The citizens of Ponyville were enamored with the new structure that magically appeared in their town. The glimmering crystal tree castle stood out in the humble town of Ponyville, it gave their town a touch of class. There were many foals that ran and played outside the castle, while inside of it was Twilight Sparkle and Spike. They were all busy trying to recreate all the books and information Twilight lost when her home exploded. Twilight let out a sigh “Why didn’t I reread my books again, while I still had the chance?” she sadly asked. Spike rolled his eyes, after hearing Twilight say this over and over again; he was at his wits’ end.
“Yeah well, I lost my comic book collection too, and most of them were rare!” Spike blurted out. Spike gasped and quickly regretted what he said, shoving a claw on top of his mouth.
Twilight looked as if she was about to say something, but she clamped her muzzle. ‘Of course I’m not the only who lost things, Spike has as well’ Twilight thought to herself.
She then walked toward Spike and sat down next to him. She then nuzzled him in a motherly way; both of them sharing a moment of lose.
Meanwhile, Fluttershy was outside her cottage clutching a letter to her chest standing right next to her mailbox. Angel was right beside her impatiently thumping his foot.
I hope the mailpony gets here quickly, this letter needs to go soon.’ Fluttershy thought as she stared down her path.
Finally a mailmare came by and looked at Fluttershy waiting there, and then noticed Fluttershy’s pet. The mailpony grinned thinking the rabbit was adorable.
The mailmare did wonder why Fluttershy was there, but then the mailpony knew from many years of experience, that if it was really important mail, ponies would usually go out of their way to see the mailpony take that mail from them. By watching a mailpony take it, it gave ponies a piece of mind.
The mailmare then remembered the rumors she had heard at the post office. Rumors about what this pony did to another mailpony, and it made the mailmare a little frightened of Fluttershy.
A hint of fear showed on the mare’s face when she looked at Fluttershy. Fluttershy sighed while having a look of guilt on her face. Most the mailponies had that look when they came towards Fluttershy or her home to deliver the mail. After what happened to that mailpony in that one indent, she could hardly blame them.
“Um ...hello Fluttershy” said the mailpony sounding a bit nervous.
Fluttershy exchanged her letter for the ones the mailpony had for her.
Even though the mailpony was not supposed to, she quickly glanced at the letter out of curiosity before stuffing it inside her mail carrier bag. ‘Hmm… it’s going to a pony named Timid Storm in Cloudsdale, interesting’ the mailpony thought.
The mailpony saw the doubt in Fluttershy’s eyes and wanted to assure her that the letter would be safe. So the mailmare gave a salute as she recited something she said many times to many other ponies. “You can trust us to deliver this mail as quickly and safely as possible.”
As soon as Fluttershy hear those words something within her broke
“Ttrrustt” Fluttershy said as her voice shook, and there was a very subtle eye twitch when she said that.
“Yy…you want to me trust you?” Fluttershy asked in an angry tone, this completely shocked the mailpony.
“Why! So you can betray me again, you want to take advantage of me don’t you?! Well I’m not going to let that happen EVER AGAIN!” Fluttershy shouted as she huffed in angry. This caused the mailpony to shiver in total fear and then ran away as fast as her legs could carry her.
Discord had just watched the whole scene from afar, he was hiding behind one of the trees near her house. He wanted see how bad the damage of his betrayal was to Fluttershy. Usually when somepony broke they become less fun to toy with. Now Discord just felt awful, the feeling of guilt and regret felt like a heavy rock that sat on top of his heart.
“I am the one who caused this” Discord muttered to himself “If I don’t fix this…”
At that moment Discord’s imagination conjured up an image of a gray colored Fluttershy staying locked up inside her cottage. Then her becoming too paranoid to trust in anypony including her friends, and then spending the rest of her life miserable and alone.
Although at that point Discord did think he went a tad overboard on that one. Discord then saw that Fluttershy was gone.
Discord snapped his talon and teleported near one of Fluttershy’s windows. Discord peeked through the widow looking through a tiny opening of Fluttershy’s curtains, only to see her crying. Discord looked away in guilt “The first friend I made and I broke her, I got to get her trust back, but how?”
Discord nonchalantly played with his beard while he thought. He then remembered about Applejack’s diary entry, how she wrote about when she broke ponies trust by lying, then she wrote about how she hoped to earn it back with time. “That’s it!” he exclaimed in glee “I’ll ask her, she’ll know what to do.”
‘Wait, I’m going ask a pony for advice? I never done that before, I’m the lord of chaos I don’t need advice.’
Fluttershy opened the window curtains looking outside through her window. She was sure she heard Discord but when Fluttershy saw nothing she drew the curtains.
Discord hid on the side of Fluttershy’s house he was unable to face her now. ‘I have to, if I want to fix this, I have to’ Discord thought, his guilt feeling even worse now, so with that Discord disappeared with a snap.
Applejack was just about to buck another apple tree, when all of the sudden Discord appeared. This caused Applejack to trip and fall on the ground. ‘Oh right, I guess I have ta get used ta that’ she thought as she dusted herself off. Before Applejack had a chance to say anything Discord said.
“Applejack I...uh I need some advice”
Applejack’s jaw dropped “Hold on… ya need advice... from me?!”
“Yeah I do, it’s about… well you know.”
Applejack took an empty basket and with one hoof hit it hard, it flipped in the air and then it landed upside down.
Satisfied she sat on top of the bucket, which surprisingly could hold her weight.
“Do ya need a seat as well?” Applejack asked her hoof pointing at a nearby bucket with only a few apples inside of it.
“No, I’m fine” Discord replied proofing very comfortable lounge chair and sitting on it.
“Alright talk” Applejack stated.
“Well... I wanted to see how bad the betrayal was, and nopony took it harder than Fluttershy.”
“Applejack, how do I…how I do get her trust back?.”
‘Huh…I was expecting him ta turn around, but not this fast’ Applejack thought.
“Discord, trust is something you have ta earn, as for Fluttershy she needs time ta heal.”
“I do remember, you wrote something like in that diary, So what did you mean by you have to earn it back?” “How I even do something like that?”
“Yeah, I did write that, you see it took hard work and dedication ta earn it in the first place but since I broke that trust, it means I have ta make it up ta them.”
“As for how… well you did apologized ta her, so that’s the first step, did ya promise ta never do it again?”
“No” Discord answered.
“Well there you go, that’s another step, for now give her space.”
“The best thing ta do is the same thing I have ta do, try be a better pony” Applejack said.
"Or your case a better um... dra…con..qui…ques?” Applejack finished sounding the word out like foal would, when they were trying to say a difficult word. Discord was slightly annoyed by this but he let it go.
“That way it will be a little easier ta get her trust back.”
“I see…well Applejack, I need some time to think things over, if you’ll excuse me” and with that he was gone. Applejack then realized that he did not take the chair with him.
“Discord! What am I suppose ta do with this chair?!” Applejack shouted.
Discord was now lounging in a large tree. He was deep in thought about the conversation he just had with Applejack. ‘What am I suppose to do? I am the lord of chaos, chaos is all I know.’
‘I don’t know how to be better’ ‘I don’t how to be good’
‘Also waiting have never been my strong suit’
He thought back to when he read the diary and each ordeal Twilight and her friends had to go through to test the elements they represent.
Just then an idea popped into his head.
“Of course!” Discord said as he hit his lion paw into his talon. He looked as if he had another epiphany, when he vanished again.
Spike and Twilight went back to organizing the library. Although now, there was an awkward silence between the three of them because what happened earlier in the library.
Discord appeared at the moment, and because it was a welcome distraction from the uncomfortable situation. It caused Twilight to involuntarily let out a sigh of relief.
Discord had a sly grin on his face, “Well, well Twilight, happy to see me?” He teased “I don’t think you missed me that much.”
Twilight let out an annoyed sigh and rolled her eyes at the same time. “Did you want something Discord?”
“I know you and your friends have forgiven me for that whole Tirek thing, but my guess is that you don’t trust me yet.”
“Discord, that kind of…”
“Please Twilight, let me finish” Discord interrupted. “I realized that I don’t know anything about being good,so then I remembered about that diary all of you wrote in, and the tests you and your friends passed, which helped you all learn and grow from them.”
“So… I … I want you and the others to give me tests. Some trials if you will, maybe it could be something that has to do with the elements you all represent.”
Twilight stood there completely dumbfounded. A book that Spike was holding slipped out of his claw. The book landed with a hard thud and it broke the deafening silence that came over everyone in the room. However it made no difference the sound was completely ignored. The situation then became more and more uncomfortable for Discord.
Twilight gathered herself and asked “Are you sure about this?”
“Yes” Discord replied
“Discord, are you really certain about this? There could be another way.”
“No, I believe this is the best way for me to learn about being good and also, it will give me a chance to make up to other ponies.”
“Are you absolutely sure about this?” Twilight asked emphasizing the word absolutely
“Yes” Discord said sounding a bit irritated.
“Alright, let me talk to everypony else and see what their opinion is”
“Ok, sounds reasonable”
And with that Twilight left the castle with Spike following close behind her.
Discord paced back and forth in Twilight’s library. He was debating with himself on whether or not he should eavesdrop on the discussion that was just about to happen with Twilight and the rest her friends.
He wanted to avoid the blame game, and hoof pointing from them. He already felt bad, he did not want rub even more salt in the wound. Although Discord knew it would probably not happen, he wanted to avoid it all the same.
Except he don’t know how long they would take and he hated waiting. Discord pouted as he made a desk chair appear in the middle of the room. He sat on it making it float in the air while rocking it back and forth waiting for the result. ______________________________________________________________________________
Twilight had set up a light picnic on a hill. It was the same hill where she and her friends would sometimes have picnics together. The picnic only had; boiled egg and cucumber tea sandwiches, which were already placed on separate plates, tea, and a pitcher of lemonade. Twilight checked the picnic basket again to make sure she didn’t leave anything, and only saw the gems that she had for Spike. Twilight decided to chomp on a sandwich,while she waited for Spike to bring the rest of her friends.
Twilight grimaced as she criticized herself on the sandwich she was eating. Then,she reminded herself that she made it with whatever food she happened to have in her new home,and she was also in a rush.
'Not everything has be perfect all the time Twilight' Twilight scolded herself
Twilight smiled as Spike brought all her friends just like she asked. Although, Fluttershy was missing amongst the group. It was quickly by noticed by everypony who showed up. There were looks of worry on their faces as they all settled down.
“Fluttershy needs some alone time right now, she took the betrayal harshly” Applejack calmly stated
‘Poor Fluttershy’ Twilight thought with concern, watching Spike pour out the pitcher of lemonade, for everypony and sticking straws in each glass. When he was done Twilight pointed at the basket with her eyes. Spike smiled with glee understanding the hint, and soon began crunching on gems.
“Speaking of the betrayal, that’s why I called everypony here” Twilight said.
“Discord came to me with a proposal, and it involves all of us”
Pinkie cocked her head on the side in confusion and then jerked it back quickly as if she understood.
“Discord asked to you to marry him?!” asked Pinkie excitedly
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes as said “Pinkie, I'm sure she doesn't mean... ”
Pinkie Pie interpreted by talking way too fast to comprehend what she was saying.
Pinkie Pie rapidly inhaled air to say something else when everypony yelled her name at the top of their lungs, which stopped more of her incoherent babbling.
“It’s not that kind of proposal!” everypony explained in an slightly annoyed tone.
“Ooo… why didn’t you say so in the first place?” Pinkie Pie said with a giggle
Twilight double facehoofed, then dragged her hoofs down her face as she let a huge groan.
“It’s not one of his schemes is it?” Rainbow Dash asked while chewing on a sandwich.
"How could you say such a thing? After all he did help us with opening that box, Tirek would have won if we didn't open it" Rarity elegantly said but then she muttered through her teeth "though he did end up betraying in process..." "We forgave him all the same" Rarity said.
"Yeah, I guess you're right" Rainbow Dash said sounding a bit guilty about it
"Anywayyss, what did Discord ask ya Twi?" Applejack asked.
"Well, he wants us to give him trials to help him learn to be a better... well a better him I guess."
"He suggested that it could tie in to the elements we represent" Twilight finished
Everypony expect for Spike and Twilight, completely stopped whatever they doing and spent time in total shock
There was a complete silence for a while, until Applejack broke it by laughing, it was as if somepony told her a really funny joke.
Everyone there looked at Applejack thinking that she finally lost her mind.
"So that's what he came up with huh? Of course it is"
"What the hay are you talking about AJ?" Rainbow asked confused.
"He came ta me for advice"
"He...he what?!" everypony including Spike said at once sounding genuinely surprised
"He came ta me for advice, he told me about Fluttershy not taking the betrayal well, and he asked how ta get her trust back"
"I told him she needs space, I also said that trust it has ta be earned and I finished by telling him for now try ta be good" Applejack said finishing her story
"It's all fitting together now, so he doing this to earn Fluttershy's trust, so to do that he wants us to give him trials that will teach him to be good, which will help him earn her trust and depending on how well he does on the trial, it will earn everypony's else trust in the process, that's ....actually quite brilliant." Twilight deduced feeling a little admiration towards Discord because he came up the plan.
"So then, what do all of you want to do?" Twilight asked addressing everypony.
Everypony looked at each other. Rainbow Dash being the first to speak up
"I agree, I want in"
"I second it, I say we do this to help our new friend Discord..." Pinkie chimed in
"Or would he be our old friend since we were friends before?" Pinkie questioned
Pinkie thought about it for a while, when she came up a solution "He's an old friend who became new"
"Well shot, count me in" Applejack said.
"It looks like we're all in agreement then" Rarity said "However what we do about Fluttershy dear?"
Twilight begin to ponder about this when Applejack came up a suggestion
"I think we should wait for Discord ta finish the first trial ta try tell her, and if she's not ready we'll tell her after another trial, that way she can see that he's making the effort and we have our word ta back it up"
Everypony agreed on that
"So then what about the trials? Which one should be first? Should we all come up with them together or separately?" Rainbow Dash inquired
"Well, I think he should choose which order he wants to do them, as for the trials we could come up with them separately so he can learn something from each of us" Twilight suggested
"But we could brainstorm a little to give each other some ideas" she added
Normally, Spike would have stayed until the end the picnic, so he could help clean up. However he knew would be left out the conversation, so he figured he might as well go home. Spike sighed, he brushed off the gem crumbs he had all over him and left the group of ponies. Maybe he would reread that Power Ponies comic Princess Celestia gave Twilight along with some other books, or maybe he would take a nap. Spike thought that he would decide when he got there.
Twilight saw Spike leave "Hang on a minute mares" said Twilight. Twilight teleported in front of him, she was still in a sitting position "Wait, Spike" Twilight called, he looked at her in response.
"Would you like to be a part of the trials?" she asked
"Really?" Spike asked in surprise
"Yeah really, listen I recently noticed that you are left out most of the time and I'm sorry for that, that's why this time I want to include you..."
Then Twilight unintentionally imitated Fluttershy by saying "If you want to that is"
"I would like some time to think about I'll let you know what I decide"
"Alright If that's what you want Spike,I'll see ya later then" with that Twilight went back to her friends.
So then Spike was deep in thought about what to do on way to the crystal castle tree.
'So do I want to give Discord a trial? What kind of trial?'
'but then...'
Spike stopped on his tracks when he came to epiphany 'Maybe, since I'll been on a quest before, I could have the experience to help him, I could write about his experiences as he does each trial.'
Spike finally made it back to the castle hearing loud groans of boredom coming from the library as soon he went inside.
Spike went to check out where the sound was coming from, finding Discord doing an upside down head stand on a desk chair. He was glancing at a book, not really reading it at all. Spike spotted many books tossed half-haphazardly all over the place.
Spike grumbled under his breath when he saw this, after all he knew it would take forever to clean that up
Discord look up from the book he was looking at and said in a slight annoyed tone "Oh it's you Spic"
"Spike" Spike angrily corrected
"Whatever, please tell me they're almost done"
"Oh you mean....no they're not done they're going be while"
"Arg! But I can't wait anymore"
"Well, I don't know what to tell you"
"Fine, maybe I'll go do something else"
"Then go"
"I will" Discord said almost childishly "Goodbye Spoke" he said then vanished.
"It's Spike" he mumbled as he closed the door to the library
"I could change my mind, I could give him a really, really hard trial" Spike told himself
Spike sighed and said "Even if Discord is being a jerk; I already made up my mind"
"But I'll be lying if I said it wasn't temping though"
Discord sighed as he saw Twilight’s baby dragon walking beside him. The dragon was currently dragging a heavy satchel.
‘Arg! I can’t believe I agreed to this;I’m not a babysitter! And besides, he’ll just get in the way.’ Discord thought to himself.
Flashback
“Discord, all of us have agreed to your offer,” Twilight said.
“Great!” Discord replied.
“You get to choose which trial to do first.”
“Oh, okay…”
“And one more thing. Spike wants to assist you with your quests.”
“...You’re kidding me, right? He’s just a baby dragon; It’d be like if a filly had to help Celestia raise the sun.”
“ Just give him a chance, Discord. Besides, he could record your deeds as you do them.”
“You know, I can do that too, right?” Discord emphasized the point by making a scroll appear with a quill, the quill moving by itself.
“Well, maybe there will be a trial that needs your undivided attention. Besides he’s a very good assistant. Could you just give him a chance?”
Discord wanted to disagree, but he couldn’t come up with any counterarguments
Spike disrupted Discord's flashback by speaking.“So… Discord, where we are going first?”
Discord then had an idea pop into his head. ‘I could just go without him. He wouldn’t even know where I went.’
Spike eagerly looked at him as he pulled out a quill, ready and waiting.
It reminded Discord of a dog waiting for a treat.
Discord grumbled and sighed.
‘I am trying to redeem myself, here. If I just left him here, it would hurt his feelings… or something.’
“I think maybe we could try a simple one first, so let’s try Applejack's place,” Discord stated.
“Do you really think it will be…”
“Of course it’ll be easy. I mean, it’s Applejack. I’m sure she’ll ask me to be more honest or something for her trial. Couldn’t be easier.”
“After all, I don’t tell lies,” Discord said, taking an almost heroic stance.
Spike looked at Discord oddly. ‘Did his muzzle grow longer?’ Spike thought as he tilted his head.
So Discord teleported both Spike and himself to Sweet Apple Acres.
Applejack was already in the field gathering apples when she spotted the two.
“Well, guess I’m the first one! Ya’ll ready for my trial?” Applejack asked.
Discord and Spike nodded.
They followed Applejack to the edge of the orchard, where the apples from the tree had not been taken yet.
There were twelve medium-sized empty barrels waiting for them.
“Here’s your trial… it comes in two parts, so listen carefully. The first part is to harvest ten barrels full,” Applejack stated
“Ha! No problem...” Discord said, ready to snap his talon.
“Without using any of your magic.”
“But magic is what I’m best at! It’s what I do. You wouldn’t ask Rarity or Twilight to do the same thing.”
“Ya, you’re right about that, tell you what when you finish this task. I’ll tell ya why, I asked ya ta do this without magic.”
“ Okay, but what does this have to with being honest?”
“Discord, didn’t ya want the trials to be based on our elements?” Applejack asked
“Yes, but you’re not creative. I thought it have something to do with being honest,” Discord said bluntly.
“And ya assumed it be would be easy, didn’t ya? I figured as much, and ‘cause of that I made this trial just for ya. Serves ya right for assuming.”
Applejack then gnashed her teeth together and angrily added, “And I can too be creative!” Discord and Spike gave her a look of disbelief.
“Ok, I’m not, but who says this doesn’t have ta do with honesty?”
Discord rolled his eyes and answered, “Alright, fine, what’s the second part?”
“I’ll tell ya that later.”
“AJ, are there two barrels extra?” asked Spike.
“Yep! Just in case ya’ll needed it,” Applejack answered.
So with that Discord moved five barrels under one of the trees, then stood in front of it and gave it a hard glare. He tried recall if had any knowledge about apple trees.
“Come on Discord, you've been around for a long time, surely there’s gotta be something,” he muttered to himself.
He thought and thought as knowledge of many galaxies, different worlds, and time and space flooded his mind, but nothing pertaining to this situation came to mind.
Discord looked at Applejack, who was just standing there eyeing him. “Are you just going to stand there watching me? It’s kind of creepy.”
“Well, I gotta make sure ya ain’t gonna cheat,” answered Applejack.
‘Of course… Well, I am doing these trials to earn trust, so it makes sense nopony trusts me yet,’ Discord thought to himself
With that Discord went back to the tree and looked it up and down, trying to size it up. Discord snapped his claw and the tree came to life, shaking the apples off into the buckets, managing to fill them a little bit.
“Nice try Discord, but it doesn’t count. Ya have ta harvest the apples yourself.”
Discord responded with a semi aggravated groan and returned the tree back to normal. Applejack dumped all the apples he had collected so far into the extra two barrels.
While Applejack did that, a light bulb appeared atop Discord’s head. He took the light bulb and blew it up like a balloon, then it floated away.
Discord snapped and then a clone of himself appeared.
“Oh no, that won’t work either…”
“But Applejack, how do you know which one is which?” They both said, switching positions over and over quickly before Applejack could answer.
When they stopped, Applejack really could not tell the difference between the two.
Discord and his copy both had a big grin of victory on their faces.
Applejack stood there for a moment, looking like she was defeated, but then she smirked
“Okay then; I’ll only count for half of what ya picked.”
Both Discords’ jaws dropped. “Well played, Applejack,” Discord said, snapping his clone away.
Then after awhile Discord give the tree a big push, but it stayed firmly there. Then he pulled on it and got the same result.
Discord stroked his beard in thought, then firmly grasped an apple with his talon and pulled.
The apple successfully came off the tree, and a few drops of sweat appeared on his forehead. Discord wiped the foreign substance off his forehead.
‘Sweat?...Actual sweat? A lord like me, sweating? Preposterous.’
Discord saw a strange look on Applejack’s face when he put the apple in a nearby basket.
“What?” Discord asked, kind of annoyed.
“It’s… nothing,” Applejack said, looking at the ground.
An obvious lie.
“You’re lying,” Discord stated.
“Really, it’s…”
Spike sighed and interrupted Applejack. “Discord, you left claw marks on the apple. It can’t be sold,” he said, pointing at the apple.
“It’s not a big deal; I’ll just use it ta make applesauce. Just try ta be careful next time.”
“Alright, why don’t you show me how you do it then…” Discord stopped himself, “ and do it without bucking the tree” he finished. His intention was clear; he wanted to give Applejack a taste of her own medicine.
“No problem,” Applejack said, running off.
Spike slapped his forehead. “You shouldn’t have said that.”
Discord just looked at him.
It did not take Applejack long to get a rope. Discord watched as the farm pony lassoed many apples into the baskets with almost no effort.
“Show off,” Discord grumbled under his breath. He grabbed the rope; usually he just would just use his magic to enchant the rope, but he was sure Applejack would say it didn’t count.
Discord tried to toss the rope around an apple; it ended up not even going near tree. He tried again and again and it still wasn’t going anywhere close.
“Alright fine, let’s try this the hard way!” Discord said impatiently.
Discord made a big boxing ring appear, then leaped onto the center of the ring. He suddenly had a referee outfit on him as he pulled down a microphone that had materialized in front of him.
“In this corner we have the devilishly handsome spirit of Chaos, traveler of many dimensions of time and space… Discord!”
“In corner… we have… an apple tree,” Discord said dismissively. “He’s not,” Applejack said in disbelief. Spike just shrugged his shoulders. “Let’s get ready to….”
Discord was suddenly interrupted by Pinkie Pie, who came out of nowhere yelling “Wait!”
Discord was actually surprised. He was pretty sure he didn’t make her come here. He didn’t know how or why she was here. “Don’t finish that sentence!” begged Pinkie.
“Let’s get ready to…?”
“Yes, yes that sentence.”
“Why?” Discord asked.
“Because it’s copyrighted and you won’t want the author of this story to get sued, right?”
“I….” Discord said, words failing him .
‘“Good, you understand... Wait, are those all the lines I have for now… seriously?” And with Pinkie disappeared.
‘What do you even say to that?’ Discord thought as he turned back to what he was doing.
“I didn’t think I would ever see anyone try to punch a tree, but there it is. Now I’ve seen everything,” Applejack said in disbelief.
Discord aimed for the middle of the tree and punched it with a solid cross jab.
Applejack winced slightly as she heard a loud thud as he made contact.
“YEOW!” Discord screamed in pain, his lion paw throbbing red.
Applejack gasped. “Sweet Celestia! Are ya alright?” she asked, sounding genuinely concerned.
“I’m gonna run and get some ice, she said, sprinting away.
Discord sighed and sat on the ground, his face a mix of sadness and frustration. He leaned against the very apple tree he tried to punch.
Discord looked totally miserable. Spike looked at him from across the tree, knowing all too well what Discord was going through. He felt the same thing during the Equestria Games. It was the feeling he felt when he found out that he failed lighting the torch.
It was the sense of trying so hard at something and failing anyway. It was the worst feeling in the world.
This give Spike more determination to help him out.
“I gotta to help him out, there has to be a way. Think, Spike, think” Spike said.
His train of thought was interrupted by his growling stomach.
‘Must have been that light breakfast I ate. I wanted to be sure I wasn't sluggish.’
Spike use his claws to climb a tree and stood on a thick branch, then eyed a juicy apple on it.
He grabbed the apple and started to eat it while thinking.
‘Okay, so there's got be a way to do this. If Twilight were here, she would able to figure this out logically.’
“Logically,” Spike pondered, then quickly scurried to get a scroll, an inkwell, and a quill pen.
Then Spike climbed back up the tree and sat down on the branch, leaning against the tree’s trunk.
Spike unscrolled the scroll in one claw and gripped the quill with another one, while his tail wrapped around the inkwell.
“Okay! I’ve been Twilight’s number one assistant for long enough to be able to figure this out,” Spike said.
“So, one of the methods Twilight uses is brainstorming.”
“She also lists what she knows.”
Spike scribbled down notes as he talked to himself
“What do I know about Discord?... Well, He’s a draconequus, he can makes things appear out of nowhere, he’s a Lord of chaos...”
Spike took a long look at Discord, to see if he could notice something.
“Well none of this is helpful to this situation, so what else?”
“Oh, I know! He’s made of different parts of animals!”
“Two horns, but he can’t use them to pick apples because they might pierce them. He can’t use his legs or his arms for the same reason.”
“But he does have a goat’s leg, which he could use to buck the tree… but then again, he might get hurt doing that.”
As Spike took notes, eventually his quill ran out of ink, so he brought his tail closer to dip the tip of the quill in.
This time Spike took a long look at his tail and got an idea.
Meanwhile as Spike was figuring something out up the tree, Applejack came back with a big bag of ice.
“Ya okay, Discord?” Applejack asked worriedly.
Discord rudely grabbed the ice pack without even thanking her and put it on his paw.
“I’m sorry ya got injured. I honestly thought ya couldn’t even get hurt.”
Discord just looked away from her.
Applejack sighed “Maybe I should just give ya another trial.”
Spike then interrupted Applejack by saying that “That won’t be necessary, AJ!”
“Because I figured a way for Discord to do this trial!”
“Discord, could you please wrap your tail around the tree?” Spike instructed.
One of Discord’s eyebrow raised, but he tried it anyway..
“Okay, now shake the tree hard, but not too hard.”
Discord did as Spike suggested and sure enough the apples fell off the tree.
“Wow, good job, Spike,” Applejack praised.
Spike grinned happily.
Discord looked really happy about it too.
“I have seen Discord’s tail be able lift Twilight, I thought well, if it can do that maybe it’s strong enough to shake the apples off the tree,” Spike explained.
“That was real good thinking on your part,” Applejack commented.
Spike blushed and smiled humbly.
Discord replied “Yeah, thanks Spike.”
Although, he knew he should be thankful, Discord was disappointed that he did not come up with a solution himself.
However, he knew now was not the time to reflect on that. Now was the time to harvest apples.
So Discord kept using his tail to shake the apples off.
Then after awhile Discord got all ten barrels full.
“Well, that was mighty fine work, Discord!” Applejack encouraged.
Applejack let out a whistle and a few moments later Big Mac came with a wagon.
So everyone helped put the full barrels in a wagon.
“Great, so that means I passed this trial,” said Discord.
“Nope, I said that there are two parts to this trial, remember? You only completed one part,” Applejack reminded him.
“Two parts?”
“Yes, when we get to the kitchen I’ll tell you what it is.”
“Let me guess, I can’t use my magic.”
“You are right, but this might be a little easier for you.”
So they went to Applejack’s house and carried all ten apple-filled barrels to the kitchen.
“Here’s the second part; make an apple pie,”said Applejack when they all were in the kitchen.
“Make an apple pie?! What am I, a baker?” asked Discord grumpily.
“It’s doesn’t have to be like the ones we make here, just try to make the best one you can bake.”
Discord stayed silent, still looking angry.
“Discord, I don’t have anything else planned. Finish this task and you’ll pass the trial, I promise ya.”
Discord let out an annoyed sigh and agreed.
Applejack gave Discord a recipe card. “This is a simple apple pie recipe. First go grab the ingredients.”
So Discord looked for the ingredients all over the kitchen.
Applejack noticed that Spike looked a bit sad. “What’s the matter, sugarcube?”
“I wish I could help with this, but I’m not so good with baking.”
“Ah, don’t worry about that, there’s still something ya can do. I mean, ya can peel or slice the apples”
Applejack then whispered in Spike’s ear. ”Actually, I’ll tell ya secret; there are some ponies in the Apple family who can’t bake ta save their lives.”
“Really?” Spike whispered back.
“Ah huh. But let’s keep that between you and me, alright?”
Spike nodded in agreement.
So Discord gathered all ingredients and followed the instructions. After some trial and error he managed to make an apple pie that he was satisfied with.
He didn’t do it alone though . He got pointers from AJ, and the apples were cored, peeled and sliced by Spike and Big Mac.
Discord put the pie on the windowsill.
“Congratulations, Discord; ya passed your first trial!” AppleJack said proudly.
“Oh, finally,“ Discord said with relief.
“Now, let’s taste that pie,” said Applejack.
Discord swore he heard Applejack’s lips smack when she said that.
Even though Discord wanted to leave as soon as he passed the trial, he also wanted to know how the pie tasted.
After all, he went through all that effort to make it.
When the pie was completely cooled, Applejack grabbed it from the windowsill.
Pinkie Pie came through the door.
“Oh no,” Discord said with groan.
“Discord, she’s here cause I asked her ta come over ta taste the pie.”
“Wait, I thought you just wanted me to make the best pie I could. You didn’t say anything about judging it.”
“Who said anything about judging it? Pinkie might be a baking expert, but I asked her ta come here and taste the pie, Nothing more, nothing less.”
“Oh...Okay.”
So Pinkie came in
Applejack put the pie on the table, sliced one piece of the pie, and put it on a plate.
Then something happened that neither Discord or Spike could have ever predicted happening.
Applejack said “Hey Pinkie, think fast!” Then she took the rest of apple pie and threw it right on Pinkie’s face.
Pinkie stood there like a statue, pie dripping from her face.
Discord and Spike were completely shell shocked .
“....Ww..w..wha...why...why would you do that?” asked Discord, completely in shock.
“I thought it would be funny,” Applejack replied nonchalantly.
“Y...You thought...it would be funny!” shouted Discord.
“Why in the name of Star Swirl’s beard did you think that was even remotely funny? I mean, we all worked hard to make that pie!” Discord ranted.
“Discord, you wanted to know why I wouldn’t ask Rarity or Twi ta not use their magic when they’re helping on the farm.”
“This is the lesson this trial was suppose ta teach ya; the value of good, honest work. Something they both know the meaning of,” AJ continued.
“Rarity puts her all into the dresses she makes, and Twilight studies hard.”
“Discord, you got angry when something happened ta that pie, didn’t ya? Why? Because of all trouble that went into making it, right?”
“But I do work hard… there was… um” Discord tried to retort back.
“Ah! There was that time I got rid of my plunder seeds,” Discord said, posing in a gesture that said ‘take that.’
“Ya mean, ya enchanted a bunch of shovels to do the work while laying back in a hammock the whole time.” Applejack replied.
“That is the problem, Discord. Everything comes easy for you. But you felt it, didn’t ya? That feeling of accomplishment, of being proud of something you made with you own… claw and paw.”
“Throwing the pie was kind of like what you do when you use your chaos powers to ‘have fun’ at a pony’s expense. It’s disruptive and destroys the accomplishment ponies strive for.”
“Well of course it’s easy, Applejack, it’s what I do. I’m the spirit of chaos, magic is part of what I am. Why shouldn’t I use it? You would too, if you were me,” Discord said, defending himself.
Applejack rubbed the back of her head awkwardly,
“Big Mac, maybe you can explain it better.”
Big Macintosh let in a deep breath, and let it out. “What my sister was trying ta say, is that she was trying ta give ya the experience of what it feels like ta work on hard on something, and the only way ya can accomplish that is if you temporarily didn’t use your magic.”
“We can tell ya about the work that every pony or any other creatures does until we’re blue in the face, but it won’t do ya any good,” Big Macintosh continued, “Unless you experience it yourself. Only then can you appreciate the effort of something.”
Discord was at a complete loss for words.
Big Macintosh took the plate with the surviving pie slice placed on his hoof and gave it to Discord.
“Now, I want ya ta taste this pie.”
Discord made a fork appear and used it to take a bite of the pie.
‘It’s pretty good ’ Discord thought to himself.
“Now, make a slice of pie appear and taste it.”
So Discord made a slice of cherry pie appear then tasted it.
The difference between was clear, and even though the cherry pie was more professional, Discord still preferred the apple pie.
“Ya see, I can tell you enjoyed the apple pie better, and it’s because the effort that went towards it. Ya understand now?”
Discord nodded “I think I understand what you’re trying to say.”
“Good,” Big Mac said.
“I have one question. If you can talk like this, why do you keep silent?”
Big Macintosh grinned and said, “A wise pony should keep their muzzle closed, otherwise they’ll ended up putting their hoof in it.”
So with that lesson learned Discord and Spike left the farm.
Pinkie was no longer a mess, having cleaned herself up during Big Mac’s explanation.
“So he passed his first trial, huh?” asked Pinkie Pie.
“Yeah, he did… hey, Pinkie, thanks again for helping out,” told Applejack.
“No problem, AJ! Though I never would have thought you would ever ask me if you could throw a pie in my face!” Pinkie Pie responded.
“Yeah.”
“You think he’ll pass the other trials?”
“Well, I think he will, but he’s still got a long way ta go.”
Applejack and Pinkie walked towards Fluttershy's house. They were a little concerned about her. They haven't seen her out as much, also they wanted to tell her of Discord's efforts.
Applejack knocked on the door "Fluttershy? It's Pinkie and Applejack"
Fluttershy peeked out of the windows then she moved what sounded like a lot of locks and opened the door. Fluttershy stuck her head out looking for anypony outside, but couldn't find any.
Applejack's eyebrows raised, the only time she heard so many locks to unlocked the door, was during nightmare night.
"Come on in"
Although it looked like Fluttershy was taking care of herself. She looked really sad. Her coat and her mane were slightly dull.
"Um, hey Fluttershy how are you doing?" Pinkie Pie asked
"I'm fine, I guess"
Applejack and Pinkie looked at each other for a moment
"Really? Listen about that we got something to tell you"
So they explained the whole situation to Fluttershy.
"I see" Fluttershy said
"So you see he is trying his best, to gain every ponies' trust" Pinkie chimed in
Fluttershy just sat on the floor, not moving.
"Um girls I could have some alone time just a little longer?"
"Sure, Fluttershy we can do that"
With that, Applejack and Pinkie left.
Fluttershy was so unsure, on one hoof she was still feeling a bit sore from the betrayal, on the other Discord was trying his best to make it up to her. It was a stew of emotions, boiling in her and it was about to spill over.
Fluttershy left her cottage, she felt like going for a walk. She figured maybe what she needed was some fresh air.
So she mindlessly walked through Ponyville, not really talking to anypony.
"Fluttershy" somepony called
Fluttershy didn't bother looking and just went straight
"Fluttershy!"
"Huh?" Fluttershy looked up to see Twilight Sparkle looking at her with worry.
"Are you okay?" Twilight asked
Fluttershy turned her face away from her and mumbled "Yeah, I'm fine"
'You're not fine' Twilight thought she wanted to say that. However, Twilight knew that Fluttershy was sensitive, so she thought that the best course of action was to not press the matter, at least not now.
"You want to talk about it?"
"Not really"
Fluttershy started to walk away from her
Then an idea came into Twilight's head 'it's worth a shot'
"Fluttershy, would you like to talk to a psychologist about whatever you're going through?
Fluttershy stopped in her tracks
"Psychologist? You think I'm crazy?"
Twilight rolled her eyes and said in a mildly angry tone "Fluttershy, psychologists are not only for crazy ponies. They can help ponies with different sorts of issues, They are trained with a variety of problems." Twilight let a snort she wasn't done.
"It's soo cliche' that, psychologists only diagnose crazy ponies. I mean if you actually read a psychology book you would see that..." Twilight started to rant.
"Twilight!"
Twilight completely shut her muzzle "Oh .. right ha ha" "Well anyway, I heard that there's a stallion psychologist who moved here. I didn't catch his name, but I heard he just moved here from Irienland" "Maybe you should visit him"
"I..see"
"Will it help if I told that psychologists have patient confidentiality?"
Fluttershy cocked her head
"It means anything you tell them, stays between them and you"
"I...I need to go"
So Fluttershy did some more mindless walking when she a familiar sound.
Fluttershy's ears twitched she knew it was, a female ferret and sounded like it was in distress.
Fluttershy then went into action, she had to find her.
Ponyville streets were not usually busy. However, the few times that was, was mostly during meal time.
A white and brown patched frazzled ferret was darting about in the middle the street, and ponies was not paying attention to her.
"Oh my goodness!"
Fluttershy ran and pick up the ferret with her teeth by the scruff if it's neck, going to a less crowded part of the street.
"O thank Celestia. Are you alright?"
The ferret crawled nuzzled her to show its' gratitude.
"Oh you're welcome" "Now, tell me what's wrong?...Ah ha you and your owner just moved here... you wanted to explore the town...so you sneaked away from your owner...then you got lost." "Oh you poor thing" "Well, let's find your owner"
The ferret climbed into her back and the two of them searched the town, she was about to ask what the ferret's owner looked like. When she spotted some stallion she never met,came out of a house.
He was an earth pony, with an orangeish brown coat, his mane was yellow with streaks of orange in it. He had on very dark shaded glasses, so it impossible to see his eyes. So Fluttershy assumed he was blind.
Fluttershy noticed his cutie mark on his flank on the other side of him. It was a detached pony ear, Fluttershy let out a gasp and backed way slowly.
The ferret leaped down and raced towards the stallion, Fluttershy let out a whispered "nooo"
When the ferret climbed into the stallion's back and...nuzzled the stallion
"Rosebud!" The stallion said with relief, the stallion had very thick Ireinish accent. "There you are"
From the noises Rosebud was making it clear that she adored him.
Fluttershy blushed in embarrassment, she felt like an idiot at that moment.
Fluttershy wanted to leave with what little dignity she had, but Rosebud has told the stallion about how she saved her.
'Oh no' Fluttershy thought backing away slowly
"Oh no, please don't go.." the stallion put out his hoof to greet her "My name is Insight Froud"
"Fr..."
"Froud, it sounds like cloud," Insight said with a smile
"My name's Fluttershy....it's nice to meet you Mr. Froud" she greeted back
"Oh Mr. Fround is my dad's name. You can called me Insight or Dr. Froud or Insy that's what my friends call me"
Fluttershy got quick look at the sign in front of Insight's house
Dr. Insight Froud psychologist
Don't be afraid to tell me your problems
'Ohhh, he's the psychologist Twilight talked about'
"You are more than welcome to come in" he offered
Fluttershy felt awful, he just moved here and she judged him.
She saw he had some leftover things in his moving cart.
"Umm would you like help with moving the rest of your stuff?"
"Oh sure"
So she and Insight both started to move some things into the house.
"So Insight what brings you to Ponyville"
"Believe it or not I'm doing the same thing as my dad did"
"Oh and what's that?"
"When my dad was young, he lived in Germane, then he wanted a change of scenery he took out a map and blindly picked an area" "He landed on Ireinland and moved there, met his wife and never left" "So I did the same thing, and I blindly picked here" he then let out a hearty laugh
"That's ...interesting" "So why is your office open if you just moving today?"
"Well, I like to get to know my patients a little, so it's easier for them to talk to me about whatever is bothering them." "Would you like to do a session now? The first one's free"
"I'll think about it" "Well, I have to go and feed my animals"
"Well Fluttershy thank you for coming over and saving Rosebud, my door is open if you need it"
