Ok, so sorry for the lateness of my update, I lost my internet connection for almost a week that turned out to be my motherboard wheezing its last. I had to get a new board and processor, but fear not! I've been diligently writing when I've been able to between being sick and having my computer shut down at random times. I'll have the next chapter up tomorrow, on my oath!

Ponyville General Hospital, despite being located in what most might consider to be something of a backwater, was actually one of the best equipped medical facilities in central Equestria. Part of the reason stemmed from it's proximity to the nation's capitol of Canterlot, the other less public reason was that Ponyville was the home of the Elements of Harmony and Celestia prioritized their good health. Not that anypony dared to second-guess that decision of course, to the ponies of Equestria the Elements were symbols to aspire to as well as living examples that anypony can exemplify the six great virtues. They were the saviors of the moon, the enders of chaos, the guardians of Canterlot itself during the invasion of the Changeling army that nearly toppled the great kingdom, these six mares even rescued the semi-mythical Crystal Empire.

The six mares were less than at their best though, at the moment, as they all stood around a single hospital bed occupied by a single stallion. Terrible burns patched and scored his rust-colored coat, the the doctors were frankly baffled as to the source however as the burns seemed to have occurred from the inside out somehow. Sitting closest to the stallion's head was a lavender unicorn mare, her eyes red and puffy from crying as she stroked the comatose patient's mane out of his eyes despite the fact that every time she removed her hoof the charcoal hair would droop right back to where it had been.

“C'mon sugarcube, the Princess'll be here lickity-split, ah promise, she'll know what ta do,” Applejack put a comforting hoof on her friend's shoulder. Twilight just nodded silently, not saying a word, the room was deathly silent save for the beep-beep or the EEG machine hooked up to the patient, not even the Element of Laughter could muster a smile.

None of them could get his screams out of their ears.

“He'll be ok Twi', I mean heck, a tough guy like that? No way he'll go down,” Rainbow chided playfully, her heart wasn't in it though, Twilight smiled a little though, nodding.

“Yeah, he is tough, it's just...” the tears started to make a comeback before she was swallowed in a hug from Fluttershy, Twilight buried her face in her friends soft, pink mane, “T-the last thing we did was fight, and I just left...” her voice cracked around her words. “I just left him alone to do what was probably one of the hardest things he'd ever done. What kind of friend does that?”

“What happened darling?” Rarity brushed Twilight's bangs away from her eyes as she emerged from Fluttershy's hug, “just talk to us.”

Twilight shook her head, “I can't... it's about the whole security thing, what he was about to do... it was to help the Princess, it was just... a really scary idea,” she admitted a little lamely. “I mean, I knew he wasn't going to actually do it, just go as far as he needed to to find out how it was done, but the thought of him even considering it... it shook me really badly. I always looked up to him, he was like my brother after Shiny went off to basic, he looked out for me, took care of me in the Academy.”

“Well, ah'd say he sounds like a stand up kinda guy, ah mean, 'specially after what'e did fer mah kin, ah jus' wish I'd gotten a chance ta meet'im b'fore-” Pinky stuck a hoof in her too-honest friend's mouth before she got a chance to go into that particular crevasse.

“AJ! You're still gonna meet him!” Pinkie admonished in a motherly tone, “Jasper is gonna be just fine.”

“O-oh, well yeah, o'course, ah just meant, y'know...”

“Girls, it's ok,” Twilight broke into the awkward conversation, “We just have to wait for the Princess to get here, I... I know she'll be able to help.”

“Of course she will darling,” Rarity pulled out a handkerchief from seemingly nowhere and proceeded to clean up Twilight's tear-stained face gently. “Until then though, you need to get some rest, she'll be here as soon as she's raised the sun, after all, our brave soldier isn't going anywhere. At least go get some tea from the break room. Pinkie, please make sure she gets something to eat too ok?” The pink pony nodded with a grateful smile, “Rainbow, I know you have to get to work soon and don't think I don't know you didn't get any sleep tonight.”

“Y-yeah well, won't be the first all-nighter I've pulled,” said with a noncommittal shrug, “it's an easy day anyway, I'll be back as soon as I finish up the morning cloudbreaks.”

“And?”

“And a nap...”

“Good, Fluttershy, can you...” Rarity began before stopping at Fluttershy's apologetic expression, “oh I suppose you have to feed your animals don't you?” the gentle mare nodded silently, “Well, fortunately I finished most of my outstanding orders last evening, I'll stay here and wait for the Princess.”

“Thank you, Rarity,” Twilight said, pulling her immaculate friend into a hug,

“Anytime darling, don't you worry.”

“Alrigh' well, ah gotta get back ta the farm and finish up the mornin' chores,” Applejack tipped her hat a little tiredly, “apple trees wait fer nopony as they say. Be back in a jiffy though.”

“Applejack, I hate to be a bother but, can you pick up Sweetie Belle and bring her to the farmhouse? It is a school day after all and somepony has to walk her to school, I'd feel better if she was with Apple Bloom and your brother.”

Applejack grinned and nodded, “Ah sure can sugarcube, no problem at all.”

The girls cleared out to their respective tasks, eventually leaving Rarity alone in the room even as the light of dawn began to filter through the curtains. Taking a deep breath and relishing the sudden quiet and calm Rarity took up Twilight's vacated seat and softly let the dam she'd kept up since Jasper had been wounded, and subsequently admitted to the ER, crack and fall.

Tears poured silently down her face as she smoothed his ruffled mane and needlessly straightened the bandages out that covered his terrible and mysterious wounds.

“You're an awful, awful stallion, you know that Mister Shale?” she whispered morosely, “you promised you'd spend another afternoon with me, and yet here you are standing me up.” She let the tears go freely, not even bothering the kerchief she still held in her hoof. “You had better awaken soon, you brute, or... well, as the saying goes, 'No fury like a mare scorned' isn't it? You're quite fortunate I'm the Element of Generosity, else I might not...” she hiccuped and a fresh sob rolled through her bringing with it new, hot tears, “...I might not be willing to give you another chance. After all, Juliet Rarity never gets stood up, is that clear?” casting a furtive glance over her shoulder, Rarity leaned in a placed a small, warm kiss on his forehead.

“He's certainly a step up from Blueblood.”

Rarity nearly shot into the air before remembering herself, taking a deep breath, and turning to face the Princess Celestia, who had appeared at the doorway and was wearing a maternal, if somewhat mischievous, smile.

The look on her face disarmed any panic the alabaster mare had, allowing her mind to catch up to the comment. Rarity huffed daintily, “I will admit; that night was something a shameful chapter in my life, you can't blame a lady for pursuing a fillyhood dream though, a prince in a castle might be cliché but, unlike Blueblood himself, it has a certain romantic charm to it.”

Celestia chuckled softly and nodded, “it certainly does, Miss Rarity, although I doubt you need me to tell you that you'll probably end up crossing horns with my student over this one,” she gestured wryly to the fitfully sleeping captain. “Good stallions are hard to find.”

Rarity blushed lightly and somewhat guiltily, but nodded, “I'm aware, your majesty, I've agonized over it actually. She's known him for so long and I don't want to step in the way but, at the same time...”

“Well, I don't take sides in these sorts of things, the heart will go where the heart please after all,” the Princess admitted. “And that aside, what kind of teacher would I be if I shielded my student from the every day lessons of life?”

“T-that's... good to know,” Rarity said with a sigh of relief, since seeing Twilight's reactions around Jasper she had wondered if pursuing her interest would end up netting her a one way ticket to the moon.

Celestia reached out with her magic and pulled the cover away, revealing Jasper's bandaged form, and looked him over with a critical eye. With a regretful sigh she replaced the cover and shook her head causing Rarity's heart and hopes to drop like a stone.

“You... you can't do anything for him, can you?” she said, although her tone made it more of a statement than a question, Rarity knew the answer already.

“No, I'm afraid not...” Celestia admitted in a sorrowful voice, “this magic is as unwholesome as it is terrible, there is a reason I banned the practice of the blacker arts centuries ago.”

“Princess!” Twilight's startled voice sounded from the doorway. Rarity thanked her stars that her back was turned and quickly used the handkerchief to clean the tears from her face, making herself presentable again.

“Good morning, Twilight, Pinkie Pie,” she pulled her student into a familial embrace, “it's lovely to see you both again, I'm sorry it isn't under better circumstances.”

“Is there anything you can do Princess? Please tell me you can help him!” Twilight pleaded, but Celestia could only shake her head again. Twilight fell back on her flanks, the fight visibly draining from her.

“I'm sorry Twilight but this magic is as alien to my own as it is to the doctors here in the hospital, however...” Twilight's head shot up again, hopeful. “I believe I know of somepony who might have some insight to this.”

“You do!?” Twilight smiled for the first time that morning as Celestia nodded.

“Yes, and so do you, as a matter of fact,” she answered cryptically.

The brown-cloaked figure entered the hospital under a cloud of slight suspicion, despite most of the populace having grown relatively used to her presence in the marketplace over the years. A heavy brown satchel clicked and clanked on her back as she made her way towards the room where the Element's and the Princess were waiting for her.

“Zecora!” Twilight cried out as soon as she caught a glimpse of her striped friend entering the room, the Pinkie and Rarity moved in with her as the lavender mare clicked hooves with the forest-dwelling zebra, who smiled in return at her friends.

“Twilight, while you are a sight for sore eyes, if I said you looked well I would be telling you lies,” she rhymed as she doffed her cloak and satchel.

Twilight laughed but nodded in agreement, “Yeah, I'm kind of a mess huh?”

“Just a bit I am glad you are well though, the same cannot be said for this fellow,” Zecora nodded gravely to the injured Jasper, “I brought all that I could carry from home, but I am not sure of what there is to be done.”

“If you could at the very least tell us what kind of power wrought this damage, Miss Zecora, I would be most grateful,” Celestia answered as she pulled away the bandages gently, revealing the sickeningly scorched flesh. It looked as though steam and bubbled up from beneath the skin, searing the flesh black.

Looking over the scorch marks and damaged flesh, Zecora carefully sprinkled an odd-smelling pink dust over them to no effect. Undeterred, she repeated the process with a blue dust, then a white, and finally poured a few droplets of clear liquid upon one of the wounds. Instantly, upon touching the wound, the water turned black and hissed violently causing Zecora to shout wordlessly in fright and back away.

“Zecora! What happened? What does that mean?” Twilight nearly pounced on the wide-eyed zebra.

“I- I am not certain what this could mean, such a reaction I have never seen,” she murmured, Zecora's face was etched with fear and worry as pushed herself to her hooves and carefully approached her patient. Despite the somewhat fearsome reaction, the liquid seemed to cleanse the wound, turning it from black to a raw, but healthy pink.

“Z-Zecora! You did it!” Twilight exclaimed, something like genuine optimism entering her voice for the first time since the entire graveyard debacle.

“Yes, so it would seem my dearest friends, but this is a means as opposed to an end. My potion can cleanse his wound it is true, but as to why it works I have nary a clue.”

Celestia narrowed her eyes as she lifted the mostly-full vial that Zecora had drawn from and sniffed it, then immediately backing her face away from the pungent odor and floating it back wearing a pensive expression.

“Miss Zecora, am I right in my guess as to what that vial contains?” Zecora met the Princess's gaze evenly and nodded. “Sun Water... I had thought the practice lost,” Celestia's eyes took on a distant quality as if gazing into a different time altogether. After a moment she snapped out of it to the curious stares of Twilight and company, save for Zecora who was more thoroughly examining the wounds while consulting an unsavory looking tome.

“Sun Water?” there were few aspects of her mentor's magic that Twilight didn't know about, being a voracious reader and bibliophile as well as the personal student to the Princess of the Sun. The fact that there appeared to be some facet she not only was unfamiliar with but hadn't even heard of didn't sit well with her.

“It is an ancient magic,” Celestia began, her eyes dropping to stare into the glimmering water, “one that uses an long-forgotten, or so I had thought, alchemical process to capture the pure magic of the sun, the nature of the ritual is intensely specific, it can only be performed on certain days of the year and under exacting circumstances.”

Zecora emerged from her studies with a light nod, “on summer's longest and hottest day, at the fires zenith I must lay, a bowel of purest water clean, to catch the mystic light within.”

Twilight puzzled over the words, “Longest and hottest... the day of the Summer Sun Celebration! So you capture the light of the afternoon sun?” The zebra mystic nodded silently as she went back to her work.

“I had thought that to be the case, though the specifics are still unknown to me, to be honest I'm not even sure anypony but a Zebra could work the ritual,” Celestia mused, eliciting a disappointed look from her student. “Zebricans have a very peculiar and specific form of innate magic all their own,” she explained, "not unlike pegasi and earth ponies. Tell me, Zecora, is there anything you can do? Anything at all?”

The Zebrican alchemist closed the tome thoughtfully and was silent for a few minutes as though considering something. “Perhaps I can at that, Princess, this magic is an unholy mess, I do not know if what I find, will bring back Captain Shale's mind.”

Twilight took Zecora's hooves in her's and met her gaze pleadingly, “I know, but anything at all, please, can you try?”

Zecora nodded with a sagely smile.

The girls sat around the dinner table of Applejack's farmhouse, it was early in the afternoon, hours after the discussion with Celestia and Zecora over the particulars involved in testing Shale's condition. In the end it was simply decided to give Zecora the time and space she needed to perform her experiments, and wait for the results, something the scientist in Twilight could appreciate, but the friend and sister in her did not.

Twilight opened her mouth but no words came out, Dash and Pinkie looked up expectantly, probably hoping somepony would break the silence that had spread over the six after they'd made it back inside. Finally she spoke the words that had been weighing heavily on her since the events at the graveyard.

“I-is it terrible of me... that I... that I'm glad he was a monster? And not... a pony?” Twilight didn't meet any of her friends eyes. Shame from thinking it washed through her every time the ugly idea surfaced in her mind, but no amount of denial changed what she knew to be true. “Oh... What am I saying? That's horrible.”

Her eyes dropped down again, on the verge of tears, regretting that she had said anything at all. Then she felt a soft pressure on her hoof, Twilight looked up, half-expecting to see Fluttershy's pastel yellow coat or Rarity's alabaster white. Instead it was Pinkie's hoof, a small and sad smile that didn't look like it belonged on the normally vivacious pink pony.

“It's ok Twilight, I don't... like seeing another pony being able to do that to somepony else either,” she admitted freely. Pinkie had, as usual in her own way, hit the nail on the head.

A few droplets fell from Twilight's eyes, “When the Princess told me what he was doing all I could think of was, 'How could somepony even consider that? How could anypony ever do that to somepony else, that's monstrous!'.” the words poured from her mouth, confessing all the dark thoughts that had plagued her since the events in the Library, “and it was monstrous! So when... when the Princess asked Jasper to remember how it was done I just lost it, I was actually relieved when he couldn't remember, even though I knew we needed him to. I was just so relieved that he didn't know how to do such a horrible thing... and then he was determined to learn how it was done anyway. I thought I didn't want him to but he was planning to... to 'do whatever was necessary' to fulfill his duty. I should have supported him, instead I... I abandoned him.”

“Aw, c'mon darlin'” Applejack had moved around to put a comforting hoof over Twilight's shoulder, “you were scared, tha's ok, nuthin' wrong with bein' scared, ya'll came back didn't ya?”

Twilight scoffed bitterly, “Yes, I did, but why do you think I asked you all to bring the elements? I had no idea Twist was there or that he would try and ponynap Jasper.”

“O-oh... I just, uhm, assumed... so why did you?” Fluttershy finally piped up, curiosity and worry overcoming her shyness. Twilight opened her mouth to answer, to find a way to say it without sounding...

“To stop Jasper by force.”

Rainbow's voice cut through the conversation like a hot blade, it wasn't worried, or sympathetic like the others either.

She was angry.

“All this time, Twilight, I thought you'd called us up there to save him!” she stomped across the floor, backing Twilight into the corner of the kitchen, a fire burning in her voice. “But you were gonna try and use the Elements against Jasper the whole time! THE WHOLE TIME! How...” they were almost muzzle to muzzle, Twilight's eyes were wide with shame and not a little fear, Dash huffed softly and back up, taking a calming breath.

“How could you Twilight?”

“Dash I-”

“Shut it, I need to get some air?” she made it as far as the door before turning her head back to the cowed lavender unicorn, “Twi', I'm not... we're still friends but, that's just... not cool y'know?” she pushed the door open a little harder than necessary and took to the sky, the snap of the sound barrier and the rattling windows told them all she'd just rainboom'd her way across Ponyville.

“Twi', ah know ya meant well,” Applejack nestled up next to the shaking librarian, “but Dashie's got a point, that ain't what the Element's're for, ya'll know that. Ah know ya'll were scared though, ah forgive ya, e'en though ah oughta be right mad considerin' what ah owe that stallion. Ah know ya'll were just worried about 'im.”

Twilight buried herself in Applejack's sandy mane and let out a muffled sob, AJ wrapped a leg around her and let her cry softly. “Shush naow, it'll be a'right, Dashie ain't one ta hold'a grudge, 'specially with a friend. She's the Element'a Loyalty though, that probably hit a nerve.”

“I should say so,” Rarity's voice came across disturbingly cool, her manner even more so. “I think... I should probably excuse myself before I say something I regret, but Twilight...” the thoroughly unhappy mare lifted her face from where she'd buried herself to look Rarity in the eyes. Twilight knew she'd made a mistake, she was willing to face the consequences, and the fashionista's eyes softened when she saw the determination there. With a long-suffering sigh Rarity trotted over and tousled Twilight's hair. Her previously harsh reprimand died on her lips, instead a much softer voice said, “I'm disappointed in you Twilight, I really am, but... I forgive you too.”

“T-thank you, Rarity, I'm so sorry girls, I really am...” she laughed a little less bitterly than before, “you'd think I'd have learned that lesson after Discord's little trick.”

Fluttershy grinned widely as the tension dissipated, shortly before she was bodily lifted by Pinkie and carried over to the other four with a shout of “GROUP HUG!”

Applejack gasped around the tight embrace, “Uh, P-Pinkie, ya'll might wanna wait fer Dashie, all things considered.”

“I know! But I was so afraid that Rarity and Twilight would fight that when they made up and Rarity forgave her I was so so so excited! Especially since they're both in-” two apple fritters suddenly found their way forcefully into Pinkie's mouth, crammed there by a white hoof.

“Thank you Pinkie, darling, but I really do need to go and, if I'm right, so do you. The Cakes need their cashier and baker and you've taken the entire morning off.”

With a giant gulp the fritters vanished and Pinkie licked crumbs from her lips before nodding, “Oh! Right! I hope the Cakes aren't mad, I told them I'd be gone though so it should be fine. Well, gotta go!”

“Thank Celestia for Attention Deficit,” Rarity mumbled as she also made to leave, she was stopped by a lavender hoof on her shoulder.

“Wait, Rarity, AJ, Fluttershy, I need your help girls, Pinkie's and Rainbow's too when we track them down.”

Applejack crooked and eye brow, “what's on yer mind sugarcube?”

“You're all right, I should have done better by Jasper, I should have trust him and helped him, now he's... he's injured and it's probably my fault. That means I've got to help Celestia in his place.”

Rarity met her friend's eyes evenly, as if searching for something, before nodding. Fluttershy, in an uncharacteristic show of determination, also nodded firmly. AJ shrugged and nodded as well, “Ah did say ah owed him a debt, an' an Apple always pays their debts.”

“Good, now, before you girls got there I heard Twist talking to Jasper. They weren't leaving the graveyard, instead Twist was dragging him somewhere deeper in. I didn't think anything of it at the time but, now that it comes to it, he must have been going somewhere.”

“Uhm... does that mean we have to go back into the cemetery?” Fluttershy piped in fearfully and Twilight nodded, “...at night?” voice rising an octave and dropping in volume.

“Well, I guess not necessarily.”

Fluttershy sighed with apparent relief.

“But it might be best considering those were the original circumstances.”

-Squeak-

“Wait, ah'm not sure what ya'll're gettin' at Twi', what exactly are we looking fer?”

Rarity chimed in as she connected the dots, “You think he has a safe house, or a lab of some kind around or near the cemetery, don't you?” Twilight nodded silently.

“Woah now, ah ain't sure ah wanna go waltzin' inta some mad scientist's lair, no offense ta yer own basement Twi'. Don'tcha think this is somethin' we should tell Luna? Or Celestia?”

“What do we tell them? That I have a hunch? I need to give them more than that and besides...” her eyes gravitated towards a window that looked out towards Ponyville proper, and the hospital. “I need to find it myself... for Jasper. Besides, I'm not exactly unqualified you know.”

“W-well, if that's what we have to do then, uhm, I guess we should do it, right?” Rarity, Applejack, and Twilight all turned to stare at Fluttershy as if she'd grown a horn and announced herself as the newest Princess.

“Well, I suppose if Fluttershy is championing Twilight's plan then, crazy or not, it's going to happen, hm?” Rarity said sardonically.

“Ah reckon so.”

Twilight beamed at her friends for a moment before taking a deep breath and steeling herself. “Thanks girls, all of you, now let's let Rainbow and Pinkie know, and we'll all meet at the Cemetery gates at five sharp, ok?”

An orange, yellow, and alabaster head each nodded in agreement.