Everypony loved Applejack.
And that was the problem. It was also why she was hiding inside a cupboard in Twilight’s tree-castle.
“Please tell me you’re done with that counter-spell, Twi.”
“I think I’m nearly there,” said Twilight, her voice muffled by the locked cupboard door, “just a few more tweaks to the rune structure, and it should be,”
There was an abrupt explosion. It was a testament to Applejack’s general unflappable demeanour that she didn’t even react with anything but a sigh. It could have also been a testament to how often things exploded in Ponyville, and around Twilight Sparkle in particular.
“I’m fine! Ow.” called Twilight, her voice suddenly much fainter, and with a lot more echo. If Applejack had to guess, Twilight was now embedded in the opposite wall.
“Sugarcube, as much as I like hangin’ out with y’all, would you mind hurrying this up? I told Big Mac this’d be done by the end of the day.”
“I’m nearly there, AJ. Just a few more runes.”
“You ever think of asking Discord for help? You could probably get Fluttershy to get him to do it, you know.”
“That would defeat the entire point of the exercise! I need to see if I can counter his magic directly!” said Twilight. She continued after a brief pause. “Also, I may have accidentally on purpose blasted him in the face so he’ll refuse to cancel the spell just to gloat at me.”
If she could move inside the cupboard, Applejack would have dropped her face into her hooves. As it was, she just sighed. She could hear the faint sounds of the crowd outside, trying to get in just so that they could see Applejack and love her. Fortunately, Applejack had already figured out that it worked on sight by that point, and had gotten in the cupboard before Twilight or Spike had seen her, so they were currently unaffected by the magic that Discord had put on her. That had still meant that a large portion of Ponyville had more or less ground to a halt in their effort to love Applejack.
For a moment, there was only the soft shimmer of magic, and the thumping of the crowd on the doors.
“Oh, horseapp-,” was all Applejack heard Twilight say, before there was another bang, and this time Applejack actually heard Twilight’s body hit the far wall. And go through it, too.
“I am okay!” Twilight’s voice echoed back to Applejack, “Totally okay! Progress is happening! Once my ears stop ringing, I’ll get back to work!”
From inside the cupboard, Applejack groaned, and wished she could talk to animals like Fluttershy could. Then she could maybe get Fluttershy to get Discord to reverse what he’d done, already.
“Won’t take more than an afternoon,” grumbled Applejack, mimicking Twilight’s tone, “Just get Discord to put his version of a Want-It-Need-It on me, Twilight.”