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// Karkat Hates Brainwashing 
// Story: Unintended Consequences 
// by Daedalus 
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  It was a sunny day in Ponyville. Twilight Sparkle was freaking out about being tardy with her regular letters to the Man Mare, and the sun was ticking down the hours left in the day like the moon was about to crash into Equestria. Meanwhile, the "Man 6", as Aristotle and Co. were starting to be called in Ponyville (and the title of the Apple Core album that officially introduced Karkat and Spike as members of the group after some earlier guest appearances), were worried over the unicorn's erratic behavior. When Twilight began cackling madly, Karkat moved to active surveillance. What could she be planning?
He didn't have to wait long to find out, as Twilight exposited on her plan to provoke a "friendship problem" that she could solve in public. After his experiences fighting for the collective free will of the planet, Karkat had become sensitive to mind control like that. As a matter of fact, he had already removed all mind control spells from the Ponyville Library, leaving the counter spells for public use. Karkat knew he had to take action.
Aristotle began watching his honorary brother (much easier than "alternate future self") when he put on his Assassin Robes, a sign that something was up. Upon seeing the man he might have been stalk up to his best pony friend (not that that was saying much; Aristotle had few friends), hidden blades flashing in the sunset light, Aristotle tackled Karkat to the ground, asking what the deal was. Following an explanation, Aristotle started yelling at both Karkat, who insisted he wouldn't have done any permanent damage, and Twilight, who was in awe of the friendship letter she could get out of this mess. She wrote to the Mare asking for a less stringent schedule in exchange for roping her friends into writing their own letters. As the Mare had already gotten a couple of satisfactory letters from Spike and Aristotle, she readily agreed. And things were peachy until Pinkie Pie was hospitalized for a week by Karkat for slandering Princess Luna, one of his few friends, during Nightmare Night. And then things were peachy again, because Karkat paid off his debt to society by doing constructive work for the community: providing free public education, which, unfortunately for the correctional system, the man enjoyed doing.

   Dear Princess Celestia,

Today I learned not to be afraid to ask for help if you need it. I learned that it's okay to let friends know when they screw up. And I learned that you should try to talk out your problems first, even if violence is startlingly effective for getting your way.

Sincerely, Twilight Sparkle, Aristotle, and Karkat.