Gavin didn't really know where to start. Well, other than what he'd already said. He'd explained that his cutie mark was a creeper and that they exploded; what else was there to explain? He knew they wouldn't understand anyway. They'd probably never understand.
"Alright, do you get the whole creeper thing?" he asked hopefully.
"Nuh-uh." replied Applejack plainly.
Gavin sighed. He had no idea how to make it clear for them what a creeper was, or what an Xbox was, never mind the whole lightning thing. Therefore, he decided to bend the truth and make it into something they could get their heads around.
"Okay, I'm gonna explain it in a way that's not actually, fully, one hundred percent accurate, but is much, much simpler." he said with a smile.
"OH YAY!" yelled Pinkie jumping into the air, "Is this going to be like a story?" she asked.
"Sort of, but not really" returned Gavin with a chuckle before he continued.
"Back on our world there's a... device, called the Xbox. The Xbox is... a-a portal that can transport us to lots of different worlds." he said. "Some worlds are full of violence and fighting, such as the 'Call of Duty' world, while some are spacey and set in the future like the 'Halo' world, and some are just for living differently, like the 'Minecraft' world." he explained. The ponies nodded happily, taking this all in with relative ease. Hmmm, this seems to be working, he thought.
He smiled at the small group of ponies and continued speaking, while Dan began chuckling to himself at Gavin's interpretation.
"Anyway, in the Minecraft world there are these monsters called creepers. Their faces look like my cutie mark, and they have tall, blocky bodies with four legs at the bottom. The thing is, when you get too close to them, or when you hit them, they explode themselves." he said flatly.
The mares had split reactions. Pinkie Pie and Rarity gasped, while Applejack raised her eyebrow suspiciously
"Are ya sure yer not bendin' the truth too much Gav?" she asked.
"Nope, it's not that far out." said Gavin calmly before continuing. "When a creeper gets struck by lightning they become super charged, some blue energy shit surrounds them, and them have a much bigger explosion." he said. "So, when Long Shot hit me with lightning, I became a supercharged creeper stallion who exploded." he added quickly.
Pinkie and Rarity shared a quick glance before shrugging and smiling, Gavin's 'lie' wasn't bad. (An Xbox isn't that far off from a portal to other worlds if you think about it.)
"So, it's a portal huh?" asked Applejack.
"Well... yeah." muttered Gavin.
"Dan is this true?" she questioned.
"Pretty much, yeah. I mean, that's the best way to explain it." the unicorn chuckled.
Applejack was about to ask more questions, the feeling that this was not even remotely close to the truth not dying down, but they'd reached the hospital already. Gavin smiled at her merrily before trotting into the hospital, his hoof steps snapping her out of her train of thought.
"Alright, let’s go find the others." grunted the farm pony.
"Okie dokie lokie!" agreed Pinkie happily.
The group walked inside and up to the front desk, the same mare Gavin had talked to before greeting them warmly.
"Good morning everypony, I suppose you're here to see your friends?" she said to Gavin kindly.
"Yeah, which way?" he asked.
"Just go that way." she said, gesturing to a hallway.
“Cheers.” he thanked.
Gavin nodded at her and smiled before heading off down the corridor with the others.
"I hope they're alright." said Dan glumly.
"Oh come on, they'll be super fine! My friends are tough, don't you worry Danny fanny!" cheered Pinkie cheerfully, making Gavin giggle like a madman.
"Don't ever call me that ever again. Ever. For all time." mumbled Dan sourly.
"Sure thing?" agreed the party pony, not knowing what she did wrong.
Gavin turned around to look at his friend, Dan's fringe covering the top of his eyes as he looked to the ground.
"Chin up Danny Fanny." he snickered.
"Shut up Gav!" he yelled, hitting Gavin on the flank.
"Ow! Okay, sorry dude." giggled the pegasus.
"Stop fooling around you two, we're nearly there and we need to be good, supportive friends." explained Rarity.
"Yeah, sorry Rarity." apologized the two stallions.
They walked up to a curtain and Applejack pulled it aside. The four beds, with the four injured ponies, were revealed. Twilight was sleeping peacefully, the only visible sign of the explosion being the gouges in her horn. Long Shot was in bad shape; one of his wings was in a sling and he had bandages covering most of his body and head. And he was snoring. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were both awake and, aside from the cast on one and the bandages on the other, they looked relatively unscathed for having been blown up. Their faces lit up when they saw the group pull back the curtains.
"Applejack! Rarity! Pinkie!" croaked Fluttershy, calling the three mares over for a hug.
"Gav! Dan!" mumbled Rainbow Dash, seeing the stallions standing alone.
They trotted over to the cyan pegasus and hugged her friendlily, enjoying the contact. Out of all of the mares, Gavin felt his connection with Rainbow Dash was the strongest. He didn't know if it was because he actually got on better with her, if she reminded him of someone, or because he'd spent the most time with her.
"Oh, I'm so happy you're alright!" exclaimed Rarity, breaking from the hug with Fluttershy.
"Oh, yes, they just put my leg in a cast, so I'll be fine." assured the yellow pegasus.
"How're Twilight n' Long Shot?" asked Applejack.
"Oh, they're good too. The doctors knocked them out because of the pain." replied Fluttershy with a weak smile.
Applejack nodded and trotted over to Rainbow Dash, hugging her too.
"Are you alright Sugarcube?" Applejack asked quietly.
"Yeah," croaked Rainbow Dash with a smile, "at least the explosion was cool." she added with a small laugh.
"Yeah," laughed Applejack, "Ah just don't know if ah feel safe around em anymore"
"Don't worry about that AJ, it was really Long Shot's fault anyway." argued Rainbow Dash with a smile.
"Uh, alright Rainbow." sighed Applejack, returning her friends smile.
As Gavin walked over to Fluttershy to ask if she was okay and apologize, he saw Twilight's hoof twitch slightly out of the corner of his eye. He stopped in his tracks and turned his head around to look at her. Her hoof was twitching frequently, her eyebrows moving slightly too. It seemed that Applejack, Dan and Rarity had noticed too, Pinkie however was busy making nurses wish they'd never been born with her 'awfully amazingly awesome alliteration activity'.
The three ponies looked at Twilight with raised brows before sharing a glance.
"I didn't think she was supposed to be coming around yet." whispered Dan.
"Nor did I." added Rarity quietly. Twilight's eyebrows then slowly stopped, leaving a very angry expression on her face. Her hooves were tensed and her ears were stuck straight up. Applejack stepped back slowly, Rarity followed suit. Gavin and Dan just stared at her confusedly.
Suddenly, Twilight's eyes shot open and she sat up quick as a flash. She glared deep into Gavin's eyes making his stumble backwards and almost trip over his own hooves. Twilight then opened her mouth to speak.
"WHAT THE BUCK IS GOING ON?!"