.

“Well, we want in,” Cloudchaser said staunchly.

“Yeah, let us join,” Flitter added.

“I’m afraid that’s out of the question,” Noteworthy said. “It’s too dangerous.”

“Aw, let ‘em go with you,” Colgate said. “What’s the harm? They fly; nothing that gets you two can get them.”

“Colgate, stay out of this.”

“I’m just saying, Noteworthy. Three for the price of one? Only an idiot would pass up that opportunity.”

“You’re not supposed to know about this expedition any more than they are.”

“Don’t flatter yourself. I know how to listen just as well as you do.”

He shot her a dirty look and faced the pegasi. “We’ll talk later. Spike and I need to go prepare, but I’ll be back tonight to talk to you.”

“How do we know you’re not leaving?” Flitter asked.

“Oh, he won’t,” Colgate said.

Noteworthy and Spike stood in the middle of an empty field just outside of Ponyville. The Everfree Forest stood on one side, Sweet Apple Acres about a mile in front of them, and empty grassland in all other directions.

“Spike, your friends are in for quite the surprise when I talk to them this evening,” he said calmly.

“Yeah, I guess so.” He looked around. “So… why are we here?”

“This is where I’m going to train you. Not today—but soon. And them, if they still want in after I’ve explained things.”

“What kind of training?”

“I’m going to start with the history of the Datura, its tenets, its goals, the way it operates, ethics… and so on. That should take a couple days. And then we can get into basic operations: observation, listening, keeping yourself protected, and so forth.” He sighed. “I hope I didn’t give you too bad an impression of myself when I was trying to wipe your memory.”

“Right.”

“You’ll understand when I’ve started teaching you about us. The Datura doesn’t just thrive on secrecy; it needs it. Even the tiniest leak can lead to horrible outcomes, if it isn’t checked.”

“Right.”

Noteworthy gave a tiny, guilty smile. “You’re still upset with me, aren’t you?”

“You threatened me.”

“I’m sorry, Spike. I always hated stopping leaks. I can only promise that it’ll never happen again. You’re one of us, now.”

“What’s going on between you and Colgate?”

“Oh, it’s nothing.”

“Didn’t look like nothing.”

“Fair enough, I guess. She’s a Datura malefactor. I’ve tried to convince her to rejoin, but she’s refused every single time.”

“How many times is that?”

“Many.” He sighed. “She would be a tremendous asset to this team, so I keep trying. But she doesn’t want to.”

“So I’m not the only one you harass,” Spike said.

“She’s done more than her share of harassing me, I promise.”

“So should I avoid her now that I’m with you, or… what? What do I do?”

“You can talk to whoever you want, as long as it’s not about the Datura. I guess with Colgate it’s different.”

“Yeah, I’d like to talk to her about all this.”

“I’m sure you would. Go on, go ahead. I only took you out here to show it to you. I’m going to wait to see if your friends join before teaching you anything.”

“Right.” He looked at Noteworthy—such an unassuming, average pony—and set off back to Ponyville.

“Oh, Spike.”

“What?”

“Be careful around her. She’s a lot more dangerous than she looks.”

He scoffed quietly. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

It was five o’ clock when Spike finally got to sit down with Colgate at the hospital. He had gone directly there from Noteworthy’s field, but she was in surgery. He went back to the library, and Flitter and Cloudchaser had gone to the spa, so he passed the time with a book and, later, in the basement with his magazines.

Colgate entered her office with a smear of blood on her vest and a harried look on her face. She closed the door and tossed a clipboard on her desk with a sigh. “Rotator cuff repair.”

“You okay?” Spike asked.

“It’s been a long day.” She smiled wearily. “So, what do you need?”

“What did Noteworthy threaten to do to you?”

She nodded. “I thought so. Spike, you don’t have to worry about me.”

“I am worried about you, though. If he’s manipulating or harassing you, that’s not okay.”

“He’s not manipulating me anymore. Now that he got what he wants.”

“But even so, that’s not good. He can’t just threaten you to force me to do something. I think Flitter could be right; you should sue him.”

“I can’t,” she said. “I’d love to, but I really can’t.”

“Why?”

She looked at him with dull eyes. “It’s complicated.”

“Come on, Colgate. You can tell me, really.”

“No, I can’t. I… I’m sorry, Spike, but I really can’t go into it. It has to do with my life before I moved to Ponyville. He knows about it, and he threatened to reveal it. And I can’t live with other ponies knowing.”

“Is it really that bad?”

“I’d have to leave town, Spike.”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously.”

He looked at her carefully, thinking. Even from the beginning, she had seemed odd to him, but never offensive or threatening. She was smart, and kind, and a little boring; not the kind of pony anyone would be able to blackmail. “Noteworthy warned me before I came to see you. He said you’re a lot more dangerous than you look.” He leaned forward over her desk, lowering his voice. “Are you a criminal?”

“No, I’m not. And…” She slanted her eyes away from him. “I am not dangerous. He’s trying to drive a wedge between us.”

Spike groaned. “I should have known.”

“He’s the dangerous one, Spike. You’ve already seen some of it. Duplicity, cruelty, manipulation. Noteworthy is not someone to trust.”

Spike looked at her. Her face was as serious and blank as ever, her voice a low monotone. Behind her veneer, however, she was intense and anxious, and he felt suddenly uncomfortable being in the office with her. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Be careful, if you can. And please try not to bring me up around him. I don’t want to get more involved than I already am.”

He moved toward the door. “No, I won’t. Don’t worry, Colgate.”

Colgate waited outside Noteworthy’s house until nine, when he returned with a wide grin and a spring in his step—which faltered when he saw her.

She smiled lightly. “Can I come in?”

“Of course, Minuette. Of course.” He let them in. “Spike’s friends accepted. They heard what I had to say, listened to Spike’s testimony, and asked to be involved. I really am shocked.”

“I’m sure you are.”

“Oh, don’t be such a sourpuss. My good fortune is your good fortune. Three new Daturas means I won’t be after you to join anymore.”

She held back a smile. “That is good news, actually.”

“See? It’s not so bad. Now, what did you want to talk about?”

“Spike said you warned him about me earlier today.”

“Yes, I did.” He looked at her coldly, his good humor gone. “Surely you know why I would do that.”

“You realize that I’m not like that anymore.”

“I recognize you for what you are, Colgate,” he said calmly. “Perhaps more than you do.”

“Do not presume that.”

“I’ve seen your dossier. Are you telling me that you’ve changed?”

“Look at me. Look at me and tell me I haven’t.”

“But it isn’t you. I’m not looking at Colgate right now. That pony is still in Manehattan.” He gestured at her loosely, framing her. “This is a facsimile.”

“You arrogant bastard,” she said. “You think you know about my life because of some dossier, and that gives you the right to dictate how I comport myself?”

“In the interest of protecting my new recruits, yes. Absolutely.”

“You can’t do that.”

“Can you stop me? Dare you try?”

“I…”

“The secret I have about you, I can use to any effect I want. I’m sorry to put it in such stark terms, Colgate, but to be perfectly blunt, I control you. Until we reach such a point as you are comfortable letting your secret be known to the public, you can do nothing to fight me. And that’s just the way it is.”

“You… bastard,” she sighed.

“I don’t want to hurt you. I don’t enjoy it. But you need to learn to stay in your place.”

“My place is with my friends.”

“Your friends are my Daturas. I won’t let you threaten my team.”

“But I am threatening nothing.”

“Your very presence is a threat.” He smiled humorlessly. “Or would you argue otherwise?”

“I…”

“There’s a reason you take those pills. Have you had yours tonight, by the way?”

“I did it before I left,” she said quietly.

“So you understand the need.” He shrugged. “Where’s the argument?”

“You can’t suspend my rights when I pose no clear threat. That’s one of the Datura tenets, for Celestia’s sake.”

“You are poisonous and deceptive. I don’t claim to be perfect, but you’re worse. You turn ponies against each other, disrupt relationships. Everything you touch, you ruin. Look at poor Spike. He didn’t have to get involved in this, Colgate.”

She breathed slowly. She wanted to be angry, to scream and rage at him, but could not. “This isn’t the last you’ve heard of me.” She walked to the door.

“Colgate, if something goes wrong, and I find you at the bottom of it, your secret is out. Remember that.”

Spike, Flitter, and Cloudchaser sat in lawn chairs in the middle of Noteworthy’s empty field, while he stood before them. They had been there for four hours, listening to the story of the Datura: its creation by Princess Luna deep in the first millennium, her early efforts to force its spread across the globe, the tensions between neighboring countries when it finally did. He explained its policies and tenets: the importance of preserving life and liberty, whether by action or inaction.

“Now, this is something I know you’ve heard a lot about already,” he said. “Secrecy. Spike.”

Spike blushed and looked at Flitter, to his side, and she gave him a nervous smile back. Noteworthy’s explanation the night before had been stressful for him—watching his friends act their way through shock, disbelief, and eventual excitement before asking to join.

“The Datura’s call to secrecy is its most important guideline. The one thing common to all Daturas, across the globe, is secrecy—more, the knowledge that that secrecy is paramount. All operations, from the benign to the incredible, are done with secrecy in mind.”

“Including learning about it all in this big, open area?” Cloudchaser asked, prompting a snicker from Flitter.

“We’re sitting in the middle of a sound dampening sigil, actually. I’m glad you thought of that, though.”

“I didn’t see a sigil,” Spike said.

“We keep this lawn watered for that reason.”

“Ooooh, a grass cover,” Flitter said, nodding. “Clever, clever.”

“Secrecy,” Noteworthy repeated, “is the lifeblood of the Datura. If regular ponies knew of its existence, the results would be catastrophic. Aside from the initial panic and skepticism, there would be countless attempts at sabotage, upheaval from the media, and social unrest for years after. Ponies with really no potential at all would try to join or assist us, and while a few disposable members can be useful, an influx of hundreds per city would just slow everything down.”

“Not to mention everypony would know about all the monsters and stuff that you all are supposed to be fighting,” Flitter said.

Noteworthy sighed. “Yes, and the monsters. I hope you realize that being a Datura is about so much more than just hunting strange creatures.” He looked at them each, frowning at their blank expressions. “It’s about order,” he said finally, frustrated. “Maintaining order in a world that is unpredictable. Keeping ponies safe and secure from anything and everything that threatens to disrupt their lives.”

“Secret police, pretty much,” Flitter said. “The griffons have those too.”

“Yeah, it’s not a hard concept,” Cloudchaser said.

“Not secret police; we don’t police just anyone. We only interfere in situations where ordinary law enforcement cannot do the job.”

“So super police?” Spike asked.

“‘Datura’ sounds cooler,” Flitter said.

“Yeah, I’ll give you that one.”

“Okay, settle down, you two,” Noteworthy said. “We still need to cover the more recent history of the Datura.”

“We already did that,” Cloudchaser said.

“Yeah, you talked about how the whole world changed when Baltimare got flattened for, like, forty-five minutes,” Flitter said.

“No, I mean recent history,” Noteworthy said. “Starting with a couple months ago.”

“Oh.”

“Now, we haven’t seen an emergency of this magnitude since Nightmare Moon.”

It was three o’ clock when he dismissed them for lunch, and the three of them walked to a small café in the center of town. Their food came out quickly, and for a while, they ate without talking.

“Whoa,” Cloudchaser said abruptly. She sat up and waved Colgate over, and they quickly saw the reason for her surprise. Her left eye was swollen and ringed with a dark purple stain, quickly fading under her blue fur, and she had a split lip. Her scrubs were bloodied once again.

“What in Tartarus is going on with you?” Flitter asked.

“I bumped into a tree branch on my way home last night,” she said shortly. Her voice was rough and quiet, and her fur was frazzled.

“Are you okay?” Spike asked.

“Don’t worry about it, Spike.” She looked over her shoulder quickly. “I have to go.” Before they could stop her, she had trotted away, not looking back.

“Okay, that was weird,” Flitter said.

“She always was kind of… off,” Cloudchaser said. “But not like this.”

“It’s that Noteworthy,” Spike said quietly. “It has to be.”

“Are you saying what I think you’re saying?” Flitter asked.

“Who else would have done something like that? He’s trying to control her. They probably talked yesterday, and he got mad.”

“Spike, blackmailing someone is one thing,” Cloudchaser said, “but assaulting them? That’s different.”

“Battering, Cloud,” Flitter said.

“Yeah, you know what I mean.”

“He doesn’t seem violent, though. Mean, yeah, and a dirty liar, but not violent.”

“Yeah, but he’s a… well, one of them,” Spike said. “Secrecy’s important. Maybe they’re all like that.”

“Colgate isn’t.”

“Unless she’s better at it than him,” Cloudchaser said.

“She’s such a sweetheart, though,” Flitter said.

“Yeah, especially in that blood-stained outfit.”

“Rotator cuff repair,” Spike said.

“Huh?”

“Just something she said yesterday.”

“You two are pretty close, aren’t you?” Cloudchaser said.

“Kinda. I don’t know, though. There’s something going on there.”

They returned to the field at four, quieter, and absorbed Noteworthy’s lecture without interruption. He spoke of the Datura structure: each city had at least one team of ponies, headed by one leader, and charged with general watchfulness and caution. In the case of Ponyville, he was the team leader, as well as its only member. Ponyville rarely had cause to engage him, and he had only seen a few minor incidents, something he warned them would probably change with Discord strengthening. He closed the day in telling them of a second, nearby team, stationed in the shallow edge of the Everfree. Zecora was a mid-level operative.

The three of them walked back to the library at nine o’ clock, with Flitter and Cloudchaser stopping by the spa to make sure all was well. When they stepped into the library, Cloudchaser went immediately for the couch, and Spike and Flitter sat on the floor before her.

“So what are you gonna do about the spa?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” Cloudchaser said.

“Hopefully he lets us have some time off soon,” Flitter said. “Ponies aren’t going to be happy if they can’t get their massages and mud baths.”

“I already miss it,” Spike said.

“He did have some interesting stuff to say, though. The history and everything.”

“Maybe for you. I was nodding off those last two hours,” Cloudchaser said with a yawn.

“Looks like you’re nodding off now.”

“Eh, I guess.” She closed her eyes, and Spike and Flitter exchanged tiny smiles.

“Yeah, I’m gonna go to bed too,” Spike said. “We need to be up at six tomorrow.”

“I hear ya,” Flitter said, following him up the stairs.

The door was pounding, and Spike slowly climbed out of his bed, judging the time to be very early morning. The knocking was insistent, and he ran downstairs, Flitter just behind and Cloudchaser looking up blearily from the couch. He threw the door open. It was Noteworthy.

“Follow me; there’s something going on at Sweet Apple Acres.”

Alarm pulsed through Spike’s head, but his response was sleepy. “What? But… what?”

“What is it?” Cloudchaser asked.

“I don’t know,” Noteworthy said. “Come on.”

“But we’re not ready to fight!” Flitter said.

“Just follow my directions.” He galloped away from the door, and they followed him unhappily, trudging through the damp grass and over a small hill toward the farm. There was no sign of the sun, and they followed his sound more than his shape as they crossed the empty Ponyville fields. The barn stood silently in the distance, silhouetted on the starlight, but Spike could see nothing amiss. The lights were off, and no sound reached him but for Noteworthy’s pounding hooves.

He stopped beside a lone apple tree and watched them catch up, nodding approvingly. “Not bad for a first try. Now calm down; there’s nothing here.”

“What?” Spike gasped. He leaned over and put his hands on his knees. “I thought you said we had to fight!”

“That was just to get you to feel the urgency of the situation.”

“You mean you woke us up in the middle of the night for nothing!” Flitter said, angry for the first time Spike had seen her.

“It’s all part of standard training,” he said quietly. “Sometimes you have to act in the middle of the night, sometimes the middle of the day.”

“This is bullshit!” Cloudchaser cried.

“Be quiet. You don’t want to wake anyone up.”

They stared angrily at him, waiting to see whether he would continue. Eventually, Spike spoke, his fists clenched. “You woke us up for nothing.”

“You need to be able to react any time,” he said coolly. “Trust me, it’ll come up. Now come on, let’s get back to town.” They began walking, and when they were away from the orchard, Noteworthy sighed. “If it makes you feel better, I went through the same thing you just did. I trained under… well, that’s not important. She woke me up in the very early mornings at least twice a week; it was a nightmare.”

“This is a nightmare,” Cloudchaser said.

“You’ll get used to it. The goal of these exercises is to get you more used to waking up ready for action. And trust me, that’s a skill you need. Danger doesn’t wait for your convenience.” They passed into town, and he turned away. “Right, I’ll see you tomorrow; be in the field at six-thirty, sharp.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Spike said.

“Good night to you too.”

They separated, and the three were silent on their way back to the library. Cloudchaser collapsed right in the middle of the doorway, and Flitter and Spike didn’t stop on their way up to his room. They went to the bed and climbed in, and as the haze of fatigue swept over him, the last thing he remembered was sliding closer to her and slipping an arm under her wing.

At six-thirty, sharp, Noteworthy stepped into view in the cold, dewy, empty field outside town. Spike, Flitter, and Cloudchaser were only a couple minutes early.

“Good, glad to see you all here. Not too tired, I hope?”

“Are we gonna have to do that again tonight?” Spike asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe. Maybe not. As Daturas, you have to be ready for anything, at any time—a pattern to my surprise visits will undermine that.”

“Oh, this is great stuff,” Flitter mumbled, and Spike nodded.

“Now, the tenets. Cloudchaser, can you tell me what they are?”

Cloudchaser stared blankly at him.

At eleven o’ clock, midway through a lecture on the importance of emotional distance between Daturas, a pair of large mares in official uniforms approached from across the field.

“Are those more Daturas?” Flitter asked.

“No,” Noteworthy said. “They’re… police. Hm. Wait here.” He went to them, and they watched him converse with them. Though they heard no words, the policeponies’ stances were enough to indicate their dispositions.

“Looks like someone’s in trouble,” Cloudchaser said.

“Sweet Celestia,” Flitter said. “What is it with this guy? Does trouble just follow him or something?”

“I bet it has to do with Colgate,” Spike said.

“Oh yeah, her. You think he attacked her?”

“I know it. Who else would even lay a hoof on her? Like you said, she’s a total sweetheart.”

Cloudchaser giggled.

“What?”

“Are you sweet on her?”

“What? Me and Colgate?” He paused. “I mean, I guess I’ve thought of it once or twice, but no, there’s no way. She’s… eh, weird.”

“Oh, crap! Look at that!” Flitter cried. The police were leading Noteworthy away and back to town.

“Do we follow them?” Cloudchaser asked.

“We should at least get back to town,” Spike said. He walked, and Flitter moved up to walk alongside him.

“So, you and Colgate?”

“I like her, sure, but just as a friend. I’m not interested in her at all.” He glanced at Flitter. “She’s too closed-off. I dunno, whenever I talk to her, I get this feeling like I’m missing something.”

“Now, stop me if I’m off-base here, but if I had to pick someone for you to be sweet on, I’d say it’d be little Flitter here,” Cloudchaser said.

“Aw, thanks Cloud,” Flitter said with a laugh.

“I saw you two cuddling this morning.”

“We were tired.” Flitter stuck out a wing to bump Spike playfully. “Right, Spikey?”

“Hey, you have really soft wings,” he said. “What’s a dragon supposed to do?”

“See?” Cloudchaser said. “Admit it, Spike, you’re sweet on her.”

He laughed. “Yeah, okay, Cloud.” He bumped Flitter back, and she giggled. They crossed a small bridge over the stream around town, but Noteworthy was out of sight.

“So… uh… early lunch?” Flitter asked.

“I wanna find Colgate first,” Spike said. “I get the feeling she’s involved somehow.”

“She usually is,” Cloudchaser said. “Here, you go to the hospital, I’ll check the stalls. Someone’s bound to have seen her.”

“Right!”

Spike and Flitter turned to the hospital, and as they walked quietly, Flitter nudged him again. “You like my wings, huh?”

“I never appreciated how much fun they could be.”

She chuckled. “So, Spike, is Cloud right? Are you sweet on me?”

He stopped, shocked. He could feel the air rush out of his chest as he tried to cope with the bluntness of her question. “Uh…”

“Be straight with me, Spike. I don’t like guessing games.”

“Eh… all right, fair enough.” He laughed nervously, in spite of himself. “Yeah, I guess I kinda am.”

“Aw, you’re sweet,” she said, leaning down to hug him. “I like you too.”

“Huh?”

“As a friend,” she said, and laughed. “But yeah, maybe a little more too. I dunno.”

“You don’t know?”

“I have to think about it.”

As they drew closer to the hospital, Derpy walked out of the doors, carrying a small bag in her mouth. “Hey! Derpy, hey!” Spike called, running to catch her.

She smiled wide and dropped her bag. “Spike! Wow, long time no see! Where’ve you been?”

“Eh, around,” he said hesitantly. “What’s going on with you?”

“Allergy medication refill,” she said. “Are you looking for Colgate, by any chance?”

“Yeah, we are,” Flitter said. “Have you seen her, Derpy?”

“Yeah, I saw her,” she said seriously. “I saw her yesterday.”

“Ew, with the black eye and all?” Spike said.

“Do you know what’s going on with her?” Flitter asked.

“Allie thinks someone’s beating on her,” she said quietly. “Come on.” They followed her away from the hospital, north around the edge of town, behind the library. “I saw her yesterday, asked her what the heck happened. She didn’t want to talk about it, and I’m like, immediately thinking ‘okay, someone’s hurting her.’ But she ran away before I could do anything. I tracked down Allie, that bowling friend of hers.”

“Yeah, I know her,” Spike said.

“Oh, wait, that’s right. You two are friends too. Yeah, I found her and asked her about it, she had the same story. I asked her who she thought it was, and she said Noteworthy. Now… I don’t think he would do something like that, but Allie said those two had been being awfully frosty with each other.”

“You two are friends, right?” Flitter asked.

“Yeah, Note and I know each other from high school. I really doubt he’s behind it. At least, I hope he isn’t.”

“Some police came earlier and led him away,” Spike said.

Derpy nodded. They were on the grassy, hilly, northern side of town. “I was wondering about that. Allie said she was going to tell the mayor about it. I guess those two are in her office right now.”

“Together? Are you sure that’s a smart idea?” Flitter asked.

“It’s just an inquiry, I’m sure.”

Spike exchanged looks with Flitter, who pursed her lips. “Uh… maybe.” She thought. “He might get arrested, actually.”

“What? Really?”

“If the mayor thinks Colgate’s in imminent danger, she can have him arrested without a warrant.” She shook her head. “Geez, what a way to start.”

“Start what?”

“Eh, nothing,” Spike said.

“Right, right.” She spread her wings and looked into the air. “Poker Saturday?”

“I should be able to make it. Your place, right?”

“You got it. See you later, Spike!” She took off, and he and Flitter watched her go.

“How likely do you think it is he gets arrested?” Spike asked.

“Depends on if he can get Mayor Mare to believe he’s innocent,” Flitter said. “Colgate looked pretty bad, and they do have a history.”

“But it’s a Datura history. They can’t talk about that with the mayor. Can they?”

“You’re asking the wrong pony. Hey, there’s nothing on this side of town. Why’d she even lead us up here?”

Spike shrugged.

“Want a ride back?”

He grinned eagerly and scrambled onto her back, and they took off.

Colgate sat in an office, alone with Mayor Mare, who had never before looked so formidable. The three of them—she, the mayor, and Noteworthy—had talked for twenty agonizing minutes, before he was dismissed to wait in the lobby.

“Colgate, I know it hurts, but you have to tell me who did this,” the mayor said. “I can’t help you otherwise.”

Colgate nodded. Her eye and lip throbbed, and her mind ground sluggishly through options and plans. Through the entire meeting, she had looked down and feigned embarrassed fear, trying to think of how to handle the one-on-one confrontation she knew was to come. The players: Derpy, Allie, Spike, Flitter, and Cloudchaser, each one against Noteworthy in some way, but the way to use them escaped her.

“Colgate?”

She licked her swollen lips. “I can always just play it straight.” She took a deep breath. “Okay,” she said.

“Who is it?” Mayor Mare asked gently.

She nodded. “Him.” She tilted her head toward the door only slightly, averting her eyes as she did so. The mayor followed her direction effortlessly, looking at her indication for a moment before responding.

“I suspected as much.”

“He said if I say anything, it’ll be more than my pretty face. That’s what he said.”

“Okay.” She nodded softly and looked at a paper on her desk. “I’ll assign someone to watch him. Two someones. They’ll keep him from reaching you.”

Colgate nodded. She looked at the mayor’s desk clock quickly: eleven forty-five. Almost time for her pill.

“Would you like to file a report with the police?”

“No, thank you. This is enough for now.” “Play… it… straight.” “But maybe later.”

“Of course. Just let me know, Minuette.”

“Hm.”

She rose and went out of the office, and when Colgate was alone, she sat back and sighed. She studied the dull patterns on the ceiling and tried to envision the results of her decision. Noteworthy would be watched; that meant his Datura training would be curtailed for the time. They would still talk, he and she; she had no doubt that he would demand she do something to help as soon as he was able. “More injuries, I guess.”

She listened to his protests outside the door. It was easy for her—too easy. In a secret corner of her mind, she felt shame. She smothered it.

Flitter and Spike found Cloudchaser by the joke shop, walking south. She had just spoken with Noteworthy, she said; he had left the mayor’s building with two police officers, and told her that training would be suspended until he had dealt with the situation. They decided to get an early lunch at Sugarcube Corner.

“So Allie told on Noteworthy,” Cloudchaser said. “I guess it’s for the best.”

“It is, in a way,” Spike said. “But what are we gonna do without him?”

“Just wait it out,” Flitter said. “Or maybe we can go to Zecora for our training.”

“I want to get back to the spa,” Cloudchaser said. “Ponies were asking about it when I was looking for Colgate.”

“Right, so you two can go to the spa,” Spike said. “What about me?”

“Come with us. Keep flirting with my sister.”

Flitter let out a light chuckle, and Spike blushed. She looked at him and extended a wing behind his back. “Aw, Spike, she’s just messing with you.”

Spike’s blush only intensified as he averted his eyes.

“Spike, you’re blushing!” Cloudchaser said with a laugh.

“Aw, Spike,” Flitter said, rubbing his back. “He’s so cute when he’s like this.”

Cloudchaser let out a high-pitched giggle and returned to her food, and Flitter leaned over to give him a half-hug with her wing.

“Yeah, right.” He didn’t know what to say. Cloudchaser’s joke was just that—a joke—but he felt it sink into his heart as she and Flitter laughed. Her half-hug lingered for a second, and he hated the quick emptiness as she retracted it. “It’s just a joke, Spike. Don’t get worked up about it.” He frowned and clenched a tiny fist, and suddenly, the pegasi with him didn’t seem like friends. “They don’t take you seriously.”

He ate quietly, and when they were done, they parted ways. He returned to the library and sat in sullen silence in the easy chair, not reading, not thinking, just turning the conversation over and over again as he stared at the window. He wanted to talk to Flitter about it, but every time he imagined her walking through the door, he was lost for words.

Colgate went to bed with an unusually active mind. She tossed and turned for half an hour, under the blankets, over them, holding a pillow to her chest, but nothing relaxed her. She felt uneasy and expectant, like she had forgotten something, and finally gave up and got out of bed at eleven o’ clock. She kept the lights turned off, and the door unlocked, and went outside.

She put a hoof to her lip and pressed down slightly. It ached weakly under her hoof, and she walked a straight line from her front door into town. When she had first moved there, she was wont to take night walks, but it was a habit of which she had largely rid herself as her surgical career took over. Asleep by ten, awake by five—so it had been for years before.

She stopped by the dirt road and sat down. The stars were alive and glinting happily down at her, and she closed her eyes. In Manehattan, the sky was always hemmed in by towering buildings on both sides, giving stargazers only the briefest patch of night to drown in. Night walks there were always too interesting; she was never completely alone, always sharing her solitude with some other wanderer. Vagrants, homeless, or just other ponies that couldn’t get to sleep.

She walked on, passing the partially-finished structure of Dr. Whooves’ house. Since he had left, no one had touched it. She turned away and looked down at her hooves, her mind still churning slowly and deliberately, like gears soaked in syrup. She liked the quiet, and the deep, endless loneliness outside the town’s limits. Past the last few houses on the north side, there was nothing between them and Canterlot Mountain.

She grabbed a pebble in her magic and floated it around her head. She shivered and sat down. Her mind was momentarily quiet, and she felt an instant of dull relief, before it started up again. She couldn’t control it. Thoughts she knew were locked away clattered uselessly in obscurity, and memories resurfaced, as they had in the mayor’s office.

She had known what she was doing, to a point. She knew how her friends felt about her, and she knew how they felt about Noteworthy, but she didn’t know where anything would lead, except that it would not be pleasant. Authorities would get involved, and someone would get betrayed; someone had to get betrayed. She didn’t know who it would be. She wasn’t worried.

She sighed and lay down in the grass and dirt, opening her eyes to the dark sky, and finally, mercifully, her head went quiet. Peaceful, beautiful emptiness. She could lie there all night, or not; it didn’t matter. Noteworthy, a bruised eye, concerned friends, countless damages. So much weight, so much responsibility, slipping away without pause or regret. She would see whether she could get the blood out of her scrubs on Saturday.

Spike woke up and ate breakfast, spent some time in the basement, and walked out to enjoy the rest of the morning. He had heard nothing of Noteworthy, but knew he shouldn’t be worried. He and his friends would be informed when things were ready to return to normal.

“Normal,” he thought with a grin. “Right. Learning about the super-secret organization of magical policeponies, trying to figure out that crazy surgeon. Normal.” He breathed in through his nose and let it out with a satisfied sigh. “Ah, Ponyville.”

“Beautiful day, isn’t it?” Berry Punch said. She was in a stall across the street, and Spike jogged over to her. “Hey, Spike. I haven’t seen you in a while. What’s new?”

“Ah, nothin’ much. Just out enjoying the day.”

“I hear you. Hey, the spa ponies were around earlier asking about you.”

“Spa ponies?” He thought instantly of Aloe and Lotus, and chuckled. “Oh, Flitter and Cloudchaser. Yeah, I haven’t been awake very long.”

“I think they’re actually open today. They seemed a little worried. Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, it’s fine,” he said casually. “Probably just bored. I don’t usually sleep this late.”

Berry giggled and waved to another pony across the street. “You better go to ‘em, Spike.”

“Yeah, I’ll see you later.” He set off at a quick pace for the spa, eyes open for any glimpse of Colgate. He hadn’t talked to her since her appearance at the café, with her injured face.

He entered the spa with a light jingle of its silver bell, and Flitter looked up expectantly. “Oh, thank Celestia,” she said.

“What’s going on?”

“We need to talk, Spike.” She got up quickly and ushered him outside, and they moved to the back of the building.

“What’s wrong? Is everything okay?”

“Are you?” she asked.

“What? Me? Yeah, of course.”

“Don’t do this to me, Spike.” She looked around nervously, and when she looked back at him, her eyes were wide, almost scared. “Seriously. I’m worried about—ugh, yesterday. Did we offend you?”

“Offend?”

“Spike!”

“Okay, okay, sorry,” he said. “I mean, yeah, maybe a little.”

“I knew it!” She turned around and put her head to the wall, eyes closed. It was a moment before he could see the tears coming out from under her tight eyelids. “I’m sorry, Spike. I know it was just a joke, but I didn’t think about your feelings before I played along. I didn’t mean it.”

He looked at her, completely stumped. In all of his unhappy fantasies the day before, when she and he discussed it, she was nothing like what she was before him. She looked ready to collapse, and he tentatively put a claw on her back. “Hey, it’s okay. It’s not that big a deal, Flitter.”

“It is, Spike. It is.”

“Why?”

She sniffed and sniveled, and broke into a light fit of crying, head still against the wall. “I’m really sorry. I hurt you, and I didn’t mean it.”

“It’s okay, really.”

She sniffed loudly and looked at him, a little hostilely. “Aren’t you mad? I would be.”

“I mean, it was just a joke,” he said carefully. He had never seen her so emotional, and it put him on edge.

“I shouldn’t have done anything. Celestia, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to be inconsiderate, Spike.”

“Flitter, it’s fine,” he implored. “Why are you like this? Why are you so upset?”

“I’m sorry.” She broke away from the wall and hugged him. “I’m really sorry. You said you liked me, and I made fun of you for it. Celestia, I’m sorry.”

“Hey, hey, calm down, okay?” He gave her a squeeze. “It’s fine. It’s not that big a deal, honest.”

She sighed. “Maybe you’re right.”

“Come on, let’s go back inside. We can take an hour in the steam room. You’ll feel better, I promise.”

She sniffled a laugh. “We’re already out of water for the steam room.”

“Oh. Well, we can pretend.”

She laughed and let him lead her back into the spa.

It was seven o’ clock when the pegasi closed the spa for the night, and met Spike, Allie, and Derpy back at Sugarcube Corner. Since making up with Flitter and Cloudchaser, and explaining his feelings to them both, he had gone to find the others to see whether they were free that night. The high of forgiveness and romance kept his spirits aloft as he reserved space for them all at the bakery, even as he paid an entire week’s pay for it. He had tried to invite Colgate, but she gently refused his offer.

The dining area had been cleared of the tables in the middle, and two were pushed together into one long surface. The light was dimmed, and there were no balloons or streamers, something that initially confused Spike. Without Pinkie around, the Cakes had turned the bakery into something a little more professional. He wasn’t sure whether he liked it.

He sat at the table’s head, Flitter and Cloudchaser on either side, Allie and Derpy at the back. The Cakes served them their food and stayed for a few moments to chat, but quickly left them alone, to talk of business, the changing town, the news—everything. Colgate, and the strange incidents that seemed to always lead back to her, were forgotten, and everyone was happy. At intervals, Flitter would spread a wing out to cover Spike’s back, and he would return with a small, awkward hug of his own.

When things were winding down, he stood up and tapped his empty glass, and his four friends looked at him obediently. “Uh… I just wanna say, I’m glad you were all able to make it tonight.” He glanced down at Flitter, who looked up with a wide smile. “I haven’t known you all very long, but I can easily say you’re all my best friends.” He looked at Derpy. “It started with you, Derpy. Then you, Allie, and then these two girls right here.” He looked down at the pegasi twins once more. “You’ve been great to me, every one of you. This is the first time I’ve hung out with a group since Twilight left, but even then, I never really felt like I was a part of it, you know? It’s different now. I’m just glad to be able to spend this time with you, as an equal, not a sidekick. You know?” He looked back down at Flitter, who smiled wider and nodded. “So, a toast. To best friends, old and new.”