//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3: The Root of the Problem 
// Story: The Curse of Discord 
// by Creative Charmer 
//------------------------------//

	Everyone was being swung all around by the apple tree roots. "Let me go, you despicable tree!" Rarity shouted in anger, as the tree had wrapped its root around her body. "If you muss up my mane, Twilight is going to show you a thing or two!"
"What??" Twilight said in shock while being swung around the same way Rarity was. "Why me?"
"She's right, Twilight!" Applejack shouted as she was being swung around by her hind legs. "Yah havta use yer magic to stop this thing!"
"But I can't!" Twilight shouted back. "This tree is swinging me around too much! I can't focus hard enough to try and free us!"
"Then what should we do??"
"Maybe we should ask it kindly to let us go?!" Fluttershy shouted while being swung back and forth.
"Forget asking!" Rainbow shouted in return. "The only way to stop this tree is to make it stop!" Rainbow Dash then opened her wings and started flying against the pulling of the root. Rainbow flapped her wings as hard as she could, with the root, trying to pull her back, with neither side gaining or losing. As this is going on, the other roots slowly stop swinging the others around, and they all turn towards Rainbow Dash and the other root, as it drew their attention away from what they were doing.
Everyone besides Rainbow was now hanging from the roots that were wrapped around them. "Thank Celestia that’s over,” Twilight said.
"Yah," Applejack replied. "And now yah can use yer magic to stop this thing!"
"Right! Right!" Twilight then shut her eyes and started concentrating. As her horn started to glow, Twilight turned her head towards the tree and shot a purple beam of magic at the tree. The tree became covered with the magic and emitted a purple flash of light. As the light faded away, Twilight was shocked to see the tree had not changed at all. It did not even react to being hit by Twilight's magic, as if it felt nothing at all.
"Why is it that this filthy root still has a hold of me, Twilight?" Rarity asked, not sounding happy.
"My magic didn't work! The magic that cloud used on the tree must be more powerful than my own!"
"What?!" Applejack exclaimed in shocked horror. "Then what the hay do we do to get out of this??"
"I...I don't' know!" Twilight replies, sounding very worried. "I don't know at all what to do!"
Applejack couldn't believe what she heard. "That can'tbe!" she looked at Twilight, who looked back at Applejack with a look of defeat on her face. Applejack looked speechless at seeing Twilight not knowing what to do. She then looked at Rainbow Dash, whom was still struggling against the root, and then she looked around at her other trapped friends. "Doesn't anypony at all know what to do??"
"There's only one thing I know," Applejack turned her attention to Pinkie Pie, whom the root was holding by her tail. "And that's that I feel woozy," Pinkie said with an ill look on her face as she placed her left hoof over her stomach and her right hoof over her mouth.
"You're not the only one," Spike interjected, as he was looking just as sick as Pinkie was. Spike was also being held upside-down by his tail like Pinkie was, and he was lifting his head up so that he could talk with the others.. Spike's stomach then gurgled, and he grasped it with his hands. "Ohhh...I feel awful...I feel like I have to...have to..." Spike then placed his right hand over his mouth as his mouth became engorged. Then, suddenly, Spike jerked his head back to the front of his body and he belched out a large stream of fire. The fire struck the root that was holding onto Spike, and suddenly the tree made a loud shriek of pain as the root let go of Spike, causing him to fall to the ground. The pain caused by Spike's fire also caused the rest of the roots to let go of the other ponies, making them all fall to the ground as well. Rainbow Dash had still been pulling against the root that had her this whole time, and when it let go of her, she zoomed straight up into the sky in the blink of an eye, yelling with surprise and fear with her rainbow trail trailing behind her.
Twilight was feeling a bit dazed after the fall, but she shook it off. She soon realized that everyone was free, and knew now was the time to get out of here. "Come on, everypony! Let's get out of here!"she then started running away from the tree. After the others shook off their dizziness, they ran off after Twilight.
Spike, on the other hand, was still feeling sick, and he was lying on the ground, too sick to get up and run away. Twilight saw he was unable to get up, so she used her magic to lift up Spike and place him on her back. Just then, the tree had gotten over the pain of being burned, and started to go after the ponies and Spike again. It extends its roots to grab them as they're running.
"It's going to get us!" Fluttershy exclaimed in fright.
"Just don't stop running!" Twilight shouted.
The roots moved as fast as they could, and just when they were about to grab the ponies, they halted right where they were. It turns out that the roots had extended to their limited length, and couldn't go any farther. The tree pulled its roots back and watched as the ponies ran far off into the distance, and the tree made a very loud screech of anger at its failure to capture the ponies and Spike.