One evening in Equestria, Discord traveled through the village of the three races, and was delighted by what he saw. Chaos and revelry filled the air, for the carnival was in full swing, and the villagers welcomed the chance to break from the bonds of routine and simply cut loose. Discord laughed merrily, greatly amused by the ponies and their ability to surprise him. He distributed cotton candy to the villagers, some of which held chaotic surprises for the consumer. Discord basked in the glory of the carnival, feeding off the emotions and wild surges of energy in the air.
As he walked, he noticed a dark cloud over an Earth mare, visible only to him as he observed the emotions and magic in the air. Clearly, the blonde-maned mare was having problems, and her foul mood was bringing down the atmosphere. This annoyed Discord, for he didn’t like to mix his flavors. “Good feelings taste good, and so do negative emotions, but I simply cannot stand to have the two share a plate. I must either lift this one’s spirits, or bring down everypony else’s!” He took a minute to think about his choice, but decided not to spoil the bland, but spirited, chaos the ponies were spreading. He rose from the ground, walking next to the orange-coated mare.
“Greetings and warm peanuts to you, my dear! How are you enjoying the festivities?”
The mare shoved past him, not even looking at him. “I’m not! Now I’d appreciate if y’all’d leave me be. I’ve got things to take care of.” She trotted away from the frolicking festival-goers, while Discord rubbed his chin in thought. He stepped out from behind a tent, walking beside the mare.
“Perhaps I can be of service. You see, your foul mood is putting a damper on the fun, and if you don’t let me help, I’ll just have to run the fun for everypony.”
“Fine. See if I care. I’ve got too many problems to worry about some fancy carnival. You know how hard it is to be an apple farmer around here? This is grape territory, and Grape Vine’s gonna buy my farm!” The mare stamped a hoof in anger, looking into Discord’s red-and-yellow eyes beseechingly.
Discord got an idea, a way he could sow the seeds of chaos while simultaneously removing this mare’s anger from his emotional feast. “My dear, I think I have an answer to your problem. I think I can remove the source of your woes. If you’ll agree to my help.”
“Really? You’ll help me out? Why? What’s in it for you?” The mare is eager, but cautious.
Discord laughed, wrapping a forearm around the mare’s shoulders. The mare jumped as Discord shed his pony form to carry her to a secluded location. “I have a passion for solving problems. It fills me with glee to haul a pony out of the fire, and set things wrong what once went right. Now, I can help you, under a few specific conditions. First, tell me what’s going on.”
The mare looked around nervously, but saw nopony else around. The odd creature had pulled her out of the fire, alright, but had deposited her squarely into the frying pan. “Well, my name’s Appleseed. Round here, the fruit of choice is grapes, and that prissy purple pony, Grape Vine, owns the largest farm in town!”
“Technically, it’s called a vineyard.” Discord waggled a claw in front of Appleseed’s face, to her annoyance.
“My point being, she's the biggest grape provider around, and my apple farm’s struggling. Now, she wants to by my farm and kick me out, so she can grow more grapes! And I don’t have the kinda money I need to keep the place.” She hung her head, looking at Discord pleadingly. “Can you help me?”
Discord thought about this, a plan formulating. If the local economy depended on grapes, how fun would it be to suddenly replace them all with apples? The thought had him chuckling in anticipation. “I can help, if you agree to the following terms: You must do exactly as I tell you, when I tell you.”
“Alright…”
“You must see this through to the end. At no point can you back out or change your mind.”
“Understood.”
“And finally: You must step up and take control once this is all over. You’ll have a farm to run, after all.”
“That’s easy! I planned to do that anyway!” Appleseed spat on her hoof, offering it to Discord. “You got yourself a deal, mister!”
Discord grinned, grabbing her hoof with his eagle claw. “Yes… Are you ready? Let’s resolve this issue quickly and cleanly. I’m missing the festival!” The color seemed to fade from Discord, spreading from his claw onto Appleseed’s hoof. She stared in horror as Discord seemed to melt, wrapping around her body and being absorbed, laughing wickedly.
“Wait! This wasn’t part of the deal! What’re you doing?!” She fought, but found she couldn’t move her body. Discord’s claw was the last to be dissolved, and her eyes momentarily resembled his before returning to their natural color.
Appleseed laughs, tapping a hoof on the ground. “Of course it was. You do exactly as I tell you, when I tell you to. The easiest and by far most efficient way to ensure that, is to just take over your body. And you gave me permission, and agreed not to back out or change your mind. Time for you to mare up and fix this problem.” She runs to the village, working her way through the crowds.
It was about dusk when Appleseed finally found Grape Vine. The Earth mare was exceedingly purple. Her coat was a light plum color, her man a darker mulberry, and even her eyes were fuchsia. Appleseed clapped a hoof on Grape Vine’s shoulder, to which the mare responded with a warm greeting, as she had been drinking many of her grape beverages that night.
“Appleseed! So nice to see you here! And I thought you’d be packing your bags, ready to sell me your farm! You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to buy it!”
Appleseed chuckled as she led Grape Vine away from the stalls, chatting like old friends. “Oh, you’re gonna buy the farm alright. I just wanted to try one last time to keep my place on it. And you know what? I was searching through my old cellar, and I found this entire barrel of cider. I know you’re a wine drinker, but you haven’t lived ‘til you’ve tasted some of Grampa Scrumpy’s fine cider! What do you say we head over and break the ol’ girl open?”
“Appleseed, are you trying to convince me to grow apples again? You know nopony buys apples here. Grapes are the fruit of the land!” Grape Vine staggered as she gestured dramatically, giggling at her clumsiness.
“Course not, Vine! Just two friends, sharing a drink before one kicks the other off her land. Besides, there’s nothing new for you here, and I bet I could outdrink you any day.” Appleseed led Grape Vine to her farm, away from any witnesses. All of her workers had either left or gone into town for the festivities, so the two mares were the only ones around.
Grape Vine scoffed, staggering into Appleseed. “Are you offering a challenge? I can outdrink any pony in town! And I’ll prove it! Show me this promised cider, Applejack!”
Appleseed led Grape –
****
Twilight looks back, reading the page over again to make sure she had read that correctly. “Show me this promised cider, Appleseed!” Twilight rubs her eyes, using her magic to remove the words from the book she was writing, correcting her mistake.
“That’s weird. My eyes must be playing tricks on me.”
****
Appleseed led Grape Vine to a large wooden door, set into the middle of the field, surrounded by apple trees. “Right over here, Vine. This is the end of the line.”
Grape Vine blinked in confusion, staring at the door. “Why set a cellar in the middle of the field? Wouldn’t it make more sense to plant crops here?”
Discord ran his claw along Grape Vine’s chin, turning her head to look into her eyes. Grape Vine was initially confused, seeing Discord protruding out of Appleseed’s head. Discord chuckled, lifting Grape Vine into the air. “Oh, there will be trees here. We just needed the right fertilizer.” He tossed her into the air, snapping his fingers. A wine glass appeared in his hand, and he held it under the purple cloud hovering overhead. It filled with a dark liquid, which Discord drank gleefully. “Ah, a fine Amontillado. Almost seems fitting.”
He poked the cloud, causing it to rain red red wine over the field. The cloud slowly disappeared as it spilled it’s contents, leaving no trace of the purple mare. Discord tossed the wine glass away, retreating back inside Appleseed. She went to the barn, returning with a bag of apple seeds, which she spread over the clearing. Some of the seeds appeared to be made of gold, but Appleseed doesn’t notice them. “And with her gone, there’s nopony to buy your farm.”
Discord quietly retreated from Appleseed’s body, leaving her to finish seeding the field. “And wouldn’t you know it? She named her old friend Appleseed as the sole recipient of her vineyard and business. You’ll be the top fruit purveyor around here then. And apples will spread to all corners of Equestria! And my golden apples will travel with them, sowing chaos while I’m here, having fun.”
Appleseed paused, looking to Discord. “But, what if anypony asks about Grape Vine? What should I say?”
Discord put a finger to her lips, shushing her. “You know nothing. To the heart and mind, ignorance is kind. There’s no comfort in the truth. Pain is all you’ll find.” His eyes swirled with many colors, as did Appleseed’s, and she believed him. If she stayed quiet, she would live her life peacefully, and her family could grow apples and spread them to all corners of the map.
Discord patted Appleseed on the head, donning his guise of Cotton Candy once more. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be going. There’s so much fun to be had here!” He leaves Appleseed to her planting, anticipating the chaos to come.
****
Twilight finishes reading, rubbing her eyes again. “This book is starting to take it’s toll on me. But I can’t stop now! There are still so many more pages to go!” She hunkers back down, turning the page to continue reading.