Deep in the Everfree Forest, Benny had taken over the duties of recording as the last six combatants chased down the remaining straggling Timberwolves trying to escape.

Applejack and Big Mac were the closest, Spike was up a bit farther ahead, Twilight and Oven Fresh were neck and neck trying to snatch the next kill from each other while Luna flew over them, living in the moment. Every fireball, explosion, and blast of magic more unnecessary than the last.

Standing by with the guards, Pinkie was enjoying the spectacle more than she should have, watching the action through Benny’s phone as he continued to record.

"Twilight is really going all out today. I haven't seen her fight this angry since the changeling invasion."

Not too far out, Luna spotted one hiding among the ruined Timberwolves.

"Hazah! Now you may play dead, forever!”

Cerb chuckled, ignoring the pain of still being ripped open, at how ludicrous this battle had become.

“It’s a good thing Chris isn’t here for this. He’d be losing his fucking mind right now... Wonder how he would have done slugging it out or sniping mutha fuckers.”

Benny laughed at the slugging comment, remembering that night all too well.

“Think he’d hit harder than you?”

Cerb hung his head, another phantom pain setting in.

“My jaw wants to say yes, but my pride wants to say no.”

Fluttershy tilted her head and looked up to Cerb with a curious expression.

“I didn’t think Chris could be violent at all.”

Benny smiled and tried to dispel the growing confusion.

“Nah, of all us guys, Chris is by the far the most tame, but the dude hits like a truck.”

Killing the conversation, Twilight teleported in front of them.

“Okay! I think we got them all.”

A pillar of fire rose from behind them, along with the screams of a few Timberwolves, as Oven Fresh shouted back, “Got the last one! We’re safe now!”

Despite the situation finally being settled, Twilight couldn’t help grumbling angrily to herself at not being able to get in the last word. Or the last Timberwolf, for that matter.

“Yes… all of them. Now… how about we get out of here?”

She looked at the bandages over Cerb’s cuts and the other nicks and bruises covering him.

“Are you going to be okay?”

Cerb stood up with a visible twinge of pain in his right leg and his side.

“I’m… good.“ He immediately changed his tune at the dirty look he got from Fluttershy and Rarity. “Mostly, but I’ll be fine to—“

He watched Fluttershy and Rarity not lax the same angry looks. Their glares telling him he was well in the wrong for even attempting to put a positive spin on his condition. So, like before, and likely many more times in the future, he folded like a lawn chair.

“Fuck it, I dunno. Ask these two.”

Fluttershy, satisfied, addressed Twilight with a look of smug satisfaction.

“Justin will not be carrying anything on the way back, I’m afraid. He’s pushed himself well past the limits that we are willing to accept.”

Equally, as pompous, Rarity agreed.

“Yes, Justin will continue as is, without being required to carry any gear for the remainder of this trip.”

Cerb wasn’t going to fight this any further than what was reasonable. There was no point.

“I’ll walk with just my ax and pistol if that’s what they want. I’d carry less, but I’m sure they don’t want me walking around defenseless.”

Fluttershy made an angry noise in protest but obviously wasn’t going to leave him without the means to defend himself.

“That’s how it’s going to be.”

Rarity levitated Cerb’s shirt and blouse up to his chest.

“And put these back on. I don’t care if they're ruined. You’re not walking out of here anymore exposed to the elements or other beasts than you are now.”

As this was going on, some among the group, already exhausted from the long fight, were growing more than a little impatient with the drawn-out scene. Thus it was no surprise that Applejack immediately walked up to the group, anger visible on both her face and in her posture.

“Fer crying out loud. I’ll carry whatever Cerb can’t. Can we start heading back now?”

After a gear loadout change, they spent the next few hours walking back to Ponyville with only a few breaks in between.

Thankfully, despite the chaos of earlier, there were no further attacks. Had it not been for the injured having to walk back, it likely would have been an otherwise pleasant hike. Still, none of the group's injuries were truly noticeable, save for the limp Cerb was walking with.

When they finally broke free of the forest and were back in Ponyville territory, Fluttershy insisted that Cerb wait to be transported back via one of the ‘self-moving wagons’ the humans owned. Rainbow Dash volunteered to arrange for that to happen and flew off to fetch Sniff back at the bakery.

Starlight, meanwhile, fidgeted for a moment looking anxious and tired, the reason as to why only known to herself.

“I’m going to head back and tell Lumberman to meet us back at the Castle, then go find Chris. I imagine he’s still with Nurse Redheart, helping her out or whatever she wanted to do with him today. I’m sure she’d be more than happy to help with Cerb’s injuries, too.”

After Starlight teleported out, with no chance for anyone to argue, Cerb was left still sitting...or rather sulking in the grass between Fluttershy and Rarity.

Even if he was a little battered and cut up, he hated being babied like he was and grumbled, “You know how degrading this is to me, right?”

Rarity didn’t seem to care.

“Until everything is sorted out and you are properly vetted safe for walking about, you will do no more than needed. Thus, you will wait for Sniff to take us back to the castle to be medically evaluated and do exactly as we say.”

No sooner than right after Rarity asserted her demands, Benny made a whipping noise, though only Cerb and he knew its intended meaning.

Not much could be done. Cerb sat angrily and didn’t humor the insinuation of being whipped by his two mares, though it was pretty much true. The sad part was that he had to sit awkwardly in silence with that looming over his head for at least twenty minutes for Sniff to show up in his car.

When Sniff pulled to a stop and popped out, he made a mad dash straight for Cerb.

“What the fuck happened! For the love of Christ, tell me you’re not all fucked up again.”

Thankfully, for all present, Benny stepped up and did his best to calm Sniff.

“Everything’s okay. I’m fine, and so is everyone else, even Cerb. He's just a little sore from carrying the team," he joked but quickly went back to being serious.

"Look… just give him a ride back to the castle. Shit got fucking crazy out there, but we handled it."

Despite the reassurances, Sniff couldn't overlook the blood-stained bandages showing through Cerb’s torn clothes.

"How bad did shit get, cuz I don't want to break the bad news to Kelly when Cerb walks in and tells Becky he needs stitches."

This had the potential to get ugly, so Cerb immediately spoke up to voice his protest.

"Everyone is overreacting. I tried to tell them I'm fine, but they're treating a few scratches like they were another gunshot wound."

His protests, however, became noticeably quieter when he noticed the sharp glare from Fluttershy and Rarity.

No need rousing their wrath any more than he already had.

"Well-intentioned, but that's how they are. I'm fine. I just… need the rest of the night to recoup. I had a shit day, but I understand why everyone is freaking out. Just… take me back. I need a shower and a hot meal.”

Oven Fresh stepped in front of Twilight to help ease Sniff’s concerns.

“Everything's fine. You asked me to go and help, and I did. I—“ She stopped from taking more credit than was needed, taking Sniff’s feelings into consideration. “—helped Twilight and everypony else to make sure your friends made it back safe and sound.“

She turned to Twilight, hoping she wouldn’t let their feud affect Sniff any more than Cerb’s condition had.

“Right, Princess?”

Twilight wanted to drop Oven Fresh back with the Timberwolves for speaking on her behalf and trying to score extra brownie points with Sniff. Thankfully, she knew better and wasn’t going to risk upsetting Sniff, especially over something so petty.

“Yes, Oven Fresh was a big help in bringing everypony back safely. We can explain everything later when we’re all together in private.”

Pinkie elbowed Benny hard in the thigh, making him grunt and remember what his expectations were.

“We actually have a lot to go over. And Twilight, we’re going to need Luna there as well… Celestia, too.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow at the odd inclusion of her mentor.

“Oh… kay?”

Without prompting, Pinkie jumped in to break up the tension.

“This successful mission calls for a celebration! So let’s all go get cleaned up and a good night’s rest, then tomorrow we’ll shake our asses till the sun comes up! Huh?”

Oven Fresh ignored the call to party and again went up to Sniff.

“Peter… everything is fine. Let’s just go.”

Sniff looked around the group and didn’t see anything so out of place that he had to question it.

“Alright. Cerb, get in. and… whoever else?”

Cerb slowly stood up and limped to the car. He opened the door to let Fluttershy and Rarity in the back while Oven Fresh quietly addressed Sniff again.

“I think they’re all going to need some time to sort things out. So, if you need a place to stay until they’re ready, you can stay with me. Swift Sails is more than welcome, as well.”

Sniff nodded but didn’t reply to the offer itself.

“I’ll drop you off back at your place and see where everything goes from there."

Accepting that, Oven Fresh hopped in Sniff's car as Twilight ran up to stop him.

“Peter, I’m going to be busy sorting everything out, and there’s a lot of explaining I’m going to have to do, but I really want to set aside some time to talk to you tonight. Nothing bad, I promise.”

From the sound of Twilight’s voice and the expression she wore, Sniff could tell she had something on her mind. Hopefully, nothing too serious that she would need to lie to him in front of the others.

“Just let me know when. I’m sure I’ll be free.”

Still pissed off, Applejack walked passed the car, all her muscles tense, making her walk stiff.

“Y’all need to tone down the drama and hurry up. Some of us want to go home, and yer holding us up.”

Nearly the whole gang was there, including every pony that returned from the battle, with the addition of Nurse Redheart still in her wheelchair.

Cerb limped in, bloodied, bruised, and dirty, making an effort to greet the group as best he could.

“Mission successful, guys.”

There was a mix of emotions between securing the materials needed to cure Becky and Cerb’s injured state. It didn’t help that Benny wasn’t there yet. However, the first one to give their response was Becky rushing up to Cerb and throwing her arms tightly around his neck.

“I’m so fucking glad you’re back. I’m so glad you’re back.”

Cerb hugged her with only his right arm while trying hard not to moan in pain at the sudden pressure on his wounds.

“Ain’t nothing gonna keep me from coming back, Becks. I said I’d get you what you needed and find a cure for you. Ain’t none of us fucking dying here.”

Kelly, meanwhile, was a mix of emotions, but having Cerb back home and not seeing him in a wheelchair, vacant of humanity, was more than she was hoping for. So, despite his disheveled state, she rushed to hug and welcome him back.

“I was so worried. Thank god you're okay."

She laid her forehead on his shoulder, debating whether to punch her friend for the scare and not actually being okay.

"What the fuck happened out there? They won’t tell me what happened.”

Cerb pulled out of the hug and removed his blouse, revealing a little bit of the blood that was soaking through the shirt.

While there were some ponies who had stuck around and knew much of what happened, Twilight had requested any pony who wasn’t a guard or part of the core group to excuse themselves. Cerb was grateful, allowing a more open telling of the events without having to worry about potentially traumatizing someone.

“From what I understand and everything I’ve heard, this is what happened.“

He took a deep breath and prepared to run down the broken list of events as best he could, given the audience and what they needed to know. Of which Twilight was there to fill in rest, leading up to Zecora explaining where she came into the story.

"Had it not been for how I hastily had fled, no pony would have been injured, nor would Justin have bled.”

Not wanting Zecora to shoulder the blame, Fluttershy quickly rose to her defense.

"You can't blame yourself for this. This is my fault. Cerb knew the dangers more than anypony else and what needed to be done to keep both of us safe. But I was so scared when I found out—"

The room was quiet and waiting for Fluttershy to continue, but she stopped and looked back at Cerb. This was a big part of his history that probably wasn't best spoken of so openly. However, she knew he was right, and this was an important lesson that needed to be shared. Which, thankfully, is why Cerb gave her a knowing nod to continue.

"Cerb didn't just fight for his people. He joined the war and was forced to kill other humans to keep those he cared about safe. He became a killer of killers, and I didn't understand how anypony could justify that until he told me all of the horrible things those that he went to war against did.”

She took a deep breath, seeing how his approach could have prevented putting everyone in danger.

“But… he was right. If you have to make a choice between ending the life of one to save another, or many others, it would be wrong not to. But I didn't want Cerb to, and so he let the chupacabra go. If he had done what he was trained to do, none of this would have happened.”

There was a moment of silence that washed over the room. The combined reactions of those hearing for the first time about Cerb’s violent history setting in and everyone’s lack of a response to Fluttershy accepting of murder for any reason was unsettling enough to keep any mouth quiet.

Seeing the shift in the room, Cerb stepped up and laid his hand on Fluttershy's head, gently petting her.

“I’m not going to say who’s right or wrong in this. There’s no easy answer or a single point of failure for what happened out there. What’s important is that everyone who went out there followed the plan and reacted appropriately. I don’t regret what I did because there was no way of knowing the chain of events that followed after that. I think I did the right thing, but at the end of the day, we all made it back in one piece. A few scratches here and there, but no funerals to plan. I call that a win.”

He looked to Zecora and smiled through his pain and humiliation.

“No one is to blame for this. From the top-down, this was a huge success, and we have a lot of lessons learned on how to better plan for the future if anyone goes out for something like this.”

Kelly, however, didn’t look satisfied as she walked back with a finger in Cerb’s face.

“If you think we’re going to just let you—”

Cerb, unflinching, grabbed her hand and gently lowered it away, “I’m not saying I’m going back out from something like this. I’m saying it for them.“

He could see her anger subside and an uneasy calm take its place.

“From what I can tell, they haven’t run into a threat this big with someone like me and Benny there to hinder them from just teleporting out or flying away. They even saw the threat before it reached us, had defenses in place, and were still able to send a rescue response out to us when our visual signals failed, but I still got injured. Benny and I, we’re, at best, a trump card they can play if all else fails, but being magic proof doesn’t make us immortal.”

What he was saying wasn’t exactly what he wanted to admit, but he had to accept the way things were.

“I’m saying, at best, we’d be a good support for them. Unfortunately, the way they handled the mobs of Timberwolves rushing in, we weren’t needed and spent the last part of the battle out on the sidelines.”

Lumberman was blown away and leaned back in his seat.

“Woah-Woah-Woah… You sat out of a fight? I’m calling bullshit.”

Benny immediately brought out his phone to quell any doubts.

“No, he’s not joking, and I got the video to prove it.”

Chris looked horrified, though more at the implication than the video itself.

“You sat and recorded them fighting?”

Benny brought up the video and let the others take a look for themselves.

“Yeah,“ he said with a grin he couldn’t hide. “It wasn’t even fair.”

All eyes were on the tiny screen, but both Kelly and Becky couldn’t watch more than a few seconds before turning away. At least not until Rainbow Dash gasped at seeing the replay of her smashing through a group of Timberwolves. Then Becky heard Big Mac’s voice call out in a war cry before he headbutted a Timberwolf and swung his war mallet into another pair, joining Applejack in wiping out an entire line together.

That’s all it took to keep everyone glued to the screen, with each pony providing commentary on their amazing feats. Even Night Guard and Rare Find took a moment to gloat in their support roles. Twilight had to stay quiet when the parts came up with her arguing with Oven Fresh, but that was all overshadowed by Luna celebrating every moment she was on screen.

Probably most surprised was Lumberman, seeing Applejack on-screen, punching and kicking the Timberwolves apart. She didn’t say much and seemed to shy away from any storytelling.

At the end, Kelly seemed to have changed her view on things.

“Okay, so Timberwolves aren’t really a threat for Big Mac and them, but obviously, you guys shouldn’t be out there anymore.”

Spike had a different point of view to share.

“No way! Cerb and Benny did more than any of us when the fighting started! Cerb even saved my life!”

Cerb shrugged, barely acknowledging the act.

“Yeah, they only got me once while I was in the thick of it. Had to take another hit when a stray broke through and took a dive at ‘lil Spike here.”

Spike exploded with excitement, still reveling in what he saw, even ignoring the light shot at his size.

“You should have seen it! Cerb jumped over my head and tackled the Timberwolf right out of the air! Then he jumped up, got his legs around its neck, and then spun it around like a ninja and a wrestler all in one! And then he ripped its head right off.”

Cerb did his best not to keep the focus on him as all eyes fell on him again, particularly at the mention of decapitation.

“After I knocked it back, I did a Hurricane Takedown on it. The fact that I took its head off was an accident. I was gonna take it out with the forty-five, but I thankfully didn’t need to.”

Benny jumped in to give some clarification.

“All our bullets and his ax can all one-shot the Timberwolves. I have some theories on that, but we can talk about that later in a more private setting. As for now, I think we should all take a break and get cleaned up while the medical stuff is sorted out.“

He looked at the royals, not able to smile as he laid it out for them.

“If you can, let Celestia know she should be here for this. Just give us enough time to get Cerb patched up, and then we can do the debrief.”

Kelly gave Big Mac a quick glance before looking at Benny for some clarity.

“Who all do you want there? Because I don’t want to be left out of this.”

Benny sighed, looking surprisingly depressed, and didn’t answer until Pinkie joined his side and wrapped her forelegs around his waist. That seemed to help shake off whatever unease he was feeling.

“All seven of us will be there, Kel. You’ve been out of the loop for too long about what I’ve been dealing with. As far as ponies, just the main cast and whoever Twilight thinks should be there.”

Luna stepped up to Benny, sounding just as concerned as he looked depressed.

“Whatever happened on the battlefield is over. The Timberwolves have been thoroughly defeated and will venture no further than where their ashes remain. You need not worry.”

Despite the comforting words, Benny shook his head.

“No… this is about me and something that happened before the Timberwolves. I’m fine, but I made a promise. A Pinkie Promise. We’re going to get this all sorted out, and I’m starting a Pinkie Pie recovery plan, starting today.”

With that, the Lunar Guards retired for what little sleep they could fit in. The Solar Guard used some of the spare rooms to shower and rest while the rest of the ponies separated with their counterparts in preparation for the debrief.

That left Luna and Shining Armor to make a hasty return to Canterlot to fetch Celestia while Nurse Redheart went to work with Becky to take care of Cerb.

Nurse Redheart shook her head before giving a nod to Starlight who was walking out of the room.

“Gah. I’ll never get used to the feeling of being teleported.” She turned to Cerb. “Anyway, let’s get you looked at and get a full assessment of your injuries.”

Rainbow Dash sat fidgeting like a fangirl in the corner of the room next to Becky’s belongings.

“Yeah, you guys should have seen Cerb fighting off the Timberwolves. He brought out his gun, and he was like, bam-bam! And then he was swinging his ax like, shink-shink! And then—“ She uncharacteristically went silent when she noticed Cerb was taking his pants off. “ Uhh… should I be here for this?”

Cerb stopped short with his thumbs still slung in his boxers and gave it all two seconds of thought.

“I appreciate the concern, but I’m at the point of not really caring anymore. Look or don’t look, or you can step out, but if we ever go into battle again, it’s better if you know what to look for if I get cut open again.”

Becky tried not to stare at Cerb as he dropped his boxers and stood in front of his audience. Fluttershy and Rarity looked at him with more concern, while Rainbow Dash blushed yet, couldn’t help but stare.

Nurse Redheart was thankfully focused on his injuries and kept things professional. She knew Cerb was off-limits, and why would she bother when Chris was making daily visits and getting closer every time?

“Can you remove the bandages?”

As Cerb started to pull off the gauze, he brought everyone’s attention to his nurse’s cast.

“Was that an accident, or do I need to pay someone a visit?”

Embarrassed at having her injury seen, Nurse Redheart looked at her hoof hesitantly.

“No… it was an accident. Chris was kind enough to present himself for a full examination, and some of my colleagues refused to conduct themselves orderly. Their rudeness made Chris uncomfortable, I told them to leave and broke the tile flooring in the heat of the moment. But let’s focus on you for the-oh my gosh.”

Cerb pulled back the bandages to reveal the lacerations, and Nurse Redheart cringed.

“Those aren't as bad as Kelly’s, thank goodness, but… doesn’t it hurt?”

Surprisingly, Cerb didn’t seem to mind as he casually tossed the bandages to the side.

“Yeah, a lot, actually. I’m just used to the pain, is all.”

Becky grumbled to herself and picked up her medkit.

“Jesus Christ, Justin, yer a fucking mess inside and out. Sit down and cover up so I can take a closer look.”

Despite how graphic things were becoming and her own fear of blood, Fluttershy refused to look away.

“How bad is it?”

Becky hummed quietly as she looked over the cuts on his side and the back of his arm.

“Well, thankfully, there’s no damage to the muscles, and I’ve patched up a lot worse on him from just roughhousing or getting into his usual drunken asshattery. I just need to clean this out, and then we can stitch him up. Nurse, hand me some pads and the disinfectant.”

Ironically, despite his prior claim regarding his tolerance for pain, Cerb let off a grunt as Becky started to scrub the wounds clean.

“Just don’t go around-Ow! Damnit!”

Becky didn’t slow down or lighten her scrubbing out the dirt and debris from the wounds as she mocked him.

“I’m used to the pain. I’m a big tough guy.”

As Becky continued to scrub, Rarity couldn't help but feel pity for Cerb’s condition. Still, a part of her hoped this would help teach him a lesson.

“Perhaps you’ll remember this the next time you go galloping off into a hoard of Timberwolves.”

Of all the things to harp on, Cerb couldn’t believe she would say that.

“I didn’t do anything either of you two didn’t—“

Fluttershy’s wing was suddenly pointed in his face to be reminded of the threat he was given.

“Yes… I’ll remember,” he said, once again defeated, grateful Benny wasn’t around to make another whipped joke.

Surprisingly though, this time Becky stopped and looked at Cerb’s two caretakers.

“Oh, my god. I love you two so much right now.”

There was nothing Cerb could do but stew in his private anger as Becky and the two ponies quietly bonded over his shared misery.

Even Nurse Redheart chuckled, so amazed at the invisible leash Fluttershy and Rarity had on Cerb.

“Becky, I really hope you spend more time at the hospital after I get back. Maybe you can bring these two along to keep the other patients in line.”

After the cleaning was done and they were into the third gash being stitched up, Cerb was needing a break.

“Ow! Fucking A, Becky! Are you trying to hurt me on purpose?”

Becky dropped the needle, letting it dangle freely on his side.

“Oh, my god. You’re being the biggest little crybaby bitch right now.”

Cerb twisted on the bed and looked at the incomplete stitches.

“Well, you’re obviously hungover and keep digging in too deep.”

Just as frustrated, if not offended, Becky got off the bed and walked away from Cerb’s side.

“Sorry, yes, I’m hungover, sue me. I was bored as shit and worried about you while taking care of Kelly and got a little fucked up last night. Besides, you’re usually half-drunk when I’m stitching you up anyway.”

Cerb didn’t seem impressed by her counterargument.

“I feel like the fact I need to be half-drunk while you’re stitching me up says more about you than you’re willing to admit.”

Rarity, being the seamstress she was, couldn’t help but take notice of how sloppy Becky Was getting. At the same time, while she didn’t like the idea, she couldn’t help but think she could do better.

“Might I take a try at it?”

With a little coaxing from Becky and instructions on how the skin should be held together and how deep to go with the needle, she was moving along at a steady pace. In fact, Cerb barely even flinched through the whole process.

After his side was taken care of, she was put to task to do the same for the claw marks on his arm.

Only a few minutes later, Becky gave her compliments as she slowly rubbed her hands together.

“Well, had I been sober, I’m not sure I could have done any better. And Cerb, you really hit the lottery with these two.”

Cerb grumbled, still a little sore about getting ganged up on.

“Yeah, I know, but, I don’t know if you can help with the next issue I got.”

Perplexed, Becky looked him over once again.

“Aside from the bruise on your shoulder, what else do you need me to look at?”

Fluttershy cleared her throat in response.

“Ahem… I think what he means is his right leg. He has one very bad tendon that’s been giving him trouble.”

Becky looked at his right leg and didn’t seem to appear all that enthused at the idea.

“Sorry, I don’t know too much about those kinds of injuries. That’s more in line with physical therapy.”

Fluttershy turned to Nurse Redheart instead.

"Would you like to stay for a flexibility test? It's what I do to assess mobility and the condition of his injury. It’s more involved than what we did at the hospital."

Ever eager to learn more about human anatomy, Nurse Redheart agreed, and even Becky decided to stay and observe. For one, she was concerned for Cerb's well-being, but after the fiasco with Chris at the hospital, it would be best that she stay for quality control.

Curiously, though, recent events had also affected Rainbow Dash, who was starting to see Cerb in a new light.

Sure, he was big and intimidating, but watching him getting ordered around and put in odd positions seemed unreal. Add in that most were clearly uncomfortable and painful for him, which ended up showing how vulnerable he was. Most of all, it showed how much trust he had given to Fluttershy and Rarity to let them be so close to him. They were even touching all around his most sensitive areas without any reactions other than the physical discomfort it caused.

How much had she missed happening between those three?

"Ahh!" Cerb gave a short yelp in the last portion of the examination. "Yeah. That's as far as it can go."

Feeling more concerned than when she started, Fluttershy lowered his leg.

"That's even less range of motion than the first night I checked you over for this."

Rainbow Dash finally spoke up from just behind Becky.

"What happened?"

Cerb grumbled and moaned in frustration from the bed, still immobilized on his back, but gave the best answer he could.

"Remember those bullets I was shooting off today? Well, I got shot by even bigger ones years ago. I had body armor on, but it couldn’t stop all the bullets. And I don't know if it was my armor or Garcia's, but some of the bullets that were stopped turned into shrapnel which splintered out in all directions. Some of the shrapnel ended up in my leg and cut up the muscles and everything attached to it."

While most of the group immediately cringed at the visual, Fluttershy remained focused, jumping up on the bed and started pointing out the rest.

"This is where the shrapnel went in, but the tendon I'm worried about starts below the knee and runs all the way up into his hip. But now I'm getting more worried that all the compensating he's been doing over the years is causing more damage. I think it’s been slowly changing his hip alignment and stressing the rest of his supporting and stabilizer muscles."

Horrified, Becky stared down at Cerb, old emotional wounds reopening.

"How long have you had this going on?"

Once again in the spotlight, Cerb made a gesture with his hands and thought for a moment.

"Since I was still doing physical therapy after I first got discharged. They told me I could end up with chronic pain and limited use of my leg because of it... I’ve just been pushing through it and drinking a little more when it gets too bad."

Becky buried her face in her hands, not knowing whether to be angry at her friend for such a stupid stunt or herself for not noticing it sooner.

"Good God… How do we fix this?"

Rarity spoke up, just as concerned, but at least with an answer.

"We've been working on him every night. Massaging the muscles that have been under the most stress as a result of his injury. It seems to help a lot, but I imagine carrying Zecora on his back and then all the running on top of fighting have aggravated what would normally be an injury that at least left him still functional. I suppose it's our good fortune that Fluttershy noticed these things when she did, and we could give him the attention he needed."

Rainbow Dash nodded and fluttered up to get a better view.

"Well, Big Guy, you know if you need anything or help with the leg, just ask."

Becky reached out and gave a playful tug and wiggled on Rainbow Dash's ear.

"I think he's got it covered, Dash. Now come on, let's get Zecora looked over."

Rainbow Dash chuckled, picking up the subtext while rubbing her ear.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll be there in a second."

Puzzled, Becky gave Rainbow Dash a look that would have raised a lot of questions if Cerb had seen it, but then grinned and shrugged.

"Whatever, don't keep 'em waiting."

Cerb sat up and watched Becky wheel Nurse Redheart out. With them gone, he turned his eyes to Rainbow Dash, who had a smile almost as big as what Pinkie Pie had on a daily basis.

"Okay?" He asked, not sure what she would have wanted to stick around for. "You got a personal question you wanted to ask or something you needed to tell me in secret?"

Rainbow Dash stood up tall and tried to hold back her excitement.

"I just… I don't even know anymore."

She jumped up and started fluttering around the room, getting really animated with her movements.

"You put me in charge of a recon team. I got to help you save Zecora. And then you totally charged in and saved Fluttershy's and my flanks when the Timberwolves came after us. Plus, seeing you in combat was sooo cool! And the way you saved Spike with that hurricane spin thing you did. But also—"

She swooped down and hugged Cerb as gently as she could. "—because of you, Fluttershy didn't get eaten up by some stupid old chupacabra, and you even got Becky what she needs. And I just know with everypony working together that we're gonna save her."

Cerb slowly remembered how to work his arms and returned the hug.

"We all owe our thanks to you also, but you're right. Becky's gonna be just fine."

With that finally out of her system, Rainbow Dash let Cerb go and hopped off the bed with a bashful smile.

"Also, it means a lot to me that you trust me enough to let me stay in here and see you like this. I know how you humans can be about your bodies, and while I do still respect that, I gotta say…”

She eyed him up and down from head to toe. Ending with a smirk that was hard to make out about what she must have really been thinking.

“You got nothing that needs to be hidden away all the time."

It was hard to tell if Cerb thought that was endearing or if he should feel awkward by it.

"Uh… duly noted."

Rainbow Dash clenched her eyes shut and lowered her head as she snorted hard, building into a laugh.

“Don’t think too much about it. You look good. Strong, rugged… Like these two girls got the most badass human watching over them... Anyway, heal up soon. Your girls did good on the battlefield today, but you got a lot to learn from him. Later.”

After Rainbow Dash left the room, Rarity was the first to speak.

"Justin, I must apologize for being so stern with you, but you must understand my intentions are for ensuring you are given the best care."

Fluttershy commented in the same fashion.

"We know you aren't enjoying this, but we only want what’s best for you."

Cerb sat there on the bed without any resistance and hung his head.

"I know… but how about we move onto the shower, get this debrief done, then bed for the rest of the day?”

Relieved to see Cerb’s compliance, Rarity trotted off to the attached bathroom.

“Very good idea. Thankfully, we’ve got plenty of time to all get a shower in.”

The shower started, and Rarity trotted back out to retrieve another set of clothes for Cerb but was stopped when he threw her a question from the doorway.

“Why don’t we all shower together again?"

Fluttershy’s ear immediately twitched, and she had to fight to keep her mind clean as she responded.

“You would want to even though we’re not in the forest?”

Cerb wasn’t in the best condition at the moment. His body was hurting, he was worried about what kind of news Benny had to give, Celestia was probably going to raise hell over the forest debacle, and he had upset both Fluttershy and Rarity with his recklessness.

In short, he was well up Shit’s Creek with no paddle while in a sinking boat.

Thus, whatever Benny was going to put out, Cerb would have to deal with it when it came. He couldn’t do much against Celestia but knew Luna and Twilight, as well as all the others, would stand up for him, so that would at least soften the blow.

As for Fluttershy and Rarity, mending fences with them took priority at the moment, and there was only one thing he could think to offer to spoil them.

“Yeah, I could use the help. So, you wash my back, and I’ll wash yours.“ He looked over to Rarity. “Both of yours. Think of it as a bath massage.”

The excited smiles from both mares confirmed that, at least for now, the bribe was accepted. So, thankfully, that was one less thing to worry about.

Starlight teleported into Chris's room, where he had been patiently waiting for her.

"Okay, Nurse Redheart is up in Cerb's room, and everypony else is off doing something else, and for all of the time I've been waiting to get back to you—" Surprisingly, Starlight simply jumped up on the bed and sprawled out, practically moaning every time she so much as twitched. "—I'm too fucking exhausted to do anything I wanted to try before I left this morning. So can you just… lay with me for a while?"

Chris snorted and gave a little laugh as he climbed into bed with her.

"So, my little monster does have a weakness. Good to know."

She snickered and pulled his arms around her.

"My weakness was using so much magic so fast trying to get home to you. But since I'm not getting any more today, can you tell me how things went at Nurse Redheart's this morning?"

Chris nestled himself in a bit closer, silently thanking whatever god he could for Starlight throwing in the towel for the day.

"Well, Prim was very anxious to spend as much time with me as she could out of view of Redheart. And Redheart really wanted another rub down after Prim had to leave.”

Starlight giggled, imagining how much fun he must have had in her absence.

“Oh? And how far did that go for her?”

Chris hummed through a small laugh and pulled his hand free out from Starlight’s hold to trace it down her side to the bottom of her ribs.

“About this far... then I went to go have lunch with Derpy.”

Starlight laughed loud enough that she had to cover her mouth and then rolled over to face Chris.

“You’re terrible. How many mares did you leave wet and hanging out to dry?”

Chris grinned, surprisingly happy to know he didn’t succumb to temptation.

“Maybe ‘ole Red, but Prim, I think, only wanted to make out with me.”

“Only?” Starlight asked with a little flirty tone but then gave him a stern look. “She didn’t suck your dick, did she?”

She watched Chris glare back at her at the rather crass question, so she tried acting cute and flirty again.

“Sorry, it was all I could do to stop myself from daydreaming about it on the way back today. If not for how tired I was and having to keep watch for another swarm of Timberwolves, I would have teleported back. If not to pull you away or at least try doing it myself like you mentioned. But, as you were saying?”

Chris rolled his eyes and let his smile return.

“No, we didn’t do anything outside of kissing a little. But if she wanted to, I’m pretty sure she would have made it happen. She’s more aggressive than you or Cream Heart.”

“Aggressive?” Starlight asked, getting overly defensive at the idea. “Did she hurt you? You better tell me, Chris. If she did, I’ll bury her so deep—”

Chris closed her muzzle in his hand and pulled her face down to his.

“Noooo, she didn’t hurt me. When I said she was more aggressive, I mean she asked me if I really did enjoy kissing like you and Cream Heart said, thanks for that again, by the way, and I said yes. Next thing I know, she has me pinned against the wall and her tongue practically licking my tonsils.“

He clamped his hand on her muzzle and held it shut as she again tried to press for a confession.

“No, stop… She didn’t hurt me, and I can’t say I didn’t enjoy it. It was kinda like you this morning pulling me into you. It was pretty hot... but then Red was done in the bathroom, so we had to stop. As for Derpy, she was pretty restrained. She was happy to see me, but I was confused as to why Kelly and Becky didn’t show up. Either way, we had a short lunch together, and mostly all we did was talk about Dinky.”

“Awe,” Starlight moaned innocently. “Dinky is so cute.”

“Yeah,” Chris sighed. “But it wasn’t long after that, and I was back here and realized something was wrong. Then we waited for all of you to get back. And since everypony made it back, and only Cerb had some scratches thanks to your help, I know exactly how I’m going to reward you tonight.”

Starlight moaned hungrily and moved in close enough to kiss, “A reward? For me? Whatever could it be?”

Chris gave Starlight a quick kiss on the lips.

“I’m going to let you get what you’ve been wanting, so you don’t have to worry about not being the first anymore.”

Twilight opened the door and hoped to find Sniff waiting for her. Sure enough, there he was, sitting in the same comfy chair during their first private exchange. All she could see was a hand over the armrest, but the scent of clovers drifting from his direction made it clear who was sitting there.

"Peter?" She slowly walked towards Sniff, timidly calling out to him. "I couldn't stop thinking about what happened before I left."

She noticed the flowers were moved. If Sniff was going to apologize, she had to make her's count to put things back in order for them.

"We have very different… well, I don't know what it’s like for you-I mean, not you, but for others that...“

After that last pause, Sniff finally spoke up from the chair.

“Twilight… I understand why what I said upset you, and we obviously have some personal things we need to work out between us.”

That tone from Sniff came off so flat, Twilight couldn’t tell if he was repressing his anger or holding back tears. Either way, it only served to make the situation all the more awkward.

Regardless, she crept up slowly, bringing into view Sniff, the flowers from earlier, and a cloth covering something on a small table he must have moved. He must have bought her something else, and that only made her feel worse.

“Oh, no. Peter… if this is you trying to apologize, the flowers were more than enough.”

“No,” Sniff firmly protested and waved his finger. “I stuck my nose where it didn’t belong in your private life—”

“Peter.”

“—and after how uncomfortable Chris made you feel, and—”

“Peter, stop.”

“—then I can only guess you thought I was hitting on you—”

Twilight heard enough, moved around the chair, and reared up to drop her front hooves down on his legs. She grabbed both of his hands in her wings, holding them up to stop him from needlessly apologizing.

“That’s not what happened at all.“

She looked him square in the eyes and saw how upset he was with their interaction.

No, he was more than sad. That was genuine remorse in his eyes, regrettably forcing a bit more honesty out of Twilight.

“Well, maybe the part about Chris making me uncomfortable is true, but I didn’t get angry because I thought you were hitting on me. I was upset because… I don’t have a romantic life.”

Her confession hit hard, though more for her than him, if only because she was finally acknowledging it directly.

“I never have. I’ve never even dated. And ever since Chris brought up how attractive he thought I looked, I guess… I didn’t want to face the fact that… I don’t know? That maybe I didn’t know how to find some pony of my own or that no pony would want me if even Chris pretty much rejected my offer to get a massage for that stupid bet.”

She caught herself getting angry again, mostly at Rainbow Dash, but that wasn’t what she was here for. This needed to be about healing the damage she inflicted.

“I snapped at you because I was insecure and… I mean… It’s not like I want to be single all my life, but… I have no idea on how to be romantic. Nopony has even had an interest in me.”

Sniff blinked a few times, trying to process how he misread the situation so wrong.

“So… you’re not mad at me?”

Twilight squeezed Sniff’s hands tighter and looked to him with pleading eyes.

“No, of course not. Peter, I know we’ve only just started to get to know each other, but you are one of my very best friends. Sure, we kind of got off on the wrong hoof, but once you started to open up and let me get to know the real you. The witty, and kind, and super Equestrian pony nerd I wish I was.“ She smiled as Peter laughed at that last part. “I’m so sorry for the way I reacted to your question. I’m guessing you were just trying to make conversation with me?”

Sniff grinned and shrugged, happy the mood had finally gone down.

“It’s a force of habit.”

Twilight, now more relaxed, grinned back, “Well, that’s a conversation I won’t have much to say about, but I’d be happy to listen to you talk about it. Maybe help me figure out what I need to do to find the right pony for me?”

Sniff nodded, still trying to grasp how fast this reconciliation came to pass.

“Sure… but I also need to ask, because now I’m a little more confused about what happened between you and Oven Fresh out there.”

Twilight folded her ears back, and she slouched, drooping her face out of view.

“Oh… that.”

Sniff gave Twilight a confused look.

“I thought at first that you were mad at me, and you saying goodbye in front of her place was some kind of trap you were luring me into. I also thought you were mad at her for spending time with me. But now I don’t know what to think.”

Twilight groaned, knowing how hard this was going to be for her to talk about.

“Okay... I’m going to take a lesson I learned from Starlight on this one and just be completely honest with you.“

She pulled back and moved to her own seat. After getting as comfortable as she could, she tried to keep properly upright, but as she faced him again, her posture dropped slightly, right along with her sinking self-image.

“So, the morning I snapped at you, it took me all of a minute and a quick pep talk with Starlight to realize that I screwed up. I knew I was wrong with the way I reacted, that it was for all the wrong reasons. I then went to your room to apologize, but you weren’t there. I checked the kitchen next, but there was only one other place I figured you would have gone off to, so I looked for you at the bakery.”

Sniff started to get nervous, not sure what all she might have overheard.

Twilight took a deep breath and hung her head.

“I… ended up eavesdropping on both of you. Not to spy on you both, I just wanted to talk to you, but then I was afraid to interrupt because you were talking about me, and I thought it would make things worse. Only then I was so impressed by what you said to her about me. And from the sounds of things, it seemed like you two were having a good time together, so I didn’t want to interrupt that or let you know that I was listening in on your conversation.”

She finally looked him in the eye again, her expression still mournful.

“How was your date with her, by the way?”

Sniff’s heart stopped, knowing he’d just entered a proverbial minefield.

“Uh… Good?”

Twilight cocked her head to the side, seemingly not satisfied with his answer.

“Really? Just good? Was it just good for you, because as hard as she tried to one-up me in taking out those Timberwolves, and how she kept on gushing about teaching you how to make her dinner biscuits, I would have thought you two really hit it off.”

This had to be a trick that Sniff was walking into.

“Yer not… like… mad or grossed out?”

That seemed to take Twilight by surprise.

“What? Why would I be mad or grossed out? I told you before that Equestria gets visitors that end up having crushes on ponies all the time. It might not be an everyday common occurrence, but it’s not unheard of. Although, I might have been just the tiniest bit jealous.“

As soon as those words left her mouth, Twilight felt compelled to slap herself. She remembered her promise to be completely honest with him. And yet, even if she was being cute with her word choices, it was still a far cry from the truth, and that needed to be corrected.

“Okay, I got super defensive when I thought she was going to try and steal your friendship away from me. And I didn’t even have a chance to apologize or try and make it up to you yet.”

“I see,” Sniff slowly answered, thinking he was jumping to all the wrong conclusions. “I guess I—“

He gave a deep sigh and buried his face in his hands. He was treating Twilight like she was trying to hook up with him. That wasn’t her, nor what she wanted. That’s why he wanted to salvage their friendship so badly.

“I’m sorry about that. To be honest, yes. Me and Ovens really hit it off, but I’m breaking so many taboos by what I’m doing with her. And yes, it is because she’s a pony, but I can’t help myself, and now I'm So confused on what to do or what I can do or if I’m just going to end up hurting her on accident because...“

Twilight jumped out of her chair and ran back to Sniff. She took his wrists in her wings and pulled his hands away to comfort him in this unexpected display of worry.

“What are you confused about? Why do you think you would hurt her?”

Sniff was nearing the point of tears over what all was running through his mind.

“She wants something that’s real, but I can’t give it to her. I don’t commit. I never have. I can’t!”

Twilight took Peter’s hand into her hooves.

“Why not? What’s wrong?”

Sniff took another deep breath, so many old demons freeing themselves to torment him.

“Remember how I told you I studied psychology, and I didn’t like what I learned about myself?”

Twilight nodded, still desperate to understand his problems so she could better help him.

“Yes, what did you learn?”

Sniff held up his course study book for his professor, turned it open, flipped through all the pages from front to back, closed it, then dangled it in his fingertips and dropped it in the trash can.

“This is bullshit.”

His professor, an older woman, sat unconvinced. Her greying hair had a faded dye of some off-brown that tried to mask her weathered facial features. An unpleased yet uncomfortably blank expression on her face staring at her student.

“Mr. James, I don’t know what you want me to do. You were made aware that the self-assessment was going to be assigned at the beginning of the course and that people don’t always like what they discover about themselves. You don’t have to share the paper, or even what you find. All I need you to do is see how accurate you think the assessment was. But for as smart as you’ve shown yourself to be, if you think the teaching material is insufficient, we can talk about it.”

Sniff leaned forward, doing his best to hold back his anger.

“Narcissistic tendencies? Addictive personality? That’s all bullshit. Abandonment issues might be true, but to have Histrionic, Avoidant, Dependent, and Antisocial personality disorders?”

The professor gave Sniff a puzzled look before she could reason together a reply.

“Mr. James, there is a reason you’re only supposed to use the textbooks listed for my class and not reference the advanced material until you’ve covered the basics. So have a seat, and let’s get this straightened out.”

The professor ran past Sniff to try and stop him from leaving her office.

“Peter, please just stop for a second and listen to yourself. You were a minor, and she was more than twice your age. There was nothing consensual about your relationship with her. She took advantage of your broken home and tried to make your parents' promiscuity sound normal. It wasn’t. And it’s clear your narcissism is you thinking you can be the best thing for women to learn from.”

She got him to stop from walking out, but she wasn’t likely to stop him from walking around her if she couldn’t get through to him.

“You’re addicted to the gratification of pleasing them just as much as you are receiving it. You’ve spent so much time convincing yourself that these one-night stands and on-again, off-again relationships are still going to make your mistress happy, which makes you happy. It’s a learned behavior you picked up. And doing all of these generous acts and charity are just to mask over what you really want from them.”

Sniff had backed away and tried blocking out everything he was being told.

“Then why do they keep coming back to me until they find someone new? Why are so many in happy and healthy relationships? Kids have sneakers. All the homeless I’ve fed. The soccer team that gets to go and live their dreams?”

His professor tried again to reach him.

“Yes, you help put shoes on the feet of hundreds of kids, but how many of those single mothers did you sleep with? Feeding the homeless is virtuous, but not when you donate your time and talents to impress the volunteers so you can get them the attention they needed and sleep with them.”

There was so much to break down from the long conversation they had. So many of his issues still needed to be further explored, but so much was also overtly signs of deep-rooted issues.

“They didn’t need to have sex with you to help them trust you. And the soccer team? It’s clear your whole intent was to sleep with more of them than your friend, who sounds just as delusional as you. She’s enabling you. You need professional help, Peter. This lifestyle is going to catch up to you, and your friends won’t always be there to support you or bail you out the next time you sleep with the wrong woman.”

Sniff turned and snapped at her.

“You can’t think I’m that stupid? I know what I’m doing. I know how to make this work.”

His professor wiped her eyes and pinched her nose in frustration at his stubborn refusal.

“No, Peter. You’re too damn smart. Someone stupid wouldn’t be as successful as you are. You even deceived me.”

Sniff clenched his fist.

“I didn’t deceive you, goddamnit. I meant every word I said.”

The professor narrowed her brow and spoke as if insulted.

“I was wearing my running clothes, so of course, I’m going to look thinner and younger in that kind of activewear.”

Sniff immediately countered back.

“So I deceived you, but somehow it’s still true? Why do you reject every compliment anyone gives you? And, for that matter, why did you start running along my route after I told you that?”

The professor turned and started walking back to her desk. She knew she slipped up by confiding anything to support his claims.

“No, Mr. James. This is how you do it. It was a mistake to take any interest in you.”

“It made you happy, though?” Sniff asked her from behind, making her stop in her tracks. “Didn’t it? Made you more than happy? Made you feel young again, didn’t I?”

She turned around, wearing all the scorn she could physically project at him. So angry she had to deflect the question.

“Why did you even bother taking my class if you can already manipulate any woman you want?" Another slip-up, implying that he had gotten to her, as well. “Are you happy? Happy to hear that maybe for a few days, you made this widowed old woman feel appreciated?”

Sniff pointed an accusatory finger in her face that stopped her cold.

“Don’t be mad at me. I saw you running long before I knew you taught here. All I knew is that every Tuesday, you ran the same course at the busiest time and slowed down just enough to let the guys watch you and speed up just enough to watch them slip away. And the earrings you started to wear.”

“Stop it.”

“And the perfume.”

“Mr. James shut up!”

Sniff stepped closer to the lonely professor and slowly took her hand into his.

“If you didn’t want this, you would have stopped running with me as soon as I took your class.”

With more angry tears welling up, she did her best to convince him this engagement wasn’t what it really was.

“For that, we can both agree.”

Sniff stepped closer and put his other hand on her hip.

“Was I wrong to not let go when you didn’t pull away from me?”

Slap!

Sniff’s face was suddenly left stinging and facing the direction of her follow-through, yet he did not pull away, “I know we shouldn’t, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t.”

The professor didn’t let go of Sniff’s hand or pull away.

“You don’t know how to stop… do you?’

Sniff turned back slowly, no signs of pain or anger showing through.

“Do you want me to stop if it means going home tonight not remembering what it feels like to have someone want you?“

He ran his hand up her side and down over her knee-high skirt and groped her ass, yet she offered no resistance, just as he knew she wouldn't. Not at this point.

“It’s only human to be selfish once in a while… to want to be touched… to have a moment away from thinking you’re always alone.”

She brought her hand to his face again, but this time it was soft and wanting.

“You’re a cruel man to offer me this.”

Sniff leaned in closer, “I’d be cruel if I didn’t.”

And it was here, for just a moment, she broke eye contact, either out of shame or regret, but her response woun't have changed either way.

“Only tonight, and then I’m dropping you from my class.”

Sniff started to kiss her and lifted her up to sit her down on her desk.

“I dropped myself before I came to see you.“ He reached under her blouse from behind and undid her bra strap. “I’m focusing on marketing and changing campuses next week.”

She wrapped her legs around him and pulled him closer, “Come see me every day after hours to check for your referral. I want your input before I sign you off for good.”

Either by habit or fear of her reaction, Sniff knew he couldn’t tell her the whole truth and avoided the story altogether.

“I need to make others happy. I have to help them, make them feel better. If I don't, I self-destruct. I've been this way for so long I can't tell if I'm being selfish or selfless half the time."

If not for the seriousness of the moment, she would have sworn he was pulling her leg again.

"Peter… I don't understand why you think being nice to others and making them happy is a bad thing."

Sniff shook his head. It was clear she still didn’t understand what he was saying. Not when he struggled to understand himself as it was.

"I hate the idea of being disingenuous. Good deeds aren't good if they're done for selfish reasons. And I think you’re the first one that I’ve gone out of my way for without these old feelings of thinking I might be doing something for something I wanted in return. I haven’t with Oven Fresh either, but with her, I’m… scared it’s going to happen and—"

Twilight laid a hoof on Sniff's shoulder and raised his chin to look him in the eye.

"Be honest with me. Have any of the kind words or acts you've made here while you've been with us been done with the expectation of getting something in return or done to guilt somepony into doing something they didn’t want to do?"

Sniff rolled his eyes. Of course, the answer was no... But he couldn’t tell her that the reason was because he didn’t want to fuck any of them until just recently.

"No… but I'm afraid they will … I dunno. They feel so obligated to try and appease me that… l... And I don't want to take advantage of anyone. And I don't want anyone falling so deeply in love that when I can't return the feelings that it breaks them. Especially if we get close."

Twilight rolled her eyes and started to laugh.

"Okay, now I know you may be a hopeless flirt and a smooth talker, but I think it's a bit early—"

"I can name four that have already put themselves in compromising positions trying to get closer to me," Sniff stated with no joy in his voice. "And… part of me wants to give them what they want. And part of me is afraid to."

Twilight sat on the floor in front of Sniff, her curiosity merging with her concerns at just how hollow he sounded.

"What do they want from you?"

Sniff sighed and sat back deep in his chair, still trying to distinguish fact from his perverted delusions.

"I think that's what's got me so worried. I can't tell if they just want my attention and praise, just my time, a date, or something more physically intimate."

Twilight cocked her head slightly, "Are you saying you can't tell if they want hugs and kisses or if they want to get married and start a family?"

Sniff recognized this as a chance to test their knowledge of sex and thought to suggest an alternative. Twilight would have to be honest with him at this point.

"That or skip the getting married and enjoy the physical aspects but stop short of having kids."

Twilight cringed slightly, but then stopped short, not fully understanding such a concept. She’d never even heard of… what would that even consist of?

"That's not really a thing that happens here," she slowly and confusedly answered.

"Really," Sniff asked rather nonchalantly. "I mean, I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but that doesn't mean I've seen the same signs of some of the ladies here asking or posing as if that's what they wanted."

Twilight looked a little nervous. He needed her help, and she was drawing nothing but blanks. How could she be so smart and yet so clueless?

"No… No pony would… No. I don't believe you. You must have misunderstood."

Clearly getting nowhere, Sniff decided to play dumb.

"Oh… you're probably right… What would that look like exactly? Specifically, I mean. What would they do if they wanted to skip marriage? Come to think of it. Our bodies are so different. I don't know… well, biologically, we're not compatible."

Now Twilight was utterly dumbfounded.

“Not compatible?”

Sniff softened his tone, “Yeah. Humans can only get other humans pregnant. Is cross-species breeding even a thing ponies are capable of?”

This was really taxing Twilight’s brainpower. Why didn’t she study biology more often?

“Yes… I think? But… you’re also not from our world, and your physical composition is completely different from ours.”

Still needing to make another push, Sniff thought of something to help clarify his stance.

“We humans have forty-six chromosomes. Twenty-three pairs. For insemination to work, there has to be a matching set of twenty-three chromosomes to match from sperm to the oocyte. Then again, we’re not magic, so I’m sure different rules apply to you.”

“Yeah,” Twilight answered blankly, all the biology talk going straight over her head. “You know… that’s… actually a lot for me to take in right now. So… how about I get back to you on that?”

It was at that point that Sniff realized he overshot his goal and put Twilight on a nerd-fueled research binge. That or he truly overstepped his bounds this time.

“Sure. I shouldn't expect an easy answer like that right off the bat. And… you know what? We should probably go see how everyone else is doing.”

Lumberman hopped into the bed of his truck with Applejack grunting, struggling to join him on the tailgate as he twisted open two beers. She’d been walking around awkwardly stiff ever since she came back from the Everfree Forest. Probably sore from kicking so much ass, he figured.

“Apples… I still can’t believe that was you in that video. You were really kicking ass out there. How were you not scared?”

Applejack took the beer and held it with both hooves.

“Scared of a few Timberwolves? They’re a bunch ‘ah lightweights compared to all the others we’ve had to fight before, and pretty weak, to be honest. More bark than bite.”

Lumberman choked on his beer and spit it out, coughing and hacking.

“Gah! Goddmanit,” He laughed. “I should have seen that coming, but I’m glad you and everyone made it back safe.”

Applejack clinked her beer bottle to Lumberman’s for a toast but held the bottle awkwardly as she did so. Normally, she’d hold it in by the neck in her fetlock. Now she was holding it between the inside of both hooves.

“You and me both, partner.”

From the lip down to the entire neck of the bottle in her mouth, she tipped back, hooves free in her mouth, having a good long chug. After having nearly finished the entire bottle, she took it between her hooves agian, still not quite holding it in any fashion that should be comfortable.

“Boy, howdy does that ever feel good on these ‘ole hooves ah mine.”

Lumberman snorted.

“Well yeah. You were pretty much punching and kicking trees apart all day. I imagined they’d be sore.”

Applejack took another swig of her beer and smacked her lips.

“You know it. Felt good having a little action this morning. Probably went a little too rough on ‘em, though. Normally I can just walk it off, but my dogs are still barken. Should probably have the nurse take a look at ‘em. Every step feels like I’m stepping on one uh Granny’s knitting needles.”

Lumberman finished his beer and set it down behind him.

“Lemme see how bad they are. A tough girl like you could probably walk over hot coals and land mines and shrug it off.”

Applejack downed the rest of her beer and dropped it while trying to put it down, sending it rolling till it fell out of the truck and onto the ground.

“Shit… sorry.”

She did a quick wipe of her fetlock to get rid of the condensation from the bottle and then held her hoof up for Lumberman to examine.

His wide grin quickly shrunk to a look of worry. He remembered the soft, smooth pads she had before. Even after bucking trees and walking over gravel, they always seemed perfectly healthy. What he saw this time was clear signs of bruising with nicks and tears in her frogs. There were even splinters of all sizes embedded in the thick flesh.

Applejack started to worry, seeing Lumberman’s reaction.

“That bad, Woody?”

Lumberman let her hoof go and took her other forehoof to examine and saw the same type of damage.

“It’s not mangled, but you definitely need to get this looked at. And hold on.”

He slid off the tailgate and looked over Applejack’s rear hooves.

“Yeah. These are just as torn up… How the hell did you manage to walk here?”

Applejack shrugged, and her ear twitched.

“I was just so fixated on getting back that I sorta blocked out how much it was hurt’n to walk on ‘em.”

Lumberman shook his head, either entertained by her stupidity or impressed by her ruggedness. In all likelihood, probably both.

“Never mind. Come on, let’s get ya inside.”

Applejack slid down to the grass but buckled and winced in pain when her hooves hit the ground.

“Gaulll-lee… I tell ya. My hooves feel like what a shit popsicle must taste like.”

Kelly wasted no time taking Big Mac to her bed and pulling him on top of her to reward his safe return with a passionate kiss. They kissed and felt each other over until she started to feel him getting hard. Not that she wasn’t itching for the chance to feel him thrust deep inside, but this just wasn’t the time.

“Hold on,” Kelly regretfully demanded as she broke off from the kiss. ”Tonight, we can finish this, but I don’t know how much time we have until they call us in.”

Big Mac lifted himself up and looked under his stomach at his cock slumped out at half-mast, then back up to Kelly.

“What am I supposed to do with this, then?”

Kelly looked at his dick for a moment and had to push out her desires to say fuck it and have him take her.

“Try thinking about baseball or try to imagine walking in on Granny Smith wearing my panties… and slowly starting to pull them down so you can see her old wrinkly—”

“Stop!” Big Mac unexpectedly shrieked in disgust. “Gah! Uhck.“

He dry heaved, honestly thinking he was about to lose what little he had to eat that morning.

“I think you just ruined vaginas for me.“ He shuttered. “I don’t think I’m ever getting another erection as long as I live.”

Kelly giggled, though she felt a little guilty for putting such a visual in his head. Honestly, that veered dangerously into cruel and unusual.

“I’m sorry, but at least now you have a quick fix if you find yourself popping a chubby and you want to get rid of it.”

Big Mac grumbled something but then gave up his anger with a huff and sat on the bed next to Kelly.

“I hope you didn’t miss me too much while I was gone.”

Kelly leaned over, pulling Big Mac’s foreleg over her and hugging around his barrel as best as he could in spite of the obvious size difference.

“I really fucking missed you, Mackie. I… um…“

She sighed in regret, knowing her behavior over the last two nights couldn't be overlooked, not if she wanted to change. Besides, she didn’t really take things that far and decided to be forward with him about what happened.

“I wish I could of had you back every night with me. I didn’t do very well having to sleep alone and needed Luna to stay with me just so I could fall asleep.”

Big Mac cocked an eyebrow at Kelly’s word choice.

“You didn’t… you know? Do—”

Kelly snorted loudly at his question.

“No. I didn’t dyke out on the princess... But I did give her a kiss for being so considerate and helping me back to bed when I got shit-faced drunk.”

Big Mac had a moment of conflict and mixed thoughts running through his mind.

“She’s not trying to steal you away from me, is she?”

Kelly giggled and playfully punched Big Mac in the side.

“No, she’s not trying to steal me away from you, and I’m not cheating on you with her… I just felt so bad for her.“

She pushed herself up and out of the embrace. There was a reason she felt so bad for Luna, and maybe Big Mac could provide some answers for her.

“But why did you turn her down? And not that I’m into mares or anything, but if I was, she would be on the top of my list.”

Big Mac scrunched his face and flared his nostrils.

“I ain’t never-oh… Did she tell you about our time together at the Summer Wrap Up Festival?”

Kelly nodded, thinking there had to be some reason worth discussing.

“She said you two spent the whole day together before you up and ditched her. Why?”

Big Mac sulked, clearly not proud of his past exploits.

“I don’t know how much she must ‘uh told you ‘bout what happened that day. But we didn’t go there together.”

“You didn’t?” Kelly asked, realizing she honestly had no idea what his take on what happened that day was and must have been jumping to conclusions.

Big Mac shook his head.

“Nope, I wasn’t even planning to go. I’d been working on a gazebo on the farm and ran out of nails. The festival had taken over the whole town, and I had to walk through it to get to the hardware store. Then, Princess Luna just grabbed me and started dragging me along with her to all the games. I—“ He dropped his head, looking embarrassed. “—snuck away during the scavenger hunt.”

Kelly laid a hand on his thigh and started to rub it gently, “Were you not having fun with her?”

Big Mac looked up and sighed, regret obvious on his face.

“It wasn’t that I wasn’t haven fun ‘er nuthin. I was just so focused on get‘n muh work done that I didn’t want to join everypony else and have fun. But, the shop was closed, and Zecora, of all ponies, convinced me that there was no harm in going out and enjoying myself fer once. Later that night, I ran into Luna again. We had fun at a few more events and such. Then on the Ferris Wheel, she just up and out of the blue gave me a kiss on the cheek.”

Kelly moved her hand from his leg to around his shoulder and leaned on him.

“Why didn’t you kiss her back or see if she wanted to… I dunno. Do more than kiss or even try dating her?”

Big Mac sulked while Kelly’s hand rubbed over his shoulder.

“I didn’t know what to think of what the kiss meant at the time. And this was after me and Miss Cherrilee went our separate ways. I guess I didn’t have the courage to try or was too darn scared that something was gonna mess it up again. It’s like, I kept telling myself not to try... Wasn’t till recently I felt this feeling that I should keep my eyes open and try again.”

Kelly nuzzled in under his arm again.

“What do you think brought that on? Was it me?”

Big Mac chuckled.

“Sorta. I’d been doing deliveries of apples to a town not too far away. The same town Starlight took over a while back before Twilight and all them convinced her to change. There was a mare in town there that I was sure was flirt ‘n with me. She wasn’t pushen for me to do nuthin special for her, and no pony was making me do nuthin fancy for her. I was able to think for myself fer once. So I started to think ‘n that maybe I could try again…”

He smiled, almost shyly, and nuzzled in closer to Kelly, “Then you showed up and thanked me with that kiss on the cheek and… Well… I guess everything worked out.”

Kelly took her free hand and started to rub the inside of Big Mac’s legs near his groin.

“Should I be worried the next time you make a delivery?”

Big Mac rubbed up Kelly’s side and gave her breast a nudge.

“Should I be worried ‘bout you and Luna? You did give ‘er a kiss already.”

Kelly pulled back and pushed him over.

“It’s not like that, you dick” She laughed and threw herself on top of him. “You’d probably like to see that, though, wouldn’t you?”

Big Mac chuckled at the playful jab.

“What? Watching Luna steal my special somehuman away? You know it only takes one kiss from you to be so smitten.”

Kelly pulled herself closer and kissed him while running her fingers up and down his neck and petting his face.

“Sorry, I keep forgetting what a gentlecolt you are. You’re not like the guys back where I’m from. They love watching two girls fooling around, getting naughty, kissing each other like I kiss you, rubbing each other like I know you want to touch me, eating each other out, and using their fingers to—“

Kelly felt something poking her from behind, under her skirt.

Now, while she wasn’t expecting it, who was she not to have a little fun toying with him and wiggle her panties over his returning hardon?

“Oh, my,” she playfully teased him. “Maybe you’re not the gentlecolt I thought you were. Is this the Bad Boy Mackie getting hard? Or is Good Boy Mackie just happy to have me teasing you again?”

Big Mac pushed Kelly back so she was sitting on his erection, his face somehow even redder than it normally was.

“Miss Kelly, I will always be a gentlecolt, but please don’t tease me like that. Just seeing you being a bad girl is enough to bring out the bad boy in me. I only have eyes for you, and I mean it… but, uh… maybe you could tell me more ‘bout what that would look like tonight?”

Kelly cooed and slid her palm over the exposed length of Big Mac’s cock until she reached the tip and started to massage its head in her hand.

“As soon as we’re alone, I'm gonna drive you wild and make you cum so hard, Bad Boy.“

She turned her hand and gave a slow stroke down his shaft once, only to pull her hand away and lean down and plant a little smooch on the bridge of his muzzle.

“But until then… you’re going to have to think about Granny Smith if you want to keep this monster tucked away.”

Big Mac groaned, covering his eyes with his forehooves, and went limp before the mental image of the granny panties were fully lowered.

“Ferget give’n you the spare room. I need to get my own place where I can fuck you in private and not have tuh worry about this anymore.”

Rainbow Dash had just joined Becky, Benny, Pinkie, and Nurse Redheart as she was being treated.

“Feeling any better, Zecora?”

Zecora smiled as more bandages were wrapped around her left rear leg while she lay on the bed.

“Mr. Cerberus appeared to have worse injuries than mine. But thanks to all of you and him, I’m alive and feel just fine.”

Benny sat in a chair on the other side of the bed, looking like he had been deep in thought.

“Something’s not adding up. Cerb got clawed twice, and both times it ripped him open. That makes sense. So does Starlight getting a bloody lip when she threw down with Rainbow Dash. Nurse Redheart cut her hoof open when she stomped on a broken tile… but Zecora was both clawed and bitten by the Timberwolves trying to fight them off during her escape… And yet, somehow, all she has is some patches of missing fur and a few bruises?”

Pinkie tapped her nose, while her mind was deep in thought... Deep for Pinkie, anyway.

“Don’t forget about Trixie and her bloody nose.”

Benny shook his head, the illogical inconsistencies piling up against the more serious injuries.

“Yeah, that too, but even still. Zecora was mauled, and the guard that attacked AJ and Kelly got pummeled by Big Mac, but all their injuries are essentially superficial. Not a drop of blood or any broken bones. I don’t understand why the injuries are so inconsistent.”

Zecora, while still new to this, turned to Benny to try and offer some insight.

“Your concerns, I think, rightfully warrant such fear. Perhaps what’s at fault is the same reason you’re here.”

Before anyone could speak further, the door to the room cracked open, allowing Applejack to let herself in with Lumberman right behind her, and she had a response to Zecora’s statement.

“You know, Zecora, I keep on think’n that there’s got to be a reason our new friends were sent here. It can’t be a coincidence that things keep coming together like they do.”

Zecora smiled brightly at the return of another friendly face as well as another voice of agreement from Applejack.

Of course, Applejack had more to share on that idea.

“You missed it all, but when Kelly got hurt, we all came together and saved her. With any luck, we’re gonna get Becky a cure, and it just so happens that after you got attacked, you ran into Cerb’s recon team? Too many coincidences, I say.”

“Agreed,” Celestia’s commanding yet gentle voice agreed, entering the room from the doorway. “I do believe there is a reason they were brought here. But before we can discover that, I would like to know what else has happened that Luna and Shining Armor have not been able to tell me. A great many of things I would like to know, actually.”

Benny stood up, opting to speak for everyone else.

“Princess, I’m glad you came. I wish it could’ve been under better circumstances, but what I’ve learned might shed some light on why, or what, brought us here.”

The whole room gasped, and before any questions could be raised, Benny silenced them all.

“It’s just a theory, but it’s the only thing I can think of that makes sense so far. We’ll get everyone together and talk somewhere in private. I imagine none of you will want this information getting out if I’m right.”

Nodding, Celestia turned to walk down the hallway, “Bring everypony involved with this, and we will discuss it in Twilight’s study. That will be large enough to accommodate all of us.”

While everyone else was distracted by Benny, Lumberman had arrived and turned to Nurse Redheart.

“Hey, while they're all getting ready, can you patch up Applejack?”

Everyone exiting stopped to look at Applejack. Even Celestia came back with Luna and Shining, who had been behind her, all of them peaking their heads inside.

Of course, Applejack felt about as big as a thimble with all the eyes staring at her.

“It’s nuthin, y’all. I just got my hooves roughed up a bit and a few splinters.”

“Princess Celestia?” Twilight called out from down the hallway. “You made it… What’s everypony doing? Is Zecora okay?”

Luna backed away from the door to let Twilight through.

“It appears that Applejack may have injured her hooves during the glorious combat.”

Applejack fumbled her way up next to Zecora and sat with the hind legs dangling off the bed.

“Just need some bandages to help ‘em heal just like Zecora here.”

Becky knelt down and looked over Applejack’s left forehoof.

“Looks like some knicks and scrapes. Not sure about getting those slivers out, though. I should have some tweezers in my medkit here. Might need some needle nose pliers for the bigger ones.“

The more she stared at the slivers, the more concerned she became. These slivers, something was off about them.

“How bad does it hurt?” Becky asked.

Applejack nervously huffed, “Ugh. I dunno. A lot? But it’s fine. I can walk just peachy keen.”

Unconvinced, Twilight trotted up in front of Applejack.

“Don’t worry, Becky. I can pull them out.”

A purple aura lit up around Applejack's hoof and held it in place. Then, focusing her magic, Twilight took hold of one of the smaller splinters and yanked it out.

Applejack winced and tried to jerk her hoof back.

“Ouch! Goddamnit! Ya mind not ripping that shit out so fast?”

The room went silent, save for a few gasps, and Twilight started to back away from the hoof.

“Applejack. I’m so sorry. I-I-I didn’t think...I mean.“

She turned to Becky, showing her the sliver, but hid it behind her wing.

“Should I put it back in?”

Still wincing and in a considerable amount of pain, Applejack glared up at Twilight.

“Put it back in?! Did you start thinking with your ass instead ‘uh yer head? It hurt the first time going in. Why would—“

The first drop of blood began to trickle down and pooled at the bottom of her hoof.

Applejack stared at the drop of red as if it were something so out of place it couldn’t be what she was seeing. Then it fell to the floor.

“Awwwwwwe, fuck me.“

It was a waking nightmare Applejack was reliving all over again. Only this time, it was her blood streaming out, dripping faster and faster, sending the once fearless apple farmer into a panic attack.

”Woody! What’s happening?! Why’m I bleeding?! Make it stop! Becky! Make it stop! Twilight! Ferget what I said! Put it back in!”

Lumberman quickly pushed his way past everyone and grabbed a wad of gauze, and pressed it to Applejack’s bleeding hoof.

“Hey, Apples. Calm down. Yer fine. It’s just a little prick. Yer not dying or anything.”

Despite his words, Applejack wasn’t calming down even slightly.

“Woody! I’m bleeding! I ain’t never been bleeding before. Why’s this happening now?”

Lumberman held her hoof in both hands, gently stroking it with the one not holding pressure on the gauze.

“Hey, hey. Shhh. I know. I gotchu. We’re all gonna take care of you, and you’ll be back on your hooves and bucking trees in no time.”

Curious, Becky had been examining the bloody sliver pulled out by Twilight, but after rolling it over between her fingers, she dropped it like it had been covered in ants. She wiped her fingers off on a spare cloth and went for her medkit.

“Someone get a bin for the slivers. They gotta come out. All of them.”

Celestia started to make her way out and headed for the study, passing Sniff on the way and smiled.

“Hello, Sniff. A pleasure to see you again.“ She turned her head back to Luna with a scowl. “Sister, a moment of your time, please.”

Right away, Sniff knew he missed something big and looked to Luna.

“Something going on I should know about?”

Luna looked like she knew she was going to be walking into an argument.

“Nothing you need worry yourself over. Applejack has splinters in her hooves from fighting the Timberwolves and started bleeding upon their removal. Dearest sister, would like to talk to us about it.”

Sniff pulled out his phone and started messing with the screen.

“Shit, Luna, I am so sorry to hear, but if there’s blood in there, can you hold onto this for me?“ He turned off the screen and tucked his phone in the neckpiece Luna wore, then started off towards the room. “Sorry! I don't want to get any blood on it! I’ll grab it later!”

No sooner than Sniff made it to the door, everyone was backing away with uneasy looks on their faces. He looked into the room and saw the scene that was playing out.

Lumberman was sitting behind Applejack on the bed and hugging her from behind. Becky was squirting disinfectant in Applejack’s left hoof while Twilight was holding the bleeding hoof with her magic. Nurse Redheart was doing her best to push over more gauze as blood continued dripping down.

Twilight was focused on holding Applejack’s other forehoof with her magic and looked almost as distraught as Applejack. She could barely manage to hold the hoof still, every tug away from Twilight, caused the telekinetic hold to shift.

Visibly strained, Twilight took a deep breath and looked to be trying to steady herself.

“This one’s bigger than that last one, AJ. Sorry for this.”

Applejack started to wiggle almost violently on the bed before she even felt the pull.

“No, Twilight. Just leave ‘em in there. Please. No, Woody, don’t let ‘er-Ahh! “

She tensed up and tried to pull away as Twilight pulled the next sliver out.

“Woody, please make’em stop. They’re hurting me!”

It was clear now that Lumberman wasn’t hugging Applejack; he was restraining her so that she was still enough for Twilight and Becky to help her.

Then again, just due to the size of the slivers, there was no question why she struggled as hard as she did. When Twilight finally pulled out the sliver, it was over two inches long and had jagged edges that had done more damage as it was pulled out.

Not only was Applejack in pain, she was scared senseless, like a child in a hospital that didn’t understand why they were going to be operated on after an accident.

Sniff's moment of reflection was interrupted when he heard Rainbow Dash yelling from down the hall.

“Out of the way, Casanova! Big Red Horse coming through!”

Big Mac turned the corner with Kelly on his back.

“AJ! I’m coming!”

Applejack was crying loudly and screamed out for her brother.

"Mac! Make 'em stop-ah-ah-hop! Please!"

Then, as if to make things more chaotic, Starlight teleported behind Sniff.

"I'm here. Chris is on his way."

Fluttershy flew from the other direction as Big Mac ran into the room.

"Justin and Rarity are right behind me. Where's Applejack?"

Inside the room, Big Mac didn't understand what was happening to his sister, and his panic promptly turned to rage.

"She said stop! Let her go!"

Becky was trying to stitch the hole closed and sounded just as angry.

"She has pieces of Timberwolf jammed up deep in her frogs. We have to get them out and clean the wounds, or she is going to get all her hooves infected, or worse.”

Applejack slowed her breathing and held back the tears long enough to give everyone one last warning.

“If you all don’t let me go, I’m gonna start bucking, and I won’t be holding back no more.”

Twilight was about to let go of Applejack when Becky shouted, “No! Don’t let her go.”

Applejack looked at Becky like Big Mac did the guards when Kelly was stabbed.

“I walked all the way here with them hurt’n me the whole gosh darn time. I’m not letting you keep yanking them outta me like this... Last chance.”

Becky dropped the needle and let it dangle freely while she moved away and got right in front of Applejack’s face. With just as much intensity and unexpected strength, she pulled Applejack's face to hers so they were looking each other square in the eye.

“Listen to me. I know this hurts. But we don’t know what kind of filth those Timberwolves were covered in. The kind of infections these splinters you have stuck in you can get bad. If you leave them in there or don’t let us clean them out, then the infection could turn septic. Do you know what that means?”

The only thing that came to Applejack’s mind, other than kicking Becky away, was a septic tank. She knew that wasn’t what Becky meant, so shook her head no with her death glare that she held just as still strong.

Despite the intimidation tactic, Becky didn’t shy away.

“Having a wound go septic means you developed sepsis. That means the bacteria that causes your infection goes into your bloodstream and makes your blood toxic to your organs. And do you remember when I told you about my conditions?”

Applejack didn’t answer; she looked around the room, waiting for someone to help, but was given none. She thought she might get some support from Rarity or Cerb—‘Why was he wearing a bathrobe?’—when they walked in the door, but they too, kept their distance.

However, she didn’t have to say anything. The new look of fear she had made it clear she remembered.

Becky jerked Applejack’s face back in alignment with hers again.

“My diseases will take years to kill me, and we don't have a cure yet. We can stop you from getting sick by pulling these out right now. But if you wake up with Sepsis tomorrow morning and we don't get enough of the right meds in you fast enough, your heart and lungs will shut down, and you’ll be dead before Luna lowers the moon.”

Applejack tried to turn back to Lumberman, but somehow Becky was overpowering her. She could only hope her pleading would make this all stop.

“Woody, please tell me she’s lying. That can’t be true. I’m not gonna die if I don’t get these taken out of me… Right, partner?”

Sadly, the answer came from Cerb instead.

“She’s not lying, Applejack. I’ve seen what happens when a wound goes septic. Had a junior guy join my battalion and caught a metal sliver in his arm clearing out some scrap metal. He didn’t clean it or tell anyone. Just put a band-aid over it. Next morning his arm was swollen up bigger than my arms are now. Poor guy was in the hospital for over a week trying to get the infection out and his blood clean. Not every sliver is lethal, but Becky scrubbed the shit out of my cuts before she stitched me up just to be safe. It hurt like a bitch, but it beats being dead.”

Becky let go of Applejack’s face and started to walk to a chair in the corner of the room.

“Rarity, I need you to take over stitching for me. I wasn’t really being honest about being hung over this morning. I’m just having trouble with my hands lately… Nerves and all that fun stuff.”

Having only a little research done from the medical books provided, Nurse Redheart remembered reading about this subject and opted to speak on the matter, even if it was of a question than validation.

“This was in the books about respiratory infections, but that book focused on sepsis as a symptom from pneumonia.”

Becky stepped back to let Rarity take her spot and then walked over to whisper something to Cerb before answering Nurse Redheart’s implied question.

“That’s for people susceptible to Legionnaires' disease, like me. This is worse.”

Mentally preparing herself for the task ahead, Rarity walked over and took her new spot.

“Don’t worry, Applejack. I practiced on Justin just a little while ago. I’m actually quite good at this.”

Big Mac moved back against the wall and let Cerb step in front of his sister.

Offering a silent thank you, Cerb put on his bravest face and squatted down to one knee.

“Twilight, let go of this leg. I got it.“

Twilight didn’t ask any questions and let him take Applejack's foreleg.

Carefully, but firmly, Cerb held his left hand around her still bleeding hoof, ready to make the speech of his life to save hers.

“Applejack, look at me.“ He let her frightened eyes lock on to his before he continued. “I saw you out there kicking ass. You’re a fearless warrior. Let me hear you say that.”

The whole room watched, wondering what Cerb was trying to do, but Applejack did as he said.

“I’m uh—“ She sniffed and choked up. “—fearless warrior.”

“Hey.” Cerb tapped her foreleg twice with his right hand. “You know Lumberman’s right behind you and can hear you mumbling and sniffling. You wanna say that again like you mean it? Maybe remind him he’s got the most badass Lioness taking care of him? Come on. Let’s hear it.”

“I’m a fearless warrior,” she said a little more clearly.

“Louder,” he instructed, not impressed with her delivery.

“I’m a fearless warrior,” she repeated herself, not understanding the request.

“Louder!” he barked, making it clear he wanted to hear it loud and clear.

“I’m a Fearless Warrior!” she loudly declared, nearly matching his intensity.

Cerb shook his head and looked at Lumberman with sickly disappointment.

“Bro, you might want to let go. The real Applejack must still be out in the Everfree kicking ass. I think we brought a changeling home.”

Applejack’s eyes shot open wide, and then she grit her teeth before she screamed like she was trying to match Luna’s royal Canterlot voice.

“I’M THE REAL APPLEJACK AND THE SAME FEARLESS WARRIOR YOU SAW SMASHING TIMBERWOLVES YOU LYING SACK UH SHIT!”

Cerb locked eyes with Applejack again, stern and fierce.

“Then stop acting like a coward and let them pull these stupid toothpicks out and get you cleaned out and healed up. Shit, I watched Lumberman fall on a glass bottle and pull out shards of glass longer than these twigs. So, if you’re gonna roll with us and expect to keep up with ‘ol Woody, then you gotta show us you can push through the pain.“

He did a quick turn to Nurse Redheart. His intensity gone, replaced with an expression of fleeting hope.

“Unless you have any numbing agents or morphine, that would make shit a lot easier.”

Nurse Redheart shook her head, not knowing what was going on or how to help with his requests.

Cerb shook his head and turned back to Applejack, still trying to find the best way to build her up for what was about to happen. All he had was forcing a smirk a drill instructor gave him before putting him through hell for fucking up.

“Guess it’s your lucky day. You get to show us how strong you really are.“

He held up her hoof right in front of Twilight and hoped challenging her pride would give her the strength she needed.

“Twilight, pull the rest out. I’ll help make sure she holds still for you. I owe her for picking up my slack when I sat out the last fight. Right Apple Smash?”

Applejack sniffed and tried to keep herself in control as she forced a grin.

“That’s right, Devil Dog. At least two of these slivers are yer fault for not chopping down a few more measly Timberwolves.”

Hesitantly, Twilight’s horn lit up again as she prepared to pull out the next sliver.

“You got this, AJ. Just hold on a little bit longer.”

The next sliver began to glow and slowly move out and short jutting motions. Applejack clenched her eyes shut and turned away as more tears ran freely. Another short pull from the silver, and everyone heard a muffled snap from inside the bleeding flesh as a piece of it split and dug in at the wrong angle.

Applejack winced and whined as she strained her neck away from her hoof.

Twilight stopped and stared at the new patch of flesh that was bulging out from underneath.

“It’s… stuck… what should I do?”

Cerb tapped Applejack’s foreleg again, secretly knowing what was at stake.

“You really like that tequila, right Apple Smash?”

Without opening her eyes or straining away, she nodded her head.

“Yeah… I think I’d mighty appreciate a shot ‘er two right about now, please-and-thank you.”

Cerb looked to Lumberman, who quickly nodded, realizing how bad things were about to get, yet not knowing what info was hidden from the rest of the room.

“Starlight, you mind grabbing us a bottle or two?”

Starlight stood stupefied at the request and turned to Becky, who gave her a nod. She didn’t know why now it was a good time to have a drink but teleported to their supply downstairs.

Within moments, Starlight returned with two bottles.

As soon as the bottle was uncorked, Applejack opened her eyes.

“Oh, thank Celestia. Woody, help me out, please. I can’t do a thing with my hooves right now.”

Lumberman reached out and grabbed the bottle.

“Don’t worry. I gotchu babe. Here, ya go.“

He tipped the bottle and let her take a few short sips.

“Look at you, go. Having a party all by yourself in a room full of all your friends.”

Applejack coughed for a moment, accidentally inhaling part of the last sip.

“Whoever planned this party is fired. One ‘uh y’all put Pinkie in charge next time.”

Starting in a low hush, Celestia’s voice crept in from down the hall.

“I’m holding you entirely responsible for this, so let me do the big sister thing and fix another one of your mistakes.”

Luna promptly snapped back in a voice not hushed enough that it couldn’t be heard.

“I’ll take my mistakes with lives saved over your cell blocks in Tartarus of lives damaged.”

The hall went quiet as Celestia led the way back into the room.

“My dear Applejack, I am so proud of the bravery and courage you displayed today. Is there anything I can do for you?”

“Yeah,” Applejack cracked a weak grin. “Have a drink with me. Somepony threw me a terrible party.“

She brushed the back of her head against Lumberman’s neck.

“Come on, partner. If you’re not gonna drink with me, at least don’t let me go thirsty.”

Becky nodded her approval of the continued alcohol consumption.

“AJ, I don’t know how long this is going to take. So you might want to get as much partying done before we start up again.”

Lumberman raised the bottle for Applejack.

“Remember how I always tell ya not to chug the stuff… Show me what you got, Apple Hat.”

Applejack gently nodded as her tears started to flow almost as quickly as the tequila she was guzzling. After nearly half the bottle was gone, she tilted her head up to stop the flow.

Lumberman took the bottle and raised it.

“Friends don’t let friends drink alone.“

He took a good chug and brought the bottle back to Applejack’s lips.

“Sorry, hun, just a little more. You’re not going to enjoy this party sober.”

After a few more gulps, Applejack had all she could tolerate and turned to Twilight.

“Well… go on and get’er done. We got an important meeting with Benny that you’re hold’n us up fer.”

With the booze down the hatch, Cerb pulled out his boot knife and held it up towards Spike.

“Heat this up nice and hot, but don’t melt it. The heat will make it sterile, so we don’t risk even more infections with it. ”

Applejack’s brief moment of drunken confidence immediately broke at the sight of the blade.

“Now hold on. You didn’t say nothin ‘bout knives.”

Spike took the knife in his claws and started to heat the blade while Becky refrained from sugarcoating what was about to happen.

“The sliver split, and we have to cut it out, or we risk leaving more pieces of it inside, and that means a higher chance of infection.”

Horrified at what was being suggested, Celestia stepped closer.

“Now, hold on just a moment.”

Nurse Redheart pushed her wheelchair in front of Celestia to stop her from interfering.

“Princess, I’m sorry, but those slivers need to come out. I’ve read about the condition that can develop if we don’t get as much of them out as possible. Her life may depend on it.”

Shining had kept himself tucked in the corner the whole time but confirmed the claim.

“Becky already explained it. We need to let her do what she thinks is best.”

Spike returned the knife to Cerb, the sharpened edges still showing a glow from the heat.

“This won’t hurt Applejack too bad… will it?”

Cerb forced a smile but then turned to look at the floor.

“You’ve been a big help all day, Spike. But you should probably head out for a while. How about you go out for some ice cream or something?”

Spike jerked in shock at the suggestion.

“What? Why can’t I stay?”

Somberly, Sniff walked in front of Spike and knelt down, looking not unlike an older brother about to soften the blow of some heartbreaking news.

“Spike… I don’t have a life lesson to give you on this one right now. There’s just some things you’re not ready to see, and what’s about to happen is one of them. Believe me, wondering what you’re gonna miss is a lot better than having to remember what you saw. You’ll see her again when she’s all patched up… Please.”

Even with what was already happening, Celestia didn't want Spike to see any more of this, so she turned and stuck her head out into the hallway.

“Specialist Swift Sails!”

In only a few seconds, the sound of flapping wings grew louder until four hooves clopped down on the hallway floor.

“Specialist Swift Sails, reporting, Princess.”

Celestia quietly motioned to Spike.

“If you would be so kind as to escort Spike down to Sugarcube Corner and anywhere else in town his heart desires. Whatever he wants, please inform the staff that we will be covering the cost, so hold onto the receipts.”

Swift Sails turned and looked down the hall and motioned for him to follow.

“Come on, Spike. Where would you like to go first?”

Spike turned and looked up to Celestia, “Princess, please don’t make me go.”

Sniff watched Celestia hesitate, and he hated himself for what he was about to do.

“Swifty, I’ll buy you a whole carrot cake at Sugarcube Corner if you pick him up and take him out the window as fast as you can.”

“No!” Spike yelped and tried to run to Twilight but was picked up by Swift Sails and was flown out the door to be rushed down the hall. “Applejaaaaaaaaaaaack!”

Sniff closed the door and turned to Applejack.

“You need another sip before we start?”

Applejack took a few deep breaths and swallowed hard before gathering all her determination into a petulant sneer to mask her trepidations.

“I am a fearless warrior… let’s party.”

Cerb held up the knife for Twilight, but she shook her head, unable to stomach the idea of what they were about to do.

Fluttershy put a hoof on Cerb’s back, ready to put all of her trust in him.

“Justin, I’ve seen the way you can handle your knife. You’ve been trained with it. If Becky’s hands aren’t working for her right now, maybe you should do this.”

Becky moved her seat closer, “I’ll walk you through it. Nurse, if you could join us.”

Before they started, Lumberman whispered in Applejack’s ear, “It’s okay if you cry or scream. Even I did when I pulled the glass out.”

It took a moment for everyone to get situated, and Applejack was trembling in the wait. Then, as Twilight pulled back on the splinter to show Cerb where to cut, he said something that made Applejack start to whimper before the blade even touched her.

“Lumberman… make sure you hold her tight.”

Flying out the first window Swift Sails found, she looked back at the posts she was ordered to leave.

Thunder Glide, Midnight, and Ralph sat perched atop the castle. Their normal stern expressions weakened with deep sorrow. Even Onyx and Helix, as professional as they were, wavered from their usual powerful and domineering posture, visible even from so high above the castle’s entrance.

Spike, still held in Swift Sails's grasp, looked down at the many ponies of the peaceful little town standing still and staring at the castle.

Past every crossroad, every building, they all stopped and stared. It was as if, in that moment, they were all captured in a spell that compelled them from looking away.

Not even halfway to Sugarcube Corner, Spike still held his paws over his ears as the screams continued to pour out from the castle walls.

Quick Recap:

Growing tensions got pretty scary between Oven Fresh and Twilight.Cerb is getting verrrrry comfortable with his mares.Rainbow Dash might have a crush on Cerb?Chris is potentially getting sexually assaulted in a way that he enjoys? Also, Nurse Redheart made the switch of having eyes for Cerb to focusing on Chris. That's neat.Sniff and Twilight seemed to have patched things up.However, for those of you who might have thought Sniff was just a poon hound and a degenerate... but everyone has a story to tell. Even if they won't say it.

Also... they didn't open the other gifts? Gonna have to fix that.

But... like I warned you all about the rollercoaster. I had a hard time writing this part out, it's so hard watching someone suffer and frightened. Not many are lucky like Spike and can be pulled away to avoid watching it happen.

However, the rollercoaster will continue. You will want to keep reading, for more revelations, and the grand reveal of Benny's debrief. So, if you've been looking for answers... let's see how close your theories were to what is exposed.

Chapter 64.
Answers From The Shadows and Salvation from Chokeholds.

Normal publications on Wednesdays will continue.